Platform Houses and Cairn Cemetery on Dinas Noddfa

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 of several prehistoric round cairns, burial mounds probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and a series of medieval hut platforms. The site lies on open moorland on the western edge of Gelligaer Common.

Item A - Two medieval house platforms: The largest platform house measures 18m x 8m and lies at the westernmost edge of the plateau. The interior is flat, and sections of low wall, 3m wide and 0.7m high, survive on the north and south sides of the platform. The bank into the hillside, on the east side has stones showing. Around the platform is a scatter of large stones. Just above it, to the east, is another platform, 12m x 6m. A small portion of low bank, with some stones showing in it, survives on the southern side. To the east of this is a turf-covered bank, 2.5m x 0.5m which runs east-west, up to the area of the cairns. Parallel to it, to the south, running from the other end of the cairns to the very edge of the plateau, is another similar wall - now a turf-covered bank measuring 1.5m x 0.3m.

Item B - Three platform houses approx. 210m north-west of the main site, on the edge of the plateau above a steep gully. They are roughly rectangular, 6m x 4m with sloping sides c. 1m high, cut into the hillside. No stones or remains of walls are visible.

Item C - This is a group of small, turf-covered round cairns, 3-4m in diameter and 0.5-1m high, just to the east of the platform houses and walls. Two have cist stones showing in their centres.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The features are important relics of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retain significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence. Cairnfields may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value. Furthermore, the house platforms form an important element within the medieval context and the scheduled area may be expected to contain a wide range of archaeological information, including chronological detail and evidence in regard to construction techniques and agricultural methods.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.