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Enclosed Hut Group at Nurse Cae Du is a prehistoric enclosed settlement consisting of hut circles preserved within a defensive earthwork. The monument lies on bedrock formed during the Middle Cambrian period, where mudstone, siltstone and sandstone underlie the site and have weathered to create the uneven terrain characteristic of this geological region of Wales.
The settlement's enclosed layout suggests a community requiring protection, typical of Iron Age or late Bronze Age settlement patterns in Wales. The hut circles themselves represent the domestic dwellings of this ancient population, their circular ground plans marking where timber-framed structures once stood. The surrounding earthwork boundary would have served both defensive and livestock-management functions, defining the inhabited space and controlling movement through the community.
The monument is protected by Cadw, the Welsh heritage organisation, under the reference ME163. This designation recognises its archaeological significance as evidence of prehistoric settlement, land use and social organisation in the Welsh landscape. The site's survival on steep or uneven ground, typical of upland areas across Wales, has preserved these earthworks largely unploughed and undamaged by later agriculture, making it an important record of how communities adapted to and utilised this challenging terrain.
Enclosed Hut Group at Nurse Cae Du is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME163. View the official record →
Enclosed Hut Group at Nurse Cae Du is a prehistoric enclosed settlement consisting of hut circles preserved within a defensive earthwork. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference ME163.
Enclosed Hut Group at Nurse Cae Du 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.
Enclosed Hut Group at Nurse Cae Du 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 ME163.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cefn Clawdd Ring Cairn (5 km), Cefn Clawdd Early Settlement and Fields (5.5 km), Maen Llwyd Standing Stones (6.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Enclosed Hut Group at Nurse Cae Du'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.
Enclosed Hut Group at Nurse Cae Du stands on Middle Cambrian, bedrock that formed in the Middle Cambrian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.