What Happened At Pen Y Crug? - The Story Of An Iron Age Hill Fort

Why hill forts? where did they come from? Join me for a short thought experiment into the early Iron Age and potentially one of the earliest hill forts of all at Pen Y Crug in Mid Wales.
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[@PeteKellyHistory]

Hi all. Hope you're all good. Why do hill forts exist? where did they come from? Join me for a short thought experiment into the early Iron Age and potentially one of the earliest hill forts of all at Pen Y Crug in Mid Wales. PS I'm working on so many amazing projects I can't wait to share with you in the future. This is just a little palette cleanser for what is to come on History Time. Cheers all and see you soon. Pete

[@kingstannisbaratheon7974]

Hey I loved the video, but I just wanted to mention that the y in Pen y Gryg is pronounced ‘uh’ instead of ‘ee’. Sorry if it comes off as nitpicking.

[@Andy_Babb]

Thanknyou for having this content available for free. You literally cover the exact timeline and region that I love more than anything. I’m 38 and just decided to try some college history courses bc I can’t get enough! Wish I’d done this 20 years ago 🤷🏻‍♂️ lol

[@Helpwood]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaPLnmWKZqqXd6Msi=Dcfgh8Z7WKL-KuDN

[@denaisaacthiswasgreat.thum7598]

If you just wrote stories and read them to me I would be very happy. You need a bedtime history story channel. 😊

[@Andy_Babb]

@@denaisaacthiswasgreat.thum7598 This IS that channel lol Perfect for late night learning and relaxing

[@justajavajunky]

Your style of documentary reminds me of when I used to rent documentaries from the local library back in the late '80's early '90's. I Love it.

[@Survivethejive]

Very cinematic. Fascinating topic

[@TyrSkyFatherOfTheGods]

A new video from Pete! A perfect way to begin the morning! I hit the like already, and I haven't even seen it yet!

[@Sibyle79]

What a treat! A Pete Kelly video! ❤

[@paulking54]

Pete, your history channel is one of the most evocative and fun on You tube. Thanks for all the hard work and research. Top notch.

[@trime1851]

Very interesting and creative way to explain the significance these Hill Forts! Although the physical remains are impressive, the effect on multiple generations are more impressive and mostly hidden by time. Thank you for your videos covering both physical archeology and sociological archeology!

[@user-vv1rh9tf4w]

A wonderfully evocative, thought provoking piece. Thank you.

[@UKFishingFinesse]

Perfect for a Saturday afternoon 👌🏾

[@adamroodog1718]

where is the nearest water? i always look at these hill forts and wonder where are they getting the water from? i suppose if you had slaves that would be their problem but all the same imagine walking up that hill all day carrying water

[@its_jjk]

The landscape has changed since then. Could have had water closer back then

[@worz678]

Springs lads. In Ireland most forts are within throwing distance

[@loke6664]

I am not sure if they had slaves or not. We really don't have any written sources before Cesar's "invasion" (or maybe police action, afterwards he kinda claimed he succeeded in all he wanted but I don't believe him). Well, it is possible Pytheas wrote about England but we don't have his book any more, while it is possible we could find it in the Herculaneum scrolls I guess, but it is probably gone for good. Slavery doesn't exactly leave many archaeological evidence after it and we have a gap of 750 years from they built this place to when Cesar writes about the Britons, which might or not had similar customs to the people of Wales. But in any case, we are certain they did have a social ladder and you can always use kids to fetch water from the nearest spring in worst case so I don't think it is a huge problem. Cattle had been in Britain for 3000 years so an oxcart with large pots or barrels were probably the best way to go, carrying it by hand seems like a stupid idea for a place that probably had at least 100 people.. They must have had some kind of cistern too since not having it would make the place pretty useless, an attacker would have you at your knees after a few days otherwise without even bothering to attack the fort. Yeah, I am assuming the people who built a giant fortification probably were smart enough to make things as easy as possible for themselves. Giving each slave a bucket and having them run to and from a spring all day would be incredible stupid since even if they had slaves, they would probably be more use in the fields and handling the cattle.

[@Arkantos117]

Many of them probably had wells back in the day.

[@michaelschudlak1432]

There's a natural spring at the top of Tre 'r Ceiri Hill Fort in the Llyn peninsula and it's still there to this day..

[@Survivethejive]

Some very impressive hill forts! I visited six for my new video but few were as big as Pen Y Crug. Def think the upheavels of the LBA and EIA have something to do with the forts

[@lolliedeman]

Nice vid, always love your video's, Cheers from The Netherlands!

[@maxt-pi5ky]

Always a treat. Thank you!

[@timbotron78]

Excellent work, Pete. Very evocative. Much appreciated. Keep it up.

