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Defended Enclosure 300m W of Pant-glas is a prehistoric promontory fort situated on the inland uplands of Wales. The site exploits a naturally defensive position formed by the Ashgill mudstone and siltstone bedrock that underlies the locality, creating steep natural slopes that would have afforded considerable protection to its inhabitants. The enclosure demonstrates the settlement strategies of prehistoric Welsh communities, who selected topographically advantageous positions for their defended settlements.
The fort's defensive character is reinforced by its promontory location, where the surrounding terrain provides natural barriers on multiple sides. This type of defensive settlement was characteristic of the Iron Age period, though such sites were sometimes occupied and reoccupied across several prehistoric phases. The bedrock geology of the immediate area, comprising Ashgill rocks of mudstone and siltstone, would have influenced both the construction methods available to the builders and the drainage characteristics of the enclosed area.
The monument is protected as a scheduled ancient monument under Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments authority, and remains an important record of prehistoric settlement patterns in inland Wales. Its preservation ensures that this defended enclosure continues to provide evidence of how early Welsh communities adapted their fortifications to the particular landscape and geological conditions of the upland terrain.
Defended Enclosure 300m W of Pant-glas is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CM382. View the official record →
Defended Enclosure 300m W of Pant-glas is a prehistoric promontory fort situated on the inland uplands of Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CM382.
Defended Enclosure 300m W of Pant-glas dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a promontory fort - inland. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Defended Enclosure 300m W of Pant-glas 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 CM382.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Merlins Hill Hillfort (3.9 km), Round Barrow 200m SSW of Felin-Wen-Isaf (3.9 km), Ffynnon-Newydd Standing Stones (4.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Defended Enclosure 300m W of Pant-glas's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Defended Enclosure 300m W of Pant-glas stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.