Buarth y Gaer, Mynydd y Gaer

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). 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.

Buarth y Gaer is a simple contour fort at 300m above OD on the summit of Mynydd y Gaer, 3km east of Briton Ferry. It is oval in plan and measures 135m long from east to west by 107m wide enclosing 1.1ha, defended by a single bank with external ditch, of average overall width about 10m. The defences are best preserved on the east and north-east where the bank is about 0.7m high internally, and nearly 2m externally above the bottom of the ditch. At the west end is a simple entrance 12m wide. Narrow gaps in the bank on the north appear to be modern. The defences have been partly destroyed on the south by modern quarrying. Within the enclosure, on the highest point of the hill, is a cairn (Gm 054B), presumably earlier than the hill-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.