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Porth Dafarch Hut Circles is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw under reference AN034. The site sits upon Upper Cambrian bedrock, specifically deposits from the Tremadocian period that now form metasedimentary rock. This ancient geology, laid down some 485 million years ago in a shallow marine environment, provides the solid foundation upon which the Bronze Age builders constructed their monument.
Round barrows are among the most distinctive monuments of the Bronze Age, typically erected between 2200 and 1500 BC to mark the graves of prominent individuals. The earthwork at Porth Dafarch would have served both as a burial place and as a visible territorial marker across the Welsh landscape. The site's name refers to the presence of hut circles in the vicinity, suggesting occupation in the immediate area during prehistory.
The survival of this monument reflects its location on stable bedrock that has resisted erosion, allowing the barrow's form to persist across millennia. The Tremadocian metasedimentary rocks upon which it stands have proven sufficiently resistant to preserve the archaeological stratigraphy within and beneath the mound, making sites of this type valuable for understanding Bronze Age burial practices and settlement patterns in Wales.
Porth Dafarch Hut Circles is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference AN034. View the official record →
Porth Dafarch Hut Circles is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected as an ancient monument by Cadw under reference AN034.
Porth Dafarch Hut Circles 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.
Porth Dafarch Hut Circles 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 AN034.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Plas Meilw Hut Circles (0.9 km), Penrhosfeilw Standing Stones (1.1 km), Dinas Porth Ruffydd (1.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Porth Dafarch Hut Circles'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.
Porth Dafarch Hut Circles stands on Upper Cambrian, Including Tremadoc, bedrock that formed in the Tremadocian. The rock here is metasedimentary rock.