Scheduled MonumentsWalesMaen-Pebyll Burial Chamber
Prehistoric · Long Cairn

Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber

Denbighshire, Wales
Cadw SAM DE004
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Long Cairn
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber is a prehistoric long cairn situated in Wales, protected as a scheduled ancient monument by Cadw under reference DE004. The monument sits upon Wenlock Rocks, a bedrock of Silurian age comprising interbedded sandstone and conglomerate, which would have provided ready stone for cairn construction. Long cairns of this type date to the Neolithic period and typically served as communal burial monuments, built by early agricultural communities across Britain and Wales.

The substantial stone mound that forms the visible cairn would have been constructed by gathering stones from the surrounding landscape, likely including material from the weathered Wenlock bedrock. Such monuments often contained internal stone chambers, accessed by a passage, where successive burials were deposited over many generations. The survival of Maen-Pebyll into the modern period, despite the landscape changes of intervening millennia, demonstrates the robustness of Neolithic stone construction.

Today the monument remains an important record of early Welsh prehistory and the burial practices of Neolithic communities. Its protection by Cadw ensures that this significant archaeological site is preserved for future study and understanding of Wales's earliest settled populations and their engagement with the landscape.

Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference DE004. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber?

Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber is a prehistoric long cairn situated in Wales, protected as a scheduled ancient monument by Cadw under reference DE004.

What period does Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber date from?

Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a long cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber?

Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber 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 DE004.

What other scheduled monuments are near Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Pont Rhyd-Llanfair (4.5 km), Maes-Gwyn Castle Mound (4.7 km), Y Foelas Castle Mound (5.1 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber

Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber stands on Wenlock Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.

The wider landscape

Around Maen-Pebyll Burial Chamber

Bryn Celli DduArchaeological site · ~22.4 miles