Scheduled MonumentsWalesDan-y-Graig Roman villa
Roman · Villa

Dan-y-Graig Roman villa

Wales
Cadw SAM GM587
Period
Roman
Site type
Villa
Broad class
Agriculture and Subsistence
Nation
Wales
The designation
Reference
Cadw SAM GM587
Authority
Cadw
Designated
2005-06-27
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Dan-y-Graig Roman villa is a Romano-British farmstead situated in Wales on bedrock composed of Triassic sandstone and conglomerate. The villa represents the type of rural settlement that served as the economic backbone of Roman Britain, combining domestic quarters with agricultural facilities. Such villas typically functioned as self-sufficient estates worked by enslaved labour, tenant farmers, or the owner's own family.

The underlying geology of interbedded sandstone and conglomerate would have provided both building stone and drainage properties useful for constructing a substantial dwelling. The site's location in the Welsh landscape reflects the Roman extension of settlement and economic control into the borderlands beyond the more intensively Romanised lowland zones of England.

The villa is protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference GM587, recognising its significance as evidence of Roman life and land use in Wales. Such rural sites contribute substantially to our understanding of how Romano-British society functioned away from military centres and urban settlements, revealing patterns of agricultural production, construction techniques, and cultural adaptation across the occupied province.

Dan-y-Graig Roman villa is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM587. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Dan-y-Graig Roman villa?

Dan-y-Graig Roman villa is a Romano-British farmstead situated in Wales on bedrock composed of Triassic sandstone and conglomerate. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM587.

What period does Dan-y-Graig Roman villa date from?

Dan-y-Graig Roman villa dates from the roman period, and is classified as a villa. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Dan-y-Graig Roman villa?

Dan-y-Graig Roman villa is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is GM587.

What other scheduled monuments are near Dan-y-Graig Roman villa?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Hutchwns round barrow (2.7 km), Merthyr Mawr Warren (3.1 km), Candleston Castle (3.2 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Dan-y-Graig Roman villa

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Dan-y-Graig Roman villa's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Dan-y-Graig Roman villa

Dan-y-Graig Roman villa stands on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.

The wider landscape

Around Dan-y-Graig Roman villa

Caerphilly CastleArchaeological site · ~20.3 miles