discovery & learning 2012

Foreword by Andrew Marvell Chief ExecutiveF

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Welcome to Discovery and Learning. This booklet briefly describes some of the work that the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust has carried out in the past year. We hope that this will provide a stimulus for you to explore the diversity and richness of the historic environment in South Wales.

The preservation of the historic environment depends on a consensus of support and appreciation of value by all of us. Two of the projects, Gelligaer Common and Arfordir, briefly described in these pages, provide examples of how the Trust is actively engaging communities in investigating and recording their local heritage. Other pages show how rich our shared heritage is, and in the case of Ynysfach Ironworks describe the remains of a great Welsh industrial innovation and how much that was thought to have gone can still survive.

I hope that you can make your own journeys of discovery.

Andrew MarvellChief ExecutiveJune 2012

Con

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The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Limited

Contents

A prehistoric sacred mountain at Gelligaer Pages 1-4

‘A landscape white with churches’ Pages 5-8

Excavations at Ynysfach Ironworks Pages 9-12

Recording Second World War Airfields Pages 13-16

Arfordir: Monitoring and recording our eroding coastline Pages 17-20

Discovery and Learning 2012



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1

A prehistoric sacred mountain at Gelligaer by Edith EvansD

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12 Gelligaer

Pen Garnbugail

Coly Uchaf

Maen Cattwg

Bargoed

Mynydd Marchywel

Simondston

Bryn yr Hebog

Brecon Gaer

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Key to conventions

Rock art

Standing stone

Cairnfield

Round cairn

Ring cairn

When the Register of Landscapes of Special Historic Interest in Wales was published in 2001, it included Gelligaer Common because it was 'a rare...upland landscape' which 'represented continuity of land use and activity from the prehistoric period to the recent past'. However, it's only over the past year that we have come to realise just how long the continuity has lasted, and how rare for Wales is some of the archaeology.

RIGHT: Gelligaer Common, an area rich in archaeologicalremains, has seen the land used from prehistoric times upuntil the recent past. Plan showing sites investigated duringthe survey.

ABOVE: Gelligaer Common - despite its seemingly outlook it harbours varied and plentiful evidence of humanactivity.

featureless

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LEFT: The original cup-marked stone photographed in 2011.

A prehistoric sacred mountain at Gelligaer

Last August we led a walk to introduce members of Groundwork Caerphilly to the archaeology of Pen Garnbugail - the highest summit on the common - and the area on its eastern side. This is the part of the common where archaeological sites are thickest, with Bronze Age burial cairns and cairnfields, the Roman road between the forts at Gelligaer and Brecon Gaer, and medieval platform houses and field boundaries. It was while we were walking between the cairns on the eastern slopes of Pen Garnbugail and the platform houses at Coly Uchaf that one of the people from Groundwork Caerphilly spotted that there was a cup-mark on one of the rocks. It seemed too good to be true, so we sent pictures off to Dr George Nash of Bristol University, who is an expert on rock art. He was enthusiastic too, so we thought that it would be a good idea to see whether there was more rock art to be found on the common and put a proposal to Cadw to carry out a community archaeology survey to look for it. Cadw was quite keen too, but couldn't give us any funding until the end of the financial year. So in March, the Trust and Groundwork Caerphilly assembled a bunch of volunteers and we went off to see what we could find.

LEFT: The volunteers find out about the cairns on the common.

BELOW: The cup-mark photographed fromabove (it is approximately 10cm across).

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RIGHT: The standing stone associated with the Coly Uchaf cairnfield.


Ground surface

Position of carved image on stone(see scaled image below)

Stone slab

0 30.00cm15.00

Obviously, in the couple of weeks we had available we weren't going to be able to cover the whole of the common, so we concentrated our efforts on Pen Garnbugail and the area immediately around it. All in all, we made a systematic search of about one sixth of the area. This search didn't actually produce any rock art, although we did record a small standing stone associated with the Coly Uchaf cairnfield that had been missed during earlier examinations of the site. However, two of our volunteers told us about a carving on Bryn yr Hebog on the eastern side of the common. This has a group of markings consisting of three small cup-marks and a crescent, and then a single cup-mark on another part of the stone. This looks very authentic too, although we still need to have it definitively confirmed.

ABOVE LEFT: Recording the new cup-marked stone on Bryn yr Hebog.

LEFT: The main group of markings on the Bryn yr Hebog stone.

