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Wales Fact and Fiction |
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DeceangliAlso known as Decangi, Deceangeli, Deceangi, Cangi and Ceangi, the Deceangli had no real governement but they did have a tribal capital, Canovium, which late became the civitas capital They were probably under military government like their welsh based neighbours, the Ordovices after the campaign of Agricola in 78AD. The extent of their tibal terrirories lay in the extreme northern coastal area of Wales; north west and north east Clwyd and northern Gwynedd. The Deceangli were the peoples of what is today north Wales and probably included the peoples who lived on the Isle of Anglesey. The Romans considered Anglesey, or Mona as they and the locals at the time called it, as a stronghold of the Druids. Because the Druids played an important role in encouraging the recently conquered Britons to resist the Roman Conquers, the Roman army specifically targeted Anglesey for destruction. On the eve of Boudicca's revolt in what is today East Anglia, the Roman Army has only just completed the long and difficult task of conquering the tribes living in the Welsh Mountains. The final episode of that conquest was the invasion of Anglesey and the slaughter of the Druids there. Like the Ordovician, the Deceangli lived mainly in hillforts, notably in a series of settlements along the entire length of the Clwydian Range in the eastern part of their territory. From Moel Hiraddug near the mouth of the Clwyd river, they are in a closesly formed chain along the eastern bank of the Moel y Gaer river. Continuing west along the northern Welsh coastline from the mouth of the Clwyd, are Deceanglian forts at Pen y Corddyn, Conwy Mountain at the mouth of the Conwy and Pen y Gaer further inland along the Conway valley, and Dinas Dinorwig overlooking the Menai Straits and Mona Insula. |