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Bryn Du cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales, protected as a scheduled ancient monument under Cadw reference DE293. The monument sits upon bedrock of Caradoc Rocks, a formation of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone dating to the Caradocian period, which provided suitable material for cairn construction in this locality.
Round cairns represent a widespread funerary tradition across upland Britain and Wales during the Bronze Age. These stone monuments typically contained burial deposits and served as conspicuous territorial markers within the prehistoric landscape. The underlying Caradoc geology would have supplied the stone resources necessary for the monument's construction, making this an economical choice for builders exploiting local materials.
Bryn Du cairn remains an important archaeological record of Bronze Age burial practices and settlement patterns in Wales. Its survival and official protection ensure the preservation of this physical evidence of prehistoric activity on the Welsh uplands, contributing to broader understanding of ancient communities and their use of the landscape during the later prehistory of Britain.
Bryn Du cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference DE293. View the official record →
Bryn Du cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales, protected as a scheduled ancient monument under Cadw reference DE293.
Bryn Du 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.
Bryn Du 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 DE293.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tomen y Gwyddel Round Barrow (1.9 km), Tomen y Meirw (2 km), Mynydd Bach Camp (2.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Bryn Du 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.
Bryn Du cairn stands on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.