Carn Ferched platform 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 platform cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on the rounded summit of the ridge forming the E side of Mynydd Preseli. The grass and heather-covered earth and stone-built cairn is circular on plan and measures about 12.5m in diameter and up to 0.4m in height. There is a large central hollow, probably the result of unrecorded antiquarian investigation. The spoil from this central hollow has been upcast onto the cairn. Several small quartzitic boulders are visible within the ill-defined kerb.

Platform cairns were erected both singly or as part of larger cemeteries. 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 monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The well-preserved and unusual 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.

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 28m in diameter.