CAER Heritage

CAER Heritage Welcome to the Caerau And Ely Rediscovering (CAER) Heritage Project page. Find out more about the archaeology of Caerau and Ely and upcoming events.

Did you know that the beautiful church of St Mary’s is not the only thing to make Caerau Hill so special? The church itself is actually standing within one of the largest and best preserved Iron Age hillforts in South Wales. Hillforts are large defended settlements, fortified by massive banks and ditches (ramparts), and built more than 2,000 years ago. Today the ramparts of Caerau hillfort are hid

den beneath trees, but it was once a stronghold of the powerful Silurian tribe who inhabited this part of Wales before the arrival of the Romans. This is a really special place, full of rich history that we know so little about. Archaeologists from Cardiff University have teamed up with local residents, Ely and Caerau Communities First and the local schools to start the CAER (Caerau And Ely Rediscovering) Heritage Project to explore the fascinating history of Ely and Caerau, focussing on Caerau hillfort.

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 8 - The rain came back and although the MET office said it would pass, it definitely did n...
17/06/2026

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 8 - The rain came back and although the MET office said it would pass, it definitely did not! Very wet on site but still a few nice finds coming up, especially a lot of Bronze Age flint objects. Please let the sun come back for our school visits tomorrow!!!

17/06/2026

We’ll be at the CAER Heritage Open Day on Saturday 27 June!⛏

We’re excited to be part of Caer Heritage’s annual Open Day – a chance to explore the amazing archaeology and history of Caerau Hillfort and Trelai Park. The day includes activities, trails, exhibitions and plenty of opportunities to learn about the community led work happening across these important heritage sites.

If you’re heading along, make sure to pop by the Flat Holm stand. Come say hello, chat to the team and find out what’s happening on the island this year.

We’d love to see you there.😄

CAER Heritage Flat Holm Island Society
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Byddwn yn Niwrnod Agored Treftadaeth CAER ar ddydd Sadwrn 27 Mehefin!⛏

Rydym yn llawn cyffro i fod yn rhan o Ddiwrnod Agored blynyddol Treftadaeth Caer – cyfle i archwilio archaeoleg a hanes anhygoel Bryngaer Caerau a Pharc Trelái. Mae'r diwrnod yn cynnwys gweithgareddau, llwybrau, arddangosfeydd a digon o gyfleoedd i ddysgu am y gwaith a arweinir gan y gymuned sy'n digwydd ar draws y safleoedd treftadaeth pwysig hyn.

Os ydych chi'n dod, gwnewch yn siŵr eich bod yn dod heibio i stondin Ynys Echni. Dewch i ddweud helo, sgwrsio â'r tîm a darganfod beth sy'n digwydd ar yr ynys eleni.

Byddem wrth ein bodd yn eich gweld chi yno.😄

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 7 - What a lovely day on site. First school visits of the year (thank you Pencaerau and Br...
16/06/2026

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 7 - What a lovely day on site. First school visits of the year (thank you Pencaerau and Brynmawr) and we're finally digging some nice archaeology! Find of the day, a very large worked stone by Kevin, and very proud he looks of it too!!

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 6 - Well, a bit of sun at last. The site emerged from all that wet weather and we're down ...
15/06/2026

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 6 - Well, a bit of sun at last. The site emerged from all that wet weather and we're down onto the archaeology now where we left it last year. Star find so far - not Bronze Age at all, but the back of a WW2 mortar, a remnant of the Home Guard training in the park perhaps!

Digging Trelai Park, Day 5 - More rain, very wet and muddy on site today, but we started to get lots done. Thanks to eve...
12/06/2026

Digging Trelai Park, Day 5 - More rain, very wet and muddy on site today, but we started to get lots done. Thanks to everyone who has helped this week, and some fantastic volunteers, especially Claire and Lizzie today who found our first flints of the year!

Only a few brave souls on site today before we were completely rained off. A visit to St Fagans was great though as we g...
11/06/2026

Only a few brave souls on site today before we were completely rained off. A visit to St Fagans was great though as we got to experience a reconstructed roundhouse that's not too dissimilar to the ones we're excavating in the park! Hopefully back on site properly tomorrow as long as the rain holds off. Here's a few images and some nice aerials by Viv showing the site emerging!

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 3 - Finally managed to remove all of the backfill from last year's trench (well done Tom!)...
10/06/2026

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 3 - Finally managed to remove all of the backfill from last year's trench (well done Tom!). Lots of cleaning to do to get the site looking great. Loads of volunteers on site helping out - thank you all of you! Also a few nice finds - I promised a photo of the limestone tempered possible Late Iron Age pottery, and I've also included a couple of nice flints from today...lots more to come!

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 2 - slow going today, still lots of backfill from last year to get out with the machine. A...
09/06/2026

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 2 - slow going today, still lots of backfill from last year to get out with the machine. A few drops of rain at times too, but one or two finds coming up already. Star piece (I'll photo tomorrow) a possible sherd of Iron Age pottery on a Bronze Age site! Oh, and Claire's brownies were top!

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 1 - and we're back again! Rain cleared up and we managed to re-excavate about half of last...
08/06/2026

Digging Trelai Park 2026, Day 1 - and we're back again! Rain cleared up and we managed to re-excavate about half of last year's trench. Lots of exciting discoveries to come again this year we hope!

What a lovely and buzzing Love Our Hillfort session this morning! 🐝 The garden looked incredible in the sunshine today, ...
27/05/2026

What a lovely and buzzing Love Our Hillfort session this morning! 🐝 The garden looked incredible in the sunshine today, thanks to the mighty efforts of our volunteers! 💪 The centre smelled incredible with the smell of fresh cookies and cakes being baked to keep us going whilst some of us created absolutely beautiful pieces of heritage themed art and as we finished cleaning some of the final pieces of Bronze Age pottery from last years excavation 🏺 Just in time for us to go and find some more in a few weeks time! 🪏 Thank you so much everyone for making the CAER Centre a wonderful place to be! 🧡

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