Scheduled MonumentsWalesPlas-y-Gaer Camp
Prehistoric · Hillfort

Plas-y-Gaer Camp

Breconshire, Wales
Cadw SAM BR154
Period
Prehistoric
Site type
Hillfort
Broad class
Defence
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Plas-y-Gaer Camp is a prehistoric hillfort located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR154. The monument occupies a defensible hilltop position whose underlying geology consists of Lower Devonian rocks of undifferentiated character—a succession of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down during the Early Devonian period. These consolidated sedimentary strata provided a stable foundation for the fort's construction and would have offered naturally sloping terrain advantageous to its defensive design.

The hillfort exemplifies the iron age settlement pattern established across Wales, where communities chose elevated positions to command their surrounding landscape. The bedrock composition of mudstone and siltstone would have influenced the character of soil development on the hilltop, affecting both the fort's drainage and the ease with which its builders could construct defensive earthworks and ditches.

Plas-y-Gaer Camp remains an important archaeological record of prehistoric highland settlement and territorial control in Wales. Its survival, secured through Cadw's protection, preserves evidence of the strategic and social organisation that characterised iron age communities, whose choice of location at this particular hilltop was shaped by both the defensive opportunities the landform presented and the geological substrate beneath it.

Plas-y-Gaer Camp is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference BR154. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Plas-y-Gaer Camp?

Plas-y-Gaer Camp is a prehistoric hillfort located in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference BR154.

What period does Plas-y-Gaer Camp date from?

Plas-y-Gaer Camp dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a hillfort. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Plas-y-Gaer Camp?

Plas-y-Gaer Camp 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 BR154.

What other scheduled monuments are near Plas-y-Gaer Camp?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cwm Cwareli Longhouse and Long Hut (3.8 km), Blaen Glyn Round Cairn (6.3 km), Lower Neuadd Standing Stone (6.8 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Plas-y-Gaer Camp

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Plas-y-Gaer Camp'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 Plas-y-Gaer Camp

Plas-y-Gaer Camp stands on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.

The wider landscape

Around Plas-y-Gaer Camp

Caerphilly CastleArchaeological site · ~24.6 miles