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Home , Clwydian Range, Flintshire (historic), Llantysilio, Moel Arthur, Moel Famau, Moel y Parc

A view over the ramparts of the hillfort of with the Vale of and the distant summits of beyond 20 heritage in l spring 2011 © Mick Sharp Photography Walking with heather and hillforts

Fiona Gale, ’s county archaeologist, leads a historic walk through the walking with heather and hillforts © Mick S © Mick harp P harp hotography

The heather-clad defences of hillfort with Penycloddiau in the distance © R

he summit of Penycloddiau, in the Beauty and, since then, increasing numbers S Countryside Jones, ichard TClwydian Range of , offers a of people have come to enjoy the beauties superb panorama. Stretching around you are of the mountain heaths of the Clwydians the imposing ramparts of one of the largest and Llantysilio Mountain. Whilst this is a Iron Age hillforts in Wales. To the west, the matter for celebration, the influx of visitors land falls steeply away to the fertile fields of has sometimes led to habitat damage and the , with only 5 miles erosion to the moorland environment. Sheep kills (3km) distant. In the opposite direction, lie can increase this damage, or, in some cases, and the . To the north- cause their own. west, the tumble gently down towards The need to manage access and use and the beyond. To the of the heather-clad uplands in the two south-east, the range rises to its highest point ranges, while promoting conservation and at (1,818 feet/554m) — public enjoyment, led to the launch of the crowned with the remains of the eighteenth- Heather and Hillforts Landscape Partnership century Jubilee Tower — before dropping to Scheme in 2007. Whilst still being farmed the steep-sided ravine of Nant y Garth Pass, and providing recreation for several million which divides the Clwydians from Llantysilio people who live within easy reach, the Mountain to the south. moorlands covered by the scheme include The construction of the floating ramp to Heather moorland cloaks the higher heather habitats of such value that some protect the slopes of Moel Fenlli reaches and, in late summer, turns a are protected within a Special Area of resplendent purple. The moorland is an Conservation. the south-western tip of Llantysilio Mountain important habitat for a wide range of The scheme also embraces six nationally near . Feet, both human and sheep, plant and animal species, including the important Iron Age hillforts — Penycloddiau; had taken their toll and, in places, paths were endangered black grouse and hen harrier. Moel Arthur; Moel y Gaer, Llanbedr; Moel cutting down into archaeological remains. Largely uninhabited and undisturbed for Fenlli; Moel y Gaer, Llantysilio; and Caer Innovative ‘floating’ ramps have now been centuries by little more than grazing sheep, Drewyn — and archaeological work has installed, protecting the archaeology below, the high moorland also preserves significant been amongst the highlights of the many without going into the ground, and providing archaeological sites, such as Bronze Age Heather and Hillforts projects carried out a safe surface for walking. barrows and, most impressively, Iron Age during the last three years. We have also carried out some hillforts. Extensive erosion repairs have been excavations. At Penycloddiau hillfort, where The special character of this landscape was undertaken at Moel Arthur and Moel Fenlli a barrow was being worn away by walkers, recognized in 1985 with the creation of the in the Clwydian Range, while work has been excavations have made us ninety-five per cent Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural done on the route up to Caer Drewyn, at sure that it dates to the Bronze Age. Any trace heritage in wales l spring 2011 0 5 of a central burial had been comprehensively removed in the Victorian period. To protect _2009_28

P what is left, it has been covered by a reconstruction of a barrow that we hope both

06900, A protects and interprets the feature. At Moel y Gaer, Llanbedr, students from Bangor University and Vienna worked with local volunteers under the direction of Professor Ray Karl to excavate a section through the hillfort ramparts where a large sheep scrape needed repair. The excavation identified that the rampart, when built, was stone fronted and radiocarbon dating © Crown Copyright: R CAHMW – NPRN 3 showed that construction took place between 800 BC and 500 BC. There was also a deposit of highly burnt stone material within the rampart which may have been ritually deposited during construction. At Moel y Gaer, Llantysilio, a geophysical survey had hinted at extensive remains of roundhouses, but in a location that was An aerial view of the excavation of a section of the rampart of Moel y Gaer, Llanbedr exposed to a very real threat of damage Ordnance S Ordnance © R

Penycloddiau and Moel Arthur S Ordnance of permission by eproduced 2 Hillforts To encourage Heritage in Wales readers to experience the Heather Walk L urvey

and Hillforts landscape for themselves, here is one of the walks 10002187 number icence available from the scheme’s website: www.heatherandhillforts.co.uk. You will also find there other walks through the beautiful countryside around the hillforts Penycloddiau is one of the sites covered by a Heather and urvey and on behalf of HM of behalf on and urvey Hillforts audio heritage guide, which you can receive on your 4 mobile phone at the site (01745 222123 — cost of a local call), or 0 Metres 500 download to your computer or .mp3 player from the Heather and 0 Yards 500 Hillforts website.

