The ultimate fan page on hillforts, hillforts.co.uk

Welsh geography facts as of 2007, plus below, some facts about Caerleon, that great Roman site in South Wales

Plus some mentions on Caerleon, Lodge Wood Camp, Llanmelin Wood Campand Castell Henllys hillforts,

Welsh Geography

Top 10 Largest Welsh Mountains, all are in the north of Snowdonia.

1 Snowdon / Eryri 1085 Metres in the Snowdon Massif

2 Garnedd Ugain, Crib y Ddysgl 1065 metres in the Snowdon Massif 1km from Snowdon,

3 Carnedd Llewellyn 1064 metres, Carnedd Dafydd 1044 Metres in the Carneddau, very near Carnedd Llewellyn, in some ways the same mountain,

4 Glyder Fawr 999 Metres in the Glyderau

5 Glyder Fach 994 Metres in the Glyderau

6 Pen yr Ole Wen 978 Metres in the Carneddau

7 Foel Grach 976 Metres in the Carneddau

8 Yr Elen 962 Metres in the Carneddau

9 Y Garn 947 Metres in the Glyderau

10 Foel-fras 943 Metres in the Carneddau

14 Mountains in Wales are above 3000 Feet

Top Longest Rivers that include Welsh territory

The Severn 220 miles (With the Severn Boar - The second largest of these on Earth)

The Wye 135 Miles

The Usk 85 Miles (Longest that is entirely in Wales) (It is the deepest river in the British Isles at its mouth and has the second largest tidal range in the world after the Bay of Fundy in Canada)

The Dee 70 Miles

Pistyll Rhaeadr The tallest waterfall in Wales. This is in Powys, and is 75 metres high.

These are the temperature extreme records for Wales, upto December 2006, since records began.

Highest maximum temperature: 35.2°C (95.4°F) at Hawarden Bridge, Flintshire on 2 August 1990.

Lowest minimum temperature: -23.3°C (-10°F) at Rhayader, Radnorshire on 21 January 1940. Obviously there would have been colder, times and warmer times, such as in the Age, millenia ago before records began.

The largest natural lake in Wales, is Llyn Tegid, or Bala Lake, It is 4 miles / 6.4 km long by a mile / 1.6 km wide)and is subject to sudden and dangerous floods. It is crossed by the River Dee and its waters are famously deep and clear. Llyn Tegid has abundant pike, European perch, trout, eel and gwyniad. It also contains the very rare mollusc Myxas glutinosa - the Glutinous snail. According to legend the lake is inhabited by a monster known affectionately as Teggie. There is a man made piece of water in North East Wales.

The deepest cave in Wales, has waterfalls, and great underground Stalactites and stalagmites, Ogof Ffynnon Ddu. It goes 308 metres deep. And is 28 Miles long.

Cadair Idris is 893 metres deep Cwm.Wales's most impressive cwm.

A yew tree in Llangernyw church North Wales, is estimated to be 5000 years old.

Great Welsh Buildings include, Tintern Abbey, Strata Florida, Caernarfon Castle even if it was built by undeniably oppressive rulers, if Wales had been free of such oppressive feudal rulers for longer, even more great buildings would have built, also Conwy, and Harlech castles,

Other great buildings include the Welsh Parliament or Senedd, The millennium stadium, Cardiff Ninian Park, Wrexham The Racecourse, and Swansea's Liberty stadium, and we will add Newport Rodney Parade,

St Davids Cathedral, Castell Henlys, Trei' Ceiri, Penycloddiau, The Severn Bridge, the Conwy Tunnel;, Chepstow Castle, Beddgelert memorial thing, known as Gelert's grave,, Neolithic monuments the most famous one in Glamorgan, like Tinkinswood, and St Lythans Burial Chamber, plus Bryn Celli Ddu, and Barclodiad y Gawres in the North., Llechwedd Slate quarry, the actual mine, and the piles of slate. Big pit, in South Wales Chirk Castle, Newport Transport Bridge, that high rock outcrop in Nefyn, Llangollen Bridge, Porthmadog kob, Machynlleth old parliament building,

North East Wales boat, that is almost onland, that you see from the train so conspicuously, the Duke of Lancaster,

