Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Cwmbiga long cairn
Llanidloes Without, Powys, Wales
A scheduled monument in Llanidloes Without, Powys, recorded as Long Cairn (Prehistoric).
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Long Cairn
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Date of designation
- 9 August 2006
- Community
- Llanidloes Without
- Unitary authority
- Powys
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 52.48725, -3.67498
- SAM number
- MG323
- Cadw record number
- 1099
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
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1608 map "(13) Cambriae Typus." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1608 · (13) Cambriae Typus. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1830 · V.3:11-15:XV. Britisches Reich. A. Kon: England. b. Frstenthum Wales: Shire: 37-40 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1883 · Watershed map England, Wales 3. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1899 · 164 Llanidloes (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1901 · Sheet 14. (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 of a probable long cairn, dating from the Neolithic period (c. 4,400 BC - 2,900 BC) and situated upon a wide, raised terrace in the centre of a sheltered valley on the east side of the Plynlimon uplands. Cwmbiga long cairn measures overall 17.5m long west-north-west by east-south-east. It is wedge-shaped, and measures 10.5m wide at its south-east end where it is 1m high, and 6m wide at its north-west end where it is 0.75m high. There are no obvious traces of ditching around the cairn. Although the cairn has been disturbed in the past, with two large open trenches visible (presumably the result of antiquarian investigation), the majority of the cairn appears substantially intact.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The well-preserved 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 and structural evidence. The surrounding ground is boggy, suggesting that the potential for associated paleoenvironmental evidence is great.
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 30m in diameter.
Nearby in the register
- Cow-house at Cwm BigaNo class recordedunder 1 mi
- Barn, stable, cart-shed & peat store at Cwm BigaNo class recordedunder 1 mi
- Pig Sty at Cwm BigaNo class recordedunder 1 mi
- Cwm BigaNo class recordedunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.