Clegyr Boia

Clegyr Boia is a prehistoric site on a rocky hilltop in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It stands between St Davids and the coast, 10 to 20 metres above the land around it. The hilltop has Neolithic and Iron Age remains, and the nearest water was a small spring-fed pool called Ffynnon Lygaid. In 1902, Sabine Baring-Gould excavated the site, followed by Audrey Williams in 1943. The hill became the stronghold of a 6th-century Irish pirate named Boia, giving the place its name. The site is important because Neolithic remains are rare in Wales. Baring-Gould found rectangular and circular Neolithic houses and a midden dated to about 5,500 years ago. Pottery sherds, polished stone axes and animal bones were also uncovered. Charcoal deposits show fire was used carefully, though no hearths were found. Later, Iron Age builders added an earthen rampart and stone walls around the southern outcrop. Visitors see the hillfort’s dry-stone walls, about 1 metre high and up to 4.6 metres wide. The rectangular enclosure measures roughly 85 metres by 30 metres. Nearby, the small spring pool lies in a hollow at the base of the rocks. The views stretch across the St David’s peninsula to the coast. The site shows how people lived, worked and defended themselves over thousands of years.