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Garth cairn cemetery is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR366. The monument sits upon bedrock formed from Ashgill Rocks, undifferentiated mudstones, siltstones and sandstones deposited during the Ashgill epoch of the Ordovician period. This geology—soft sedimentary strata prone to weathering—forms much of the upland landscape where such monuments were constructed.
The cairn belongs to a tradition of burial monuments widespread across Wales and the broader British Isles during the Bronze Age and earlier periods. Round cairns served as communal or family burial places, marked by heaped stones that would have been visible landmarks across the surrounding terrain. The construction methods typically exploited locally available stone, in this case working with the naturally fractured Ashgill rocks underlying the site.
The cemetery designation suggests multiple burial episodes or a substantial deposit of human remains, indicating the site held significance across an extended period. Such monuments often remained focal points in the landscape for generations, drawing successive depositions and maintaining their role as places of ancestral importance. The survival of Garth cairn cemetery today reflects both its substantial original construction and its subsequent protection as an archaeological heritage asset.
Garth cairn cemetery is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR366. View the official record →
Garth cairn cemetery is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR366.
Garth cairn cemetery 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.
Garth cairn cemetery 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 BR366.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Ringwork near Coed Ty-Mawr (2.7 km), Earthworks SW of Church (5.1 km), Standing Stone SSE of Dol-y-Felin (5.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Garth cairn cemetery'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.
Garth cairn cemetery stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.