LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Gwynedd 3067 (None)
NMR: SH 39 NE 1 (95547)
SM: AN038
NGR: SH39069507
X: 239060 Y: 395070 (OSGB36)
Large, prominent, blunt and rocky coastal promontory fort dominating N bays of Anglesey. Connected to the mainland on SW by a broad isthmus, a steep sided marshy valley, with the hillfort towering 61m above. Large parts of site taken up by crags and rocks with little space for occupation, but still some areas suitable for habitation amid the rocks, enclosing 12ha. Surrounding slopes N, E and W precipitous sea cliffs, S landward steep slope. A wide and long rampart tops the crest cutting off the promontory to SW - formerly a wall of dry-stone blocks from the irregular broad internal quarry ditch, rare in Wales, its line continued by a run of crags at either end with a combined frontage of about 500m. Downslope there is another rampart with possibly a third. No ditch. Possible walled annexe below NW crags, although this may be part of the main enclosure and uncertain. Slightly inturned entrance through the inner rampart towards E end, with pathway running diagonally up the hill, where an outer rampart or wall branches out to run along the lower slopes to W. Coastal grassland and bracken with bare rock and site much disturbed by quarrying. On 1st Ed. OS map (1889). Minimal investigations, undated.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -492456 Y: 7062522 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -4.423806975676142 Latitude: 53.42778427773797 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Wales
Current County or Unitary Authority: Isle of Anglesey
Historic County: Anglesey
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Llanbadrig
Affected by 19th century quarrying.
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Coastal grassland and bracken with bare rock. Quarrying.
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✓ |
| Other | ✓ |
Large, prominent, blunt and rocky coastal promontory fort dominating N bays of Anglesey. Connected to the mainland on SW by a broad isthmus, a steep sided marshy valley, with the hillfort towering 61m above. Large parts of site taken up by crags and rocks with little space for occupation, but still some areas suitable for habitation amid the rocks. Surrounding slopes N, E and W precipitous sea cliffs, S landward steep slope.
| 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: Coastal headland
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✓ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 60.0m
N/A
None
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
Condition and history published by W.W. Williams 1876. On 1st Ed. OS map (1889). Ordnance Survey observations 1963, 1969. GAT investigation 1986. GAT prehistoric defended enclosures survey 2004-2005.
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1876): | W.W. Williams condition and history published. |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1889): | OS map. |
| Other (1986): | GAT investigation. |
| Other (None): | Ordnance Survey observations. |
| Other (None): | GAT prehistoric defended enclosures survey. |
Internal quarry ditch.
Pond 0.5 km outside fort.
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Internal quarry ditch.
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| 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 | ✗ |
Slightly inturned entrance through the SW inner rampart towards E end, with pathway running diagonally up the hill, where an outer rampart or wall branches out to run along the lower slopes to W.
| 1: | Estimated. |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. In-turned (South west): | None |
| 1. Outworks (South west): | Pathway running diagonally up the hill, where an outer rampart or wall branches out to run along the lower slopes to W. |
A wide and long rampart tops the crest cutting off the promontory to SW - formerly a wall of dry-stone blocks from the irregular broad internal quarry ditch, rare in Wales, its line continued by a run of crags at either end with a combined frontage of about 500m. Downslope there is another rampart with possibly a third. No ditch.
| Area 1: | 12.0ha. |
| Total: | 12.0ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | Possible walled annexe below NW crags, although this may part of the main enclosure and uncertain. |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✓ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Stone-walled site of dry-stone blocks from the irregular broad internal quarry ditch.
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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 visible. |
Number of Ditches: 0
| ✓ | Possible walled annex below NW crags, although this may part of the main enclosure and uncertain. |
Lynch, F. 1991. Prehistoric Anglesey, Llangefni: Anglesey Antiquarian Society, 269-72.
RCAHMW 1937 (reprinted 1960). Anglesey. A survey and inventory by the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, 37, 3, London: HMSO.
Smith, G.H. 2005 , A Survey of Prehistoric Defended Enclosures in North West Wales 2004-2005: West Conwy, Gwynedd (Arfon) and Anglesey, Bangor: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust.
Waddington, K. 2013. The Settlements of Northwest Wales: From the Late Bronze Age to the Early Medieval Period, Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Williams, W. W. 1876. Mona Antiqua, Arch Camb, 4th Series, 7 (1876), 103-8.
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
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
Document Version 1.1