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Hen Waliau Roman Walled Enclosure

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NPRN93552
Map ReferenceSH46SE
Grid ReferenceSH4824862375
Unitary (Local) AuthorityGwynedd
Old CountyCaernarfonshire
CommunityCaernarfon
Type Of SiteENCLOSURE
PeriodRoman
Description
NAR SH46SE5

A stout walled rectangular Roman enclosure, set 150m west of the auxiliary fort. The enclosure is bisected by a busy main road and otherwise occupied by a petrol station and seven large nineteenth century houses and their gardens.
The walls survive above ground only east of the road, behind and to the sides of the houses. Some other details are known from excavations. The enclosure was 72m north-north-west to south-south-east by 52m. There is an original entrance at the centre of the sourthern side, where the wall is particularly well preserved. No trace has been found of an external ditch nor of any projecting towers.
The enclosure is laid out across sloping ground with the eastern wall running along the crest. On the west it rested above the Seiont river cliff. The site affords wide views over the estuary.
Excavations, from 1952-1985, recorded traces of occupation from the second century. The site would have been part of the settlement of SEGONTIUM centred on the fort (NPRN 93511). The walled enclosure appears to have been built in the third century CE.

Sources: RCAHMW Caernarvonshire Inventory II (1960), 164 No.1128
Boyle in the Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 38 (1991), 191-212

John Wiles 07.06.07