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Waun y Gwair Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR278. The monument sits upon bedrock of the Millstone Grit Group, a formation of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down during the Namurian period. This geological setting is typical of upland areas across South Wales where such cairns cluster in moorland and hill-country terrain.
Round cairns represent one of the most enduring monument types of prehistoric Britain, built as burial monuments from the Neolithic period onwards but predominantly during the Bronze Age. Constructed from stone heaped and consolidated over time, they served as conspicuous markers within the landscape, often sited on high ground or ridges where they remained visible across considerable distances.
The Millstone Grit bedrock underlying this site would have provided ready supplies of stone for the cairn's construction. Like many upland cairns, Waun y Gwair has likely experienced centuries of robbing and degradation, yet its presence as a protected monument ensures its preservation for future study and public appreciation of Wales's Bronze Age heritage.
Waun y Gwair Cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR278. View the official record →
Waun y Gwair Cairn is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR278.
Waun y Gwair 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.
Waun y Gwair 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 BR278.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Abercanaid haystack boiler (8.7 km), Merthyr Common Round Cairns (8.9 km), Gelligaer Common Roman Road (9.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Waun y Gwair Cairn'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.
Waun y Gwair Cairn stands on Millstone Grit Group [See Also Migr], bedrock that formed in the Namurian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.