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Round Cairn 567m East of Bryn Defaid is a prehistoric round cairn situated in Wales and protected as a scheduled ancient monument by Cadw under reference GM249. The cairn lies upon bedrock of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, a Westphalian-age sequence of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete that would have shaped both the landscape and the building materials available to its Bronze Age constructors. Round cairns of this type typically served as burial monuments, with stone heaped over a central grave or cist, often arranged to be visible across the surrounding terrain. The geological diversity of the Coal Measures bedrock—particularly the harder sandstone and ferricrete bands interspersed with softer sediments—would have influenced which stones the builders selected for the cairn's structure. Like many upland cairns in Wales, this monument represents a significant Bronze Age investment in commemorating the dead, its position marking both a burial place and a territorial anchor within the ancient landscape.
Round Cairn 567m East of Bryn Defaid is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM249. View the official record →
Round Cairn 567m East of Bryn Defaid is a prehistoric round cairn situated in Wales and protected as a scheduled ancient monument by Cadw under reference GM249.
Round Cairn 567m East of Bryn Defaid 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.
Round Cairn 567m East of Bryn Defaid 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 GM249.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Earthwork & Platform Houses N of Nant Fadog (6.7 km), Remains of Tondu Ironworks (7.2 km), Camp at Cwm Llwyd (8.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Round Cairn 567m East of Bryn Defaid'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.
Round Cairn 567m East of Bryn Defaid stands on South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.