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Carn
Llechart
South Wales
Located
at the top of Carn Llechart Mountain is Carn Lechart burial chamber.
The mountain can be found northwest of the village of Pontardawe in the
upper Swansea Valley. This magnificent ring cairn is one of the largest ring cairns
in Wales. The unusual circle is
approx. 40ft across and consists of 25 stones that lean slightly outwards,
creating the crown of thorns effect. The
stones form a circle around the central, rectangular cist.
The east side stone of the central cist is missing, probably from the
site being disturbed. Also the
capstone that would have been there originally is now missing. Although now exposed, in its original state the site would
have been covered by and earthen mound. Evidence
of the original mound is shown in the hummocky ground around the cist.
There is also a small mound of stones within the southern end of the
circle. 2nd millennium BC is a possible date for this
site.
Aubrey
Burl wrote in "The Stone Circles of British Isles" that such rings
were thought to be the first stage of development of stone circles, but that
these cairns, however, are almost certainly too late to provide such an
ancestry. The reverse seems likely, that the existence of stone circles
elsewhere impelled people to place tall stones around the bases of their own
round cairns, a fusion of traditions resulting in monuments like spiky coronets.
Such cairns may be seen on North and South Uist, and in Wales at Carn Llechart
and Bryn
Cader Faner.
In the nearby area there is also a Neolithic burial chamber, and down the slope of the mountain are two Bronze Age stone cairns.
Photos
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