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Pen Bryn-yr-Eglwys, Roman Building or Watchtower

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NPRN43547
Map ReferenceSH29SE
Grid ReferenceSH2930692432
Unitary (Local) AuthorityIsle of Anglesey
Old CountyAnglesey
CommunityCylch-y-garn
Type Of SiteWATCH TOWER
PeriodRoman
Description

1. NAR SH29SE1
Traces of a building on the summit of a mountain on the western coast of Anglesey. Traditionally the site of a medieval church or chapel. It has been variously described as the footings of a 5.5m by 9.2-9.8m building (1937) and as a rectangular mound about 10m by 12m and 0.6m high (1969).
More recently the monument has been depicted a roughly 6.0m square mound and identified as a possible Roman tower, matching that excavated on Holyhead Mountain (NPRN 308080).
Also described as an approximate square of bank about 8m x 8m and 0.5m high. Rather confused at SW and S sides but a much more obvious right angle survives at the NW corner. A recent cairn obscures the NE corner. Near to this cairn within the site are a couple of large boulders both of which have grooves incised in their exposed surfaces. The site is unexcavated but would seem to have parallels with the excavated Roman signal station on Holyhead Mountain, though the excavated footings of that site are slightly smaller in plan (Crew, 36).

Sources: RCAHM Anglesey Inventory (1937), 75
Crew in Archaeology in Wales 21 (1981), 66
John Wiles 03.08.07

John Latham RCAHMW 12 March 2013 (from NT Report 1990)

2. Excavations in 2012 by David Hopewell and the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust uncovered a 9m x 7m roughly square platform on the highest point of Carmel Head (Hopewell 2018). A quadrant of the site was excavated confirming that it had been robbed of all useful stone down to its foundations. The only finds were three sherds of pottery, almost certainly Roman. The evidence reinforces Crew's suggestion that a second watchtower stood on Carmel Head overlooking the fourth century naval base at Caer Gybi.

Reference:
Hopewell, D. 2018. Roman Anglesey: Recent Discoveries. Britannia, Volume 49. p. 320.

T. Driver RCAHMW, 2019

Carmel Head has been monitored as part of the CHERISH project, due to being at risk from natural processes exacerbated by climate change. CHERISH (Climate, Heritage and Environments of Reefs, Islands and Headlands) is an EU-funded Wales-Ireland project (2017-2022) led by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, in partnership with the Discovery Programme: Centre for Archaeology and Innovation Ireland, Aberystwyth University: Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and Geological Survey, Ireland. Work included aerial survey in 2016 and photographic survey in 2018.

H. Genders Boyd, CHERISH, April 2022