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Cairn 300m SE of Bryn Cau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw as monument ME255. The structure sits upon bedrock of Ordovician felsic tuff, an ancient volcanic stone formed during the Ordovician period over 440 million years ago. This geological foundation of extruded rock would have been partially exposed or accessible to the Bronze Age builders who constructed the cairn, influencing the stone available for its construction.
Round cairns represent one of the most common forms of prehistoric monument in Britain and Ireland, typically dating to the Bronze Age. They served as burial monuments, often covering inhumation or cremation deposits, and their visible mounds would have functioned as territorial markers across the landscape. The use of locally available stone from the surrounding volcanic bedrock would have made construction practicable for Neolithic and Bronze Age communities.
The cairn's position in the Welsh uplands reflects the settlement and burial patterns of prehistoric communities, who utilised high ground for both practical and symbolic purposes. The preservation of this monument under Cadw's protection ensures the survival of evidence relating to the funerary practices and land use of prehistoric Wales.
Cairn 300m SE of Bryn Cau is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME255. View the official record →
Cairn 300m SE of Bryn Cau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw as monument ME255. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference ME255.
Cairn 300m SE of Bryn Cau 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.
Cairn 300m SE of Bryn Cau 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 ME255.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Bancian Duon Hut Circle Settlement and Deserted Rural Settlement (0.3 km), Cairn 200m SE of Foel Ystrodur Fawr (1 km), Llechwedd Erwent Hut Circle Settlement (1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Cairn 300m SE of Bryn Cau'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.
Cairn 300m SE of Bryn Cau stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is felsic tuff.