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<< Our Photo Pages >> Tre'r Ceiri - Hillfort in Wales in Gwynedd

Submitted by vicky on Thursday, 07 April 2011  Page Views: 44628

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Tre'r Ceiri
Country: Wales County: Gwynedd Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Pwllheli  Nearest Village: Llanaelhaearn
Map Ref: SH37304460  Landranger Map Number: 123
Latitude: 52.973992N  Longitude: 4.424483W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

SteveC SumDoood whese001 would like to visit

Andy B: would like to visit Early Iron Age hillfort visited by Neil Oliver in BBC's History of Ancient Britain

h_fenton AngieLake TimPrevett PAB nicoladidsbury have visited here

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by TAlanJones : Tre'r Ceiri (Vote or comment on this photo)
Hillfort in Gwynedd. This site is described by James Dyer (1981) as 'The most dramatic and impressive of all British Hillforts'. Around 150 huts originally stood inside the fort which is defended by walls and ramparts with five entrances.

Note: Neil Oliver visits this superb hillfort in the BBC's History of Celtic Britain. View Andy B's site visit log for all the sites visited in this episode, and recap on the previous 'Ancient Britain' series
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Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by h_fenton : Huts inside Tre'r Ceiri, the round one in the centre of the photo has an interesting 'Y' shaped partition wall. Kite Aerial Photograph 30 May 2010. (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by h_fenton : Tre'r Ceiri from the north east, showing the whole of the main circuit wall/rampart and some of the huts inside. There are some further outer ramparts and hut circles out of shot to the left of the photo. You can see some of the far reaching views down the Llŷn Peninsula. On the horizon to the extreme right of the photograph is a large cairn on the summit of Yr Eifl (564metres) K... (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by postman : Roundhouses. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by h_fenton : Looking over part of Tre'r Ceiri and the Llŷn Peninsula. Kite Aerial Photograph 30 May 2010. (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Tre'r Ceiri, Looking over the large defensive wall to the highest part of the fort and the cairn.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Massive walls at Tre'r Ceiri. (1 comment)

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Tre'r Ceiri looking South West.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Tre'r Ceiri looking North East, It would be a very hard place to attack in the iron age.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by postman : Looking west along the wall to some more of the lovely lleyn peninsula.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by postman : Looking north up the west coast of north wales.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by raythemapman : Looking NE at Tre,r Ceiri Hillfort from Penrhyn Nefyn.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by TimPrevett : One of a number of apparent broken "basins" which are throughout the fort. (1 comment)

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by pab : Tre'r Ceiri Hill Fort. This picture, taken 2 Oct 2007 from the top of Yr Eifl, shows the whole layout of the Tre'r Ceiri Hill Fort, with the mountains of northern Snowdonia on the horizon. Forget any estimate of time for this walk - if it is as clear as it was for us, you will spend so much time enjoying the view, you will be lucky to clock up as much as a mile an hour! If it is misty, same ap...

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Postman : Oh my

Carnedd Tre'r Ceiri
Carnedd Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Postman : Equinox sunrise slouches over the Moelwyn mountains.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Tre'r Ceiri, Defences on the Northern side.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : The fantastic view North East from the North East part of the fort. (2 comments)

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Looking down over this amazing fort and it's huts from the highest point.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Inside Tre'r Ceiri.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Tre'r Ceiri, A hut.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by Bladup : Very wide defences at Tre'r Ceiri.

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by annhuws : Tre'r Ceiri from the summit of Yr Eifl

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by postman : More roundhouses

Tre'r Ceiri
Tre'r Ceiri submitted by postman : Loads of houses.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 170m NE 45° Carnedd Tre'r Ceiri* Cairn (SH3742544716)
 819m W 278° Yr Eifl cairns* Cairn (SH36494474)
 1.1km E 87° St Aelhaearn's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SH3842944623)
 1.4km E 80° Eglwys St. Aelhaearn Church Llanaelhaearn* Early Christian Sculptured Stone (SH387448)
 1.6km NW 311° Bwlch yr Eifl Cairn* Cairn (SH36104573)
 1.7km S 173° Mynydd Carnguwch* Cairn (SH37454292)
 2.1km WSW 254° Nant Gwrtheyrn sculptured stones* Modern Stone Circle etc (SH353441)
 2.2km W 259° Mount Pleasant Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SH35114426)
 3.0km SSE 165° Llwyndyrys* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SH3795241690)
 3.7km ESE 124° The Glasfryn Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SH4031942450)
 3.7km SW 225° Moel Gwynus* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SH3458742053)
 3.9km NE 56° Gyrn Ddu* Cairn (SH40584667)
 4.1km SW 224° Gwynus settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SH34344173)
 5.0km WSW 241° Pistyll Chapel Font* Early Christian Sculptured Stone (SH32834232)
 5.3km SE 146° Tir-Bach* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SH4012140161)
 5.3km W 272° Bryn y fedwyn* Marker Stone (SH320450)
 5.6km E 79° Pen-Y-Gaer (Llanaelhaearn)* Hillfort (SH42884550)
 5.8km SE 136° Plas Du Standing Stone Standing Stone (Menhir) (SH4115540288)
 5.8km E 90° Tyddyn Mawr* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SH431444)
 5.8km NE 40° Pen Yr Allt Uchaf Hut Group Ancient Village or Settlement (SH4125048911)
 5.9km ESE 117° Garn Bentyrch* Hillfort (SH42454177)
 6.0km NNE 33° Bachwen* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (SH40774948)
 6.1km SE 126° Cefn-Coch Inscribed Stone* Early Christian Sculptured Stone (SH42094085)
 6.1km NE 38° Beuno's Well (Clynnog Fawr)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SH412493)
 6.2km SSW 206° Tir-gwyn* Standing Stones (SH34423913)
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"Tre'r Ceiri" | Login/Create an Account | 19 News and Comments
  
