© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw
Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles is a prehistoric ring cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference DE043. The monument consists of concentric earthen or stony rings characteristic of ring cairn construction, a form of burial monument that flourished during the Bronze Age. Ring cairns typically marked ceremonial or funerary spaces and often held cremated remains of the dead.
The site sits upon Wenlock Rocks, a foundation of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down during the Wenlock epoch of the Silurian period, approximately 430 million years ago. This solid geological base would have been readily available to the monument's builders, who likely quarried stone locally for the construction of the rings. The easily fractured nature of the bedrock made stone-gathering feasible for prehistoric communities.
The earthwork rings at Capel Hiraethog represent one of the Bronze Age's most distinctive funerary traditions in Wales. Ring cairns were typically constructed by heaping stone, with internal ditches or banks defining concentric circles. Such monuments served not only as repositories for the dead but also as permanent focal points in the landscape, visible markers of territorial claims or gathering places for ceremonial practice.
Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference DE043. View the official record →
Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles is a prehistoric ring cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference DE043.
Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a ring cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles 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 DE043.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Bryn Beddau Round Barrows (2.2 km), Bryn Beddau Stone Circle (2.3 km), Maen Llwyd Standing Stone (2.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles'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.
Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles stands on Wenlock Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.