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Moelfre Hill Deserted Rural Settlement is a medieval platform house situated on Wenlock bedrock in Wales. The underlying geology of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone provided both the foundation and readily available stone for construction. Platform houses of this type were characteristic of medieval rural settlement in upland areas, where the inhabited platform was cut into or built up from the sloping ground to create a level building surface. The site represents one of many such dwellings that were gradually abandoned as settlement patterns shifted during and after the medieval period, leaving behind these earthwork traces as evidence of former agricultural communities.
The monument is protected by Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments service, and designated under reference RD171. Its survival on the upland landscape has allowed archaeologists to document the structural remains and understand the layout of domestic medieval settlement in this region. The platform house form reflects practical adaptation to terrain, a common feature of Welsh mountain and moorland settlements where level ground was scarce. Such sites contribute significantly to knowledge of how people lived and farmed away from the lowland centres of medieval Wales.
Moelfre Hill Deserted Rural Settlement is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference RD171. View the official record →
Moelfre Hill Deserted Rural Settlement is a medieval platform house situated on Wenlock bedrock in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference RD171.
Moelfre Hill Deserted Rural Settlement dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a platform house. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Moelfre Hill Deserted Rural Settlement 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 RD171.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rhos Crug Round Barrows (5.7 km), Ffoeslaprey Settlement (5.9 km), Rhos-crug hut platform (W) (6.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Moelfre Hill Deserted Rural Settlement'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.
Moelfre Hill Deserted Rural Settlement stands on Wenlock Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.