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Gro Hill cairn cemetery is a prehistoric burial ground located in Wales, comprising a cluster of stone cairns built upon Llandovery sandstone and conglomerate bedrock. The underlying geology, typical of the Llandovery formation, would have provided locally available stone suitable for cairn construction, making this hilltop location a practical choice for a communal burial place. The monument is protected by Cadw, the historic monuments service of Wales, under reference BR397.
Cairn cemeteries of this type were typically constructed during the Bronze Age, serving as burial places for multiple individuals over an extended period. The grouping of cairns indicates a formal, organised approach to death ritual and monument-building, reflecting the social significance of the site to local communities. The hilltop position would have made the cemetery visually prominent in the surrounding landscape.
The preservation of Gro Hill cairn cemetery contributes to understanding Bronze Age mortuary practices and settlement patterns in Wales. The site's relationship to its natural geology and topography reveals how prehistoric communities exploited their local environment for both practical resources and ceremonial purposes. Such cemetery sites provide valuable archaeological evidence of social organisation, kinship structures and continuity of land use in prehistoric Wales.
Gro Hill cairn cemetery is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR397. View the official record →
Gro Hill cairn cemetery is a prehistoric burial ground located in Wales, comprising a cluster of stone cairns built upon Llandovery sandstone and conglomerate bedrock. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference BR397.
Gro Hill cairn cemetery dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a cairn cemetery. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Gro Hill cairn cemetery 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 BR397.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Gorllwyn round cairns (3.6 km), Gurnos ring cairn (4.4 km), Darren round cairn (5.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Gro Hill cairn cemetery'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.
Gro Hill cairn cemetery stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.