Roman Fort 300m NW of Pen-Llwyn

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

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

The monument comprises buried features and earthworks representing a Roman fort. The primary Roman fort network was designed and constructed by the Roman army for the purpose of military conquest and rule. Pen-Llwyn stands on a westward-sloping ridge above a crossing point on the river Rheidol. It is largely known from aerial photographs, though there is a pronounced break of slope beneath the hedgerow around the southern corner which is on the line of the main defensive rampart. Aerial photographs and geophysics show this rampart to enclose an area of 2.7ha, measuring c.185m by 151m internally, and to be surrounded by a triple ditch system. A further outer defensive work is visible on the east and west which may relate to traces of an enlarged annexe to the south. Small scale excavations and geophysics within the interior of the fort and on the outwork have shown that the remains are quite well preserved under a thick topsoil deposit. The fort occupation appears to have been short lived, between c.AD 75 and AD 125; a large timber building, c.27m by 26m, unusually positioned against the south-west rampart, may suggest that the fort area was reduced in the later part of this period. Geophysical survey failed to locate any related civilian settlement on the more level ground to the west where it might have been expected, but the other adjacent areas remain to be investigated.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of Roman military organisation. The monument forms an important element within the wider context of the Roman occupation of Wales and the structures may contain well preserved archaeological evidence concerning chronology, layout and building techniques.

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