CASTELL HENLLYS

Visitors to Castell Henllys Iron Age fort in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park are transported back in time 2,300 years, to late prehistoric Britain. The buildings here have been reconstructed authentically, using evidence uncovered during excavations on the site. The reconstructed Iron Age settlement consists of three massive thatched roundhouses, a smithy and a round thatch-roofed grain store raised off the ground on four posts with a fence around the front, as well as a chieftain's house and animal shelters. It's well worth a visit as it gives a vivid and unique insight into the living and working conditions of the original inhabitants.

Archaeologists from York University have been excavating here each summer and have uncovered postholes and pits representing roundhouses. The settings for four-post structures, believed to be granaries raised off the ground to protect the grain from vermin, have come to light, as well as evidence of craftwork, iron-working and agricultural activities. Historians suggest that the settlement housed a community of several families with a population of perhaps 100 people -- and it is possible that the Castell Henllys tribe also used Carningli as a summer settlement.

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