ABOVE: At top is an elevation drawing showing the actual position of the carved image on theBryn yr Hebog stone, below it is a scaled image showing the three small cup-marks and crescent.

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ABOVE AND RIGHT: One of the other things we did on the projectwas to carry out a new survey and plan of the ring cairn below thesummit of Pen Garnbugail. It had changed a lot since it was surveyedby the Royal Commission in the 1960's.

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Displaced stone

Stony bank

Stone in situ (with obscured edge (dashed line)) anddirection of slope (arrow))

Key to conventions

Disturbed area

The discovery of all these cup-marks is very exciting. Although rock art is common in some parts of the British Isles, such as the northeast of England, very little has been found in Wales. In Glamorgan we have Maen Cattwg just outside Gelligaer village. We also have a few other places where pieces of rock with cup-marks have been found - one that had been built into the Simondston cairn excavated by the National Museum of Wales near Bridgend just before the start of the Second World War, another stone found in Bargoed in the 1930s, and two recently spotted on Mynydd Marchywel just north of Neath. So our two new pieces are a significant addition.

The other interesting thing is the date. Cup-marks are Neolithic, so that shows that people were visiting the ridge at Gelligaer thousands of years earlier than we originally thought. We have always known that it was a special place in the Bronze Age, because of all the cairns. We think it was a sacred mountain, one of the spiritual places of Bronze Age South Wales. It now looks as though Bronze Age people were merely carrying a tradition that had started thousands of years before, when people first started to leave a permanent mark on the landscape.

RIGHT: We went to look at MaenCattwg at the start of the project,so we would know what to look foron the common.

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‘A landscape white with churches’ by Richard RobertsD

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LEFT: Calvary cross socket stone (centre mid foreground) at Cilybebyll Church, nearPontardawe.

BELOW: Map showing protected and unprotected abandoned churches and chapelsin southeast Wales.

Goldcliff Priory

St Andrews Major

St Andrews Minor

Llantrithyd

Margam AbbeyPen-y-fai Pistyll Golau

Grace Dieu AbbeyLlantarnam Abbey

Llanfair Cilgoed

Neath Abbey

The four Welsh Archaeological Trusts have been working with Cadw for more than ten years on a review of all known monuments in Wales. After having completed the prehistoric and Roman periods, we are now dealing with those in later periods. A preliminary study of medieval and early post-medieval sites carried out in 2010 showed us where the main gaps in our knowledge were. Subsequently, Cadw gave us grants to look at monastic sites, abandoned chapels and churches, holy wells and some of the sculpture associated with medieval churches, to assess them and look at ways in which they could be protected for the future.

Swansea

Cardiff

Newport

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Unprotected Medieval Churches

Unprotected Medieval Chapels

Protected Medieval Chapels (Listed Buildings)

244metre contour

Protected Medieval Chapels (SAM’s)

Key to conventions

Bristol Channel

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Cilybebyll

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‘A landscape white with churches’

It is only recently that the monastic remains at Goldcliff Priory were plotted from air photographs. This project gave us an opportunity to examine the earthworks at ground level. At Llanfair Cilgoed, the Victorian church stands next to the remains of a monastic grange, complete with chapel. There has been some archaeological work here, but more could be done. A particularly interesting little church was St Andrews Minor near Llandow in the Vale of Glamorgan. Unlike its much larger cousin St Andrews Major just outside Barry, this parish church went out of use at a relatively early date and survives as a tiny little box of a building, nearly up to roof level. Around it are the earthworks of the churchyard and the village whose abandonment meant that there was no further use for a church.

St Andrew’s Church(remains of)

Church Farm

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Church enclosure

ABOVE: Aerial view of Goldcliff Priory showing a range of monastic buildings(centre left) and rectangular enclosure (centre).

ABOVE LEFT: The evocative remains of St Andrew’s Church requireconservation and consolidation to preserve it for the future.

ABOVE: A plan of St Andrew’s Minor Church showing theearthwork boundaries of the churchyard.

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Some of the most interesting carvings were originally part of medieval churchyard crosses. At Llantrithyd we looked at a decorated stone that might originally have been the base for a Norman cross - if this is the case, it is extremely rare in Glamorgan. Another rare survival is the head of a cross carved with the Trinity on one side and St Leonard on the other. Surprisingly, we found this at the Victorian church at Pen-y-fai near Bridgend where it had been moved possibly from Newcastle church, which was dedicated to St Leonard in the Middle Ages. Another possibility is that it might have been from a wayside cross, which would make it a unique survival in the county.

