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Twr Pen-cyrn round cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument. The site sits upon bedrock of the Pennine and South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation, a geological sequence of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete deposited during the Westphalian period. This underlying geology of mixed sedimentary rocks would have been exposed or near-surface at the time of the cairn's construction, presenting both opportunities and constraints for the monument's builders.
Round cairns of this type typically date to the Bronze Age and served as burial monuments for high-status individuals or family groups. Built by stacking stone gathered from the immediate landscape, such cairns often contained central burial cists or cremations, with the accumulated material serving both as a durable memorial and a territorial marker across the upland terrain.
The monument's name, incorporating the Welsh word tŵr meaning tower, suggests its continued visibility and prominence in the local landscape. Cadw's scheduled protection recognises Twr Pen-cyrn as a significant example of prehistoric funerary architecture, preserving evidence of Bronze Age burial practices and settlement patterns within the Welsh uplands.
Twr Pen-cyrn round cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR359. View the official record →
Twr Pen-cyrn round cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument.
Twr Pen-cyrn round 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.
Twr Pen-cyrn round 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 BR359.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Brake Engine on Hill Pits Tramroad Incline (6 km), Old Coal Pits, Blaenavon (6.4 km), Garn Road Powder House 300m ENE of Ashgrove Bungalow (6.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Twr Pen-cyrn round 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.
Twr Pen-cyrn round cairns stands on Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.