CPAT Regional Historic Environment Record
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Gop Cairn

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 102207
Trust : Clwyd Powys
Community : Trelawnyd and Gwaenysgor
Unitary authority : Flintshire
NGR : SJ08658016
Site Type (preferred type first) : BRONZE AGE ROUND BARROW / NEOLITHIC ROUND BARROW
Status : scheduled monument

Description :
Massive cairn 12m high x 80m diameter built mostly of stone. Explored 1886-87 by mining down from the centre. No finds of interest. Reportedly used as a beacon site in the 17th century.

Illicit stone removal on lower, south-west slope of cairn has exposed up to 2m of a possible revetement composed of coursed, thin limestone (Brassil, K 1986b, 33).

Largest cairn in Wales, 330ft NW-SE x 223ft NE-SW x 40ft high. Composed of local limestone. Summit has been lowered or flattened. Excavated by Boyd Dawkins 1886 and 1887 by sinking a shaft in the centre to a depth of 26ft at original ground level. From base of shaft a drift was made 6ft high and 4ft wide in a NW direction for distance of 30ft. Two other drifts intersected the first. No chamber revealed and no finds recovered (Davies 1949, 156-62).

Situated on summit of Gop Hill. The stabilisation work carried out fairly recently by Clwyd CC (?Andre Berry) seems to have been unsuccessful (CPAT 1999).

It is possible that it covers a middle Neolithic Passage Grave.... The dominant siting and scale of the monument suggest comparison with the great cruciform Passage Graves of Ireland and the presence of decorated orthostats from such a tomb in Liverpool make it geographically feasible (Lynch, Frances, 2003).

Sources :
Boyd Dawkins, W , 1901 , On the cairn and sepulchral cave at Gop, near Prestatyn , Archaeological Journal : 58 : 322-41
Boyd Dawkins, W , 1902 , On the cairn and sepulchral cave at Gop, near Prestatyn , Archaeologia Cambrensis : 2 : 161-85
Boyd Dawkins, W , 1921 , Ruthin meeting report , Archaeologia Cambrensis : 76 : 412
Brassil, K , 1986 , Gop Cairn, Trelawnyd , Archaeology in Wales : 26 : 33
Burnham, H., 1995 , A Guide to Ancient and Historic Wales: Clwyd and Powys
Cadw , 1986-93 , Cadw Field Monument Wardens Report - FL007(FLT)
Cadw , 2000 , Cadw Field Monument Wardens Report - Fl007(FLT)
Cadw , 2004 , Cadw Field Monument Wardens Report - Fl007(FLT)
Cadw , 2016 , Conservation work at Bryn Gop Cairn ( © Cadw)
Cadw , 2017 , Scheduled Monument consent letter
Cadw , ND , Scheduling map - FL007(FLT)
Clwyd Archaeology Service , 1979 , Site visit record - PRN102207
Clwyd Archaeology Service , 1988 , Site visit record - PRN102207
Clwyd Archaeology Service , 1993 , Andre Cleans up his Act ( © )
Clwyd Archaeology Service , 1993 , Site visit record - PRN102207
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 1988 , Site visit record - PRN102207
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 1999 , Site visit record - PRN102207
Davies, E., 1949 , The Prehistoric and Roman Remains of Flintshire
Jones, N W , 2000 , Prehistoric Funerary & Ritual Sites: Flintshire and Wrexham: project report ( © Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust)
Lloyd, G , 1967 , Seventeenth century beacons in North Wales
Lynch, Frances , 2003 , Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monuments in Flintshire and Wrexham , Flintshire Historical Society Journal : 36 : 19-31
Ordnance Survey , 1959 , OS record card SJ 08 SE 23

Events :
49307 : Gop Cairn, excavation 1886-87 (year : 1886)
43121 : Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monuments, Flintshire and Wrexham, assessment project 2000 (year : 2000)
59044 : Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monuments, Flintshire and Wrexham, desktop study 2000 (year : 2000)
59045 : Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monuments, Flintshire and Wrexham, field survey project 2000 (year : 2000)
142613 : Gop cairn, scrub clearance 2016 (year : 2016)

Related records

Compiled date : 31-08-1993


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Archaeological data, from the Historic Environment Record, supplied by The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust in partnership with Local Authorities, Cadw and the partners of ENDEX © CPAT, 2025 (and in part © Crown, 2025). It is intended to be used for private research only and is not for use as part of commercial projects. If you wish to use this information for publication in printed or multimedia form or to compile resources for commercial use, prior permission must be obtained in writing. Use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of access to HER data published on CPAT's website. Please contact the HER if you have any further questions regarding this information. Please quote the Primary Reference Numbers (PRNs) in any correspondence.

March 29, 2025, 9:40 pm - File produced for Archwilio from CPAT's Regional HER.
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, The Offices, Coed y Dinas, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 8RP
tel (01938) 553670, email her@cpat.org.uk, website www.cpat.org.uk

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