© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw
Rhos Lydan Round Barrows is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference DE035. The monument sits upon Llandovery Rocks, an undifferentiated geological formation comprising mudstone, siltstone and sandstone deposited during the Llandovery period. These soft sedimentary rocks would have presented particular challenges and opportunities for the monument's construction and long-term preservation in the Welsh landscape.
Round barrows of this type typically date to the Bronze Age and served as burial monuments, often marking the graves of individuals of status within their communities. Their presence across the Welsh countryside reflects the broad distribution of funerary practices during the second millennium before the common era. The Rhos Lydan barrows represent an important survival of this prehistoric tradition in their region.
The monument's survival into the modern period, despite the inherent instability of the underlying mudstone and siltstone geology, testifies to the substantial construction methods employed by its Bronze Age builders. Such barrows provide valuable evidence of prehistoric settlement patterns, land use and social organisation across Wales. The site remains under official protection to preserve this archaeological resource for future study and understanding.
Rhos Lydan Round Barrows is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference DE035. View the official record →
Rhos Lydan Round Barrows is a prehistoric round barrow located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference DE035.
Rhos Lydan Round Barrows 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.
Rhos Lydan Round Barrows 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 DE035.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Moel y Gaer, Cefn (3.2 km), Moel Gamelin Round Barrow (3.4 km), Bwrdd y Tri Arglwydd Boundary Stone (6.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Rhos Lydan Round Barrows'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.
Rhos Lydan Round Barrows stands on Llandovery Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Llandovery. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.