wall or mound, 12 feet in thickness, in which are placed, at fairly regular intervals, stones about 2 feet 6 inches high by 18 inches wide; the present height of the wall is about 5 feet, but on the S.E., where the slope of the hill is greater, and the ground has been excavated, it is a retaining wall. The average diameter of the enclosure is 120 feet over all, and the entrance, which faces the N.W., is 8 feet wide, while to the N.N.W. is another entrance, 4 feet 3 inches wide.

Within the enclosure, and roughly about the centre, are two circles; the easterly one is 37 feet diameter over all, and has an entrance 5 feet 6 inches wide, facing the W.N.W., the wall being 6 feet thick; the westerly circle is 40 feet over all, the entrance, which faces the W.N.W., being only 4 feet wide, but expanding outwardly to 11 feet; the wall is 2 feet thick near the entrance. The walls of these huts are of dry walling, in horizontal courses, with an outer ring of stones about 2 feet high; where the huts abut on one another there is a party wall about 8 feet thick. On excavation they only yielded one or two sling-stones.

The position of the enclosure and the strength of the walls seem to suggest that this may have been a small fortified village to command the road and the approach to the Aber Valley.

A Circular Encampment.

About 300 yards to the N.E. of the village enclosure, on the N.W. slopes of Foel Dduarth, on the 1000 feet contour line, and 100 yards S.E. of the Roman Road, are the remains of a large encampment (marked a on Fig. 6, Arch. Camb., Jan., 1912), but, unfortunately, very many of the stones which formed the walls have been removed to form a large sheepfold, which is now situated within the wall of the encampment.

It is somewhat irregular in shape, with an average diameter of 160 feet, but the direction of its greatest length is N.E. and S. W. (Fig. 6). The surrounding

wall is about 9 feet thick, and must have been strongly built, as shown by the foundation stones, some of which, 3 feet high by 2 feet square, are firmly fixed in the ground; these stones are very noticeable on the N.E. side, and on the N.W. must have been of the nature of a retaining wall, as the slope here is considerable.

But few traces of hut-circles are visible; at the E. end is one (18 feet in diameter) showing a distinct

ring, in which were found some sling-stones, and inside the present sheepfold, at the N. end, is a smaller one, 10 feet in diameter, seven of the stones forming the ring being visible.

Being situated on the slopes of Foel Dduarth, the position is sheltered from the easterly winds, and is a dry one, though water is not far distant; it commands the road and may have been an outpost of the village enclosure.

2. HUT-CIRCLES ASSOCIATED WITH HILL-FORTRESSES. There are numerous hut-circles in the various hillfortresses of the district. Conway Town Mountain contains at least thirty-four within the ramparts, the greater number with a double line of walling. On Penmaenmawr Mountain they are very numerous and of especial interest, as there is evidence to show that they were of the bee-hive type, similar to those on the South Aran Islands, off the West Coast of Ireland.

In some cases, as on Conway Town Mountain, Allt Wen, and possibly on Penmaenmawr, a hut-circle was placed near the entrance, and might have served as a guard-room.

3. DETACHED HUT-CIRCLES.

These are to be found scattered all over the area under review, and a careful search would, in all probability, reveal many more. Descriptions of a few are subjoined.

To the E. of the Aber Waterfall,1 on a level space on the mountain side, is a hut-circle 18 feet in diameter; 200 yards to the S. are traces of a larger circle, and at a distance of 400 yards from the waterfall, is a circle with a double wall.

In the Anafon Valley, about half-a-mile below the lake, just below the point where the valley opens out, and where the path descends rather sharply, are several hut-circles, one of which (Fig. 7) is about 12 feet internal diameter, and consists of a very distinct circle of stones, eight being about 3 feet 6 inches to 2 feet in height.

About 200 yards from Llangelynin Old Church, down the hill on the E. side of the road, are three good examples of hut-circles, each with a double ring and an entrance facing E.; their respective diameters are 22 yards, 24 yards and 27 yards.

1 Arch. Camb., 1865, p. 137, by J. T. Blight.

The hill slopes of Carreg Fawr, Llanfairfechan, facing Dinas, show many traces of enclosures, and in a field, about 200 yards S.E. of Ty'n rhedyn, and S. W. of Rhyd Deuryd, between the 700 feet and 800 feet contour lines, is a group of about 10 hut-circles, with indications of an encircling wall. They vary in diameter from 18 feet to 25 feet, and the hut-walls are about 6 feet thick.

In concluding this account of the hut-circles and hut-circle villages of this district, a question arises as to their date. Some writers are of opinion that many of the huts are not pre-Roman, but it must be remembered that the advancement of civilisation in Wales was brought about by the influence of successive immigrations of more cultured peoples than by home initial development.

No one doubts that the hut-circles still existing

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belong to different periods, judging by the character of their construction and by the excavated "finds." Authorities fairly agree that the stone-built huts are the latest, and the methods of construction of the huts on Penmaenmawr Mountain and Tre'r Ceiri show a distinct advance upon the hut-circles found on the other upland districts of Carnarvonshire. An exceedingly interesting example of works of different dates on practically the same site may be studied on the property of Lord Boston at Penrhos Lligwy, Anglesey. Dr. Windle, F.R.S., says, "Hut-circles . . . . are the with remains of habitations occupied, we can now say certainty, in the Neolithic period," views that are confirmed by the researches of Mr. Church, Dr. Colley March, and Professor Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. Mr. G. A. Humphreys, F.R.I.B. A., is of opinion that "practically all the important camps about here have probably been used for centuries B.C. down to Romano-British times, and were altered and improved from time to time by the successive peoples who occupied them, according to their requirements and stage of culture." The result is that we have on the same hill-tops very early hut-dwellings, etc., in close proximity to very late dwellings.

1 Prehistoric Remains, p. 256.