Excavations have proved that this hilltop was the site of a Romano-British hil fort. This was built in the 5th or 6th century by one of the local “kings” who sprang up after the Romans left, probably Cynlas the Red.
Cynlas was not a particularly savoury character – he abandoned his wife to marry her sister, who he dragged from her nunnery. The monk and historian writing in the 6th century describes Cynlas as “the Bear, red butcher and charioteer of Din Arth” (Bear’s Den). “Dineirth” became the medieval name for the parish in which this fort is situated, a name still reflected today in “Dinerth Road” an ancient road running along the foot of Bryn Euryn.
