Welsh Journals

A Recently Discovered Earthwork by BERNARD MORRIS. A YEAR AGO Gower described the rediscovery of a forgotten Iron Age earthwork overlooking the Llwchwr Estuary at Penclawdd following the use of Eighteenth Century documentary evidence in conjunction with modem air photographs. Further work using similar methods has led to the identification of yet another earthwork in the same locality this time near Cil Onnen farm, on the North Gower ridge. (National Grid Reference 547938). The site stands at the top of the gentle slope from the ridge to the valley of the Morlais river and appears to have consisted of a single bank and ditch surrounding an oval area approximately 220 feet long and 150 feet broad, the longer axis lying at right angles to the slope. There appears to have been a simple entrance in the lower side of the enclosure. The first clue to the earthwork's existence was obtained from the 1784 Penrice Estate map of the area, which may be seen at the Glamorgan County Record Office at Cardiff. This map gives the name of one of the fields to the north of Cil Onnen as Pen y Gare," (Pen-y-gaer). There was no known gaer in this area according to modern records, but a careful examination of Air Ministry photographs revealed the existence of the ancient earth work. The site was subsequently visited and was found to have been extensively ploughed even since the air photograph was taken in 1946. Fortunately sufficient of the upper part of the bank and ditch remained to confirm the identification of yet another Gower earthwork. The site cannot be definately dated without excavation but it is of a type common enough in the Iron Age in Wales, that is about 2,000 years ago. Its purpose was probably the protection of cattle rather than that of a fortress in the accepted sense.