Bwlch Defensive Enclosure

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NPRN96584
Map ReferenceSO12SE
Grid ReferenceSO1510022450
Unitary (Local) AuthorityPowys
Old CountyBrecknockshire
CommunityLlanfihangel Cwmdu with Bwlch and Cathedine
Type Of SiteENCLOSURE
PeriodPrehistoric
Description
'D' shaped enclosure comprising of an annular bank terminating at a scarp edge. Internal area featureless and covered with bracken most of the year.
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OS record: SO12SE 23

Visited in 1982 during survey work for the Brecknock Inventory.

A sub-circular enclosure is situated on a natural shelf close to the SW scarp of the ridge Cefn Moel. The site is bounded on the NE by steeply rising ground and is bracken grown.
The enclosure consists of a low, roughly circular bank of stones 3m-4m wide and measuring about 40m in overall diameter. The bank has a maximum height on the N of 0.4m above the interior, 0.2m above the exterior. No ditches are visible. The interior has a slightly dished appearance, particularly on the N, suggesting that material may have been scooped up from there to build up the circuit bank, in part at least. On the SW the bank, where it approaches the natural scarp, is discontinuous and hard to trace due to quarrying along the scarp edge. Here, an irregular and discontinuous bank, backed by an apparent ditch, is probably the result of quarrying. It is this feature to which the OS alluded in their description of the site.

visited D.K.Leighton 5 May 1982