Henfeddau Fawr Defended Enclosure

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.The site comprises a defended enclosure which dates to the Iron Age (c.800BC - 43AD). It consists of a small, circular earthwork, 29m in diameter, with a slightly scooped or dished interior. A clear bank stands up to 0.3m in height on the north side. A roughly concentric, slight bank lies 18m to the north, east and west sides of the hollow. A possible further bank lies beyond this. Aerial photography shows what appears to be a sub-rectangular parchmark around the earthwork, visible on the north and east sides only. This measures approximately 54m E-W. The possible identification of this enclosure raises intriguing similarities with the early Medieval cemetery at West Angle Bay (PE554), and, combined with the place-name of the farm (Henfeddau) the possibility should be considered that this defended enclosure was re-used in the early Medieval period.The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of Iron Age settlement and defence. Evidence pertaining to the use and construction of the site may be expected to survive within and beneath the earthworks, and the small size and scooped shape are unusual in this class of monument. Also of note is the potential that the site was re-used, and therefore may contain multi-period buried archaeology.The scheduling area comprises those remains described above and an area within which related archaeology might be expected to survive. It is rectangular, and measures 70m N-S and 65m E-W.