34-462: Pen Dinas ( Welsh pronunciation: [pɛn ˈdiːnas] ) is a large hill in Penparcau , on the coast of Ceredigion , Wales , (just south of Aberystwyth ) upon which an extensive Iron Age , Celtic hillfort is situated. The site can easily be reached on foot from Aberystwyth town centre and is accessible via a series of well marked trails. Boasting a commanding position at the confluence of
68-551: A Quaker meeting house. The recently closed Tollgate pub was named after the original tollgate that stood on the old toll road at the top of Penparcau and is now in St Fagans National History Museum near Cardiff . Penparcau has its own woodland , Coed Geufron run by the Woodland Trust and its own police station. Other amenities have included a post office , two supermarkets ,
102-634: A submerged forest can be clearly seen. This is thought to be between 4000 – 6000 years old. A record relating to the submerged forest can be found made by the Royal Commission on the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. The remains of a Celtic fortress on Pen Dinas (or more correctly 'Dinas Maelor' home of the mythical Celtic giant king Maelor Gawr ), a hill in Penparcau overlooking Aberystwyth, indicates that
136-583: A garage, holiday park and hotel and two fish and chip shops . Until late 2007, it also had its own travel agent . In 2008, Penparcau played a part in the transition town movement in Wales when it hosted the "Alternative Energy and Transport Festival" in Neuadd Goffa, attended by the local MP and mayor. At the bottom of the valley, just below Penparcau, is a Welsh Government office building, designed to house more than 550 staff. The name derives from
170-564: A more sedate manner for paragliding . Penparcau (pronounced in the local dialect as 'pen parky' or 'penpark'e with an emphasis on the e, as in the dialectical pronunciation of 'au' in North Ceredigion, where 'pethau' becomes 'pethe'(in Welsh)) in 1841 was spelled Penparke, Penparciau, Penparkie or even Pen Y Parciau ( on the 1890 OS map ) and stretched on both sides of the turnpike road from Trefechan to Southgate. The population of
204-666: A pottery vessel of a type dating to about 100 BC, beads, loom weights and fragments of corroded iron and bronze. Further excavations were made in 2021 to raise the profile of the site and develop a management plan. In August 2022, further funding of almost £150,000 was received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Cadw for a two-year project to learn more about the hillfort. 52°24′06″N 4°04′56″W / 52.4016°N 4.0822°W / 52.4016; -4.0822 Penparcau Penparcau ( Welsh pronunciation: [pɛnˈparkai̯] )
238-796: A share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. The fund's predecessor bodies were the National Land Fund , established in 1946, and the National Heritage Memorial Fund , established in 1980. The current body was established as the "Heritage Lottery Fund" in 1994. It was re-branded as the National Lottery Heritage Fund in January 2019. The fund's income comes from
272-459: A wooden palisade . The main gateway is on the western side and is formed by a stone lined gap in the ditch and bank. After this first fort was eventually abandoned several decades passed before work began on a new fortification on the higher summit to the south. This second site is better protected by a steeper slope on the western side. To the south and east huge terraced earth works were built faced with shale which would again have been topped with
306-423: A wooden palisade. Entrance into the southern fort is via gateways to the north and south. They are both formed of narrow passageways through the earthworks and would also have had timber bridges to cross the ditches. The northern gateway is kinked to the left, probably to aid defence by slowing down attackers. Eventually the southern fort too became derelict and there is evidence that some of the wooden structures by
340-584: A £3.5m fund for grants to support digital volunteering in the heritage sector, launched in November 2021. The chair of the trustees is appointed by the Prime Minister ; René Olivieri served as interim chair from January 2020 following Sir Peter Luff 's retirement at the end of 2019. Dr Simon Thurley CBE , former Chief Executive of English Heritage , became the chair of trustees on 1 April 2021. The Chief Executive from July 2016 to December 2021
374-659: Is a village and electoral ward in Ceredigion , Wales , situated to the south of Aberystwyth . The original village was a hamlet , but the building of extensive Art Deco style semi-detached social housing from the 1920s on transformed it. It lies in the shadow of the Celtic Iron Age hill fort of Pen Dinas , and between the sea at Tan Y Bwlch beach, the River Ystwyth and the Rheidol. Penparcau has
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#1732787785021408-576: Is governed by Ceredigion County Council and Aberystwyth itself elects six of the 42 councillors in five separate wards (Bronglais, Central, North, Rheidol and Penparcau - the Penparcau ward elects two of these). The two county councillors for Aberystwyth-Penparcau, elected in May 2017 were Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru . Penparcau has five Senedd members, one of whom is elected as a constituency MS for Ceredigion , Elin Jones and four who are elected on
