Scheduled MonumentsWalesFfostyll Long Barrows
Neolithic · Chambered long barrow

Ffostyll Long Barrows

Breconshire, Wales
Cadw SAM BR002
Period
Neolithic
Site type
Chambered long barrow
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Ffostyll Long Barrows is a Neolithic chambered long barrow located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled monument under reference BR002. The site was constructed during the Neolithic period, when communities across Britain and Ireland raised elaborate communal tombs for their dead. These monuments typically served both as burial chambers and as territorial markers on the landscape, emphasising the permanence and ancestry of farming settlements in the emerging agricultural societies.

The barrow sits upon bedrock formed from Lower Devonian rocks, a foundation of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down during the Early Devonian period. This underlying geology of relatively soft sedimentary stone shaped the immediate landscape available to Neolithic communities, influencing both the local materials they could work with and the water sources that would have sustained them. The undifferentiated nature of these deposits reflects the complex sequences of ancient river and marine environments characteristic of the Devonian period.

As a chambered long barrow, Ffostyll would have contained internal stone-built compartments where the remains of multiple individuals were deposited over an extended period. The distinctive elongated mound form of such monuments, which can exceed 50 metres in length, made them prominent features visible across considerable distances, serving as enduring symbols of lineage and land claim within the early farming communities of Neolithic Wales.

Ffostyll Long Barrows is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR002. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Ffostyll Long Barrows?

Ffostyll Long Barrows is a Neolithic chambered long barrow located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled monument under reference BR002.

What period does Ffostyll Long Barrows date from?

Ffostyll Long Barrows dates from the neolithic period, and is classified as a chambered long barrow. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Ffostyll Long Barrows?

Ffostyll Long Barrows 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 BR002.

What other scheduled monuments are near Ffostyll Long Barrows?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Mynydd Troed Long Barrow (6.7 km), Enclosure on Cockit Hill (7.4 km), Enclosure West of Sorgwm (7.6 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Ffostyll Long Barrows

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Ffostyll Long Barrows's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Ffostyll Long Barrows

Ffostyll Long Barrows stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.

The wider landscape

Around Ffostyll Long Barrows

KenchesterRoman town · ~16.9 miles