Pen Y Gaer, Llandingad

Possible Roman Camp

This suspected Roman encampment lies on Pen-y-Gaer Farm close to the summit of a low ridge running roughly north-east to south-west and accessible from a loop road off the A483 between Llandovery and Cynghordy. The course of the Roman road (Margary 623) running SW to NE between Llandovery and Castell Collen followed along the west bank of the Afon Bran to a point just west of Cynghordy and lay, therefore, less than a mile to the south-east. Nothing now remains.

288 Pen y Gaer (6 in. Ord. Surv. sheet, Carm. 27 N.W.; lat. 51° 59′ 12″, long. 3° 46′ 44″). This is the site of a camp which a local antiquary (Mr. W.J. Rees) writing in Arch. Camb., 1873, IV, iv, 136, says:- “The outer lines of its ramparts were in excellent preservation and well defined until about 1833, when the late Mr. Thomas Bishop, proprietor of the farm of Pen y Gaer, in carrying out his plan of levelling every slight inequality of surface on his grounds, destroyed the ramparts of the camp, so that in a few years the only trace of its existence will be merely the name of Pen y Gaer. There is a spring of water on the above land , not far from the Gaer, called Ffynnon yr army, near which may be found charcoal and other traces of a bivouac. A quern was also found there.” There is at present no vestige of the earthwork, and the remark just quoted that the only evidence of its existence would soon be the place-name alone is now too true. Visited, 10th April, 1913.” (‘Carmarthenshire Inventory‘, p.100.)

References for Pen Y Gaer, Llandingad

  • Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire – V County of Carmarthen by the RCAHMCWM (HMSO, London) p.100;
  • Roman Roads in Britain : Volume II North of the Foss Way – Bristol Channel by Ivan D. Margary (London 1957), pp.71/2 & fig.2;

Map References for Pen Y Gaer, Llandingad

NGRef: SN780387 OSMap: LR

Roman Roads near Pen Y Gaer, Llandingad

None identified

Sites near Pen Y Gaer, Llandingad