ST2886 : Active Travel path, Gaer Fort
taken 3 years ago, near to Bassaleg, Newport/Casnewydd, Wales
This path is now a paved foot and cycle path aka an Active Travel route.
This is an earlier photograph of this spot Link .
Also known as Tredegar Fort and locally as The Gollars.
This is a large Iron Age fort on the western side of the city of Newport and is a noticeable feature which is clearly visible when approaching Newport from Cardiff on the M4 Motorway.
It is bounded on the west and the south by the River Ebbw and a railway line. On the eastern side, 1930s housing encroaches almost to the summit and it is also bordered by a 1950s housing estate.
With a summit at 91 metres and much of the adjacent land at about sea level, there are extensive views of the surrounding area and across the Severn Estuary towards England.
A local historian has written “Around the fairly flat top there is room for a sizeable encampment to be laid out, with an impregnable line of ditches and embankments encircling the slopes. A panoramic view in all directions allowed ample warning of danger and there was easy access to thick forests teeming with game and to the crystal clear, salmon-rich waters of the River Ebbw that flowed round the south western base.” (The History of the Borough of Newport. Haydn Davis)