Researchers say where ruins now stand was once an ancient deer park where royals hunted.
The 13th century deer park is in Brynkir in North Wales, and was discovered during a dig led by Cardiff University.
Locating the park gives more context to how people--in this case, royals--lived during the Medieval period, according to the researchers.
“The importance of Brynkir has been re-emphasized by the work undertaken by Cardiff University,” according to a recent university newsletter. “The former Royal deer park of the native Welsh Princes, set within a far larger landscape designed for hunting and other sports, illustrates how much there is still to learn about the lives of the Princes.”
Mark Baker, the project leader, told BBC that “The park seems to be an egg-shape field, with a narrow area where the deer were tended to, and a wider part into which they were released for hunts.”
Baker said that it gives mroe insight into the rule of Llywelyn the Great, who was the ruler of much of Wales until his death in 1240.
“We know very well about Llywelyn the Great’s formidable reputation as a warrior, but what this find is re-emphasising is that he was also an adept diplomat,” added Mr Baker, whose PhD research is being funded by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.
“A park like this would most likely have been used for entertaining and forging alliances. We’re hoping that August’s dig will help to tell us more about how, and who they were with.”
The university and archaeologists will further study the park, using a geophysical survey.
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