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Carn Gwilym Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference MG104. The monument comprises stone cairn mounds built during the Bronze Age, when communities across Britain constructed such monuments as burial places and territorial markers. Round cairns were commonly raised over cremated or inhumed remains, often accompanied by pottery and metalwork reflecting the ritual practices of their time.
The cairn sits on bedrock formed from Ashgill Rocks, composed of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone deposited during the Ordovician period. This geology would have influenced the character of stone available for construction, with the local sedimentary rocks providing manageable material for cairn building. The upland setting typical of such monuments suggests the site held significance within the Bronze Age landscape.
Today, Carn Gwilym Round Cairns survives as a visible reminder of prehistoric funerary practice and monumental construction. Cadw's protection ensures its preservation for study and public access. The monument contributes to understanding settlement patterns, burial traditions and land use in prehistoric Wales, forming part of the broader pattern of cairn distribution across the Welsh uplands.
Carn Gwilym Round Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MG104. View the official record →
Carn Gwilym Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference MG104.
Carn Gwilym Round Cairns 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.
Carn Gwilym Round Cairns 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 MG104.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Y Garn, 2400m NNW of Eisteddfa-Gurig (5.9 km), Cairn Circle 400m SW of Lle'r Neuaddau (7.2 km), Y Garnedd, Hirnant (7.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Carn Gwilym Round Cairns'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.
Carn Gwilym Round Cairns stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.