1. A wooded hillfort, surveyed and published for the Royal Commission's Brecknock Inventory (1986) as Llwyncelyn-fawr (HF7) hillfort; now scheduled by Cadw as Waunfaeog hillfort.
2. A promontory fort/defended enclosure, resting on steep slopes above the Afon Tarell to the N and tributary defiles to the E and W, whilst the approach from the S is barred by a multivallate facade, of two to four ramparts. The interior is divided into two natural spurs. (source OS495card; SN92SE6)
3. Description from Royal Commission's Brecknock Inventory (1986, pp. 29-30): About 1 km S. of Libanus the S.E. side of Glyn Tarell is dissected into a series of short, narrow spurs and ravines by streams originating on the slopes of Pen Milan. Bivallate defences, which are strengthened on the S.E. by an additional, more widely spaced rampart, run across the common neck of two of these spurs at about 244 m above O.D., cutting them off from rising ground to the S. The edges of the spurs become increasingly precipitous to the N.W. making artificial defences unnecessary elsewhere.
The irregular interior slopes down moderately to the N.W. and has an area of about 0.36 ha. Deciduous woodland covers the whole of the enclosure but the surviving earthworks are well preserved generally. A later, but old, track from a ford of Afon Tarell to the modern lane above the site crosses the enclosure N.W. to S.E.
There are three defensive lines which, commencing from the N., are as follows: (i) A stony bank whose crest is up to 1 m above the interior and up to 2.5 m above the base of the fronting ditch on the S.E. This bank decreases westwards until at the S.W. corner it is a single scarp coalescing with the natural slope. (ii) Another stony bank, up to 2.5 m above the base of the inner ditch, which also decreases westwards taking advantage of steepening natural slopes. Its outer face is only 1.8 m above the base of the fronting ditch, which stops short of the marshy ground at the S.W. corner. There is a narrow gap between both banks and the ravine on the S.E., which is the probable site of the entrance. The curving, level platform which continues the line of the second bank here may have been the site of a gatehouse.' (iii) On the S.E., about 12 m in front of the second ditch is a shorter, curving bank with no accompanying ditch. Its inner scarp is a maximum of 1.6 m high and its outer 1.2 m. This was built probably to strengthen the defence of the entrance. The breach at the turn in the bank is recent. A short ditch up to 2 m deep crosses the E. spur of the enclosure but had no apparent useful function. There are no recognisable ancient features in the interior.
Dr Toby Driver, RCAHMW, August 2025
Source:
RCAHMW 1986. An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Brecknock (Brycheiniog). The Prehistoric and Roman Monuments. Part ii: Hill-forts and Roman Remains. HMSO.
