© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw
Allt Lwyd Cairn I is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under the reference ME214. The monument sits upon bedrock composed of unnamed extrusive rocks of Ordovician age, specifically mafic lava and mafic tuff formed during the Ordovician period over 450 million years ago. This ancient volcanic geology forms the natural foundation beneath the cairn.
Round cairns of this type typically date to the Bronze Age and served as burial monuments, with stone heaps constructed over cremated or inhumed remains. The construction of such cairns on Ordovician volcanic bedrock would have presented particular challenges to their Bronze Age builders, who had to quarry and gather suitable stones from the local landscape to create the mound.
The monument's survival and formal protection reflect its importance as evidence of prehistoric settlement and burial practice in Wales. Its location on volcanic bedrock distinguishes it geologically from cairns built on other substrate types, potentially influencing both its original construction methods and its subsequent preservation in the Welsh landscape.
Allt Lwyd Cairn I is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME214. View the official record →
Allt Lwyd Cairn I is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under the reference ME214.
Allt Lwyd Cairn I dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a round cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Allt Lwyd Cairn I 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 ME214.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Waen Fach Standing Stone (3.6 km), Crop marks (revealed by Aerial photography) SE of Pen-y-Sarn, Bryn-Crug (4.5 km), Domen Ddreiniog (4.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Allt Lwyd Cairn I'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.
Allt Lwyd Cairn I stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.