Hey Pete! Archaeologist here, always been a huge fan of your content across all channels. I see the question you pose in the title, and I used to ask myself that all the time in Ireland. I'm not very familiar with CRM laws in Wales, but I believe it all comes down to funding, as it does everywhere. In the US, where I am working right now, most of the sites that are discovered are usually left alone, and the CRM laws are put in place so no one disturbs them. (Unfortunately, this isn't always the case, but that's a discussion for another time.) The point is cataloging and excavation are only done if a project takes priority in the general area of an archaeological site or if there is separate funding for research. Since I work in active oil and gas fields, every project takes priority, and we do field surveys to ensure that there is, in fact, a site there and that the project will not disturb it. We are not allowed to do excavations unless we have a sponsorship or in the case of an emergency, like a site being destroyed and data recovery must be carried out. Much of what is collected sadly stays in private collections, but the research of what is found is shared publicly. If I had a straight answer for your title, it would probably be that the local government would not take excavating the hillforts as a priority. If anything, more field surveys and other non-intrusive methods like LiDAR scans or ground penetrating radar would be a good way to get an understanding of the structure of the sites. I would ask around with some local archaeologists to see if there is a way to promote research in the area. My view is that it's important that we learn from the past and promote this knowledge as so much has already been lost. I'd love to hear more about the hillforts that you come across and your other adventures. Looking forward to the next video! 🤠

I spent many summer holidays in Snowdonia yet never ventured that far south so I missed this particular area all together ! My camping spot was Dinas Dille south of Anglesey where there is a lovely long beach, almost never crowded - I adore North Wales, now too old to return as I live in the US, but often 'visit' now via KZfaq, so thank you for your extending my knowledge too. A great video !

Wales, one of my favourite parts of the world. I would've like to have seen more of it.

This place looks stunningly beautiful.

I've walked that bridge with my children! It's amazing. Absolutely stunning, but I had no idea there was a hill fort there. I hope I can go back some day. My Granddaughter was born in Wales, I'm proud of that 😊

Nice touch with the dedication at the end mate. For me it was always the Malvern hills with my grandparents. We spread their ashes there after they'd passed.

Great video as always! And, hey, I’m an archaeologist! If you’ve got the funding, complete all the permit paperwork, and help me find a team, I’m game…😉

Loved this, i visit my parents in Tywyn 2 or 3 times a year so this gives me somewhere else to explore in the area, thanks

Thank you for another amazing video Mr Kelly. Muchas gracias

What a magical place 😊👍

Beautifully filmed and narrated, thank you.

Another Archaeologist here (Student).. The way Archeology works in the UK is mostly commercial Archeology. Commercial Archeology is funded by developers wanting to build houses and other industrial units on land of interest..

I have a shovel...lets do this!!

I visited Traprain Law last June. Similar hill fort of the votadini of the northern Britons at East Lothian. It was a typical June day for Scotland but quite windy, very windy on the top. I just couldn’t believe that people would live up there all the time. I thought perhaps it was a place of refuge in times of danger but no one surely would live up there permanently?

I went there this summer! Gorgeous place

Hillforts have fascinated me for decades and I've visited and researched a lot of them over the years. It's fair to say that not a lot makes sense about these particular constructions.

The quality of your content is always impressive. Well done sir.

Yay another chill adventure with Pete

Thank you! The spirit of the place envelopes me. Perhaps I may yet find out why I named my four boys Dylan, Iestyn, Morgan & Griffyn.

I went up there about five years ago and was amazed!

I so love your work Pete, I’ve passed your name and channel on to many and after all this time (since lockdown) I still haven’t made it thru all of your films! I have checked in on your brother’s films as well, Voices from the Past, but I can’t shake the connection with yours - this one is simply superb, the music or background acoustics just perfect. I do wonder though, why would these hillforts have gone to ruins? Where would they have gone? It’s not like anyone would have trotted off with chunks of wall!

Because its in wales we have many sites that remain ignored and unexcavated our history and culture is largely ignored for reasons beyond my understanding the amount of jobs our tourism industry could bring in ,also our historical records mention arthur ap tewdrig and arthlwys ap meurig even the battle site of baden is clearly recorded in the maesteg valley

Thanks for this, I moved to the area 3 years ago from South Wales, the Lakes and the ridge are a regular walk for me, I was aware there was something there, the location is spectacular, but you’ve filled in some knowledge for me.. it’s my favourite part of the National Park, the whole Mawddach Estuary is a magical area..

The area seems perfectly fine for a pastoral lifestyle so I don't see why farmers couldn't use it. Also the climate was slightly warmer at times during the Iron Age IIRC.

The Rhinogs are great. I spent 3 nights walking from Harlech to Barmouth across the mountains - what a place!

