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The Cregennen Cairns and Standing Stones is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference ME151. The monument sits upon bedrock of Ordovician to Silurian age, specifically an unnamed mafic igneous intrusion formed during the Silurian period. This volcanic geology underlies much of the surrounding landscape and would have been exposed or near-surface when the cairn was constructed in prehistoric times.
Round cairns of this type typically date to the Bronze Age, when they served as burial monuments for members of local communities. The stony nature of the immediate bedrock would have made stone readily available for construction, and such intrusive igneous rock often breaks naturally into usable blocks. The association of standing stones with the cairn suggests this was a site of considerable ceremonial or ritual significance in prehistory.
The monument's survival to the present day, despite its exposed upland location in Wales, reflects both the substantial nature of stone construction and the protection afforded by its scheduled status. The combination of cairn and standing stones represents an important record of Bronze Age mortuary practice and landscape use in this region, with the underlying igneous geology having directly shaped the material resources available to its builders.
The Cregennen Cairns and Standing Stones is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME151. View the official record →
The Cregennen Cairns and Standing Stones is a prehistoric round cairn located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference ME151.
The Cregennen Cairns and Standing Stones 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.
The Cregennen Cairns and Standing Stones 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 ME151.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Castell y Bere (4.8 km), Hut Circle Settlement at Craig Ty'n-y-Cornel (5.3 km), Twll y Darren Round Barrow (5.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of The Cregennen Cairns and Standing Stones'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.
The Cregennen Cairns and Standing Stones stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Ordovician To Silurian, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is mafic igneous-rock.