Newsletter for 2024

To all Cambrians:

Best wishes for the New Year. Your membership enables the Association not only to organise our Meetings and Events but also produce our respected Journal Archaeologia Cambrensis and support our research grants and student prizes, funded entirely from the Association’s resources. We welcome suggestions you may have on how to develop the Association’s activities

Diolch yn fawr iawn !

Sian Rees, Chairman of Trustees

A PDF version of the Newsletter can be downloaded by clicking here.

This year we will be staying at the eastern edge of Wales for both our meetings. In the summer we will be in the border town of Hay on Wye where Sian Rees has prepared a very varied programme for us, from Neolithic tombs to medieval castles and churches. For the Autumn weekend Fiona Gale will show us the delights of Wrexham, where we won’t get too involved with the football, but we will able to see the new energy it has brought to the town, while enjoying the late mediaeval architecture and the 18^th and 19^th century industries.

Our President-elect for 2024-25 is Gwilym Hughes, Head of Cadw, Welsh Government. Brought up in Radyr, near Cardiﬀ, he read archaeology at Southampton University, and then spent 4 years in Zimbabwe, co-directing conservation and excavation projects at the World Heritage Sites of Great Zimbabwe and Khami. On returning to the UK he headed the Field Archaeology Unit at Birmingham University, excavating sites throughout Wales and England – including the unique Early Bronze Age gold hoard at Lockington in Leicestershire, and sites across Anglesey in advance of the A55. In 2000 he became Director of the Dyfed Archaeological Trust leading the team in excavation, conservation and research in the south-west of Wales. At this time, the spectacular discovery of the Roman fort at Llandeilo led to excavation for the National Trust. After 7 years, he then moved to Cadw as Chief Inspector and subsequently Director of Cadw. This varied career has given him a wealth of experience in all aspects of the historic environment from survey, excavation, preservation and site development as well as policy and new legislation. During his tenure at Cadw, several notable developments have been completed including innovative developments at the World Heritage sites at Harlech and Caernarfon Castles and the inscription of the Slate Landscape of north-west Wales as a World Heritage Site. In addition, the 13^th century native Welsh castle at Caergwrle came into State care along with, recently, Llys Rhosyr, in Anglesey, an important seat of the Princes of Gwynedd.

MEMBERSHIP

Over the Covid Years we lost track of some deaths among our members so we should record the death of Mrs Mary Richardson of Dublin in 2019, of Mr Wyn T. Hughes of the Isle of Man in 2021 and of Lawrence Banks in 2022, the owner of Hergest Court and Hergest Croft, with wonderful gardens and long histories, which we visited in the autumn of 2018. This year, in January 2023, we lost Don Benson, the ﬁrst Director of the Dyfed Archaeological Trust who had come to Wales from Oxfordshire and brought with him the system of Historic Environment Records which he helped to establish in Wales through the Trusts. The same month saw the death of Mrs Ruth Bennet Jones, a notable ﬁgure in Anglesey, from a family with a long tradition of membership of our Association. John Ellis Jones died in February. He was a well- known classics lecturer at Bangor University for many years, who sustained the Classical Association in his retirement. He celebrated his 80th birthday by walking the length of Hadrian’s Wall! Miss Marian Davies of Swansea died in October this year.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT

This report is based on the ﬁgures provided by Dr Rhiannon Comeau. Membership at Christmas stands at 502 individual members, much the same as a year previously. This ﬁgure conceals a number of deaths and resignations (most citing age and inﬁrmity).We have been very pleased to welcome 31 new members since January 2023.

Our membership numbers currently stand at 1 honorary member, HRH King Charles; 6 life members; 3 Gwobr prize winners (who are entitled to 3 years free membership); 16 student members; 388 single members; and 104 joint and subsidiary members. Institutional subscriptions, including societies, currently number 90, the same ﬁgure as this time last year.

As you will know, our subscription rates increased in January 2022, and last year at this

time, three-quarters (76%) of our paying members had paid at the new full rate. I am pleased to say that this year over four-ﬁfths of members (83%) are fully up to date at the new rates. Many of those who are not up to date, pay by Bankers Order and will have received a reminder with this mailing. Do please visit your bank, not as easy as it used to be, I will admit, and make the change! There is a form enclosed in this Newsletter.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEBSITE REPORT

Our numbers of ‘followers’ continue to increase across our social media channels which is indicative of continued growth, awareness and engagement. Posts that relate to oﬃcial CAA business e.g. Notice of AGM etc, are now bilingual as standard. News and events on social media mirror that of our website which is also kept up to date by Genevieve Cain as part of the general outreach of the Association. With the help of our past-President, Eurwyn Wiliam we are progressing our use of Welsh within our social media output.

Facebook: At the last AGM (Oct 2022) we had 857 Followers, this has now increased to 1,376 – which is a good jump. We continue to publish on a diverse range of topics, from the marketing of upcoming issues of our journal, news and events (and events of others), and online video lectures to name a few. On average we are posting approximately once a fortnight. However, for the Cambrians Summer Meeting we posted updates daily which garnered some good engagement. Twitter/X : By the count of the AGM 2022, we had 800 ‘followers’ and now have 979! Toby Driver’s personal Tweet (with the Cambrians tagged) about his recent walk and talk at the Autumn Meeting in Brecon was retweeted by Professor Alice Roberts, which is wonderful and positive publicity for us.

