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The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust News Pages

Crisis? What crisis?

Even the worst winter weather for nearly 30 years can't stop intrepid archaeologist Wendy Owen from CPAT, seen here visiting Moel Ty-uchaf stone circle on snowshoes!

Archaeology and companionship at Tregynon

On the 29th October Jeff Spencer gave a short talk illustrated with slides to the 14 members of Tregynon Good Companions’ Club at Tregynon Community Centre. The topic was Local Archaeology and Jeff introduced typical sites found in mid-Wales and the Marches such as prehistoric barrows and medieval motte and bailey castles. He also provided updates on recent CPAT projects such as those at the New Smithfield site, Welshpool and the Tesco site, Newtown. To finish off there was a bit more information about a couple of sites of particular interest to the audience, Gregynog house and estate, possibly occupied since the mid 15th century and Tregynon Moat, also known as Tithebarn Moat, a defended farmstead of medieval date.

Continuing exploration of the Llanelwedd landscape, 2009

Following on the excavation of two Bronze Age burial cairns at Llanelwedd in 2007 and 2008, the focus of work in 2009, funded by Cadw, was the remains of an abandoned farmstead within the quarrying concession, associated with the corn-drying kiln excavated in 2008.

The upland farm, probably founded in about the later seventeenth century, had evidently been abandoned by the later eighteenth or early nineteenth century. It had clearly been deserted by the time the Llanelwedd tithe map of 1845 was drawn up, and no record of the name of the farm or its occupants have yet been traced. The farm lay at one corner of a large field called 'Pen-y-graig' enclosing part of rocky summit of the Carneddau hills, the name which has been adopted for the abandoned farm.

The main building is a longhouse, perhaps the first of its kind to be excavated in Radnorshire, can be closely paralleled at a number of surviving houses in the county, described in Richard Suggett's authoritative Houses & History in the March of Wales. Radnorshire 1400-1800 published by the Royal Commission. Part of the importance of the Pen-y-graig farm complex is that it has offered the opportunity of examining a relatively short-lived farm complex, undisturbed by building work in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The farmhouse, which lay on the uphill side of the longhouse, had been partly terraced into the slope of the hill. The upper gable wall was of locally-quarried stone bonded with clay. It included the remains of a fireplace and chimney backing onto the slope of the hill. Spiral stairs to one side of the fire gave access to an upper floor and probably confined to the roof space. The absence of roof tiles or slates on the site suggests that the roof was thatched.

A second, slightly larger stone fireplace and chimney was found at the lower end of the farmhouse, to one side of which was a doorway leading into a cowhouse below. A circular bread oven had been added to this second fireplace, perhaps replacing the external oven forming part of the Llanelwedd corn-drying kiln . Unlike the end walls, the side walls of the farmhouse and the cowhouse below it were evidently of timber-framed construction set on low stone sill walls.

It proved impossible to complete the excavation of the interior of the farmhouse due to the unprecedented wet weather in November 2009, but a return is now planned for the spring of 2010. There are already indications that the farmhouse was divided into a number of different rooms, possibly with a parlour with a slightly higher earth floor at the upper end and a kitchen, partly paved with stone, at the lower end.

Pen-y-graig can now be seen to have included a longhouse, a possible cartshed to the west (probably also of timber-framed construction), the corn-drying kiln to the south, and possibly other structures. The farm was probably associated with the embanked enclosure, shown on the tithe map, that had been carved out of the upland common on the southern end of Carneddau in about the later seventeeth century. Its economy probably depended upon cattle and sheep farming as well as cereal cultivation. The growing of perhaps barley and rye on small flatter areas of cultivatable land scattered amongst the rocky outcrops on the hill is clearly denoted by the corn-drying kiln as well as by a scattering of clearance cairns, including those which overlay the two excavated Bronze Age burial cairns. The farm was no doubt deliberately sited next to a natural pond, representing one of the few sources of water on the summit of Carneddau. Parts of the pond may well have been artificially deepened as a source of clay for building work.

Relatively few stratified finds have so far been recovered but, interestingly, appear to include a preponderance of fine wares, including early tea wares and the slipware sherds shown here.

Even more at Evenjobb

There was a full house at the Village Hall in Evenjobb to hear a talk by Nigel Jones on recent excavation and survey in the Walton Basin, despite the local press having advertised the event for the previous day! The evening had been organised by the Radnorshire Society, whose members formed the majority of the audience of around 65.

