Welsh Fortresses Through Time is a digital heritage map and companion document recording 186 defended sites across Wales, from the Iron Age hillforts of the Silures and Ordovices to the concentric castles of Edward I and the late medieval fortifications of the Glynŵr era. The sites are organised into eight chronological layers, each representing a distinct phase in the long story of fortress-building in Wales: Iron Age and Prehistoric, Roman and Romano-British, Early Medieval Welsh, Norman First Wave, Welsh and Norman Consolidation, Age of the Princes, Edward I's Iron Ring, and Late Medieval.

Sites constructed by Welsh hands are identified throughout with the Dragon prefix and icon, distinguishing native-built fortifications from Norman and English works where attribution can be reasonably established. The map covers every category of defensive architecture — multivallate hillforts, Roman legionary fortresses, royal llys sites, motte and bailey castles, stone towers of the Welsh princes, and the planted borough castles of the Edwardian conquest.

Co-ordinates for all 186 placemarks have been verified against a reference overlay and corrected where errors were identified. The companion document provides a narrative introduction to each chronological layer and an individual entry for every site, drawing on the Coflein national database of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Cadw historic environment records, and the published archaeological and documentary sources of Welsh and English medieval history.

The map can be accessed at: https://tinyurl.com/Welsh-Fortresses-Map-Master

Graham Tudor Emmanuel · Kidwelly · 2026