Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Brynbychan Round Cairn
Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Round Cairn
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Date of designation
- 5 October 1961
- Community
- Mountain Ash
- Unitary authority
- Rhondda Cynon Taff
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 51.68114, -3.35637
- SAM number
- GM286
- Cadw record number
- 2896
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1636 "Cornubia : Devonia, Somersetus, Dorcestria, Wiltonia, Glocestria ..." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Cadw's description
Summary description and reason for designation
The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The monument comprises the remains a burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). It is situated on the top of the mountain with panoramic views all around. The cairn is circular and measures 18m in diameter by 0.75m high. Some large kerb stones are showing around the edge, and on the north-west side some large flat slabs are exposed. There is an Ordnance Survey trig point in the middle and to the north-west of it a stone cist is exposed consisting of two upright slabs of stone c. 1.5m long lying parallel about 0.5m apart.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits, together with environmental and structural evidence. Cairns may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value.
The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.
Nearby in the register
- Aberfan Fawr FarmhouseDomesticunder 1 mi
- Barn Range at Aberfan Fawr FarmhouseAgriculture and Subsistenceunder 1 mi
- Carmel Independent ChapelReligious, Ritual and Funeraryunder 1 mi
- Aberfan War MemorialNo class recordedunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.