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Cae-yr-Arfau Burial Chamber is a prehistoric chambered tomb in Wales, protected by Cadw as a monument of national importance. Built during the Neolithic period, this stone-built structure belongs to a class of communal burial monuments that served as focal points for early agricultural communities across Britain and Ireland. The chamber would have functioned as a repository for the remains of multiple individuals, reflecting the social and spiritual practices of its time.
The monument sits on bedrock formed from the South Wales Lower Coal Measures, a geological sequence of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone and ironstone deposits laid down during the Westphalian period. This mixed geology provided the builders with stone suitable for constructing the chamber's walls and capstone, readily available from the immediate landscape. The local geology thus shaped both the construction method and appearance of this ancient tomb.
Like other chambered tombs of its era, Cae-yr-Arfau would have been a prominent and enduring landmark in the prehistoric landscape, its stone structure surviving the passage of millennia. The monument's continued presence testifies to the permanence that its builders sought to achieve, making it a tangible connection to early Welsh communities and their relationship with the land they inhabited.
Cae-yr-Arfau Burial Chamber is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM030. View the official record →
Cae-yr-Arfau Burial Chamber is a prehistoric chambered tomb in Wales, protected by Cadw as a monument of national importance. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM030.
Cae-yr-Arfau Burial Chamber dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a chambered tomb. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cae-yr-Arfau Burial Chamber 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 GM030.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Coed-y-Cwm Chambered Cairn (8.4 km), Coed y Cwm Ringwork (8.5 km), Castle Ringwork 850m ENE of Ty'n-y-Coed (8.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Cae-yr-Arfau Burial Chamber'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.
Cae-yr-Arfau Burial Chamber stands on Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.