New clues uncovered from excavations at Fonmon Castle

Researchers at Cardiff University have confirmed a prehistoric settlement has been found at a popular visitor attraction in South Wales.

Scientific testing is currently being undertaken on archaeological remains from Fonmon Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan.

A previous dig had already uncovered an ancient cemetery which has been hailed as a major archaeological find shedding new light on life in Early Medieval Wales (AD400-1100). There is evidence of ritual feasting, with around half of the 80 burials being recovered so far.

This year, a new trench was dug to investigate an area of the castle grounds where geophysical surveys indicated another possible archaeological site. That dig has revealed part of an Iron Age settlement, located just to the west of the castle. So far, only the ditch at the entrance to the settlement has been uncovered. A key find was the skeleton of a dog deliberately placed in the entrance ditch, likely put there as part of a ritual to protect the settlement.

“An important discovery”

Dr Andy Seaman, Reader in early mediaeval archaeology at Cardiff University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: “The dog was at the entranceway into the enclosure. The skeleton was complete, and it had been placed very deliberately at the bottom of the ditch. This is something we see in other Iron Age sites in Britain, and we believe it relates to the role of dogs as symbolic guardians.

“The skeleton has been radiocarbon dated to 700 to 500 BC, the early Iron Age, which is a period from which we have comparatively few sites in Wales, so it’s an important discovery.”

The team will also analyse all the other finds from the preliminary trench, including a small amount of pottery and many animal bones, which suggest waste deposits from the settlement. These will tell the team a lot about the economy, farming and environment at the time the settlement was in use.

“We've now established that the site has good research potential,” said Dr Seaman.

He adds that the find reveals a fascinating new chapter of Fonmon’s history.

“It adds a lot to our kind of understanding of the history of the site, pushing it back beyond the Roman period into prehistory. It shows that the castle was not the first community to exploit that particular part of the landscape.”

Speaking about the finds from the cemetery, bioarchaeologist Katie Faillace, also based at Cardiff University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: “We’re at a really exciting stage now, where we’re starting to build up a fuller picture of the people buried at the cemetery. Our initial isotopic work suggests many of the people have local origins.”

Fonmon Castle dates in parts to Norman times. It was purchased in 2019 by Nigel Ford, who has opened it to the public as a visitor attraction and events venue. Eager to discover more about the castle’s past, he invited the Cardiff University team to investigate, with the first surveys taking place in 2021.

“We’re very excited by how the archaeological investigations have panned out,” he said. “When they began, nobody could have anticipated a find as important as the medieval cemetery - and now we have clear evidence of Iron Age occupation too.

“This highlights just how long people have been drawn to settle in this area, making the castle seem a relatively recent addition.”