Hut Circle at Llyn Morwynion, Ffestiniog

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises a hut circle, the foundations of a round house, probably dating to the Iron Age or Romano-British period (c.800 BC - AD 400). The site lies in open, upland sheep pasture around a small, S-facing valley c.500m SW of y Garnedd and at the NE end of the Llyn Morwynion reservoir.

The hut is approx. 4m in diameter internally with a wall approx. 1m wide and up to 0.4m high with a few inner and outer facing stones visible. It appears to be built over an earlier peat horizon using large flat slabs as footings. Its low stone walls have been exposed around about one third of the circumference by erosion caused by water in the adjacent reservoir. The remaining portion lies preserved beneath about 0.6m of blanket peat and it is the fact that this material is likely to contain significant evidence of the early environmental setting which marks this monument as especially significant. Such occurrences are rarely recognised but offer a scarce opportunity to associate archaeological sites with their prehistoric environment.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric domestic life and social organisation. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of structural evidence, associated archaeological features and deposits, including information about the surrounding environment at the time of its occupation. The presence nearby of a second hut circle, platforms, wandering walls and associated land surfaces adds group value.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. This is an area 30m in diameter centred on the hut circle and including the surrounding peat.