The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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Mynydd Herbert Round Barrow

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00228m
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Merthyr Mawr
Unitary authority : Bridgend
NGR : SS8514379838
Site Type (preferred type first) : Bronze Age Round barrow
Status : Scheduled Monument

Summary :
The Mynydd Herbert barrow comprises the well preserved earthwork of a round barrow c. 20m in diameter and 2.1m high which may incorporate elements of kerbing. The barrow is situated on a low knoll on the ridgeline of Stormy and Newton Downs, which lies between the South Welsh coast c. 3km to the south and the valley of the Afon Cenfig to the north. A number of other Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary and ritual monuments have been identified on this ridgeline including the Tythegston Long Barrow and the Mount Pleasant barrow.

Description :
The Mynydd Herbert barrow comprises the well preserved earthwork of a round barrow c. 20m in diameter and 2.1m high which may incorporate elements of kerbing. The barrow is situated on a low knoll on the ridgeline of Stormy and Newton Downs, which lies between the South Welsh coast c. 3km to the south and the valley of the Afon Cenfig to the north. A number of other Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary and ritual monuments have been identified on this ridgeline including the Tythegston Long Barrow (00287m) and the Mount Pleasant Barrow (00214m).

This barrow may once have formed part of a wider ceremonial landscape of early Bronze Age (if not earlier) date focussed on the ridge of higher ground formed by Stormy and Newton Downs between the coastal belt to the south and the valley of the Afon Cenfig to the north. When constructed the barrow may have had associations and shared visibility with other similar monuments within a landscape that was becoming increasingly cleared of woodland. Such associations remain hypothetical as most have been lost due to recent quarrying and introduction of the built form of RAF Stormy Down in the 19th century (Ford 2015).

The barrow is a large, well-marked bowl-shaped mound, covered in vegetation and scattered with blocks and boulders of limestone in random-seemed scatters and heaps, not now necessarily corresponding with the stones planned by RCAHMW in 1963; the general impression is that these have been dumped on the mound as the result of field clearance. The depression noted in the field monument warden's description of 1986 was not apparent, and has possibly been filled with stones. Dimensions: c24m diameter, c2.0m high.

(1957) A bracken covered barrow 20.0m in diameter and 2.0m high. It is in a pasture field and has no surrounding ditch. There are several blocks of stone with sides from 0.5m to 1.0m long all around the barrow. Some, at the foot, may be the remains of a retaining circle, but others are well up the sides of the mound. (Source 02)

(1963/1976) At the summit of a broad hill. The mound, 20m in diameter and 2.1m high, owes its steep-sided profile to the presence in its earth make-up of large blocks of local limestone. Most of these are embedded with from 0.3m to 0.9m of their height exposed, but some have rolled down the sides of the mound. Although some at the edge seem to be the remains of an original kerb, those higher up cannot be interpreted as inner settings of definite form. Additional stone has been dumped recently at the centre, and the whole is overgrown with brambles and bracken. (Source 01)

(1986) The barrow is situated on a low ridge in the middle of a large field, ploughed and sown with wheat. It is 22m in diameter, c 2.2m high, and covered in bracken and brambles. Some very large stones are lying on the slopes, and on the south side there are piles of stones. The north side is broken by a slight depression in the slope. (Source 06/07)

GGAT 72 Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites Project

Sources :
Ordnance Survey , 1st Edition OS map 6"
Roese H.E. , 1981 , Some aspects of Topographical locations of Neolithic and Bronze age monuments in Wales - III - Round Cairns and Round Barrows. , The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies : XXIX pt.3 : 575-587
02/MM Record Card/OS//1957/SS 87 NE 95/;
01/PM List/RCHM//1976/Glam Invent/No.262;
03/MM Photo/GGAT/Lewis W/1979-80//;
06/MM Desc Text/Cadw/Whittle E/13.01.86 AM7/(x2)/;
04/MM Record Card/OS//1976/SS 87 NE 95/;
05/MM Record Card/OS//1982/SS 87 NW 95/;
07/MM Desc Text/Cadw/Whittle E/13.01.1986 AM7/SS 87 NE /
07/MM Desc Text/Cadw/Whittle E/13.01.1986 AM7/SS 87 NE/
PM Desc Text/Evans EM/2000/GGAT 72 Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites Project
10/Desc Text/Cadw/Full Management Report/2005/Copy in further information file

Events :

Related records
National Monuments Record NPRN 93010
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00287m
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00214m

Compiled date : 01-02-1977


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