New Surveys on Castell Dinas Brân
New surveys have been carried out on Castell Dinas Brân this year to find out what remains beneath the surface of castle and the Iron Age hillfort.
The geophysical survey, which was funded by Cadw and the Castle Studies Trust, used resistivity and magnetometry to build up a map of buried remains without disturbing the ground. The area is a Scheduled Ancient Monument so any excavations are not permitted without specific permission from Cadw. Metal detecting is strictly forbidden on the site.
Recently the results have come through, and perhaps not surprisingly, features have not been identified within the castle walls, since the bedrock is very close to the surface and a lot of rubble from collapsed structures masks any other features. However in the surviving hillfort part of the site to the north, there is evidence that after the castle was abandoned the area was used for agricultural activity. There is ridge and furrow present which is evidence of strip fields that were cultivated in the 14th century onwards, once the castle was abandoned. There are also intriguing hints of burning in a few places on the hillfort ramparts. If you walk in this area there are small flat terraces within the site, which may be where houses were built in the Iron Age (about 2500 years ago), but the strip fields have in all probability destroyed the evidence here. However, just on the edge of the hillfort, the survey has identified the foot-print of possible round houses. We hope to use this newly acquired information about this fascinating site in information that will be produced in the future.
As part of the surveying process an Irish TV company who are filming a series on King Arthur came to Dinas Brân, as there are legends that say the Holy Grail is buried at the site. The filmmakers were keen to record the geophysical surveying which took place and to get some real archaeological techniques into their programme, which will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel by the Smithsonian Institute in the New Year.
