Old Warren Hillfort

Nearest town:
Aberystwyth (5km WNW)
OS reference:
SN615787
OS sheet:
135
Latitude:
52° 23' 18.01 N
Longitude:
4° 2' 7.53 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Old Warren Hillfort by juamei

Image Credit: Natural Resources Wales

Image credit: LiDAR Composite Dataset. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.
juamei
juamei Mar 25, 2018
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by thesweetcheat

The steep slopes on the western side of the fort.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 9, 2017
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by thesweetcheat

Looking west along the Nant Paith valley towards Aberystwyth and the sea.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 9, 2017
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by thesweetcheat

The ground dropping steeply away on the southwest of the fort.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 9, 2017
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by thesweetcheat

Standing on the bank of the northern rampart, looking down on the ditch. The white topped post marks a trail up and through the fort from the west, which needless to say I knew nothing about as I hacked my way up through the trees from the south.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 9, 2017
comment 4 comments
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by thesweetcheat

The centre of the fort interior, the only part that isn’t quite overgrown.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 9, 2017
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by thesweetcheat

Fairly slight bank on the south side of the fort. The steep natural slope does the rest – I don’t recommend coming up the way I did!

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 9, 2017
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by Kammer

Taken 9th December 2003: Viewed from the lane to the north east, Old Warren Hillfort looks singularly unimpressive. It’s almost entirely hidden in the trees on the horizon in the middle of the shot. You can just make out the contours of the hill reflected in the tops of the trees.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer May 26, 2004
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by Kammer

Taken 9th December 2003: Relatively new wooden steps cut into the defensive bank on the north side of the fort (surely a bit dodgy, especially given the small number of visitors that the site gets).

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer May 26, 2004
Image of Old Warren Hillfort by Kammer

Taken 9th December 2003: From the bottom of the defensive ditch on the north side of the fort, looking approximately west along it.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer May 26, 2004

Articles

Old Warren Hillfort

Paintballing Planning Application

Kammer
Kammer Jan 14, 2004

A Ceredigion paintball company based on land adjacent to Old Warren hillfort have recently caused a stir among some local residents by applying for planning permission to extend their operations. The Cambrian News recently carried an article about it, by Scarlet Jones. Most of the article focused on the alleged detrimental effects that paintballing has had on wildlife in the area, but it briefly alluded to the hillfort:

“The woodland itself is separated by means of a footpath from Old Warren Hill, the largest single ditched hill fort in Wales and a designated nature reserve.”

“I don’t think it would be suitable to have a paintball area so close to such a valuable piece of historical land.”

The application hasn’t yet been heard by Ceredigion County Council Planning Committee, but the consultancy period expired in December.

Source: The Cambrian News, Thursday 1st January 2004

Old Warren Hillfort

Kammer
Kammer Jun 2, 2004

Visited 9th December 2003: Old Warren is now tree covered, sitting above the slightly dilapidated Nanteos Mansion. It is managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, and is accessible to the public from the south.

I visited the fort for the first time following reports that a paintball company was applying for permission to use the adjoining woodland. When I got there it turned out that there is no shared perimeter between the two pieces of land, although they are very close. The archaeology is unlikely to be effected by the paintballing, although the nature reserve may suffer from the noise.

Apparently the fort is the largest single-ditched hillfort in Wales. This may well be true, but it’s hard to get a good idea of the layout of the defences because of the foliage. I was interested to see relatively new wooden steps built into one of the defensive banks. This struck me as a bit unnecessary, especially given the small number of visitors that the site gets.

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