Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Carn Llidi Burial Chambers
St. David's and the Cathedral Close, Pembrokeshire, Wales
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Chambered Tomb
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Community
- St. David's and the Cathedral Close
- Unitary authority
- Pembrokeshire
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 51.90353, -5.29351
- SAM number
- PE042
- Cadw record number
- 3333
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
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1608 "(13) Cambriae Typus." (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 two chambered tombs, dating to the Neolithic period (c. 4,400 BC - 2,900 BC). Chambered tombs were built and used by local farming communities over long periods of time. There appear to be many regional traditions and variations in shape and construction.
The two sub-megalithic burial chambers lie in rock-strewn, open moorland on the sloping ground north-west of Garn Llidi, at the westernmost point of the ridge. The western chamber has a large capstone which measures 3.3m in length, 2m wide and is 0.5m thick, this is supported on the west by one sidestone, which is 1.8m tall. The other long side had been supported originally by another sidestone of roughly the same length, but this has collapsed. On the short sides are a number of smaller stones which may have formed part of the chamber walls. The chamber appears to be partly rock-cut and faces north downhill from Garn Llidi; the interior has an earth and stone floor and has maximum height of 1.7m. A smaller chamber lies 2m further east to the south of the first. Its capstone, which is 2m in length, 1.5m wide and is 0.4m thick, is supported on one sidestone and elsewhere it rests on the ground adjacent to the rock-cut chamber wall. Three other uprights survive on the north, north-west and west. The chamber is partly subterranean and is 1.3m square.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The 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 environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface. Chambered tombs 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.
Nearby in the register
- Hut Circles and Ancient Enclosures NW of Carn LlidiField Systemunder 1 mi
- St Patrick's ChapelChapelunder 1 mi
- Ffynnon FaiddogDomesticunder 1 mi
- Coetan Arthur Burial ChamberChambered Tombunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.