Royal Commission aerial reconnaissance on 9th July 2018, during the 2018 drought, recorded parchmarks of a series of trackways and enclosures south of Cefnfarchen on an east-facing slope above a tract of damper ground. Initially considered to be patterns of drainage ditches, closer inspection revealed the characteristic outline of at least one rectangular building aligned against the hillslope, among wider plots.

Welsh Government LiDAR data released in 2023 confirms low earthworks of a rectangular building measuring 20m x 13m surviving at SN 1658 1877. Denuded earthworks of further potential settlement plots and boundary earthworks run north-south along the valley covering an area approx. 300m x 90m. Cultivation terraces are also evident on the uphill, west side.

The lack of any indication of archaeological remains here on historic (C19th) mapping suggests this may be the remains of a medival settlement.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 2023

Cofnod Safle

Cefnfarchen deserted medieval settlement