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Yr Eifl Summit Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn situated on the summit of Yr Eifl in Wales. The monument stands on bedrock composed of felsic igneous rock of Silurian age, part of an unnamed intrusion that formed during the Ordovician to Silurian period. This rocky ridge top, commanding extensive views across the surrounding landscape, provided an ideal location for a burial monument in prehistoric times. The light-coloured igneous stone of the summit would have been readily available for cairn construction.
The cairn takes the form of a roughly circular pile of stones, a burial form common across Britain and Ireland from the Neolithic period onwards. Such monuments typically covered individual or multiple inhumations and often marked the graves of significant community members. The exposed position at high altitude may indicate particular ritual or territorial significance for the Bronze Age or later prehistoric communities who built it.
The site is protected under Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments service, with the reference number CN076, recognising its importance as a scheduled ancient monument. The cairn's survival on the exposed summit demonstrates the durability of stone construction, though its precise date and original form can only be determined through careful archaeological investigation of the monument itself.
Yr Eifl Summit Cairns is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN076. View the official record →
Yr Eifl Summit Cairns is a prehistoric round cairn situated on the summit of Yr Eifl in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CN076.
Yr Eifl Summit 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.
Yr Eifl Summit 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 CN076.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Moel Gwynus Standing Stone (3.3 km), Standing Stone NW of Trallwyn (3.4 km), Tymawr Cross-Incised Stone (5.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Yr Eifl Summit 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.
Yr Eifl Summit Cairns stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Ordovician To Silurian, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is felsic-rock.