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Afon Bedol cist is a prehistoric stone burial chamber located in Wales, protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference CN361. The cist comprises a stone-built burial vault, a burial form characteristic of Bronze Age communities across Britain and Ireland, though earlier examples are known from the Neolithic period. The monument sits upon bedrock of Caradoc Rocks, an undifferentiated sequence of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone deposited during the Caradocian period of the Ordovician era, geological strata that would have provided workable stone for the cist's construction.
Cists of this type functioned as individual or family burial chambers, typically containing inhumed human remains accompanied by grave goods reflecting the status and beliefs of the deceased. The stone construction afforded protection to the burial and may have supported a protective earthen mound or cairn, though surface evidence of such superstructure may no longer be visible. The Afon Bedol cist represents an important survival of mortuary practice in prehistoric Wales, contributing to understanding of funerary customs and settlement patterns in upland regions during the Bronze Age.
Afon Bedol cist is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN361. View the official record →
Afon Bedol cist is a prehistoric stone burial chamber located in Wales, protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference CN361.
Afon Bedol cist dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a cist burial. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Afon Bedol cist is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is CN361.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Capel Curig cairn (4 km), Dyffryn Mymbyr cairn circle (4.8 km), Hut Circle Settlement at Nant Bochllwyd (4.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Afon Bedol cist's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Afon Bedol cist stands on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.