Burial Chamber, Dyffryn Ardudwy, Gwynedd, Wales
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Ddraig Ddu
N 52° 47.077 W 004° 05.660
30U E 426195 N 5848872
A neolithic burial chamber in Dyffryn Ardudwy in Gwynedd dated to somewhere between 3,000 to 1,900 years ago.
Waymark Code: WMAEZJ
Location: North Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/07/2011
Views: 5
The monument was erected in the neolithic age in somewhere between 3,000 - 1,900 B.C. for the communal burial for the dead. It was originally covered by a mound of stones but this site excavated in the 1960's. It was one of the first sites where multi period building was recognised, and has become central to the understanding of the portal dolmen group in the UK.
This site features 'portal dolmens' and they form the most common type of tomb in this region of the UK. They stand at the centre of the farmed land, a focus for the community like a parish church today, and many of them are striking and daring examples of architectural engineering. The western chamber here is a beautiful monument and one of the most classic in design.
The monument consists of a rectangular cairn containing two chambers facing up the hill. The western one is believed to be the earlier of the two. It is a small structure with an H-shaped portal with a high closing slab, a rectangular chamber and sloping capstone - all typical features of the local portal dolmen. It was then covered by a small, circular cairn held back from the forecourt area by drystone walls running up to the entrance stones.
The current belief that they are amongst the earliest tombs built in the UK, and this is largely the result to excavations carried out here at the Dyffryn Ardudwy Chambers.