Dinas Mawddwy - Brithdir, an archaeological survey (original) (raw)
The Dinas Mawddwy – Brithdir archaeological survey was undertaken in 2012 and was grant-aided by the RCAHM Wales Uplands Archaeology Initiative. It covers 31 square kilometres of enclosed moorland in Snowdonia National Park, in which 555 archaeological sites were recorded, 20 of which had been recorded previously in the National Monuments Record. The earliest sites to be discovered were Bronze Age cairns overlooking the Wnion valley, close to which are three circular enclosures of uncertain date, but probably prehistoric. Well-preserved tracks across moorland were once interpreted as Roman roads leading from the nearby fort at Brithdir, but only one section of track can be shown to be medieval or earlier. Other suggested Roman routes are now modern roads and no Roman features are visible. Evidence of medieval and post-medieval settlement, in the form of building platforms and stone long huts, was found in several of the lower-lying areas, including close to the pass of Bwlch Oerddrws. In some cases these former upland dwellings are demonstrably the hafotai of lowland farms; in others the proximity of old field boundaries suggests that they were permanent farmsteads. Peat was the main domestic fuel in Merioneth as late as the twentieth century and evidence of peat cutting was found concentrated in several areas. A distinguishing feature of the peat cuttings here is the proliferation of peat-drying stands, which are found in the form of sub-rectangular outlines of stones or rubble-stone platforms, often on sloping ground. They constitute one of the densest concentrations of such unusual features so far identified in Wales. A scatter of ironstone workings on Tyllau Mwn, on the southern flank of Aran Fawddwy, comprises a rare example of surviving eighteenth-century ironstone mines in Wales. They were begun in 1770. A small unsuccessful mid-nineteenth century gold mine known as Red Dragon is well preserved in the upper reaches of Nant Maesglase. Extensive remains of four slate quarries are within the survey area, which constitute an important group of quarries for slabs rather than roof slates. They were worked mainly from the 1840s to the 1920s. All are characterised by deep quarry pits, underground workings, and the survival of mills and other ancillary buildings. Inclined planes and tramways were used extensively, much evidence for which has survived. There has been little impact on the upland landscape in the twentieth century. At Bwlch Oerddrws anti-invasion defences were constructed in the 1940s in the form of large stone anti-tank blocks which form a striking addition to one of the highest passes in Wales. The report concludes with recommendations for future recording and research.
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Llanuwchllyn - Llanwmawddwy, an archaeological survey
The Llanuwchllyn-Llanymawddwy archaeological survey was undertaken in 2012 and was grant-aided by the RCAHM Wales Uplands Archaeology Initiative. It covers 32 square kilometres of enclosed moorland in Snowdonia National Park, in which 308 archaeological sites were recorded, seven of which had been recorded previously in the National Monuments Record. Although only one Bronze-Age cairn was found on high ground, other possible Bronze Age ritual sites were located on lower ground in the valleys of the Twrch and Groes rivers, and include a possible ring cairn, burial cist and two standing stones. No evidence was found of the Roman road between Caer Gai and Caersws Roman forts that probably crosses here. Settlement and agriculture of the medieval and post-medieval periods dominates the archaeology and is most concentrated on the northern flank of Aran Benllyn, between Cwm Cynllwyd to the east and the Dee valley to the north west. Neighbouring lowland settlement is well documented in the medieval period, by which time the uplands were exploited as summer pastures, or hafodydd. One permanent farmstead was found, but other domestic sites are isolated small huts used as summer dwellings, or hafotai. The character of the landscape is influenced strongly by enclosures of the valley slopes in the post-medieval period, where ffridd place names are most common. By the eighteenth century sheep dominated upland farming, although there is a large cattle enclosure of probable medieval date. Until the mid nineteenth century the higher ground was grazed as common land. Two field banks were identified that might have formed the boundaries of sheepwalks, but the moorland was then otherwise unenclosed. The sale of common land is marked in the landscape by lines of boundary stones that separate estates in Merioneth from those in neighbouring Montgomeryshire, some of which are dated 1852. Nineteenth-century slate quarries were found on the northern slopes of Aran Benllyn. Aran Quarry incorporates both surface and underground working, and retains characteristic features such as workmen’s shelters, known as gwaliau, large tips retained by makeshift walls, and smaller trial quarries. Other quarries were small and must have served only local needs. Peat has been dug from the higher ground, and continued to be so until the twentieth century. A large number of peat cuttings were found in part of the survey area, the presence of which was indicated by sunken tracks by which means peat was transported down from the hill. The report concludes with recommendations for future recording and research.
