Just down the road and round the corner from St. Lythans barrow, Tinkinswood is a chambered tomb of the Severn-Cotswold type which contains the largest capstone in Britain, around 9 metres long, 4 metres wide and weighing over 40 tons. Situated on the edge of a wooded grove, the southwest-northeast mound is some 40 metres long and built of rubble and stone blocks and edged with drystone walling with the capstone resting on 5 uprights as well as recently added brick supports. Within these blocks the northeastern facing entrance and burial chamber, which was excavated in 1914, contained the remains of more that 50 bodies with remnants of animal bones, flint tools and pottery. There is also a stone cist incorporated in the north side of the top of the mound and well as several large stones beside the path that leads to the chamber. Whether these outlying stones are connected with the site is not clear.
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.
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.
Glossary Item: Neolithic