Llandudno pier, 700 metres long, the longest in Wales. Builth Wells showground, where the Royal Welsh is, Whispering sands, Llyn peninsula, Bardsey Island, Puffin Island,

Caerleon Amphitheatre, Caerleon Roman barracks, Caerleon bridge, Lloyd George museum, Llanfair PG signposts, Dolwyddellan castle, Holywell St Winefride's Well Holy Well Holyhead bridge, Lake Vyrynwy not Vyrynwy, Bangor University, Caerwent, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, and the dam near Bangor, Elan Valley Dam System Bryn Celli Ddu, The Gop, and Barmouth beach,

10 Largest Islands of Wales

1 Anglesey 275.60 713.80
2 Holy Island 15.22 39.44
3 Skomer Island 1.12 2.90
4 Ramsey Island 0.99 2.58
5 Caldey Island 0.84 2.18
6 Bardsey Island 0.76 1.99
7 Skokholm 0.41 1.06
8 Flat Holm 0.13 0.33
9 Puffin Island 0.11 0.28
10 Cardigan Island 0.06 0.15

In the Roman era Caerwent and Caerleon had populations including their shanty towns, in the low tens of thousands not that different to that, and were the biggest by a very long way in Wales at their times.

Carmarthen was the biggest town in Wales in the 16th Century and had been for a while, with 2,000 people.

In 1700, Wrexham was the biggest town in Wales though possibly Carmarthen was in 1770.

For 1750, in rank by population they were, Wrexham, Brecon, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Cardiff then Caernarvon, with about 2,500 people. Some major Welsh towns included, Knighton, Lampeter, Hay, and Llandeilo, and each did not even have 1000 people.

In 1801, Swansea had the position as highest in population in Wales at 10,000 inhabitants.

Though others claim, Merthyr was largest at six thousand people, with Swansea, Holywell, Carmarthen, Wrexham, and Haverfordwest , taking up next place in the rankings, it must depend on how you count, and what areas include within Swansea.

Merthyr Tydfil was likely the biggest town in Wales, in 1851 at 46,000 people.

Cardiff today is at 335149, in the 2010s,

At one time in the 19th Century Llanrwst which hit 2,000 in 1801, and 5,000 in 1901. was the 8th largest town in Wales, now it's population is in between those 2 totals.

In Blaenau Ffestiniog the population was 11,000 in the 19th Century putting it as the second biggest town in North Wales, and a number of places above Llanrwst on that list.

Amlwch now a village in North Anglesey was the second or third largest town in Wales for a brief period in the 1800s, as of it's copper.

Caerphilly is the biggest castle in Wales, Conwy and Caernarfon the largest in North Wales, not including hillforts.

Castell y Bere is the largest Native Welsh Castle,

From Moel Gamelin, by Llangollen you can see Dinas Bran down to the south east, and the coast, up to the north.

Kinmel Bay in North Wales, near Rhyl, was once called Foryd, till it grew massively in size. It's Welsh name is Bae Cinmel. This is why the main road running from Rhyl to Abergele through it of that name, Foryd Road.

The Regions of Wales.

