Din Lligwy Settlement - Anglesey- North Wales
Posted by: 
Norfolk12
N 53° 21.042 W 004° 15.570
30U E 416162 N 5912023
An interesting combination of round and rectangular huts, which some historians have suggested is indicative of an Iron Age villa. The houses stone walls and defences comprise limestone slabs, standing up straight on their edges
Waymark Code: WMB6Q5
Location: North Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/12/2011
Views: 7
Din Lligwy is an ancient Romano-British settlement and is built on and from a weathered pavement of Carboniferous Limestone.
Carboniferous Limestone is a well-cemented rock of low porosity, and occurring in thick beds. As they have prominent vertical joints, they can be easily spilt into blocks for use as building stone. It crops out, for example, in the Peak District, Mendips and Yorkshire Dales.
It contains most of the country’s potholes and natural cave systems. Mostly, Carboniferous limestone is either a fine calcite mud, precipitated from warm shallow seas, or a shelly limestone, formed by fragments of animals such as corals. It is a very tough rock, and is commonly used as roadstone, but can also be used for cement making because it is often quite pure, and as a source of calcium carbonate for the chemical industry.
The settlement covers an area of about half an acre and has been dated to the 4th century AD. The site includes the remains of 9 huts, two of which are circular. Remains of hearths and the debris they contain indicate that iron was smelted here.
This well-preserved and well-known complex of stone houses is located within a stone enclosure on Anglesey. Its an interesting combination of round and rectangular huts, which some historians have suggested is indicative of an Iron Age villa. The houses stone walls and defences comprise limestone slabs, standing up straight on their edges. Some of these buildings would have been domestic, others were workshops. Finds including metalwork, pottery and glassware indicate a settlement which continued into the Roman period.
The site stands on a low cliff and is worth a visit for the view alone. Entry to the site is through a rectangular building on the east side a barn which doubled as a gatehouse. Din Lligwy has many striking features. In one corner are the remains of a large and impressive house, a well-built circle of large limestone slabs with steps up to the entrance. This was the principal domestic building and finds here include a silver ingot, pottery and glassware Historians suggest that the other round building in the south-east corner was also domestic, whereas the two largest rectangular buildings, in the north-east corner and against the south wall, were workshops with rows of iron-working hearths and dumps of slag.
The site, as it stands, is probably the result of a lengthy period of development even the enclosure wall may have been built in two stages for there are clear changes in building style.
Terrain: 
Parking: Not Listed
Recommended access: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
- At least one own photo of the place is required.