Caerau And Ely Rediscovering (CAER) Heritage Project explores the history and archaeology of Caerau and Ely, centred on our incredible local iron age hillfort.

CAER Heritage was awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to create a Community Heritage Centre at Caerau Hillfort along with accessible heritage trails, interpretation, learning and creative opportunities. The Heritage Centre is now open and fast becoming a hive of activity, host to CAER Heritage, youth work and a community fridge.

In 2020-21 over 600 people participated or visited project activities, from online zoom workshops and virtual ‘Ask an Archaeologist’ sessions with local schools, to getting their hands dirty with the CAER Big Dig where almost 200 local people did ‘mini-digs’ in their gardens to help discover the history of their local community. 

Our regular volunteering group ‘Love Our Hillfort’ meets weekly on Wednesdays from 10am to 12pm to litter pick, create pathways and clear vegetation around the hillfort. Their work has really made a difference – recently installed footfall counters at the site have shown us that over 18,000 people visited the hillfort in 2020-21, almost double that of the previous year. During lockdown, we developed a Heritage Food Parcel project to help local families during these difficult times.