You have no advanced search rows. Add one by clicking the '+ Add Row' button

Lewes Castle Promontory Fort

Loading Map
NPRN94717
Map ReferenceSS48NW
Grid ReferenceSS4143087330
Unitary (Local) AuthoritySwansea
Old CountyGlamorgan
CommunityRhossili
Type Of SitePROMONTORY FORT
PeriodIron Age
Description

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