The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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Pen Y Castell

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00678w
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Cwmavon
Unitary authority : Neath Port Talbot
NGR : SS78859174
Site Type (preferred type first) : Iron Age Hillfort
Status : Scheduled Monument

Summary :
Pen y Castell, Cwmavon, is an oval enclosure occupying the crest of an isolated knoll, the entrance being on the E . It measures 65m by 30m (0.2ha), with a bank. Outside the bank is a berm 6-7m wide, followed by a second rampart. There is trace of stones.

Description :
Pen y Castell, Cwmavon, is an oval enclosure occupying the summit of a small steep-sided hill at 150m above OD. The camp occupies the crest of an isolated knoll, the entrance being on the east. It measures 65m long from E to W by 30m wide enclosing 0.2ha, and is defended by a bank following the contours, 0.3m high internally but with an outer scarp nearly 3m high. The east slope should be preserved to a lower point than the others, since the trackway can be traced upon it. The earthwork is heavily covered with fern and no trace was found of internal habitations. Outside the bank is a berm 6-7m wide, followed by a second rampart. This is missing on the NE. It is best preserved across the W end where it is 6m wide and nearly a meter high ; along the S side it forms a scarp fading into the natural slope (RCAHM 1976; AM7). There are traces of stone about the banks, but no obvious structural remains. Rather lower down the hill there are traces of a possible third bank, a scarp rather like the other two. This is best seen on the south east (on the north east it follows a field boundary and on the NW it is obscured by a quarry). It is possible that this is a later field boundary (CADW 1986).

PEN Y CASTELL, CWMAVON, is an oval enclosure occupying the summit of a small steep-sided hill at 150m above OD. It measures 65m long from E to W by 30m wide enclosing 0.2ha, and is defended by a bank following the contours, 0.3m high internally but with an outer scarp nearly 3m high. At the E end is a simple entrance 4.5m wide. Outside the bank is a berm 6-7m wide, followed by a second rampart. This is missing on the NE and along the E half of the N side; along the W half of the N side it is visible as a bank 3m wide and 0.6m high. It is best preserved across the W end where it is 6m wide and nearly a metre high; along the S side it forms a scarp fading into the natural slope. The entrance is again on the E and is 14m wide; outside it are traces of an approach road winding up the hill. (Wiggins and Evans 2005)


Sources :
Savory H.N. & Nash-Williams V.E. , 1949 , List of Hill-Forts and other Earthworks , The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies : XIII pt.3 : 157-
Wiggins, H and Evans, E , 2005 , Prehistoric defended enclosures in Glamorgan with recommendations for fieldwork
01/Desc Text/Cadw/ Full Management Report/2005/ Copy in further information file
RCAHMW, 1976, An Inventory of The Ancient Monuments In Glamorgan, I, ii, p48 (num.679)
Helen BURNHAM, CADW, 1986,Scheduled Welsh Historic Monuments, visit text (sam GM098, last visited in 2006)
AM7, Visit Text

Events :
E001455 : Prehistoric defended enclosures in Glamorgan (year : 2005)

Related records
National Monuments Record NPRN 307232 http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/307232/details

Compiled date :


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