Carnedd gron Carn Caglau

Carnedd gron Carn Caglau stands on a moorland ridge above the Afon Corrwg in Neath Port Talbot. This 4 000-year-old round cairn was built at the close of the Stone Age and the start of the Bronze Age. Its purpose was probably linked to burial rites and religious ceremonies honouring the dead. The site differs from a ring cairn, which has a stone circle around it. Cadw has listed the monument as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, giving it the reference GM577. The same Neolithic and Bronze-Age people who raised Carnedd gron Carn Caglau also built chambered tombs, burial mounds, stone circles, hill forts, Irish huts and standing stones across the landscape. Their cairns often mark high points where the wind carries voices far. The round shape of this cairn shows how carefully the builders shaped each stone. Visitors reach the cairn by following a narrow path that climbs from the valley. The summit offers wide views over the surrounding moors and distant ridges. The stones themselves are grey and lichen-covered, standing in a low circular heap. The silence here is broken only by the cry of curlews and the rustle of heather in the wind.