Great Britain -- Antiquities, Roman; Romans -- Great Britain
(48) The excavation of the Roman fort at Gellygaer, thirteen miles north
of Cardiff, was brought in 1913 to a point at which (as I learn) it is
considered to be for the present finished. I referred to it in my Report
for 1913; Mr. John Ward's full description of the results obtained in
1913 is now issued in the _Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists'
Society_ (vol. xlvi). The principal finds were a supposed 'drill-ground'
on the north-east of the fort, a bit of another inscription of Trajan,
a kiln in the churchyard, and a largish earthwork on the north-west of
the fort. This last is a regular oblong of not quite five acres internal
area, fortified by an earthen mound and a ditch; trenching across the
interior showed no trace of buildings or indeed of any occupation, but
the search was not carried very far. Several explanations have been
offered of it--that it was a temporary affair, thrown up while the
actual fort was abuilding; that it was intended for troops marching past
and needing to camp for a night at the spot; that it was an earlier
fort, begun when the first invasion of the Silures was made, about A.D.
50-2, but never finished. This third view is Mr. Ward's own. Without
more excavation, it is rash to pronounce positively, and perhaps even
a minute search might be fruitless. Analogies somewhat favour the first
theory, but there will always be room for difference of opinion in
explaining these excrescences (so to speak) of permanent forts, which
are slight in themselves and slightly explored.
As the exploration of this site appears to be closed for the present,
and indeed is nearly complete, it may be convenient to give a conspectus
of the whole in a small plan (fig. 29).
[Illustration: FIG. 29. GENERAL PLAN OF ROMAN WORKS AT GELLYGAER
(GLAMORGAN)
(A. Granaries; B. Commandant's House; C. Head-quarters; D. doubtful; E.
Barracks; F. Stabling(?))]
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