Scheduled MonumentsWalesBwlch-Bychan Round Barrow
Prehistoric · Round Barrow

Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow

Carmarthenshire, Wales
Cadw SAM CM119
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Round Barrow
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
The designation
Reference
Cadw SAM CM119
Authority
Cadw
Designated
1951-07-05
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow is a prehistoric burial mound situated in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw. The barrow represents a form of monumental funerary architecture typical of the Bronze Age, when such earthen mounds served as focal points for burial rites and community commemoration across Britain and Ireland.

The monument stands upon bedrock composed of Llandovery rocks—undifferentiated mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down during the Silurian period. This geology would have presented ancient builders with accessible stone suitable for internal structures, though the mound itself would have relied principally on soil and turf quarried from the surrounding landscape.

Protected under Cadw reference CM119, Bwlch-Bychan remains an important element of Wales's prehistoric heritage. Its survival reflects the value placed on such monuments through modern heritage guardianship, enabling continued study of burial practices and landscape use in prehistoric Wales. The site's preservation contributes to our understanding of how communities of the Bronze Age organised their dead and marked their territories across the Welsh uplands.

Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CM119. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow?

Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow is a prehistoric burial mound situated in Wales and protected as a scheduled monument by Cadw. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CM119.

What period does Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow date from?

Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a round barrow. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow?

Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow 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 CM119.

What other scheduled monuments are near Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Roman Amphitheatre (7.2 km), St John's Priory (7.3 km), Carmarthen Roman Town (part of) (7.4 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow

Bwlch-Bychan Round Barrow stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.