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PREHISTORIC BRECKNOCK, By H. N. SAVORY A. INTRODUCTION To review the prehistory of Brecknock is an attractive, but at the same time a tantalizing project for an archaeologist. For rich though the county is in pre-Roman monuments, very few of these have been adequately excavated, and the numbers of significant objects, whether from excava- tions or chance discoveries, that can be studied in publications or in museums, is smaller than might be expected from the number and variety of ancient monuments. When Theophilus Jones wrote his excellent History at the beginning of the last century he was able to record a number of excavations, by himself or his friends, in local cairns and 'cromlechs' but this early spurt of intelligent interest was not strongly sustained during the rest of the century. There are a few records of discoveries in round cairns during this long period, but the only cairn excavation of which we possess a reasonably good record is that carried out by T. C. Cantrill at Ystradfellte in 1898 and apart from this the only good plan of a prehistoric site made before the 1920*8 is the precious one of the Llangorse Crannog prepared by the Rev. E. N. Dumbleton in 18682. It was not until the inter- war period that fresh contributions were made to our knowledge of the chambered long cairns of the county by a locally resident group of anti- quarians consisting of Mr. C. E. Vulliamy and the late Messrs. A. F. Gwynne and R. G. Sandeman, and not until even more recently that, thanks to the enthusiasm of the late Sir J. C. Lloyd, and the survey carried out by Mr. W. F. Grimes, two of the cairns were thoroughly excavated. Thanks to the surveys of Col. W. Ll. Morgan and Mr. W. F. Grimes the superficial aspects of the stone circles and alignments of Brecknock are also comparatively well known but even here it was not until 1940 that one was scientifically excavated by Mr. G. C. Dunning, who at the same time carried out the first really modern excavation of a round cairn in 1 The following abbreviated references are used A—Arcbaologia AC—Arcbaologia Cambtensis Ant. Journ.—Antiquaries Journal BBCS-Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies HB — Theophilus Jones, History of Brecknockshire, Glanusk Edition, 1910 LBC- Crawford, Long Barrows of the Cotswolds, 1925 PCT-Daniel, Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, 1950; PPS-Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society; P W-G rimes, Prebistory Wales, I95I Topographical Dictionary of Wales, I833; TSSS— Prehistory of Wales, 1951 TD-Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1833 TSSS- Transactions of the Swansea Scientific Society TWNFC—Transactions of the Woolhopt Naturalists' Field Club. a AC, 1870, p. 192.