During the past 18 months CPAT has been investigating a number of prehistoric monuments near Walton, in eastern Radnorshire, in an attempt to provide a sequence for the various monuments in this important complex. The talk focused on recent work at the Womaston Causewayed Enclosure, a potential cursus at Hindwell, a 100m-diameter ring ditch at Walton Court Farm and the Neolithic palisaded enclosures at Hindwell and Walton.

Shropshire Archaeology Day, 2009

On the 7th November, an audience of around 100 people attended the series of lectures in Shirehall, Shrewsbury, organised by Shropshire Archaeology Service. One of the five lectures was given by CPAT’s Nigel Jones, entitled The continuing search for prehistoric Mid Wales. This presented a summary of recent work by CPAT investigating a range of prehistoric funerary and ritual monuments as part of an on-going project funded by Cadw. The talk focused on three complexes of monuments where recent survey and excavation has shed new light in a variety of important monuments:

The Walton Basin has a collection of sites which is unparalleled in Wales and recent work has investigated the Womaston causewayed enclosure, a potential cursus at Hindwell, as well as an unusually large ring ditch and a Neolithic palisaded enclosure at Walton, where further work is planned over the coming months.

The Dyffryn Lane complex near Berriew has been the focus of archaeological attention for some years, with more recent excavations including the Dyffryn Lane Henge, in conjunction with Bradford University, and a newly discovered cursus.

Finally, a group of cropmarks at Meusydd, near Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant were investigated in 2007, including a henge and two timber circles.

Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Day at CPAT

Late October 2009 saw a new initiative at CPAT with the hosting of a Finds Day, an opportunity for metal detector users and others to pop in with any recent discoveries. Help with identification was available from staff (though seldom needed by our well informed visitors!) and the items were weighed, measured and recorded for the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. Twenty-four artefacts were brought in by four detector users amongst which was this groat (fourpence) of Henry VI found at Montgomery, Powys. Henry VI was king from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471; his reigns were dominated by the Wars of the Roses.

Thank you to Derek, Nick, Graham and Roger for sparing the time to pop in to the CPAT office. If YOU are interested in bringing finds to the next Finds Day keep an eye on our Forthcoming Events page where we will announce the date of the next one; alternatively phone Jeff Spencer on 01938 553670.

Romans at the Border

CPAT’s Romans in Mid Wales exhibition has been on its travels once again, this time a short march north to set up camp at the Marches School in Oswestry. The exhibition formed part of the one day seminar ‘Romans and Countrymen: Rome meets the Iron Age in the Northern Marches’. This was the Third Annual Seminar organised the Old Oswestry Landscape and Archaeology Project and comprised a series of talks examining the cultural implications the Roman invaders may have had upon the native population of the Northern Marches and North Wales. Over 200 visitors attended the event.

A great success despite the unfortunate power cut!

Wrexham Heritage Society and Find of the Quarter

Early October saw CPAT staff visiting the Wrexham Heritage Society to borrow artefacts for recording on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database and to award the third Find of the Quarter certificate.

Club secretary Steve was the recipient this quarter for his discovery of a silver penny of the Saxon King Coenwulf of Mercia AD796-821. One of only 24 on the PAS database and so far the only one found in Wales, nice one Steve!

See the full record of Steve's Coenwulf penny here.

Hunting for the Cwm Mawr axe factory (in Hyssington Village Hall)

An audience of 34 gathered in the Village Hall at Hyssington on 24 September to hear a talk by Nigel Jones on the search for the nearby prehistoric axe factory. Although most people were from the Hyssington area, two came from as far afield as Snailbeach!

The talk presented the results of two seasons of investigation by CPAT and National Museum Wales. Although it has been accepted for some time that a small hill near the village is the source of the stone used to make a group of Bronze Age axe hammers and battle axes, the exact location of prehistoric workings has remained a mystery. Although the excavations failed to produce conclusive evidence, it seems probable that a series of small quarry scoops on the south-east side of the hill may have been the source of the stone.

You can find out more about the search for this elusive site by following this link.

Talk to local charity

The members of Welshpool Parkinson’s Disease Society were treated to an illustrated talk on the archaeology of Welshpool at Capel yr Annibynwyr meeting room, Welshpool on 27th August. The story of the town was told through some of the historical buildings still standing and through an explanation of the archaeological discoveries made there since the 1950s. For more information about the Parkinson's Disease Society click here.

