Welsh Journals

Building and Works then invited the author to direct a rescue excavation in the threatened sector of the site. A trench, dug partly by machine, was excavated along the line of the proposed cable trench from just behind the innermost rampart on the north to a similar position on the eastern side of the defensive circuit. There was no trace of any structures or any evidence of occupation in this area. Ploughing could have destroyed any structures that were not cut into the natural bedrock. A small part of a very heavily overgrown area just behind the innermost rampart on the west was also excavated. Traces of three timber buildings were found, but lack of time prevented their full examination. The earliest (?) of these was represented only by a single posthole and an associated foundation trench, 6 feet behind the collapsed inner revetment to the rampart. A few sherds of Iron Age pottery were found in the filling of the foundation trench, and also in close proximity to this feature. Four postholes represented part of another timber building some 12 feet to the south of the above structure. Once again it could not be fully excavated, and, therefore, its shape and size remains uncertain. It may have been rectangular since a straight length of drainage gully or eaves-drip appears to be associated with it, giving the building a roughly north-south axis. Lack of stratification on the site makes dating tentative, but this building appears to have been occupied from the late first century A.D. until about the middle of the second century A.D. when the building was burnt down. The site then appears to have been tidied-up, and a light layer of metalling was laid down, sealing the gully and two of the postholes. A new building was then constructed, perhaps a little to the north of its predecessor. Only the south wall of this building was located. It was of rectangular plan, with an east-west axis. It was probably built of timber, with a sill-beam resting on an 18-inch wide foundation of small lias limestone rubble. Its west wall seems to have been butted-up against the inner revetment to the rampart, and a doorway, 4 feet wide, with a porch was located near its south