The Research Fund exists for the encouragement of research within the field of the Association’s interest. Its scope includes travel, fieldwork, excavation and associated scientific services, historical research, and other appropriate forms of assistance such as photography, photocopying, typing, and preparation of drawings for publication.
Applicants for grants are reminded that they will not be considered by the Trustees until their two referees have sent in their references to the General Secretary.
Awards are normally in the region of £500 to £2500 and are restricted to projects connected directly or indirectly with Wales and the Marches. Completed forms should be returned by 15th October at the latest, and references by 25th October, for consideration by Trustees at their meeting in early November. Late applications may be submitted before the beginning of January, but will only be considered if funds have not been fully allocated.
Application form in Word format.
Application form in Adobe Acrobat format.
Please email the completed application form and references to the CAA General Secretary, Mrs Heather James, at h.james443@gmail.com.
A hard copy of the application will also be appreciated, and should be posted to the General Secretary at the following address: Braemar, Llangunnor Road Carmarthen SA31 2PB.
Grants awarded during 2024
Abbey Cwmhir Heritage Trust towards publication of a report on recent work on the Abbey, following text approval by the Strata Florida publications series editors (£1000).
Barry Burnham for radio-carbon dates from excavations at Caer Cadwgan hillfort, Ceredigion (£2000) .
Eurig Davies for dendrochronological dates from 2 late medieval Carmarthenshire houses (£2000).
Paul Davis for more dendrochronological dates from early upland Monmouthshire houses (£2500).
Rachel Pope for ‘Situating Penycloddiau’ – assembling data on sites and finds in the vicinity of Penycloddiau hillfort for the forthcoming excavation report (£1000).
Yingying Yan for recording and making digital 3D models of Welsh Coracles from the now dispersed ISCA maritime collection (£1000).
Grants awarded during 2023
Richard Brewer for specialist report and drawings of Roman glass from Caerwent (£1,465).
The Clwydian Range Archaeology Group for the examination of cremated remains from Bryneglwys ring cairn, and select samples for radiocarbon dating (£2,000).
Oliver Davis for the identification of five bone and charcoal samples from Trelai Park, Cardiff, for radiocarbon dating (£1,890).
Paul Davis for the selection of samples from post medieval houses in upland Monmouthshire, for dendrochronological dating (£2,500).
Katie Hemer to support a research assistant on imaging and data analysis of infant burials from St Patrick’s Chapel, Whitesands Bay, St Davids (£2,000).
Grants awarded during 2022
Caroline Kerkham for obtaining digital scans and archival prints from the National Library of Wales for a major volume on Welsh garden history (£483).
Katie Fallace for travel to and accommodation at Simon Fraser University, Canada to undertake specialized isotope examination of human bones from an early medieval cemetery in south Wales (£2,000).
Mike Parker Pearson towards the costs of excavations at Ffynnongroes, as part of the Origins of Stonehenge project (£2,000).
Andrew Seaman for Fonmon Castle for four radiocarbon dates, as part of the Fonmon Castle Landscape Archaeology Project (£1,344).
Grants awarded during 2021
Emma Wager was awarded £2000 towards the costs of preparing for publication a book entitled A Social Archaeology of Prehistoric Copper Mining: Community, Technology and Tradition at the Great Orme Mine, North Wales. Dr Wager has directed excavations at an early copper ore washing site on the Great Orme and completed a PhD on the character and context of Bronze Age mining at the site in 2002. The proposed Open Access book with Sidestone Press will provide an updated study utilising all previous radiocarbon dates from the site for its prehistoric chronology.
Martin Bell was awarded £2000 towards the cost of conserving 29 pieces of Mesolithic worked wood from wood structures interpreted as fish traps in the bed of a palaeochannel in the intertidal zone at Goldcliff in the Severn estuary . The structure is dated 5210-4912 cal BC. Following conservation these rare finds will be deposited at the National Museum of Wales to join other finds from the site.
Oliver Davis was awarded £2000 towards the costs of analysing a pollen core from Nant y Plac near to Caerau Causewayed Enclosure, Cardiff of Neolithic date. The sample site contains deposits from the late Glacial to the Late Bronze Age and has the potential to provide environmental evidence for the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition.
Grants awarded in November 2020 and February 2021
£970 to Peter Crew for Dol y Clocwydd furnace research and metallography.
Dol y Clocwydd, Merioneth, was excavated in 1986 and shown to be a well preserved late 16th century blast furnace. Newer techniques of metallographic analysis on the finds will enhance the final report whilst a magnetometer survey north of the furnace will reveal information on its predecessor – a 14th century bloomery.
£2330 to Professor Mike Parker Pearson for excavation at Waun Mawr stone circle, Preseli. The planned third and final season of excavation for which a grant was made in 2019 could not take place in 2020 and is now planned for 2021. Waun Mawr appears to be a part dismantled stone circle whose size is closely comparable to Stonehenge and is close to the proven quarry sources for Stonehenge’s bluestone and rhyolite stones. Stones from Waun Mawr may have been transported to Stonehenge.
£276 to Rhiannon Comeau and Steve Burrow for archiving data on corn-drying kilns in Wales on the ADS site, York. A detailed discussion and catalogue has been prepared of radiocarbon dated and excavated corn-drying kilns in Wales of the early medieval period. This corpus will be published in the next issue of Archaeologia Cambrensis. The grant enables supporting data to be placed on a stand-alone Archaeological Data Services site and thus be freely available to researchers.
£1000 to Jake Davies of Lleyn Sub Aqua Club to cover costs of a dive on the site of the 1974 discovery of an anchor from a Mediterranean vessel of Mid Iron Age date. This is designed to check for remains of the boat itself and has to be done in the short window of opportunity when the kelp is thinner. It is planned for March 2021 and it is hoped to bring this nationally important find to greater prominence.
£800 to Dr Gary Lock for radiocarbon dating of the Phase I rampart at Moel y Gaer, Bodfari. CAA has supported this excavation, which is now coming towards publication in Arch Camb, for many seasons.
Details of earlier grants will be found in the Archives section of the website and in the relevant issue(s) of Archaeologia Cambrensis.