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Group of Burnt Mounds 300m SSW of Cilcoll Farm is a prehistoric burnt mound situated in Wales on bedrock of the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation and South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation. The underlying geology comprises mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete, laid down during the Westphalian period. Burnt mounds are concentrated scatters of burnt stones and charcoal, typically dating to the Bronze Age or Iron Age, and represent the debris from repeated heating and cooling of stones used in thermal processes.
The mound group would have accumulated through the systematic firing of stones that were subsequently plunged into liquid—most likely water held in wooden troughs or natural depressions—to heat it for cooking, textile processing or metalworking. The cooled, fractured stones were then discarded, building up the characteristic mound form over time. Such sites commonly occupy valley bottoms or stream-side locations where water access was assured, allowing the settlement or specialist activity centre to function effectively.
The monument is protected by Cadw, the Welsh Heritage Monuments service, under reference CM284. These burnt mound sites are rare and valuable archaeological evidence of prehistoric technology and economy, and the group retains considerable potential to inform understanding of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement patterns and subsistence strategies in Wales.
Group of Burnt Mounds 300m SSW of Cilcoll Farm is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CM284. View the official record →
Group of Burnt Mounds 300m SSW of Cilcoll Farm is a prehistoric burnt mound situated in Wales on bedrock of the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation and South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CM284.
Group of Burnt Mounds 300m SSW of Cilcoll Farm dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a burnt mound. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Group of Burnt Mounds 300m SSW of Cilcoll Farm 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 CM284.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tir-y-Dail Motte and Bailey Castle (3.1 km), Bodyst-uchaf ring cairn (5.1 km), Waun-hir post-medieval lluest farmstead (5.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Group of Burnt Mounds 300m SSW of Cilcoll Farm'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.
Group of Burnt Mounds 300m SSW of Cilcoll Farm stands on Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.