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Pen-y-Sarn hut circle is a prehistoric enclosed settlement revealed by aerial photography on the upland slopes south-east of Pen-y-Sarn in Bryn-Crug. The monument survives as crop marks that define the outline of a substantial circular or oval dwelling, a domestic form characteristic of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement in Wales. The enclosed hut circle represents the domestic core of a prehistoric farmstead, where a single household would have occupied a timber-framed structure with external defences.
The site sits on bedrock formed from Caradoc Rocks, a sequence of mudstones, siltstones and sandstones laid down in the Caradocian period of the Ordovician. This upland terrain, with its relatively shallow soils overlying these durable sediments, was marginal agricultural land in prehistory, suitable for pastoral farming and transhumance. The crop marks that define the monument emerge where differential soil depth and moisture retention above buried remains alter crop growth patterns.
The hut circle is protected by Cadw under reference ME106 as part of the archaeological heritage of Wales. Aerial photography has proven invaluable in locating such ephemeral domestic sites across upland Britain, where the slight earthworks leave little surface trace but cast distinctive marks in ripening cereal crops. This monument contributes to understanding the dispersed pattern of prehistoric settlement across the Welsh uplands.
Crop marks (revealed by Aerial photography) SE of Pen-y-Sarn, Bryn-Crug is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME106. View the official record →
Pen-y-Sarn hut circle is a prehistoric enclosed settlement revealed by aerial photography on the upland slopes south-east of Pen-y-Sarn in Bryn-Crug. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference ME106.
Crop marks (revealed by Aerial photography) SE of Pen-y-Sarn, Bryn-Crug dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a enclosed hut circle. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Crop marks (revealed by Aerial photography) SE of Pen-y-Sarn, Bryn-Crug 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 ME106.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Domen Ddreiniog (0.7 km), Waen Fach Standing Stone (1.7 km), Croes Faen Standing Stone (2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Crop marks (revealed by Aerial photography) SE of Pen-y-Sarn, Bryn-Crug'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.
Crop marks (revealed by Aerial photography) SE of Pen-y-Sarn, Bryn-Crug stands on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.