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Craig Cwm Silyn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference CN388. The monument sits on bedrock of Ordovician felsic tuff, part of the unnamed extrusive volcanic rocks that underlie the region and date to the Ordovician period, some 485 to 444 million years ago. This ancient geological foundation provided the raw stone material from which Bronze Age or Neolithic communities constructed the cairn.
Round cairns of this type typically served as burial monuments, with stone heaps covering inhumed or cremated remains. The specific name Craig Cwm Silyn indicates the cairn's location within a distinctive cwm or valley landscape, characteristic of Welsh upland topography. The monument's survival in this exposed terrain reflects both the durability of its stone construction and the landscape's relative isolation from intensive modern development.
As a scheduled monument, Craig Cwm Silyn remains subject to legal protection, preserving evidence of prehistoric funerary and ceremonial practice in the Welsh hills. The site contributes to understanding settlement patterns and land use in prehistoric Wales, particularly the distribution of burial monuments across upland regions where Ordovician geology has shaped the visible archaeological landscape.
Craig Cwm Silyn round cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN388. View the official record →
Craig Cwm Silyn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference CN388.
Craig Cwm Silyn round cairn 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.
Craig Cwm Silyn round 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 CN388.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Castell Caerau (6.6 km), Hut Circle East of Taleifion (6.7 km), Gorseddau or Ynysypandy Slate Factory (7.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Craig Cwm Silyn round 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.
Craig Cwm Silyn round cairn stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is felsic tuff.