442-478: Is the headless dog of Penparcau. The myth tells of how a giant, going to his father's rescue, rode at such a rate that his dog could not keep up with him and its head came off in the leash. The dog now roams, mournfully crying and looking for its long-lost owner. National Lottery Heritage Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund , formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund ( HLF ), distributes
476-603: The National Lottery , which was managed until 2024 by Camelot Group . Its objectives are "to conserve the UK's diverse heritage, to encourage people to be involved in heritage and to widen access and learning". As of 2019, it had awarded £7.9 billion to 43,000 projects. In 2006, the National Lottery Heritage Fund launched the Parks for People program with the aim to revitalize historic parks and cemeteries. From 2006 to 2021,
510-540: The River Ystwyth and Afon Rheidol , it has been described as "the pre-eminent hillfort on the Cardigan Bay coast". The name is more correctly 'Dinas Maelor', this could be translated into English as 'Maelor's Fort' or 'Maelor's City'. Tradition refers to it as being the fort of the giant Maelor Gawr . Pen Dinas strictly speaking only refers to the highest point, 'Pen y Dinas' or 'Head of the Citadel', (upon which
544-592: The 18th century, smuggling was a key part of the economy, with tea, salt, rum and tobacco being some of the things smuggled into the local area. There are records in the national archive showing an extensive smuggling ring run by the Powell and neighbouring Stedman families. The smuggled goods were bought into Penparcau to avoid the excise men stationed in Aberystwyth. There is also interesting domestic architecture that can be assigned to Richard Emrys Bonsall such as
578-548: The Dyfed Archaeological records. A distinctive memorial to the Duke of Wellington in the shape of an upturned cannon was built on the hilltop in 1852. The hilltop comprises a twin summit system and the mounded defences divide into three systems. Archaeological excavations in the 1930s demonstrated at least four phases to the defences. Pen Dinas is now more popular as a tourist attraction for walkers and used in
612-564: The Ebeneser Chapel, still in use today. The plans for many of these buildings can be found at the National Library of Wales . A feature in Penparcau is the toll house . It was built in 1771 and stood at the southern junction of Penparcau (hence the name Southgate). It was built of local slate stone and was roofed with Pembrokeshire slates. David Jones of Dihewyd was appointed as the first gatekeeper in November 1771, and
646-534: The Fund had granted £254 million to 135 projects. In January 2019 it simplified its funding schemes under one banner – National Lottery Grants for Heritage – with awards from £3,000 to £5 million. Funding requests for projects over £5 million will be considered as part of two time-limited national competitions to be held in 2020–21 and 2022–23. Its funding routes include the Digital Skills for Heritage Fund,
680-558: The Wellington Monument now stands). The southern summit is also where, in the Bronze Age , a burial mound was erected. There is a large stone monument dedicated to the Duke of Wellington which was built in the 1850's upon Pen Dinas overlooking Cardigan Bay and the town of Aberystwyth. The monument takes the form of an eighteen metre high upended cannon. It is thought that the column was intended to carry at statue at
714-537: The Welsh Saint Samson of Dol (also Samsun; born c. late 5th century) was threshing corn in Penparcau on the hillside of Pen Dinas when the larger part of his flail broke and landed across the valley in the Abbey at Llanbadarn Fawr , in anger he threw the smaller part over the valley too and these were used to make the three celtic crosses which now stand in the church. One of the more unusual residents
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#1732787785021748-453: The Welsh for "top of the fields" (Pen + parc(i)au). It is referred to as Pen y Parkiau in 1756, and variously in the 19th century as "Penparke", "Penparkey" , "Pen Parciau" and "Pen-parcau". People have lived in and around Penparcau for over two thousand years. The Iron Age hillfort is believed to have been occupied for some 300 years up to and including the first century BC. Pen Dinas is
782-558: The entire hill top. The coming of the Romans to the area in about 74 AD may have led to the forcible abandonment of the fort or it may have fallen from use before then but the only evidence from the Roman period is an early 4th-century coin hoard of Roman currency possibly left as an offering to a shrine on the hill. Pen Dinas is one of many hillforts in the locality; Bow Street village and Hen Gaer hillfort lies 4 miles (6 km) to
