Earthworks and fossilised elements of the landscape suggest the existence of an oval enclosure encircling the low hill of Mynydd Bach, of some considerable size. Extant earthworks of a contour leat on the west side of the hill, supplying water to Pisgah farm on the south, appear similar in character to the denuded ramparts of the nearby Banc Du causewayed enclosure (NPRN 308024). This westward curving feature is matched on the east by a curving tendency to a series of historic field boundaries, and by the remarkable eastward-curving course of the country lane which appears to have been laid out around a pre-existing curving boundary. On the south side of Mynydd Bach it is possible to continue the line of potential fossilised earthworks through Pen-Nebo and Pisgah farms. On the north side there is less evidence.

If the earthwork and boundary evidence suggests the former presence of an oval enclosure encircling a low hill and outcrop, the enclosure would have measure some 1060m east-west by 652m north-south, enclosing 55 ha. There is a suggestion on the east side that the interspace between the access track for Portis-parc and the country lane may fossilise an outer annex; if so this would enclose an additional area.

Although of a large size, such an enclosure would compare favourably to the large Neolithic palisaded enclosure at Hindwell in Radnorshire (NPRN 309366) which is only 100m less in its maximum length. Given the concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in the southern arc of the Preseli Hills, not least the nearby Gors Fawr stone circle and the Glandy Cross complex, there is a likelihood that Mynydd Bach is a further large enclosure.

Recorded during RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance.


T. Driver, RCAHMW, 19th Nov 2010.