Images
Seen from Offa’s Dyke Path, to the south. The neighbouring hillfort of Penycloddiau is to the left.
Seen from Moel Llys-y-coed, to the SE, showing the very steep southern approach.
The steep-sided southern approach to the fort.
The ground drops steeply on the southern side to the valley below. This modern walker’s cairn is on the high point of the rampart. Moel Famau and the Jubilee Tower can be seen on the skyline, centre.
Looking north-west. The neighbouring fort of Penycloddiau is straight ahead, Moel y Parc crowned with a barrow and cairn is to the right.
The northern rampart looms over me.
Impressive multiple ramparts, looking northwest over the Vale of Clwyd.
The fort from the lower slopes to the north.
Looking West..........
From the track up to Penycloddiau
Articles
Amateur archaeologists excavating a Bronze Age site in the United Kingdom have discovered a cache of unusual stone tools unlike any that have been found before.
The tools appear to have been deposited deliberately — perhaps ceremonially — in what would have been a stream around 4,500 years ago, according to the researchers.
livescience.com/60606-stone-tools-unearthed-at-bronze-age-site.html
Thanks to Stone Pages for this information.
A recent CPAT dig has unearthed a burnt mound and there are some good photographs with this article from The Leader newspaper.
leaderlive.co.uk/news/131942/-fantastic-discovery-from-bronze-age-era-near-cilcain.aspx
The first time I came up here I was with both my kids, the wife stayed at the bottom, I don’t remember much about the fort only that it was winter. Going back down the south steeper side, holding hands, my son was pulling us down, my daughter pulling us back and me trying to keep us all upright and not falling to our deaths, despite the obvious dangers were all laughing really hard, the wife said she could hear us laughing from the bottom. That was all a million years ago now though, I miss those uncomplicated go for it days.
This time I’m on my own and I’m coming at it from the opposite side, the northern route is longer but half as steep, my sciatic leg thanked me profusely.
As I start the walk there is a couple of older American ladies right behind me, I decide that I cant let them overtake me so I put my foot down as it were and leave them behind, but slowly. It was nice to know that I can still out pace old ladies.
As I gain some height I can see that the hills are liberally strewn with inattentive walkers. I say inattentive because as I reach the top and enter the fort I see no one else all the time I was there, literally dozens of walkers pass by on the path but not a one bothers to come up and see whats what. Whilst that’s good for my visit, I feel sorry for the fort, it deserves some attention, and I feel sorry for the inattentive walkers who are out and about but still not getting their value for petrol money.
I pass through the large obvious entrance and make my way up to the top and sit for a while enjoying the views and the wind in my hair. From up here I can see the Mid Cheshire ridge twenty five miles away, with Beeston castle at its northern end and Maiden castle further south, the inter-connectedness of all the forts round here is almost mind blowing.
From the top I make way down to the earthworks, which are very substantial. Then follow them round, something which ive found just has to be done. On the eastern side they fade away to almost nothing a wall marks the route any fortifications would have followed. The south side is much the same only with no wall. I sit here for another while noting the route down me and the kids took last time, nostalgia huh ? who needs it.
The earthworks slowly rise up again as I approach the east facing entrance. I saw my first Swallow of the year here, which is better than last years behind McDonald’s, and heard my first Cuckoo of the year too, do they really say “Cuckoo”? because they seem to be sticking up two fingers to the natural way of child rearing leading me to presume that their call is really more like “F***you”.
Passing the entrance I move along inside the deepest ditch, boggy ground with the odd boulder here and there. Up the bank I sit once more amid the heather, very close by I can hear a birds wing flap just once, it is very close but it doesn’t betray it’s position, now that’s parenting.
The heather is very comfy to sit upon. A better seat than this I have not seen in all of Clwyd. Over the bank in front of me is the near but distant Pennyclodiau hill fort, the largest in these hills. I spend quite some time sitting hear, the Swallows are shooting about all around me diverting their streak at the last moment when they see me. Nature abounds.
But now time has gotten the better of me so I must trundle back down to the car park and resume my normal life. Juxtaposed the two parts of my life couldn’t be more different, unless I was a spy, super hero or astronaut.