816-549: The first tolls were charged on 23 March 1772. The building contains just one room, one end being used for the collection of tolls. A single fireplace at the opposite end of the house was used for heating and cooking. At St Fagans the house has been furnished in the style of 1843, the period of the Rebecca Riots when many tollgates were destroyed in Wales. Turnpike Trusts were eventually abolished in 1864 with county councils taking over responsibility for building and maintaining
850-433: The hamlet was 239, most of whom were workers in agriculture and related rural industries. There were three agricultural labourers and only one farmer; the next most important occupation was that of stonemason of whom there were eight. There were three shoemakers, two tailors and two shipwrights as well as the following: rope-maker, joiner, tanner , carpenter, gardener, sawyer , wheelwright , weaver and saddler . In
884-584: The largest Iron Age hillfort in Ceredigion. Estimated to have been first built around 400 BC, the outline of the ancient ramparts is still evident. There is evidence that during the Mesolithic Age the area of Tan-y-Bwlch at the foot of Pen Dinas (Penparcau) was used as a flint knapping floor for hunter-gatherers making weapons from flint that was deposited as the ice retreated. To the south of Tan-y-Bwlch beach lies an area where during low tides
918-600: The north; Goginan 6 miles (10 km) to the east and Llanilar 4 miles (6 km) to the south. However, there are many features of this fort that are in common with hillforts from the Welsh Marches to the east and in contrast to some other Welsh hillforts. This may indicate that Pen Dinas was constructed by people moving into this area from the east at around 300 BC (Stanford, 1972). Finds from Pen Dinas are sparse. Archaeological excavations, directed by Professor Daryll Forde between 1933 and 1937, found fragments of
952-428: The northern gateway were burnt. This could be following a hostile raid on the fort or because lack of resources lead to its abandonment. However, sometime later the defences of the southern fort were rebuilt this time to a different layout. The final phase in the fort's construction was the refortification of the northern section and the construction of banks and ditches to connect the two forts together thereby enclosing
986-652: The only UNESCO Biosphere reserve in the Dyfi Biosphere . A section of the Wales Coast Path runs over Tan y Bwlch beach. There is an Anglican church named after the Saint Anne , a Roman Catholic church named after the Welsh Martyrs , which is noted in "Architecture of Wales, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion" and is home to a Lampedusa Cross, as well as two Methodist chapels and
1020-531: The regional list for Mid and West Wales . The village is also within the Ceredigion constituency for elections to the House of Commons . The current MP is Ben Lake for Plaid Cymru . The Penparcau electoral ward stretches from Tan y Bwlch beach to the Rheidol . There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the Pen Dinas and Tan y Bwlch Local Nature Reserves within this area. Legend has it that
1054-437: The roads but the Penparcau toll house remained a residence until the 1960s. The United Kingdom Census 2001 reported that over 40% of the residents of Penparcau spoke Welsh and used Welsh daily, larger than any other individual census zone within that area, when compared to the other census data sets. In 2011 the village had the largest number of Welsh language speakers (1095) in the Aberystwyth town area, covering an area from
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1088-608: The sea to the Rheidol . Aberystwyth-Penparcau is the most populous electoral division in Ceredigion and elects two county councillors. Penparcau is also the name of the village which covers a portion of the electoral division consisting of the areas of Southgate and Caeffynnon. Five town councillors represent the ward on the Aberystwyth Town Council , one of the 51 town and community councils in Ceredigion and consists of 19 town councillors elected in five wards. The last elections were held in May 2017. Penparcau
1122-552: The site was inhabited before 700 BC. On a hill south of the present town, across the River Ystwyth, are the remains of a medieval ringfort believed to be the castle from which Princess Nest was abducted. This rare survival is now on private land and can only be accessed by arrangement. A Bronze Age standing stone is also referenced as being in Penparcau in the Ceredigion County History (Volume 1) and
1156-500: The top, which was never installed due to financial difficulties. For the official Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales record relating to Pen Dinas Hillfort see The hillfort actually consists of two separate forts built many years apart, which were later combined to form a larger structure. The first fort to be constructed was on the lower northern summit. It consists of an outer ditch and inner rampart of rubble. It would originally have been surmounted by
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