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Fieldnotes
| There are many hill forts in North Wales, they can be broken down into three types, there are those that i've been to, and those that I've not , and there are those that I don't yet know about. This Pen Y Gaer and it's near neighbour Craig Adwy Wynt fall into the latter category. It's always nice to make new friends. It's barely a ten minute drive south from the nearby town of Ruthin, take second right in Pwll-glas, then left again and the fort, such as is left of it, is above you and to the right. Park in the wide entrance to the farm, you wont be long, i'm sure. Walk past the farm, the fort is now directly above and to the right, when the track turns 90 degrees left, it's time for a light trespass. Pass like a ghost over the fence and into the field, I had to do this as a herd of cowlets was guarding what looked like the easiest way in. It is here that the "presently fossilised in field boundaries" comes into play, the field i'm in is six feet or so lower than the field next to it, any defenses the fort had are kinda gone, leaving only an oval high ground. At a place out of sight of the cowlets and ease of egress I crossed over the fence and into the fort. There really isn't much left at all, I followed the high/low ground to a gap in the oval, it's presently used by the farmer, but this is in all probability whats left of the entrance, it is found at the south east corner of the fort and seeing as it faces, more or less, the other fort across the slight valley the probabilities are reasonably high. From the south east entrance I walk along the south wall, it is all gone, there is nothing at all to give away the forts location, nothing fossilised in field boundaries, nothing, at the bottom of the hill is a pond, a small one, with several large boulders. There is another big stone at the south west corner, it is here that it begins to look like a fort. There is a noticeable bank running from the south west corner, ovals don't have corners I know, but lets go with it, running up the west side of the fort, for about a hundred yards, maybe, I couldn't get any closer because of the veal, they just had to congregate around the only part of the fort that survives, and as soon as they saw me appearing through the bushes they ran over and greeted me in the time honoured way, snorts, sniffs, shy glances and loosened bowels. Endearing. I hobbled down the hill to the pool and examined the boulders mentioned earlier, they were definitely made of some kind of stone. I hopped over the fence and and walked back to the car. I hoped the other fort on my itinerary would be more engaging, less cowy, but more engaging. |
Posted by postman29th April 2014ce Edited 29th April 2014ce
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