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Pendinas hillfort is a well-situated pre-Roman defended village, commanding a prominent hill on the west coast of Cardigan Bay. The Iron Age hillfort developed over several centuries, eventually encompassing both the steeper south summit and the lower north summit.
Everything about Pendinas is impressive. It is the largest hillfort in the county of Ceredigion, and one of the largest in Wales, enclosing just under 6ha – equivalent to nearly 10 football pitches. Several timber gateways, incorporating tall towers, gave access to the fort, within which crowded some 30-40 roundhouses. Pendinas seems to have been entirely abandoned by the time of the Roman conquest. Today this coastal hill is a treasured Local Nature Reserve.
Over 18 months in 2023-2024, the Pendinas Hillfort Project has worked with the local community to explore, discover, and conserve this ancient hilltop for the benefit of current and future generations. This National Lottery Heritage Fund and Cadw-funded partnership project was created between Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), and has hosted community excavations, conservation works, walks and talks, and creative workshops.
This vivid reconstruction was recently completed by Will Foster of Wessex Archaeology for the project, drawing heavily on new information from recent excavations, topographic surveys, and geophysics. It allows a new generation to reimagine this ancient hillfort as a bustling, crowded, coastal hilltop village. It will form a centrepiece of a new booklet and community panels to mark the completion of the project.
Text: Toby Driver, RCAHMW / Image: RCAHMW/Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology; artwork by Wessex Archaeology
