Pen Llystyn, sometimes referred to as Pen Llys Tyn, was a Roman fort located to the north of Bryncir, between

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ff ...

and

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

in Gwynedd, north

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The fort itself stands on the east bank of the Afon Dwyfach.

Fort

The fort that stood on the site was a wooden construction, covering an area approximately 1.6 hectares. General belief is that it was built around the year 80 AD as a garrison consisting of soldiers and centurions. The purpose of the fort was to serve during the Roman attempt to conquer North Wales. It is believed that the site was chosen to allow for the policing of the Ganganorum Promontorium (

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn or , ) extends into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Mu ...

). It is situated along the Roman military road between the forts of

Segontium Segontium ( owl, Cair Segeint) is a Roman fort on the outskirts of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, North Wales. The fort, which survived until the end of the Roman occupation of Britain, was garrisoned by Roman auxiliaries from present-day Belgium and Ge ...

(Caernarfon) and

Tomen y Mur Tomen y Mur is a First Century AD Roman fort in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, Wales. The fortification, which lies on the slope of an isolated spur northeast of Llyn Trawsfynydd, was constructed during the North Wales campaigns of governor Gnaeus Juliu ...

. It is placed where the road makes a marked change of alignment. The plan of the fort suggests that it housed around 960 foot-soldiers. This is believed because of numerous barrack blocks each with ten double rooms and a centurial block at the end nearest the defences. Today the site is almost completely destroyed due to gravel-working. Work in the 1950s and 1960s allowed for the creation of this extremely rare plan of the fort. This makes the site of extreme importance as it is one of very few to have a detailed plan of the fort itself.

Findings

It is noted that in the garden of the nearby Llystyn Gwyn farm, to the north of the site, a stone was found from the 6th century with

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Ogham Ogham ( Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langu ...

inscriptions. In Latin the inscription reads ICORI(X) FILIUS / POTENT / INI (Icorix, son of Potentinus). Bilingual inscriptions are common in south west Wales, however this is the only one to have been found in north west Wales, making the piece extremely rare in this context.

References

* Christopher Houlder, ''Wales: an Archaeological Guide'' (London, 1978) * Lynch, Frances (1995) ''Gwynedd'' (''A guide to ancient and historic Wales'') (London: HMSO)
Roman Britain website

{{coord, 52.9837, -4.2697, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Dolbenmaen Roman fortifications in Gwynedd Archaeological sites in Gwynedd History of Gwynedd