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Tair Carn Uchaf Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn in Wales, protected by Cadw as monument reference CM255. The monument sits upon bedrock of the Millstone Grit Group, a sequence of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formed during the Namurian period. This underlying geology of harder sedimentary strata would have provided both a stable foundation and readily available stone for cairn construction, resources that Bronze Age builders exploited effectively across upland Wales.
Round cairns of this type were erected during the Bronze Age as burial monuments, typically constructed by heaping stone over inhumation or cremation burials. The monument's plural name, suggesting multiple stone cairn features, indicates a complex of structures rather than a single mound. Such multi-feature cairn groups are characteristic of Bronze Age ceremonial landscapes in Wales, reflecting successive periods of use and the communal significance of these burial sites.
The Millstone Grit bedrock would have weathered to produce stone naturally fractured into usable blocks, reducing the labour required for quarrying. The upland setting typical of Welsh cairn locations offered long-distance visibility, making Tair Carn Uchaf Cairns a prominent marker in its contemporary landscape. The monument remains an important record of Bronze Age funerary practice and land use in upland Wales.
Tair Carn Uchaf Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CM255. View the official record →
Tair Carn Uchaf Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn in Wales, protected by Cadw as monument reference CM255.
Tair Carn Uchaf Cairns 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.
Tair Carn Uchaf 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 CM255.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tair Carn Isaf Cairns (1.1 km), Banc Crucorford round cairn (2.7 km), Site of Forge at Llandyfan (3.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Tair Carn Uchaf 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.
Tair Carn Uchaf Cairns stands on Millstone Grit Group [See Also Migr], bedrock that formed in the Namurian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.