North, South, West, East, The debate over where is North and where is South Wales is complex. So now, most people feel North Wales is the 1970s created Gwynedd and Clwyd, or 1990s, Denbighshire, Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Flintshire, Wrexham. It used to be felt Montgomeryshire in North Powys was part of North Wales, and some even thought of Aberystwyth as in the north. More people now feel there is Mid Wales as in modern 1970s and 1990s created Powys, but some put Aberystwyth in it and parts of Ceredigion or North East 1970s created Dyfed. Some feel South West Wales is 1970s created Dyfed. Some feel South Wales is the area south of Aberystwyth, some feel it is Brecon, and Radnorshire, and everywhere sout of it, and some feel it is just everywhere south of Powys, and some feel it is the southern areas of 1970s Dyfed as well. Some feel it is just the south eastern portion. When creating quangos, or government bodies, or splitting Wales into regions for elections there is a debate about what to do. Sometimes the split is on the basic regions grounds, south east, mid, south west and north, with 1970s counties being the guide, sometimes the south east as of it being so populous, is split in 3. The general debate could be, do you split in regards to size of area of the counties, or do you split in terms of population size. Which is why South East Wales has so many more NHS trusts, and such. Sometimes even as Powys has less people than other areas, it is merged into North Wales in some things, and sometimes even South West Wales. Sometimes even England is involved like North Wales, into a North West England Region, parts of Mid Wales, into a Shropshire region, and even South Wales, linked with the South of England, or South West England. Aof Course the links with Merseyisde Manchester, and Bristol and London are so strong. Sometimes Wales as a whole is linked with the Celtic "fringe" Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man, sometimes just with Scotland, and even in the Dark Ages, with Cornwall, and South West England, when more of it was heled by the Britons, plus even Brittany. Then there is a debate, perhaps west v east like some rugby debates but that is mostly a south Wales valleys debate, or perhaps, do you split up on how Welsh speaking the area is, giving Welsh speaking communities a gaeltacht style position, or perhaps share such areas out, or do you look at historical county boundaries and geographic features, like rivers and mountains, or even the type of communities in terms of urban or rural, or semi urban. Some might even say it is Cardiff, then the rest of Wales, or Cardiff, Wrexham, Newport and Swansea, then the rest of Wales. Some may divide Wales into Swansea and Cardiff and not notice the rest. Not many, but some may. Or divide via sporting, or college or such rivalries. Some may divide Wales, into closeness to England, and the very much more Anglified areas, ness. Like Some areas some wonder is this place in Wales or not. parts of Deeside, and Chepstow, of course they area, but not all realise, and some wonder if the Forest of Dean, or Chester is in Wales. Some may even add on more recent parts of Wales, like South West Herefordshire, and such, and some look at areas with Welsh links, like parts of London or Liverpool. Some may even look at overseas like Australia or the USA or Argentina in that regards. And of course the divide of Welsh speaking areas and English speaking, and bilingual and very Welsh. Or eveven accents of North Walian, and South Walian, or even North speaking Welsh and South Wales Welsh which are a bit different. Plus of course the less noticable divides of class divides. There are even some places with migrant histories, liuke so many Welsh to the valleys, and people welcomed from around the world and Britain, some of which had bigger changes, like that bit of Pembrokeshire, with it's ancient history of English immigration in the Miedieval era, many castle towns in North Wales had that, but it like so many places was replaced by Welsh taking back those places into it's orbit, and also well so many things. There are so many ways to divide Wales into regions of based on a town, a village, ancient history economic patterns, coal mining, Labour, Independent, mixed, Conservative, Tory, Lib Dem, Plaid, Liberal, closeness to certain motorway routes and so much etc etc. Farming and town. Even upland or lowland, city or non city ways. Other famous divides include coastal, plus how sometimes Wales is grouped with the Welsh Marcher counties or even the English Midlands, or South Western England. I bet when some talk of north v south for Britain as a whole, some think Wales has a cut off, maybe a non proper north south cut off, and some maybe put Wales in the south or north. A rare thing Wales does not have is a divide on Roman Empire style, of distance rom the capital, I mean as Cardiff is quite a new capital, and London did not operate that way. Also Wales is not divided of how close to Ireland really even if the west Wales accent has some affects from it.

I like how there is a sensible compromise, as regions do not have to be the same size in every way, indeed it is impossible. Just like how the Great Britain regions of the 1990s, were the 2 countries of Scotland and Wales, and then England split into South West, London, rest of South East, West and East Midlands, Yorkshire, and then North West and North East. It was not the case each had to be the same, type of region, as in a country or a region, or the same population or area. Also Wales has a debate over county sizes, the ones of the Act of Union, maybe influences on old kingdoms of the Welsh princes, and Marcher lords, and their north south divides, and west east, maybe influences of the bigger 1970s types of counties, and the much smaller 1990s ones, which veer on much smaller, city size counties, and such, how should they be organised. Well there is so much debate, and in the end, it is fine to see. I say it is North Wales, South West, Mid and South East with the South East more sensible to split at times, as of it's high population. For example The NHS boards of Wales of 2021, include Aneurin Bevan Health Board in the eastern part of south East Wales's urban majrity area, Cwm Taf Morgannwg, in some of the valleys of South East Wales, north of Cardiff, ; Abertawe / Swansea Bay University Health Board in the western of South East Wales, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, in the south of the south east, ; Hywel Dda Health Board in the old Dyfed, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board; in North Wales, and Powys Teaching Health Board in Mid Wales, or Powys, so 7 areas.

