Moel y Gaer (
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
for "bald hill of the fortress") is an
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
hillfort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
located on a summit at the southern end of
Halkyn Mountain
Halkyn ( cy, Helygain ; Flintshire Welsh: ''Lygian '') is a village and community in Flintshire, north-east Wales and situated between Pentre Halkyn, Northop and Rhosesmor. At the 2001 Census the population of the community was 2,876, increasi ...
, overlooking the village of
Rhosesmor
Rhosesmor is a small village near Mold, Flintshire, in north-east Wales. The village lies near the parishes of Halkyn and Rhes-y-cae. The hamlet of Wern-y-Gaer is encompassed by the boundaries of the village.
The hill fort site affords views ...
,
Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
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,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It is a well-preserved hillfort overlooking the
Dee Estuary
The Dee Estuary ( cy, Aber Dyfrdwy) is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles ...
. Excavations in the early 1970s revealed a sequence of defensive structures made of timber and several phases of building work inside the ramparts.
The hillfort
Excavations suggest that the site was occupied, perhaps sporadically, from the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
period to sometime before the
Roman conquest of the area. Remains of a timber
long house
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from timber and often rep ...
on the hill summit have been dated to the third millennium BC and may represent the earliest human occupation of the region. Defensive construction at the site began around the late seventh century BC, and at first consisted of a timber palisade enclosing a settlement of timber
roundhouses. The palisade was later replaced by a stone-and-earth rampart and a ditch.
Much of the archaeological work at Moel y Gaer was carried out in the early 1970s, before the planned construction of a 500,000-gallon storage reservoir on the hilltop in 1979 destroyed a portion of the site. The excavations showed that there had been three phases of development within the ramparts. In phase one, rings of postholes showed where circular huts had stood, the doorways having two or four postholes outside the main ring. In phase two, the round huts were differently constructed, the roof resting on a wall of rammed stakes. Also in phase two were rectangular buildings, with four large posts at the corners, the huts laid out in neat rows in a formal layout. The site seems to have been abandoned after this for a while, after which it was reoccupied, with the third phase construction of rectangular, sleeper-beam buildings, in a non-formal, scattered layout.
See also
*
List of hillforts in Wales
This is a list of hillforts in Wales.
Anglesey
*Bwrdd Arthur, Din Sylwy (Bwrdd Arthur) (), contour fort
*Caer Idris Hillfort (), promontory fort
*Caer y Twr (), partial contour fort
*Dinas Gynfor (), promontory fort
*Dinas Porth Ruffydd (), p ...
References
External links
Reconstruction of Moel y Gaer settlementat Gathering the Jewels
{{Flintshire
Archaeological sites in Flintshire
Hillforts in Flintshire