Moel Hiraddug Hillfort View all content for Moel Hiraddug

Visited 8.5.2010 as a "quick" stop off before doing the Dyserth - Rhuallt bit of Offa's Dyke path. Very close to the path, it seemed rude not to. A word of caution - there are a couple of routes up to the fort, which crowns the top of a long north-south hill reaching a maximum height of 265m. There is a footpath running along the western side of the bottom of the hill, which can be used to get onto the access land of the upper slopes. Or, there is a footpath running from the SW corner of the hill to the south end. We chose the former (because I'm impatient and it's more direct), which proved to be a bad idea. The footpath doesn't go up the hill, so you have to veer off eastwards along a track into the trees, which emerges at the bottom of a scree slope. Not put off, we scrambled up the scree, which gets steeper the further up you go. At the top of the scree band, there are some nice grassy slopes, except they're almost vertical. By the time we finally made the top of the slope, I was not particularly popular with G/F - so, use the footpath from the SW if you want a sensible route up! Once on top, the views are great. Northwards is the sea, westwards the mountains of Snowdonia and the excellent cairn on The Gop is prominent immediately to the east. The fort itself has been destroyed at its northern end by quarrying (an even worse route up I can only imagine!). However, there are clear earth and stone ramparts on the south and east sides, at least three lines of defences are visible. None of the ramparts survive to any great height, but it's well worth a look if you're in the area.

Posted by thesweetcheat 19th May 2010ce Edited 19th May 2010ce

Comments (2)
I took that path too, it didnt go down well with the kids. How well preserved is that part of the dyke, I had a look in a field once and didnt find much, 'till I realised the hedge was raised two feet above the field.	Posted by postman 20th May 2010ce
We obviously share an inability to find the easy route! To be honest, we haven't seen any of the dyke yet, the Path is a bit west of it at the north end. We went up The Gop later in the day (we did a circular walk back to Prestatyn) but I didn't realise at the time that there are traces of the dyke a little to the SE of there (alongside the A5151 out of Trelawnyd) which are probably the most northerly bits remaining.	Posted by thesweetcheat 20th May 2010ce
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