Refreshment: The Kinmel S Before you start reserved. 2011. rights All copyright © Crown O. Arms, (01824 790 291); 1 Distance: 7 miles (11.2km) The White Horse, 1 Time: 4 /2 hours (01824 790582) 3 Map: OS Explorer 265 Conditions can change quickly Clwydian Range in the uplands. Wear sturdy Start/Parking: Llangwyfan car footwear. Take waterproofs, park (SJ 139668), 1.2 miles warm clothes, a compass, food (2km) north-east of Llangwyfan and a drink. 4 off the minor road to Always follow the Terrain: Heather moorland with Countryside Code: steep ascents www.countrysidecodewales.org.uk The route of the walk The Walk edge, following Offa’s Dyke (towards mast), crossing a stile continue ahead. Follow this Path (ODP), signed with a and continuing to follow ODP clear track for about 11/2 miles 1. At the corner of white acorn. Continue up this for about 2/3 of a mile (1km). (2.5km), going through six Llangwyfan car park follow the path until you reach a stile on 2. At a pass crossed by gates, before reaching a road. signs for the Offa’s Dyke Path. the right. Cross onto the open unsurfaced green lanes, turn Turn left onto it. Take the right-hand forest moorland and continue to sharp left onto a track leaving 3. For a shorter route: Go track for a few yards/metres follow ODP over Penycloddiau ODP and ignoring the stile/gate 100 yards (100m) up the road, and then bear right onto a hillfort. From the summit follow to the right. Go through a then turn left onto a forest narrow path along the forest the stone path northwards gate and, at a track junction, track beside a yellow and black walking with heather and hillforts from illegal off-road vehicles. The Clwyd- S Countryside © Denbighshire Powys Archaeological Trust and local volunteers conducted a small excavation and the remains of two roundhouses were found. Whilst we still await radiocarbon dates for these, the results highlight the site’s ervices/Heather and Hillforts and ervices/Heather importance and the need to protect it and a campaign has taken place to lessen illegal off-road use. Archaeology is not the only aim of the scheme. Returning the heather habitat to a healthy condition is vitally important. The agri- environment scheme, Tir Gofal, gives graziers on the important upland landscapes of Moel Famau and an incentive to maintain them. The moorlands of Llantysilio Mountain have been designated a Special Area of Conservation under the European Union’s Habitat Directive and funding has been arranged for their management. Other highlights relate to people. Parties of school children were taken back in time Schoolchildren meet a figure from Penycloddiau’s Iron Age past barrier. Follow this track uphill Penycloddiau strengthened with further lines. The fort had two back to Llangwyfan car park. entrances — one at the south and the other Follow the road around to the This massive hillfort encloses the entire southern midway along the eastern side — both flanked right for about 150 yards (150m) part of the summit ridge and is almost 1/2 mile by in-turned banks that allowed defenders to and, just after crossing a stream, (800m) long. Where the ground falls aways overlook anyone approaching the fort’s gates. turn right onto a track marked steeply, there is only a single line of ramparts, Archaeological surveys of the hillfort in 2004 with a horse rider sign. Go but on gentler approaches the defences are and 2008 have identified more than forty-three through a gate and follow the possible house platforms. Imagine the fort in path behind a partly built house. the late Iron Age filled with circular thatched Continue on the path, which roundhouses and protected with imposing timber contours around the hillside for defences atop the ramparts. about 11/4 miles (2km), going Recent excavations on the mound at the through four gates. After the highest point within the fort strongly supports its fourth, follow the path as it bears identification as a Bronze Age barrow. right, keeping the fence on the right. Go through another gate An aerial view of Penycloddiau from the south-east then follow the clear path along © Crown Copyright, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical the hillside until you reach a final Monuments of Wales - NPRN 306898, AP_2006_1015 gate onto the road. Turn left and walk up the road to the small car Moel Arthur correct, it may point to occupation after the park below Moel Arthur. Iron Age. 4. From the car park turn Moel Arthur only covers 41/2 acres (1.8ha), but Moel Arthur has also provided evidence of left to rejoin ODP, signed is an impressive sight with its ramparts entirely Bronze Age activity. The walker’s cairn near the Coed Llangwyfan. Continue on encircling the top of the steep-sided, conical centre of the fort may rest on a barrow. In 1962 a ODP around the base of Moel . The more gradual approach from the north hoard of three copper axes from the Bronze Age Arthur hillfort. (Detour left at is defended by massive twin ramparts with the were revealed after heavy rainfall.