YouTube: We now have 141 subscribers – It is an excellent resource and library for all of our video content. Numbers of ‘views’ for particular videos are very good when they are made live and engagement tends to taper oﬀ over time, as would be expected.

EVENTS & MEETINGS HELD IN 2023 DARGANFOD – DISCOVERY

The year started with our online Darganfod Conference, a celebration of new archaeological research in Wales which took place on April 1^st 2023 in collaboration with Cardiﬀ University. As before, this event was organised by Dr Rhiannon Comeau with the help of Dr Tudur Davies and Dr Oliver Davis of Cardiﬀ University who was able to provide access to the University’s Zoom facilities, for which we are very grateful. Genevieve Cain publicised the event through our social media channels.

Twelve speakers provided a very fascinating and chronologically wide ranging series of talks on their recent research, some providing an overview of major excavations recently ﬁnalised, such as Parc Gybi; others adding results of scientiﬁc analysis of aspects of earlier work, such as the human bone from Ynys Enlli; and yet others giving news of new ﬁnds and new projects across Wales, such as the Late Bronze Age hoard from Carmarthenshire and the Fonmon Castle Landscape Project, to which the CAA had given some funding and which was visited during the Cowbridge Meeting last year. A longer account of the day’s lectures will be found in the latest (2023) volume of Arch Camb and recordings have been placed on our You Tube Channel.

The conference was open to members and non-members alike as an outreach event, and nearly 200 people booked in advance. On the day about two thirds atended, a good atendance for a free event on the Saturday before Easter! This biennial Conference is an important way of getting the Association better known within thethe academic community in Wales.

SUMMER MEETING IN SAINTES & SAINTONGE 17-24^TH JULY 2023

Longer illustrated versions of these reports can be found on the Reports of Past Events page.

Most of the 27 members attending arrived in Bordeaux by train or plane and we were met at Bordeaux St Jean Station by the organiser, Marie-Thérèse Castay, and then drove out to the airport and we all had lunch there. Marie-Thérèse had organised a mini-tour of Bordeaux in the afternoon. We visited the crypt of St Seurin’s basilica to see palaeo- christian sarcophagi, then remains of the Roman amphitheatre, took a short tram ride and ended up in the magniﬁcent riverside Place de la Bourse before we set oﬀ on the drive to Saintes. We were glad to setle in to the ‘Blue Nuit’, our hotel for the week, and dinner nearby at the Clos des Cours restaurant where we dined each evening.

Sunday 18^th June

We spent the whole day in Saintes beginning with a walk to the remains of the Roman Baths of St Salouine, the only surviving above ground remains of the bathhouses of Mediolanum Santonum where Heather James spoke about the important role bathhouses played in Roman civic life for all levels of society. We had an early lunch at the Clos des Cours and then walked down to cross the river Charente on the Pont Bernard Palissy and view the impressive ‘Arch of Germanicus’ – not in fact a triumphal arch but a gateway with two openings that spanned the Roman bridge where the Via Appia from Lugdunum (Lyon) reached the city of Saintes. A well-preserved inscription records that It was built in 18 or 19 AD by a local notable, Caius Julius Rufus, who also recorded his descent from his native Gaulish father & grandfather. There were special displays outside the nearby Museum and also at the large well-preserved 1st century AD Amphitheatre, our next port of call, since our visit coincided with the European Archaeology Festival. It was a very hot afternoon and we were glad to reach the cool shade of the 11^th century crypt at the Basilica of Saint Eutropius thought to be the ﬁrst bishop of Saintes. His rediscovered remains were translated to the 6^th century basilica that preceded the Norman church. A sarcophagus lid inscribed EVTROPIUS is now placed by the modern altar in the centre of the crypt evocatively lit and encircled by groups of engaged columns. We then proceeded up to the basilica, the whole church having been designed on 3 levels with steps between for liturgical processions. In the 19^th century the nave of the church had been destroyed – the area is now a car park! – but within we gained our ﬁrst glimpse of the magniﬁcent carved capitals, many with biblical scenes that characterise the Saintonge Romanesque. Many more examples were seen through the rest of the week.

Monday 19^th June

The morning began with a walk to the site of the Iron Age oppidum of the Santones; the Roman city was built below this elevated site, alongside the river Charente. Continuing downhill through the attractive residential streets with their 18^th and 19^th century townhouses we once again crossed the river and made our way to the Abbaye aux Dames on the east bank. Founded in 1047 as a Benedictine Nunnery it was richly endowed and throughout its 700 year history the Abbesses and nuns were all from aristocratic families. After the Revolution the Abbey church and its ancillary buildings were used as army barracks. We were introduced to the characteristic tertiary design of the richly carved and decorated west front and some gaps in our iconographic knowledge were revealed when we failed to identify the ﬁgures encircling one of the semicircular recessed orders on the main door as the Ancients of the Apocalypse playing their harps in adoration.

