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Garn Wen round cairn is a prehistoric funerary monument located in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference BR364. The cairn sits on bedrock composed of Ashgill rocks—an undifferentiated sequence of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone deposited during the Ashgill age in the late Ordovician period. This solid geological foundation has supported the monument for thousands of years, with the local stone providing material readily available for cairn construction.
Round cairns of this type typically date to the Bronze Age and served as burial monuments for significant members of prehistoric communities. Built as substantial mounds of stone, they are among the most enduring monuments of the British landscape. The Ashgill bedrock underlying Garn Wen would have weathered into stone suitable for cairn building, making this location practical for monument construction.
The cairn's survival to the present day, despite millennia of exposure to Welsh weather and landscape change, testifies to both the durability of prehistoric construction and the protective geology of its setting. As a scheduled monument under Cadw's stewardship, Garn Wen remains an important record of prehistoric funerary practice and settlement patterns in Wales.
Garn Wen round cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR364. View the official record →
Garn Wen round cairn is a prehistoric funerary monument located in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference BR364.
Garn Wen 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.
Garn Wen 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 BR364.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Abererbwll Roman fort (4.5 km), Stone Circle 200m SW of Cerrig Cynant (4.7 km), Bryn-Poeth-Uchaf, ring cairn to ESE of (4.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Garn Wen 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.
Garn Wen round cairn stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.