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Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM232. Round cairns of this type were constructed during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods as burial monuments, typically comprising stones heaped over a central burial deposit. The monument sits on bedrock of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, a sequence of Westphalian-age sedimentary rocks dominated by mudstone, siltstone and sandstone interspersed with coal seams, ironstone and bands of ferricrete. This geology would have shaped both the stones available for cairn construction and the landscape's appearance during the monument's use.
The upland setting of Mynydd Caerau provided a prominent location for the cairn, characteristic of Bronze Age funerary practice in South Wales. The ferricrete and ironstone within the underlying bedrock would have produced distinctive russet and orange-coloured stones visible in the surrounding terrain, potentially incorporated into the cairn's structure. Over millennia, weathering of the Coal Measures bedrock has contributed further stone material to the upland surface.
Like other round cairns of its period, this monument would have served as a focal point for ritual and commemoration within its community. The preservation of Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns under Cadw's protection ensures continued study of this important record of prehistoric Welsh settlement and burial practice.
Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM232. View the official record →
Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM232.
Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a round cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns 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 GM232.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Llangynwyd Castle (6.7 km), Y Bwlwarcau (7.5 km), Plas-y-Betws relict garden (7.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns'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.
Mynydd Caerau Round Cairns stands on South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.