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Protected Sites (SAM’s and Listed Buildings)

Significance Value A Sites

Significance Value B Sites

Significance Value B/C Sites

Significance Value C Sites

Significance Value B/U Sites

Significance Value D/U and U Sites

244metre contour

Key to conventions

Bristol Channel

Mouth o

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Cardiff

Newport

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Circular base or socket stone, in the churchyard at Llantrithyd, with finely carved Romanesque pilasters (scale 1.00m).Delicately carved Trinity on the cross-head at Pen-y-fai.

Map showing distribution of ecclesiastical sculpture in Glamorgan - graded using criteria set for the project.

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We looked at ways in which to investigate these monuments, conserve them and present them to the public, for example through a combination of information panels and heritage trails. At some sites there is scope for projects with community involvement. At some major monastic sites, such as Goldcliff Priory, Grace Dieu Abbey, Llantarnam Abbey, and Margam Abbey, geophysical, topographic survey, and field walking would give us a greater understanding of the extent and nature of surviving remains within their precincts. In a few cases, we have recommended small, carefully positioned excavations to confirm details of buried remains.

TinternParva

River Wye

Remains ofTintern Abbey

Cistercian founded 1131

St Mary’sChurch(ruin)

St Anne’s Houseand remains of

St Anne’s Chapel

00714g

00713g

00717g

00718g

Medieval Monastic sites, Protected

Monastic Precinct

Medieval Monastic sites, Unprotected

Cadw SAM areas

Key to conventions

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RIGHT:

Remains of well head structure at Pistyll Golau, hidden in a wooded valley on theedge of Cardiff. This site was reputedly a healing well (scale 1.00m).

Tintern Abbey, showing church and monastic buildings, a site under Cadw’sguardianship.

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The precincts of Tintern Abbey, showing archaeological sitesand protected areas.

The monastic buildings of Neath Abbey, an important sitebelonging to the Cistercian Order, were converted to a Tudor mansionfollowing the Reformation.

Neath Abbey’s gatehouse is now separated from the rest ofthe abbey by industrial and urban development.

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Excavations at Ynysfach Ironworks by Rowena HartD

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12Merthyr Tydfil

YnysfachIronworks

Parts of the Ynysfach Ironworks have been excavated by the Trust ahead of the construction of a new building at Merthyr Tydfil College. The principal buildings we uncovered were the southern engine house and associated chimney and boiler house, a casting house, and, uniquely for surviving Welsh iron processing centres, a well preserved refinery building.

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BELOW FAR RIGHT: BELOW RIGHT:

The Ynysfach Ironworks as painted by Penry Williams c.1817. The paintingclearly shows the early casting house with the twin blast furnaces behind and to the rightthe northern engine house and two chimney stacks.

The northern engine house at Ynysfach. Restored during the 1990's and is aGrade II* Listed Building.

William Crawshay II (1788-1867), grandson of Richard Crawshay.Richard Crawshay (1739-1810), owner of Ynysfach and Cyfarthfa

Ironworks.

The Ynysfach Ironworks opened in 1801 under the ownership of the iron-master Richard Crawshay. In the first half of the nineteenth century it was used to smelt and refine iron whereas, its larger partner, Cyfarthfa Ironworks located less than 1km upstream of the River Taff and also owned by Richard Crawshay, was concerned with puddling and rolling the metal. The refining process undertaken at Ynysfach was also known as the Welsh process. This involved converting grey cast iron into wrought iron of the very highest quality. It is likely that the Ynysfach Ironworks were purpose built by Richard Crawshay for this process.

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Excavations at Ynysfach Ironworks

The early phase of the refinery building was also built in Crawshay's monumental tradition. It would have housed only two refining furnaces - a reflection of the production capacity of the blast furnaces and single casting house. The later expansion of the ironworks meant that the demand on the refinery increased and it was extended to support six refining furnaces.

1839Refinery

SouthernBoiler House

SouthernEngine House

1839 Blast FurnacesCasting Houses

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RIGHT:

Ynysfach Ironworks: the reflected here in the southern engine house and casting houseswith their well-dressed limestone quoins and arches, typical ofRichard Crawshays building methods during the earlier phasesof construction of the ironworks (photo c.1910).

