Scheduled MonumentsWalesPen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns
Prehistoric · Round Barrow

Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns

Carmarthenshire, Wales
Cadw SAM CM305
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Round Barrow
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
The designation
Reference
Cadw SAM CM305
Authority
Cadw
Designated
2000-03-13
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns is a prehistoric round barrow situated in Wales. The monument comprises a burial mound constructed from stone, typical of funerary monuments built during the Bronze Age across Britain and Ireland. Such cairns served as focal points for ritual and commemoration, marking the graves of individuals of sufficient social status to warrant substantial earthwork construction.

The site rests upon bedrock of Llandovery age, comprising mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. These sedimentary rocks, deposited in ancient marine environments during the early Palaeozoic period, would have presented a challenging landscape for monument builders, who selected and transported stone from the local geology to raise the cairn. The choice of location on this exposed terrain reflects the prominence and visibility such burial monuments were designed to achieve within the prehistoric landscape.

The round cairns are protected by Cadw, the Welsh Heritage Monuments service, under reference CM305. This designation recognises the site's archaeological significance as evidence of Bronze Age funerary practice and social organisation in Wales. The monument remains an important physical record of prehistoric settlement patterns and burial customs in this region.

Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CM305. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns?

Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns is a prehistoric round barrow situated in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CM305.

What period does Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns date from?

Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a round barrow. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns?

Pen Cerrigdiddos 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 CM305.

What other scheduled monuments are near Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Nantiwrch round barrow (4 km), Roman Road c. 400m S of Benlan Farm (5.6 km), Dolaucothi Gold Mines (5.8 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns'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 Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns

Pen Cerrigdiddos Round Cairns stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.