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Re: Tre'r Ceiri by sem on Friday, 02 June 2017
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OS grid ref (Coflein) SH3734044670
Coflein "Tre'r Ceiri occupies a steeply-sloping site whose summit is occupied by a substantial Early Bronze Age burial cairn, clearly preserved and respected within the later hillfort." (Carnedd Tre'r Ceiri at SH3742544716)
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Re: Tre`r Ceiri by SteCymru14 on Friday, 04 November 2016
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Bu'n braf iawn ymweld â Thre'r Ceiri llynedd ac, er na sylweddolais fod llwybr yn mynd i gopa'r mynydd, roedd yn hyfryd.
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Re: Tre`r Ceiri by Anonymous on Monday, 02 March 2015
My son and I visited the site 45yrs ago and can still remember the climb up from the road although I cannot remember a lay-by being there then.
What a magnificent sight met out eyes,another world and a feeling of being on another planet,
We were the only people up there which added to the feeling of being in this other world.
The stone circle hut walls looked untouched from the day their inhabitants had left them and we found burnt areas in some of them where we imagined the inhabitants had had fires.These areas found underneath what we thought could have been parts of the roofs.
We left after about 2 hours and have always yearned to return but sadly this did not happen and my health now makes it impossible to do so.




[ Reply to This ]

Re: Tre`r Ceiri by Anonymous on Sunday, 10 August 2014
It may be worth considering that you have the name' Tre Ceiri' wrong, as most writers have done in the past. Reserach indicates that the correct title would have been © 'Dre Caer Rhi' meaning the Town of the King's Fort. The error would likely have been the conversion of the spoken word into text. Cannot explain in depth here the reasons for my suggestion as it involves appreciating a great deal of North Wales History that has been misdirected in the records.
Brian Williams
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Tre'r Ceiri ac Cerrig Gron Newydd by Anonymous on Wednesday, 11 January 2012
In addition to my last comment a bit more about the DNA work at Sheffield University is referred to at the following website which describes a brand new discovery last March of a hitherto unknown recumbent stone circle.

This is a link


Robert John Hughes. B.Sc.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Tre'r Ceiri by Anonymous on Wednesday, 11 January 2012
I was raised 9 miles away but never walked over this site, only near it. Now having visited the celtic fort in Spain (Castro de Santa Trega) that is a replica of Tre'r Ceiri; there can be no doubt in my mind that the same people (builders and planners) built the two sites. As mining on the great Orme in Llandudno was the largest Bronze age copper mine in Europe and trade was widespread; passage by sea between North Wales and Spain, Portugal and probably the meditteranean via the straits of Gibraltar was obviously commonplace. No surprise therefore to find DNA remains of a skeleton at the copper mine shows it to have been an individual of spanish/turkish origin. These forts shows the trade routes the celts took.

Robert John Hughes, B.Sc.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Tre''r Ceiri and the Great Orme and the Pyramids!! by Anonymous on Saturday, 01 March 2014
    Just something I was told by the owner of the copper mines on the Great Orme/Y Gogarth the other day.
    It has been discovered that some of the tools that were used by the stone masons that built some of the Egyptian Pyramids were made with copper/bronze from the Great Orme Copper Mine.

    I''m naturally interested in the relationship between theses apparently "separate" locations and how they start to tell us the story of the societies that lived through the bronze and iron ages and earlier.

    The development of the skills necessary to smelt copper and bronze, to build boats that carried cargo and crossed the Bay of Biscay with monotonous regularity would not have evolved in a short period of time; they might have taken 100s if not 1000s of years so the developments that we see today would have started much earlier. I believe that they mined/worked the copper on the Great Orme for 1,500 years!! Yes one thousand five hundred years!!

    Not to mention the wealth gleaned from such extensive and long running commercial activity would have been based on a highly civilised society.

    Any news on where the society that owned/ran/worked/managed the great Orme mine lived?

    My slightly off the wall shot at that is that the only evidence we have of such a sophisticated group was based on Anglesey who were the original Druids/Derwyddon. Ofcourse there was Mynydd Paris copper mine on Anglesey too and they may well have started there but developed further to the Great Orme?

