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Soldiers' Graves Pillow Mounds is a medieval pillow mound located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument under reference MG250. Pillow mounds are distinctive earthworks created during the medieval period, typically constructed as elongated, rounded ridges of soil and stone. They were built to provide improved drainage and suitable conditions for rabbit warrens, which supplied meat and fur to local communities. The mound rises from bedrock composed of Wenlock Rocks—sandstone and conglomerate formations dating to the Wenlock period—which provides the geological foundation underlying the site.
The monument's name suggests a possible association with military burials, though pillow mounds primarily served economic rather than funerary purposes. The characteristic ridge form, created by heaping earth into raised platforms, remains visible in the landscape as evidence of medieval land management practices. The Wenlock bedrock beneath the site, with its interbedded layers of harder and softer stone, would have influenced drainage patterns and soil composition across the mound.
Today, the pillow mound survives as a tangible record of medieval resource exploitation and demonstrates the variety of earthworks constructed during this period. Its protection recognises the importance of such monuments in understanding rural medieval life and the diverse ways in which communities adapted their landscape to economic advantage.
Soldiers' Graves Pillow Mounds is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MG250. View the official record →
Soldiers' Graves Pillow Mounds is a medieval pillow mound located in Wales and protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument under reference MG250.
Soldiers' Graves Pillow Mounds 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.
Soldiers' Graves Pillow Mounds 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 MG250.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cae'r-Mynach Round Cairn (2.3 km), Mynydd Dyfnant Stone Alignment (4.1 km), Allt Dolanog Hillfort (5.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Soldiers' Graves Pillow Mounds'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.
Soldiers' Graves Pillow Mounds stands on Wenlock Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.