Undiscovered Roman fort found in north Pembrokeshire
A previously unknown Roman fort has been discovered in an overgrown field in north Pembrokeshire.
The discovery was made by Dr Mark Merrony who is a leading Roman specialist and a tutor at Wolfson College, Oxford.
The location, which is being kept secret, is in a large overgrown field in the north of the county.
In order to determine whether his initial suspicions were correct, Dr Merrony began examining the site for Roman material.
"I wanted to find a particular roofing slate type, which tends to be hexagonal, with a long point," he said.
“Sticking out of the ground was a triangular piece that looked like a Roman roofing slate.
"I pulled it up and lo and behold, it’s an archetypal Roman roofing slate, an absolute peach. Flip it upside down and you can see underneath a diagonal line where it was grooved to fit into the one that was underneath it. It’s a real beauty.”
The fort, which is between two and three hectares in size, would have occupied around 500 soldiers.
Dr Merrony said his discovery suggests that Wales was completely integrated into Roman Britain, whereas previously only two forts were known to exist in west Wales.
"There are more villas than we think and there are more forts than we think here in West Wales," he said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least another two, three or even more forts that we just haven't found yet.
"West Wales has been neglected, partly because there aren't the resources to cover it. So the more archaeologists start looking, the more we can start to find."
The fort, which is believed to date from the first to the third century, is being hailed as a site of national importance.
Dr Merrony has said its form and scale are similar to Pembrokeshire’s only other Roman fort which was excavated at Wiston near Haverfordwest in 2013. Both forts were now linked to a Roman road network that had not previously been known.
To protect the new discovery, its location won’t be disclosed to the public until a geophysical survey is carried out.
Dr Merrony has described the discovery as ‘an absolute classic’.
Undiscovered Roman fort found in north Pembrokeshire
A previously unknown Roman fort has been discovered in an overgrown field in north Pembrokeshire.
The discovery was made by Dr Mark Merrony who is a leading Roman specialist and a tutor at Wolfson College, Oxford.
The location, which is being kept secret, is in a large overgrown field in the north of the county.
In order to determine whether his initial suspicions were correct, Dr Merrony began examining the site for Roman material.
"I wanted to find a particular roofing slate type, which tends to be hexagonal, with a long point," he said.
“Sticking out of the ground was a triangular piece that looked like a Roman roofing slate.
"I pulled it up and lo and behold, it’s an archetypal Roman roofing slate, an absolute peach. Flip it upside down and you can see underneath a diagonal line where it was grooved to fit into the one that was underneath it. It’s a real beauty.”
The fort, which is between two and three hectares in size, would have occupied around 500 soldiers.
Dr Merrony said his discovery suggests that Wales was completely integrated into Roman Britain, whereas previously only two forts were known to exist in west Wales.
"There are more villas than we think and there are more forts than we think here in West Wales," he said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least another two, three or even more forts that we just haven't found yet.
"West Wales has been neglected, partly because there aren't the resources to cover it. So the more archaeologists start looking, the more we can start to find."
The fort, which is believed to date from the first to the third century, is being hailed as a site of national importance.
Dr Merrony has said its form and scale are similar to Pembrokeshire’s only other Roman fort which was excavated at Wiston near Haverfordwest in 2013. Both forts were now linked to a Roman road network that had not previously been known.
To protect the new discovery, its location won’t be disclosed to the public until a geophysical survey is carried out.
Dr Merrony has described the discovery as ‘an absolute classic’.