Scheduled MonumentsWalesWaun Coli round cairn
Prehistoric · Round Cairn

Waun Coli round cairn

Breconshire, Wales
Cadw SAM BR365
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Round Cairn
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
The designation
Reference
Cadw SAM BR365
Authority
Cadw
Designated
2009-02-12
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Waun Coli round cairn is a prehistoric circular burial monument sited on the moorlands of Wales. Built from stone gathered across terrain underlain by Ashgill rocks—a sequence of mudstones, siltstones and sandstones deposited during the Ashgill period of the Ordovician—the cairn would have served as a tomb for one or more individuals during the Bronze Age or earlier prehistory. Such monuments typically accumulated through successive episodes of use and ritual activity, their stone mounds remaining visible across the Welsh landscape as testament to ancient burial practices and the labour invested in commemoration of the dead.

The cairn's location reflects deliberate choice of elevated, open ground characteristic of prehistoric funerary monuments in upland Wales. The underlying geology, weathered to broken stone and moorland soil, provided readily available building material. The monument's survival into the modern era, protected by Cadw under reference BR365, preserves evidence of how prehistoric communities marked and memorialised significant individuals within their territories. Its form and placement contribute to our understanding of settlement patterns, social organisation and ritual life in prehistoric Wales.

Waun Coli round cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR365. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Waun Coli round cairn?

Waun Coli round cairn is a prehistoric circular burial monument sited on the moorlands of Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference BR365.

What period does Waun Coli round cairn date from?

Waun Coli round cairn 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.

Who is responsible for protecting Waun Coli round cairn?

Waun Coli round cairn 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 BR365.

What other scheduled monuments are near Waun Coli round cairn?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Abererbwll Roman fort (5.1 km), Stone Circle 200m SW of Cerrig Cynant (5.2 km), Bryn-Poeth-Uchaf, ring cairn to ESE of (5.4 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Waun Coli round cairn

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Waun Coli round cairn's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Waun Coli round cairn

Waun Coli round cairn stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.