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Burnt Mound South of Fan Hir is a prehistoric burnt mound located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR257. Burnt mounds are archaeological features of Bronze Age date, typically comprising heaps of fire-cracked stone accumulated through repeated heating and cooling cycles. This example sits upon Lower Devonian bedrock of sandstone and conglomerate, geology that would have provided suitable material for the hot-stone technology that characterises these monuments.
The mound's construction reflects a domestic or industrial process common to Bronze Age communities across Britain and Ireland. Stones were heated in fires then plunged into water or other liquids, likely within a sunken trough, to accomplish tasks such as cooking, brewing, dyeing or metal-working. The fractured stones resulting from this treatment accumulated over time to form the distinctive mound visible today.
The site's survival as an upstanding earthwork, despite millennia of exposure to the Welsh landscape and underlying Devonian substrate, testifies to the substantial volume of material originally deposited. Such monuments are valuable archaeological records of Bronze Age technological practice and settlement patterns, offering insight into the economic activities and daily lives of prehistoric communities in this region.
Burnt Mound South of Fan Hir is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR257. View the official record →
Burnt Mound South of Fan Hir is a prehistoric burnt mound located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR257.
Burnt Mound South of Fan Hir dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a burnt mound. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Burnt Mound South of Fan Hir 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 BR257.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cribarth Limestone Quarries and Tramroads (3.9 km), Lefel Fawr Coal Adit (6.1 km), Lorfa stone circle (6.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Burnt Mound South of Fan Hir'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.
Burnt Mound South of Fan Hir stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.