The Arwystli Society, Llanidloes

A thirty-strong audience comprising members of The Arwystli Society and interested members of the public met at St Idloes Church Hall, Llanidloes on 30th July for a presentation about the work of the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust. The various aspects of our involvement with the heritage of mid and northeast Wales, from agri-environment schemes to fieldwork to public events were illustrated and explained. It was clear from the questions at the end and requests for future involvement with CPAT that the local population has considerable interest in its history and archaeology, a very healthy situation we believe!

CPAT and the Festival of British Archaeology

In recent years, an increased interest in archaeology and history has seen the growth in one of the most popular events of the year. Organised by the CBA, what started out as National Archaology Day initially grew to become National Archaeology Week, and this year became the Festival of British Archaeology - two weeks of events throughout England and Wales aimed at all ages. CPAT has been involved for several years, and this year for the first time, we spent a whole weekend at Loggerheads Country Park in Denbighshire with the Denbighshire Countryside Service.

With the presence of the ever-impressive Cwmwd Ial early-medieval reenactment group, we decided to focus our craft activities on this period of history. On offer were 'Celtic' shields, brooches and helmets to decorate and wear. All of the activities were incredibly popular, with several children making one of everything!

Here is a full account of the weekend, with lots of pictures.

To find out more about past events, click here.

Legions flock to Newtown

Follow this link to find out more about Newtown's Roman road.

Since news of the Newtown Roman road first broke, the story has been carried by a number of news organisations and bloggers. See what some of them have to say by following the links below . . .

BBC News - Dig unearths Roman road at Tesco
The Shropshire Star - Roman road found at Tesco site
Bread and Circuses - Roman road in Newtown, Powys
Heritage of Wales News - Discovering a Roman road in Newtown
The Megalithic Portal - Dig unearths Roman road at Tesco
Medieval News - Archaeological dig unearths 2,000 yr old Roman road in Wales

Being a Local Tourist in Welshpool in 2009

Following the success of the 2008 event, Welshpol Town Council ran it's Be a Local Tourist Week again this year. On the 8th July a small but eager throng followed CPAT's Jeff Spencer on a guided walk along part of the Welshpool Canal. Jeff highlighted aspects of the waterway's history and discussed some other sites along the route. The Montgomeryshire Canal was constructed at the end of the eighteenth century to transport suitable timber out of the county to supply naval dockyards for ship building and to bring in lime to spread on fields to improve agricultural productivity. Both activities were a direct response to the ongoing war with France - so you could say that Welshpool's canal was a gift from Napoleon!

Those with keen memories will recall that after Jeff's walk around Welshpool as part of last year event CPAT receieved an unsolicited but most welcome email from a transatlantic visitor, from Forest Hills in New York, saying how much she had enjoyed herself. Imagine Jeff's surprise when the same lady turned up for this year's walk! She had been visting her Welsh relatives again, had seen the walk advertised and decided she just couldn't afford to miss it!

On the 10th July, CPAT's Chris Martin got a taste of Question Time when he sat in on a panel of experts (Colin Rogers, David Evans and Roger Brown) fielding questions about Welshpool's past. A dozen lively locals, but no American visitors, formulated all sorts of interesting queries ranging across 2000 years of the town's history and certainly kept the panel busy. Listening to some of the more recent reminiscences it was stricking to see how life has changed in Welshpool in the past two or three generations and how much the pace of that change now seems to be accerlerating.

You can find out more about the history of Welshpool by following this link.

Wrexham Heritage Society and Find of the Quarter

CPAT’s quarterly visit to the Wrexham Heritage Society in July saw the award of the second Find of the Quarter certificate to club stalwart Dave for his discovery and reporting of a half-crown of King Charles the First. This large silver coin was minted at York in 1643 or 1644; we know it was York because beneath the portrait of the king on horseback on the obverse (front of the coin) is the word ‘EBOR’, short for Eboracum the Latin for York. We know the year of minting because within the inscription on both sides is the small image of a lion, this is a mintmark, a code showing the year or years of production; a handy tool to help officials of the time to detect forgeries!

See the full record for Dave's Charles I half-crown here.

Welshpool and District U3A

The first of July saw Jeff Spencer presenting an illustrated talk on the archaeology of the Welshpool area to the 60-strong membership of the Welshpool University of the Third Age. The talk introduced the audience to thousands of years of human activity in mid-Wales and presented illustrations of the many intriguing types of site left behind by people of the past that archaeologists today so love to investigate!

Want to find out more about the University of the Third Age? Visit the Welshpool and District U3A website.

