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Pen y Garn Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference CD194. The monument sits upon bedrock of Llandovery Rocks, which consists of interbedded sandstone and conglomerate dating to the Llandovery period. This geological foundation provided the builder communities with ready access to stone suitable for cairn construction.
Round cairns of this type are characteristic funerary monuments of the Bronze Age, typically constructed as burial mounds by piling stone over one or more interments. The Llandovery geological setting would have made the surrounding landscape productive for the pastoral communities who raised these monuments. The durable sandstone and conglomerate outcrops in the area offered an abundance of suitable building material.
Cadw's protection of Pen y Garn Cairn recognises its archaeological significance as a Bronze Age burial site. Like other cairns in the Welsh landscape, it represents a phase of monumentality that defined the social and spiritual organisation of prehistoric communities. The specific topographical and geological context of this cairn contributes to understanding how Bronze Age peoples selected and used their upland territories.
Pen y Garn Cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CD194. View the official record →
Pen y Garn Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference CD194.
Pen y Garn Cairn 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 y Garn Cairn 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 CD194.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Copa Hill/Cwmystwyth Lead, Copper and Zinc Mines (2.7 km), Bwlch-yr-Oerfa Settlement (4 km), Hafod: Chain Bridge and Gothick Arcade (4.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Pen y Garn Cairn'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 y Garn Cairn stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.