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Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common is a medieval platform house protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument. The dwelling comprises a levelled platform cut into the hillside, a construction method common in upland medieval Wales where sloping terrain made conventional building impractical. The platform creates a level floor upon which a timber or stone structure would have been erected, with the rear bank forming part of the building's support.
The site lies on the East Side of Gelligaer Common in the South Wales coalfield, where the underlying geology of the South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation—comprising mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete—shapes the landscape. This exposed, elevated terrain was typical of medieval settlements in the Welsh uplands, where pastoral farming communities built modest domestic structures adapted to moorland conditions. Such settlements often lay distant from nucleated villages, reflecting the dispersed settlement pattern characteristic of medieval Wales.
Platform houses of this type date broadly to the medieval period and represent the domestic archaeology of rural Welsh communities. Their simple construction and semi-subterranean form provided practical shelter in exposed upland locations where resources for substantial masonry building were limited. The Gelligaer example contributes to understanding medieval settlement patterns and domestic life across the Welsh highlands.
Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM311. View the official record →
Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common is a medieval platform house protected by Cadw as a scheduled ancient monument.
Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common 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.
Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common 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 GM311.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Capel Gwladys (3.3 km), Fforest Gwladys Roman practice camp (3.7 km), Coed Cae Round Cairns (3.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common'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.
Platform Houses on East Side of Gelligaer Common 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.