Archaeology in Wales, 2013, 52, 140-141
Dinas Powys hillfort (ST1483072245) is the richest, best preserved, and most fully excavated early medieval secular settlement in Wales. The 'inland promontory fort' lies on the northern tip of a carboniferous limestone 'whale-back ridge' between the valley of the river Cadoxton and a narrow gorge known as the Cwm George in the eastern Vale of Glamorgan, 5km west of Cardiff (see ). The site was extensively excavated in the late 1950s by Lesley Alcock who recovered a substantial assemblage of material culture including metalworking debris, large quantities of animal bone, fine metalwork including pieces of British/Irish and Anglo-Saxon manufacture, worked bone/antler, iron tools including knives and punches, and an important assemblage of pottery and glass vessels imported from Gaul and the eastern Mediterranean between the late-fifth and seventh centuries AD (Alcock 1963). The subsequent publication became a seminal work of early medieval archaeology and Dinas Powys is often quoted as the classic type site of early medieval western Britain. There have been considerable developments within the field of early medieval archaeology in the 55 years since Dinas Powys was excavated, but the site remains unmatched in Wales and offers unique insights into the socio-political and economic conditions of early medieval western Britain. Nevertheless, major re-examination of the Dinas Powys finds assemblage and chronology , as well as a fuller understanding of the socio-political geography of early medieval south-east Wales arising from analysis of the Llandaff Charters (Davies 1978) and excavations at Llandough , has the potential to significantly transform our understanding of the site and its historic context (Seaman In Press). The 'Dinas Powys Revisited' project aims therefore to revisit Alcock's findings in the light of these developments and refine the context and chronology of the construction, occupation and abandonment of Dinas Powys.
This paper, co-authored with Dr Joshua Pollard of the University of Bristol, was another interim report on the Gray Hill Landscape Research Project intended for Archaeology in Wales 44. It followed on from interim accounts of previous years' investigations that had been published in Past and Archaeology in Wales (Chadwick et al. 2002, 2003). Unfortunately, the editor demanded a series of additional illustrations, including a detailed long section across the ring cairn that we had excavated, and how it fitted into typological schemes (something Josh and I were actually keen to avoid). By this time I had already lost my job with the University of Wales Newport and was having to concentrate on my PhD research whilst my other UWN colleagues were having to cope with the winding down and closure of the archaeology department at UWN; and Josh was extremely busy with his new post at the University of Bristol. There was therefore no time to make produce any additional publication quality illustrations from our field drawings, and so this interim was abandoned. Joshua Pollard has recently organised post-excavation analyses of soil and charcoal samples at Bristol and after years of moving around the country working full-time in commercial archaeology I may finally have some time to contribute to post-excavation work myself, so hopefully work can resume on the archive and we can publish the results of the Gray Hill project in the next few years.
West Monmouthshire & adjacent uplands, an archaeological survey
The West Monmouthshire & Adjacent Uplands archaeological survey was undertaken in 2013. It comprises eight discrete blocks, mostly of common land, between the valleys of the Bargoed Taf, Rhymney, Sirhowy and Ebbw. Covering a total area of approximately 13 square kilometres, the landscape falls mostly within the 300 metre and 500 metre contours and comprises open grass and heather moorland, with steep valley sides thick with bracken and trees. The survey was conducted by walking regular 30-metre transects and aimed to identify sites of all periods. A total of 318 sites was recorded, 44 of which had been recorded previously in the National Monuments Record. There are Bronze Age cairns that occupy the ridges, but they form only a minor component of the archaeology. Upland land management from the medieval period is represented by substantial banks, the earliest of which is an early-medieval cross-ridge dyke on Cefn Manmoel. The other banks generally follow the ridges of the hills and were probably associated with livestock management. Evidence of former settlement was found in places that are no longer common land, for example the long huts on Mynydd Bedwellty and above Cwm in the Ebbw valley that are sited on terraces above the steep valley sides. All of the survey areas fall within the South Wales coalfield. Large-scale exploitation of coal and ironstone began in the late eighteenth century, but most of the evidence for this, and for the deep coal pits of the nineteenth century, has been destroyed by modern land reclamation. Some small opencast workings of early date have survived, however, as do small coal levels of the nineteenth century that served a local market. Leats and reservoirs were discovered on the uplands that supplied water to collieries of the Tredegar Ironworks and Dowlais Iron Co, and to Rhymney and Victoria Ironworks. Associated transport networks have also survived in the form of tramways and a well-preserved inclined-plane winding house above Bedwellty Pits in the Sirhowy valley. The report concludes with recommendations for future recording and research.
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