We then boarded the bus to head for Pons and lunch in the main square at Restaurant Le Francais. The square is dominated by the massive keep rebuilt by the Lords of Pons in 1186 after its capture and destruction by Richard the Lionheart. Its anachronistic crenellation was added in the 19^th century. The former bailey was landscaped by the successor D’Albret family and is today a pleasant park with lines of pleached limes and seats providing welcome shade on a hot afternoon. The ﬁnal visit of the day was to the Pilgrims Hospital built below the town in the late 12^th century. A vaulted passage way across the road links two buildings, one of which was where pilgrims to Compostella could rest and receive medical treatment. Part of the interior has been reconstructed as the hospital, the remainder contains a remarkable private museum with a whole range of artefacts found by members of the Mauret family. At the rear of the building a herbal garden has been recreated and it was there that Dr Prys Morgan was able to thank custodian Jean-Francois Mauret for an enjoyable and informative visit and an invitation to make a return visit to Swansea University where Jean-Francois had studied.

Tuesday 20^th June

We awoke to a wet morning after a night of severe thunderstorms across the area that brieﬂy broke the spell of very hot weather. Boarding our bus we made the journey to Aulnay along the Roman road, now the minor D19, which ran between Saintes (Mediolanum) and Poitiers (Pictavium) . During the journey Marie-Thérèse explained how important 2 classical texts – the Physiologus and the Psychomachia were to medieval scholars and clerics in their use of animals as emblems and scenes like the batle between the vices and the virtues, as well as biblical stories from the Old and New Testaments in explaining the iconography of Saintonge Romanesque decorative schemes. The 12^th century church of Aulnay is a World Heritage site and, being beter informed, we were able to understand the complex sculptured decoration of the recessed archways of the doorways and the west front. Moving inside to shelter from the rain, we had time to look closely at the superb sculptured capitals of the pillars supporting the vaulted roof between the nave, narrow aisles, transept and chancel of the church.

After a short walk to look at the nearby site of a Romano-Celtic temple , part of the Roman setlement of Aulnay, we drove to St Jean Angely for lunch. The weather had cleared for our ﬁrst visit of the afternoon to the church at Fenioux which incorporated Roman masonry and also has windows with stone fretwork of Carolingian date. After a quick visit to the tall, thin tower – ‘The Lantern of the Dead’ – in the churchyard, where lights were placed to keep vigil over the dead, we moved on to La Roche Courbon, surely a quintessential French Chateau of 17^th century date incorporating remains of its predecessor medieval castle with extensive formal grounds, gardens and water features. After a guided tour inside many of us enjoyed the return of bright warm sunny weather sitting on the chateau’s terrace whilst others, more energetically, explored the grounds.

Wednesday 21^st June

With the ﬁne weather returned it was a pleasure to drive out to 3 villages south-west of Saintes: Retaud, Rioux and Thaims each with a ﬁne Romanesque church. The ﬁrst two, of 12^th century date, are renowned for their ornately decorated apses. Rioux’s west front, with the by-now familiar carved recessed orders in a semi-circular arch above the door, has a central statue of the Virgin Mary in a mandorla. Inside there was an excellent exhibition of photographs of the corbels, several of the animal heads reminiscent of those at Kilpeck in Herefordshire with explanations of their emblematic meanings. Thaims shows continuity from a Roman villa on the site since part of its upstanding masonry forms the church walls and there was evidence too of the Merovingian period.

We then drove to the popular and scenic village of Talmont sur Gironde, organised as a bastide by Edward 1 but with earlier origins. Here we were free to ﬁnd places to enjoy our picnic lunch. The present day village now caters for tourists but most of the houses had gardens and ﬂowerbeds and the ubiquitous hollyhocks – signature ﬂower of the region – were in full bloom. Part of the Romanesque church, sited on a headland jutting out into the wide expanse of the Gironde has been lost to the sea. After lunch we then drove a short distance to the extensive and well displayed ruins of the large Roman setlement of Le Fâ, Barzan. It was rediscovered through air photography and excavations continue. The well-preserved remains of a bath house and the outlines and sculptured fragments of what was an impressive Gaulish-Roman temple were the main features but there was more to discover in the site museum.

Our ﬁnal stop of the day at the small town of Mortagne-sur-Gironde again took us to the shoreline of the Gironde where, in a public park, there is a striking memorial statue to commemorate Owain Lawgoch in the shape of a hand enclosing the armorial device of the Princes of Gwynedd. In an illuminating address Dr Prys Morgan explained that it had been erected partly at the instigation of our late President, Professor Anthony Carr. Although a successful mercenary captain in the service of the French kings Owain (Yvain de Galles) never forgot that he was the last lineal descendant of the Princes of Gwynedd.

