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Gelligaer Common Standing Stone is a prehistoric standing stone located on Gelligaer Common in Wales. The monument stands upon bedrock of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, a sequence of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete deposits laid down during the Westphalian period. This substantial geology would have presented both challenge and opportunity to prehistoric communities working the landscape.
Standing stones of this type were typically erected during the Bronze Age, serving purposes that remain incompletely understood but likely connected to ritual, territorial marking or commemoration. The stone's placement on open common ground suggests it held significance visible across the surrounding landscape. The moorland setting, characteristic of upland South Wales, offers exposure and prominence that would have made the monument a notable landmark in the prehistoric period.
The standing stone is now protected by Cadw, the Welsh heritage organisation, under the reference GM221. This statutory protection recognises its importance as a survival from prehistoric Wales, preserving evidence of Bronze Age monumentality and the communities that shaped the Gelligaer landscape in antiquity.
Gelligaer Common Standing Stone is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM221. View the official record →
Gelligaer Common Standing Stone is a prehistoric standing stone located on Gelligaer Common in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM221.
Gelligaer Common Standing Stone dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a standing stone. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Gelligaer Common Standing Stone 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 GM221.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Coed Cae Round Cairns (3.9 km), Tir Lan round barrow cemetery (4.4 km), Capel Gwladys (4.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Gelligaer Common Standing Stone'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.
Gelligaer Common Standing Stone stands on South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.