Carboniferous Limestone
is a well-cemented rock of low porosity, and occurring in thick
beds. As they have prominent vertical joints, they can be easily
spilt into blocks for use as building stone. It crops out, for
example, in the Peak District, Mendips and Yorkshire Dales.
It contains most of the country’s potholes and natural
cave systems. Mostly, Carboniferous limestone is either a fine
calcite mud, precipitated from warm shallow seas, or a shelly
limestone, formed by fragments of animals such as corals. It is a
very tough rock, and is commonly used as roadstone, but can also be
used for cement making because it is often quite pure, and as a
source of calcium carbonate for the chemical industry.
The settlement covers an area of about half an acre and has been
dated to the 4th century AD. The site includes the remains of 9
huts, two of which are circular. Remains of hearths and the debris
they contain indicate that iron was smelted here.
This well-preserved and well-known complex of stone houses is
located within a stone enclosure on Anglesey. Its an interesting
combination of round and rectangular huts, which some historians
have suggested is indicative of an Iron Age villa. The houses stone
walls and defences comprise limestone slabs, standing up straight
on their edges. Some of these buildings would have been domestic,
others were workshops. Finds including metalwork, pottery and
glassware indicate a settlement which continued into the Roman
period.
The site stands on a low cliff and is worth a visit for the view
alone. Entry to the site is through a rectangular building on the
east side a barn which doubled as a gatehouse. Din Lligwy has many
striking features. In one corner are the remains of a large and
impressive house, a well-built circle of large limestone slabs with
steps up to the entrance. This was the principal domestic building
and finds here include a silver ingot, pottery and glassware
Historians suggest that the other round building in the south-east
corner was also domestic, whereas the two largest rectangular
buildings, in the north-east corner and against the south wall,
were workshops with rows of iron-working hearths and dumps of
slag.
The site, as it stands, is probably the result of a lengthy
period of development even the enclosure wall may have been built
in two stages for there are clear changes in building style.
To log this cache please upload a photograph of you or your GPSr
with the huts in the backgrround and E-Mail me the answers the
following questions
1) How many huts are there
2) Estimate the size of the biggest stone on the floor of the
huts.
3) What does the word Din mean
Any logs without a photo will be deleted
.
Directions Take road signposted Din Lligwy from roundabout on
A5025 south-west of Moelfre. After passing a Neolithic tomb, the
road widens and theres room to park here (about 1km from A5025).
Follow footpath past Capel Lligwy.