Caer Lêb

Caer Lêb stands on Anglesey, a low-lying island off north Wales, beside the Afon Braint. The site shows two rows of earthen banks shaped like pentagons, with marshy ditches between them. Its name means ‘Leaven Castle’ in Welsh. The original entrance faced east, though later gaps were made by animals. Pottery from the 2nd to 4th centuries was found here. A layer of periwinkle shells and a medieval coin lay under a peat cover on the north side. Excavations in 1865 uncovered rectangular buildings on the east and a circular hut on the south. The hut had a stone mortar set into the floor and a fireplace lined with red ash. Bones of oxen and oyster shells were scattered around, along with a green glass stud. A Roman denarius of Postumus was discovered inside. Nearby, a bronze fibula and a fragment of Samian pottery were also found. A footpath runs southwest from Caer Lêb over stiles, passing the former site of Tre'r Dryw Bach stone circle. After 800 metres it reaches Castell Bryn Gwyn and the Bryn Gwyn stones. Five hundred metres north-west along the road, by Pont Sarn Las, the remains of three round houses appear after dry summers. A large settlement recorded in the 19th century was destroyed in the 1870s by land improvements.