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Troed y Rhiw Sion Defended Enclosure is a prehistoric promontory fort situated in Wales, occupying a naturally defensible hilltop position. The monument comprises earthwork ramparts that exploit the steep natural slopes of its site, a characteristic strategy of Iron Age and Late Bronze Age fort construction in Britain. The underlying geology of Ashgill Rocks—composed of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone—would have provided a stable foundation for the fort's defences, whilst the exposed bedrock may have offered natural scarping that required minimal additional fortification on certain approaches.
The fort's promontory location, cut off by defensive works on its narrow neck of land, represents a common Welsh hillfort design, maximising natural protection whilst controlling access via a single fortifiable entrance. Such enclosures typically served multiple functions as settlement centres, refuges during conflict and focal points for community activity. The site remains a significant record of prehistoric settlement patterns and defensive strategies in the Welsh uplands.
The monument is protected by Cadw under the reference CD265, ensuring preservation of this important archaeological landscape for future study and public understanding of prehistoric Welsh communities.
Troed y Rhiw Sion Defended Enclosure is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CD265. View the official record →
Troed y Rhiw Sion Defended Enclosure is a prehistoric promontory fort situated in Wales, occupying a naturally defensible hilltop position. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CD265.
Troed y Rhiw Sion Defended Enclosure 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.
Troed y Rhiw Sion Defended Enclosure 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 CD265.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Inscribed Stone in St Llawddog's Churchyard, Cenarth (2.4 km), Parc-y-Domen (2.5 km), Adpar Castle Mound (2.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Troed y Rhiw Sion Defended Enclosure'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.
Troed y Rhiw Sion Defended Enclosure stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.