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Arenig Fawr Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn situated in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference ME257. The monument lies upon bedrock of felsic tuff, an Ordovician extrusive rock that formed during the Ordovician period when volcanic activity dominated this region of Britain. The underlying geology of hard, fractured volcanic stone would have presented distinctive challenges and opportunities to the prehistoric builders who constructed this cairn.
Round cairns of this type typically functioned as burial monuments during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. Built by stacking stone upon the local bedrock, such structures served to commemorate the dead and mark significant territorial or ceremonial locations within the landscape. The rocky terrain of the Ordovician uplands surrounding this cairn would have yielded stone readily for its construction.
The monument's survival on this exposed Welsh hillside, combined with its Cadw protection status, reflects its importance to understanding prehistoric settlement and burial practices in upland Britain. The specific geology of felsic tuff—distinctive in colour and composition from other stone types—may have held particular significance for the communities who chose this location for their monumental construction.
Arenig Fawr Cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME257. View the official record →
Arenig Fawr Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn situated in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference ME257.
Arenig Fawr Cairn 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.
Arenig Fawr Cairn 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 ME257.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Llechwedd Erwent Hut Circle Settlement (3 km), Cairn 200m SE of Foel Ystrodur Fawr (3.2 km), Pont Tai-Hirion Old Bridge (3.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Arenig Fawr Cairn'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.
Arenig Fawr Cairn stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is felsic tuff.