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House Platforms West of Dyffryn Wood is a medieval domestic settlement site comprising earthwork platforms where timber-framed or stone buildings once stood. Located in Wales on geology of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, the site demonstrates typical settlement patterns of the medieval period when communities occupied upland or marginal ground across the Welsh landscape. The underlying bedrock of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone provided the physical foundation for construction, whilst the ironstone and coal deposits in the surrounding strata reflect the industrial potential of the broader region, though the settlement itself would have relied primarily on pastoral or mixed farming.
The house platforms are visible as levelled terraces cut into the sloping ground, a common building technique where inhabitants adapted the hillside to create level surfaces suitable for domestic occupation. Such platforms required significant labour to construct, indicating organised community effort and permanence of settlement. The individual platforms would have accommodated separate households, suggesting a nucleated settlement structure rather than isolated farmsteads.
The site is protected by Cadw, the Welsh heritage organisation, under reference GM549, recognising its importance to understanding medieval Welsh settlement patterns and land use. Excavation and surface survey of such sites have contributed considerably to knowledge of domestic life, building practices and economic organisation in medieval Wales, though detailed archaeological investigation of this particular location remains limited.
House Platforms West of Dyffryn Wood is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM549. View the official record →
House Platforms West of Dyffryn Wood is a medieval domestic settlement site comprising earthwork platforms where timber-framed or stone buildings once stood. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM549.
House Platforms West of Dyffryn Wood dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a house platform. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
House Platforms West of Dyffryn Wood 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 GM549.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including St Margaret's Chapel (6.6 km), Remains of Brunel Dock, Briton Ferry (6.7 km), Mynydd y Gaer (Lower) Camp (7.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of House Platforms West of Dyffryn Wood'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.
House Platforms West of Dyffryn Wood stands on South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.