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Pen Tir is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument under reference BR308. The site occupies ground underlain by Lower Devonian sandstones and conglomerates, deposits laid down during the Early Devonian period and now deeply weathered by millennia of exposure. This rocky foundation would have offered local communities of the Bronze Age a naturally firm base upon which to construct their burial monument.
The cairn represents a widespread tradition of monumental burial practice across upland and coastal Wales during the Bronze Age. Round cairns typically served as communal or individual burial structures, built by stacking stone gathered from the surrounding landscape. The accumulation of such stones into prominent mounds created enduring markers visible across the valley and beyond, serving both practical and ceremonial functions for the communities that built them.
Pen Tir's position at the southern end of its locality reflects the careful placement of Bronze Age burial monuments in the landscape, often sited to command views across inhabited territory. The monument's survival into the present day, despite subsequent land use and natural erosion, testifies to the scale of its original construction and the durability of stone-built structures in this part of Wales.
Pen Tir, cairn on S end of is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR308. View the official record →
Pen Tir is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument under reference BR308.
Pen Tir, cairn on S end of 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.
Pen Tir, cairn on S end of 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 BR308.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Coed Pentwyn Hillfort (8.3 km), Llangattock Tramroad Inclines (8.6 km), Hen Castell (8.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Pen Tir, cairn on S end of'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.
Pen Tir, cairn on S end of stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.