Welsh Journals

eastern and northern ramparts and in either case had been resurfaced once with more cobbles. To summarise: an estimate of the size of Penydarren Roman fort can now be made because of the location of its northern and eastern defences something has been learnt of its internal arrangements and the existence of temporary timber buildings proven for the first time; that the fort existed for a short time only is suggested by the lack of later rebuilding, particularly of the defences. That the fort was established in the last quarter of the first century A.D. is already clear from the evidence of small finds, but the duration of its occupation by Roman troops can only be gauged when the full implications of the pottery fragments have been worked out. RECENT EXCAVATIONS AT NEATH ROMAN FORT, GLAMORGAN THE presence of a Roman fort in the vicinity of Neath had for many years been suspected when its exact site was discovered during building operations, in 1949. The con- sequent excavations of 1949 and 195 o1 disclosed the south- eastern and south-western gates together with portions of their respective ramparts. In 1 9 5 8 an imminent extension to the Boys' Grammar School gave H.M. Ministry of Works the opportunity to step into the area likely to be affected. A four weeks' excava- tion was undertaken from 31st March to 26th April, 1958, the aims being to locate the north-eastern and north-western defences of the fort and to ascertain more of the fort's history. The structural changes representing the history of the fort were found to be more complicated than the earlier excavations had suggested. As in most first century A.D. forts in Britain, timber structures were the first to be erected at Neath. Structural evidence for this period came from three parallel foundation trenches for timber barracks and a gully filled with burnt daub 1 Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, xiii (1949-50), 239 ff; xiv (1950-5 1),