Thursday 22^nd June

We headed out for a day in the Pays des Isles, an extensive area of land reclaimed from the sea where small towns and villages now well inland were once thriving ports. En route we stopped at Corme Royal church, another ﬁne example of the Saintonge Romanesque and once the property of the Abbay aux Dames in Saintes. Driver Benoit skilfully negotiated a narrow road to bring us to Broue Tower, crowning a craggy high point and encircled by a bank and ditch, the medieval stronghold of the Counts of Anjou, then the lords of Pons and once accessible from the sea. We looked out onto a panoramic view of the marshes, with traces visible of the former salt pans a lucrative industry that enriched the whole area. Then we turned south to take the main road heading towards the modern bridge crossing to Île de Oleron . Marie-Thérèse pointed out the extensive oyster beds south of the road, source of today’s prosperity for the towns of Marennes and La Tremblade.

We had lunch at the waterfront at Bourcefranc le Chapus, close to the bridge and waited for the tide to recede so that we could make our way along the causeway leading out to Fort Louvois, a Vauban fortress guarding the narrow channel between Oleron and the mainland. This was an enjoyable visit to a ‘pocket-sized’ fortress and a good introduction to the much larger fortiﬁed town of Brouage. Now stranded well inland in low lying marshy pasture, it was built to replace Broue as a port in 1555 only in turn to become inaccessible from the sea as the marshes extended seaward. It fell into obscurity hence the perfect preservation of its defences, ﬁnally remodelled by Vauban in 1685. The garrison town is now a popular tourist attraction and we split up into small groups to explore at leisure.

Friday 23rd June

Our last day had arrived all too quickly and it was spent in Rochefort. This was a new town founded in 1666 by order of Louis XIV to service his new Arsenal and Dockyard. Although the river journey from the coast inland to the town was tortuous , this inaccessibility for ships of the British navy made it near impregnable. The new town was built to a regular grid plan and its streets today are lined with late 17^th and early 18^th century houses. Led by guide Christophe from the Tourist Information Oﬃce we walked to the Naval Dockyard alongside the River Charente entering through an imposing stone archway and gates inscribed ‘ARSENAL’ and viewed the drydocks. Most of the group then walked briskly to the former School of Naval Medicine, now a Museum. The School was established to train surgeons and its three ﬂoors contain a treasure trove of books, specimens and instruments to show how medicine advanced during the Age of Enlightenment.

After lunch we again returned to the Arsenal to view the Naval Museum with its unique collection of large 18^th century models of warships and dockyard machinery. Then to ‘La Corderie’ – the 374 m long building that housed the naval ropeworks. Heavily damaged during the War it has now been restored and has a Museum and bookshop at one end. Our guide led us through interactive displays showing the whole process of rope-making. Our member, Penny Ward, volunteered to turn the handle of a rope- making machine, combining strands into a heavy rope.

Our ﬁnal visit of the day and the whole week was, appropriately for a Welsh audience, the Transporter Bridge identical to that surviving at Newport, Mon. Designed by the French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin , that at Rochefort is the only surviving example of 6 he built in France. We made the smooth crossing on the last booking of the day, across and back, in the gondola high above the Charente.

Our ﬁnal dinner at Clos des Cours concluded with a vote of heartfelt thanks expressed by President Emeritus Prys Morgan to Marie-Thérèse for a truly memorable week which we all recognise has involved a tremendous amount of research, writing, organising and guiding. As a token of appreciation she was presented with a very weighty tome, Richard Sugget’s Temlau Peintedig/Painted Temples secure in the knowledge that she could read its bi-lingual text equally well in the Welsh as the English.

Organiser: Marie-Thérèse Castay assisted by Frances Lynch & Heather James

AUTUMN MEETING : BRECON 22-24^TH SEPTEMBER 2023

Unusually for an Autumn Meeting we did not have one central hotel base; those atending stayed at a variety of hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs of which there are many in Brecon and most close to the town centre. The Guildhall was our rendezvous point, and the two evening lectures were held upstairs in the ﬁrst ﬂoor Theatre. Heather James, the organiser was there for registration from 12.00 on Friday and at 2 pm promptly we were led on foot by co-organiser Nigel Clubb on the short walk down Ship Street and past the presumed site of the medieval Watergate to cross the Afon Honddu. Nigel pointed out the Castle Hotel and remains of the medieval castle high above us on the west side of the river and we could appreciate its strategic location at the conﬂuence of the Honddu and the Usk. We were met at the gates of Christ College by Mrs Felicity Kilpatrick, college archivist, who led us on an informative tour beginning – partly to shelter from the rain – in the college chapel. Felicity explained how the chapel encapsulates the 3 phases of college history. It was the chancel of the Dominican Friary church of St Nicholas, but after the Dissolution the nave and cloisters fell into disrepair and were robbed for stone. The second phase of the College’s existence began with Henry VIII’s foundation of a college and grammar school principally to train clergy. Overshadowed by the new St David’s College, Lampeter, Brecon was re-founded as a public school in 1853 and the ruinous chancel restored. Felicity emphasised how the chapel today is at the heart of College life The college buildings by Pritchard and Seddon are ﬁne examples of Victorian Gothic. In character and plan they successfully recreate elements of the medieval friary. The afternoon concluded with tea in the senior common room with several portraits and engravings of college luminaries on the walls and heraldic stained glass in the end window. Mrs Kilpatrick described the strong sense of tradition upheld by old Breconians and also the success of today’s modern school.

