Description

The monument comprises the remains of a hillfort, which probably dates to the Iron Age period (c. 800 BC - AD 74, the Roman conquest of Wales). Hillforts are usually located on hilltops and surrounded by a single or multiple earthworks of massive proportions. Hillforts must have formed symbols of power within the landscape, while their function may have had as much to do with ostentation and display as defence.

The site comprises a small oval hill c. 150m NW-SE and c. 80m SW-NE overlooking the narrow flat-bottomed valley of the Afon Alwen, isolated from the higher ground to the W and SW by a small side valley. The ground falls steeply away on each side, most steeply towards the river. The NW third of the hill-top is almost flat, rising into two or three bosses or knolls in the centre. The edge of the hill-top is traced by the partly tumbled remains of a field wall, which overlies or slightly diverges from a very slight turf-covered bank c. 0.2m high and between 1.5 and 2.0m wide, with no trace of a ditch. A modern track from Caer Ddunod farm, which lies immediately to the south of the hill, reaches the hill-top through a gap in this field wall in the south east corner. Within the angle of the wall an irregular bank, breached in two places, wanders across the angle. Uneven ground in this area may indicate a small enclosure or structure. The hill-top has been ploughed in the past. In the NW of the scheduled area, below the hill and extending from near the river Alwen around the W and SW sides, are slight earthworks described by Ellis Davies as a 'weak rampart and fosse', he also suggested that there were traces of a rampart on the SE side.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric settlement and defence. The site forms an important element within the wider later prehistoric context and within the surrounding landscape. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.

Source: Cadw