A brilliant fort this one sadly overlooked by all except the attentive.
The further we drop, the steeper the climb up Moel Arthur starts to look. By the time we get to the parking area between the two hills, it’s clear that there will be a pretty sharp uphill to come, and so it proves. But it’s the last climb of the day and the ground levels out a little before it reaches the fort. A track leads off The Path to the fort itself, at which point G/F decides to stop while I go for an explore.
This is a lovely fort, roughly circular and surrounded by multiple lines of banks and ditches in the style that characterises these Clwydian forts. Once into the fort’s interior, the views open out on all sides, taking in Moel Famau to the south, Penycloddiau to the north and the extensive vale of Clwyd to the west. At its highest point (456m) the fort is higher than its northern neighbour. A quick tour of the concentric heather-clad ramparts reveals a very steep drop away to the south, making this small, compact fort a much more defensible proposition than the much larger site to the north. Unlike its neighbour though, there’s no obvious water supply within the fort itself – perhaps the North Walian rain provided enough!
A woman robed in grey formerly used to frequent a spot on Moel Arthur, overlooking the Vale of Clwyd, in North Wales. Under a rock near which the grey lady was chiefly seen, treasure was concealed in an iron chest with a ring handle. People said that the place of concealment was illuminated by a supernatural light. Occasionally in the evening, or soon after dawn, men dug for this treasure; but their efforts were rewarded with fearful noise and they were driven away by thunder, lightning, and rainstorms. One man found the grey lady beckoning to him as he ascended with pickaxe and shovel. He went to her, and she gave him some peas in a pod, and whispered, “Go home.” He did so, and the peas turned to gold in his pocket.
From Mary Trevelyan’s ‘Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales’ of 1909.
The site is also rumoured to be Queen Boudica’s burial place.( J+C Bord’s ‘Atlas of Magical Britain’)
The name of Moel Arthur (bare hill of Arthur) was recorded before the 17th century (so at least it’s not a romantic fabrication of the Victorians). (mentioned in Grinsell’s ‘Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain’)
Local tradition points [the encampment] out as the residence of a prince, and as a spot charmed against the spade of the antiquary.
“Whoever digs there,” said an old woman in Welsh to some of the men going home from their work after a drenching wet day, “is always driven away by thunder, and lightning, and storm; you have been served like every body else who has made the attempt.”
Then there is a current belief that treasure, concealed in an iron chest with a ring-handle to it, lies buried within the camp, and I was told that the place of concealment was often illuminated at night by a supernatural light; several had seen the light, and some, more fortunate than the rest, had even grasped the handle of the iron chest, when an outburst of wild tempest wrested it from their audacious hold, and blasted their aspiring hopes of wealth.
To such stories I think there are two solutions. They may have been grounded upon the fame of some celebrated chief who, while he held this spot, acquired some degree of power and renown; or they may have been fabricated by those who, having really discovered treasure here, devised them as a means of securing it to themselves; and, from stories told me when examining these Clwydian camps, I think there is reason to believe that treasure has been discovered on these hills, and made away with by those who were lucky enough to find it.
from p181-2 of ‘A record of the antiquities of Wales and its marches (vol 1)’ by the Cambrian Archaeological Assoc. Published 1850 and now online at Google Books.
A panorama of Moel Arthur and surrounding landscape.
