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Esgair Naint is a post-medieval deserted rural settlement located in Wales, now protected as a Cadw monument under reference CD180. The site sits upon bedrock of the Llandovery series, comprising mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formations typical of this geological period. This underlying geology shaped both the landscape and the settlement's character, with such sedimentary rocks providing basic building materials whilst their weathered slopes offered grazing land suited to pastoral farming.
The settlement represents a pattern of rural habitation that developed during the post-medieval period, when scattered farmsteads and smallholdings characterised the Welsh countryside. The site's abandonment reflects broader patterns of agricultural and social change affecting rural communities across Wales, whether through consolidation of holdings, migration to industrial centres, or changing land use practices over subsequent centuries.
Today the monument survives as an archaeological record of these historical settlement patterns. The physical remains visible at Esgair Naint contribute to understanding how rural populations organised themselves on the Welsh landscape and how such communities eventually became depopulated, leaving behind traces that continue to inform our knowledge of Welsh social and economic history.
Esgair Naint Deserted Rural Settlement is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CD180. View the official record →
Esgair Naint is a post-medieval deserted rural settlement located in Wales, now protected as a Cadw monument under reference CD180.
Esgair Naint Deserted Rural Settlement dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a deserted rural settlement. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Esgair Naint Deserted Rural Settlement 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 CD180.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Banc Erw Barfe Deserted Rural Settlement (2.8 km), Pen y Garn Cairn (3.8 km), Bwlch-yr-Oerfa Settlement (5.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Esgair Naint Deserted Rural Settlement'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.
Esgair Naint Deserted Rural Settlement stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.