Llandrindod Common
The largest known group of Roman practice camps on the common S of Llandrindod, associated with the fort of Castell Collen N of the present town. In 1811 18 camps of roughly square shape were found on the common; they were recognized as practice camps in 1936 when other parallels had become available. The camps can be divided into four major groups: the first has been destroyed by the growth of the modern town, the second lies on its S edge, while the third and fourth are farther S on the common.
Camps VI-XIV form the third and most important group on the highest part of the area. All lie on the E side of the road running S from Castell Collen. They vary in size from 14 to 30 m square and, although most are badly damaged, they exhibit certain common features. There were four tituli (short ditch protecting the entrance) at each camp, with the exception of Camp XIV, where an inturned clavicula appears to have been combined with each titulus. Structurally little is known about the camps. The ramparts varied between 3 and 4.5 m in thickness, with a narrow berm in front of a single ditch 1.5-2 m wide. By analogy with other examples the ramparts were principally composed of turf with an admixture of earth. Of the 18 camps originally recorded only nine are still visible; five have been destroyed and four are visible only as crop marks from the air.
BIBLIOGRAPHYG.D.B. Jones, The Roman Frontier in Wales (1969) 126ffMP; C. M. Daniels & Jones, “The Roman Camps on Llandrindod Common,” Archaeologia Cambrensis 118 (1969) 125ffPI.
G.D.B. JONES