© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw
Blaen y Cwm Uchaf Cairn Cemetery is a prehistoric round cairn situated on Lower Devonian bedrock in Wales. The underlying sandstone and conglomerate geology of Early Devonian age would have influenced both the availability of stone for construction and the landscape's suitability for burial. Round cairns of this type typically date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age and served as communal or individual burial monuments, with their scale and construction reflecting the social importance of the deceased.
The monument is protected by Cadw, Wales's historic monuments service, under reference BR295, ensuring its preservation for archaeological study and public access. The rocky terrain of its location, shaped by Devonian rocks that underlie much of upland Wales, would have provided the stone necessary for building the cairn's substantial mound. Such monuments are characteristic features of prehistoric Wales, particularly in areas where stone-working communities established their burial grounds on high ground.
The site remains an important record of prehistoric funerary practices and settlement patterns in Wales. Round cairns contribute significantly to understanding the distribution and chronology of early communities, and their positioning on the landscape often reflects decisions about visibility, accessibility and territorial significance. Blaen y Cwm Uchaf's location and construction methods provide tangible evidence of how prehistoric peoples exploited their local geology and environment.
Blaen y Cwm Uchaf Cairn Cemetery is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR295. View the official record →
Blaen y Cwm Uchaf Cairn Cemetery is a prehistoric round cairn situated on Lower Devonian bedrock in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference BR295.
Blaen y Cwm Uchaf Cairn Cemetery 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.
Blaen y Cwm Uchaf Cairn Cemetery 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 BR295.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Carreg Waun Llech Prehistoric Standing Stone (7.7 km), Carreg Wen Fawr y Rugos cairn cemetery (8 km), Carn Caws, round cairn to N of (8.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Blaen y Cwm Uchaf Cairn Cemetery'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.
Blaen y Cwm Uchaf Cairn Cemetery stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.