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Three Round Cairns on Mynydd Drumau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM383. The monument comprises three distinct burial mounds situated on upland terrain, representing a significant prehistoric funerary landscape. Round cairns of this type were constructed throughout the Bronze Age across Wales and the wider British Isles, typically serving as communal or individual burial monuments.
The site rests upon bedrock of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, Westphalian age, which comprises mudstone, siltstone and sandstone interspersed with coal seams, ironstone and ferricrete deposits. This solid geology provided the raw material for the cairn construction and shaped the local landscape that prehistoric communities exploited for grazing and settlement. The upland position of Mynydd Drumau would have afforded visibility across the surrounding terrain, common for cairn placement during the Bronze Age.
The three mounds represent a concentrated grouping typical of prehistoric burial practices in upland Wales, where such monuments often cluster together over time as burial grounds. The survival of all three cairns contributes to understanding Bronze Age funerary traditions and settlement patterns across South Wales during the metal-working periods.
Three Round Cairns on Mynydd Drumau is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM383. View the official record →
Three Round Cairns on Mynydd Drumau is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference GM383.
Three Round Cairns 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.
Three Round Cairns 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 GM383.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including St Margaret's Chapel (5.3 km), Crymlyn Bog Second World War Barrage Balloon Site (5.6 km), Remains of Brunel Dock, Briton Ferry (5.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Three Round Cairns 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.
Three Round Cairns 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.