Whereas the police are split into North Wales Police, Dyfed -Powys police, South Wales, and Gwent Police, so just 4. Whreas for counties Wales is split up into 22 councils, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend (Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr), Caerphilly (Caerffili), Cardiff (Caerdydd), Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin) Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych) Flintshire (Sir y Fflint) Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn) Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tudful), Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy), Neath Port Talbot (Castell-nedd Port Talbot), Newport (Casnewydd), Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro), Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea (Abertawe), Torfaen (Tor-faen), Vale of Glamorgan (Bro Morgannwg), Wrexham (Wrecsam), in 2021 from 1996 boundaries, so there are all sorts of divides.

You can see from, -

Places you can see from parts of Wales etc

You can see Moel Siobod from Rhuallt Hill, Rhuallt Hill is just south of Rhyl. or Prestayn. Moel Siobod is by Dolwydellan.

From South Llanrwst you can see Carnedd Llewellyn the 2nd highest mountain in North Wales, but not from the north, which is why from it's summit you just see part of Llanrwst. Also from it you can see Snowdon, and Llandudno, and even the spit ;like Rhyl.

From Snowdon you can see Anglesey and the peaks of the Lleyn.

From the hills above Colwyn Bay, on a clear day you can see the Isle of Man in the distance, and some say, the hills of Ireland. From the Halkyns, you can see from places such as the Whitford Tower's hill, the mountains of Cumbria on the distance on a clear day, and more easily, Blackpool Tower, as a slim, tiny thing, and much more easily Liverpool and the Wirral. You can see Tryfan from the hills east of Llanrwst.

You can even see Liverpool from the Gop, south of Prestatyn.

You can see Jodrell Bank from Moel Arthur on the Clwydian Hills, and Beeston Castle's areas.

You can see the mountains of the Lleyn from the extreme north of Great Orme, and the Gop from the tip of Llandudno Pier. You can also see Holyhead Mountain from Treir Ceiri, and can see Harlech Castle from the hills where it is, and all the way down to Tywyn. From Tywyn the coast sign indicates you can see Fishguard.

From the beach at Kinmel Bay you can see Anglesey.

With Bwrdd Artur, easily visible on the horizon from Llandudno's hills.

I am sure you can on the very edge of Great Orme see the hills of the Lleyn,

From the Garth a hill south of Cardiff you have a great view of Somerset,

From the Isle of Man, you can see the North Wales hills, and easily Cumbria,

Indeed From Cumbria the Isle of Man is like a large ship out at sea, I mean from the land close to the island,

You can see Beeston Castle's hills from above Queensferry,

From Carnedd Llewellyn you can see Rhyl's spit kind of beach, not a spit, but a bit like one, and easily see South Llanrwst, and Llandudno,

From Bryn Eithin, by Colwyn Bay you can see Moel Siobod very well,

From Moel Siobod you get a great view of Dolwydellan Castle down below,

From Llanymynych Hill, you can see Gaer Fawr,

From Swansea you can see the Gower Peninsula,

From Brynford Hill you can see the Wirral.

From Brynford, by Holywell you can see Liverpool and Merseyside and it's rivers,

From Brynford you can see the Clwydian Hills, including the ones near Bodfari, I mean the TV mast, on Moel Y Parc is visible

From Snowdon, you can see the hills of the Lleyn, and Anglesey,

From the top of Drum, you can see the Conwy River down below,

On the way north of Drum, you can see Anglesey,

From Carnedd Llewllyn you also get great views of the rest of the mountains that area near Snowdon, as in a different kind of view,

From Tre'r Ceiri Hillfort, you can see Holyhead Mountain, and even the white ferries beside it on a clear day, you can also see down the coast to Harlech, and Tywyn,

From Tywyn, in South Gwynedd, you can see the Lleyn, right to the tip, including Bardsey Island, and all the way down past Fishguard, it is the coastline, amazing,

You can see Moel Famau from Beeston Castle, Craig Rhiwarth, and Moel Y Gaer, Llantysilio. Quite easily. From Moel Y Gaer Llantysilio you can see Dyserth hillfort I think.

