Description

The monument comprises the remains of a hillfort, which dates to the Iron Age period (c. 800 BC - AD 74, the Roman conquest of Wales). Moel y Gaer is located upon a spur of Moel Famau that towers above the Vale of Clwyd. The fort is roughly oval, about 200m north-south by 180m with an area of 2.7ha. The fort is enclosed by two lines of ramparts separated by a ditch. Excavations have been carried out within the monument in the nineteenth century, and again in 2009, when topographic and geophysical survey also examined the hillfort. The outer rampart is a massive drystone construction and the inner rampart is probably a similar construction. There are outworks on the north and north-east, where the fort faces onto a narrow neck joining the main mountain massif. These consists of a ditch and an external bank of simple dump construction. There may have been a drystone rampart within the ditch: a mass of tumbled stone sealing a single sherd of Roman pottery was found in the ditch in 1849. There are two entrances both with prominent 15m deep in-turns. The western entrances opens onto headlong slopes, whilst the eastern opens onto the neck. Here the corresponding openings in the outer ramparts and ditches are offset, creating a zigzag approach. The interior is uneven. Thirteen circular building platforms have been recorded. These would have held great thatched roundhouses.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of later prehistoric defensive organisation and settlement. The site forms an important element within the wider later prehistoric context and within the surrounding landscape. The site is well preserved and retains considerable archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of evidence relating to chronology, building techniques and functional detail.

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

Source: Cadw