Ffynnon Elian excavation

Over the weekend of 6th and 7th June Bob Silvester of CPAT provided expert guidance for the membership of the Llandudno and Colwyn Bay History Society who undertook a small excavation to the south of Ffynnon Elian (Saint Elian’s Well) at Llanelian, Conwy County Borough. The aim was to locate a cottage once believed to have stood at the site at the same time as introducing the Society membership to archaeological excavation and recording techniques.

While no convincing evidence for a cottage was revealed and despite appalling weather on the Saturday the feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive, as evidenced by the quotes below….

“Bob’s explanation of what we were doing, and why, made the dig more interesting – especially as he explained his thought processes on the possible meanings of what was uncovered in a clear and interesting way”-Society member.

“I always wanted to go on an archaeological dig and thoroughly enjoyed it”-Society member.

“Thanks to your knowledge and experience the weekend was both informative and instructive, tempered with a hint of cynicism to ensure reality was kept in focus!”-Secretary, Llandudno & Colwyn Bay History Society.

We hope to further develop our good relationship with the Llandudno and Colwyn Bay History Society in the future.

What have the Romans ever done for us . . . ?

We don’t often have the opportunity to excavate a Roman road, so it’s quite a coincidence that two long stretches of road are currently being examined at the same time, and even more of a coincidence that it is in fact the same road.

Termed RR64 in the authoritative volume on Roman roads, a road was constructed running westwards from Wroxeter near Shrewsbury, past Westbury in Shropshire to Forden near Montgomery and then on to Caersws and perhaps beyond. When the Roman army pushed westwards into Wales in the 70s AD, they constructed permanent forts at strategic locations to control the local population. To allow the rapid movement of troops and supplies between the forts, well-made stone-surfaced roads were constructed between the permanent forts.

A 180m length of RR64 is currently being excavated by SLR Consulting Ltd in advance of quarrying at Bayston Hill south of Shrewsbury, where they have found three successive Roman surfaces to the road (or agger) which there is around one metre high.

The same Roman road passes beneath Newtown in Powys, and the construction of a new Tesco’s supermarket on the site of the former Smithfield, just south of the main road to Welshpool has offered CPAT the opportunity to examine more than 70m of the road with every possibility that more of it will be uncovered in the near future. At the moment we have recognised two road levels, indicating that here the road was re-surfaced at least once and perhaps reduced in width. As yet we have not located any evidence of roadside settlement or other activity, but the excavation is still in its early days.

Follow this link to find out more about Newtown's Roman road.

Llanelwedd excavations . . . . .

A talk on recent archaeological excavations in advance of an extension to Llanelwedd Quarry was given by Bill Britnell to an audience of about thirty members of the Builth Wells and District Heritage Society and the mayor of Builth Wells, held on the evening of Thursday 11 June 2009. The talk covered work on a second Bronze Age burial cairn excavated in the autumn of 2008, together with work on a nearby corn-drying kiln dating to perhaps the seventeenth century. At the end of the talk Bill Britnell was presented with a special bound copy of the society’s recent publication – Photographs of Old Builth Wells. A Book of Heritage

Follow this link to find out more about the recent excavation at Llanelwedd.

Knucklas Castle Community Land Project

During April 2009 CPAT provided support for an exciting new community-led heritage initiative, the Knucklas Community Land Project. Enterprising locals have bought an area of land upon which stands the 12th century Knucklas Castle and underlying which is probably a prehistoric fort.

CPAT staff provided background support for fieldwalking and metal detecting on fields below the castle hill over a weekend. In a separate event CPAT organised and ran a recording day for a small group of locals who wanted to learn how to record their parish church and churchyard.

This enthusiastic community intend to continue researching the archaeology and history of their village and CPAT look forward to further involvement too! For more information about the Knucklas Community Land Project visit their website here.

Lunch at the National Museum of Wales

The National Museum Wales lunchtime lecture on 20 May was given by CPAT's Nigel Jones to an audience of around 20. The illustrated talk focused on recent Cadw-funded excavation and survey projects and was followed by a brief question time. The talk included the our recent excavations at the Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Womaston in Radnorshire, the investigation of a number of potential Neolithic cursus monuments in mid and north-east Wales, the search for the prehistoric axe factory at Hyssington in Montgomeryshire, and the excavation of a Bronze Age burial cairn and post-medieval corn-drying kiln at Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells.

