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Coed Cae Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM271. Round cairns of this type were constructed during the Bronze Age as burial monuments, typically built from stone gathered from the surrounding landscape. The monument sits upon bedrock formed from the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, a Westphalian-age sequence of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete. This varied geology would have influenced both the availability of stone for cairn construction and the character of the local landscape visible from the monument's location.
The cairn's positioning on Coal Measures bedrock is typical of Bronze Age burial sites in south Wales, where such monuments were frequently erected on high ground with commanding views. The ironstone and ferricrete deposits within the local geology would have provided durable stone for building, though softer materials from the mudstone and siltstone sequences also outcrop in the area. The presence of coal seams in the underlying bedrock indicates the industrial potential later recognised during the Industrial Revolution, though the Bronze Age builders would have known nothing of this future significance.
Coed Cae Round Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM271. View the official record →
Coed Cae Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM271.
Coed Cae 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.
Coed Cae 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 GM271.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Prehistoric Rock Art on Mynydd Eglwysilan Common (7.5 km), Carneddi Llwydion (7.8 km), Cross Ridge Dyke & Cairn on Twyn Hywel (8.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Coed Cae 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.
Coed Cae Round Cairns stands on South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.