Pen y Crogben Round Barrow

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 a circular rock-cut ditch c.56m in diameter, surrounding a low mound with central hollow. The monument probably originated as an earthen built round barrow, dating to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). However, excavation and placename evidence also confirm its later use as a seventeenth-eighteenth century gibbet.

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. Despite previous exploratory investigations, there is a strong probability of the presence of further ritual and burial deposits, together with environmental and structural evidence. Barrows may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value. In addition the barrow’s secondary use as a post-Medieval gibbet contributes to the social history of the area.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is a circle and measures c.42m, centred on the barrow.