About
Castell Henllys, near Newport in north Pembrokeshire, is the only Iron Age hillfort in Britain where reconstructed roundhouses stand on their original archaeological foundations, the product of decades of ongoing excavation that has made the site one of the most significant and continuously researched prehistoric settlements in Wales. Since excavations began in the 1980s under archaeologist Harold Mytum, the site has been progressively reconstructed based directly on the posthole and floor evidence uncovered beneath each new roundhouse, giving visitors an authenticity that purely speculative reconstructions elsewhere cannot claim — when you stand inside a roundhouse at Castell Henllys, you are standing exactly where an Iron Age family stood roughly 2,300 years ago.
The hillfort itself occupies a naturally defensive promontory above the Afon Nyfer valley, its ramparts and ditches still clearly visible in the landscape, enclosing a cluster of thatched, wattle-and-daub roundhouses built using techniques and materials consistent with archaeological and experimental-archaeology evidence for the period. Visitors can explore the chief's house, a smithy, a granary raised on posts to protect grain from rodents, and other reconstructed structures, each furnished with replica Iron Age tools, textiles, and everyday objects that bring the settlement's daily life vividly into focus rather than leaving it as an abstract archaeological plan.
Castell Henllys is managed by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority as part of its wider remit for the surrounding national park landscape, and the site continues to host archaeological fieldwork, giving repeat visitors the chance to see ongoing excavation and new discoveries feeding directly into future reconstructions. A dedicated programme of costumed interpretation, craft demonstrations, and hands-on activities — from grinding grain to trying on Iron Age dress — makes the site especially engaging for families and school groups, while nature trails through the surrounding woodland and valley add a further dimension for visitors interested in Pembrokeshire's landscape as well as its prehistory. Few sites in Britain combine rigorous ongoing archaeological research with such an immersive, physically reconstructed visitor experience.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Visit during the main Easter-to-October season for the fullest experience, including costumed interpretation and craft demonstrations.
- Allow at least two hours, more if combining the hillfort with the woodland and valley trails.
- Wear sturdy footwear — the paths between roundhouses and around the ramparts are uneven and can be muddy after rain.
- Children particularly enjoy the hands-on activities; check the day's programme at the visitor centre on arrival.
- The site is a genuinely active archaeological research project — ask staff whether any excavation is taking place during your visit.
- Combine with a wider Pembrokeshire itinerary, including the town of Newport and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, both a short drive away.
- Bring a picnic to enjoy in the woodland setting, or use the on-site café for light refreshments.
Highlights
Roundhouses on Original Foundations
Castell Henllys is unique among Britain's reconstructed Iron Age sites because its roundhouses stand directly on the excavated postholes and floor surfaces of the original buildings, rather than being sited nearby or built to a generic period template. Each time a roundhouse reaches the end of its practical lifespan and needs rebuilding, archaeologists first excavate beneath it, and the new reconstruction incorporates whatever fresh evidence that excavation reveals about wall lines, door orientation, internal features, or roof structure.
This means the site has effectively been rebuilt several times over the decades, each iteration slightly more accurate than the last as archaeological understanding deepens.
Visitors are therefore not looking at an artist's impression given physical form, but at buildings whose dimensions, orientation, and layout are directly evidenced by the ground beneath them — a level of authenticity almost unmatched among Iron Age reconstructions in Britain, and one that makes repeat visits genuinely rewarding as the site continues to evolve with new research.
The Chief's House
The largest reconstructed roundhouse, identified through excavation as the settlement's principal dwelling, gives visitors the clearest sense of Iron Age domestic life at its most substantial, with a wide conical thatched roof, a central hearth, timber-framed sleeping areas, and internal furnishings recreated from archaeological and comparative evidence.
Costumed interpreters are often stationed here to demonstrate cooking, textile work, or storytelling around the central fire, exactly as the building's excavated hearth evidence suggests it would have been used. The scale and craftsmanship of the reconstruction — built using authentic Iron Age tools and techniques wherever practical — gives a vivid, sensory sense of what daily communal and family life inside such a structure would actually have felt like: the smoke, the warmth, the confined but carefully organised living space shared by an extended household.
The Smithy and Iron Age Craft
A reconstructed smithy demonstrates the site's evidence for iron-working, one of the defining technologies of the period that gives the Iron Age its name, with displays and occasional live demonstrations of smelting and smithing techniques using methods consistent with the archaeological evidence recovered on site.
Craft demonstrations more broadly, including textile spinning and weaving, food preparation, and toolmaking, run throughout the main season, giving visitors hands-on engagement with the practical skills that sustained an Iron Age hillfort community. These demonstrations are particularly valued by school groups for making abstract curriculum topics like Iron Age technology and self-sufficiency tangible and memorable.
The Granary on Stilts
A raised granary, built on wooden posts to keep stored grain safe from rodents and damp, illustrates the practical agricultural knowledge that underpinned Iron Age settlement life, and reflects archaeological evidence for similar raised storage structures found at hillfort sites across Britain. The granary's design demonstrates sophisticated problem-solving using entirely pre-industrial materials and techniques, and forms part of the wider interpretation of Castell Henllys as a functioning agricultural settlement rather than only a defensive stronghold — most of its inhabitants' daily concerns would have centred on farming, storage, and food security rather than warfare.
Collections
Castell Henllys's principal resource is the reconstructed Iron Age settlement itself, built directly on excavated archaeological foundations and furnished with replica tools, textiles, and household objects informed by finds recovered on site. Ongoing excavation, led historically by archaeologist Harold Mytum, continues to refine understanding of the hillfort's several centuries of occupation, feeding new evidence directly into future roundhouse reconstructions.
The site is managed by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority alongside the surrounding woodland and valley landscape within the national park.
The Reconstructed Iron Age Settlement
The cluster of roundhouses, smithy, and granary rebuilt on their original archaeological foundations, furnished to recreate Iron Age daily life.
Archaeology in Action
Interpretation explaining the decades of excavation at Castell Henllys and how ongoing research continues to shape the site's reconstructions.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.