There is a hillfort in North Somerset in England, Worlebury Camp, from which you can see the Sugar Loaf Mountain, near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Plus the Black Mountains in Powys and Monmouthshire, though trees obscure that view now, so surely it could see vice versa, you can also in that situation see the Mendips near Bristol from that hillfort yes it is in England, but it is relevant,

As I say from hills above Holywell on a good day you can see Blackpool Tower. Well north of it, on Morecambe Bay, on Wharton Crag you can see Blackpool tower, and Ingleborough. And from Ingleborough you can that Crag, And you can see from it Ingleborough, Pendle Hill, and Helvelyn and Scafell Pike.

From the top of Bryn Euryn Colwyn Bay, you can see Moel Siobod, Anglesey and Rhyl, and I think much further away. Many places you can see North Liverpool's cranes on a clear day.

Apparently from the top of Snowdon on a clear day you can see according to viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas/WAL/SNOWDON-N.gif Ireland in the distance, I have just seen Anglesey and the Lleyn's peaks as recognisable myself. Also you on a super clear day see the Pennines,

The mountains like Carnedd Llewellyn are noticeable. But also and this was just green amid green haze to me, Moel Famau and Moel Fenlli can be seen, With Moel Siobod 6 miles away easily seen. Supposedly Cadair Berwyn is seen 32 miles away in Mid Wales. Cader Idris 26 miles away near Mach. Plus Beacon Hill very much just haze 60 miles away. Plus Garn Fawr 82 miles away and Penberry 94 miles away. Frenni Fawr 79 miles away, Plus Mynydd Llanbyther 72 miles away. Plus more easy to work out is St David's Head at 96 miles away. I did not see those places far to the south though., I felt Yr Eifl and Tre'r Ceiri iat sixteen miles away and the Llyn, with Bardsey Island 36 miles away was good enough.

Caerleon

Here is a article on Caerleon, the great Roman site of South Wales, in tandem with Caerwent.

So Caerleon today is a small town, on the edge of Newport, when I visited last, a hour or so's walk across pavement past the estuary or up through forest, and fields, to Newport's outer area. Compared to Newport it seems like a village. It also is the home of Caerleon's college, University of Wales College Newport, and a Iron Age hillfort, that sits on a hill overlooking the land before the estuary.

Here is my bullet point list of facts Caerleon.

* So Caerleon is a site that contains, a Roman Legionary fort, and a museum dedicated to the Romans in Caerleon.

* It was one of 2 legionary sites in South Wales, a earlier one a little up stream at Usk, then this that replaced it, likely to suppress the historically resisting Silures. A group who had heroically resisted Roman pressures to a incredible extent, longer than much of the rest of their cousins in the rest of Southern Britain. They held a whole legion in their forests and hills, a amazing. With effective guerrilla war. The tribe surrounded a large legionary force building Roman forts in their land; rescued by forces with large losses. Taking Roman prisoners as hostages.

They also defeated the Second Legion. The Romans and Silures came to a deal, either as the Romans beat then, or as Silures accepted Roman rule, it is not lnown for sure.

* Caerleon today has a population of 8,000, it is 5 miles north east of the more central areas of Newport, a city has a population of 145,000.

* Newport sits on the Bristol Channel, where the Usk estuary is, not that many miles west of the River Severn's estuary, on the Welsh English border.

* Caerleon was the HQ of Legion ii Augusta, from around 75 AD to 300 AD. Of course Rome stayed the key power here for just over another century.

* Caerleon, like many fortifications in Wales has the Welsh prefix Caer at the start, like so many Roman sites, castle towns and forts, as of it indicating such a site. Caerleon likely comes from Cair Legeion guar Uisc, the olde Welsh term for the site. Which itself comes from the term Isca, the Roman name for the site. The term Usk, is likely from a Celtic term. Similar to the name of Exeter's Roman location, It sits on the similarly named River Ex, and it's Roman fort and centre were called Isca. To differentiate them, the Romans called Exeter Isca Dumnoniorum, Watertown of the Dumnonii, and Caerleon as Isca Augusta.Exeter may have been a local capital beforehand of Celtic tribes. Indeed Exeter started in 55BC had been the base of the Legion of 5000 troops that moved to Caerleon.