Conservation work on one of the Corndon Hill Bronze Age round barrows

In the early months of 2006 small-scale excavations were carried out by staff from CPAT in order to make a record of the structure of the round barrow before the holes were backfilled. The round barrow was found to be partly obscured by the dry-stone wall built along one side of the bridleway and is much larger than had been expected - being about 15 metres in diameter and up to about 1.8 metres high. The mound had been built of soil and turf stripped from the surrounding area, and incorporated a few fragments of prehistoric pottery and a number of flint flakes. No attempt was made to find the original burial which no doubt still remains intact below the centre of the burial mound, but alder charcoal was recovered from a buried ground surface below the barrow has recently been radiocarbon dated. This suggests that vegetation clearance was taking place here during the later Neolithic period, between about 3000-2700 BC, about 5000 years ago.

The siting of the Corndon Hill round barrow viewed from Mitchell's Fold stone circle.

Evironmental evidence from the excavations has been studied by Astrid Caseldine and Kate Griffiths of University of Wales Lampeter. Pollen and charred plant remains suggest that the local environment in the later Neolithic and early Bronze Age period was open woodland with hazel scrub with some alder and ash and grassland with weeds and ferns. Oak woodland, including lime, is indicated in the wider environment, perhaps on lower ground. There is growing evidence, as at Corndon, of human impact upon Welsh upland woodlands during this period.

Once we had completed our small-scale excavations the holes that had been inadvertently dug into the mound were backfilled and the site has since been designated by Cadw as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Revisiting the site again in May 2009 showed that the restoration work was successful. Hopefully, the monument will now continue to survive intact as a landscape feature for many thousands of years to come!

Exploring the History of the Churchyard

Under the banner of the Sacred Space project Northern Marches Cymru invited Bob Silvester of CPAT to conduct a workshop on ‘Exploring the history of a churchyard’. Twenty participants from the Wrexham Maelor region gathered at the Hanmer Arms in Hanmer on 20 April to hear a presentation on the various historic features – boundaries, yews, buildings including bier houses and mausolea, crosses and memorials – that are to be found in churchyards, and how these can be recorded to create a permanent record for the future. The group then visited Hanmer churchyard, filling in special recording forms on what they identified, and this was followed by a wide-ranging discussion about problems and possibilities, before lunch was taken at the Hanmer Arms. A good day was had by all.

For further information about churches and their churchyards follow this link to CPAT's Historic Churches webpages

Bill Putnam and the Romans in Montgomeryshire

Guided walk at Roundton hillfort

Roundton Hill sits within the Vale of Montgomery Registered Historic Landscape. Follow this link to find out more about this wider landscape.

Wrexham Heritage Society Find of the Quarter

As part of our role supporting The Portable Antiquities Scheme the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust pays quarterly visits to the Wrexham Heritage Society, a metal detecting club who hold their meetings in Acton, Wrexham. We have a good working relationship and together are generating valuable new information about the past. To further this good work and to encourage members to keep recording their finds with us we have instigated a Find of the Quarter award. Items reported to both club officers and CPAT during the previous 3 months are compared and the finder of the most interesting item (not always the oldest!) is awarded a special certificate. So without further ado let us present the winner of the inaugural Find of the Quarter competition, Julian and his rather lovely Late Iron Age horse harness cheekpiece!

Originally one of a pair that would probably have formed part of a horse’s bridle, this copper alloy bar is beautifully decorated with sweeping lines and panels filled with red enamel in the Iron Age artistic style called La Tčne. Very few such items have been found in the past and there are currently only 8 other examples on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database! See the full record here.

CPAT meets ‘hometown’ metal detector club

On a Saturday morning in late February CPAT staff met with members of the Oldford Force Team metal detecting club. Based in the Trust’s hometown of Welshpool, the Oldford Force Team is a well-established club involved in encouraging children and young people to participate in an active, outdoors hobby.

Several hours were spent with club members including founder Tony Pinchera identifying and recording artefacts for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, all the while being generously fuelled with coffee and biscuits by Tony’s partner Hazel! A wide range of interesting and potentially important artefacts were studied and over the next few weeks CPAT Volunteer Rod Trevaskus will be working to photograph and record the items before uploading the details onto the PAS database. Club member Ed Bailey kindly agreed to take on the important role of finds recorder for the Oldford Force Team, using a digital recording form devised by CPAT to note details such as where artefacts were discovered, as soon as they are unearthed. Recording where an item comes from is just as important for us as recording what it is!

We are pleased to be working with clubs such as the Oldford Force Team, who are keen to work with archaeologists and to record their finds. We are very grateful to Tony and the other club members and look forward to working regularly with them in the future!

