Discovery & Learning 2010 by The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Ltd

Discovery and Learning 2010 The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Limited

Foreword by Andrew Marvell Chief Executive

Welcome to Discovery and Learning. The presence of the past gives distinction to places where we live, work or play. This booklet briefly describes some of the projects that the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust has undertaken in the past year. Our intent is that this should open up a door to our work and the diversity and richness of the historic environment in South Wales. We also hope that this will provide a stimulus for you to follow your own paths of discovery and learning whether through visiting sites and monuments or reading about them or accessing information from the Trust's and other similar websites or pursuing other lines of engagement and research. The well-being of the historic environment depends on the appreciation and care of all of us. Andrew Marvell Chief Executive May 2010

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Contents

Living on the edge-Prehistoric people of the Uplands

Pages 1-4

A Roman fortress and the Ryder Cup

Pages 5-8

Recent discoveries in medieval Swansea

Pages 9-12

An industrial landscape at Ffos-y-fran

Pages 13-16

Your archaeology

Pages 17-20

Discovery and Learning 2010 The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Limited

Living on the edge-prehistoric people of the uplands by Edith Evans Nant Car cairnfield Cefn Car

Cefn yr Esgyrn cairnfield Padell y Bwlch Tarren y Bwlch Penrhiw Cradoc cairn

LEFT: One of the Trust's Assistant Project Officers recording a stone hut-circle at Padell y Bwlch on Hirwaun Common.

From 2008 to 2010 the Trust carried out a Cadw-funded survey to evaluate all the prehistoric and Roman settlement archaeology that we hadn't already looked at in the last ten years. This has involved a lot of fieldwork, visiting sites to see whether our record of them is correct. LEFT: There are the remains of more huts below Tarren y Bwlch, 700m to the east.

Living on the edge-prehistoric people of the uplands

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ABOVE: Part of the cluster of huts and enclosures on Cefn Car (after RCAHMW). ABOVE: One of the enclosures with a shared wall on Cefn Car.

By far the most interesting sites are the ones in the uplands, where the foundation of huts and enclosure survive on the moors. One of the best is on Cefn Car in the Brecon Beacons, close to the border with Powys. Here, just under the crest of the ridge between Nant Gwineu to the north and Nant Car to the south, is a cluster of huts or small enclosures on a shelf on the hillside, facing south. They are built from rough blocks of the local limestone, with none of the walls surviving more than 0.45m in height, in various circle-like shapes. In the main group, there are two small enclosures with a shared wall. The later of the two has a gap in the southeastern side of the wall that seems to be original entrance, and a projecting alcove on the north side. These structures lie on a saddle, with a smaller circle on slightly higher ground to the west, and more enclosure or huts above to the east. One of these is shaped rather like a tadpole, where the walls enclose a small circle and then sweep round in a curly 'tail'. Another has very thick walls with little compartments built partly into them and partly projecting into the central space. Below these on the hillside is another cluster of little circles. At the west end of the complex, also descending the hill, is a length of wall in an arc stretching for more than 100m with a couple of little enclosures built onto it half way along, and more enclosures at the bottom. Such 'wandering walls' are known from other places in the uplands, were they are associated with huts and groups of small cairns.

BELOW: The 'wandering wall' on Cefn Car.

Living on the edge-prehistoric people of the uplands The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments for Wales thinks that these cairns may be connected with clearing stones to allow crops to be planted in areas close to the settlement, but since so few have been excavated, it is rarely possible to be certain that they did not have some other function as well as, or instead of, field clearance. Archaeologists have tended to assume that settlements of the type at Cefn Car are prehistoric, perhaps dating to the Bronze Age when the climate was warmer and the uplands would have been better adapted to all-year-round occupation. On the other hand, the farmers we spoke to during the site visit, when they were busy rounding up their flocks to take them off the mountain, had assumed that they had been built in the fairly recent past to manage the sheep. As none of the examples in the Brecon Beacons have ever been excavated, we have no way at the moment of knowing for sure whether they are prehistoric. A couple of groups of small cairns a little further west along the slope, 200m away from the end of the 'wandering wall', may be connected with the settlement, but again none of the cairns have been excavated and they are undated.

ABOVE: One of the group of cairns on Cefn Car, down the hillside from the settlement and nearer to Nant Car.

