Creigiau'r Llyn cairn cemetery

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 small barrow cemetery, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on the summit of the locally prominent ridge of Creigiau'r Llyn, extending to the ESE of Bryn Mawr. The barrow cemetery comprises at least three grass-covered cairns or barrows. The cairns range in size from 3.5m to 4.5m in diameter and stand up to 0.4m in height.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monument is an important and unusual 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 and environmental and structural evidence, including buried prehistoric land surfaces. The extensive surrounding areas of bog and peat further enhance the importance of the monument - not only can associated paleoenvironmental evidence be expected to survive, the peat may hide further cairns and ritual deposits.

The area scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures about 55m in diameter.