Pen Dinas Camp

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of a hillfort, which probably dates to the Iron Age period (c. 800 BC - AD 74, the Roman conquest of Wales). Hillforts are usually Iocated on hilltops and surrounded by a single or multiple earthworks of massive proportions. Hillforts must have formed symbols of power within the landscape, while their function may have had as much to do with ostentation and display as defence. This site sits at the unusually high altitude (at the summit) of 279m OD, and is irregularly shaped to take advantage of a rocky eminence with natural steep slopes all around it and boggy ground to the west. The defences on the longer west and east sides use the natural slopes slightly scarped, providing a bank c.1m high internally on the east, with a modern access gap towards its north end, while the slight bank which runs between the rock outcrops on the west may be prehistoric but could be more recent. On the south and south-east two lines of defence are visible, with a gap on the south, at the west end of the outer line, which is certainly in use now as an entrance to the site and which may well be original. On the more gently sloping north side there is an impressive double bank and ditch system, with the inner and outer banks achieving a height of up to c.3m externally and c.1.8m internally, though the ditches are not particularly obvious. Another entrance, more likely to be original, is visible at the north-west. The scheduled area also includes a further area along what is now a field boundary to the north-west of the site, which may reflect the line of yet another defensive bank. There has been a good deal of quarrying around this corner of the site, probably post-dating its use as a hillfort.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of later prehistoric defensive organisation and settlement. The site forms an important element within the wider later prehistoric context and within the surrounding landscape. The site is well preserved and retains considerable archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of evidence relating to chronology, building techniques and functional detail.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.