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choir, a loving cup, which the Vicar had recovered, supposed to have been used at funerals, and, when filled with spiced wine or ale, handed around to the mourners. The old grave-stone, fixed now in the churchyard wall, is evidence of the encroachments of the sea upon the parish. It is crumbling away, and the inscription has suffered from indiscriminate "rubbing'

Yma mae'n gorwedd
Gwr oedd ei annedd

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Yn mynwent Mihangel
Dair milldir i'r gogledd.

Parc y Meirch was next visited. It is a height 2 miles S.E. of Abergele a very good example of a promontory fortress. The site is a tree-covered rocky promontory over 500 ft. high. projecting sideways into the Vale of Clwyd from the highlands of the west side. It overlooks the lowlands far and wide, and it was evidently selected for the sake of the ready-made defences of steep slopes and rocky crags. The neck of the promontory alone needed strong fortification, and across this neck, therefore, the makers of the fortress constructed a massive rampart with a ditch outside it. The area within the fort, six acres in extent, would form a safe refuge for a large number of people. The main entrance was from the south-east, but the site is obscured by trees and vegetation. Undoubtedly this was one of the hill forts of the early inhabitants, and though its modern name is Parc y Meirch (park of the horses), its original and full name was probably Din Orben, the name long borne by the township in which it stands, and also preserved by the farmhouse just below the fortress. In 1867 some remarkable bronze horse trappings, of Late Celtic work, were unearthed at the foot of the hill, and described in Archæologia, vol. xliii, by the late Mr. H. R. Hughes of Kinmel.

In the course of the examination of the remains some fragments of pottery were picked up which, in the opinion of the majority of the antiquaries, were at least 200 years old, and had been produced in Belgium. One piece had been riveted. Bones of deer and some sharpening stones were also found. Dr. Boyd Dawkins said he thought they dated back to the Bronze Age, but it had probably been occupied during the Roman period, and probably also on and off right down to the Commonwealth. noticed that the two ramparts were unusually far apart, and some of the party concluded that one of the ramparts was the work of a much later period than the other, some going so far as to say they thought it had been made at the time of the Norman conquest of England.

It was

A short visit was also paid to Faerdref, an old farmhouse with high chimneys, stone mullions, and interesting windows of the fifteenth century. Noticeable were "the huge timbers of the roof, wainscoting, and ceilings, with a grand display of fine old oak, a partition of oak running across the breadth of the house on the ground floor" [B.EJ]. The first occupant was Gruff. Holland ap Davydd ap Robin Holland (fifteenth century), whose great-grandson,

Piers Holland, married the heiress of Kinmel, d. 1552. It was originally approached by an avenue of old sycamores and handsome gateway. The name implies that it was the residence of the Maer or Steward of the Lordship of Dinorben.

In Kinmel Park are the remains of a cromlech, Y Garreg Wen, possibly the grave of King Cetin

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Dinorben Vawr is an Elizabethan house, with fine oak floors and beams. Mention is made by De Beckele in his Survey of a decayed manor in 1334. It is possibly the same as the house occupied by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, 1194-1240, who signed a grant there, still

extant.

WE are much indebted for details in this lengthened record to the excellent reports in the Manchester Guardian and the North-West Coast Pioneer. The representative of the last-named paper, Mr. J. Polkinghorne, very kindly lent photographs taken by him, and Mr. B. Evans Jones was indefatigable in taking "rubbings" and making notes of the many objects of interest seen during the excursions.

The two maps on pages 42 and 43 have been reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Map, with the sanction of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.

Archaeological Notes and Queries.

CAERNARVON CASTLE-RECENT "FINDS."-By the kind permission of Mr. Trowbridge, the courteous local representative of H. M. Office of Works, Mr. Harold Hughes and myself were admitted into the Castle on Monday, the 16th inst., and were shown the silver coins recently discovered in the Granary Tower. They are 33 in number, and in size somewhat smaller than a present day shilling. They were found by workmen in the employ of the Office of Works when digging out rubbish accumulations from the vertical shaft of the Garderobe situate at the W. end of the Granary Tower. Adhering together, they lay in pile form at a depth of 34 ft. below the basement of the tower, and 9 ft. below the present level of the inoat. If originally enclosed in a bag or purse, no trace of either remained. When first found the pile was coated with rust," and when the individual coins were separated, by using a penknife, some were found to have angular edges and to be otherwise defaced and injured. Mr. Trowbridge has removed the rust, and has restored them to a condition that will enable experts to ascertain their date and to decipher with more or less success their obverse and reverse inscriptions. For that purpose they were sent up that day to the British Museum to be examined by a competent authority on coins. At the bottom of the same shaft were found also the following articles :-Two trowels, two lead hammers, door key, dagger, base of an earthenware vessel, bronze buckle, spur, a gudgeon.

Oct. 19, 1911.

66

EDWD. ROBERTS.

THE GAER, DOLAU, situated 5 miles from Rhayader, upon the Rhayader-Penybont road, is a Roman camp. It is situated on slightly rising ground in a valley. On the N. and W. sides the vallum can be easily discerned, but to S. and W. no signs now remain; on this side the ground rises abruptly out of what must have been a morass in Roman days. The ground has been much ploughed, but several dressed stones have been found here; if these were Roman possibly the sacellum was of stone and the remainder of the camp of wood, as is found in various Roman stations, and this camp was possibly not of such a temporary nature as was once supposed. It is said that in memory of man a paved road was destroyed leading to the camp.

H. LEWIS, Jun.

Archaeologia Cambrensis

SIXTH SERIES.-VOL. XII, PART II

APRIL, 1912

PREHISTORIC REMAINS ON PENMAENMAWR (KNOWN AS BRAICH Y DDINAS)

REPORT ON THE SURVEY AND EXCAVATIONS

BY HAROLD HUGHES

IN 1909, the quarrying on Penmaenmawr Mountain having advanced so far that a portion of the outer fortifications on the N.W. side had already come within the area of operations, the Cambrian Archæological Association determined to have the prehistoric remains on the summit surveyed before they suffered further destruction. Permission was readily granted, towards the end of the year, by the quarry proprietors.

The summit, with a considerable length of the N.W. fortifications, and their return on the N.E., have, so far, been plotted. These are shown on the plan, Fig. 1. On the summit are two large cairns, the southern in a very dilapidated condition, the northern made use of as a trigonometrical station by the Ordnance Survey officials, and probably restored by them. The well, mentioned in most accounts of Penmaenmawr, lies to the N. of the northern cairn. A third cairn, of which there are only the fragmentary remains, occupied a position to the N.E. of the well. The central cairn occupied the true summit of the mountain. The height given on the Ordnance Survey is 1550 ft.

The N.W. defences consist of two walls, placed at only a short distance apart. Where they return on

6TH SER., VOL. XII.

12

Plan of Summit and North Western Portion.

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