Category: Ancient Sites

Pen-y-Gaer Hill Fort

A Bronze Age hill fort can be found on the summit of Pen-y-Gaer, close to the village of Llanbedr-y-Cennin to the south of Conwy. The fort had quite complex defences, including three ramparts in places, and some short standing stones (a sort of chevaux de frise) to act as obstacles to both cavalry and infantry.

Garn Fadryn Hill Fort

Garn Fadryn (371 metres in height), has on its summit a Middle Iron Age hillfort covering an area of approximately twenty-six acres in total. The hill fort construction seems to have been done in stages, the first stage taking place in around 300BC enclosing about twelve acres.

Garn Boduan Hill Fort

Garn Boduan (279 metres in height) is an Iron Age hill fort situated on a steep isolated volcanic hill to the south of Nefyn. The site was surveyed during the 1950’s, when the remains of more than one hundred and seventy round houses, (of which the remains of about one hundred are identifiable whilst on the ground) were discovered.

Fynnon Powell (Powell’s Well)

This spring on the Great Orme is a water source that doesn’t seem to dry up, even in the driest weather. There is a story associated with the well, which tells of its mysterious formation. Many years ago, the Powell family lived in a dwelling close to where the well is now situated.

The Copper Mines of the Great Orme

The Great Orme officially has ‘The Largest Prehistoric Copper Mines in the World’ according to the Guinness World Records team. There are more than five miles of tunnels and passageways that have been explored so far. The mining began in the Bronze Age, about four thousand years ago, when the mining tools included animal bones and stone hammers.

Pen Dinas Hill Fort, Great Orme

There was once an Iron Age hill fort at this area called Pen Dinas on the Great Orme. Archaeologists have identified the remains of more than fifty hut circles and some degraded defensive ramparts. Pen Dinas is subsidiary peak that juts out of the Great Orme, and it is a good defensive location for a settlement.

Fynnon Galchog (The Lime Well)

This natural spring is situated on flat ground on the northern side of the headland of Great Orme. It is said that it never runs dry, even in times out drought. The water from the well is also said to be beneficial in the development of strong bones and teeth in children. There is an old story linked to this well.

Llety’r Filiast

Llety’r Filiast translates into English as "The Lair of the Greyhound Bitch". It is a ruined Neolithic burial chamber situated on the Great Orme. Most of the stone from the cairn has been taken over the years, but it is thought that when it was originally built it would have measured thirty metres long and ten metres wide, and been vaguely egg shaped.

Llyn Cerrig Bach

This small lake, found just to the north of RAF Valley may have been an important site for ritualistic sacrifices made by the Iron Age inhabitants of Anglesey. While RAF Valley was being constructed during WWII the workmen uncovered in the peat at the former lake edge, the largest hoard (approximately 150 pieces) of Iron Age objects found in Wales.

Capel Garmon Burial Chamber

Located to the south of the village of Capel Garmon, signposted and in a farmer’s field, are the remains of an ancient Neolithic chambered cairn. It is estimated that the ruins are around 5,000 years old, and it was excavated sometime between 1925 and 1927. It has a curved passage approximately fifteen feet long and four feet high, and two circular burial chambers to the east and west.