Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Esgairperfedd Marching Camp
Rhayader, Powys, Wales
A scheduled monument in Rhayader, Powys, recorded as Marching Camp (Roman).
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Marching Camp
- Period
- Roman
- Community
- Rhayader
- Unitary authority
- Powys
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 52.31663, -3.58047
- SAM number
- RD131
- Cadw record number
- 1960
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1608 map "(13) Cambriae Typus." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1608 · (13) Cambriae Typus. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1637 · Particular description of Wales. Cambria seu Wallia (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1883 · Watershed map England, Wales 3. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1898 · 179 Rhyader (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1901 · Sheet 14. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
Cadw's description
Summary description and reason for designation
The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.
The monument comprises the remains of a Roman marching camp, probably dating from the conquest of Wales by the Romans in the first century AD (probably around AD 74 - 77). It was built as a temporary camp by a marching army as units of the Roman legions pushed west. The Esgairperfedd Marching Camp is located on the eastern slopes of an east to west mountain spur where the ground falls away on all sides except the west. It measures c.270m east-west by c.235m and is defined by a turf-covered rampart c.0.4m high and between c.2m and c.3m wide; this has been lost at the south-eastern and south-western corners. Entrances facing north, east and south are protected by internal claviculae, of which the best preserved is that on the north.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of Roman military organisation. The monument forms an important element within the wider context of the Roman occupation of Wales and the structure itself may be expected to contain archaeological information in regard to chronology, building techniques and functional detail.
The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.
Nearby in the register
- Nant Gwynllyn Standing stoneStanding Stoneunder 1 mi
- Nant y Llyn cistCist burialunder 1 mi
- Nant y Llyn Stone RowStone Alignmentunder 1 mi
- Clap yr Arian cairnRound Cairnunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.