The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

The following information has been provided under the terms and conditions of access as detailed on GGAT’s website www.ggat.org.uk.  Copyright is reserved on all data supplied by the GGAT HER Charitable Trust. All output resulting from the use of the data must acknowledge the source as follows:-
Derived from information held by the GGAT HER Charitable Trust copyright.

The data below is intended to be used for information and research only and is not for use as part of a commercial project.  If you wish to use information derived from material held by the GGAT HER Charitable Trust for publication in printed or multimedia form or to compile resources for commercial use, prior permission must be obtained in writing. For further information or to arrange a visit to the Trust please send an enquiry form http://www.ggat.org.uk/her/english/enquiry_form.html to her@ggat.org.uk.

Cairn, Lower Hale Wood (1 of 3)

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 03940g
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Tintern
Unitary authority : Monmouthshire
NGR : SO5211700882
Site Type (preferred type first) : Bronze Age Round barrow cemetery
Status : Scheduled Monument

Summary :
This highly eroded cairn is a member of the Lower Hale Wood Round Barrow Cemetery, which in 1975 and 1992 Cadw workers were unable to locate due to heavy forestation. The forestry growth was still dense at the time of the present visit although a roughly

Description :
This highly eroded cairn is a member of the Lower Hale Wood Round Barrow Cemetery, which in 1975 and 1992 Cadw workers were unable to locate due to heavy forestation. The forestry growth was still dense at the time of the present visit although a roughly circular mound characterised by moss-covered stones was visible 20m NE from the road. The cairn is low and covered by dense woodland scrub and felled mature pine trees of various sizes. It appears higher to the SE side with a poorly defined perimeter. The top of the cairn is relatively flat, highly disturbed, with a depression to the centre of the SW side. The cairns are known as "Devils Lap Stones" and there is a local traditon that they are burial mounds of soldiers killed in a battle in the vicinity.
Dimensions: diameter 12m E-W; height 1m
(1975) Three large limestone cairns, A) c.80ft diameter, 5ft high, very heavily robbed probably for its limestone. B) 50ft diameter, 4ft high. C) 30ft diameter, 1ft 6" high. These cairns are now in very dense coniferous plantations, with dense undergrowth, and are impossible to reach. There are no paths or other means of access to them. (Source 04)

(1982) A circular cairn with a diameter of 19m and a height of 1.8m. The SE quadrant has been removed from the centre outwards to level ground. There is no trace of any spoil heap and the destruction appears to be the result of robbing for road metal.
At SO 51960091 is another cairn (725g) with a diameter of 12m and an average height of 1.5m. It does not appear to have been opened though it is pitted as a result of successive tree planting and it has apparently been pulled down slightly to the S. At the time of investigation it was heaped with tree branches.
Both cairns are well down a long and gentle SE slope and are in a most unlikely topographical situation for a beacon. Although the stones of which both cairns are composed are angular and some are as large as 2ft by 8" they are comparable to the many surface and near surface stones in the vicinity. There are no minor quarries near.
The cairns are known as "Devils Lap Stones" and there is a local traditon that they are burial mounds of soldiers killed in a battle in the vicinity. (Source 02)

(1992) It was not possible to confirm the description of these barrows as A) and C) are situated in a dense coniferous plantation. Although it is possible to walk under the trees everything is coated in a blanket of pine needles. There was stone scattered throughout the forest and some in concentrations which could have been cairns. B) was situated in more open wood which had a dense layer of dead bracken covering the ground. I located a position which may have been a barrow but there were no features to confrm it. (Source03)
GGAT 72 Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites Project 2003

Sources :
Blockley, M and Dingwall, L , 2000 , An assessment of the archaeological and industrial heritage of the Wye Valley AONB
03/MM Desc Text/Cadw/1993/AM107
02/MM Record Card/OS/1982/SO 50 SW 11
01/PM List/Lillie MC/1991/Bronze Age Gwent (University of Nottingham dissertation) p61
Pm desc text/Evans EM/2003/GGAT 72 Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites Project
03/MM Desc Text/Cadw/1992/AM107
04/MM Desc Text/Cadw/1975/AM107

Events :
E004581 : Forest Enterprise Welsh Heritage Assets Project:Rhondda/St Gwynno (year : 1999)
E002646 : Assessment of the Wye Valley DBA (year : 2000)
E008772 : GGAT52: Monmouthshire Historic Settlements, Trellech & Usk (year : 1997)

Related records
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 8409g
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 724g
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 725g

Compiled date : 03-07-1988


March 28, 2025, 12:38 pm - HTML file produced from GGAT HER Charitable Trust Ltd. Heathfield House, Heathfield, Swansea SA1 Tel. 01792 655208; Fax 01792 474469 website: www.ggat.org.uk  email: her@ggat.org.uk Registered Charity no. 505609
Data supplied by in partnership with Local Authorities, Cadw and the partners of ENDEX © GGAT HER Charitable Trust, 2025 (and in part © Crown, 2025).