CN047

Dinas Camp  

 

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Y Felinheli  

251889  

367139  

Defence  

Promontory Fort - coastal  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a defended settlement or promontory fort, which probably dates to the Iron Age period (c.800 BC - AD 43). The site retains large defensive banks to the south and east, being defended on its coastal flank by a substantial cliff face. The interior contains a natural ridge which rises to approximately 20m above OD and then falls away to the Afon Menai (the Menai Strait). The landward side is protected by a rampart, in plan almost a semi-circle, the two ends terminating on the cliff edge 120m apart with an entrance near the middle. East of the entrance the rampart has been almost levelled, to the west it survives as an artificial scarp capped by a rubble bank approximately 3.6m wide, giving an external height of 3 to 6m. The entrance to the fort is on the south-east side and historically access to the fort would have been along the natural hillslope from the south, a route which has continued in use as Beach Road. Against the bank are the footings of two rectangular buildings, one in the extreme W of the enclosure, measuring approximately 12m NW-SE by 5.5m and another approximately 13m to the ESE, measuring 9m N-S by 5m. Possible traces of a third building, 15m NW-SE by 6.5m were noted by the RCAHMW outside the fort, 36.5m to the SW. The buildings within the fort are later than the rampart and are probably medieval in date. They are accompanied by traces of a slight enclosing wall. The fort is positioned on a spur of land which overlooks the natural harbour along the Felinheli foreshore. The monument was obviously intended to dominate the local area visually and provide views along the Menai Strait in order to control the waterway, defend the harbour or provide some other strategic benefit. The significant views from the scheduled monument are therefore to northward in an arc from south-west to north-west. Landward views are less important, but the higher ground, especially to the south-east, provides part of the topographic setting of the scheduled monument. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of later-prehistoric defensive organisation and settlement. The site forms an important element within the wider later-prehistoric context and within the surrounding landscape. The site is well preserved and retains considerable archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of evidence relating to chronology, layout, building techniques and functional detail. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.