* There were 3 key Legionary forts that lasted a long time in Britain, Chester, York and Caerleon. So 2 cornering in Wales indicates it was always a tough geography for the Romans, though the North of England was as well. Yes there were also some major sites in Scotland such as Inchtuthil, in Tayside, or the site at Melrose, and bases from Caerhun in North Wales, to south East Britain, but they did not last as long, and are not labelled as permanent. It seems even Hadrian's Wall, had to make do with auxiliary troops rather than legions.

* Some have said, Caerleon could have had 10,000 people there, and that some even say similar stats for a shanty style town outside it's bastions. Not that many miles east on the border with England, is the base of the Silures, Venta Silurum, which became Caerwent, Market of the Silures, the Venta becoming Went, and it now is a village amid Roman walls that some say could have had population reaching even to 10,000 as well. As of this I wonder of Roman Chester had a population of 10,000, I mean I can't see the stat, so just guess that could be the case, I can only guess it was, or larger, as surely a legionary town would attract a lot of people, for trade. Maybe 2 or 3 times that.
Caerwent is a town 10 miles to Caerleon's east of 1700 people, if anything as it's spaced out it seems smaller.

* After the fall of Rome, Caerleon did see it's hillfort get occupation by locals again.

* Some of the great Roman buildings, the road network, the bridge and more stood for centuries. Indeed I am sure I have read the bridge lasted till the 18th Century, I may be wrong there, but more importantly the baths, and fortress stood, and were seen by some as Roman palaces and such into the era when the Normans arrived.

* When the Saxons arrived in Bath, just across the Severn, after pushing the West Britons from there, they thought it's Roman sites were built by giants, so there were myths about these places.

* Caerleon, and it's British turning into Welsh society survived till the Normans conquered much of South Wales's plains soon after they took England. This did not kill Welsh heritage though just as how when Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Norman Breton Welsh fellow, in the 12th century wrote of King Arthur bringing the story in from earlier Welsh stories. He invented a lot of new things for this story that spread across Britain and Europe as w hole. He put Caerleon as where the Round table was. Indeed many like to postulate he saw the amphitheatre as that site. Plus that the surviving baths walls, could be seen as palaces including a tall tower like structure, were memories of Roman emperor's and such like. In reality though, dozens of great buildings were associated to the Arthurian legends, but surely it is the case, they had some associations to Arthur style figures. You never know, maybe archaeologists will dig up the grave of Arthur or such a figure in Caerleon one day(I mean that in a sense day dreaming whimsy not a genuine prediction, I know it does not work like that though there is a large central area of Caerleon which some wonder if it had uses in the Dark Ages as a centre and such likes in whatever way is uncertain. ), then again he is just a fusion of many figures from that time, so unlikely. I mean Geoffrey's Breton heritage lent him to the traditions of Cornwall, as they were so intertwined, and it's Arthurian style myths, so of course he linked in Tintagel. Plus Bath, with Mount Baddon, and it's hillfort Solsbury Hill, is associated to Arthur, and that fellow's great win over the Saxons there in 500AD. Though a few forts are seen as likely Mount Baddon's. The Saxons did take Bath in 577 after the Battle of Deorham.

* The Kingdom of Gwent was a major kingdom in Caerleon before the Normans took the area. Indeed it remembered many ancient tales, seeming to have some kind of affinity with their Silures ancestors.

* Chester is known as Caer in Welsh, but was known as Deva.

* The round table or amphitheatre was uncovered by archaeologists in the 20th century, before then it was just indicated by a round shape on the ground.

* Today the barracks, and all that are protected and like Chester, historically gardeners often uncovered bits of Roman material when digging.

* The hillfort above the town to the north, is called has Lodge Wood Hillfort. It had about 2 hectares of area. , It’s 3 lines of ramparts at times 5 metres high would have been hard to get past, and looked after the rich plains of South Wales. Today it is has a housing estate on a hill to it's south.

* Historically Llanmellin Wood Hill camp near Caerwent had been seen as a likely capital of the Silures, but now it is felt they were far more confederal than that, and it was just one of a group of forts, indeed it is a similar size to Caerleon's fort.

