Bryn Du hut circle

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The monument comprises a fine hut circle, the foundations of a round house probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on the SE-facing side of the low summit ridge of the upland plateau of Bryn Du. The hut circle is well-preserved and measures 7m in diameter within a grass-covered stony bank spread 1.5m in thickness and 0.3m in height. An entrance is visible in the WSW side.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric domestic life and social organisation. The monument is very well-preserved and is an important component of the extensive surviving Bronze Age landscape contained within this upland plateau - including several round barrows, a small cairn cemetery, stone alignments and a stone circle. The interaction between Bronze Age domestic life and ritual activity is particularly poorly understood and the survival of related evidence in such close proximity is unusual. The monument itself retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of structural evidence and associated archaeological features and 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 22m in diameter.