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Pen-plaenau cairns and standing stone is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference DE294. The monument occupies ground underlain by Caradoc Rocks, a sequence of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formed during the Caradocian period of the Ordovician. The combination of stone mound and associated standing stone suggests this was a burial or ritual site of significance during the Bronze Age, when such monuments were constructed across upland Wales as focal points for funerary practice and territorial identity.
The presence of a standing stone alongside the cairn indicates a more complex ceremonial arrangement than simple burial mounds. Such paired monuments are characteristic of later prehistoric Welsh landscapes, where worked stone served both practical and symbolic functions. The geology of the surrounding terrain—with its ready supply of slate-like stone from the Caradoc sequence—would have made monument construction feasible, though the selection and positioning of the standing stone suggests deliberate choices about materials and placement.
Today the monument survives as an archaeological record of prehistoric settlement and belief systems in the Welsh landscape. Its protection by Cadw recognises its value as evidence of ancient ritual practice and engineering capability in the region.
Pen-plaenau cairns and standing stone is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference DE294. View the official record →
Pen-plaenau cairns and standing stone is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw under reference DE294.
Pen-plaenau cairns and standing stone dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a round cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Pen-plaenau cairns and 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 DE294.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Mynydd Bach Camp (3.2 km), Y Foel Ddu Round Barrow (4.3 km), Tomen Garmon (4.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Pen-plaenau cairns and 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.
Pen-plaenau cairns and standing stone stands on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.