1. During the drought of July 2006, aerial reconnaissance identified a complex of Early Bronze Age monuments in the valley bottom at Dollwen, Goginan. The chance which lay behind their discovery was considerable. Even into late June the field was under long grass for a silage crop. This was harvested in early July, following which there was a fall of rain; the persistent drought then returned into mid July forcing a regrowth of grass and weeds (the `aftermath?) where buried archaeological ditches provided sufficient moisture and nutrients for the roots. Thus a `cropmark? appeared to the author during aerial reconnaissance, at first faintly on its discovery on 17th July 2006, then more pronounced 10 days later on 27th July when the key photographs were taken. The cropmarks were clear enough to be seen from the ground a few days later, when it was possible to photograph them and gain some sense of the extraordinary scale and imposing nature of this otherwise invisible monument. Without the particular coincidence of seasonal and agricultural factors, the Dollwen monuments could have lain undiscovered for many years to come.

The focal point of the Dollwen Early Bronze Age complex is a large and impressive concentric enclosure c. 43.6m in diameter (NPRN 404647), with 1.4-1.9m wide ditches (measurements were taken from the cropmark while it still showed on the ground). Only 20m to the south-east, cropmarks show a large circular depression or pit, likely to be a pond barrow. Fifteen metres to the north-east is an upstanding barrow (NPRN 404648), only discovered as a parched mound at the time of the cropmark discovery. `Ring ditches?, or further plough-levelled burial mounds, are also visible to the south of the concentric enclosure, and across the river to the north (NPRN 405448). Linear cropmarks of former boundaries could represent a contemporary field system within which the barrows were built, perhaps to ensure agricultural prosperity or to allow dead ancestors to watch over the farmlands.

For a full account see: Driver, T. 2009. Barrows, cropmarks and Lewis Morris: An Early Bronze Age ritual complex discovered at Dollwen, Goginan, Ceredigion, Ceredigion Volume XVI, Number 1. 1-21

T. Driver, RCAHMW

2. New aerial reconnaissance on 10th July 2018 during record drought conditions changed our understanding of this site. The new images provided clearer detail of the main concentric burial monument, showing both circuits of the concentric barrow 'flatten' on their north side apparently avoiding or respecting cropmarks of a pit or post/stone hole just outside the circle. The new cropmarks also showed indications of one square barrow and several grave cuts on the eastern side of the monument suggesting re-use of the site for burial in the early medieval period, as at Plas Gogerddan to the north-west. The square barrow is partly constructed over the inner ditch of the Bronze Age monument. The graves are aligned east-west suggesting Christian use of the cemetery.

3. Geophysical survey & fieldwalking 2020: 

The concentric cropmarks of a plough-levelled round barrow and related features in Pen y Wal field, Dollwen, in the village of Goginan, Ceredigion, were first recognised during aerial reconnaissance in July 2006. The 43m diameter concentric barrow is flanked by a large circular feature to its south and a small upstanding barrow in the adjacent field to the east.  They were seen with greater clarity during a widespread drought in July 2018 when parchmarks of possible early medieval graves were observed and visited on the ground while the markings were still visible.

The barrow is not a scheduled monument but remains a high priority for survey. On discovery in 2006 it was one of the larger surviving lowland early Bronze Age barrow complexes in Ceredigion, along with examples at Llandre (excavated, and now partly built over) and Plas Gogerddan (excavated and scheduled). Additional aerial discoveries in 2018 at Dollwen include an external pit or post/stonehole on the north side of the barrow opposite which which the barrow ditches flatten, and potential later re-use in the form of early medieval graves and at least one possible square barrow over the concentric Bronze Age ditches. Re-use of prehistoric ritual monuments for early medieval burial is well attested in Wales but examples remain comparatively rare. Notable examples in western Wales include Plas Gogerddan, Ceredigion and Crugiau Cemmaes, north Pembrokeshire.

Fieldwalking after ploughing in August 2020 yielded a single prehistoric retouched flint flake, among quantities of china and post medieval debris manured into the field. The findspot of the flake, at SN6874481417, is just on the north side of the smaller circular enclosure, to the south-east of the concentric barrow.

A detailed magnetometer survey was conducted over approximately 1.2 hectares of land the site of Dollwen Barrow by Sumo Survey LTD on 25 January 2021 (Fradgley 2021). The concentric circular ditches of the enclosure have been clearly mapped, along with numerous pits and potential graves to its immediate south. An additional ring ditch has been detected in the location of a large pit or depression noted on aerial photography, supporting the view that the response is indeed related to another barrow.

A large concentric circular enclosure [1] corresponds in location with the Dollwen barrow, identified through numerous aerial photographs and cropmarks. The data confirms that the outer ditch measures some 35m in diameter, with the inner ditch roughly 26m wide. Numerous pits are visible within its interior, with those at the western edge of the enclosure possibly indicative of post-pits [2a]. A discrete feature [2b] on the eastern edge of the enclosure is also indicative of a pit, and corresponds in location with a possible grave, visible on the aerial photographs of the site, though no further detail is discernible. 

A smaller circular feature [3] is noted to the south of the concentric enclosure [1], coinciding with the location of a cropmark suggestive of a large pit or depression (Fig. 07), and measuring approximately 12m across. The magnetic response of the anomaly is not suggestive of a depression per se but it is indicative of a ditch, supporting the view that the feature is a smaller barrow or ring ditch.  A couple of small discrete responses are noted within its interior that could be related to pits.  Three discrete positive anomalies [4] have been mapped between the concentric enclosure [1] and the smaller barrow [2]. Each response measures between 2.0m and 3.0m in length, with the northern-most feature corresponding in location with a potential grave identified on aerial photographs (Fig. 07). The size of the anomalies suggests that they could relate to backfilled pits which might be a result of former graves, though they are not aligned east-west.

References:

Driver, T. 2009. Barrows, cropmarks and Lewis Morris: An Early Bronze Age ritual complex discovered at Dollwen, Goginan, Ceredigion, Ceredigion Volume XVI, Number 1. 1-21

Driver, T. 2019. Aerial Archaeology in Wales during the 2018 Drought: Major Discoveries. Archaeology in Wales 59.

Fradgley, R. 2021. Pen y Wal, Dollwen Barrow, Goginan, Ceredigion. Geophysical Survey Report. SUMO Geophysics LTD. Survey report 01513. (Unpublished report).

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 23rd July 2018. Updated 20/09/2023