Scheduled MonumentsWalesAllt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex
Prehistoric · Cairn

Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex

Meirionnydd, Wales
Cadw SAM ME213
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Cairn
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
The designation
Reference
Cadw SAM ME213
Authority
Cadw
Designated
2003-05-14
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex is a prehistoric cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference ME213. The site sits upon bedrock of Ordovician Extrusive Rocks, comprising mafic lavas and tuffs formed during the Ordovician period over 440 million years ago. This volcanic geology has shaped the local landscape and the stone resources available to Bronze Age communities.

The cairn represents a significant ritual and burial focus for prehistoric inhabitants of the region. Such monuments typically served as communal burial places and ceremonial centres, constructed through the accumulation of stone gathered from the surrounding terrain. The dark volcanic stones of the underlying bedrock would have been readily accessible for this monumental construction.

Bronze Age ritual complexes of this type reflect the spiritual beliefs and social organisation of their builders. The monument's survival to the modern day, despite millennia of agricultural use and weathering, testifies to its original substantial construction. Its protected status acknowledges the importance of the site to understanding prehistoric Welsh settlement, burial practice and the relationship between early communities and their geological environment.

Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME213. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex?

Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex is a prehistoric cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference ME213.

What period does Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex date from?

Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex?

Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex 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 ME213.

What other scheduled monuments are near Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Waen Fach Standing Stone (3.4 km), Crop marks (revealed by Aerial photography) SE of Pen-y-Sarn, Bryn-Crug (4.3 km), Domen Ddreiniog (4.4 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex

Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.