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Carneddau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales, protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference RD220. The monument sits on the northern end of its landscape setting, rising from bedrock composed of Ordovician mafic tuff, an extrusive volcanic rock formed during the Ordovician period over 450 million years ago. This ancient geological foundation shaped the stones available to the monument's builders and influenced the character of the surrounding terrain.
Round cairns of this type are among the most common funerary monuments in the upland regions of Wales and Britain more broadly, typically constructed during the Bronze Age, approximately 2000 to 700 BCE. They functioned as burial monuments, often containing cremated remains or inhumations within central chambers or pits. The circular mound of stones served both a practical purpose in marking the grave and a symbolic one, making the burial prominent in the landscape.
The volcanic geology underlying Carneddau is typical of the Snowdonia region, where Ordovician tuff formations create the distinctive rocky uplands. The monument's survival, protected under Cadw's stewardship, preserves an important record of prehistoric mortuary practice and Bronze Age land use in this mountainous Welsh landscape.
Carneddau, round cairn on N end of is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference RD220. View the official record →
Carneddau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales, protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference RD220.
Carneddau, round cairn on N end of 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.
Carneddau, round cairn on N end of 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 RD220.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Builth Castle (4.9 km), Coed Chwefri Vickers Machine Gun Emplacement (5.6 km), Aberedw Hill Deserted Rural Settlement (5.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Carneddau, round cairn on N end of'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.
Carneddau, round cairn on N end of stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is mafic tuff.