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North Cairn on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr is a prehistoric round cairn situated on the high moorland of central Wales. The monument stands on bedrock of Ashgill mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, geology typical of this elevated terrain. The cairn represents a burial or ceremonial structure built during the Neolithic or Bronze Age, when such stone-built monuments were constructed across the Welsh uplands as communal or individual sepulchres.
The cairn's position on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr places it within a landscape rich in prehistoric activity, where exposed stone from the underlying Ashgill rocks would have been readily available for monument construction. The exposure of local stone and the open moorland setting are characteristic of sites chosen by prehistoric communities for their visibility and accessibility to stone materials.
The cairn is protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw, the Welsh heritage authority, under reference CD036. This statutory protection recognises its significance as evidence of prehistoric settlement and ceremonial practice in the Plynlimon region. The monument survives as a tangible record of the societies that inhabited these Welsh uplands in antiquity.
North Cairn on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CD036. View the official record →
North Cairn on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr is a prehistoric round cairn situated on the high moorland of central Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CD036.
North Cairn on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr 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.
North Cairn on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr 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 CD036.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Nant yr Helygen Deserted Rural Settlement (6.6 km), Esgair Naint Deserted Rural Settlement (7 km), Hen Bont, Pont-Erwyd (7.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of North Cairn on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr'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.
North Cairn on Pen Plynlimon-Fawr stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.