Pen y Gaer Camp

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of a small stone-built hillfort, which probably dates to the Iron Age period (c.800 BC - AD 74, the Roman conquest of Wales). Hillforts are usually located 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.

The monument is roughly egg-shaped, measuring some 40m by 30m, on top of a low rocky knoll. The foundations of a stone wall c.3 m wide and varying between 0.2m and 0.75m high follow the circumference of the knoll. This is overlain by a modern stone wall, which obscures the inner face of the former. The outer face of the earlier wall generally lies some 1.5m outside the later wall.

The foundations of the early wall are not visible on the more precipitous S side. The entrance to the fort, on the E side, is confused, but appears to be about 1.5m wide and is protected on the N by a solid square-ended projection and on the S by a square-ended enclosure measuring approximately 4.6m by 9.1m. Later sheepfolds have been built inside the fort, utilising the uneven ground. There are no early remains visible inside the fort.

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.