Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common
Darran Valley, Caerphilly, Wales
A scheduled monument in Darran Valley, Caerphilly, recorded as Platform house (Medieval).
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Platform house
- Period
- Medieval
- Community
- Darran Valley
- Unitary authority
- Caerphilly
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 51.71648, -3.28065
- SAM number
- GM311
- Cadw record number
- 2275
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1636 map "Cornubia : Devonia, Somersetus, Dorcestria, Wiltonia, Glocestria ..." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1636 · Cornubia : Devonia, Somersetus, Dorcestria, Wiltonia, Glocestria ... (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1637 · The fourth table of England. Cornub. Devonia, Somerset etc. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1895 · Sheet 11. Ordnance Survey of England and Wales. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1898 · 232 Abergavenny (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1913 · Sheet 102. Newport. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
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 11 rectangular earthen hut platforms, which probably date to the medieval period. They are scattered along the north-east ridge, over an area of moorland overlooking the valley of the Bargoed.
Item A - Three huts side by side, each 12-18m long by 6-7m wide. Excavated by Lady Fox in 1938, producing late 13th - early 14th century pottery.
Item B - Two huts, 10-16m long by 6m wide.
Item C - Two huts, one above the other, 12m and 16m long respectively.
Item D - Isolated hut, 11m long by 5.4m wide.
Item E - Isolated hut, deeply cut into the ground, but with typical square platform.
Item F - Two huts, one unfinished.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of medieval settlement. The monument forms an important element within the wider medieval context and the scheduled area may be expected to contain a wide range of archaeological information, including chronological detail and evidence in regard to construction techniques and agricultural methods. House platforms may be part of a larger cluster of settlement and their importance can further enhanced by their group value.
The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.
Nearby in the register
- Pant Ffos-yr-hebog Cup-Marked StoneCup Marked Stoneunder 1 mi
- Cairn 270m N of Pont FfosyrhebogRound Cairnunder 1 mi
- Ogilivie Colliery Explosives StoreIndustrialunder 1 mi
- Timber footbridge by former Ogilvie HaltTransportunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.