Gwernvale Long Barrow, Crickhowell, Monmouthshire South East Wales, British Isles [Map]

Long Barrows of the Cotswolds. Gwernvale Long Barrow [Map]

Brecknockshire, 41 N.E. Parish of Crickhowell. 6*.

Latitude 51° 51' 55". Longitude 3° 08' 45". Height above O.D. 253 feet.

"This cromlech, one end of which adjoined the Brecon turnpike road on the south side, was immediately opposite Gwernvale, about half-a-mile from Crickhowell: it consisted as usual of a huge tablet of unhewn stone mounted upon five supporters pitched edgewise in the ground, the superincumbent stone or cover inclining to the south and open in the front to the north: it was placed on a high mound, long overrun with brushwood and brambles, and formerly there seem to have been stones placed edgewise also round what is now almost a semi-circle; whether before the turnpike road was made they extended so as to describe an irregular circle I know not; but I am inclined to think that the appearance of the spot was materially altered by the intersection of the highway; and that upon that occasion the workmen ... anticipated our attempt to make discoveries under the cromlech; in that case the object, though far different from ours, was probably equally unsuccessful. .... the experiment in 1804 proved nothing either way (as to the sepulchral or other object of the cromlech)¹."

The above somewhat guarded account by Theophilus Jones may be supplemented by an extract from an unpublished diary of Sir Richard Colt Hoare's, kindly contributed by Mr. A. D. Passmore who possessed the manuscript:- "Saturday, May 26th (1803). This morning was devoted to opening a cromlech or kistvaen adjoining the turnpike road near Crickhowell and opposite the house of Mr. Everett: with some difficulty the upper stone, measuring ten feet in length, being removed, we dug to the base of the surrounding upright stones, which had supported the recumbent one, but found no signs of an interment or relics; but a few pieces of charcoal seem to indicate cremation. [This does not follow at all. - O.G.S.C.] The history of the cromlech has not as yet been sufficiently ascertained, and it remains a doubt whether it was designed for an altar or sepulchre. The kistvaen or stone chest was clearly designed for an interment."

The burial-chamber stands in an allotment close by the side of the Brecon-Crickhowell road, from which it is separated only by a wall. It lies on the south side of the road, nearly 200 yards east of the first milestone from Grickhowell and opposite the entrance drive to Gwernvale House. About eight large, upright slabs are still in position, they are about 5 feet in height. The plan of the chamber is polygonal, and the entrance (on the S.W.), is flanked by two uprights. Except for the disappearance of the capstone removed by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, the monument does not seem to have suffered much. It is probable that the orientation was from N.E. - S.W., which is what the orientation of the chamber and approach now is; but the mound has almost vanished, though the earth being banked up much higher on the outer side of the stones forming the chamber proves that a mound existed. The chamber is now used as a receptacle for old pails, bottles and jam jars, and is probably, from its position, in considerable danger of destruction. Its interest does not appear to be realised locally.

Note 1. Theophilus Jones, History of the County of Brecknock, Vol. ii. 1809, 435.

Sir Richard Colt Hoare, A Tour through Wales in 1803 (unpublished MS. in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff).