Carn Ingli Camp

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 must have formed symbols of power within the landscape, and their function may have had as much to do with ostentation and display as defence. The fort is located on Mynydd Carn Ingli at the eastern end of a high moorland ridge that commands extensive views over the north coast and river valleys to the east and south. It consists of a fortification of stone built walls enclosing and linked to two summit crags that are separated by a saddle of lower ground. The walls are now very collapsed though there are some sections where the original drystone facework survives, they may once have been c 3m high. The interior of the fort is sub-divided by cross-walls into four sections, probably the result of multiple periods of occupation and enlargement. The first enclosure set just around the summit was of a modest size, it was perhaps later conjoined to a further two that extend from it down slope to the south west. The fourth, a large annexe, extends to the north onto lower ground and contains within it plentiful evidence of stone-built huts and pounds together with the remains of a street or track. An additional annexe, perhaps from an even later phase, bounds the lower slopes of the mountain on the eastern side. Around the main outer walls there are nine simple entrances as well as one through each of the three cross-walls; some still retaining traces of passage walling. This is a high number of vulnerable openings to defend and may indicate that there are earlier pre-Iron Age origins for the monument, perhaps as early as in the Neolithic (4000-2300 BC). Alternatively they may represent later alterations following changes in use. To the north and east within the main fort on and outside the south and west sides are a number of terraced, drystone walled enclosures with simple entrances. Filled with soil on otherwise stony ground they may have been cultivation plots or paddocks. The end of occupation of the fort was apparently sudden and enforced as there are signs that the defences were deliberately slighted.

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 which has abundant settlement evidence perhaps contemporary with occupation of the fort.. 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.