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Foel Cwm-Cerwyn Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference PE300. The monument sits upon bedrock of Arenig Rocks, undifferentiated strata of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formed during the Arenigian period. This geological foundation of relatively soft sedimentary rock would have been exposed and weathered by the time of the cairn's construction, offering accessible stone for the monument's builders.
Round cairns of this type date primarily to the Bronze Age, though some may have Neolithic origins. They typically functioned as burial monuments, with stone heaped over interred remains, sometimes containing cists or cremations. The surviving cairn material at Foel Cwm-Cerwyn would originally have been gathered from the surrounding landscape and deliberately piled to create a prominent mound visible across the moorland terrain.
The site's upland Welsh location places it within the broader cairnfield tradition of upland Britain, where such monuments cluster in groups across high ground. The Arenig sandstones and siltstones available locally would have provided the primary building material, with the monument's form and construction reflecting both practical resource management and ritual significance. Such cairns remain important evidence for understanding prehistoric settlement patterns and burial practices in the Welsh uplands.
Foel Cwm-Cerwyn Round Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference PE300. View the official record →
Foel Cwm-Cerwyn Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference PE300.
Foel Cwm-Cerwyn Round Cairns 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.
Foel Cwm-Cerwyn Round Cairns 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 PE300.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including New Moat Castle Mound (6.6 km), Maen Pica (7 km), Posty Defended Enclosure (8.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Foel Cwm-Cerwyn Round Cairns'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.
Foel Cwm-Cerwyn Round Cairns stands on Arenig Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Arenigian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.