Living on the edge-prehistoric people of the uplands LEFT: The cairnfield at Penrhiw Cradoc looked like the Nant Car cairnfield, but when the cairns were excavated we could see that they had originally been neatly built.

ABOVE: The excavation was carried out because the cairns were damaged during ploughing for tree-planting. This drawing shows the same cairn with plough-furrows through it.

Where similar cairnfields have been excavated, and radiocarbon dates obtained either from bone found in them, or peat that was being laid down at the time they were built, dates vary from the Bronze Age, like the cairns that the Trust dug in 1981 at Penrhiw Cradoc near Mountain Ash, probably to the Early-medieval period as at Cefn yr Esgyrn above Tower Colliery at Hirwaun, which we excavated in 1992. From the pollen sample taken at Cefn yr Esgyrn, it seems likely that the cairns here may have been part of a field clearance programme. The Penrhiw Cradoc cairns, on the other hand, contained some burnt bone and may have been for burial; cairnfields are sometimes associated with larger cairns that include cists for Bronze Age cremations. There is clearly still a lot to be learned about these sites. Perhaps we will have an opportunity to examine some in more detail in the future.

A Roman fortress and the Ryder Cup by Andrew Marvell

Abernant pottery kiln

Priory Wood camp

Bulmore pottery kiln

In September 2010 the Celtic Manor Resort near Newport will be hosting the Ryder Cup, on a course which runs along the flood plain of the River Usk and loops around the Roman settlement of Bulmore close to the legionary fortress at Caerleon. Construction of a top-class golf course and management of top-class archaeology somehow had to work together.

Drying Kiln and workshop New and existing cemeteries

Great Bulmore settlement

1 ABOVE: Aerial view, looking south, of the 2010 Ryder Cup Championship Golf course under excavation.

Photograph ÂŠ John Sorrel.

In 1815 a stone building paved with reused Roman tombstones was found at Great Bulmore, when it was thought to be a mausoleum connected with the fortress, like the other burials known from this hillside. In 1975, excavations for a water main uncovered another building, and it became clear that what we had was a settlement along the road to Usk. Further work in the 1980s identified at least fifteen stone buildings as well as burials and some medieval features, and the site was scheduled. The relationship of the settlement at Bulmore to Caerleon fortress and its surrounding civil settlement suggests that it was deliberately sited on the edge of the territory of the Second Augustan Legion, but close enough to the fortress to exploit its economic potential. This type of arrangement with one settlement immediately next to the fortress and a second, completely separate one within 1.5-2.5km but under civil authority, is also known at Chester and in mainland Europe. Extent of Roman fortress defences Roman roads

Extent of known Roman activity to the east of the River Usk Great Bulmore Roman settlement Abernant (2a) and Bulmore (2b) pottery kilns

Drying kiln and workshop

Priory Wood camp (Roman)

Mausoleum/tower

LEFT: Plan of Caerleon and Bulmore showing the most important Roman remains. 1

Roman cemeteries

ABOVE: One of the tombstones discovered in 1815 at Great Bulmore. "To the spirits of the departed; Julia Veneria, aged 32; Julius Alesander, her devoted husband, and Julius Belicanus, her son, had this monument set up".

BELOW: Part of a gravestone, with a sculpture of a Roman man and small child set in a niche. Found at Little Bulmore in the late 18th century; the graffito (AVG CAES) at the top was added later.

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A Roman fortress and the Ryder Cup Development of the Celtic Manor Resort started in 1991, and GGAT was involved from the start in the archaeology, from advising the resort on the best way to approach the archaeology, to survey and excavation. We worked closely with the designers of the new facilities to ensure that as much as possible of the archaeology could be preserved. Even when a Roman pottery kiln was found during the construction of one of the greens, the course designer was flown in and the hole re-shaped to avoid it. This kiln made the so-called 'Caerleon ware' -red earthenware pottery for table use, which had been discovered for decades at the fortress, and its importance was such that Cadw scheduled it. However, it was not only Roman remains that were taken into account in the design, traditional farm buildings and a WWII anti-aircraft battery were also preserved.

RIGHT: Part of a Roman face-pot found near one of the pottery kilns.

ABOVE: This Roman kiln may have been for drying pottery before it was fired, or for drying corn.

RIGHT: Bulmore Roman pottery kiln. This kiln, and the one discovered at Abernant Farm (and possibly many others), were used to produce terracotta pottery ('Caerleon Ware') at Bulmore.

