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Twyn y Gaer Hillfort;Y Gaer, Pen-Pont

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NPRN305069
Map ReferenceSN92NE
Grid ReferenceSN9900028050
Unitary (Local) AuthorityPowys
Old CountyBrecknockshire
CommunityTrallong
Type Of SiteHILLFORT
PeriodIron Age
Description

1. About 1.8 km E. of Pen-pont church a small, oval, univallate enclosure occupies the upper slopes of a rounded hilltop whose summit is 367 m above O.D. The hill is at the N.E. end of the ridge of Mynydd Illtyd. To the N. the ground falls away steeply to the River Usk 1.25 km away and W. to Nant Rheon, a  tributary of the Usk, 0.5 km away at its nearest. The slopes on the E. are less formidable but still relatively steep while to the S. there is a saddle leading to rising, though less elevated, land.

The site measures internally 112 m E. to W. by 85 m, an area of 0.7 ha. The earth and stone rampart stands on the lower of two concentric natural scarps which seems to have been terraced to receive it. The bank is best-preserved at the entrance where immediately S. of the gap its outer scarp is 3.5m high and inner scarp 0.8m high. Elsewhere it consists of a denuded, grass-grown outer scarp that is nowhere higher than 2m, being generally slighter on the S. than N. The inner face of the bank is preserved only sporadically and is nowhere more than 0.2m high.

On the N.W. the rampart is difficult to define giving rise to doubts as to whether it actually was constructed here. The only sign of a ditch is at the E. end, either side of the entrance, where to the S. of the gap there is a short length 3m wide and 0.2m deep, and to the N. 5m wide and 0.4m deep. The greater degree of preservation of the bank and the restricted extent of the ditch at the entrance map represent an unfinished reconstruction of the site or the less damaged remains of stronger original defences at the entrance. The entrance gap is 2.5 m wide at its narrowest and the rampart on the N. side is inturned at a right angle for 3.5 m.

There are no definitely ancient features in the grass[1]grown interior although the linear quarrying of the upper natural scarp along the N. side appears to be of some antiquity. The two small hollows in the interior are probably recent. On the land surrounding the enclosure are one circular and several linear earthworks. Two of these which are clearly pillow mounds, and the remains of an enclosure lie adjacent to the rampart on the N.E. Also, dug into the base of the rampart here is a sub-rectangular hut, possibly of medieval date.

From: RCAHMW 1986, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Brecknock (Brycheiniog). The Prehistoric and Roman Monumwnts. Part ii: Hill-forts and Roman Remains. HMSO. Pp. 34-37

2. Modern (2023) LiDAR imagery shows the dimensions of the hillfort to be: 121m externally east-west by 89m north-south, enclosing 0.83 hectares. A number of post-medieval pillow mounds dot the moorland surrounding the hillfort including cigar/banked shape, circular mounds and an L-shaped mound to the east.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 2024