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Carn Menyn chambered cairn is a prehistoric chambered tomb located in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference PE498. The monument was constructed on bedrock of mafic igneous rock, part of an Ordovician to Silurian unnamed intrusion formed during the Silurian period. This dark, dense stone would have been locally available and suitable for the structural demands of the cairn's construction.
The site represents a characteristic example of Neolithic burial architecture, built to serve as a communal sepulchre for successive generations of the surrounding community. Such monuments typically comprised a stone chamber surrounded by a substantial mound or cairn of rubble and earth, reflecting the considerable labour investment required to construct enduring repositories for the dead.
The specific geology of Carn Menyn's location, with its base in igneous bedrock, would have influenced both the construction methods employed and the preservation of the monument through millennia. The robust mineral composition of the underlying stone helped anchor and stabilise the overlying cairn structure, ensuring its survival to the present day as an important record of prehistoric Welsh burial practice and social organisation.
Carn Menyn chambered cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference PE498. View the official record →
Carn Menyn chambered cairn is a prehistoric chambered tomb located in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference PE498.
Carn Menyn chambered cairn 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.
Carn Menyn chambered cairn 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 PE498.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Pant y Menyn Round Barrow (6.5 km), Round Barrow SE of Goodwins Row, Efailwen (6.6 km), Pencraig-Fawr Camp (6.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Carn Menyn chambered cairn'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 Menyn chambered cairn stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Ordovician To Silurian, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is mafic igneous-rock.