LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Clwyd Powys 7503 (None)
NMR: SO 29 NW 11 (92480)
SM: MG015(POW)
NGR: SO 216 969
X: 321683 Y: 296945 (OSGB36)
Large, complex and excavated contour hillfort located above the River Severn to the W and the valley of the River Camlad to the N and E and near the confluences of the River Severn with the Camlad and River Rhiw. Very steep surrounding slopes to N, E and W, moderate to strong on S. Present enclosure c. 503m by 254m overall with internal area c. 5.2ha. Excavations by O'Neil between 1937 and 1939 indicated Neolithic occupation preceding the four phases of the Iron Age defended enclosure. The Bronze Age barrow on the summit was trenched with no results. Earliest enclosure only c. 170m by 80m of 1.2ha, with a double timber palisade. Later this was replaced by a timber-framed rampart with an outer ditch and then another ditch providing a barbican at the N gate and outworks at SW end. Later still a timber-laced rampart surrounded all before, greatly increasing the size of the interior. Still later a new earthen bank enclosed the circuit - all now visible. Now enclosure partly defined by substantial ditch. N and W side visible as earthworks suggesting a square or rectangular enclosure. Counterscarp bank to N. Four-post structures and round hut sites with hearths found. Early enclosure possibly had entrances to the N and S. Later a barbican was provided to the N gate. Main entrance of the later, and still large, enclosure faced SW with outer annexe and entrance proper with barbican and outworks. N had a simpler entrance. On 1st Ed. OS map (1886).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -351419 Y: 6902872 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.1568531844311596 Latitude: 52.56464986719971 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Wales
Current County or Unitary Authority: Powys
Historic County: Montgomeryshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Montgomery
Well-preserved despite vegetation.
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Surrounded by trees, especially on E and on banks and ditches. Bracken problem, with tree and scrub on the banks and ditches masking features. Rough grass interior relatively free of growth.
| Woodland | ✓ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Important, complex and excavated contour hillfort located above the River Severn to the W and the valley of the River Camlad to the N and E and near the confluences of the River Severn with the Camlad and River Rhiw. Very steep surrounding slopes to N, E and W, moderate to strong on S. Earliest
| Contour Fort | ✓ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✓ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: Hill top
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 240.0m
N/A
Probably Iron Age, but earlier and later activity on the site .
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
In Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica (1665-1693). On 1st Ed. OS map (1886). Excavations by B.H. St. J. O'Neil 1937-39. CPAT Montgomeryshire Small enclosures project 1990-97. CPAT Historic Landscape Characterisation, Vale of Montgomery 1999-2000.
| Other (1886): | OS map. |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1886): | OS map. |
| Other (2009): | Visited by Hillfort Study Group |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (None): | None |
| Excavation (None): | B.H. St. J. O'Neil. |
| Other (None): | Montgomeryshire Small enclosures project. |
| Other (None): | CPAT Historic Landscape Characterisation, Vale of Montgomery. |
Slight traces of hut platforms. Four-post structures and round hut sites with hearths found. Neolithic finds. Human bone.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Slight traces of hut platforms.
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✓ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Four-post structures and round hut sites with hearths found.
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✓ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
Neolithic finds. Himan bone.
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✓ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Early enclosure possibly had entrances to the N and S. Later a barbican was provided to the N gate. Main entrance of the later, still large, enclosure faced SW with outer annexe and entrance proper with barbican. N had a simpler entrance.
| 4: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Barbican (North): | Early enclosure entrance. |
| 2. Simple Gap (South): | Early enclosure entrance. |
| 3. Barbican (South west): | Later enclosure entrance. |
| 4. Simple Gap (North): | Later enclosure entrance. |
Earliest enclosure only c. 170m by 80m with a double timber palisade. Later this was replaced by a timber-framed rampart with an outer ditch and then another ditch providing a barbican at the N gate and outworks at SW end. Later still a timber-laced rampart surrounded all before, greatly increasing the size of the interior. Still later a new earthen bank enclosed the circuit - all now visible.
| Area 1: | 1.2ha. |
| Area 2: | 5.2ha. |
| Total: | 5.2ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 12.8ha.
None
| ✓ | Four phased construction. |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Total: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✓ |
Counterscarp bank to N.
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✓ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Earliest enclosure only c. 170m by 80m of 1.2ha, with a double timber palisade. Later this was replaced by a timber-framed rampart with an outer ditch and then another ditch providing a barbican at the N gate and outworks at SW end. Later still a timber-laced rampart surrounded all before, greatly increasing the size of the interior. Still later a new earthen bank enclosed the circuit - all now visible.
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✓ |
| Timber-laced | ✓ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✓ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 3
| ✓ | Outer annexe on SW to later enclosure. |
Britnell, W. J., Martin, C. H .R. and Hankinson, R. 2000. Bro Trefaldwyn Historic Landscape: historic landscape characterization, Unpublished Report, Welshpool: CPAT.
Burnham, H. 1995. A guide to ancient and historic Wales - Clwyd and Powys, London: HMSO, 68-9.
Musson, C. 2012. Montgomeryshire hillforts and enclosures from the air, in Britnell, W.J. and Silvester, R.J. (eds) Reflections on the past. Essays in honour of Frances Lynch. Cambrian Archaeological Association, 351-368.
O'Neil, B. H. St. J. 1942. Excavations at Ffridd Falwyn Camp, Montgomery 1937-30 , Arch Camb, 97, 1-57.
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire, 1911. An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, I, County of Montgomery, London: HMSO.
Silvester, R.J. and Britnell, W.J. 1993. Montgomeryshire small enclosures project. Summary Report 1993, CPAT Report No 80, Welshpool, Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust.
Spurgeon, C.J. 1972. Enclosures of Iron Age type in the Upper Severn Basin, In Lynch, F. and Burgess, C. (eds.) 1972, Prehistoric man in Wales and the West, 327, 3, Bath: Adams and Dart.
Atlas of Hillforts:
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This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
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