I lived nearby for a while in the 80s. Had no idea this was there. Must go have a look sometime.

Poetic and informative. Reminds me of climbs to hill forts in Ireland.

Magnificent place, so vast and green. I met a fine girl and fell in love here in the California desert 50 years ago she hailed from Tywyn, I dreamed of moving there to Tywyn with her for my happily ever after, Didnt happen but many fond memories. Wish i could connect with her now if she still lives in Tywyn. If Anyone has heard of her watching this channel her name is Maureen Summerfield, she'd be 67 years old now, she owned a pub in Tywyn at that time and worked on Princess Lines Cruise ships.. Great channel here, always connects me with my distant ancestors, Cheers and ciao, Craig Harald, Death Valley, California

Pete , Terrific presentation !! Often hung out there in early 60`s watching Castle class steam engines plough over the bay. Did not know of that particular fort however. Stunning location altogether and love the purple heather. You well know why it is not excavated. !! Funding , and precedence . What to know that is not already known. No shortage of sites here in West of Ireland with similar perspective though I admit that this one is quite special.

Thanks Pete this is awesome and really inspired work

thank you for another great video.

It always fascinates me how places that were alive with life for potentially centuries or even thousands of years are now quiet and remote places in todays placement of cities and towns. Another factor that strikes me is how much organizing building such a fortress must have required in order to build it.

Great show Pete. I spent childhood and young adult years n this area and saw a completely different place through your eyes. Nicely done

We have so many good hill forts and brochs in Scotland. You need a long holiday up here.

"we are left with our imagination". These sites are the best! Thank you for this wonderful moody episode.

Wonderful thankyou. Reminds me of all I miss about living in Wales.

Fabulous video. I never knew that area looked as stupendous as that, with so many ancient sites. That's even compared to Dumfries and Galloway!

This was very interesting and beautifully filmed. Thankyou. What a great thing to explore these amazing places.🙏🐇🦆👍

Just awesome Pete. Thanks for keeping the wonder alive.

Beautiful drone work.

What’s so beautiful and inspiring? The weather that shaped Wales. Rain and clouds and wind began in the Gulf of Mexico and traveled across the Americas, then the ocean, then Wales. Amazing.

You have a gift for doing this. Stunning visuals, great narration. New subscriber. Thanks!

Another great video, thanks! I notice you have shots of a map app labelling a multitude of historical sites in the area, and it looks really useful. A quick googling didn't turn up anything, would you mind sharing what it is you're using? Would be a great help for planning my own trips!

Really enjoyed this thank you Peter ❤🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Thank you for this. I very much appreciate your work.

Awesome content as per!

your videos are always very interesting

I wonder if one of the functions of such forts would have been to provide a refuge for people during raids by outsiders.

Very well done 👏 I greatly enjoyed it

Fantastic, one of your best.

Somehow I have lost track of your videos channel. Good to see you pop up again. This was lovely.

You murdered the place names but it is a lovely and impressive video :-)

An area of Wales I’m especially fond of. Have visited Barmouth several times when on holiday in Borth. Just a thought though about the weather in the hill fort, the climate might have been very different when it was thriving.

My thinking on the purpose of the hill forts built by the Celtic people was that they were primarily occupied by the warrior class and those tradespeople that serviced them, such as blacksmiths. The majority of people were farmers, that lived in scattered farming settlements. Due to this it would not have made sense to have warriors scattered about amongst these settlements. So I think these hill forts were situated in places that gave a good view around the landscape to allow the warriors a chance to see raiders as they approached the farms. We know from the Celtic Irish myths that cattle raiding was a significant part of a warriors life, and I imagine that the warriors in the hill forts would be looking out for these raiders, and being in a central point with the majority of the warriors would allow them to react as a group to fight or chase off these raiders. I also imagine that the carnyx would have been used to give an advance warning to the farmers as it seems like the kind of instrument that the sound it makes would travel far, giving the farmers a chance to either get armed or flee to safety. I don't think there's much evidence to support this opinion, but it makes a lot of sense.

Very cool ! Thank you

Thank You , I check once in awhile to see if you have a new video. I am glad to see that you are in your habitat doing what you do best thank you sir.

the UK has thousands of hill forts and most have not been excavated ..there is no threat so no requirement to dig them up and can be left for future generations to explore if they wish. Also in such acid conditions there will be very little to reveal beyond pottery and building outlines. The site has been surveyed and Coffin has a listing

You're eight when you say that place has a spiritual air to it. Enough to bring a tear to the eye.

"Little did I know" kind of sums this up

All your docs are great you have voice for it im imprest newer miss your videos and i love England all British island

This is a beautiful location and video.

I always wonder if those hills were as baren as they are now, or were there forest and other vegetation?

