Climate Change & Coastal Heritage

News Letter

Location Map

Introduction

Project area 8 contains the two intriguing and mysterious coastal prehistoric sites of Castell Bach and Cardigan Island. Both are situated along the beautiful south Ceredigion coast and represent some of the best prehistoric archaeological remains in the region. Whilst they are clearly significant to the story of the prehistoric period in this part of Wales very little is known about them due to them being severely under researched.

Castell Bach

Aerial photograph showing Castell Bach
Aerial photograph showing Castell Bach

The site of Castell Bach is located on a secluded and well-hidden stretch of coastline around 3km southwest of Newquay, Ceredigion. The coastal fort is situated within an amphitheatre-like ‘coastal bowl’ where it is centred upon a small, almost pyramid-like, islet. Its defences comprise a circuit of two concentric banks and ditches which enclose a small promontory. Evidence of an entranceway survives on its eastern side. It is possible that the promontory previously enclosed the entrance to a land bridge that may have connected the small central islet to the mainland. To the east of the fort are also the remains of a third bank and ditch which create an annex, possibly added later as an extension to the inner fort. The inner defences are now actively eroding on their western side.

Cardigan Island

The eroding northern enclosure on Cardigan Island.
The eroding northern enclosure on Cardigan Island.
Cardigan Island is a small uninhabited island that is situated at the mouth of the Teifi estuary. The whole of the island is a scheduled monument because of the two survived enclosed settlements which, based on their form, are likely to be Iron Age in origin. Within both enclosures there is evidence of possible roundhouses that are now visible as shallow earthworks. The northern enclosure has been visibly affected by coastal erosion where much of the cliffs have visibly fallen away.

Why are we working here?

Coastal erosion has had a noticeable impact upon the archaeology of both sites where parts of the sites have been lost to erosional processes. CHERISH is working in this area to provide baseline data for sites that have seen little attention from archaeologists in the past. Archaeological research by the project will look to uncover some of the sites’ secrets as well explore the main processes causing the erosion.
Visible erosion of the western side of Castell Bach’s defences.
Visible erosion of the western side of Castell Bach’s defences.

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