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Carn Llechart Stone Circle

A Scheduled Monument in Pontardawe, Neath Port Talbot (Castell-nedd Port Talbot)

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.7399 / 51°44'23"N

Longitude: -3.888 / 3°53'16"W

OS Eastings: 269734

OS Northings: 206268

OS Grid: SN697062

Mapcode National: GBR GZ.JGLD

Mapcode Global: VH4JR.KJFJ

Entry Name: Carn Llechart Stone Circle

Scheduled Date: 3 May 1935

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 3561

Cadw Legacy ID: GM078

Schedule Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Category: Round cairn

Period: Prehistoric

County: Neath Port Talbot (Castell-nedd Port Talbot)

Community: Pontardawe

Traditional County: Glamorgan

Description

The monument comprises the remains a burial cairn probably dating to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). It is located on moorland at 290m above OD. The round cairn is circular on plan and consists of a ring of twenty-five stone slabs probably all originally upright but now mostly leaning outwards slightly. It measures 13.1m in internal diameter. The slabs vary in length from 0.6m to 2.5m, none stands more than 0.9m high. The level stony interior is very slightly above the surrounding ground level. At the centre is a robbed-out rectangular cist measuring 2.1m long by 1.2m wide. The eastern slab of the cist is missing but the remaining side stones are in position through the southern slab leans inwards. To the west of the cist is a mound of upcast from its excavation.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. 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, together with environmental and structural evidence. Cairns 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.

Source: Cadw

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