NPRN404711
Map ReferenceSJ04SW
Grid ReferenceSJ0387043390
Unitary (Local) AuthorityDenbighshire
Old CountyMerioneth
CommunityCorwen
Type Of SiteSQUARE BARROW CEMETERY
PeriodEarly Medieval
Description1. Group of three or possibly four square barrows recorded as parchmarks in grass during RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance on 31st July 2006. The sites were first discovered by Cambridge University aerial photographers in 1975, but remained undocumented until the new 2006 photography. Two of the barrows are very well marked, each having a central rectangular grave pit and an entrance facing due east. A pair of ditches enclose the barrows to north-east and south-west but their extents are unclear and they may be unrelated. The square barrows lies adjacent and to the west of the main A494 road. The parchmark of the Roman road (Four crosses section, NPRN 410196; Pen y pont section NPRN 404709), and flanking quarry pits, passes adjacent to the square barrows raising the possibility that they may be Roman, not early medieval, in date. Recorded during RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance on 31st July 2006.
T. Driver, RCAHMW, 10th August 2006.
2. Magnetometer survey and excavation by the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust in 2012 discovered the wider plan of the cemetery, comprising six barrows. Excavations discovered the outline of a wooden coffin in one barrow but insufficient wood or bone survived for dating and analysis. See Jones, N. 2012. Druid Square Barrows. Archaeology in Wales 51, 200-201.
T. Driver, RCAHMW, 2013