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Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales

Carnedd y Ddelw Cairn

Aber, Gwynedd, Wales

A scheduled monument in Aber, Gwynedd, recorded as Round Cairn (Prehistoric).

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1913) covering the location of Carnedd y Ddelw Cairn, Aber, Gwynedd, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1913), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Designation
Scheduled monument
Site type
Round Cairn
Period
Prehistoric
Date of designation
17 August 2006
Community
Aber
Unitary authority
Gwynedd
Country
Wales
Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
53.21616, -3.93670
SAM number
CN398
Cadw record number
1190

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1883 map "Watershed map England, Wales 3." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1883 · Watershed map England, Wales 3. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1896 · Sheet 7. Ordnance Survey of England and Wales. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1899 · 106 Bangor (Outline) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1899 · 106 Bangor (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1901 · Sheet 9 and 10. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in Cadw's own full report ↗

Cadw's description

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of an upland stone-built cairn, a burial monument that probably dates to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). It is located slightly SW of a local summit on the N-facing slopes of Drum mountain, overlooking the head of the Anafon valley and Llyn Anafon to the W. The cairn is circular in shape on plan and measures approximately 15m in diameter. It has a low and rounded profile and measures up to 1.8m high. Although the upper part of the cairn has been modified by a walkers' shelter, the lower cairn material appears to be mostly undisturbed and structural and burial evidence can be expected to survive protected by the cairn material above. The RCAHM inventory records that the cairn was partially excavated during the eighteenth century.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits, together with structural evidence. The importance of the site is further enhanced by the cairn's association with other summit cairns in the vicinity.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 20m in diameter.

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Designated Historic Asset GIS Data, The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), 2026-09-07, licensed under the Open Government Licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ Cadw, the Welsh Historic Environment Service · Open Government Licence v3.0
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