We then made our way back to The Guildhall and together with invited members of the Brecknock Society enjoyed a well- illustrated lecture by Nigel Clubb entitled ‘Brecon/Aberhonddu – an Introduction to its Monuments and Buildings’ that covered the whole span of Brecon’s history from its Norman foundation right through to its present day character as a county town at the heart of Parc Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons National Park. After the lecture most of us made our way down The Watton to the Clarence Inn where we enjoyed a convivial evening meal seated together at the rear of the pub.

Assembling early on Saturday morning Nigel led the walking party up to the Cathedral pointing out features of interest en route. We paused at the Postern bridge over the Honddu to look up to the now tree covered and rather inaccessible castle mote surmounted by the Ely Tower and proceeded along the Postern to view what remains of the viaduct that carried the Brecon to Neath railway high above the Honddu.

Once all were assembled we made our way into the Cathedral to be welcomed by Canon Mike Williams, Chapter Clerk and noted local historian. The cathedral (only thus deﬁned in 1923 following the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales) was in origin a Benedictine Priory founded by Bernard de Neufmarché as an integral part of his new town after his victory over Rhys ap Tewdwr, King of Deheubarth, ‘with whom fell the kingdom of the Britons’ as the Brut y Twysogion lamented. Mike Williams suggested that in making his new Priory a cell of Battle Abbey Bernard was echoing William the Conqueror’s foundation of Battle Abbey after his momentous victory, and the death of King Harold, at the Battle of Hastings. Little remains of the late 11^th century church apart from the magniﬁcent font, a product of the Romanesque Herefordshire School.

What we see today is of 13^th and 14^th century date but Mike Williams drew attention to the major restoration work by Gilbert Scot in the 1860s and 1870s when he rebuilt the chancel with new stone vaulting in what was considered a correct early English style yet managing to preserve the 14^th century wooden roof above it. He pointed out fragments of 14^th century carving from this roof now placed on a screen in the nave. The great glory of the medieval Priory was its Golden Rood, described in detail by the poets. Mike pointed out rood loft entrances and some supporting corbels which showed that the rood was of great height totally separating the nave from the chancel.

After much looking upwards the next speaker, Professor Emerita Maddy Gray, had us look downwards for an examination of some of the large collection of ledger slabs covering much of the cathedral ﬂoor. She explained the apparent enigma in some of the post reformation ledger slabs using overt catholic symbols yet commemorating local men and women of undoubted protestant beliefs. She suggested a stubborn atachment to traditional symbols and the toleration of such practices by the Elizabethan church establishment. This, rather than recusant beliefs, could explain the use of the emblem of the Jesuit Order on tomb slab of Ann Bulcot in the Havard Chapel. The third speaker, William Gibbs, has made an intensive study of the memorial tablets and sculptures by the eminent Victorian sculptor John Evan Thomas who came from a family of Brecon monumental masons. He had arranged for chairs etc to be cleared away from the west wall of the north transept for us to view all of the monuments produced by John Evan Thomas to commissions by John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins of Penoyre, near Brecon, to commemorate members of his family, an ostentatious display of family remembrance and promotion that ultimately bankrupted him. Whilst to modern tastes Victorian monumental sculpture can appear over- sentimental William Gibbs drew attention to the great artistry in the monument to Rev Thomas Watkins where the deceased is shown reclined across the base of the memorial slab awakening in heaven to be greeted not by angels but, unusually, his own children who had predeceased him.

Lunch was conveniently nearby in the old Tithe Barn now part of the Cathedral café and we then walked back to Y Gaer. We were welcomed by John Gibbs, former Chair of the Brecknock Society and Museum Friends who gave a short introduction on the origins of the Museum Collection and the creation of Y Gaer, a prize winning combination of a modern library building attached to the former Courthouse of Revival style. We were then led into the Museum and took our seats in the court room imaginatively restored with busts of local notables by John Evan Thomas surrounding us and a lecture screen with projection facilities now above the judges’ bench. John Gibbs gave us a sparkling overview of the origins and development of the Museum and Art Gallery opening with slides describing the Cambrians Meeting in Brecon in 1872 and its ‘Temporary Museum’ with details of exhibits. He also explained some of his own ‘detective work’ in identifying artists for a number of paintings now in the collection. Members then had free time to view some at least of the extensive collections and most of us spent time in the outstanding exhibition on the work of the artist David Jones, one of the members of a 20^th century group of artists living and working in the Llanthony Valley.

Returning to the Guildhall we were able to use the Council Chamber on the lower ﬂoor to hold a wine reception with guests from the Brecknock Society before proceeding upstairs to the lecture theatre where retiring President Dr Elizabeth Walker handed over the Presidential badge to Professor Alasdair Whitle. His ﬁrst duty as President was to present the Gwobr Archaeoleg Cambrian Archaeology Prize to Sheridan Clements now at Cardiﬀ University for their MA dissertation on North Wales hillforts. He then gave his Presidential lecture ‘West Side Stories: the early Neolithic in the west of Britain (and Ireland’’.

