Din Lligwy hut circle

Roundhouse (dwelling)

The roundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, originally built in western Europe before the Roman occupation using walls made either of stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle-and-daub panels and a conical thatched roof. Roundhouses ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m...

 is an ancient village site near the east coast of Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

, close to the village of Moelfre

Moelfre

Moelfre is a village and community on the east coast of Isle of Anglesey in Wales, and on the Anglesey Coastal Path. It has a population of 1,129.The Royal Mail postcode begins LL72....

, North Wales

North Wales

North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...

.

Excavations in 1905-1907 produced hundreds of Roman period pot sherd

Sherd

In archaeology, a sherd is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels as well....

s of the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, many repaired with iron clamps. Animal bones were found too, some made into tools and one into a musical instrument. The most important economic activity, however, appears to have been iron working, smithing and perhaps smelting.

Despite the mainly Roman finds, the origins of the settlement may well go back into the Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

 and it was probably a small farming community. From excavation, it seems that the round structures were probably houses and the rectangular ones barns or workshops.

For a pre-Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 site, a great deal remains including the enclosing wall and the foundations of many buildings, many of them with substantial and well made foundations constructed from the local limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

. The outer protective wall is almost intact although much reduced in height.

Din Lligwy is situated on a low hill with good views over Anglesey and a reliable source of fresh water nearby. The hill is now overgrown with sycamore

Sycamore Maple

Acer pseudoplatanus, the sycamore maple, is a species of maple native to central Europe and southwestern Asia, from France east to Ukraine, and south in mountains to northern Spain, northern Turkey, and the Caucasus. It is not related to other trees called sycamore or plane tree in the Platanus...

 and Ash

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

but it is probable that when it was occupied, the village would have had uninterrupted views all around.

External links

• Cadw's page
• Anglesey History Three ages of Lligwy - history of the burial chamber, village and church.