Bryn Cader Faner
Crown of Thorns cairn
Early Bronze Age·Snowdonia Early Bronze Age·🇬🇧 Gwynedd, Snowdonia, Wales, United Kingdom
About
About Bryn Cader Faner
Stunning Bronze Age crown cairn on moor above Harlech, Snowdonia: 8.7 m diameter chambered cairn surrounded by 18 thin slate slabs set at angles like crown of thorns tilting outward from kerb, with 2 m tall pointed outlying stone 8 m to east. Dated c.2000 BCE, looted centuries ago revealing cist. Unique architectural form in Britain — interpretation as solar crown or prestige burial of chief. Dramatic isolated upland setting, photographed worldwide.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Crown function — enclosure or symbolic rays?
Theories
- 01Impersonation of sunburst marking astronomer-chief's grave
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 2000–1800 BCE
- Period
- Early Bronze Age
- Culture
- Snowdonia Early Bronze Age
- Purpose
- Elite cairn with crown setting and cist burial
- Abandoned
- Late Bronze Age
- Rediscovered
- Antiquarian 19th century
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 2000–1800 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1231 CE
Rediscovery
On the ground
Structures & features
52.8980° N · 4.0220° W · 250 m · 2 mapped features
Crown kerb
stone circle18 angled slate slabs around 8.7 m cairn
52.8980° N · 4.0220° WEastern outlier
standing stonePointed 2 m monolith 8 m east of cairn
52.8981° N · 4.0218° W
Gallery