Porth y Rhaw Camp

Porth y Rhaw Camp stands on a narrow headland above the sea near St Davids in Pembrokeshire. It is an Iron Age promontory fort, one of many cliff-top strongholds built to watch the coast. The site juts into Porth y Rhaw Bay and commands wide views of the Bristol Channel. Excavations in the late 1990s proved the fort was occupied from the first to the fourth century AD. Fragments of furnaces, crucibles and glass show iron, bronze and glass were worked here. Eight roundhouse burials were uncovered, their graves lined with stones. The finds include black polished Gallic terra sigillata and red-slipped mortaria. Colourful glass beads suggest bead-making took place on the spot. No traces of earlier use were found beneath the fort, so the promontory was first fortified in the Roman period. Close by lies the ruined Porth y Rhaw corn mill, its stones still in place. The Pembrokeshire Coast Path passes the fort, linking it to other coastal landmarks. Visitors walk along grassy tracks that follow the old ramparts. The inner area is divided into terraces cut into the slope, where roundhouse platforms once stood. The outer defences drop steeply to the sea, giving a sense of the fort’s strategic height. From the headland the coast stretches east and west, with Ramsey Island visible on clear days. The wind carries the sound of waves against the cliffs, while seabirds circle overhead. The mill ruin nearby adds a reminder of later farming use.