Pen Llystyn: A Roman Fort and Other Remains

Abstract

SUMMARYIn 1957, gravel-digging exposed a previously unknown Roman fort and during the following five years this was destroyed. Observation during soil stripping, together with some manual excavation, recovered most of the plan and history which may be summarized as follows:(a) Slight remains of occupation earlier than the first Roman fort; these were not fully worked out, and are not necessarily all of one period.(b) A Roman auxiliary fort, founded c. A.D. 80 and destroyed after less than twenty years occupation. Most of the fort buildings were deliberately burnt, apparently after evacuation; it seems a little more likely that this was the work of the Romans themselves rather than of the natives, but there is no definite evidence.(c) After an interval probably of a few years a ditch was dug along the line of the via principalis, as if intended for a fort of reduced area, as at Castell Collen or Tomen-y-Mur; this was unfinished, and after remaining open for a short time seems to have been deliberately refilled.(d) A fortlet was built over the north quarter of the auxiliary fort. The meagre evidence available for dating would be consistent with a short occupation in the early or middle 2nd century.(e) Finally, after a considerable interval, an irregular oval was enclosed by a light palisade. Full details of this occupation were not recovered. It seems to have begun about the end of the Roman period and may have continued into the 5 th century.