Tredegar Fort

Also known as:
Gaer (Newport)
Nearest town:
Newport (3km ENE)
OS reference:
ST289868
OS sheet:
171
Latitude:
51° 34' 30.18 N
Longitude:
3° 1' 33.98 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Tredegar Fort (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

The strategic siting of the enclosure is clear to the south-west... that’s the M4 occupying, presumably, the age-old route through these parts.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 4, 2020
Image of Tredegar Fort (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

Inner defences to east, looking north(ish) – I think

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 4, 2020
Image of Tredegar Fort (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

At the northern apex of the inner defences...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 4, 2020
Image of Tredegar Fort (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

North-eastern defences from within.....

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 4, 2020
Image of Tredegar Fort (Hillfort) by thesweetcheat

View of the eastern rampart, showing the proximity of the houses.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 2, 2010
Image of Tredegar Fort (Hillfort) by thesweetcheat

A break in the middle ditch on the SW side of the fort. Twmbarlwm is in the centre of the picture on the horizon.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 2, 2010
Image of Tredegar Fort (Hillfort) by thesweetcheat

The view NW from the fort, taking in Mynydd Machen (far left) and Twmbarlwm (centre, the black dot is the motte inside to the hillfort).

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.1.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 2, 2010

Articles

Tredegar Fort

C
CARL Jan 31, 2011

Visited 29.1.11
As its Dafydd’s birthday next week and there was quite a bit of ‘pre-party’ preparation to be done I was confined to a ‘local visit’ this week. This gave me the chance to re-visit a site less than 10 miles from home. See previous notes for directions.
The last time I visited it was in the summer with vegetation high so it was not so easy to spot the ramparts/ditches etc. No problem with that this time of year although on the negative side it was bitterly cold, with a biting wind and the ground frozen underneath. The lovely Karen wisely decided to stay in the car with the sleeping Dafydd and little Sophie.
Going through the kissing gate I noticed a sign stating that this was an ancient site and that (amongst other things) there was to be no littering or fires. Unfortunately it appears that some of the local inhabitants are unable to read as this has been ignored. Since the turn of the year I have taken a plastic bag out with me to pick up any litter I see at sites but I would have needed a skip to clear this amount of rubbish! Why do people do this? I also saw evidence of at least two fires.
Anyway, onto more positive things. There are at least three banks/ditches, all of whom are well above head height (when standing in the ditch) and these were very easily seen due to the fallen ferns/bracken. The central part of the site appears to be a raised area? There are unexpectedly cracking views to be had up the Sirhowy Valley to the north and Twmbarlwm Hillfort easily seen on the nearby hilltop.
After 20 minutes or so I retreated back to the car to escape the cold wind. All in all, a nice little visit but I wish some people would take more care / pride of their heritage.

Tredegar Fort

C
CARL Mar 19, 2010

Drive up Gaer Road (road on left off main road into Newport from the Tredegar House junction of the M4 – next to a traffic lights). Drive to the top of the hill and park in any of the side streets on the left. Most of these small side streets have a kissing gate at the end which gives access to the site. There is a grass walkway around the site which looks as though it is kept mown by the council. Good views on a nice day.

Tredegar Fort

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 2, 2010

An unplanned, impromptu visit to this fort (2.1.2010). I had to break a train journey in Newport, and rather than hang around the station thought it would be a good chance to have a look at this fort (dedication to the cause, eh?). Anyway, not having planned to come here, I set off in what I hoped was the right direction, with no map or anything sensible like that. By heading roughly south-west and always seeking the highest ground, it’s actually quite easy to find. If you come to a very large cemetery, with a busy road running along the south side*, you’re in the right area – the streets all start to be called “Gaer Park Road/Avenue”, etc – and most of them end at the SW with entrances onto the fort itself.

This is a rather excellent fort, with several (at least three) concentric lines of defences, as well as excellent views to the north-east taking in both Mynydd Machen and Twmbarlwm, as well as the hills over Cwmbran. The winter sun was going down to the west, so looking in that direction was difficult – you should be able to see the area where Gwern-y-Cleppa is situated too. It’s a bit overgrown (very much so in Summer, I imagine) and a bit scruffy round the edges, but to have a hillfort within a 30 minute walk of the city centre is a great thing.

*This road also has a very regular bus service running to and from the city centre.

Folklore

Tredegar Fort
Hillfort
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Nov 2, 2006

The poet Gwilym Tew.. presided at a Gorsedd in Glamorgan in 1460, about which time he wrote a complimentary poem in praise of Sir John Morgan of Tredegar, Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, whom in the title he styles Syr Sion ap Morgan o Dre-Degyr, and again in the poem itself he writes the name Tre-Degyr [..] the capital D indicating a proper name. In a MS. of the seventeenth century, in the possession of Mr S.R. Bosanquet, is this statement, “The house of Tref-ddigr, holden by inheritance of blood from time to time, is the most ancient in all Wales.” “Teigr ap Tegonwy was an ancient prince in King Arthur’s time” [..] though Teigr may be as mythical a personage as King Arthur, this is strong presumptive evidence that there was such a traditionary personage connected with this place...
Octavius Morgan, The Friars, Newport, Mon.
Notes and Queries, Volume s6-IV, Number 96, 1881

Octavius, like me, tries to squeeze a bit of folklore out of the Tre (or homestead) of Teigr.

Link

Tredegar Fort
Hillfort
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Dec 23, 2005
The Scrapbook of William Henry Greene

“Fort Tredegar from Tredegar Park” Newport Mon
Sketch by William Henry Greene
16th June 1892

Online at ‘Newport Past’, along with his many other local sketches, courtesy of Pontypool Museum and sponsor Steve Thomas.

The earthworks of this fort are now apparently complicated by those of a defunct golf course, according to Coflein.

Sites within 20km of Tredegar Fort

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