Lodge Wood Camp

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

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 located on hilltops and surrounded by a single or multiple earthworks of massive proportions. Lodge Wood camp is a large, rectangular, multi-ramparted hillfort covering an area of roughly 2.2 hectare. It is situated on the top of a narrow ridge running WSW/ENE on the north-west edge of Caerleon, the site of the Roman Legionary Fortress of Caerleon (Isca). There are three ramparts around the majority of the enclosure, surviving to 4-5m in height they are largely well defined, except at the eastern end where they have been destroyed by later development. On the southern side and around the western end, additional lengths of bank and ditch suggest multi-period construction and elaboration of the western entrance. The significant enhancement of the south-western ramparts resulted in 90m wide defences comprising 5 sets of bank and ditch, some of which may have derived from an earlier phase of the hillfort. On the north-eastern side of the hillfort a spur of additional rampart extends from the outer ditch; this is much slighter and on a different alignment to the main bank and ditch and is likely to be from a different phase of construction. There would have been two entrances into the hillfort, one at the western end and another at the south-east corner, now destroyed. At the western end of the interior is a small oval univallate enclosure. This is especially regular in form with straight sides and rounded ends and entrance gaps in the eastern and western ends. The ramparts at the western end of this enclosure correspond with the inner edge of the main bank suggesting that its constructions post-dates that of the main hillfort ramparts. The hillfort is likely to have gone out of use once the Romans established their fortress on the low-lying ground to the SE.

The hillfort was subject to a small-scale excavation in 2000 during which three trenches were dug in the western end of the site. The investigation revealed evidence that quarrying for the construction of the ramparts was carried out within the interior of the enclosure in the 5th century BC. This early enclosure appears to have been univallate, defined by a single stone rampart with a timber revetment and entrances at both the eastern and western ends. Investigations of the western entrance revealed that it comprised a stone revetted bank with a recessed ‘guard chamber’ and a cobbled surface. The lack of weathering, wear or finds suggests that this entrance was short lived and was quickly blocked when the inner rampart was enlarged. The modern breach through the western end is likely to date to the Roman period or later. The elaboration of the ramparts is thought to have occurred in the middle to late Iron Age (400 BC – AD 48) when enormous V-shaped ditches were cut and the spoil from them used to create the adjacent banks. Some evidence from the excavation suggests that the defences could have been deliberately slighted by the Romans during the later 1st century AD.

No evidence for domestic occupation was found during the excavations, instead it is thought that the western end of the hillfort was used for industrial, perhaps metalworking, activities during the early phases of occupation. A series of levelled terraces and the footprint of square structures were identified together with artefacts associated with iron working, woodworking and hearths. It is possible that the small oval enclosure was designed to set these activities apart from the rest of the interior of the hillfort, although the excavation was not able to confirm this. In the later phases of occupation this western part of the hillfort is given over to garden plots.

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.