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Moel y Gaer, Rhosesmor

Flintshire, Wales · Atlas WA1165

Moel y Gaer, Rhosesmor is a contour fort in Halkyn, Flintshire, Wales.

Other names on the record: Moel-y-Gaer Camp.

It is recorded as extant, with a partial univallate and partial bivallate rampart form, surface evidence of earthen bank, rubble, and counterscarp bank, and an enclosed area of 2.7 hectares.

Banks or ramparts are the remains most likely to be visible.

The topographic record places it on a knoll or outcrop and at 290 m.

The aspect is recorded as level.

Recorded land use includes pasture, scrub or bracken, and built-up land.

Dating evidence is recorded for 800–400 BC (Artefactual and C14). Reliability is recorded as A - High.

A scheduled monument number is recorded (FL011).

Location

Atlas number
WA1165 (1165)
Country
Wales
Current county or unitary authority
Flintshire
Historic county
Flintshire
Parish, community, or townland
Halkyn
National Grid reference
SJ21116903
Latitude
53.21244
Longitude
-3.18281
Altitude
290 m

Form and condition

Type
contour fort
Condition
Extant
Morphology
partial univallate and partial bivallate
Complete rampart circuit
Yes
Number of ramparts
2
Ramparts by quadrant
NE 2, SE 1, SW 1, NW 1
Number of ditches
2
Possible original entrances
2
Breaks through the ramparts
3
Enclosed area
2.7 ha
Enclosing works, as visible
earthen bank, rubble, and counterscarp bank
Enclosing works, excavated
stone wall, timber-framed wall, and palisade
Also recorded
multi-period enclosure system, ditches, and gang working
Entrance forms
In-turned (East); Blocked (West)

Landscape

Topographic position
knoll or outcrop
Aspect
level
Land use
pasture, scrub or bracken, and built-up land

Dating

Dating
800–400 BC
Dating evidence
Artefactual and C14
Dating reliability
A - High

Interior and investigation

Interior excavation
postholes, roundhouses, and rectangular structures
Finds
pottery and lithics
Investigations
1st Identified Map Depiction (1870); Other (1977); Other (2012); Excavation (1972-1974)

Identifiers

Scheduled monument number
FL011
HER
Clwyd Powys 100296
National record
record SJ 26 NW 2; monument 95090
Wikidata
Q31118600

Sources

References

  1. Brown, I. 2009. Beacons in the landscape. The hillforts of England and Wales, Oxford: Windgather Press/Oxbow Books.
  2. Burnham, H. 1995. A guide to ancient and historic Wales - Clwyd and Powys, London: HMSO, 56-8.
  3. Guilbert, G.C. 1973. Moel y Gaer Rhosesmor, Curr Archaeol, 37, 38-44.
  4. Guilbert, G. C. 1974. Moel y Gaer (SJ211691). Archaeol Wales 14, 14.
  5. Guilbert, G. C. 1975. Moel y Gaer (SJ211691). Archaeol Wales 15, 33.
  6. Graeme Guilbert. 1975. Moel y Gaer, 1973: an area excavation on the defences. Antiquity 49, 109-117.
  7. Guilbert, G.C. 1975. Planned hillfort interiors, Proc Prehist Soc, 41, 203-21.
  8. Guilbert, G.C., 1976. Moel y Gaer. Archaeol Wales 16, 23.
  9. Guilbert, G.C. 1976. Moel y Gaer (Rhosesmor) 1972-1973 an area excavation in the interior, in ed D.W. Harding, Hillforts. Later prehistoric earthworks in Britain and Ireland, London: Academic Press, 303-17.
  10. Guilbert, G.C., 1979. 'Moel y Gaer', Archaeology in Wales 19, 15.
  11. Guilbert, G.C., 1981, 'Moel y Gaer', Archaeology in Wales 21, 23.
  12. Horn, J. Forthcoming. The dating of hillforts in Britain and Ireland. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.