1. Flimston Bay Camp is one of the most spectacular promontory forts of Pembrokeshire, with three lines of curving landward defence, 120m in length, cutting off the eroding and collapsing limestone headland of Flimston Castles. The defences include a pair of close-set ramparts, comprising a double bank and ditch (10m wide by 1.1m high and 10m wide by 1.1m deep respectively) to the west of a centrally placed entrance. To the east of the entrance, the ramparts are sculpted out of sloping ground and comprise at least 2 scarps up to 3m high with an outer ditch, 12m wide and 2.1m deep. Later quarrying has disturbed the exact arrangement in this area. A third, in places very denuded bank, 8m wide and up to 1.4m high, with the faint traces of an outer ditch, is set some 30m to the north of the inner ramparts and suggests a different phase of enlargement or reduction. The interspace created could have functioned as a corralling place for stock, or as an annexe for trading, secure from the innermost enclosure. A later boundary bank and ditch runs through this area.

The interior of the camp encompasses an area of 1.6 ha, however a large part of this comprises a series of impressive geological faults, including a large deeply inset cove - an enormous chasm called the ‘Cauldron’ by Fenton in his visit and description of the monumnet (1811, 412). This is a sheer-sided blowhole which drops steeply away. The great age of the Cauldron is clear from the well weathered rock around its sides. Despite several areas of cliff erosion around the promontory fort, it is very likely that this blowhole stood as an integral feature of the interior in prehistory. The Cauldron is a dramatic, dangerous feature of the fort’s interior. It is interesting to speculate that this huge blowhole may have been one of the key reasons why people travelled to visit Flimston in the Iron Age and why this particular promontory was chosen for enclosure. The ramparts may have controlled access to this natural wonder.

Within the internal area, particularly on sloping ground on the east side are a series of shallow scoops likely to represent house platforms. A later terraced road (NPRN 409292) also runs through the interior and leads to the remains of a quay (NPRN 409293) at the southern tip of the promontory.

A detailed survey of the coastal promontory fort was carried out by RCAHMW in 2009.

Louise Barker and Toby Driver, RCAHMW, 4th August 2009; updated May 2023.

2. Flimston Bay Camp is a study site within CHERISH Project. New aerial survey and ground photography was undertaken during March 2018 and August 2020.

A 3D model of the site from UAV photogrammetry can be found on Sketchfab: https://skfb.ly/owuMX

In August 2022 CHERISH installed two fixed survey markers (survey nails in two limestone outcrops/blocks) near to Flimston Bay Camp and Crocksydam Camp. The markers and their associated location coordinates (BNG) will enable accurate monitoring and change detection of these sites going forward. Details are:

E2 Primary Station Marker - Easting: 193555.1547; Northing: 194447.1301; Height: 48.7356

E6 Secondary Control Point - Easting: 193465.171; Northing: 194510.5118; Height: 48.8422

See CHERISH Monitoring Network - FC_E2 and FC_E6 control markers Event Report: 04/08/2022 for full details including Witness Diagrams (CHERISH Survey Report No. CH/RCAHMW 48 and Data Archive RCCS35)

Louise Barker, CHERISH - RCAHMW, December 2023

CHERISH (Climate, Heritage and Environments of Reefs, Islands and Headlands) was an EU-funded Wales-Ireland project (2017-2023) led by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, in partnership with the Discovery Programme: Centre for Archaeology and Innovation Ireland, Aberystwyth University: Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and Geological Survey, Ireland. https://cherishproject.eu/en/

References:

Barker, L. and Driver, T., 2011. Close to the Edge: New Perspectives on the Architecture, Function and Regional Geographies of the Coastal Promontory Forts of the Castlemartin Peninsula, South Pembrokeshire, Wales. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 77, 65-87.

Crossley, D.W. 1963. List of Hill-forts and other earthworks in Pembrokeshire. The Bulleting of the Board of Celtic Studies 20,171-206

Driver, T. 2023. The Hillforts of Iron Age Wales. Logaston Press.

Fenton, R., 1811. A Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire

Laws, E. and Owen H. 1908. An Archaeological Survey of Pembrokeshire 1896-907

Nash-Williams, V.F. 1933.An Early Iron Age Hillfort at Llanmelin, near Caerwent, Monmouthshire. Archaeologia Cambrensis (specifically Appendix II: Note on the distribution of hill-forts and other earthworks in Wales and the Marches 311-346).

Ordnance Survey Record Card. SR 99 SW 1

Page, M., Barker, L., Driver, T. and Murphy, K. 2008. Remote sensing and the Iron Age coastal promontory forts of Pembrokeshire, Archaeology in Wales 48, 27-38.

Site Record

Flimston Bay Camp, Castlemartin; Flimston Bay Promontory Fort