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West Aberthaw Medieval Site is a medieval settlement located in Wales and protected by Cadw as monument GM297. The site sits upon bedrock of the Lias Group, a sequence of mudstone, siltstone, limestone and sandstone laid down during the Aalenian period. This underlying geology of mixed sedimentary rocks, typical of South Wales, would have influenced both the building materials available to medieval settlers and the drainage characteristics of the land they occupied.
The settlement represents a phase of medieval occupation and use of the landscape, with the site's preservation allowing investigation of how communities organised their settlement in this period. The mixed geology beneath the site—particularly the softer mudstones and siltstones interspersed with more durable limestone and sandstone—shaped the practical constraints and opportunities for construction, agriculture and resource extraction that medieval inhabitants would have encountered.
Today the site remains an important record of medieval settlement patterns in Wales, protected for its archaeological and historical significance. The combination of the site's physical remains and its distinctive geological setting contributes to understanding how medieval communities adapted to and utilised their local environment.
West Aberthaw Medieval Site is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM297. View the official record →
West Aberthaw Medieval Site is a medieval settlement located in Wales and protected by Cadw as monument GM297. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM297.
West Aberthaw Medieval Site dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a settlement. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
West Aberthaw Medieval Site 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 GM297.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Limpert Bay Anti-invasion Defences (0.8 km), East Orchard Wood Pillbox (1 km), East Orchard Manor House (1.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of West Aberthaw Medieval Site'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.
West Aberthaw Medieval Site stands on Lias Group, bedrock that formed in the Aalenian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, limestone and sandstone.