An extract from the Public Health Map of MerthyrTydfil 1852. The Trusts’ excavations concentrated on thesouthern engine house, southern boiler house and the refinery.

monumental style of building is

This first phase of building work undertaken by Crawshay comprised a twin blast furnace, a single (northern) engine house and a boiler house complex with chimney stack, plus a small refinery. A significant expansion to the works at Ynysfach came in 1839 when Richard’s grandson William Crawshay II (1788-1867) built two additional blast furnaces and associated casting houses. A second (southern) engine house and a significant extension to the refinery building was also made. This expansion was clearly seen in the excavated remains of the site.

Our excavations exposed the remains of the southern engine house, boiler house, chimney complex and the refinery. In places the walls survived to a height of more than 2 metres. Many of the Crawshay's industrial buildings were constructed in a monumental style, and this is the case at Ynysfach, where the well-dressed stone buildings were finished with cut limestone quoins and arches.

NorthernBoiler House

NorthernEngine House

1801 Blast Furnace

1801Refinery

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Although none of the furnaces survived, it was clear where they would have been positioned and the remains of all six of the furnace bases and brick run-out bays were revealed during the excavation. Each furnace would have been fixed upon large stone and brick bases which joined to a run-out bay. These run-out bays would have held large iron water-holding troughs, one of which was found in-situ. Fitting neatly on top of this large trough would have sat a shallower trough to hold the refined metal as it flowed out of the refining furnace. The large tank below would have held water to cool and solidify the metal above ready for breaking up into manageable pieces, before being sent by canal boat, and later by tram, to Cyfarthfa Ironworks for further processing.

A complex of brick and stone built drains surrounding the run-out bays was excavated and these would have ensured both a cool water supply to the cooling troughs and the rapid removal of the water to the nearby canal once the water had been used in order to avoid potential explosion if it was left to collect around the furnaces. In the early phase of the works these drains were capped by stone, and later by large iron plates.

LEFT: BELOW:

A refining furnace base (left) with run-out bay and cooling trough (right).Plan showing run-out bay with surviving culverts and channels.

RIGHT: Archaeologists surveyand record the furnace base andcooling trough areas at YnysfachIronworks.

Key to conventions

Brickwork (underlaying)

Slope

Brickwork (indistinct edge)

Brickwork

Stone

Stone (underlaying)

Iron (Fe) plate

Iron (Fe) staining

Lime mortar

Heat affected area

Vertical edge

WaterN

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Water run-offchannel

Water-filled cooling trough

Iron spike

East wall of refineryProjected line of wall

Projected line of wall




Possible extent of housingfor furnace area

Water run-off channelfrom earlier phase of

ironworks (here obsolete)

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Parts of the supporting infrastructure - tramroads with rails, tie bars and stone sleepers - were also discovered. Some of these were for transporting within the works, others to take the finished product to the Cyfarthfa Ironworks and elsewhere.

fittings, rods, straps and rings were recovered duringthe excavation (scale 1.00m).

Ynysfach Ironworks: archaeologists excavatingthe remains of the refinery building.

Ynysfach Ironworks: the remains of the chimneystack (left) and the entrance to the boiler house(centre right).

Ynysfach Ironworks: stone tramroad sleepers.

ABOVE

ABOVE:

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RIGHT:

RIGHT: Ynysfach Ironworks: hundreds of iron

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Recording Second World War Airfields by Paul HuckfieldD

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RAF FairwoodCommon

RAF Rhoose

RAF Stormy Down

St Bride’s(No.6 Satellite Landing Ground)

RAF Llandow

RAF St Athan

RAF Cardiff(Military use of Pengam

Moors)

ChepstowRacecourse(No.7 Satellite

Landing Ground)

Contrary to popular belief, Wales was not a quiet backwater during the conflicts of the 20th century. Because it was so far from the Continent, it was ideal for many support operations. These included manufacturing, maintenance and storage of armaments, military training, and research and development, including weapons testing. The military installations included many airfields, which developed distinct functions and purposes giving each its own unique character. Fighter stations defended the industrial towns and the docks that were targets for German bombers. Training and storage units, which were tasked with the reception, storage and despatch of RAF aircraft, covered large areas of the landscape.

As part of a study of WWII sites across the whole of Wales, Cadw has funded us to survey and record eight airfields. All of these stations were planned in accordance with requirements, first laid down in 1914, that fabric must be dispersed to limit the damage if they were attacked. If necessary, functions could be switched from a damaged installation to another one on a different part of the airfield.

