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Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference MG290. The monument sits upon bedrock composed of Wenlock Rocks, which comprise interbedded sandstone and conglomerate deposits formed during the Wenlock period. This geological foundation of hard stone would have been well known to the Bronze Age communities who constructed the cairn, as such local materials were commonly used in monument building across Wales during this era.
The cairn represents a form of burial monument widespread across the British uplands and moorlands during the Bronze Age. Round cairns typically contained inhumation or cremation burials and served as focal points for ritual activity and territorial marking within the landscape. The Wenlock bedrock's resistant nature would have required considerable effort to quarry and transport stone for the cairn's construction, reflecting the significance of the burial or individual commemorated.
The monument's survival to the present day, despite millennia of exposure to the upland Welsh climate and human activity, testifies to the durability of its stone construction. As a protected monument under Cadw's guardianship, Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II remains an important archaeological record of prehistoric funerary practice and settlement patterns in Wales.
Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MG290. View the official record →
Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference MG290.
Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II 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.
Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II 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 MG290.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Fuallt Standing Stone (4.3 km), Fowler's Arm Chair Stone Circle & Round Cairns, Banc Du (4.5 km), Bryn Hafod Standing Stone (4.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II'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.
Polyn y Groes Ddu Round Cairn II stands on Wenlock Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.