Sites within 20km of Moel Arthur
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Penycloddiau
photo 29 description 4 link 1 -
Penycloddiau cairn
photo 9 description 2 -
Penbedw
photo 21 description 3 -
Moel y Gaer (Llanbedr Dyffryn-Clwyd)
photo 20 description 2 -
Moel y Parc
photo 8 description 1 -
Foel Fenlli
photo 18 description 3 -
Foel Fenlli cairn
photo 4 description 2 -
Moel y Gaer (Bodfari)
photo 13 description 1 -
Plas Captain cairn
photo 6 description 1 -
Llwyn Erddyn
photo 6 description 1 -
Moel y Gaer
photo 15 description 3 -
Maen Huail
photo 2 description 4 -
Cae Gwyn and Ffynnon Bueno Caves
photo 6 description 3 -
Coed Bron Fawr
photo 6 description 1 -
Moel Gyw
photo 8 description 2 -
llyn Du
photo 1 -
Pant Ifan
photo 4 description 1 -
Holywell, Circle, Barrow and Linear Earthworks
photo 2 description 1 -
Penygraig
photo 1 description 1 -
Naid-y-March
photo 5 description 2 -
Caer’ Bryn
photo 11 description 1 -
Pwll-y-Clai
photo 1 link 1 -
Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen
photo 8 description 1 -
Bryn-yr-Ellyllon
photo 1 forum 2 description 8 link 1 -
Moel Maenefa
photo 2 description 2 -
Gorsedd
photo 6 description 1 -
Pentrehobyn
photo 3 description 2 -
Moel y Plas
photo 1 -
Nercwys Mountain
photo 4 description 1 -
Criafol
photo 1 description 1 -
Groesfford
photo 1 description 1 -
Pen-y-Gaer (Efenechtyd)
photo 9 description 2 -
Craig Adwy Wynt
photo 14 description 2 -
Llong
description 1 -
Cae Crwn
photo 1 description 1 -
Llong Station
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Llyn-y-Gorseddau
photo 3 description 1 -
Carreg-y-Llech
photo 11 description 3 link 1 -
Maen Achwyfaen
photo 2 description 2 -
Moel y Waun
description 1 -
Bry Digrif mound II
photo 2 description 1 -
Aelwyd Uchaf
photo 4 description 2 -
Bry Digrif mound IV
photo 2 description 1 -
Bry Digrif mound V
photo 1 description 1 -
Pincyn Llys
photo 1 description 1 -
Pontnewydd Cave
link 1 -
Berthen – Gam
photo 1 description 1 -
Wepre Brook
photo 3 description 1 -
Bedd y Cawr
photo 1 -
Axton tumulus IV and V
photo 3 description 2 -
Moel Hiraddug
photo 15 description 3 link 1 -
Gop Caves
photo 8 forum 1 description 3 -
Tyddyn Bleiddyn
photo 5 description 2 -
The Gop
photo 15 forum 1 description 9 link 1 -
Pant
photo 2 description 1 -
Twr-yr-Hill
photo 2 description 1 -
Capel Hiraethog
photo 1 -
Bryn Beddau
photo 14 description 4 -
Bryn Du
photo 3 -
Maes Maelor
photo 8 description 1 -
Rhoslydan
photo 3 description 2 -
Hafod
description 1 -
Tynewydd
description 1 -
St Elmo’s Summer House
photo 6 description 2 -
Maen Llwyd (Cloceinog)
photo 2 description 3 -
Coed-yr-Esgob barrows
photo 2 description 2 -
Brenig 47
photo 6 description 2 -
Garw Fynydd
photo 1 description 1 -
Ty Mawr Rhos Ganol
description 1 -
Llyn Brenig 6
photo 8 -
Gorsedd Bran Tumuli A-F
photo 7 description 1 -
Mynydd-y-Gaer
photo 7 description 2 -
Llyn Brenig 51
photo 24 description 1 -
Cyrn-y-Brain
photo 10 description 2 link 1 -
Pant y Maen
photo 3 description 3 -
Boncyn Arian
photo 6 description 1 -
Llyn Brenig 46
photo 8 description 1 -
Llyn Brenig 44
photo 12 description 2 -
Llyn Brenig 8
photo 20 description 1 -
Aber Sychnant
photo 5 description 4 -
Bryn-y-Ffynnon
photo 9 description 1 -
Cefn y Gader
photo 4 description 3 -
Llyn Brenig 41
photo 5 description 1 -
Caer Estyn
description 2 -
Brenig 40
photo 3 description 1 -
Cefn y Gader cairn 1
photo 6 description 1 -
Dinas Melin y Wig
photo 6 description 1 -
Brenig 42
photo 3 description 1 -
Nant y Mawr
photo 3 description 1 -
Moel y Gaer
photo 10 description 3 link 1 -
Cefn y cist
photo 3 description 2 -
Moel y Gamelin
photo 8 description 2 -
Plas Newydd
photo 8 description 3