Rhos Crug Round Barrows

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of three earthen built round barrows, which probably date to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). The barrows are generally circular in shape on plan and have rounded profiles. Two of the barrows (A and B) lie virtually adjacent to one another on a hilltop with panoramic views, while the third (C), which is also known as Tump Mound, lies c.540m to the south-south-east on a local summit towards the southern end of a ridge. Barrow A is slightly oval in plan, c.17m long, c.15.6m wide, and c.1.7m high. A depression running for c.2.8m east-west in the centre of the mound and a more recent pit on the north-east suggest that this barrow may have been disturbed. Barrow B lies immediately to the east of Barrow A and is c.13m in diameter and c.1.5m high. Barrow C, the outlier, is c.13.5m in diameter and c.1.5m high, with a slight depression in the centre c.1m in diameter and c.0.2m deep. None of the barrows has any obvious trace of a ditch.

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.