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About 400 metres uphill
to the northeast is the very impressive platform cairn. This huge
structure was built to cover the burial of an adult and child whose
cremated bones were placed in an urn beneath a large stone in the south of
the cairn. It was originally a large wide ring with an open centre, the
inner edge being lined with a circle of small standing stones. In the
centre is a large post hole.
The cairn is mostly constructed with large boulders
but their scarcity in the area must have resulted in parts of the inner
structure being formed of clay. The whole surface is covered in flat slabs
of stone to give it a uniform appearance.
The inner raised stone circle consists of 26 uprights and the inner section was filled with stone at a later stage. Charcoal from under the clay has been dated at around 1560BC. |
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Kerb
Cairn About 600 metres
downhill to the southeast on the flat valley floor is a small kerb cairn.
Go downhill towards the fence and follow this towards a gate below the
trees. You will probably see the glacial erratic boulder ahead first and
the cairn is near this to the left beside a small stream.
The kerb cairn The cairn is 4.5 metres
across and edged with 12 stones. Soil and stones were put inside to form a
low mound which covered a cremation burial. On the north edge and running
under the cairn is a circle of post holes with a central hearth which
might have been an earlier ritual site or domestic structure.
View
showing the post hole positions
Close up of the kerb cairn |
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There are many other smaller cairns about and 30 small groups of stones have been recorded in the Brenig site. The small lakeside cairn to the southeast was first thought to have been a hut circle but on excavation a cremation burial was found. On the way back near the ring cairn there is a stile which leads straight uphill towards a post which takes you to the site of a 16th century farm settlement. Here a circle of postholes was found which may have been a prehistoric hut |
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2.6.01 |
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