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Begwns Round Barrow, Mynydd Machen is a Bronze Age round cairn situated in the uplands of south Wales. The monument occupies ground underlain by the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, a sequence of mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone deposited during the Westphalian period, interspersed with coal seams and ironstone bands that have weathered to ferricrete. The barrow itself, constructed from stones gathered from the immediate landscape, represents a funerary monument typical of the Bronze Age period across Britain and Ireland, when such cairns served as enduring markers for the dead.
Round barrows built at this elevation, overlooking the valleys below, often commanded significant territorial views. The exposed moorland setting would have been more extensively forested in the Bronze Age, making clearance necessary for both construction and subsequent visibility. The cairn's preservation among the upland terrain reflects its protected status under Cadw, the Welsh historic monuments authority, recorded as MM071.
Begwns Round Barrow, Mynydd Machen is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MM071. View the official record →
Begwns Round Barrow, Mynydd Machen is a Bronze Age round cairn situated in the uplands of south Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference MM071.
Begwns Round Barrow, Mynydd Machen dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a round cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Begwns Round Barrow, Mynydd Machen 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 MM071.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Ruperra Castle lower summerhouse remains (3.4 km), Ruperra Castle (3.7 km), Croes Carn Einion Roman Site (5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Begwns Round Barrow, Mynydd Machen'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.
Begwns Round Barrow, Mynydd Machen 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.