BEACON RING ANNUAL REPORTS
A series of annual reports about the work at Beacon Ring hillfort
Beacon Ring Hillfort 2017-18
Archaeological Investigation
A programme of total station survey and auger sampling was undertaken by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust at Beacon Ring hillfort between November 2017 and March 2018, with financial support from Cadw.
The survey was combined with evidence from existing mapping to provide a more up to date interpretation of the earthworks; a revised plan and a profile across the hillfort from northwest to south-east were produced. Detailed surveys were also carried out at the two entrances of the hillfort to enable their morphology to be examined.
Auger sampling was undertaken at the two entrances of the hillfort, to determine whether these were original or a result of later infilling of the ditch. Samples were also taken along a north-west/south-east transect across the monument, to coincide with the surveyed profile, and in the eastern part of the interior to investigate an area of surface peats. It was hoped that this work would identify deposits that could be further investigated to provide information on the possible dating and palaeoenvironmental potential of the hillfort, but no suitable deposits were identified.
The augering provided some new information on the sub-surface deposits relating to the hillfort and this suggested that there had been a phase of reconstruction at some point, though no dating evidence for this was revealed
Beacon Ring Hillfort 2018-19
Archaeological Investigation
A programme of further investigations at Beacon Ring hillfort was undertaken by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust in 2018, with financial support from Cadw.
Fieldwork included topographic and geophysical survey, and the excavation of six trial trenches. Topographic survey was constrained by woodland but recorded the main ramparts in some detail. Geophysics was carried out at the south-west entrance but the results were inconclusive.
One of the six trenches examined the rampart on the eastern side of the monument. The results suggested that the bank had probably been built in a single event from material excavated from the ditch. The shallowness of the ditch deposits suggests that the ditch may also have been emptied or cleaned out subsequently. The pre-rampart peaty ground surface was sampled, but the range of dates implied that the material was mixed and unreliable in obtaining a date for the construction of the hillfort. Two trenches investigated the south-west entrance, revealing a single post-hole probably associated with a medieval township boundary and some post-medieval cart tracks. Three trenches investigated the interior but found no features or occupation contemporary with the hillfort; disturbance caused by an earlier forestry plantation was evident in the layers above the natural subsoil.
