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Hen-y-Fail Round Barrow is a prehistoric burial monument located in Wales and protected as a scheduled ancient monument by Cadw under reference FL168. The barrow sits upon bedrock of the Bowland High Group and Craven Group, undifferentiated strata composed of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone deposited during the Bashkirian period of the Carboniferous era. This geological foundation of mixed sedimentary deposits would have influenced both the construction and preservation of the monument.
Round barrows of this type typically date to the Bronze Age, serving as burial places for individuals of status within their communities. The earthwork would originally have consisted of a mound of soil and stone, often built over a central grave or cremation burial. The Bashkirian rocks underlying the site, comprising alternating bands of fine and coarser sediments, provided accessible stone for construction and would have naturally weathered to create suitable material for barrow-building.
The monument's survival to the present day, protected within Wales's archaeological heritage, reflects the importance placed upon these Bronze Age funerary structures. Their prominence in the landscape made them enduring markers of ancestral occupation and territorial claims. Hen-y-Fail Round Barrow remains a physical record of prehistoric burial practice and the communities who invested labour in its construction.
Hen-y-Fail Round Barrow is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference FL168. View the official record →
Hen-y-Fail Round Barrow is a prehistoric burial monument located in Wales and protected as a scheduled ancient monument by Cadw under reference FL168.
Hen-y-Fail 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.
Hen-y-Fail 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 FL168.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Ministry of Supply Valley Site (4 km), Plas-Yw Round Barrows (4.3 km), Wat's Dyke: Section SE of Clawdd Offa (5.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Hen-y-Fail Round Barrow'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.
Hen-y-Fail Round Barrow stands on Bowland High Group And Craven Group (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Bashkirian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.