A Roman fortress and the Ryder Cup LEFT: A Roman cist burial constructed of large sandstone flagstones, from a newly discovered cemetery area next to the Great Bulmore settlement. No human remains were found, since even bone rots away in the acid soils at Bulmore.

RIGHT: Fragment of an inscribed Roman tombstone found near a building in the cemetery.

LEFT: A household stone altar found within a building in one of the cemeteries near Great Bulmore.

RIGHT: A Roman cremation in a Black-Burnished Ware cooking pot, found near the cist.

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Part of the scheduled area at Bulmore had been based on a geophysical survey carried out in 1999. The new Ryder Cup course impinged on that area, and the Trust carried out the excavations that were a condition of Scheduled Monument Consent. Fortunately, some of the scheduled area turned out to be blank, and at other points the course designers were able to make changes to protect areas of Roman remains alongside the Caerleon-Usk Road and a newly-found cremation cemetery.

A Roman fortress and the Ryder Cup Whilst we tried to identify as much as possible of the archaeology at the design stage, there was always the possibility that other structures might be discovered during construction. Trust staff therefore carried out a watching brief while earth moving took place for the course and the new clubhouse. As a result construction work was halted in sensitive areas to give us time to excavate features like a second pottery kiln with a probable workshop building and a drying kiln. One particularly interesting discovery was a small square tower-like building found well to the north of any Roman activity we had previously discovered, on the site of the new coach park. It lay alongside a lightly metalled track that must have branched off the Caerleon to Usk road. There was some argument at the Trust as to whether it was military;-a watch tower for example or whether it was a mausoleum where someone of importance had been buried. Luckily two small pieces of a stone inscription were found in the debris and Professor Roger Tomlin of Oxford University has been able to make them out as part of a verse referring to 'unjust fate', so it seems that the mausoleum idea is the right one.

BELOW: Part of a stone inscription, probably a tombstone, referring to an 'unjust fate'. It was found in the debris of the tower building.

RIGHT: Aerial close-up of the herring-bone stone foundations of the tower building. The walls only survive in a few places.

LEFT: This aerial view of the Usk Valley shows the tower building near the road between the legionary fortresses of Caerleon and Usk.

Recent discoveries in medieval Swansea by Andrew Sherman

Hig hS tre e

Over the last ten years GGAT has had an exciting opportunity to explore the growth of Swansea in the medieval period. Local historians Col Llewellyn Morgan, and then Bernard Morris, made invaluable notes on what they could see of the castle and town defences uncovered and destroyed during city-centre developments in 1913 and the 1960s and 70s, but otherwise almost no archaeology had been carried out. Thirty years ago, most of what we knew was from documents, which told us that the original timber castle was replaced in stone in the 13th century. The only parts of this later castle to survive are two living areas generally known as the North Block and the New Castle. These would have stood within a defended outer bailey.

Street

Presumed layout of burgage plots

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Outer Ditch

Presumed line of medieval town wall

River Tawe

Excavated section of outer Bailey ditch Ditch

Goat Street

Old Castle

Medieval course of River Tawe

New Castle

Cros e et s Str

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St Mary's Church

h Fis

14th century St David's hospital preserved as part of the Cross Keys public house

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Areas of 13th and 14th Century pits

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Line of medieval boundary ditch for Swansea's lower suburb

ABOVE: Plan showing the 'old' and 'new' Swansea Castle and the probable medieval town layout. LEFT: Swansea Castle: the first floor of the New Castle, showing the solar and hall with the tower and stair turret in the background.

Recent discoveries in medieval Swansea When the Trust dug on the site of the David Evans store in 2007 we discovered a large ditch running north parallel to Princess Way, which we think is the outer bailey ditch. Pollen and seeds recovered from the silts at the bottom of the ditch indicated that when it was new it was overhung by elder shrubs. Slightly higher up in the ditch fill bramble seeds and pollen from fat-hen and orache were found, weeds typical of waste ground, suggesting that the ditch was cleaned out every now and again during the 12th and early 13th centuries. By the late 13th century the ditch was no longer needed for the defence of the town and locals had started to dump rubbish in it, including animal hair and charred oat grain. The area was still waste ground in the 18th century, as can be seen from plans drawn for a dispute between Swansea Corporation and a local resident, Calvert Richard Jones. To the west of the ditch we excavated five burgage plots fronting onto Goat Street. Goat Street, which lasted up until redevelopment after the Second World War, was on roughly the same line as Princess Way, and burgage plots were the long, thin strips of land into which the town was divided. They would usually have a house built gable-end onto the street, with a yard or garden at the rear used for growing vegetables or small-scale industry. The width of the Goat Street burgage plots was almost 7m, much narrower than we expected, but of a similar size to those in Monmouth. A number of the medieval walls had later walls built on top of them, showing that these 12th and 13th century property boundaries stayed the same till the Victorian period. BELOW: The outer bailey ditch after it had been fully excavated.

