Pen-llys Hillfort

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, the Roman conquest of Wales). Hillforts are usually Iocated 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. Pen Llys is a sub-circular enclosure with a single bank on high ground and steep approaches on all sides serve the gentler northwest, the probable site of the entrance. The bank is used as a field bank with a surmounting fence on north, east and south, and there is a fenced enclosure on the south west, with another surrounding evergreen trees on the west. Both these enclosures are outside the site itself which has a grassed interior used for pasture. Trees cover the bank on the north, where the preservation of the earthwork is good, the outer bank discernible as a level scarped area. Elsewhere the defences have a lighter tree cover.

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.