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Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery is a prehistoric burial site in Wales comprising a group of cairns constructed upon bedrock composed of Ashgill rocks—mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down in the Ashgill period. The cemetery represents a communal burial practice typical of Neolithic and Bronze Age Wales, where successive generations interred their dead beneath substantial stone monuments. The underlying geology of mudstone and siltstone would have provided relatively accessible material for cairn construction, though builders also worked with locally gathered stone to create the visible mounds marking burial places.
The monument's survival and archaeological significance are recognised through its protection by Cadw, the Welsh heritage organisation, under reference CD239. This designation reflects its importance as evidence of prehistoric settlement patterns and mortuary practices in the Welsh landscape. The cairn cemetery's position on the Ashgill bedrock offers insight into how prehistoric communities selected and utilised natural topography and available stone resources for monumental construction.
Today, Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery remains a visible legacy of Bronze Age and earlier burial tradition, preserved as a scheduled ancient monument within the Welsh heritage landscape.
Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CD239. View the official record →
Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery is a prehistoric burial site in Wales comprising a group of cairns constructed upon bedrock composed of Ashgill rocks—mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down in the Ashgill period. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CD239.
Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a cairn cemetery. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery 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 CD239.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Standing Stone c. 500m SW of Llyn Pendam (7.9 km), Buwch a'r Llo Standing Stones (8.2 km), Nant Geifaes Cairn (8.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery'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.
Moel y Llyn Cairn Cemetery stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.