NAR SS58NW30

This is a long low mound aligned north to south, set on a comparativey level area of Penmaen Burrows. It is 20.2m long and its width tapers from 6.4m at the south to 4.4m at the north. It rises to 0.7m high at the centre and is flanked by very shallow ditches some 1.5m wide.
Mounds such as these were intended to provide suitable burrowing sites for rabbits, which were originally rare and delicate beasts, valued for their meat and fur, and jealously guarded. Pillow mounds were constructed from the medieval period down to the nineteenth century.
Penmaen Burrows was the site of a medieval settlement (NPRN 15435) that included a church or chapel (NPRN 305604), and was associated with a castle (NPRN 305605). It is thought that the site had been engulfed by sand dunes before 1320 and that it came to be set aside as a warren, a preserve for rabbits.

Source: RCAHMW Glamorgan Inventory III Medieval Secular Monuments. ii. Non Defensive (1982), 331-3 PM12

John Wiles 04.01.08