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Kidney-shaped Enclosure, Cwm Banw is a prehistoric agricultural enclosure located approximately one kilometre south-east of Pen Allt-Mawr in Wales. The monument comprises a distinctive curved earthwork that enclosed an area suitable for stock management or cultivation during prehistoric times. Such kidney-shaped or crescent-shaped enclosures are characteristic of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement patterns in Wales, typically serving as livestock corrals or agricultural work areas associated with nearby domestic occupation.
The enclosure lies on bedrock formed from Lower Devonian rocks dating to the Early Devonian period, comprising interbedded sandstone and conglomerate. This geology has shaped the local landscape and would have influenced both the siting of the monument and its agricultural use in antiquity. The undulating terrain of Cwm Banw provided grazing land suitable for pastoral communities.
The monument is protected by Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments Service, under reference number BR417, recognising its archaeological significance as evidence of prehistoric settlement patterns and land use in the Cwm Banw valley.
Kidney-shaped enclosure 1km SE of Pen Allt-Mawr, Cwm Banw is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR417. View the official record →
Kidney-shaped Enclosure, Cwm Banw is a prehistoric agricultural enclosure located approximately one kilometre south-east of Pen Allt-Mawr in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference BR417.
Kidney-shaped enclosure 1km SE of Pen Allt-Mawr, Cwm Banw dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a enclosure - agricultural. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Kidney-shaped enclosure 1km SE of Pen Allt-Mawr, Cwm Banw 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 BR417.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Hen Castell (7.4 km), Llangattock Tramroad Inclines (7.9 km), Coed Pentwyn Hillfort (8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Kidney-shaped enclosure 1km SE of Pen Allt-Mawr, Cwm Banw'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.
Kidney-shaped enclosure 1km SE of Pen Allt-Mawr, Cwm Banw stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.