Читать книгу Walking on the Gower. 30 walks exploring the AONB peninsula in South Wales онлайн

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Many enclosures were constructed on hilltops and coastal promontories during the Iron Age and the remains of earthwork banks and ditches are still visible. Limited excavation at a number of these sites has found evidence for domestic activity. Iron Age pottery has also been recovered during the excavation of caves on Gower.

Interior chamber of Cathole Cave (Walks 7–8 and 30)

The Romans conquered the Silures, the dominant Iron Age Welsh tribe, in AD50 but there is surprisingly little structural evidence of Roman activity in Gower, even though there were military forts at Loughor to the north-east and Neath to the east. However, the recovery of Roman finds from the region, including two large coin hoards, illustrates that there was a degree of Roman activity on the peninsula; remains excavated near Oystermouth Church show the presence of a Roman Villa at this site. The Romans departed around AD410 allowing South Wales to revert to the Iron Age-like structure of small independent kingdoms.