“The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion”. Winston S Churchill, August 20th 1940, House of Commons.

Area shown enlarged above

ABOVE LEFT:

ABOVE RIGHT:

RAF Fairwood Common airfield (red), shown on a modern map.The airfield offered protection to the whole of the Bristol Channel area duringWorld War II.

Aerial photograph of RAF Stormy Down, taken on 3rd May1941 by the German Luftwaffe. The numbered key refers to anti-aircraft gunpositions, direction finding equipment and other key target areas for bombers.

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Recording Second World War Airfields

Airfields were divided into the separate functional areas of flying field, domestic sites and technical sites. In the Second World War, they were also provided with close defences in the form of pillboxes and battle headquarters. Our survey showed that, at some of them, original structures still remained in spite of the way the airfields had been used for other purposes after the war. At RAF Rhoose, now Cardiff International Airport, a Robin-type hangar still survives, now used to house small light private aircraft belonging to the Cardiff Aero Club. Although this was a common type of hangar during the Second World War, this example is thought to be the only one now left in Wales.

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LEFT:

Robin-type hangar at RAF Rhoose. The original end doors are still inplace and operational. This type of hangar was extensively used during WorldWar II but the one above may be the last surviving example in Wales.

This pillbox at Llandow provided close defense against any ground attack(scale 2.00m).

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Alongside our other modern airport, near Swansea, there are also interesting survivals from when it was RAF Fairwood Common, a forward airfield for night fighters. The Flight Office not only provided office accommodation for flight commanders and flight sergeants, but also included pilots' rest rooms, storerooms and locker rooms. Sleeping shelters were built to accommodate 33 men of each flight assigned on night scramble duties, and were located close to the aircraft fighter pens so that during an emergency pilots did not have far to run to get to their aircraft. The internal space is divided into six bays, with two bunks per bay. The bunks still have their wooden frames though the wooden slats have been lost, and in one shelter the frames still have stencilled letters defining where each airman slept.

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The flight office at RAFFairwood Common. Large amountsof bitumen paint, probably used bothfor weatherproofing and camouflage,survive on the exterior (scale 1.00m).

Hardened sleeping shelter at RAFFairwood Common. It has a reinforcedconcrete roof and building bands withblast porches protecting each doorway.

Inside the sleeping shelter thereis space enough for twelve bunks. Theairmen were accommodated as close as possible to their aircraft so that theycould get into the air quickly during anemergency.

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The two-storey temporary brick and timber watch office at RAF Llandow (now an industrial estate) was originally laid out with the meteorological office, teleprinter room, latrines, duty pilot's rest room, switch room and watch office on the ground floor, and the signals office, controller's rest room, control room with telephone exchange above. Llandow was an ASU (Aircraft Storage Unit) station and a favourite structure on sites like this was the K-type hangar, whose main function was storage.

ABOVE RIGHT TOP: ABOVE: ABOVE RIGHT:

FAR RIGHT: RIGHT:

A K-type hangar, widely used at RAF The watch office at Llandow. The building is still in use as part of Llandow Trading Estate.

RAF Llandow: a Stanton shelter, built by the Stanton Ironworks Company in Derbyshire.Made of pre-cast reinforced concrete these shelters were able to accommodate up to 50 personnel.Photograph showing entrance (scale 2.00m).

RAF Llandow: interior view of a Stanton shelter.RAF Llandow: Stanton

shelter. Photograph showingexit (scale 2.00m).

airfields for storage.

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Arfordir: Monitoring and recording our eroding coastland by Ellie GrahamD

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The Gower

Oystermouth

SwanseaBay

Margam

Kenfig

Merthyr Mawr

Penarth

Barry

Broughton Bay

The 'Arfordir' project has been set up to get local communities along the Welsh coast involved with monitoring change to eroding archaeological sites and recording these and new exposures where they are under particular threat. Coastal areas have been a focal point of human activity for thousands of years, and the coast of South Wales includes sites dating from early prehistoric times to the present day.

The iconic Worm’s Head at Rhossili,Gower, which includes an Iron Age promontoryfort, flint scatters, caves and a deserted medievalsettlement.

Volunteers on a guided walk toBurry Holms, Gower, visiting the promontory fort.

A recently collapsed section of cliff atDunraven, South Glamorgan. Note the exposedarea of burning (centre).

