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The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.

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Danylan Mound, Llyswen

In the community of Bronllys.
In the historic county of Brecknockshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO13083769
Latitude 52.03046° Longitude -3.26828°

Danylan Mound, Llyswen has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A mound, 22m in diameter and 1.0-4.0m high, upon a spur-end: interpretations range from barrow, through motte, to ornamental tree-ring. (Coflein–ref. J.Wiles 19.08.02)

The monument comprises the remains of a earthen built round barrow, which probably date to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). The barrow is circular in shape and has a rounded profile. It is located on a slope of hillside and is about 5 ft high with no visible ditch. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Rejected by King as a natural hillock. Scheduled as Prehistoric Round Barrow, otherwise recorded as mound of unknown or modern date. Remfry argues that this is a medieval welsh castle, a successor to a Dark Ages welsh llys site (recorded as a Iron Age hillfort.) This suggestion is not taken up by others but the location, near a spring and well, is not improbable although a site adjacent to the parish church might be more likely, although the link between church and llys is not as strong as the link between church and thengal burh in Saxon England. Presumably the early llys site was abandoned for the better water supply. The mound is quite small but the whole site is of a reasonable size. Is this a symbolic mound built in imitation of a Norman motte by a welsh lord but without a ditch? A site worthy of reconsideration and investigation but, although may well be medieval, probably can not be considered to be fortified and, therefore, not a castle.

Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >	Coflein	County HER	Scheduling
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	Historic Wales	V. O. B.	Geology	LIDAR
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is BR048.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 306033.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 506.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Remfry, P.M., 1994-2007, Llyswen 'Motte'
Books
- Remfry, Paul, 1998, Castles of Breconshire (Logaston Press) p. 146-8
  Remfry, Paul, 1995, Four Castles of the Middle Reaches of the River Wye, 1066 to 1282 (SCS Publishing Worcester)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 22 (reject)
  Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales online copy (as tumulus)
Periodical Articles
- Savory, H.N., 1954, 'Stone maceheads from Denbighshire and Glamorgan' Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies Vol. 15 p. 303-4
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- pers corr Will Davies 11 August 2006
  Martin, C.H.R. and Walters, M.J., 1993, Brecknock Borough Historic Settlements (CPAT report)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Lidar coverage in the UK is not complete. The button above will give an idea of the area of coverage. Higher resolution lidar images in both DSM and DTM form may be available from Lle A geo-Portal for Wales (click the preview tag to bring up a map and then select format byclicking on the small blue diamond in the top right corner of the map.)

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This record last updated 05/07/2016 17:32:09

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