Sunday morning was rather wet but undeterred a good number joined Toby Driver, RCAHMW, and Alice Thorne, Archaeology Oﬃcer Brecon Beacons National Park, for a guided walk on Pen-y-Crug hillfort which is just north of Brecon. Described by Toby as ‘one of the great Iron Age hillforts of Wales’, its four encircling ramparts and ditches enclose an area of 1.86 ha. The event also featured as one of the Cambrians’ ‘Walks and Talks’.

A smaller number of us assembled at the Canal basin of the Monmouth and Brecon canal to meet our guide Sue Ware. A longstanding member of the Monmouth and Brecon Canal Trust, Sue and her husband are not only canal users themselves but for many years ran a business building, repairing and renting out canal boats . We strolled down the canal’s towpath as far as the bank of lime kilns at the lower end of The Waton, recently restored, where coal and lime was unloaded to a tramway. Climbing up a gentle slope we walked back into town alongside a now wooded area concealing the charging platforms. On time, we met Amanda Rawthorne who had opened up the Royal Welsh Regimental Museum at The Barracks especially for our visit. Principally known for the Zulu Wars memorabilia, the Museum has a wide ranging collection of material including documents and photographs from a number of lesser known campaigns involving the Welsh Borderers in the mid 20^thcentury.

The meeting closed around midday and from messages received it seems that all enjoyed the weekend.

Organisers: Heather James & Nigel Clubb

WALKS AND TALKS 2023

Cambrians and their guests were treated to a series of six walks and talks throughout 2023, in all parts of Wales and with sites varying from the remote Palaeolithic to the sublime 18^th Century Picturesque.

Firstly, in April, Fiona Gale led a walk to two spectacular Iron Age Hillforts in the Clwydian range in NE Wales. Penycloddiau, one of the largest hillforts in Wales and Moel Arthur, smaller but on a spectacular hilltop position were climbed by a group of hearty walkers who enjoyed the remarkable views from the ﬁne defensive ramparts. Rather more sedate was the next walk, in May, when Jan Bailey guided Cambrians around the historic settlements of Magor and Undy on the Gwent Levels, to examine the landscape, the churches and the extraordinary sixteenth century ruins of the ‘Procurator’s House’, a mansion owned by Magor vicarage.

Cambrians travelled further back in time to the remotest prehistory on our walk in June with Elizabeth Walker when they visited Cathole Cave in the Gower with evidence of human presence before and after the last Glacial maximum and the adjacent Neolithic Severn Cotswold tomb of Parc le Breos Cwm. Thereafter they drove to Rhossili to see the Bronze Age Barrows and the archaeological landscape at the Bay. The appalling weather in July unfortunately made the planned upland walk entitled ‘The Landscapes of Neolithic Axes’ in Llanfairfechan, NW Wales quite impossible and this had to be cancelled.

Moving forward in time, Rachel Swallow took a group of Cambrians around Roman and medieval Caernarfon in September to examine the newly interpreted Roman- British/early medieval coastal watchtower at Twt Hill, followed by a tour of the impressive World Heritage medieval castle and town. Later in the same month and planned to coincide with the Cambrians Autumn meeting in Brecon, Toby Driver took us to visit the hillfort of Pen y Crug, a subject of his recent researches, where we viewed the impressive defences and discussed the management of the site with the National Park archaeologist.

The ﬁnal walk was in November when, despite rain and wind, Sian Rees led a courageous group along the sinuous woodland walks of the 18^th century Picturesque Landscape at Pierceﬁeld near Chepstow. Features within the parkland around the ruinous Pierceﬁeld House include a Groto and Cave, evidence of cascades and bridges and a series of alcoves and lookouts including the famous Eagle’s Nest with almost unbelievable views of the Wye.

The Walks and Talks programme will continue in 2024 with a series of walks in diﬀerent parts of Wales. The programme will be advertised on the website and the Association’s social media pages and circulated to members by email.

MEETINGS ARRANGED FOR 2024

Summer Meeting in Hay on Wye, Powys

30 June – 5 July 2024

Hay on Wye is a small Welsh market town on the banks of the river Wye, which marks the Wales/England border. Renowned, somewhat eccentrically, as the Town of Books, it is also known for the numerous Brecknock Neolithic tombs in the surrounding area as well as the Roman fort and large numbers of castles built to defend the rich agricultural borderland. We have booked the Swan Hotel on the west side of Hay on Wye, a charming Georgian building with a good reputation for comfortable accommodation and cuisine. It is in easy walking distance to the town – indeed the old castle motte and the church are situated immediately adjacent. The car park is opposite the hotel. The evening lectures and conference dinners will be in the hotel and the mini-buses will pick us up from there every day except for Tuesday, when we walk to the large castle in the centre of town. This has recently benefited from extensive conservation and refurbishment, transforming it from its former status as a collapsing ruin, and later we view the town’s architecture. As well as the numerous bookshops, there are many cafes and specialist shops which make this an extremely attractive place to stay. Rooms vary from standard single, doubles and de luxe rooms (for prices, contact The Swan Hotel for B&B rates).

