CADW has been asked to help cover the costs of maintaining Pen Dinas hillfort, Ceredigion County Council has announced.

Following warnings that recent archaeological finds at the site were at risk of being undermined by a lack of regular maintenance, the council, which owns the land, has confirmed it has applied for funding from the Welsh Government’s historic environment service.

Following a first-ever geophysical survey earlier this year, Pen Dinas, which was previously understood to have been first inhabited by people during the Iron Age, was found to date back to the Bronze Age after a ‘burial mound’ indicated it would have been inhabited between 1200 and 700 BC.

But members of the Penparcau History and Heritage Group were joined by Simon Thomas AM and Ben Lake MP in calling for a “management plan” to secure the future of the hillfort as a site of historic and natural interest due to overgrown vegetation.

A council spokesperson told the Cambrian News this week that it manages three other local nature reserves and six wildlife sites in the county and has asked Cadw for help to fund “further winter clearance work” on Pen Dinas, which may be complicated by the need for a badger survey.

“In January 2016, the council employed contractors to clear bracken and scrub from the summit and large area of the hillfort,” a council spokesperson said.

“This enabled a walk-over geophysical survey to be undertaken in the early spring and which was undertaken by archaeologists on behalf and with the involvement of the Penparcau Community Forum.

“To continue with this, an application for grant funding has been submitted to Cadw by the council for further winter clearance work and to supplement its own limited budget for this site.”

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