Recent discoveries in medieval Swansea In the rear of the burgage plots in Wind Street, one of the few roads in Swansea to retain its medieval name, the Trust discovered a number of large 13th and 14th century pits during the building works that took place between 2000 and 2010. We don't know why these pits were originally dug. However, when the pits went out of use they were back-filled with animal bones and broken pottery from Swansea, Wiltshire, Bristol and northern France.

RIGHT: One of a series of large pits (possibly a barrel well) dug to the rear of the Wind Street burgage plots. They had been filled up with industrial and household waste.

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ABOVE: A sherd of medieval pottery found in the Wind Street pits. In this case, the rim of the pot has collapsed during firing and it was probably disposed of as a 'waster'. Finds like this can help date the pits and give an indication of the activities carried out around them.

Recent discoveries in medieval Swansea Our most exciting discovery occurred during our excavations at the lower end of Wind Street during 2003 and 2005. This was a large ditch, and the line of Little Wind Street proved to have been based on it. While we were investigating it we discovered the oldest coin yet found in Swansea, an extremely rare penny of Henry I from the Pembroke mint, probably dating to between 1115 and 1120. RIGHT: The reverse (tail side) of an extremely rare Henry I silver penny, struck in Pembroke probably between 1115 and 1120. This is the earliest coin yet found in Swansea. BELOW: Recording the boundary ditch to medieval Swansea's lower suburb.

Before the Trust discovered this ditch we thought that the town's wall ran down the line of the Strand and crossed over Wind Street on the course of Little Wind Street to run along Fisher Street towards St Mary's Church and Whitewalls where a section was excavated in 1978. We now think that the walls cross over Wind Street on the route of Salubrious Passage and Green Dragon Lane. This is because the new ditch is narrower and shallower than that excavated at Whitewalls and there is no wall. It would also create an awkward corner if the two sections were connected. We therefore now think that our new ditch formed the boundary of a southern suburb.

BELOW: The obverse (head side) of a Henry III silver penny, struck in London probably between 1251 and 1272, by a moneyer called Richard. This coin was found close to the boundary ditch of the southern suburb.

ABOVE: This is the reverse of the Henry III silver penny. It is a type of coin called a long cross penny, it could be cut exactly in half or quarters down the centre of the cross in order to give change.

An industrial landscape at Ffos-y-fran by Richard Lewis In 2007/8, the Trust carried out an eighteen-month programme of excavation and survey for Miller Argent at the opencast site at Ffos-y-fran, Merthyr Tydfil. We were able to investigate 367ha of an important landscape connected with the ironworking industry. Although much of what we discovered has now been removed by mining, Miller Argent plans to preserve some of the best features in a new archaeological park.

Photograph ÂŠ Miller Argent.

ABOVE: Aerial view to the east of the Ffos-y-fran site before the start of surface mining. The Crown Patch Workings can be seen to the centre-right of the photograph below the old curving GWR railway line.

Some of the earliest evidence for mining is represented by Crown Patchworkings, where ironstone deposits were excavated from at least the 18th century in a series of narrow shafts and levels. One of these early levels was fully excavated. It was very narrow, room enough for only one person to squeeze through, and followed the ironstone deposit back into the mountain to create a bell-shaped chamber. The miners had ignored a large coal seam and had sunk their level through it to reach the ironstone deposits over 4m below the present ground surface.

An industrial landscape at Ffos-y-fran More developed mines from the 19th century, both coal and ironstone, were also explored. At the Soap Vein Pit - already 'old' in 1841 - the pithead complex included a large building and three structures incorporating a circular chimney, an engine platform and a structure probably associated with the winding gear. The Dowlais Ironstone Pit No.1 which started early in the 1800s, preserved two complete sets of boilers. The second set had to be put in to provide enough power to work the lower seam of ironstone. Buried under the spoil near the pit-head was the manager's house of two storeys plus a basement, all of which survived. It continued in use after the pit closed, and one of the last inhabitants was able to visit the site and contribute her memories.

