Scheduled MonumentsWalesFoel Chwern Round Cairn
Prehistoric · Round Cairn

Foel Chwern Round Cairn

Wales
Cadw SAM GM235
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Round Cairn
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Foel Chwern Round Cairn is a Bronze Age funerary monument located in Glamorgan, Wales. The cairn comprises a circular mound of stones constructed as a burial structure typical of the Bronze Age period, when such monuments served as communal or individual interment places and functioned within a wider ritual landscape. The site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument under the reference GM235, reflecting its significance to understanding prehistoric burial practices and settlement patterns in South Wales. Like many round cairns of this era, Foel Chwern would have represented an important focal point for the local community, marking both a place of death and serving commemorative and territorial functions within the Bronze Age economy and social organisation.

Foel Chwern Round Cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM235. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Foel Chwern Round Cairn?

Foel Chwern Round Cairn is a Bronze Age funerary monument located in Glamorgan, Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM235.

What period does Foel Chwern Round Cairn date from?

Foel Chwern 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.

Who is responsible for protecting Foel Chwern Round Cairn?

Foel Chwern 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 GM235.

What other scheduled monuments are near Foel Chwern Round Cairn?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Bachgen Carreg Round Cairn (5.9 km), Pebyll Ring Cairn (6.7 km), Incline Haulage Systems, Cefn Ynysfeio, Treherbert (7.6 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Foel Chwern Round Cairn

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Foel Chwern Round Cairn'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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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Foel Chwern Round Cairn

Foel Chwern Round Cairn stands on South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.

The wider landscape

Around Foel Chwern Round Cairn

Caerphilly CastleArchaeological site · ~19.1 miles