Llanuwchllyn - Llanwmawddwy, an archaeological survey (original) (raw)
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.