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Brechfa: Concentric Cropmark Enclosure Complex South-East of

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NPRN309502
Map ReferenceSN02SE
Grid ReferenceSN0997021965
Unitary (Local) AuthorityPembrokeshire
Old CountyPembrokeshire
CommunityMaenclochog
Type Of SiteDEFENDED ENCLOSURE
PeriodIron Age
Description
A complex arrangement of later Prehistoric type settlement features south-east of Brechfa, is known from the cropmarks of its ditches. The main feature is a strongly defined settlement enclosure apparently set within a much larger outer enclosure, but there are also indications of what may be an earlier open settlement. The concentric enclosure is one of three ostensibly similar cropmark enclosures found on the massif around Brechfa.

The main enclosure is roughly rectangular, about 75m east-west by 45m, set on ground falling to the east close to the edge of the massif. It appears to be defined by sometimes overlapping double ditches with a slightly inturned west-facing entrance. A curving outer circuit has been observed on the west and south, some 80-100m distant. This has a possible entrance facing rather south of west and there are indications of a ditched approach from this to the entrance of the inner enclosure.

The outer circuit crosses an area of fainter enclosure ditches south of the inner enclosure, kinking as it does so. These fainter features appear to represent several small fields, gardens or paddocks, and at least one roundhouse perhaps 5.0m across.
There are indications of a second strongly defined enclosure some 30m downslope of the inner enclosure.

As a concentric enclosure this monument is similar to the two other sites on the Brechfa massif (NPRN 401987-8). However, it seems clear that the site has a more complex history in which its concentric arrangement was only one episode.

Source: Driver 'Pembrokeshire: Historic Landscapes from the Air' RCAHMW (2007), 166-7