The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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Caer Blaen-y-cwm Enclosure, Margam

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00759w
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Margam
Unitary authority : Neath Port Talbot
NGR : SS83338807
Site Type (preferred type first) : Iron Age Hillfort
Status : Scheduled Monument

Summary :
Caer Blaen-y-cwm stands at 300 m above OD. The enclosure is quadrangular, covering 0.1ha and is defended by two banks (4 to 6m wide, 0.7m high), separated by a ditch (1.5m deep from the edge of the banks). The entrance is on the S and is 4.5m wide.

Description :
Caer Blaen-y-cwm stands at 300 m above OD on a broad mountain spur falling gently to the S, about 4 km SW of Maesteg (RCAHM 1976). The enclosure is quadrangular, with west side measuring 25m, the north 31m, the east 39m and the south 44m, overall covering 0.1ha. The enclosure is defended by two banks (4 to 6m wide, 0.7m high), separated by a ditch (1.5m deep from the edge of the banks). The overall width is 11 to 15m. A hollow crosses the enclosure from the N to the S. On the N it has breached the defences, but on the S it appears to have been adapted to the original entrance, a 4.5m wide gap.

Caer Blaen-y-Cwm stands at 300m OD on a broad mountain spur falling gently to the S about 4km SW of Maesteg. The enclosure is quadrangular, the W and N sides straight, the E and S bowed outwards slightly. The area is 0.1ha. It is defended by a ditch between two banks. The overall width is 11 to 15m. A hollow trail cuts right through the fort from N to S. On the N it has breached the defences, but on the S it appears to have utilised the original entrance, which survives as a gap 4.5m wide through both banks.
The interpretation of the site published by Sir Cyril and Lady Fox (Antiquity VIII 1934, 400) suggests that the fort lies at the centre of a much larger square enclosure about 210m across. However reconsideration of the various earthworks suggests that they are not contemporary with the fort, or at any rate do not constitute an enclosure. (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-
ST. Joseph J.K.S. , 1961 , Aerial Reconnaissance in Wales , Antiquity : 35 : 263-275
Wiggins, H and Evans, E , 2005 , Prehistoric defended enclosures in Glamorgan with recommendations for fieldwork
01/AP Unknown source
02/PM Letter/J Knight/14.6.1995
RCAHMW, 1976, An Inventory of The Ancient Monuments In Glamorgan, I, ii, p33-34 (num.657)
Helen Burnham, CADW, 1986,Scheduled Welsh Historic Monuments, visit text (sam GM058, last visited in 2006)
GGAT, 1995, Site visit
AM7, 1931
GGAT, 2005, Prehistoric defended enclosures in Glamorgan with recommendations for fieldwork, report no. 2005/058, project no. GGAT 78

Events :
E001455 : Prehistoric defended enclosures in Glamorgan (year : 2005)
E002643 : Wind Farm, Mynydd Margam, Port Talbot (year : 2001)
E008389 : Foel Trawsnant Windfarm, Maesteg (year : 2021)
E008391 : Foel Trawsnant Windfarm, Maesteg (year : 2019-21)
E008483 : Foel Trawsnant Windfarm, Maesteg (year : 2022)

Related records
National Monuments Record NPRN 301304 http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/301304/details

Compiled date :


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