KERB CAIRNS

Not all cairns take the form of a heap of stones. Kerb cairns were made by constructing a very small ring of large kerbstones and filling in the centre. There are very few examples in southeast Wales, which seem to be strays from the main concentration in Mid Wales.

A kerb cairn on Cefn Gwrhyd north of Pontardawe, Neath Port Talbot. This is a particularly small example - the scale pole in 1m long.

Roll the cursor over the images to see the features mentioned in the text.

The cairn on Coed-Pen-Maen Common in Pontypridd, has been badly damaged. The mound has been completely flattened, but some parts of the cairn still survive. Near the centre is the cist with its lining of larger stones than the previous cairn; it will originally have had another stone as a capstone but this is now missing. At the back can be seen a couple of the stones which originally made up the kerb. They are quite widely spaced and much smaller than the stones of the stone circle - some are so low that they are hidden in the grass.

The photograph on the left shows a cairn on Rhossili Down on Gower, Swansea. It also has very few traces of a mound, but the kerb is quite well preserved

To see more pictures of cairns follow the link. Round Barrow & Cairn Gallery