1. Cropmarks of a bivallate, concentric defended enclosure in a promontory position, with an inner enclosure measuring c.34m diameter, and a partial outer enclosure measuring approx. 64m diameter. The enclosure appears to be open on the west side. Discovered during RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance on 3rd Aug 2006 (see frames AP_2006_4152-55).

T. Driver, 13 Nov 2006.

2. The following information from Gwynedd Archaeological Trust's HER entry following geophysical survey:

Description :
Cropmarks of a bivallate, concentric defended enclosure in a promontory position, with an inner enclosure measuring c. 34m diameter, and a partial outer enclosure measuring approx 64m diameter. The enclosure appears to be open on the W side. (Driver, 2006)

Geophysical survey and soil test pitting revealed a circular enclosure, 40m diameter defended by a substantial ditch with a 16m wide entrance on the W. 15m long, close-to-parallel antennae ditches can be seen to run out from each side of the entrance. Possible interior round houses. A concentric outer ditch is visible 12 - 20m from the S side of the enclosure. <2>

This is a quite a small settlement enclosure of neat, deliberately circular plan. It had a sizeable ditch that indicates a defensive function, as does the carefully chosen valley promontory location. However, this is at odds with the extremely wide entrance which would have been difficult to fence or gate. The position of the ditch terminals may be somewhat misleading in that the actual entrance gap between the bank terminals can be different to that between the ditch terminals as seen at the fortified Late Iron Age settlement of Walesland Rath, Pembrokeshire, with which Bwlch y Ffordd Isa can be compared (Wainwright 1971). There the gap between the ditch terminals was 11m, whereas the entrance gap between the banks was about 3m. The entrance itself was constructed of two rows of three very large upright timbers presumably incorporating a gate and probably gate tower. Even so, the much wider gap between the ditches of the entrance at Bwlch y Ffordd Isa is difficult to explain. Walesland was situated on a valley promontory, sub-circular, univallate, of about 0.2ha and occupied, at its peak, by up to seven roundhouses. This compares to the 0.13ha of Bwlch y Ffordd Isa with at three identified roundhouses. Walesland was occupied probably from about the 3rd century BC and through the Roman period and the same may be the case at Bwlch y Ffordd Isa, which could be classified as a small nucleated, defended settlement. However, the neat circular plan and the provision of a smaller, widely spaced concentric outer enclosure suggests an origin earlier in the first millennium or even in the later second millennium BC. The presence of two phases is demonstrated by the way the southern antenna ditch overlaps the outer enclosure ditch. It is possible therefore that the enclosure began as a concentric enclosed settlement and had a single, large central timber roundhouse, traces of which have been masked by later activity. Wide-spaced antennae ditches are not easily paralleled in excavated enclosures or in surviving earthworks in the north-west apart from the circular concentric enclosed settlement off Llwyn-du Bach, Penygroes, Caernarfon (Bersu and Griffiths 1949). There a relatively narrow entrance was flanked by antennae ditches connecting the inner and outer enclosure ditches, providing a kind of corridor. In south-west Wales the settlements of Dan-y-Coed, Woodside (Williams 1988) and Pen-y-coed (Murphy 1985) all have similar narrow approach corridors flanked by antennae ditches. These sites have a close resemblance to the banjo enclosures of Wessex, the design of which has been interpreted as being related to a cattle-keeping economy, although they were clearly settlements at some point, so corralling of cattle would seem inappropriate (Cunliffe 1991, 220-3). There are also other purely domestic settlements that have wider spaced antennae entrances, such as Gussage All Saints, Dorset (Wainwright 1979). Perhaps the most likely explanation for antennae at simple enclosures like Bwlch y Ffordd Isa is that they were designed to stop stock (and perhaps even attackers) from moving into the area between the inner and outer ditches. (Hopewell, Smith and Driver, 2007).

Sources :
Driver, T. , 2006 , RCAHMW Aerial Reconnaissance 2006 , Archaeology in Wales : Vol. 46 : p.143-152
Hopewell, D., Smith, G., and Driver, T. , 2007 , Defended Enclosures Survey: Threat-Related Assessment of Cropmarks on the Llyn Peninsula and Anglesey ( ? )
Waddington, K. , 2010 , Early Celtic Societies in North Wales
Waddington, K. , 2013 , The Settlements of Northwest Wales: From the Late Bronze Age to the Early Medieval Period
Hopewell, D. & Smith, G. , 2007 , Archaeology in Wales , <2>