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Pennant Cairns is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw under reference DE258. The monument sits upon Caradoc Rocks, Undifferentiated strata of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down during the Caradocian period. This geological foundation provided ready material for its construction and reflects the Bronze Age or Iron Age peoples' pragmatic use of local resources when building such burial monuments.
Round barrows typically served as communal or elite burial sites, their earthen or stone-built mounds marking significant individuals or family groups within early prehistoric societies. Pennant Cairns represents this widespread tradition of monument-building across Britain and Wales, where the construction of visible, permanent earthworks signalled territorial identity and ancestral connection to the landscape.
The barrow's survival to the present day testifies to its robust initial construction and the protective measures now afforded by Cadw designation. Like many similar monuments across the Welsh uplands and borderlands, it remains a tangible link to the beliefs and social structures of prehistoric communities who inhabited this region.
Pennant Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference DE258. View the official record →
Pennant Cairns is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw under reference DE258.
Pennant 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.
Pennant 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 DE258.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Craig Ty Glas Kerb Cairn (5.8 km), Craig-y-Mwyn Lead Mine (5.9 km), Glan Hafon Ring Cairn (6.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Pennant 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.
Pennant Cairns stands on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.