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Gelli-Bwch Round Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn situated in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled monument under reference GM290. The site sits upon bedrock of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, a Westphalian-age sequence of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone interspersed with coal seams, ironstone and ferricrete layers. This geology would have presented particular challenges to the monument's builders, who constructed the cairn from stone quarried and gathered locally from this industrial-age strata.
Round cairns of this type typically date to the Bronze Age and served as burial monuments, though the specific dates of construction and use at Gelli-Bwch are not recorded. The cairn's survival into the present day reflects the solidity of its construction, despite centuries of weathering on the exposed Welsh landscape. Its protection as a scheduled monument recognises the archaeological significance of such monuments in understanding prehistoric settlement and ritual practices in South Wales.
Gelli-Bwch Round Cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM290. View the official record →
Gelli-Bwch Round Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn situated in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled monument under reference GM290.
Gelli-Bwch 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.
Gelli-Bwch 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 GM290.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including St Margaret's Chapel (1.7 km), Remains of Brunel Dock, Briton Ferry (1.9 km), Craig Ty-Isaf Camp (3.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Gelli-Bwch 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.
Gelli-Bwch 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.