The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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Barrow, Mount Pleasant, Newton Down

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00214m
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Porthcawl
Unitary authority : Bridgend
NGR : SS8335879592
Site Type (preferred type first) : Bronze Age round barrow / Bronze Age Cairn

Summary :
Excavated in 1952, when it took the form of a plough-damaged mound covering a wrecked cairn 9.1m diameter with an earthen core, surrounded by an irregular quarry ditch with an internal diameter of 12.2m.

Description :
Excavated in 1952, when it took the form of a plough-damaged mound covering a wrecked cairn 9.1m diameter with an earthen core, surrounded by an irregular quarry ditch with an internal diameter of 12.2m. A small central pit covered by stones contained a mass of charcoal, some fragments of burnt bone and a small late BA collared urn which had apparently been broken deliberately before burial. A secondary burial at the edge had a quantity of burnt bone under an inverted urn of larger size, described as being of early middle Bronze Age type (Savory 1952).

The barrow is situated 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 Mynydd Herbert Round Barrow (00228m).

The site lies on a gentle slope with southern aspect overlooking the sea. There are a number of irregularities in the field - the farmer's wife pointed out a short length of bank/mound immediately adjacent to the gate into the farmyard as being the barrow, but this is too small and too close to the hedge to satisfy earlier descriptions. The irregularity closest to the NGR given by RCAHMW is a mound which has been almost completely ploughed out; the edge is now visible only in the SW quadrant, but it is difficult to give any assessment of height - it may at this point be still the 0.4m recorded in 1975.

Reference: Savory, H N, 1952, The excavation of a Neolithic dwelling and Bronze Age cairn at Mount Pleasant Farm, Nottage, Glamorgan, Trans Cardiff Naturalists' Soc 81, 75-89

(1952/1976) Slight traces remain of a cairn that was excavated in 1952 by Savory (BBCS 15 i 1952, 70-2; TCNS 81 1950-2, 75-89). Mound had been much ploughed down but covered a wrecked cairn surrounded by an irregular quarry ditch 12.2m in internal diameter. Enough of the cairn remained to show that it had an earthen core enclosed within a stone ring 9.1m in external diameter. A small central pit sealed by stones contained a mass of charcoal, a few fragments of burnt bone, and the pieces of a small late BA collared urn, apparently deliberately broken before burial. At the margin of the cairn was a larger cinerary urn, of early middle BA type, inverted over a quantity of burnt human bone and representing a secondary burial.
It overlay and partly destroyed the remains of a hut (PRN 06398w)

The 'tumulus' marked on the 6" OS map 100m W of the site (PRN 00212m), together with its two attendant mounds, was excavated at the same time and taken to represent old field clearance. (Source 05/03)

(1978) At the site is a disturbed, grass-covered mound, the top of which is at ground level in the north and has a height of 0.4m in the south. It has a diameter of 15.0m. (Source 04)

GGAT 72 Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites Project

Sources :
RCAHMW , 1976 , An inventory of the ancient monuments in Glamorgan Volume 1: Pre-Norman part1 The stone and bronze ages
Savory H.N. , 1952 , Excavation of a group of Round Barrows on Stormy Down near Pyle (Glam) , The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies : XV pt.I : 70-72
Savory, H N , 1952 , The excavation of a Neolithic dwelling and Bronze Age cairn at Mount Pleasant Farm, Nottage, Glamorgan , Trans Cardiff Naturalists’ Soc : 81 : 75-89
01/MM Record Card/OS//1956/SS 87 NW 27/;
02/PM Desc Text//Savory H.N/1952/Bull Board Celtic Stud/V.15 p70-2;
03/PM List/RCHM//1976/Glam Invent/No.256;
06/MM record card/OS//1954/SS 87 NW 25/;
04/MM Record Card/OS//1978/SS 87 NW 27/;
05/pm desc text//Savory HN/1050-2/TCNS/81 75-89;
PM Desc Text/Evans EM/2000/GGAT 72 Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites Project

Events :
E001817 : Mount Pleasant, Newton Down (year : 1951)
E001818 : Mount Pleasant, Newton Down Excavation (year : 1952)
E001959 : Mount Pleasant, Newton Down (year : 2000)

Related records
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00212m
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 06398m
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00228m
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00287m

Compiled date : 13-03-1987


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