the stone waymarker to climb original in-turned entrance to the fort at their S © Mick up to the hillfort). Continue eastern end. on ODP across the moorland. Signs of house platforms were reported after P harp

Cross a stile into fields and walk heather burning in 1938, but an archaeological hotography downhill, still following ODP. survey in 2006 only detected slight indications. Cross another stile and continue However in 1849, W. Wynne Foulkes down towards the road. Cross investigated two areas of the fort, revealing the stile then turn right along some drystone walls and artefacts that he the road and left back into summarized as ‘coarse red Roman pottery, and Llangwyfan car park. flint arrowheads and corroded iron’. If he was Moel Arthur from the south-east heritage in wales l spring 2011 as they climbed Penycloddiau, meeting Funding and organization archaeologists, a Victorian gamekeeper, The aims of Heather and Hillforts have medieval knights and an Iron Age guard. The Heather and remained constant since the scheme’s This led to the development of education Hillforts Landscape beginning. They include: resource chests for use by teachers in the Partnership Scheme classroom and on site. is largely funded by • conserving heritage through Many walks and talks have been given, the Heritage Lottery sustainable agriculture; leading to the production of audio trails for Fund, but significant • reconnecting people with the Penycloddiau and Caer Drewyn, as well amounts from other uplands and increasing their as for the slopes of Moel Famau. You can partners including enjoyment of them; and listen on site on your mobile phone or by Flintshire County • increasing understanding of the download to your computer or .mp3 player. Council, Denbighshire hillforts and moorland as a A Bluetooth audio trail will soon be launched County Council, foundation for management, on local bus services, allowing people to hear Countryside Council restoration and interpretation. about the area as they travel through it. for Wales (CCW), There are also ‘Iron Age’ car parks where Cadw and European funds bring the total to the architecture of the parking bays and other £2.2 million. A Partnership Board oversees features aim to mimic the stone and earth the work, including local landowners, building techniques used at the hillforts. politicians and representatives from Cadw, The Heather and Hillforts project area This effort has been supported with a CCW, the Royal Society for the Protection website — www.heatherandhillforts.co.uk of Birds, the Royal Commission on the Prestatyn — and a presence on both Facebook and Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, A548 Twitter. But don’t take our word for it, come Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum and see for yourself. Wales and other relevant bodies. A5151

© Denbighshire County Council. Illustration by Tim Morgan

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A541

Penycloddiau Denbigh Moel Arthur Clwyd

A525 Moel Famau Moel y Gaer (Llanbedr) Moel Fenlli Alyn

An artist’s impression of the hillfort of Caer Drewyn in the Iron Age

recent archaeological survey of Moel Fenlli. A525 The hillforts A494 There is still some debate amongst The Iron Age hillforts of the Clwydian archaeologists about the functions of

Range and Llantysilio Mountain were hillforts in Iron Age society. The presence Moel y Gaer (Llantysilio) probably all built around 2,500 years of house platforms, granaries and other A5014 ago possibly by the Deceangli tribe, who domestic structures indicates that they Caer Drewyn controlled north-east Wales. They vary were settlements as well as strongholds, Dee in size from massive Penycloddiau, which but they may have been occupied only Corwen A5 covers around 50 acres (20ha), to the seasonally or primarily as marketplaces more modest Moel y Gaer, Llantysilio, of or ritual centres for local populations. roughly 3 acres (1ha). Whatever their functions, the scale of Heather & Hillforts Area All the forts are encircled by strong the hillforts testifies to the enormous Clwydian Range Area of ramparts (with multiple lines of defences communal effort required to build them. Outstanding Natural Beauty often protecting more vulnerable areas) Occasional discoveries of Roman Hillfort and have powerful in-turned gateways. artefacts, including some 1,500 coins Offa’s Dyke Path Platforms for Iron Age roundhouses have at Moel Fenlli in 1816, suggest that the been identified at all six, with as many as hillforts may still have been occupied after 0 Kilometres 8 sixty-one possible platforms recorded in a the arrival of the Romans. 0 Miles 4