Programme Sunday 30 June

12.00 – 14.00 Registration and Lunch (Own cost – please book in Swan Hotel)

14.00 The Old Castle, the church, 19^th C Harley Almshouses and Poor Law Union

buildings

Lecture: The Early Prehistory and Chambered Tombs of the Black Mountains. W.H.Britnell & Alasdair Whittle.

Dinner

Monday 1 July

9.00 Coach to Clifford Castle, Arthur’s Stone Burial Chamber, Snodhill Castle, Peterchurch Church (lunch), Peterchurch Holy well, Urishay Castle and chapel, Wern Derys Standing Stone

Lecture: The Castles of the Southern Borderland Will Davies, Cadw.

Dinner

Tuesday 2 July

9.30 Walk around Hay (leader Paul Belford).

10.00 Hay Castle coffee, talk, tour and lunch

14.00 Hay: perambulation to see 17^th-19^th century architecture, 19^th century Cheese and Butter markets, book shops. (Leader Paul Belford).

Lecture: Hill Rhythms: David Jones at Capel-y-ffin. Peter Wakelin

Dinner

Wednesday 3 July

9.00 Mini-bus to Clyro Roman fort and Castle, Court Farm, Little Lodge, Pipton and Ffostill Chambered tombs, Bronllys – Lunch: Castle and moated site, Old Gwernyfed Manor and historic garden, Porthamel Gatehouse

Lecture Excavations and Conservation of Wales’s only Crannog, Llangorse

Dinner

Thursday 4 July

9.00 Mini-bus to Hay Stone Circle and Twyn y Beddau Round Barrow, Capel y Ffin, Llanthony Priory, Llanfihangel Crucorny Lunch, Longtown Roman fort and castle, Dore Abbey, Bacton Church and Tudor altar cloth

Reception

Presidential Address: (Gwilym Hughes) Ivy and Scaffolding: Developing Visitor Experiences on the Great Monuments of Wales.

Dinner

Friday 5 July

9.00 Mini-bus to Maesyronnen Chapel, Llangorse Lake crannog and church, Talgarth Church

13.00 Lunch (own cost; book with Swan Hotel if desired)

You can download a booking form by clicking here.

EISTEDDFOD LECTURE

The National Eisteddfod is in Rhondda Cynon Taf (Pontypridd) this coming year and our lecture will be given by our Past-President, Dr Eurwyn Wiliam, who will be speaking on the Nantgarw China Works, which we plan to visit in the autumn of 2025. His title is ‘Aur gwyn o Gymru – creu ac ail-greu porslen gorau’r byd yng Nghrochendy Nantgarw’ [‘White gold from Wales – creating and re-creating the ﬁnest porcelain in the world at Nantgarw China Works’]. It is likely to be on the afternoon of Wednesday 7 August in one of the Society Pavilions on the Maes.

Autumn Meeting WREXHAM Friday September 27^th – Sunday September 29^th

Like the rest of the world, the Cambrians are planning a visit to Wrexham, but not just for the football!

Our base in Wrexham will be the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in the centre of the city where we will have the use of their function room for eating and lectures. A private bar can be made available there. There is free parking for hotel guests and there are two electric chargers. The hotel is about a mile from the railway station, very close to St Giles church and Tŷ Pawb and convenient for the town centre in general. Rooms will be set aside for us and members must contact the hotel directly, saying that they are Cambrians. If you wish to book, please contact the hotel as soon as possible and certainly before the beginning of August.

Whereas Wrexham is now known as a football town, we will be looking at the 19^th century history of the town and at its famous 15th century parish church – St Giles – on the ﬁrst afternoon. In the evening we will have a lecture on the work of the Discovering Old Welsh Houses project, to which the Association has given several grants. On Saturday we will look at the industrial history (and some new natural history) of Bersham, Minera and Brymbo and visit the beautiful parish church of Gresford with its tragic mining history. That evening we hope to have a reception at Tŷ Pawb, the new exhibition centre and visit the exhibition, and later a talk on the future of the local Museum which is planning enlargement with two halves –both archaeological and historical Wrexham, and sporting Wrexham! On the Sunday morning we plan to visit Caergwrle Castle and a notable timber house in the area. The meeting will end at lunchtime on the Sunday.

You can download a booking form by clicking here.

Research Grants 2023

Richard Brewer was awarded £1465 towards ﬁnal reports to complete the report for publication of all of his excavations at the Roman town of Caerwent. Denise Allen will complete her glass report by adding the additional material from the Romano-Celtic temple and to Jacqueline Chadwick is to complete her drawings.

The Clwydian Range Archaeology Group was awarded £2000 to commission expert examination of cremated remains and also to identify charcoal species for dating from their recently completed excavations of Bryneglwys ring cairn , Denbighshire.

