Pen y Corddyn Mawr Hill Fort

Description
Visiting Information

Ancient hill fort and healing shrine

This impressive hillfort is situated on a large limestone plateau above the village of Llanddulas and close to the Roman road to Canovium (present-day Caerhun). Covering an area of almost 10 hectares, the enclosure is surrounded on three sides by steep, craggy slopes that form natural defences. On the northern side, a double row of banks and ditches completes the fortification.

Though the site itself is considered to be older (dating from around 800 BC), all of the finds here indicate a Roman military presence. An iron ‘pilum’, a type of Roman javelin, was discovered embedded in the ground, probably the result of the site being used as a training area. An elaborate belt buckle was also found, thought to date from the late Roman period. Unusually for this part of Wales, the buckle is considered to be of a type associated with Germanic troops employed by the Roman Empire to guard the southern coasts of Britain. It is now housed in the National Museum Wales, Cardiff.

Even more fascinating was the discovery of a number of statuettes of dogs, similar to others discovered at the Roman Temple at Lydney on the Severn Estuary. These would suggest that Pen-y-Corddyn may have been the site of a Roman healing shrine.