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Round Cairn with Cist on Mynydd Drumau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM387. The monument consists of a circular mound of stones with a stone-built cist, or burial chamber, at its core—a typical funerary structure of the Neolithic or Bronze Age. Such cairns served as communal or individual burial monuments, with the cist providing a contained space for human remains and grave goods.
The cairn stands upon bedrock of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, dating to the Westphalian period. This geology comprises mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete—the harder, iron-rich layers that would have been visible in the upland landscape when the cairn was constructed. The builders would have worked with locally available stone from the surrounding terrain.
Round cairns of this type are characteristic of upland Wales, where stone was abundant and the exposed landscape offered prominent locations for burial monuments. The cist within would have protected deposited burials from disturbance, whilst the visible mound ensured the monument remained a permanent landmark across the moorland. The structure survives as evidence of prehistoric funerary practice and land use in the Welsh uplands.
Round Cairn with Cist on Mynydd Drumau is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM387. View the official record →
Round Cairn with Cist on Mynydd Drumau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM387.
Round Cairn with Cist on Mynydd Drumau 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 with Cist on Mynydd Drumau 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 GM387.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including St Margaret's Chapel (6.7 km), Remains of Brunel Dock, Briton Ferry (6.9 km), Mynydd y Gaer (Lower) Camp (7.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Round Cairn with Cist on Mynydd Drumau'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 with Cist on Mynydd Drumau 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.