NAR SH58SW1
1. One roundhouse can now be recognised of the straggle of four once recorded on the eastern side of the summit of Dinas, a limestone crag overlooking Traeth Bychan. RCAHM report that limpet, winkle and cockle shells have been found here, together with animal bone fragments.The Dinas crag comprises a generally level area about 110m north-south by 80m, surrounded by natural precipices on all sides. There is no evidence for a fort other than the name and the suggestive natural topography. The roundhouses, depicted on the OS County series 3rd edition (Anglesey VIII.9 1920), ranged from 5.0m to 6.5m across, the surviving example, at the centre of the straggle, being one of the larger sort. To the north two roundhouses have been destroyed by a bungalow and the two southerly examples were too indistinct to survey in 1970. Roundhouses such as these are characteristic of later prehistoric settlement in the region and have often yielded Roman material when excavated.
Source: RCAHM Anglesey Inventory (1937), 63
2. Dinas is an oval limestone crag measuring approx. 120m x 84m enclosing 0.84 hectares. Its summit stands 30m above sea level with sheer sides, enhanced by later quarrying. LiDAR and aerial photography (e.g. AP_2016_0215, RCAHMW 11th Feb 2016) shows vestiges of at least two roundhouses on the open ground between later buildings, together with internal earthwork boundaries. These suggest good potential survival of archaeological deposits below ground, as well as preservation of bone and other organic matter in these limestone soils. The elongated promontory neck adjacent to the east may originally have formed part of the defended settlement. Visited by Louise Barker and Toby Driver in Sept 2024 but was not accessed due to the interior lying on private land.
Dr Toby Driver, RCAHMW, Sept 2025
