© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw
Y Garn cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference CN358. The monument sits upon bedrock formed from a Silurian-age felsic igneous intrusion of Ordovician to Silurian date, giving the site distinctive geological foundations of acid igneous rock rather than the sedimentary formations common to many Welsh cairn sites.
Round cairns of this type typically served as burial monuments during the Bronze Age, constructed from stones gathered and heaped over cremated or inhumed remains. The choice of location on this particular igneous outcrop may reflect the visibility of the natural rock formation across the surrounding landscape, making the site a prominent territorial marker for the community that built it.
The preservation of Y Garn cairns under Cadw protection recognises its archaeological importance as evidence of prehistoric settlement and burial practice in Wales. Such monuments remain valuable records of Bronze Age communities, their burial customs and their relationship with the landscapes they inhabited, even where excavation records or artefactual finds are limited.
Y Garn cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN358. View the official record →
Y Garn cairns is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference CN358.
Y Garn 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.
Y Garn 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 CN358.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Hut Circles at Braich y Cornel (7.7 km), Hut Circle Settlement East of Cefn Bifor (7.8 km), Cae-Bach Hut Circle Settlement (7.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Y Garn 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.
Y Garn cairns stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Ordovician To Silurian, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is felsic-rock.