Ffridd Faldwyn Iron Age Hillfort

near Montgomery, Powys, Wales
OS 137 SO 217969

Cadw; O’Neil 1942; Hogg 1975; Guilbert 1981
Ffridd Faldwyn occupies a prominent hilltop commanding the Severn valley near its confluence with Camlad and its crucial crossing at Rhydwhyman. It is the precursor of a series of Roman and medieval sites in the area.

The excavations of 1937-9, were among the earliest on a hillfort to examine an open area, so that the excavators had little previous evidence to compare with the features they found. Some Neolithic material was recovered, and the remains of a Bronze Age barrow on the summit were trenched with no result. The earliest Iron Age settlement appears to have been a fairly small enclosure. It had a double timber palisade, built in two parallel rows, the post holes for which lay beneath the earthwork defences now visible.

At a later date a timber-laced rampart , with a second rampart outside it, was constructed at a lower level, completely surrounding the earlier work. It enclosed a greatly increased defended area, 300m by 200m. The main entrance of this larger enclosure faced south-west, and an annexe was built at this vulnerable end, visible in the field next to the road, before the entrance proper is reached over the second stile.

The inner enclosure contained a number of large post holes, almost certainly for ‘four-posters,’ which might have serves as granaries. A number of round hut sites containing hearths and occupation debris were uncovered between the inner and outer enclosure, to the west of the south-western entrance.

Additional Photographs of Ffridd Faldwyn Iron Age Hillfort

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