1. A defended enclosure set upon spectacularly sheer cliffs 60m high, which conceal the Paviland Caves (Nprn's300251, 300252). A central area,c.40m by 44m, shows traces of settlement, whilst to landward are two lines of banks and ditches, c.32m appart, the inner line having a causewayed entrance.

(source Os495card; SS48NW30)

2. YELLOW TOP, PAVILAND. The fort occupies a long narrow headland aligned N.N.E.-S.S.W. between two deeply cut valleys. The seaward cliff, which contains the famous Paviland Cave, spectacularly sheer and almost 60 m in height. The lateral cliffs are less sheer and are broken by steep grass gullies that have determined the position of some of the ditches of the fort. Foxhole Slade, the ravine to the S.E. of the headland, extends far inland beyond the camp; the valley to the N.W. is shorter and ends about the line of the furthest landward defences.

The total length of the promontory from the landward commencement of the defences is about 145 m, but only 50 m lies within the most seaward of those defences, the inner area being about 0.1ha. The headland varies greatly in width, from 10 m about the middle to 65 m at the landward end. There are four defensive lines which, commencing at the landward end, are as follows:

(i) A grass-grown bank of limestone rubble, 6 to 10 m wide, over 1 m high internally (i.e. on the seaward side) and 2 m externally, is fronted on the landward side by a ditch 3-5 to 5 m wide and 1 m deep. These defences end on the S.E. at the cliff edge; on the N.W. there seems to be room for an entrance between their termination and the fall into the lateral valley. Both bank and ditch curve seaward at either end; the ditch has been mutilated by quarry scrapings on the N. and apparently also at its S.E. end.

(ii) The second line of defence commences 20 m further seaward and consists of a rock-cut ditch 2.5 to 3.5 m wide and nearly 1 m deep, across which is a causewayed entrance 2.5m wide towards the S.W. end. On the seaward side of the ditch, and (at any rate along the portion N.W. of the entrance) separated from it by a narrow berm, is a grass-grown bank of limestone rubble, 3 to 6 m wide, 1.5 m high internally and 1.3 m externally. This contains an entrance 4 m wide opposite the causeway in the ditch. The bank is somewhat eroded towards its N.W. end, which again curves seaward.

(iii) The third line commences 6 m further seaward and consists of another rock-cut ditch, 4-5 to 7 m wide and 0.7 m deep, apparently unfinished. It terminated on the S.E. at a causewayed entrance some 5 m wide beyond which are faint traces of a continuation of the ditch at the edge of the cliff. On the seaward lip of the main portion of ditch is a fragment of bank about 7.5 m long and 4.3 m wide.

(iv) The fourth line lies 23 m further seaward and consists of a high bank of limestone rubble, 11 to 13 m wide, nearly 1 m high internally and 3 m externally, which on the landward side utilises a depression between the heads of two gullies as a ditch. The bank ends 2 m short of the cliff edge on the E., this being apparently the entrance. The summit of the bank is disturbed, perhaps by excavation.

Signs of occupation within the fort are exiguous and are confined to the area to seaward of the fourth line of defence. They consist of half a dozen vague platforms of various shapes, that may have been the sites of huts, some among the outcrops on the level summit of the headland, others on ledges in the lateral cliffs. The area between the first and second lines of defence contains a number of modern quarry hollows. Slingstones have been found in the camp.

B.B.C.S., VIII, iv (May 1937), p. 365; Rep. R.I.S.W., 1920-1, p. 12; Rutter, P. Goiuer, p. 65.

Source: RCAHMW 1976: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan. Volume I: Pre-Norman. Part II. The Iron Age and The Roman Occupation. No 700, Rhosili. P. 67-69

3. The promontory fort is a most interesting example of the consipricuous defence and enclosure of a liminal, dangerous promontory which encloses little usable space. The fort is also interesting in that it has suffered little or no coastal erosion since it was first constructed, due to the prevailing geology and the location of an Upper Palaeolithic cave just below. It's location immediately above Paviland Cave may be significant, in the context of the Late Iron Age or Romano-British lunar figurine recovered from Culver Hole Cave, Gower in 2016 (Portable Antiquities Scheme, Unique ID: NMGW-0322B4. See Driver 2023, 237), suggesting likely ritual or votive use of these caves in the Iron Age. 

Visited by T. Driver and L. Barker, 10th April 2024.

Source: Driver, T. 2023. The Hillforts of Iron Age Wales. Logaston Press.