1. Cadw SAM No.=GM470

2. Crescentic double banks with a medial ditch, c.92m in length, cut off a craggy promontory, within is a less prominent, banked & ditched subrectangularenclosure, c.20m NNE-SSW by 18m, resting against the upsurge of the steeply rising promontory; both works have N-facing entrances.

(source OS495 card; SS48NW21)

3. LEWES CASTLE occupies an irregular headland projecting towards the S., about 0-75 km S. of Rhosili. The ground falls gently towards the neck of the promontory and then rises more steeply to the cliff edge; the saddle is sheltered on the S. and W. It is crossed by two ramparts. The inner, formed by a small bank with a ditch on the N. measuring about 5.5m wide and nearly 1 m high overall where best preserved, runs E.S.E. for about 50 m and then turns nearly through a right-angle to run 30 m further to some crags which continue to the cliff edge; the enclosed area is about 0-3 ha.

The outer is formed by two banks of about equal size with a ditch between, measuring about 9 m wide by nearly 1 m high overall. This is separated from the inner rampart by a space about 12 m wide. Its line is generally curvilinear though apparently set out in short straight lengths. The entrance through both ramparts seems to have been simple gaps about 3.5 m wide and lying about 30 m from the W. cliff edge. The defences are much more angular and slighter in construction than in the other promontory forts on the Gower coast.

Source: RCAHMW 1976: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan. Volume I: Pre-Norman. Part II. The Iron Age and The Roman Occupation. No 697, Rhosili. P. 64

4. Visited by T. Driver and L. Barker, 10th April 2024

5. National Trust Heritage Record: https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA133292

T. Driver, RCAHMW, April 2024

Site Record

Lewes Castle Promontory Fort