The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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Caer Cwmphilip or Moel Ton Mawr Earthwork, Margam

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00758w
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Margam
Unitary authority : Neath Port Talbot
NGR : SS82558702
Site Type (preferred type first) : Iron Age Hillfort
Status : Scheduled Monument

Summary :
Angular earthwork with an annexe on the S side and on the SW side. Very eroded.

Description :
Angular earthwork with an annexe on the S side and on the SW side. Very eroded.

The site consists of two polygonal enclosures, the smaller asymmetrical placed within the larger. They lie about 2km ENE of Margam Abbey, mostly on level ground at about 270m OD to the SW of a stream flowing in a shallow ravine which both steepens and deepens to the NW. The NW portion of the outer enclosure lies on ground falling towards this steeper section of the ravine.
The inner enclosure is placed near the S side of the larger one and is trapezoidal in plan, 0.4ha in area. It is defended by a bank and ditch which in places has a counterscarp bank. The overall extent of the defences ranges from between 10 and 17m. The original entrance seems to be a gap about 9m wide in the broad NE angle of the enclosure; from it a faint track descends a slight slope north-eastwards. A gap in the S defences has the appearance of an entrance but is probably a modern breach caused by a cartway that has also partly levelled the defences at a point on the W side. The interior of the structure shows no signs of structures.
The outer enclosure is pentagonal 2.7ha in area. The NE side is formed by a stream, the other sides have artificial defences similar to those of the inner enclosure. They are best preserved on the E and SE. On the S and W the defences are ploughed down and the counterscarp bank is absent except at the SW angle. The curving line of defences at the NW end of the site is better preserved though for the most part the main rampart consists of a scarp rather than a bank. Outside it is a well-defined flat-bottomed ditch with a counterscarp bank.
The position of the entrance is uncertain. The most probable position would seem to be at the E angle where the bank terminates on a knoll 12m short of the edge of the ravine. A gap towards the E end of the S side might be an entrance but as in the case of the inner enclosure seems more likely to have been made by a cartway. Modern hedge-banks have broken through and partly destroyed the defences about the middle of the S and W sides. The annexe on the S side of the site, shown on earlier plans including the 6in OS map, is now almost ploughed out, but seem to have been a natural feature.
(cf RCAHMW 1976b 655 (00774w)(Cwm Philip West) and 656 (00776w)(Ton Mawr). RCAHMW inventory calls this Moel Ton-Mawr (Caer Cwmphilip) (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/PM Mention/Vyner BE/1977/Arch in Wales p21 no35
02/MM APs/Westair/1976/21763
03/Desc Text/Cadw/ Full Management Report/2006/ Copy in further information file

Events :
E000461 : CAER CWMPHILIP OR MOEL TON MAWR, SURVEY, 1977 (year : 1977)
E001455 : Prehistoric defended enclosures in Glamorgan (year : 2005)
E002643 : Wind Farm, Mynydd Margam, Port Talbot (year : 2001)
E008389 : Foel Trawsnant Windfarm, Maesteg (year : 2021)

Related records
National Monuments Record NPRN 301334 http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/301334/details

Compiled date :


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