Carn Llwyd ring cairn

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 ring cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on a N-facing terrace on the slopes of Mynydd Carningli. The well-preserved ring cairn is circular on plan and measures about 7.5m in diameter within a grass-covered stony ring bank about 2.5m in thickness and up to 0.4m in height. The interior is level and largely stone free. The ring cairn is situated in a classic location, with wide views all around, except to the S where it is overlooked by higher ground.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. Excavated examples have shown these monuments to be essentially ceremonial - although with a consistent link with the burial of the dead (some cremation burials have been revealed). Rituals involving the burning and deposition of charcoal, perhaps symbolic of the funeral pyre, would seem to have been important. The well preserved monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence.

The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 24m in diameter.