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Maen y Bardd Burial Chamber is a prehistoric chambered long cairn located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw. The site sits upon bedrock of Ordovician felsic tuff, an extrusive volcanic rock formed during the Ordovician period. This geological foundation provided local building material that would have been available to Neolithic communities constructing the monument.
The cairn represents a form of communal burial architecture characteristic of the Neolithic period, when passage or chamber tombs were built across Britain and Ireland as focal points for ritual activity and the interment of the dead. Long cairns of this type typically consisted of a rectangular mound of stones containing an internal burial chamber, often subdivided into separate compartments. Such monuments served multiple functions within their communities, functioning as burial places, territorial markers and ceremonial centres over extended periods.
The monument survives as a substantial archaeological feature within the Welsh landscape. Its preservation under Cadw's protection ensures that the site remains available for study and public access, contributing to understanding of Neolithic burial practices and settlement patterns in Wales. The underlying volcanic geology has shaped both the monument's original construction and its survival into the present day.
Maen y Bardd Burial Chamber is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN027. View the official record →
Maen y Bardd Burial Chamber is a prehistoric chambered long cairn located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CN027.
Maen y Bardd Burial Chamber dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a chambered long cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Maen y Bardd 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 CN027.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Clogwyn yr Eryr Deserted Rural Settlement (5.4 km), Cae Du platform cairn (5.7 km), Pant y Griafolen Huts and Enclosures (6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Maen y Bardd Burial Chamber'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.
Maen y Bardd Burial Chamber stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is felsic tuff.