PE557

Defended Enclosure 400m ESE of Pen-Feidr  

30/03/2010  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Puncheston  

204749  

228575  

Defence  

Enclosure - Defensive  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises a simple defended enclosure which dates to the Iron Age (c.800BC - 43AD), along with part of an associated relict field system. The enclosure consists of a single circular bank, located on a gentle south-facing slope, and encloses an area 35m in diameter. Agricultural activites and improvements have spread the bank material, and it now stands 0.4m tall and up to 6m in width. On the north, upslope, side a very faint depression may be all that is left of an external ditch. On the east side a simple entrance is clearly visible, marked both by a break in the bank and by partially exposed stone blocks. Aerial photographs show that this enclosure lies within a landscape of relict field boundaries. A funnel-shaped arrangement of low banks lies east of the enclosure, leading into it. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of Iron Age settlement, agriculture and land-use. The enclosure is of note for its completeness, with the entrance and funnelled approach likely to contain evidence for its construction and use. The close association with an identifiable system of relict field boundaries is unusual, and in this case the importance is enhanced due to the proximity of this site to the prehistoric settlement of Bernards Well Mountain (PE399). The two sites have close similarities, and may have only become seperated due to agriculture and afforestation. The area of the Scheduling comprises those remains described above and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is irregular in shape, measuring 515m NW-SE and 200m E-W.