Craig-y-Tyddyn Camp

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

There are two sites scheduled within the area; a small fort on top of a rocky ridge, and a settlement at the foot of the ridge containing the remains of two round huts and a length of walling. Both are likely to date to the Iron Age or Romano-British period (c. 800 BC - AD 400).

The fort on top of Craig-y-Tyddyn occupies the W end of the ridge. It is a trapezoidal enclosure with grass-covered stone walls running round the N, S and W sides, which fall steeply away, and a high bank cutting off the E side from the rest of the spur. The wall varies in height between 0.2 and 0.5 m, and is 1.5 m wide. The bank crossing the spur at the E end is 0.75 m high from the inside and nearly 3m high from outside. The enclosing wall is no longer visible on much of the N side, where a rock outcrop cuts across the line of the wall. The entrance at the W end appears as a simple 3 m-wide gap in the wall. There are no huts visible inside, although the SE corner of the fort looks a possible site.

The lower settlement, NW of the fort, consists of two huts with the slight remains of an enclosure. Hut A [letters used on sketch plan] is 9 m in diameter, with grass-grown walls 0.25 m high and 1 m wide. The entrance is on the E side. Hut B is revetted into the slope and has a diameter of 5 m; it is 1 m deep at the rear. It appears to be located outside the enclosure wall. A low bank joins the two huts, and then continues as a terrace, running N. Another low bank appears to run back from this terrace towards Hut A.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric settlement and defence. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The structures themselves may be expected to contain archaeological information concerning chronology and building techniques.

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