    I live locally too and often visit Tre''r Ceiri/Great Orme etc.

    PS I''m not some nutty member of hippie style druids groups!! ha ha.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Tre'r Ceiri by coldrum on Saturday, 09 January 2010
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Coflein site entry.

http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/95292/details/TRE%27R+CEIRI+FORT%3B+%27CITY+OF+THE+GIANTS%27%2C+LLANAELHAEARN/
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Re: Tre'r Ceiri by Anonymous on Saturday, 30 May 2009
I visited Tre'r Ceiri a couple years ago while at Nant Gwrtheyrn. The weather was very wet and extremely windy. I had planned to picnic at the fort but instead resorted to quickly eating in a sheltered area. The fog was incredibly thick and I was uneasy because I felt i could easily become disoriented. As soon as I was done with a sandwich I realized I should get back on the path to Llithfaen. It astounds me that people must have spent prolonged periods of time in such an exposed location. In my sopping condition I received great hospitality at Tafarn y Fic afterwards.

Ned
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Re: Tre`r Ceiri by TimPrevett on Monday, 16 June 2008
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wonderful film of Tre'r Ceiri fort and Bryn Celli Ddu passage grave... music from Mike Oldfield's "Music of the Spheres".

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Re: Tre`r Ceiri by TimPrevett on Friday, 02 May 2008
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A doorway into Tre'r Ceiri - YouTube clip

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Re: Tre`r Ceiri by Anonymous on Friday, 28 September 2007
Do continue on to Yr Eifl and look straight down the valley at Nant Gwrtheryn. Breath taking but all I had time for before the mist closed in.
We had our coffee sitting in the entrance to the hillfort and I noticed several of the stones had holes in them. They were obviously man made and just slightly less than half an inch across. Having noticed several, my partner noticed hundreds!

anyone got any explanations?
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Tre`r Ceiri by Anonymous on Sunday, 27 February 2005
I was up there is a Force 9 gale Saturday 12/02/2005, it was an experience somewhat akin to rounding the Horn. I hope that the climate was kinder to the original inhabitants.
Once you are off the main road ascent is easy given a calm day and even under bad weather conditions such as that experienced on the 12th, I managed to get from the main portal to the bus stop at Llanaelhaearn in under 30 minutes and I'm old enough to have a bus pass. That is the advantage perhaps of being mountain born and mountain bred.
If at Llanaelhaearn, call into the churchyard to see ancient inscribe grave stones.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Tre`r Ceiri by Anonymous on Monday, 16 February 2004
Condition: Better preserved than most Iron Age dwellings because built in stone, so you get a greater sense of how 'they' lived long ago.
Ambience: Fantastic. In any weather, it's dynamic, wild, unpeopled, isolated, gorgeous. Views all around help you get a sense of why build these dwellings on hilltops. No invaders or raiders would go unnoticed. A place now populated by ravens, wind and muted sunlight.
Access: The difficulty of access is part of the joy of getting to the top of Tre'r Ceiri. Yes, it's a tug on the legs and the lungs; yes, it's a fair trek from anywhere, but so well worth it. One of the most exciting, spine-tingling experiences of my life.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Tre`r Ceiri by FilthyTheDog on Thursday, 12 June 2003
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James Dyer was not lying. This is truly one of the most impressive ancient sites you will ever visit, but it's not an easy one to get to!
The name means "Land of the Giants" presumably more to do with it's lofty position more than it's fabled inhabitants. Like Garn Boduan and Garn Fadryn, this was inhabited apparently up until relatively recent times, possibly the Middle Ages, maybe even more recently.
It's quite a climb up to the top from the layby on the Caernarfon-Pistyll-Nefyn road but well-rewarding once you get there. An abundance of well preserved hut circles and a pretty impressive defensive wall (especially on the west side) are very much in evidence although I believe CADW may have spent considerable time and effort rebuilding certain areas. Another spectacular view from the top and an unmistakeable almost eerie feeling that the place has only just been abandoned greet you. A walk to the summit where there is a cairn will give you a view over the whole site and one guide book suggest that if you close your eyes you can almost smell the smoke from the wood fires burning in the small thatched huts.
A walk through the heather over to the main summit of Yr Eifl via a poorly defined path will bring you to more spectacular views stretching down the whole Llyn Peninsular to the south and north and eastward to the mountains of Snowdonia and north to Anglesey. On a clear day you can just make out the coast of Ireland over the sea.
A truly wonderful place.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Tre`r Ceiri by Anonymous on Sunday, 24 August 2008
    Giant in welsh translates to 'cawr'
    Ceiri translates to 'cherry
    what is the correct meaning
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Tre`r Ceiri by PAB on Sunday, 24 August 2008
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    Ceiri is also the plural of 'cawr', Welsh for giant....definitely made sense last time I visited, wonderful place! Definition:

    'cawr nm -es f ceiri, cewri pl giant' - from the fascinating source of Welsh placenames issued by OS
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