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Cefn Bychan Mound is a medieval pillow mound located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference RD116. Pillow mounds are distinctive earthworks constructed during the medieval period, typically created to provide managed warrens for rabbit populations. The monument sits upon bedrock of Llandovery rocks, comprising undifferentiated mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formations laid down in the Llandovery epoch, which have weathered to create the local landscape character.
The mound's characteristic elongated, ridge-like form rises from the surrounding terrain, a shape designed to maximise habitat for rabbits whilst facilitating drainage across the site. The underlying geology of softer sedimentary rocks would have allowed medieval engineers to construct their artificial warren without excessive excavation, whilst providing naturally permeable ground suitable for the burrow systems that rabbits established within the mound.
As a protected monument under Cadw stewardship, Cefn Bychan Mound represents an important survival of medieval land management practice. These structures reveal how communities across medieval Wales organised their food resources through deliberate environmental modification, converting marginal ground into productive assets that supplied both meat and fur for local use and trade.
Cefn Bychan Mound (Pillow Mound) is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference RD116. View the official record →
Cefn Bychan Mound is a medieval pillow mound located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference RD116.
Cefn Bychan Mound (Pillow Mound) dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a pillow mound. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cefn Bychan Mound (Pillow Mound) 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 RD116.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Banc Ystrad-wen cairn cemetery (8.7 km), Three Round Cairns on y Gamriw (8.9 km), Cairns and Standing Stones on Carnau Cefn-y-Ffordd (9.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Cefn Bychan Mound (Pillow Mound)'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.
Cefn Bychan Mound (Pillow Mound) stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.