The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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Twmpath Diwlith Round Barrow

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00754w
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Maesteg
Unitary authority : Bridgend
NGR : SS8322488792
Site Type (preferred type first) : Bronze Age Round barrow
Status : Scheduled Monument

Summary :
Now a flat-topped roughly circular grass-covered round barrow mound with a series of depressions in the top, including a N-S gully which may be a drainage channel or where the fill of an excavation trench has slumped. GGAT 72

Description :
RCAHMW report that this barrow was excavated in 1921 by NMW, showing that the barrow had originally been built of turves, covering a rough cist containing fragmentary burnt bones. Later it had been enlarged with earth; the secondary interment had been rifled; only outline details are available in the published accounts (Fox 1934, 396; Wheeler 1923, 66).
Now a flat-topped roughly circular grass-covered mound with a series of depressions in the top, including a N-S gully which may be a drainage channel or where the fill of an excavation trench has slumped.
Reference: Fox, C and Fox, A, 1934, Forts and farms on Margam Mountain, Antiquity 8, 395-413
Wheeler, R E M, 1923, Archaeology in Wales, Bull Board Celtic Stud 1, 64-90 22.6x22.1m; 1.2m max high GGAT 72 Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites survey 2001.

(1956) A grass covered ditchless round barrow 23.0m in diameter , 1.0m high on the W and 1.5m high on the E. The top is flat except for a small shallow depression in the centre. ( Source 03 )
(1961/1976) On Mynydd Margam, an upland massif between Port Talbot and Maesteg. Barrows and cairns on the Margam Estate between Llangynwyd and Port talbot were excavated by the National Museum of Wales in 1921, but apart from brief references the results were never recorded. The mounds had all been previously damaged, but one cist burial containing slightly charred bones was found at Twmpath Diwlith (272 ). Some of the mounds had been built of irregularly cut turves, and yielded a few flint flakes.
Twmpath Diwlith, on the level summit of a ridge at the E end of Mynydd Margam, at about 338m above O.D. The mound is grass covered, 22.9m in diameter with a maximum height of 1.5m on the E. A small depression in the flat top is probably the site of an excavation made in 1921 on behalf of the National Museum of Wales. This showed that the barrow had originally been built of turves, covering a rough cist containing fragmentary burnt bones. Later, it had been enlarged with earth; the secondary interment had been rifled. ( Source 02 )
(1976) as RCAHM ( Source 04 )
(1982) A round barrow as described by RCAHM. It is situated in moorland pasture at the edge of a FC plantation. ( Source 05 )

Sources :
Langlands, L. , 2021 , Foel Trawsnant Windfarm Connection: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment & Assessment of the Significance of the Impact of the Development on the Historic Landscape (ASIDOHL2)
Roese H.E. , 1981 , Some aspects of Topographical locations of Neolithic and Bronze age monuments in Wales - III - Round Cairns and Round Barrows. , The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies : XXIX pt.3 : 575-587
01/ Forest Enterprise Welsh Heritage Assets Project Phase III
02/ PM list / RCAHM /// 1976/ Glam Invent/ p 84 No. 272
03/ MM Record card/ OS/// 1956/ SS 88 NW 12/
04/ MM Record card/ OS/// 1976/ SS 88 NW 12/
05/ MM Record card/ OS/// 1982/ SS 88 NW 12/
06/ PM Desc text// Fox/ C & A/ 1934/ Antiquity/ Vol. 8 p 396
07/ PM Desc text/ Corp. of Arch. Socs. , hand/// 1921/ Years work in Archaeology/ p 27
08/Pm List/CADW/2003/New Scheduled Monument
Forest Enterprise Welsh Heritage Assets Project Phase III

Events :
E000182 : Twmpath Diwlith Round Barrow (year : 1921)
E008389 : Foel Trawsnant Windfarm, Maesteg (year : 2021)
E008391 : Foel Trawsnant Windfarm, Maesteg (year : 2019-21)

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