CPAT logo
Cymraeg / English
Back Home
Holywell Common and Halkyn Mountain Historic Landscape

Historic Landscape Characterisation

Holywell Common and Halkyn Mountain


Defensive and military landscapes

The major defensive earthwork in the historic landscape area is the substantial late prehistoric hillfort at Moel y Gaer, Rhosesmor, extensively excavated in the 1970s, prior to the construction of a reservoir. The hillfort was occupied, perhaps discontinuously, between about the late 7th century BC until some time prior to the Roman conquest. In an earlier phase a settlement of substantial timber roundhouses was defended by a timber palisade. The defences were subsequently replaced by a ditch and rampart of stone and earth, in this instance protecting a settlement of stake-walled roundhouses with numerous rectangular structures with four large posts, possibly representing raised buildings for storing grain. Few other defensive or military works are known in the area.


Privacy and cookies