CPAT Regional Historic Environment Record
The following information is from the on-line database 'Archwilio'.
Use the icons in the sources section below to download further digital information.

Clyro Court, chambered tomb

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 2170
Trust : Clwyd Powys
Community : Clyro
Unitary authority : Powys
NGR : SO2122343149
Site Type (preferred type first) : NEOLITHIC CHAMBERED TOMB
Status : scheduled monument

Description :
MOUND SOME 32M NE-SW BY 16.5M WIDE AND 1.1M HIGH (MAX). FIVE UPRIGHT SLABS PROTRUDE FROM MOUND SURFACE, 4 OF THEM IN A RECTANGULAR DISPOSITION WHICH SUGGESTS TO RCAHM ARCHIVE, THAT THEY FORM PART OF A SEVERN COTSWOLD TOMB. LARGEST SLAB 1.8M LONG BY 0.3M THICK. NO FURTHER DETAIL.

LOW EGG-SHAPED MOUND CONTAINING WHAT APPEARS TO BE A RUINED CHAMBER (DUNN, C.J., 1988, 29).

(CT 13) COURT FARM, CLYRO, (Radnorshire) (Fig. 15a,b)
The vestigial remains of a Megalithic Tomb arch.camb.were recognised at CLYRO COURT in 1973 by W.E.Griffiths,1 lying in hummocky pasture on a river terrace about 10 m above the the R. Wye some 60 m above O.D.
History. Curiously, the site has been a well-known landmark for several centuries, the name Carnaf [= Carnau, or the Cairns] being the title given by the monks of Abbey Cwmhir to lands they administered in this locality at CLYRO.2
The site. The tomb remains lie among several other low, enigmatic earthworks, which survive in the surrounding field. They appear to be early domestic boundary or garden divisions probably of medieval origin. The N.W. end of the megalith, which seems to have been re-shaped by built or dumped stone, may at some time have been incorporated into these, possibly as the base of a summer house or dove cote.
The Mound. Recognisable mound survives about 32 m long (N.E.-S.W.) with a maximum breadth of 16.5 m about a third of the distance from the N.E. end. It stands up to 1.1 m high about 8 m from the S.W. end. Along the scarp edge the site has been modified by creation of a slight but straight bank, now low, but which at some time presumably formed an effective boundary.
Chambers. The remains of one, possibly two chambers survive within a slight hollow towards the S.W. end of the earthwork. These comprise four large slabs of a local sedimentary rock up to 1.6 m long, 0.1-2 m thick and standing up to 0.5 m high. They are paired in two groups. All are tangentially aligned, the more southerly pair set almost at right-angles, as if the two sides comprise half a robbed chamber. The rear of the southwestern slab is exposed to show packing stones helping maintain its upright position.
The other pair are not so readily identified as part of a structure, the south-western slab lying approximately N.-S., its partner converging to narrow their distance apart from a gap about 1.5 m wide on the S. to about 0.5 m on the N. A small, flat, outlying slab along the same alignment as the W. stone in a northward direction may be original and could hint at the existence of a longer, transepted gallery. The structural relationship of several other, smaller upright stones, is unclear.
The area is one which has produced a considerable number of flints attesting to prehistoric activity from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age.3
1.O.S.Card SO 24 SW 18; C.H.Houlder, Arch.in Wales 13 (1973), p.63.
2.R.C.A.M.,Inv.Rads, no.120,
RCAHMW, 1995 - Draft Inventory description

Chambered long cairn identified during field survey for RCAM by Mr W E Griffiths. Mound is 32m long oriented NE-SW, and max breadth is 16.5m, and max height 1.1m. Outline not easy to define because of erosion and disturbance. Structure of chamber (11m from SW end) has also been interfered with. Five upright slabs protrude form the surface of the mound, 4 of them in rectangular disposition, suggestive of Seven Cotswold tombs of this area. Largest slab is 1.8m long x 0.3m thick (Houlder, 1973).

Grass-covered stony cairn situated within improved pasture, on the leading edge of a substantial and prominent S-facing riverine terrace (Cadw, 2003).

The site overlooks the Wye floodplain to E and SE. The owner has found 2 Neolithic stone axes, but location uncertain. (CPAT 2002)

May be considered (along with PRN422) to be an outlier of the important grouping of chambered tombs in the northern Black Mountains (Jones, Nigel W, 2004, pp155).

A number of edge-set slabs are visible defining the remains of one, or perhaps two chambers, although with no indication of an access passage. (Jones, N W, 2012, pp4).

Sources :
Cadw , 2003 , Cadw Field Monument Wardens Report - RD203(POW)
Cadw , 2003 , Scheduling map - RD203(POW)
Cadw , 2003 , Scheduling map - RD203(POW)
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 1977 , CPAT Project Archive
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 1979 , Site visit record - PRN2170
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 2002 , Site visit record - PRN2170
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 2003 , CPAT Project Archive - 715
Dunn, C J , 1988 , The Barrows Of East-central Powys , Archaeologia Cambrensis : 137 : 27-42
Houlder, C H , 1973 , Court Farm, Clyro , Archaeology in Wales : 13 : 63
Jones, N W , 2003 , 78 Meliden Road, Prestatyn, Denbighshire. Archaeological Watching Brief
Jones, N W , 2012 , The Neolithic Chambered Tombs of Breconshire ( © Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust)
Jones, Nigel W , 2004 , Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monuments in Radnorshire , The Transactions of the Radnorshire Society : 74 : 151-168
Nash, G , 1997 , At the centre of the Neolithic world: The spatial arrangement of chambered monuments within the Black Mountains Group, Central Wales
Ordnance Survey , 1981 , OS record card SO24SW 18
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales , RCAHMW archives - SO24SW
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales , 1995 , An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Brecknock (Brycheiniog); The Prehistoric and Roman Monuments, Part i - draft text
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales , 1997 , An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Brecknock (Brycheiniog); The Prehistoric and Roman Monuments, Part i
Silvester, R J , 1994 , Radnorshire Historic Settlements ( © Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust)
2. R.C.A.M.,Inv.Rads, no.120, Clyro Court Farm,p.35.
3. Trans Radnors.Soc. 30 (1960), pp.57-61; 31 (1961), pp.47-52; barbed and tanged arrowhead Brecknock Museum, R.302.3.
Clyro

Events :
123622 : The Neolithic Chambered Tombs of Breconshire, field survey project 2012 (year : 2012)

Related records

Compiled date : 31-12-1985


Images :



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 28, 2025, 2:09 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

Comment on this record?       Privacy and cookies