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Foel Fynyddau Round Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales. The monument sits on bedrock formed from the South Wales Upper Coal Measures, a Westphalian-age geological sequence comprising mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete. This underlying geology would have shaped both the availability of stone for the cairn's construction and the landscape visible to its builders.
Round cairns are characteristic burial monuments of Bronze Age Britain and Ireland, typically constructed from stone heaped over a central grave or cremation deposit. Such structures often served as focal points for communities and could be added to over multiple generations. The upland setting of Foel Fynyddau places it amongst other prehistoric monuments common to Welsh hill country.
The cairn is protected by Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments service, under the reference GM279. This designation ensures its preservation as part of Wales's archaeological heritage, allowing the monument to continue revealing information about Bronze Age burial practices and settlement patterns in this coal-bearing region of South Wales.
Foel Fynyddau Round Cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM279. View the official record →
Foel Fynyddau Round Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM279.
Foel Fynyddau 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.
Foel Fynyddau 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 GM279.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Chain Home Low Radar Station, Margam (6.7 km), Margam Medieval Bath House (7 km), Half Moon Camp (7.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Foel Fynyddau Round Cairn'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 Fynyddau 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.