Oliver Davis was awarded £1890 for radio-carbon dates on 5 charcoal or burnt bone samples from the Middle Bronze Age small enclosure at Trelai Park, Cardiﬀ, the ﬁrst such site of this date to be found in Wales. Excavations there and at nearby Caerau hillfort are part of Cardiﬀ University’s ‘CAER Heritage’ project which has a high degree of local community involvement.

Paul Davis was awarded £2500 to obtain two dendrochronological dates from two of the post-medieval houses and farm of the Gwent Valleys that he has been studying and recording over the past 25 years – an area whose vernacular buildings have been litle studied in contrast to neighbouring Glamorgan and Brecon.

Katie Hemer was awarded £1963 to support a research assistant on imaging and data analysis of neonate and infant remains from the important excavations of early medieval burials, and structures at the site of St Patrick’s Chapel, Whitesands Bay, Pembrokeshire .

Grateful thanks to L. Morgan, the Morgan Trust and H. Morgan Daniel for donations towards the research grants fund.

Gwobr Archaeoleg – Cambrian Archaeology Prize

There was a good number of entries of MA and undergraduate dissertations for the second year of this new prize, organised by a sub-commitee of Trustees and evaluated by a panel of Trustees and outside specialists. The prize of £300 and 3 years membership was won by Sheridan Clements for their MA dissertation from Bangor University ‘Prehistoric Pasts & the Iron Age Hillforts of Northwestern Wales: The Choice of Location and the Incorporation of Ancient Monuments’. Sheridan is now studying for a PhD at Cardiﬀ and attended the Brecon Meeting and was presented with a cheque by incoming President Professor Alasdair Whitle.

Student Bursary

This has been established through a legacy from our late member Olwen Davies of Bangor. It provides small grants (up to £200) to student members (full or part-time) looking for funding to support conference attendance or research-related travel costs where they relate to research on the objectives of the Association. More details can be found by clicking here.

Your Trustees

Bill Britnell, former CEO of Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust and editor of Arch Camb for over 20 years; prehistorian, has excavated and published on many important sites in Wales.

Jenny Britnell, Hon Treasurer. Worked for CPAT, has excavated and published on sites in Powys, edited the Shropshire Archaeological Society’s journal and has served as ﬁnance oﬃcer and trustee for CPAT and is a trustee for the Welsh Archaeological Trusts Pensions Fund.

Marie-Thérèse Castay, a long-standing member of the Cambrians, lectured at The University of Toulouse and was involved in the Erasmus programme, translator from Welsh to French of Welsh literature, has organised 3 Cambrians Meetings in France.

Rhiannon Comeau, Membership Secretary. She has published extensively on early medieval Wales, organised our ﬁrst 2 Darganfod Conferences and works to encourage and promote early career researchers in Welsh archaeology .

Andrew Davidson , CEO of Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, has excavated and published widely with special interests in early medieval archaeology and the built heritage of all periods; handles the Cambrians’ email circulars.

Tudur Davies, an environmental archaeologist, specialising in pollen analysis, chairs the sub- commitee organising our Gwobr Archaeoleg Cambrian Archaeology Prize and helps implement our Welsh Language Policy.

Toby Driver, Senior Investigator, Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments Wales, specialises in Air Photography, has recently published a book on Welsh Hillforts, active on social media and lectures across Wales to local societies and groups.

Fiona Gale,recently retired as archaeologist for Denbighshire County Council, now active in Ruthin Castle Trust and the Dendrochronology of Old Welsh Houses groups, trustee of the new all Wales Archaeological Trust ‘Heneb’.

Heather James, General Secretary, (worked for Dyfed Archaeological Trust, excavated and published on Roman Carmarthen, Vice-President of The Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and editor of its journal.

Frances Lynch Llewellyn, Meetings Organiser, long standing member and past President, has organised many summer and autumn meetings, prehistorian , has excavated and published on Irish and North Wales sites and ﬁnds including the deﬁnitive Prehistoric Anglesey.

Ken Murphy, Editor, Archaeologia Cambrensis. CEO of Dyfed Archaeological Trust, has directed many excavations in West Wales and beyond as well as survey projects, many published in AC. Currently Acting Head of the new all Wales Archaeological Trust Heneb.

Sian Rees, past President, Chairman of Trustees, former Inspector at Cadw-Welsh Historic Monuments, author of Cadw guides and currently preparing her excavations at Haverfordwest priory for publication. Active in securing World Heritage status for the north Wales slate landscapes and currently in establishing a single Welsh Archaeological Trust – ‘Heneb’.

Elizabeth A. Walker,retiring President and now Trustee, Principal Curator, Collections and Access, Amgueddfa Cymru Museum of Wales; specialist in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology of Wales, and currently researching the history of collecting).

Eurwyn Wiliam (Past President, former Director of the then Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans, specialist on Welsh vernacular architecture, served as Chair of RCAHMW, member and trustee of several national and local societies and trusts including Chair of Nantgarw China Works Trust; leads the implementation of the Cambrians’ Welsh Language Policy.