Scheduled MonumentsWalesCefn Moel Round Houses
Bronze Age · Hut Circle Settlement

Cefn Moel Round Houses

Breconshire, Wales
Cadw SAM BR423
Period
Bronze Age
Site type
Hut Circle Settlement
Broad class
Domestic
Nation
Wales
The designation
Reference
Cadw SAM BR423
Authority
Cadw
Designated
2019-06-06
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Cefn Moel Round Houses is a Bronze Age hut circle settlement located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR423. The site comprises several circular dwelling structures typical of the Bronze Age period, when such settlements were common across the upland regions of Britain and Wales. These communities were adapted to mixed pastoral and agricultural economies, with roundhouses serving as both domestic and storage spaces for their occupants.

The settlement sits upon Lower Devonian sandstones and conglomerates that form the undifferentiated bedrock of the region, geology that dates to the Early Devonian period. This underlying foundation of interbedded sandstone and conglomerate has weathered over millennia to create a landscape characteristic of Welsh uplands, where Bronze Age communities exploited both the mineral resources and pastoral potential of such terrain.

The hut circles at Cefn Moel would have been constructed from local stone and organic materials, with their characteristic circular ground plans preserved as visible surface features. Such settlements represent important evidence of Bronze Age settlement patterns and land use in Wales, demonstrating how communities adapted their architecture and livelihood strategies to upland environments. The site remains a valuable record of prehistoric domestic life in the region.

Cefn Moel Round Houses is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR423. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Cefn Moel Round Houses?

Cefn Moel Round Houses is a Bronze Age hut circle settlement located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR423.

What period does Cefn Moel Round Houses date from?

Cefn Moel Round Houses dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a hut circle settlement. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Cefn Moel Round Houses?

Cefn Moel Round Houses 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 BR423.

What other scheduled monuments are near Cefn Moel Round Houses?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Pant Serthfa round cairn (7.2 km), Coed Pentwyn Hillfort (7.8 km), Clo Cadno platform cairn (8 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Cefn Moel Round Houses

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Cefn Moel Round Houses's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Cefn Moel Round Houses

Cefn Moel Round Houses stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.