Castle Flemish

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 building complex, which dates to the Romano-British period (c. AD 70 - 410), representing either a Romanised farmstead or villa built to emphasise high status, wealth and Romanised cultural values of the landed elite of a native tribe. It comprises a banked enclosure, about 90m east-west by 82m with round-angles and straight sides, much reduced by ploughing and only surviving to 0.3 to 0.5m high on the northern side and 0.2m on the southern side. Excavations undertaken in 1922 determined that the greater part of the interior had been cleared and levelled. A section taken across the bank close to the south-west angle showed it to be c. 6.0m wide, and remaining to 1.0m high, and to be separated from a ditch, some 4.0m wide and at least 2.1m deep, by a 1.0m wide berm. The front of the bank is thought to have been revetted or kerbed in stone. A sequence of 0.48m of Roman stratigraphy recorded in the south east corner of the enclosure demonstrated two clay floors and their substructures; the upper floor may have extended over an area of up to 9.0m overall, with evidence of a hearth, or partition, and was associated with hexagonal roofing slates; a later first to earlier second century ceramic assemblage predated this later floor. Unstratified finds of flue-tile fragments imply the presence of a heated apartment, presumably a bathhouse.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of Romano-British rural settlement and socio-economic organisation. The feature forms an important element within the wider context of Romano-British society in Wales and retains significant archaeological potential. Villas are often part of a larger cluster of rural and urban settlements 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.