Twyn-Yr-Oerfel Round Barrows

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 two earthen built round barrows, burial monuments which probably date to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). The eastern barrow is circular in plan, 10m in diameter, up to 1.3m high with steep sides and has a 0.4m deep depression in the centre. The western barrow is circular in plan, 15m in diameter, and up to 1.8m high with steep sides. The barrows, constructed on the top of a natural rock outcrop on a high ridge in moorland overlooking the Sirhowy Valley, are grass covered. The barrows are likely to have covered a single primary burial, cut into the bedrock, either in a pit or a cist. Secondary burials, probably cremations, could have been dug into the barrows during the Bronze Age, placed within the body of the monument in pots.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The features are an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retain significant archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of both intact 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.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.