Haunting... a misty glimpse iinto a vanished world. Let it slumber in peace and pass back to the Earth unmolested. Let thosee secrets remain secret.

God bless you and your family.

Magnificent views or not they didnt live up there in winter unless there was constant supplies of wood. Seems unlikely except as a refuge and no where to graze large amount of animals during any seige

Top quality!

Divide of the Long Ridge or Hill of the Briton (Singular). The Pyebald or Speckled comes from an outbreak of Scarlet fever in thee380s AD which actually meant that Brith stopped being used as a description of the British because it meant diseased.

What a beautiful place. Thank you for sharing. I will honor with you, Jill, Gerry and Thomas. They must have been good folks. Craggy mountainous top croppings are indeed a lure. Indeed they are alluring. Many are they in the world. Ever word you spoke in this video rings true. I love to visit my own such places. How would you feel if you climbed up that summit one day and found it dug up and was teaming with archaeologists?... I wonder if you would be glad or sad. Thanks again :) Edit: Somewhat reminds me of a miniature of the Hittite Capital city Hattussas

Fantastic

Magical place

The weather was different back then, the top of Dartmoor was also inhabited then, today it would seem to be cursed to an eternal rainstorm!

Archaeology departments appear to be a thing of the past in the U.K.

I love your videos.

becuase nowadays you have nearly only rescue excavations, there is more than enough work there and ónly liitle stuff. Hillforts like that are for future generations with less invasive methods. excavation means also destruction.

No such thing as unfathomably strong coffee, THAT IS COFFEE!

absolutely gorgeous landscape . . . beautiful cinematography - and halfway in, still NOT A HINT regarding the title.

Nice vid and drone footage, showed off very well what can’t be seen anymore up close. I’m curious though, how much excavating could be done here? It looks to be built on solid mountain rock, not much top soil. Won’t artefacts have been exposed to the elements for too long and weathered away?

Maybe because you say it cold in winter they didnt live there but use it as a fridge for their food

Maybe in 50 years time the idea of excavation itself will be largely outdated, depending on how advances in scanning technology goes.

Mmm thats close to the route was going to ride up this summer. Am staying near Conwy but was thinking about taking the coastal road up! Suppose could do another day. Am coming from Coedway (Welsh border with Shropshire). Thats where we are from partly. P.s On Motorbike.

Maybe the new Time team could be interested in investigating?

Another great video, Pete. One day I hope I can go there myself.

Good presentation. Ideal fortress site no doubt. I have to wonder how would the ancients have kept warm - cooked their food or drank water. but it does need a dig

Nice

That was their safety spot

I lived there until I was 8.

Think out of the box. What does folk lore say? And, who, or what were they defending themselves from?

Interesting, thanks, but why are there no trees there? Sheep?

what are the red pink flowers

Historian Barry Cunliffe dates a definitive cultural Celtic beginning as circa 5000 years ago. Lectures of his are available on KZfaq. It’s really quite a groundbreaking revision of British history. Cunliffe ascertains a linguistic merging between an existing language of Britain and that of the Phoenicians in order to facilitate a lengthy tradition of trade that was to last for centuries. I suppose it might take a long while for people to accept these revisions, some will no doubt contest it, but this revised history is significant for many reasons. Significantly the construction of many megalithic monuments, including Stonehenge, should no longer be considered pre-Celtic. Celtic culture and languages were born and came to maturity in Britain and the Atlantic seaboard. More reason than ever to continue our fight for our native languages.

Does anyone know the age of this walls? Pete said up to 3000. That seems a bit to old? Then it must predate the celts? Maybe the celts built this during the Roman invasion?

Why not rebuild it? I'm sure it would garner a few tourists in the to and fro...

Is pared seriously "wall" in Welsh? For some reason, it's the same in Spanish.

Bryn Britt means speckled hill...

Something's are best left alone, not everything needs to be excavated to satisfy man's curiosity

Was that a plastic pint pot. No pint is nice in plastic

Wonder if it had a roof?

👍🏻

It hasn’t been excavated by archaeologists yet because, whenever they go there they are maddened by the locals who tell never ending backstories, and show pictures, before they ever find it.

"Why hasn't this epic hill-fort been excavated?" Retired archaeologist says... Aside from leaving something for future generations when techniques are better, the costs of excavating sites is significantly more than even 40 years ago. No longer just Basil Brown and three gardeners, the cost of new and vital technology has changed what is both possible and required of excavations beyond recognition. It's a question of money, resources and necessity. The fort isn't threatened so why excavate it when there are many sites endangered to the point of obliteration through immediate land development. Those are the sites where excavation money goes and developers make significant contributions. There's no money for a remote site that is entirely safe on top of a hill. Such research requires specific funding relative to a specific and significant research enquiry and who's going to pay? Have you checked the state of the UK national debt recently?