Welsh Journals

REPORTS AND MEMORANDA HEOL Y GAER A NEW ROMAN MARCHING CAMP IN BRECKNOCKSHIRE THE large camp at Clyro near Hay-on-Wye has long remained an isolated example of Roman military work along the line of penetration which the Wye valley offers into south-central Wales. The importance of its strategic position has been neglected but recent work has shown that the accepted dimensions represent only a reduction of the original size, which was sufficient to accommodate a force of at least legionary strength. The Wye valley is the natural route along which a large body of troops would move and further traces of its advance westwards are likely to be found. Five miles up the valley from Clyro, Mr. G. D. B. Jones, of Jesus College, Oxford, has found the site of a marching camp on a projecting spur by Heol y Gaer, half a mile east of Glasbury (Grid. Ref. 185393). The spur which forms Heol y Gaer is protected by steep slopes on the north-west and south-east sides, and the plan of the camp takes advantage of these features by aligning two of the ramparts along the upper edge of these slopes. The north-east rampart is almost completely lost but the south-west corner (50ft. radius) and eight hundred feet of the south-west rampart are well preserved by Tir Uched farm. In the fields to the north of the farm, the south-east rampart appears as a low mound and runs down to a well-defined corner before being obliterated by a series of small quarries. The other visible feature of the site is the south side (250ft.) of a small enclosure astride one of the two summits which compose the spur and commanding an uninterrupted view up and down the valley. In particular, it is intervisible with Clyro, which suggests that it might have been a signalling platform. Altern- atively, as at Arosfa Gareg in Carmarthenshire, the enclosure may represent a guard post controlling the area of the main camp. When fully reconstructed the dimensions of Heol y Gaer are north-west side 990ft., south-east side approx. ioioft., south-west side 1190ft., and north-east side 1 070ft. Thus its area of twenty five acres places it in the class of marching camps which could accommodate a legion. So large a force would naturally be restricted in its movements and this explains the position of Heol y Gaer. West of the camp the Wye enters a gorge and progress in this direction would be difficult. To the south-west, however, the Afon Llynfi and its tributary the Dulas offer a broad, easy corridor to Brecon and so give Heol y Gaer an easily intelligible place in an advance towards the heart of Brycheiniog. (Full report in Cymmrodorion Transactions for 1958.)