Parciau hill fort is a
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
on the
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, of or about Wales
* Welsh language, spoken in Wales
* Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales
Places
* Welsh, Arkansas, U.S.
* Welsh, Louisiana, U.S.
* Welsh, Ohio, U.S.
* Welsh Basin, during t ...
island of
Anglesey
Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
.
[Frances Lynch. A guide to ancient and historic Wales. Gwynedd. . HMSO 1995. p 69] It stands on the summit of Bryn Ddiôl, whose
name
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...
means "trackless hill".
The site
Bryn Ddiôl is a plateau some 95 metres above sea level, the eastern termination of an outcrop of
Carboniferous limestone. On three sides it is surrounded by natural cliffs and steep slopes (and, in 2016, by extensive modern caravan sites, Parciau farmstead, and other buildings). It is some 2 km from beaches on the northwest coast of the island, commanding extensive sea views beyond them.
[ To the west the ground offers a gentle slope for access, and here the tip of the outcrop is cut off by at least one outer wall, through which the entry point is still visible.][ The base of a small gate-house adjoins the entrance.]
Aerial photography
Aerial photography has revealed, within the fort, parch marks of the stone bases of about 28 hut circles, tightly packed together, each some 7.5-8.2 metres across. It is officially protected as Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
AN041.
Pre-Roman flint
One piece of flint debitage
In archaeology, debitage is all the material produced during the process of lithic reduction – the production of stone tools and weapons by knapping stone. This Assemblage (archaeology), assemblage may include the different kinds of lithic fla ...
was found, in the spoil from a trench dug for a waterpipe.
Roman period and later
No finds have been attributed to the pre-Roman Iron Age. Prichard's excavations in 1867 found that the floor of one of the circles contained marine shells, bones of domestic animals, charcoal, and pottery of white, light gray, black, and brick-red fabrics, with one "specimen of what is usually denominated Samian
Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...
". Two larger pieces of bone had possible tally marks.[ Six minute beads of coloured glass, and tiny fragments of bronze, were also found, and a piece of flint.
In 1923, Edward Neil Baynes excavated small areas on the site. He found a small group of Roman coins, of Valerian (253–260), ]Victorinus
Marcus Piavonius VictorinusSome of the inscriptions record his name as M. Piavvonius Victorinus, as does the first release of coins from the Colonia mint. A mosaic from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) lists him as Piaonius. was Gallic Empire, emperor ...
(269-271) Claudius Gothicus
Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus" (10 May 214 – August/September 270), also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Batt ...
(268-270), Carausius
Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius (died 293) was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and ...
(286–293), and Crispus
Flavius Julius Crispus (; 300 – 326) was the eldest son of the Roman emperor Constantine I, as well as his junior colleague ( ''caesar'') from March 317 until his execution by his father in 326. The grandson of the ''augustus'' Constantius ...
Caesar (died 326). He also uncovered bone from horses and other domestic animals, and artifacts including fragments of Roman domestic black ware and of olla
An olla is a ceramic jar, often unglazed, used for cooking stews or soups, for the storage of water or dry foods, or for other purposes like the irrigation of olive trees. ''Ollas'' have short wide necks and wider bellies, resembling beanpots or ...
e, one piece of Roman glass, an iron nail, a small bowl of red sandstone 16 inches by 12 inches, and a dressed stone 12 inches long by 4 inches square.
Baynes also found some probable fragments of box tiles, suggesting that a house heated by a hypocaust
A hypocaust () is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors a ...
stood close by. Prichard reported that 'well constructed walls', one encasing a human skeleton, had been found during the extension of Parciau farmhouse, southwest of the fort, and this may possibly represent a prosperous Roman building. However, these walls were attributed by Prichard's informants to John Bodvel
John Bodvel (1617 – March 1663) was a Welsh politician who sat in the House of Commons of England (and Wales) from 1640 to 1644. He was a colonel in the Royalist army in the English Civil War.
Bodvel was the son of Sir John Bodvel (died 16 ...
, a famous inhabitant of the 1600s,[ and a date more recent than Roman may be likely.][
]
Extramural traces
Immediately west of the fort, on the gentle slope of Bryn Ddiôl, aerial photography has shown traces of earthworks (a track way and platforms), extending some 280m from the fort.
Summary interpretation
Waddington interprets these finds as suggesting that an Iron Age hillfort was abandoned about the time of the Roman conquest of Anglesey
The Roman conquest of Anglesey refers to two separate invasions of Anglesey in North West Wales that occurred during the early decades of the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century Common Era, CE. The first invasion of North Wales began af ...
, and later re-occupied when security worsened in the later Roman period.[Waddington, K. (2013). Settlements of northwest Wales, from the late bronze age to the early medieval period. Cardiff, University of Wales Press. http://e.bangor.ac.uk/640/, as reported in Gwynedd Archaeological Trust Regional Historic Environment Record. On-line database Archwilio. Parciau Hillfort. http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/gat/english/gat_interface.html accessed 1 January 2016]
Gallery
Image:Southwestern rampart of Parciau hill-fort.jpg
Image:Centre of Parciau hill-fort, view from entrance.jpg
Image:Parciau hill-fort, view westwards across the centre to the Great Orme and Snowdonia.jpg
Image:Parciau hill fort from below the northern slope and natural rampart.jpg
References
External links
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: Parciau hillfort
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parciau hill fort
Roman sites in Wales
Scheduled monuments in Anglesey
Hillforts in Anglesey