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Cwm-berwyn round cairn is a prehistoric burial monument located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw under reference RD222. The cairn sits on bedrock composed of Ordovician mafic tuff, an igneous rock formed from volcanic material laid down over 450 million years ago. This underlying geology of ancient extrusive rocks is characteristic of upland areas in mid-Wales where such monuments are often found.
Round cairns of this type typically date to the Bronze Age and served as burial structures for individuals of status within their communities. Built from stone gathered locally, they represent significant communal effort in their construction. The mafic tuff bedrock beneath the site would have provided accessible stone for cairn building, though the monument's builders may also have collected material from the surrounding landscape.
The cairn's survival and official protection reflects its importance as evidence of prehistoric settlement and burial practices in the Welsh uplands. Such monuments remain valuable sources of archaeological information about Bronze Age society, ritual practices and land use in this region.
Cwm-berwyn round cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference RD222. View the official record →
Cwm-berwyn round cairn is a prehistoric burial monument located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw under reference RD222.
Cwm-berwyn 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.
Cwm-berwyn 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 RD222.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Aberedw Hill Deserted Rural Settlement (4.4 km), Aberedw Hill Round Barrows (4.7 km), Llwyn-y-wrach standing stone (5.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Cwm-berwyn 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.
Cwm-berwyn round cairn stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is mafic tuff.