* Caerleon also has a village green so it is that kind of village, and town feel.

* Above his a picture of Caerleon's great area where a amphitheatre was. Then below a old Roman tower drawn much more recently.

* Also I have drawn a picture of Caerleon's hillfort with the Roman camp and site beginning construction, I am indicating the rive, and the fact the hill overlooks it as it moves slowly to the estuary not that far away. Then to it's right is Llanmellin Wood camp hillfort, which is actually miles away. I have it as a cross between what it is now, a forest overlooking the plains where Caerwent Venta Silutum is below, with a deforested gap at the top where the fort is. Except I have put roundhouses there. Of course there would have been no surrounding forest in those times when it was in use. Plus even further down a imagined portrayal of Castell Henllys Hillfort in South West Wales.

Caerleon Lodge Wood Camp

I read in my copy I have of Archaeology in Wales, volume 40, year 2000. Caerleon Wood Camp had a then recent excavation. There was not only the whole ramparts of this triple banked enclosure, but also a one hundred metres by fifty metre big enclosure inside that western bit of the area. Inside in excavations was found a La Tene Iron Age brooch, and also mid Iron Age bits of pottery sherds. The idea is it was mainly a early to middle Iron Age site. Excavations found where the soil had been disturbed to build the bank, plus some wondered if there was evidence of slighting by Romans. Maybe nobody suggested who did this.

Llanmelin Wood Camp

This hillfort now covered in forest, is quite near the Silures civitas capital site of Caerwent, Venta Silurum, and was once thought to be their capital beforehand, but is now felt to have been just one of their many hillfort sites in this very confederal tribe. of the South Wales valleys and forests of the time.

Castell Henllys in South West Wales,

Castell Henllys
So I have also been to this site in South West Wales. I visited this site in the late 1990s seeing the experimental archaeology site. With it's lovely tried at roundhouses of the time, and ramparts and gates. Plus all things such as attempts of pottery and a hearth, and dress of the time. As far as I remember. It is on the north west side of South West Wales. It is 26 miles from Carmarthen down to the south eastern corner of that area. With it 11 miles from Fishguard and 46 miles from the northern edge of South West Wales, Aberystwyth.

The End.

Miss spellings of Welsh places include, Merthy or Merthur, Haverforswest, Cardif, Swansee, Rexham, Carleon, Carwent, Caerdiff, North Wlaes, Whales, North Whales, South Whales, Mid Whales, West Whales, Mewport, Clandudno, Landudno, Lanelli, Laneli, Lanely, Lanelee, Llanellee,Lllandelli, Llanellli, Anglesea, Anglsey, Rhonddha, Rhonddha Cynon Taff, Llnwst Llanwrst lanrwst llanwst aberystwith,Bilth wells, Bilth welsh, Builth wels, Monmouthe, Lundyisle, Bardsey islands, Bardseyisland, bardseyisle, Ynysmon, Holywel, Stasaph, Rhil, colwynby, colwynbay, penminemawr, carnarfon, barryisland, severnbridge, valeofglamorgan, glamorganshire, lampter, Carnarvon, baetsycoed, Bewtsycoed, Konwy, Gwyned, Gwined, Carnarthonshire, Caermarthenshire, Caerdigan, Powis, Brekon, lanelwy, Deeriver, Riverdee, Holy well, Denby, Denbyshire, Denbghshier, Dinbighshire, Fllintshire, Wrexhamshire, Northwales, Westwales, Midwales, SouthWales, Southwalians, Northwalians, midwalians, Westwalians, Whelsh, River Taf, Carleon, Carwent, Preshtatyn Irishsea, Clwydianhills, Clwydian Mountains, Halkyn Mountains,Northwestwales Northeastwales, xonwy, a Mexican Aztec spelling I have invented, Wexham may be a miss spelling for Wrexham, but it is also a place in Bucks, and a name of a hospital, in Slough, so confused with Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Ronda, Ronda county Ronda Valley, Ronda Cynon Taff, Ronda Cynon Taff, and Rondda, and Rhondah, also Caerdigan, and Carphilly, and Blaennau Gwent and Blaennau Ffestioniog, and Blyni Festioniog.and Blaenau Festiniog, and Froncysylte and Macynleth,