The Hidden History Beneath Caerau Hillfort
I've walked around Caerau Hillfort more times than I can remember. Like many local people, I've followed the footpaths across the fields, watched the sheep grazing on the hillside and passed other dog walkers enjoying the countryside. It's a peaceful place today, and if you didn't know any better, you could easily assume it's always looked much the same.
But that's what makes Caerau Hillfort so fascinating. The landscape we see today is only the latest chapter in a story that stretches back thousands of years.
An Iron Age village beneath the grass
When you stand on the hill and look across the surrounding countryside, it's hard to imagine that this quiet farmland was once home to a thriving Iron Age community. The reconstruction above helps bring that lost world back to life. Instead of open grassland, there would have been roundhouses, livestock pens, storage buildings and the constant bustle of daily life.
In many ways, what we're looking at isn't simply a fort at all. It's an entire village.
People were here long before the hillfort
What surprised me most when I started reading about the site was discovering that people were using this hill long before the hillfort was built. Archaeologists have uncovered flint tools dating back to around 3600 BC, showing that humans were active here over 5,500 years ago.
Think about that for a moment. By the time the Iron Age settlement shown in the reconstruction existed, this hill had already been attracting people for thousands of years.
The hillfort itself is believed to have been occupied from around 600 BC and would have been one of the most important settlements in the area. Archaeologists have found evidence of Iron Age occupation, including pottery and traces of buildings that suggest a sizeable community once lived here.
A landscape that still connects us to the past
Looking at the reconstruction, it's easy to imagine what daily life might have been like. Smoke rising from cooking fires. People tending livestock. Children running between the roundhouses. Farmers working the surrounding land much as they still do today.
In fact, that's one of the things I find most interesting about Caerau. Despite everything that has changed over the centuries, some things haven't changed at all.
The hillfort remains part of a working agricultural landscape. Sheep still graze on the slopes and people still cross the area every day, albeit with dogs rather than herds of cattle. The paths that walkers enjoy today cut through a landscape that has been used by local communities for thousands of years.
Quarrying, churches and centuries of continued use
Another feature that caught my attention was evidence of historic quarrying around the site. Many people walk past these old workings without giving them a second thought. Yet it's possible that stone extracted from the hill over the centuries found its way into buildings across the wider area. When you look at the stone walls, cottages and older buildings around South Wales, it's fascinating to wonder whether some of that material may have begun its journey here.
Unlike many ancient sites, Caerau Hillfort isn't famous for a great battle or a dramatic historical event. In fact, no recorded battles are known to have taken place here. Strangely, I think that makes it even more interesting.
The importance of Caerau comes from the generations of ordinary people who chose to live here. Archaeologists have also found Romano-British artefacts and evidence that the site continued to be used long after the Romans arrived in Wales. The hill remained important through the medieval period too, with the remains of St Mary's Church and medieval earthworks still found within the enclosure. Few places in South Wales contain such a continuous story of human activity.
Look again the next time you visit
The next time you're walking across the hillfort, watching the sheep or taking in the views, take a moment to picture the scene shown in the reconstruction.
Beneath those grassy banks are the remains of homes, workshops, animal enclosures and the lives of countless people who lived here long before us.
It's easy to walk past and see an old hill. The reality is that you're standing in the footprint of a community that has been shaping this landscape for more than five millennia.
Fascinating, thank you.