Two Roman temporary camps north of Caerau, Beulah, can be recognised from intermittent stretches of degraded ramparts. The features include two and possibly a third, entrance gaps featuring an internal CLAVICULA (a curving inturned section of rampart). A small rectangular earthwork enclosure can also be recognised (NPRN 406081).

These features have been observed from the air and plotted from air photos. They are set out across a declining north-east facing spur some 400m north of the Caerau Roman military settlement (NPRN 92153).

The larger camp is in the region of 400-430m north-east to south-west by 350m, enclosing an area of about 15ha. The two definite entrances belong to this camp and, together with the fall of the ground, indicate that it faced north-east, towards the river. The camp's north-east front is symmetrically convex with a 75m central section.

What has recently been identified as the camp's south-west side, including the third possible entrance, appears to be part of a second camp, its south-eastern rampart running about 90m within that of the larger camp. This second camp could have enclosed an area of about 7.0ha, but may have been larger.

The camps were probably constructed by Roman armies during the conquest of Wales in the later first century AD.

Air photos: RAF & RCAHMW coverage; CUAP BAK 45-6
Published sources: RCAHMW Brecknock Inventory, Prehistoric and Roman (1986), 155
Davies and Jones 'Roman Camps in Wales and the Marches' (2006), 91 fig 56

John Wiles 24.04.07