1. The cropmark of a near-square ditched enclosure at Ty-Hen measures approx 55m square. There is a well-defined simple gateway on the south-east side of the enclosure, and a possible gap on the north-west side. The enclosure is likely to be an Iron Age or Romano-British defended farmstead, based on comparisons with other rectangular defended enclosures excavated in the south Ceredigion landscape (see Murphy and Mytum 2012).

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 26th Jan 2010.

2. CHERISH Project aerial photography for the Royal Commission on 4th July 2018, under drought conditions, appeared to show cropmarks of a second square enclosure underlying the tarmaced 'Y' roads within the nearby fenced enclosure of the military monitoring station 60m to the NW. Cropmarks within the modern fenced enclosure describe a square enclosure with rounded corners and an angled south-west side measuring 60m across. The cropmarked enclosure does not bear much relation to the layout of the modern military installation, but is partly obscured by it. Therefore it seems likely that this is a genuine second enclosure in a coastal pairing of defended enclosures. Image ref: AP_2018_2060.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, March 2024

Reference:

Murphy, K., and Mytum, H., 2012. Iron Age Enclosed Settlements in West Wales. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 78 (2011). 263-313.

Site Record

Ty-Hen, Defended Enclosure