Prehistoric · Round Barrow

Crug Tarw

Carmarthenshire, Wales
Cadw SAM CM103
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Round Barrow
Broad class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Nation
Wales
The designation
Reference
Cadw SAM CM103
Authority
Cadw
Designated
1951-07-04
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Crug Tarw is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference CM103. The monument sits upon Ashgill Rocks, a bedrock of undifferentiated mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formed during the Ashgill period. This geological foundation would have presented distinctive working conditions for the Neolithic or Bronze Age communities who constructed the barrow, with the underlying sedimentary rocks offering both practical constraints and available stone for monument building.

Round barrows of this type served as burial mounds for individual or family groups, typically constructed as earthen tumuli with stone or timber internal structures. The Ashgill geology surrounding Crug Tarw would have influenced the choice of materials available for its construction and the appearance of the finished monument against the local landscape.

The barrow's preservation as a scheduled monument reflects its significance as evidence of prehistoric burial practice and social organisation. Such monuments are fundamental to understanding settlement patterns and population distribution across Wales during the later prehistoric period. The specific topography and geology of Crug Tarw's location contribute to its individual character within the broader corpus of Welsh round barrows.

Crug Tarw is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CM103. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Crug Tarw?

Crug Tarw is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference CM103.

What period does Crug Tarw date from?

Crug Tarw 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 Crug Tarw?

Crug Tarw 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 CM103.

What other scheduled monuments are near Crug Tarw?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Crug Gwyn Round Barrow (3.9 km), Crug Fach Round Barrow (4 km), Garreg Wen Standing Stone (5.5 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Crug Tarw

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Crug Tarw'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 Crug Tarw

Crug Tarw stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.