{{Short description|Hillfort in Powys, Wales}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox ancient site |name = Slwch Tump |native_name = |alternate_name = Pen Cevn-y-Gaer |image = Slwch Tump - geograph.org.uk - 344523.jpg |alt = |caption = This level bench in the hillside is the southern edge of Slwch Tump hillfort |map = |map_caption = Slwch Tump in Powys, Wales |map_type = Wales Powys |map_alt = Slwch Tump in Powys, Wales |map_size = |location = |region = |coordinates = {{coord|51.946059|-3.37483|display=inline}} |type = defended enclosure<ref name="Coflein"/> |part_of = |length = 187 m<ref name="Coflein"/> |width = 242 m<ref name="Coflein"/> |area = |height = |builder = |material = |built = |abandoned = |epochs = Iron Age |cultures = |dependency_of = |occupants = |event = |excavations = |archaeologists = |condition = |ownership = |management = |public_access = accessible by public right of way<ref name="BreconbeaconsIronAge"/> |website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> |notes = }} '''Slwch Tump''', also known as Slwch Camp and formerly known as Pen Cevn-y-Gaer,<ref name="Lewis1845"/> is an Iron Age hillfort close to Brecon in Powys, Wales.
==Site== The enclosure is located on a hill composed of sandstones of the St Maughans Formation<ref name="BreconbeaconsBrecon"/> with an elevation of 807 ft (246 m), about 0.8 miles (1.3 km) east of the confluence of the Rivers Usk and Honddu in the centre of Brecon.<ref name="Coflein"/> The hillfort can be accessed by a public footpath which joins Slwch Lane north of the site and loops around the rampart.<ref name="BreconbeaconsIronAge"/>
==Description== The hillfort is smaller than the one on nearby Pen-y-crug<ref name="Lewis1845"/> and is irregular but roughly rectangular in shape, measuring about 187 m by 242 m, with a single encircling rampart.<ref name="Coflein"/> Samuel Lewis described it in 1845 as "defended by a double fosse, which is in some places nearly destroyed".<ref name="Lewis1845"/> Its entrance is on the north-west side, towards Brecon.<ref name="Coflein"/>
Today its form is somewhat obscured by hedges and trees.<ref name="BreconbeaconsIronAge"/> Within the hillfort area there are remains of abandoned quarries for building stone.<ref name="Cpat1173"/>
==St Eluned== {{main|Saint Eluned}} A small church stood for some time at Slwch Tump, marking the place where Saint Eluned was supposedly beheaded. Eluned was one of the daughters of the 5th-century King Brychan of Brycheiniog and, as a Christian, she refused a pagan prince's marriage proposal and fled from him. At Slwch Tump, the local lord permitted her to build herself a cell, where she lived until her spurned suitor found her. As she ran from him, he cut off her head with his sword. A spring of water appeared and her cell became a small church, which remained on the site, latterly in a ruinous state, until 1698.<ref name="Farmer2004"/> Before the Reformation, the spring was associated with healing and other miracles.
==See also== *List of hillforts in Wales
==References== <references>
<ref name="BreconbeaconsBrecon">{{cite web|url=http://www.breconbeacons.org/fforestfawr/community-pages/brecon|title=Brecon|publisher=Fforest Fawr Geopark|accessdate=17 November 2012}}</ref> <ref name="BreconbeaconsIronAge">{{cite web|url=http://www.breconbeacons.org/fforestfawr/understanding/archaeology-industrial-heritage/iron-age|title=Iron Age|publisher=Fforest Fawr Geopark|accessdate=17 November 2012}}</ref> <ref name="Coflein">{{cite web|url=http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/92032/details/SLWCH+CAMP;SLWCH+TUMP;GINGER+WALL/|title=Slwch Camp; Slwch Tump; Ginger Wall|author=J.Wiles|date=24 July 2002|publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales|accessdate=17 November 2012}}</ref> <ref name="Cpat1173">{{cite web|url=http://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/histland/usk/1173.htm|title=Historic Landscape Characterisation - Middle Usk Valley - Brecon and Llanddew communities, Powys|publisher=Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust|date=19 June 2012|accessdate=17 November 2012}}</ref> <ref name="Farmer2004">{{cite book|author=David Hugh Farmer|title=The Oxford Dictionary Of Saints|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cRjn9aC8zhIC&pg=PT56|accessdate=17 November 2012|date=23 September 2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-860949-0|page=56}}</ref> <ref name="Lewis1845">{{cite book|author=Samuel Lewis|title=A topographical dictionary of Wales,: comprising the several counties, cities, boroughs, corporate and market towns, parishes, chapelaries, and townships, with historical and statistical descriptions: embellished with engravings of the arms of the bishoprics, and of the arms and seals of the various cities and municipal corporations: and illustrated by maps of the different counties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XwOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA421|accessdate=17 November 2012|year=1845|publisher=S. Lewis|page=421}}</ref>
</references>
Category:Hillforts in Powys Category:Hillforts in the Brecon Beacons National Park Category:Brecon