Chimney RIGHT: Plan of the Soap Vein Pit, the earliest ironstone mine recorded at Ffos-y-fran and probably of beam-engine type. Already 'old' when recorded on the 1841 Tithe map, the pithead complex included a circular chimney, an engine platform and a structure associated with the winding gear. Engine platform

ABOVE: Rising like an island from the effect of the surface mining is the Dowlais Ironstone Pit No.1 during excavation. The parallel ranks of the boilers can be clearly seen.

Housing for winding gear

ABOVE: The mine manager's house for the Dowlais Pit No.1 was positioned near the pit-head and had been completely buried underneath 20th century mining spoil. The building had two rooms constructed over purpose-built cellared stables. After the pit had gone out of use, this building became a farmhouse occupied by a local (Mrs Margaret Rees) who lived there until the 1940's.

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An industrial landscape at Ffos-y-fran With the intensification of the iron industry at Merthyr from the end of the 18th century, not only did the mines become larger, but they also developed an elaborate infrastructure. One of the most important elements of this to survive is the Dowlais Free Drainage System. This network of leats, reservoirs and U-shaped underground channels was constructed to collect water from the mountain, drain it from the pits and deliver it by gravity to the coal mines and ironworks of Dowlais. Parts of this system are scheduled, but other parts were due to be removed from the development. The team investigated a number of dams, showing that they had all been built at the same time and to the same pattern. There were also two timber aqueducts, collecting water off the mountain and bringing it down to the works at Dowlais. One of these, a Listed Building, had been built to take the water over a railway cutting, but had blown down in strong winds. Cadw was keen to see it restored, so the timbers were lifted for conservation. This aqueduct will be replaced on the site of the other, of which very little survives. RIGHT: Listed timber aqueduct during lifting for preservation. This timber aqueduct formed part of the impressive Dowlais Free Drainage System, an extensive hand-dug network of leats and ponds from the early 19th century, which drained water from the upland moor for the Dowlais Ironworks.

ABOVE: This section taken through the Soap Vein Dam clearly shows the dam's construction technique. First a clay bung was used to prevent water escaping along the peat shelf then a large earthen mound was thrown up faced with stone layed in a herringbone fashion to both prevent erosion and create a water tight seal.

ABOVE: Plan of the leats and ponds that make up the extensive Dowlais Free Drainage System.

An industrial landscape at Ffos-y-fran Parts of the transport network were also recorded, including Penydarren railway station on a branch-line of the GWR. A platform constructed mainly of industrial waste and a station building or signal box in yellow brick and the dark grey mortar typical of the late 19th century were excavated, together with a bridge that carried the Cwmbargoed line over a stream. Mining was not the only heavy industry that was being carried out in the area. Pithead buildings, railways and all the other infrastructure required building materials, which were produced by quarrying stone and making bricks, so the programme also included the investigation of quarries and a brickworks with two kilns. The infrastructure to all this industry also included workers' housing - Merthyr is made up of settlements that sprang up around the mine and ironworks to house the men who made up their workforces, and the Ffos-y-fran area is no exception. A small settlement of at least six buildings, a pond, a well and a quarry was excavated. A field system shows that its economy was not just industrial. Two of the houses were pulled down, probably in the early 20th century, to make way for a quarry tramway. Another two tramroads were located in this area, one passing over the other via a bridge on two abutments. RIGHT: Aerial view of the Penydarren Brickworks. The brickworks is shown as disused by the time of the 1st Edition OS map (1880).

LEFT: A 19th century worker's house in a small settlement of at least five houses and a barn. The settlement is thought to date back to the mid-18th century when the Dowlais Ironworks was established.

Your archaeology by Andrew Marvell In 2009 the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust adopted a Forward Strategy with five key strategic objectives. Perhaps the most important of these is to 'improve access and engagement'. This short article outlines some of the ways that we are seeking to achieve this, connecting you with your archaeology. Back in the 1970s the Trust started to develop the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR), which aimed to include all the known sites and monuments in South Wales. This has now been expanded to form the Historic Environment Record (HER), which also includes other information like the 'events' data, a record of everything that has happened at them. To provide better protection for this record, it is now held as a separate trust (the GGAT HER Charitable Trust).

