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Craig y Dullfan ring cairn is a prehistoric ceremonial monument situated on Welsh upland terrain underlain by Ashgill mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. The ring cairn form—a circular mound of stones with a central open space rather than a burial chamber—reflects the ritual practices of Bronze Age communities, who favoured such monuments for both funerary and ceremonial purposes across upland Britain. The underlying bedrock geology of fine-grained sedimentary material would have offered ready supplies of suitable stone for construction, though builders would have also gathered surface boulders from the surrounding landscape to create the distinctive circular form.
The monument is now protected by Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments service, under reference MG308. Ring cairns of this type are believed to date from the Bronze Age and represent a phase of monument construction that emphasises open ritual space over enclosed burial chambers. Their placement on exposed upland ground, as at Craig y Dullfan, suggests their builders valued prominent, visible locations for gatherings and ceremonies within their communities.
Though the monument has weathered considerably over millennia, its circular form remains visible in the landscape, providing evidence of prehistoric settlement patterns and ritual life in the Welsh highlands.
Craig y Dullfan ring cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MG308. View the official record →
Craig y Dullfan ring cairn is a prehistoric ceremonial monument situated on Welsh upland terrain underlain by Ashgill mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference MG308.
Craig y Dullfan ring cairn dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a ring cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Craig y Dullfan ring 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 MG308.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Llys Arthur, Dyffryn-Castell (6.4 km), Castell Lead Mine (7.5 km), Hen Bont, Pont-Erwyd (8.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Craig y Dullfan ring 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 y Dullfan ring cairn stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.