Tinkinswood
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| Location | near St. Nicholas (Sain Nicolas) and Barry (Y Barri) |
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| Region | Vale of Glamorgan (Bro Morgannwg), Wales (Welsh: Cymru) |
| Coordinates | 51°27′4.96″N 3°18′29.17″W / 51.4513778°N 3.3081028°WCoordinates: 51°27′4.96″N 3°18′29.17″W / 51.4513778°N 3.3081028°W |
| Type | Dolmen |
| History | |
| Periods | Neolithic |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | good with some damage |
Tinkinswood or its full name Tinkinswood Burial Chamber (Welsh: Siambr Gladdu Tinkinswood), also known as Castell Carreg, Llech-y-Filiast and Maes-y-Filiast, is a megalithic burial chamber, built around 6,000 BP (before Present), during the Neolithic period, in the Vale of Glamorgan, near Cardiff, Wales.
The structure is called a dolmen, which was the most common megalithic structure in Europe. The dolmen is of the Severn-Cotswold tomb type, and consists of a large capstone on top, with smaller upright stones supporting it. The limestone capstone at Tinkinswood weighs approximately 40 long tons and measures 24 feet (7.3 m) x 14 ft (4.3 m); it is thought to be the largest in Britain, and also in Europe. It would have taken some 200 people to lift the stone into the correct position. It was originally all covered by a mound of soil, which has been removed over time, now the remaining mound behind the structure measures approximately 130 ft (40 m) x 59 ft (18 m) in size.
Tinkinswood was a once a village but now all that remains is the burial chamber, which was built about 6000 BP, about 1,000 years or so before Stonehenge was constructed. The site was excavated in 1914, and inside the chamber there were 920 human bones, which were nearly all broken. This showed that at least forty people of all ages and sexes were buried there during the Neolithic period; it would appear to be a burial chamber used by the whole settlement. The corpses of the dead were probably left exposed before being moved into the burial chamber. Neolithic and Bell-Beaker style pottery has also been found, this showed that the burial chamber tomb was probably used by a community over a long period of time, maybe up until the early Bronze Age period. Restoration work was carried out at the same time, with a brick pillar built to support the capstone.
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