Searching for the lost garden of Powis Castle

One of the intriguing aspects of Powis Castle is the ‘Lost Garden’ that once lay below the Great Lawn. A perspective drawing of the castle in the 1750s shows that at that time the lawn was occupied by an ornate Dutch water garden graced with parterres, ponds and statuary. The water garden is thought to have been developed from about 1705 when at least one pool, described as a ‘noble Bason’ is known to have been in existence. The water garden is again shown on a plan of Powis Castle and its grounds in 1771 by the architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard (the designer of the famous Coalbrookdale Bridge), but appears to have been replaced by the present lawn early in the following century.

In late 2008 CPAT was commissioned by the National Trust to see whether any trace of the earlier garden could be identified from geophysical survey. The results of the magnetic gradiometer survey show that traces of the garden do indeed survive below the turf. To find out more about our search for this buried treasure, follow this link to our project pages.

Berriew WI

Answers 1=b, 2=c, 3=b, 4=a and b (half a point each), 5=d, 6=b, 7=d (early), 8=c, 9=b, 10=c (only joking, it’s b!)

Work experience student returns!

Romans to the south!

As we predicted back in the halcyon days of last summer, and undeterred by a bit of winter snow, the Romans have arrived at Ystradgynlais. To be exact, at its library. CPAT’s Romans in Mid Wales exhibition has travelled south and can now be seen in the Library and Help Centre in Temperance Street, where it will stay for the next couple of weeks. The panels then move camp again, this time to Brecon. Further details will follow…

Neolithic discoveries at Borras Quarry

Ian Grant of CPAT held the Friends of Wrexham Museum spell bound with his account of the exciting discovery of a Neolithic settlement at Borras Quarry near Wrexham. He gave an illustrated guide to the last years excavations together with an overview of recent developments, and what might happen next. To find out more about last year's excavations work at Tarmac's Borras Quarry, and to download a copy of the booklet produced about the site, follow this link.

Capel Maelog medieval church revisited

We're in the news!

For more information on the Iron Age horse harness fragment featured in the photo accompanying the article visit its record on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database here.

BBC Wales captures the broad reach of archaeology

CPAT gets asked to advise on all manner of archaeology-related topics, though seldom as part of tracing someone’s family history. That is what happened when one of its Heritage Management Archaeologists was recently interviewed by BBC Wales Today, the evening regional news programme, as part of a local man’s claims that he is descended from a Roman soldier. Using ground-breaking DNA analysis, he believes that his ancestor originated in modern-day Croatia and ended up stationed at Caersws, central Powys!

We were of course unable to give hard evidence for any direct line of descent, but we could shed light on the known history of the Roman occupation of Wales and its borders. This included the Roman military’s well-documented practice of sending foreign nationals from conquered lands to ‘serve’ the Empire in overseas locations. It is just feasible that one such (un)fortunate arrived in Chester (Caer) as part of the 2nd or 20th Legions, and helped establish the major fort and two impressive amphitheatres. It is equally possible, though not provable, that the same individual was later garrisoned at the substantial fort at Caersws, where native 'interaction' prevailed.

Though unable to provide incontrovertible evidence on this occasion, it reveals how archaeology reaches the whole of society, whether collectively or, as in this case, in ways rather more personal.

The Breiddin Bronze Age and Iron Age hillfort

You can find out more about the work at the Breiddin hillfort by following this link.

The Romans in Montgomeryshire

You can find out more about the Romans in mid Wales by following this link.

Welshpool Society launch

An enthusiastic throng of over 60 people came from across Montgomeryshire to attend the inaugural meeting of the Welshpool Society at the Raven Inn in Welshpool on the 11th November. The newly formed group were entertained by an illustrated talk on the archaeology and history of Welshpool by Chris Martin of CPAT (who was also heard to remark how much he appreciated talking at a venue serving a decent pint of beer!). The talk,which ranged from Welshpool's prosperous wool trade and its medieval and later buildings to early prehistoric burial sites and ritual complexes, was well received and all agreed that the Society had got off to a good start and left in eager anticipation of returning for the next two meetings, arranged for January (The history of the Montgomeryshire Canal by Stephen Lees of British Waterways) and March (Welshpool - an English town in a Welsh hinterland by Bryn Ellis) 2009.

You can find out more about the archaeology and history of Welshpool by following ths link to our community web pages

Historic Churches in the St Asaph Diocese

You can find out more about the CPAT Historic Churches Survey by following this link.