The General Views of The Kanovium Landscape.

© Kanovium Project

‘The small Roman fort called Kanovium lies on the left bank of the river Conway at Caerhun, which is five miles from its mouth at a point where the water is still tidal and is navigable for craft up to 100 tons.  The site is in a broad spreading vale lying between high hills and is upon a promontory which juts south between the waters of the Conway on the east and tributary streams upon the west and south - thus making the position naturally a defensive one.  The ground here falls gently to the S.S.E. in a slope which catches all day long the sun so loved by the Roman soldier.’

 Willoughby Gardner, D.Sc., F.S.A  quoted from Kanovium Excavation Report Introduction 1938

The Roman fort can be seen bottom left, this is indicated by the prominent east and south ramparts, St Mary’s Church, the west half of the fort is bisected by the church lane and is viewed as a light yellow colour, in difference to the south east quadrant, which is dark green.  The fort sits on the slight promontory which is but 50 feet above the river Conwy, bottom.  This image looking, N.W. was taken from the lip of the east bank of the valley, a short distance from Llyn Siberi.  This private estate featuring several lakes is reached by a steep climb opposite Tal y Cafn bridge, but the road is only really suitable for off road vehicles.  The ground between the fort and river was once the site of the bath-house, and a dike can be seen dividing the area of Roman settlement from the river marsh, the marsh is seen to end far right, the site of the dock complex.  The promontory which slopes west and is divided by the Afon Roe river can be seen to  contain Caerhun Hall, now a college and conference centre.  The ground begins to rise gradually west, which is now seen to be divided up into tidy little fields, the results of enclosures, probably around the time of the Napoleonic War.  These modern field boundaries are seen to end at the high ground of Craig Celynin, and Cerrig y Dinas, right, and Tal y Cafn mountain, 610 metres, centre.  This area has less evidence of modern farming but was a scene of high occupation during the prehistoric and Iron ages, and was even the site of a fairly large Medieval township, Ffrith y Ddwyffrwd.  Cerrig y Dinas ‘the stone fort’ was actually a very small pre Roman period fort, slightly south at Caer Bach, was the site of an even smaller fort, this all indicates the Roman fort was sited in an area of dense occupation.  Tal y Fan ends at the Bwlch y Ddeufaen ‘The Pass of the Two stones’, seen as a sharp notch, the slope left is of Drosgl, a northern outlier of the Carneddau mountain range.  The pass was crossed by an ancient trackway, this was formalized by the Roman army for their road to the auxiliary fort at Caernarvon, its course, from Kanovium can easily be conjectured by this image.

© Kanovium Project Click this link to see this image in reverse

This image is looking S.W, the fort site is bottom right, a substantial marsh separates the settlement site from the river Conwy.  The fort promontory can be viewed, clearly separated from the enclosure land by the Afon Roe (centre) which runs N-S and partly encircles the fort site to enter the Conwy bottom left of image via a muddy reed grown creek.  Parallel to the Afon Roe is a smaller tributary, therefore from Pont Wgan to Farchwiel (right and centre) the gradual slope of the promontory is aided defensibly by these two minor water courses.  Of the fort we see the south settlement area.  The ground rises steadily west from the Afon Roe, the west part of Tal y Fan can be seen, but left of image the fort site is dominated by the characteristic cone shape of Pen y Gaer hill, behind which in the autumnal mist can be seen Pen y Gader, a minor  outlier of the Carneddau range.  The fort ‘Y Gaer’ crowning this hill above Llanbedr-y-Cennin, as with many hillforts seems to have been initially constructed in the Bronze age, and was re-occupied in the Iron age, it, like the two smaller forts north, and the hut groups situated numerously on this high ground will have been  one reason the Romans built their fort at this site.  While Y Gaer is only a small hillfort, the centre would seem to wet for occupation, it is a hillfort in the classic sense, which Caer Bach and Craig y Dinas are not, if occupied into Roman times it will have been a factor concerning the garrison of Kanovium.  It would seem the vicii at Kanovium are fairly large it could be conjectured the army moved the local folk from Y Gaer to occupy the ground surrounding the fort? Willoughby Gardner excavated the site and found no Roman period occupation, which was similar to the hillfort on Conwy Mountain, Castell Caer Lleon, but different to nearby sites such as Pen y Corddyn Mawr, Llanddulas, and Braich y Ddinas, Penmaenmawr.  Therefore we can conjecture either Y Gaer was derelict by the time of the Roman conquest, or possibly it was decommission by the Romans.  Y Gaer features an anti assault protection in the form of pointed stones inserted into the ground called cheavaux-de-frise, such an archaic form of warfare harks back to an earlier period before the arrival of the Romans.  Possibly it is foreign and not native to the area, though was also seen in South Wales.  From Y Gaer the ground rises steadily west to culminate in Carnedd Llewelyn, at 3484 feet, the second highest place in England and Wales.

© Kanovium Project

The classic west view of Kanovium Roman fort, again seen from parkland near Llyn Siberi, near a thatched summer house, which arguably could have been constructed simply for this view, zoom has been used here.  This image generally sums up the fort and should be compared to ones on the Airshots page we can see all four rampart sides, very clear and possibly at the original height overlooking the Conwy.  South of the fort, left, we can see the Roman road leaving the south gate, while the north road is basically on the line of the modern lane leaving the earthwork, right.  Above is Caerhun Hall, surrounded by luxurious trees, the autumnal tints being evident.  The levelled ground above the fort is now a golf course, though the remainder is  farmland.

© Kanovium Project

Finally the Kanovium enviroment, a patchwork of features both ancient and modern.  Top, the Carneddau Mountains, largely unchanged for millennia, this shows evidence of ancient farming and burial practices.  Beneath this land reclaimed from the mountain extensively in Medieval times but to culminate with the large scale enclosures of the late 18th early 19th centuries.  Caerhun Hall, once a private residence, sometime guardian of the Roman fort, now a college.  The Roman settlement, mostly extant and undeveloped, though the church can be seen to occupy a quarter of the actual fort.  The dike and marsh, the River Conwy, and finally the Llanduno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway, and the modern A470 highway.  These images are taken 150 metres above Caerhun fort.