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Long Houses, Enclosures & Field Systems, Bardsey Island is a medieval rectangular hut situated on this island off the coast of Wales. The structure occupies ground underlain by Upper Cambrian bedrock, including Tremadoc metasedimentary rock, which forms the island's solid geological foundation. This metasedimentary bedrock would have presented particular challenges to medieval inhabitants seeking to establish settlement and cultivation on the island's exposed terrain.
The hut forms part of a wider medieval settlement pattern visible on Bardsey Island, comprising long houses, associated enclosures and field systems. Long houses of this period typically served dual purposes, accommodating both human inhabitants and livestock under a single roof, with the dwelling area separated by a passage from the animal byre. The rectangular plan represents the standard domestic architecture of medieval Wales, reflecting both practical building methods and social organisation of the period.
The monument is protected by Cadw, the Welsh heritage monuments authority, under reference CN186. The field systems and enclosures surrounding the hut demonstrate the medieval islanders' systematic exploitation of Bardsey's limited arable land, with boundaries and divisions adapted to the island's topography and constraints. This archaeological landscape preserves evidence of how communities sustained themselves on this isolated offshore location during the medieval period.
Long Houses, Enclosures & Field Systems, Bardsey Island is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN186. View the official record →
Long Houses, Enclosures & Field Systems, Bardsey Island is a medieval rectangular hut situated on this island off the coast of Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CN186.
Long Houses, Enclosures & Field Systems, Bardsey Island dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a rectangular hut. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Long Houses, Enclosures & Field Systems, Bardsey Island 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 CN186.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including St Mary's Abbey, Bardsey Island (0.5 km), Cross-Inscribed Stone in the Chapel, Bardsey Island (0.6 km), Inscribed Stone in the Chapel, Bardsey Island (0.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Long Houses, Enclosures & Field Systems, Bardsey Island'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.
Long Houses, Enclosures & Field Systems, Bardsey Island stands on Upper Cambrian, Including Tremadoc, bedrock that formed in the Tremadocian. The rock here is metasedimentary rock.