Front and side view of Tinkinswood showing shape and detail of the drystone walling forecourt.
Situated
on the edge of a wooded grove just down the road and round the
corner from St. Lythans barrow, the partially restored remains of Tinkinswood
form an impressive chambered
tomb of the 'Cotswold-Severn' type.
The site consists of a rectangular mound some 40 metres
long and nearly 20 metres wide oriented southwest to northeast built of rubble and stone blocks and edged with a course of drystone walling that curves inward at the eastern end to form an impressive forecourt. These distinctive horned forecourts are a common feature of Cotswold-Severn tombs and may have formed a focus for funerary rituals.
Behind the forecourt a short entrance leads to a single burial chamber formed by five upright slabs supporting the largest capstone in Britain, a massive flat slab measuring around 7 metres in length, 4.6 metres wide, a metre thick and weighing over 40 tons The chamber was excavated in 1914 and was found to contain the remains of more that fifty individuals along with the remnants of animal bones, flint tools and pottery. There is also a stone-lined cist located towards the northern edge of the mound that may be the remains of an earlier barrow which was later incorporated into the mound.
Tinkinswood was formerly known as Castell Carrigan, meaning the Witches Castle, and according to legend it represents a group of women turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath - a common piece of folklore attached to many ancient sites, particularly stone circles.
This site is enclosed behind a gated wire fence (presumably to protect it from the sheep it shares a field with?) and is a short walk from a small parking place on the St Nicholas to Dyffryn Gardens road. Beside this path are several large stones but whether they are connected with the site is not clear.
Date: Neolithic
The site consists of a rectangular mound some 40 metres
long and nearly 20 metres wide oriented southwest to northeast built of rubble and stone blocks and edged with a course of drystone walling that curves inward at the eastern end to form an impressive forecourt. These distinctive horned forecourts are a common feature of Cotswold-Severn tombs and may have formed a focus for funerary rituals. Behind the forecourt a short entrance leads to a single burial chamber formed by five upright slabs supporting the largest capstone in Britain, a massive flat slab measuring around 7 metres in length, 4.6 metres wide, a metre thick and weighing over 40 tons The chamber was excavated in 1914 and was found to contain the remains of more that fifty individuals along with the remnants of animal bones, flint tools and pottery. There is also a stone-lined cist located towards the northern edge of the mound that may be the remains of an earlier barrow which was later incorporated into the mound.
Tinkinswood was formerly known as Castell Carrigan, meaning the Witches Castle, and according to legend it represents a group of women turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath - a common piece of folklore attached to many ancient sites, particularly stone circles.
This site is enclosed behind a gated wire fence (presumably to protect it from the sheep it shares a field with?) and is a short walk from a small parking place on the St Nicholas to Dyffryn Gardens road. Beside this path are several large stones but whether they are connected with the site is not clear.
Date: Neolithic
The front of the chamber with drystone walling on either side - looking southwest.
Side view of the capstone and chamber.
The cist on the north side of the mound in the foreground.
