Colwyn Castle, in the upper Wye valley near Hundred House (Powys), is the site of a Roman auxiliary fort underlying and partly obscured by the later medieval motte-and-bailey castle. The Roman fort is thought to have been established in the Flavian period as part of the conquest-era network in central Wales and likely remained in use, perhaps intermittently, into the 2nd century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
It formed part of the chain of forts controlling the mid-Wales uplands, lying on the road linking Castell Collen (near Llandrindod) eastwards toward the Wye crossing and the frontier zone of the Welsh Marches. Its position helped secure communications across the territory of the Silures and Ordovices during and after the conquest of Wales.
The defences are partly visible as earthworks reused by the medieval castle, and limited investigation has confirmed a Roman playing-card enclosure of typical auxiliary scale with some recovery of Roman tile and pottery, but no large-scale modern excavation has been published. Internal layout, garrison identity, and precise occupation dates therefore remain poorly defined.
Colwyn Castle, in the upper Wye valley near Hundred House (Powys), is the site of a Roman auxiliary fort underlying and partly obscured by the later medieval motte-and-bailey castle. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Colwyn is classified as a Roman fort — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Castell Collen (10.2 km), Clyro (16 km), Hindwell Farm (16.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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