[@jakefenzl7759]

Wow a new pete kelly video and I'm catching it 12 minutes after it drops.

[@TheOttomann64]

Thank you very much. Great presentation!!!

[@kenijonesESQ]

Great episode !! Thanks Pete. Cheers from P.E.I. Canada

[@jitrpanupalarit2707]

Welcome back bro

[@DronescapingBritain]

Hats of Peter, you're the best!

[@BenSHammonds]

Protected villages, fortified if you like, are a very old idea, sitting on high ground gives them an advantage as well as having stockades, it is better to have stockades and not need them, than to need them and not have them.

[@loke6664]

Wow, masonry is very impressive for that time. I think you could argue that it was a castle ("A large strong building, built in the past by a ruler or important person to protect the people inside from attack") and not a fort since it was definitely the home of some kind of Lord. Well, if it was occupied year round that is, I know many hill forts wasn't. You really don't see many places like that in Northern Europe that far back. Usually it is "Cambrian Chronicles" that talks about odd places in Wales, it is pretty amazing how much things went on in a relatively small place during the iron age. Great topic. :)

[@user-cp2ls1jo5c]

I don't think these things were castles so much as fortified proto-towns.

[@loke6664]

@@user-cp2ls1jo5c It really comes down to how you define a castle. One thing that is pretty hard to know is if the person controlling the land was living there or not. Even things that look like a castle from the right period is just a fortress if that isn't the case. You could also argue it is something like a settlement with a wall, like Jericho was way earlier. I did not say one thing or another though, just that I could see the argument for it being a castle. There were far less fortified motte and bailey castles. Or at least a proto castle. There is also a very good argument for a fortified village or proto town though.

[@paulmeilak9946]

Did the Normans ever put one of their Castles on an old hill fort? If not, why would the local geography of locations differ between the two?

[@PeteKellyHistory]

Yes. British Camp for example has a Norman castle perched on the highest citadel. I’ve made a video on the place that you can watch

[@jimmywong6905]

Pete is there any way I can make a one-off donation? Thank you for your content. Cheers

[@sc2320]

been a while my son nice one kidd 💯💪🏻

[@iamperplexed4695]

Private land is not impossible to access, as long as you don't ask permission.

[@ClannCholmain]

They were for before the void of the six nations. 😂

[@ahar7624]

It wasn't all bad...🤔

[@coconutfleetsleeper5717]

I'll refer to you as LORN kelly from now on! #segasunset

[@lexington476]

In the century since these were built have any of them been plowed under by farmers or built over? in times before people realized their historical significance.

[@Katastra_]

I'd be shocked if there hasn't been. Some of the mounds at Cahokia in Illinois (US) were purposefully destroyed by local farmers to make the land more usable

[@PeteKellyHistory]

Yes a huge amount unfortunately. Some survive just as a tiny fragment of a wall where once a massive fort is thought to have existed

[@MarkAbRobert-jv6it]

Such careless destruction in the name of progress was still policy as recent as the 1960's. A promontory hillfort near to me was half destroyed in the 60's. It's not as if they didnt know it was a hillfort either its recognised as such on the early 19th century ordnance maps

[@HollyMoore-wo2mh]

No .. the men and women are not gone. We’re still here … waiting. We are their descendants.

[@lexington476]

Have Hill forts ever been excavated by archaeologists?

[@damenwhelan3236]

Yep. Not often

[@PeteKellyHistory]

Quite a few have but there are just so many that the resources aren't there to investigate all of them

[@MarkAbRobert-jv6it]

Not all our hillforts have been identified either. Here in Lancashire for example there are a number of possible and probable promontory hillfort especially around the Preston river ribble area. Blackrod between Bolton and Wigan has been suspected as a hillfort but unless a chance discovery is ever found there we'll probably never know as its been developed over. An area there called castle croft was excavated back amateurs in the early 19th century and apparently large stone slabs where found along with apparent defensive ditches but there is no reliabke report left to us now and they tentatively identified their findings "Roman" at the time. The hill upon which the Norman motte and bailey castle stands I also suspect could have been a much earlier fortification but again I doubt anyone will ever without new technology figure that out.

[@ahar7624]

Some, but mapping them and conducting digs on possibly hundreds is just too expensive and a logistical nightmare

[@JohannesSHBjerg]

(perhaps try to be more “economic” w the background music. It’s rather dominating at times and interferes w your otherwise interesting words. You’re not making music videos or …)

[@George-yh4vr]

💯 'promo sm'

[@skyedog24]

How dare those modern people stopp you from completing your mission on the hill forts of England. 😡 Over the millennia these people have no more rights to them than we do to the land that the Indians lived on.