Mynydd Crwn standing stone

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 standing stone, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within enclosed rough pasture on the rounded SW-facing slopes of Mynydd Crwn, on the S flanks of Mynydd Preseli. The standing stone measures 1.8m in height, 0.9m in thickness from NNE to SSW by 0.5m in width.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric ritual practices. The monument is well preserved and is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape. Such standing stones are assumed to have had some form of religious or ceremonial function - they may have formed a link to the celestial landscape that ruled the days, seasons and weather so important in the lives of their builders. What is not in doubt is that their positions within the physical landscape were deliberately chosen and these settings form an integral element of the importance of the individual monuments. For example, standing stones and stone rows may have acted as markers within the landscape, guiding the eye, the traveller or the ceremonial procession. The monument retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits.

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 8m in diameter.