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Bryngwyn Bach Round Cairn Cemetery is a prehistoric burial monument in Wales, protected by Cadw as a nationally significant archaeological site. The cemetery comprises multiple round cairns constructed from stone heaped over grave deposits, representing a tradition of communal burial practice that flourished across Wales during the Bronze Age and earlier periods. Such cairn cemeteries typically accumulated burials over several centuries, marking them as focal points of ancestral significance within their local landscapes.
The site rests upon Llandovery Rocks, a foundation of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formed during the Ordovician period. This relatively soft bedrock, underlying much of the Welsh uplands, would have presented practical constraints on burial construction, making the deliberate accumulation of surface stone essential for building substantial cairns. The choice of this particular location reflects Bronze Age communities' broader patterns of establishing burial grounds on higher ground and well-drained soils.
The cemetery's survival as a recognisable archaeological feature depends upon the preservation of its cairn structures and any associated artefacts. Such sites commonly yielded pottery, flint tools and metalwork when excavated, though detailed finds records for Bryngwyn Bach would require examination of specialist archaeological archives. Its protection by Cadw ensures continued study of this important witness to prehistoric Welsh funerary practice and social organisation.
Bryngwyn Bach Round Cairn Cemetery is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CD227. View the official record →
Bryngwyn Bach Round Cairn Cemetery is a prehistoric burial monument in Wales, protected by Cadw as a nationally significant archaeological site. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CD227.
Bryngwyn Bach Round Cairn Cemetery dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a cairn cemetery. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Bryngwyn Bach Round 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 CD227.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Blaen Camddwr Round Cairn (4.6 km), Nantymaen Standing Stone (5.6 km), Cefncerrig Round Cairn (6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Bryngwyn Bach Round 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.
Bryngwyn Bach Round Cairn Cemetery stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.