BELOW: The Trust's HER Manager demonstrating the on-line HER.

Your archaeology At the time of writing the record can only be consulted at our offices in Swansea. However, plans are afoot to make the electronic part of it accessible to anyone anywhere through the world-wide web. Over the past three years the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts have come together to develop a common system, Archwilio ('to explore'), for storing, manipulating and interrogating the digital HERs all over Wales. This has been built using open source software that works with ordinary web browsers. Development is almost complete, and we intend that it will be accessible online before the end of 2010. It will provide easy remote access to more than 100,000 records across Wales of which 26,000 will be in our area. These records are not static but alter, improve and expand over time, and you will be able to see these changes as they happen.

LEFT: A volunteer cataloguing part of the photographic collection in the HER.

The HER is not the only information on line. If you go to our website (www.ggat.org.uk) you can find, in our 'Research' section, the results of recent projects carried out for Cadw. All the historic landscape areas in South Wales are presented with detailed descriptions, photographs and maps. The section on Prehistoric Ritual and Funerary Monuments provides an introduction to these sites, illustrated with some of the best examples in our area. We have plans to include other topics over the next few years. Our 'News' and 'News Archive' sections carry short reports on recent discoveries, but we have also started to use social networking sites to present our work to a wider audience. You can follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/GGAT) and find more detailed information on our weblogs (http://ggatblog.blogspot.com/ & http://ggat.wordpress.com/http://ggat.wordpress.com/), and videos on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/user/GGATArchaeology). Perhaps most important of all, some of our reports can be accessed on Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/Glamorgan-Gwent%20Archaeological%20Trust).

Your archaeology Outreach staff from the Trust can also be seen at a variety of environmental and heritage events throughout South Wales the Festival of British Archaeology, agricultural shows, family history days to name but a few, and of course the National Eisteddfod when it takes place in our area. We offer exhibitions, HER consultations, guided walks, talks, and hands-on activities such as sketching parties at monuments and prehistoric pottery making. Some of our activities are arranged in partnership with other organisations, like Swansea Museum and Llancaiach Fawr, and we always welcome new partners and new ideas. Partnership is a major theme in one of our newer ventures - community archaeology. We have been in the development groups for a number of long-running, large-scale Heritage Lottery Fund Landscape Partnership schemes, some of which, like the Forgotten Landscapes project at Blaenavon, are now running. We are also looking to promote smaller community schemes that actively involve communities in exploring their own historic environment. The outreach section has designed a number of projects for local groups, such as one for the Creation Trust, Blaengarw, to examine the Bronze Age cairn cemetery on their local mountain.

ABOVE: Learning how to sketch the medieval castle at Pennard during the Festival of British Archaeology. ABOVE RIGHT: A Roman cookery workshop, using the sort of equipment Roman cooks would have known. BELOW RIGHT: Meet Neanderthal man. The sculptor explains how she reconstructed his face.

Your archaeology In 2009 with funding from the HLF and encouragement from the local Communities First Officers we undertook an innovative project in two Valleys communities, New Tredegar and Tri-yn-Un. Local people learned to use the HER to access the information we already hold, added information from their own knowledge of the area, and then went out to look at sites and learn how to record them in the field. They then went on to develop a way of presenting the information to the rest of their communities - a leaflet for a trail at New Tredegar and an exhibition at Tri-yn-un. Both projects not only gave their participants the opportunity to learn of a new dimension to their local areas, but also to develop new skills - archaeological investigation and IT and meet new friends. Both groups continue to be active after the actual projects have been finished. It is not always easy to offer excavation opportunities, but last summer more than 90 volunteers were given the chance to participate in an excavation at Oystermouth Castle in Swansea. Working with students from Swansea University under the direction of members of the Trust's professional field team funded by Cadw, the volunteers helped excavate three trenches outside the front gate of the castle to identify the presence of a suspected flanking tower and ditch.

ABOVE: Volunteers excavating one of the three trenches outside the front gate of Oystermouth Castle.

We also help to support people who want a career in archaeology, whether they are at school or college, or recent graduates, or making a mid-life career change. We will try to arrange suitable work experience wherever possible. Visit our website to read about the experiences of some of the people who have worked with us.