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Arfordir: Monitoring and recording our eroding coastland

The earliest sites include caves inhabited before the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel were formed at the end of the last Ice Age. In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages the coast extended much further out than it does today and was occupied by small settlements linked by wooden trackways. Later on in the Iron Age some of the promontories along the coast were fortified and some of these were re-occupied by the Romans and also people living in South Wales after they left. Trade has always been important to the South Wales economy and there are many wrecks on the coastline as well as the remains of ports, harbours, landing places and defensive sites. Other remains, such as fish traps, are connected with exploitation of natural resources.

Volunteers learning how to recordhulks and wrecks on a training weekend with theNautical Archaeology Society (NAS).

Artists’ reconstruction drawing of how theSalt House may have looked when it was at theheight of its production - during the late 16thcentury.

The Salt House, Port Eynon, Gower: anexample of how people have made use of naturalresources, in this case sea water, in and around ourcoastal areas.

ABOVE LEFT:

LEFT:

BELOW:

Volunteers have been given specific training in how to identify archaeological

sites, monitor and record change and make proper notification as well as partaking in some excavation and

recording of particularly threatened sites. This has included specialist training by

the Nautical Archaeology Society on the recording of hulks.

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It would be impossible for existing agencies to monitor the constant change. However, with training, volunteers have already been able to make important contributions to the understanding, recording, and protection of our coastal heritage. Those who visit their coastline regularly are already familiar with the landscape, and are perfectly placed to help us. So far we have supported the establishment of groups working in Gower, Swansea Bay, and around Margam, Kenfig and Merthyr Mawr. In 2012 we will be expanding the programme along the Vale of Glamorgan coastline to Penarth and Barry.

The South Wales coastline is varied with many different environments: saltmarshes; sand dunes; peat shelves; cliffs. It is very vulnerable to erosion. The causes can be both natural (including climate change), and human - some of the things we do can have severe impacts on these sometimes very sensitive environments and archaeological remains.

GET INVOLVED!“Would you like to take part in the ARFORDIR

project and help look after your coastal heritage?”See the contact details and website addresses on page 20

Brynmill, Swansea Bay: this view of oneside of a ‘V’ shaped, stone fish trap shows anadditional structure (circled red) which was builtinto the side of the main trap. These traps wereused for hundreds of years to catch fish as the tidereceded, funnelling the catch into the narrow endof the ‘V’ and from there into an attached basket.

Whiteford Point lighthouse, Burry Estuary:the last remaining cast-iron lighthouse in Britain.

Cave at Broughton Bay, Gower. The earliestevidence for human occupation during the Ice Ageis found at some of the caves around the Gowercoast.

Volunteers take a breather at Merthyr Mawr.

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LEFT:

BELOW:

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Some of the new discoveries are featured in the pictures accompanying this article. These include parts of a possible medieval building eroding out of the dunes at Broughton Bay in northwest Gower, and the remains of a prehistoric trackway in Swansea Bay excavated by volunteers with professional supervision in February 2012.

Key to conventions

Coarse conglomerate

Medium conglomerate

Dark sandstone

Light/medium sandstone

Sand

0 0.50 1.00m

002

003

(001)

Northeast Southwest

0 1.00 2.00m

N

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Timbers overlaying

Timbers underlaying

Position of cut marks

Vertical timbers

Key to conventionsThe project has a dedicated website

including contact information and supporting resources

Reports on previous works can also be found online

and there are links to similar projects in Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom. Further information can also be found on

the Arfordir blog

and some pictures are hosted on Flickr

http://www.ggat.org.uk/arfordir/enter.html

http://www.ggat.org.uk/arfordir/resources.html

http://www.ggat.org.uk/arfordir/slideshow/archive.html

http://arfordir.wordpress.com/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/arfordir/

ABOVE LEFT:

ABOVE:

FAR LEFT:

LEFT:

Possible remains of a medieval buildingat Broughton Bay, Gower (scale 1.00m).

The remains are recorded using surveying,photographic and written record techniques whichwill eventually form a detailed report.

The eastern area of the trackway, whichwas sophisticated in its construction, with uprighttimbers anchoring the structure and included possible repairs to the surface. Timber trackways werebuilt where the ground was very boggy, so that peoplecould walk to hunting and fishing grounds.

Prehistoric trackway discovered at Oystermouth,Swansea Bay. This photograph shows the eastern areaof trackway which, at over 3 metres wide, with a cleardepression in the middle of it, suggests it saw quite heavytraffic.



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discovery & learning 2012

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