Caer Caradoc

**Caer Caradoc** is one of the seven major systems in Moledom. An abandoned ancient System not lived in for generations, Marram and Alder explore it only to be welcomed by Caradoc himself, who claimed that he was the last of the Caradoc moles, or to be the first when the good day comes of the Stone Mole's arrival. He explains that moleyears ago, two moles, Bracken and Boswell had arrived at Longest Night and prayed by the Stones - a mole watched them as Caradoc watched Alder and Marram: Caradoc's father.

## Landscape

*(yet to be rewritten)*

Caer Caradoc (Welsh – *Caer Caradog*, the fort of Caradog) is a hill in the English county of Shropshire. It overlooks the town of Church Stretton and the village of All Stretton and offers panoramic views to the north towards the Wrekin, east to Wenlock Edge, and west over the nearby Long Mynd. On a clear day it is possible to see the hills of north-east Wales to the north, the high-rise buildings of Birmingham to the east, Worcester Beacon in the Malvern Hills to the south-east, and Hay Bluff in the Black Mountains and the peaks of the Brecon Beacons, to the south.

Caer Caradoc rises sharply out of a narrow valley known as the Stretton Gap. It is the highest point on a high, narrow, northeast-southwest "whaleback ridge", sometimes called a hogsback ridge. The Wrekin is a very similarly shaped hill and on the same alignment, some 10 miles (16 km) to the north-east. Caer Caradoc can be fairly easily climbed from Church Stretton but the ascent/descent is steep; a more gentle climb is from the village of Cardington, which lies two miles (3 km) east. A good way of experiencing Caer Caradoc is via a linear walk and include the nearby summits of Ragleth Hill and the Lawley.

The hill is volcanic in origin, like the Wrekin and other hills, formed of narrow ridges of resistant Pre-Cambrian rock thrust upwards by movements deep down along the Church Stretton fault. This fault line runs from Staffordshire to South Wales and can be seen on Ordnance Survey maps as a line of springs on this hill.

The summit has an Ancient British Iron Age or late Bronze Age hill fort. It is this which the hill is named after – *Caer Caradog* in Welsh meaning *Caradog's fort*. Local legend has it that this was the site of the Battle of Caer Caradoc, the last stand of Caractacus against the Roman legions during the Roman conquest of Britain, and that after the battle he hid in the cave near its summit. Others say his last stand was in the locality but that this was one of his fortresses.

## Notable Events

* Bracken and Boswell visit the great hill and meet Caradoc's father.
* Moleyears later, Marram and Alder visit the great hill too, meeting Caradoc himself.
* The hill is reclaimed, but fought over with the moles of the Word(?).
* It soon becomes a centre to the Newborns, otherwise known as the Caradocian Order, founded by Thripp from Blagrove Slide, who wish to change the way a mole might see the Stone.

## Notable Residence

### Immigrants

* Heron
* Plumb
* Rolt
* Thistle

### Visitors

* Arum
* Fallow
* Feldspar
* Madoc
* Maple
* Privet
* Rooster
* Skua
* Squelch
* Weeth

## Trivia

* Also known in Welsh as *Caer Caradog*, meaning *Caradog's fort*.
* The battle of the moles of Caer Caradoc in Duncton Found is a reference to another battle, in real-life legend, of the last stand of Caractacus against the Roman legions during the Roman conquest of Britain, and that after the battle he hid in the cave near its summit. Others say his last stand was in the locality but that this was one of his fortresses.

## Gallery

Caer CaradocCaer Caradoc hill from Hazler hill