Swyddi Tanysgrifio i Swyddi Blog Treftadaeth Cymru News      Pob Sylw Tanysgrifio i Heritage of Wales Sylwadau Blog Newyddion     English

Wednesday 28 May 2014

First World War Heritage Event





On 14 May Royal Commission Community Archaeologists, in partnership with Borth Community Council, ran an initial event to kick-start a series of First World War commemoration events in Borth.

The community of Borth had been asked to bring along any information, photographs and memories they had relating to the First World War. For the event the Commission provided an exhibition of material that we had started collecting, together with information from our archives, including aerial photographs and the 1905 Ordnance Survey map, which highlighted how the town had changed.

For the exhibition, a community member had given us permission to use his information, compiled from the 1911 census, and we were also given permission to use information from the West Wales Memorial Project. This website has detailed information on each person commemorated on all the war memorials in West Wales; including the three in Borth.

Community members looking at old photographs of Borth.
We had also been given material to scan by a community member in relation to Howard Lloyd Roberts. Howard Lloyd Roberts was born in Borth but went to work in London as a journalist; he later returned to Borth and volunteered for military service. He produced many sketches and caricatures at this time, which were published and were enjoyed by his comrades.

Trench Cartoon by Howard Lloyd Roberts.
The community archaeologists were also on hand to scan and photograph new material and record any new information.

Community Archaeologist scanning material.
One community member brought in a large amount of material relating to Arthur Footitt who is commemorated on the Borth War Memorial.

Arthur Footitt.
First World War medal belonging to Arthur Footitt.
This marked the start of a series of First World War commemoration events in Borth. The next event will be on August 4th in Borth community hall. There will be an exhibition of all the material collected, with afternoon tea and music.


Tanysgrifiwch i Newyddion Treftadaeth Cymru a chofrestrwch ar gyfer yr RSS porthiant llawn: cliciwch y botwm RSS hwn Subscribe to Heritage of Wales News Blog Posts a thanysgrifiwch!

Rydym hefyd ar gael ar: Facebook Twitter Flickr
Twitter Hashtag: #RCAHMWales

Share this post:

Thursday 22 May 2014

Y Comisiwn Brenhinol yn Dychwelyd i Gastell y Gelli ar gyfer Gŵyl y Gelli 2014





Llun o Gastell y Gelli, yn dangos y castell o’r drydedd ganrif ar ddeg (chwith) a’r plasty o’r ail ganrif ar bymtheg (de)
Mae Castell y Gelli (NPRN:25593) wedi’i leoli yng nghanol y Gelli Gandryll, cartref Gŵyl Lenyddol y Gelli a gynhelir bob blwyddyn. Mae’r ŵyl, sydd bellach yn ei 27ain flwyddyn, yn para am 10 diwrnod ac yn denu awduron, artistiaid a pherfformwyr o bedwar ban byd. Caiff ei chynnal o 22 Mai hyd 1 Mehefin eleni.

Yn 2011, cafodd Castell y Gelli, sy’n adeilad rhestredig Gradd I, ei drosglwyddo i berchenogaeth elusen gofrestredig, Ymddiriedolaeth Castell y Gelli. Nod yr Ymddiriedolaeth, drwy weithio gyda Cadw a Pharc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog, yw sicrhau bod y safle’n cael ei ddiogelu’n barhaol. Prosiect cymunedol yw hwn sy’n hybu proses o ailddarganfod, gwarchod ac adfer gyda’r bwriad o adfywio’r castell a’i droi’n ganolfan ar gyfer diwylliant, celf, crefft ac addysg. Bydd yr Ymddiriedolaeth yn cynnal teithiau drwy’r castell yn ystod yr ŵyl eleni. Bydd Richard Suggett, Uwch Ymchwilydd y Comisiwn Brenhinol, yn arwain teithiau (sydd eisoes wedi’u bwcio’n llawn) ar Ddydd Gwener 23 Mai a Dydd Sadwrn 31 Mai.

Wedi’i leoli ar y ffin rhwng Cymru a Lloegr, yr hyn sy’n gwneud Castell y Gelli yn anarferol yw bod rhywun wedi byw ynddo’n ddi-dor ers 800 o flynyddoedd. Cafodd ei godi yn y ddeuddegfed ganrif a dim ond yn yr ugeinfed ganrif y cafodd ei adael yn wag. Ystyrir ei fod yn un o’r safleoedd aml-gyfnod pwysicaf ar yr ochr Gymreig i’r ffin. Mae’r castell canoloesol wedi goroesi, ac mae’r porth o’r drydedd ganrif ar ddeg a’r gatiau pren cynnar yn dal yn gyfan. Y gatiau pren, gyda’u cleddyfau croes gwreiddiol, yw un o dair neu pedair enghraifft sydd wedi goroesi ym Mhrydain.
 
Castell y Gelli: y porth o’r drydedd ganrif ar ddeg a’r gatiau pren cynnar


Cafodd Tŷ’r Castell, plasty Jacobeaidd o’r ail ganrif ar bymtheg, ei adeiladu gydag ochr gorthwr y castell. Mae’r Comisiwn Brenhinol wedi dyddio’r coed yn y tŷ tri-llawr drwy gyfrif blwyddgylchau, ac wedi darganfod iddo gael ei godi ym 1636. Er gwaethaf dau dân yn yr ugeinfed ganrif, mae’r adeiladwaith yn parhau’n gadarn.


Tŷ’r Castell a gorthwr pedwar-llawr y castell

Wrth i’r gwaith ailddarganfod fynd yn ei flaen, mae’n dod yn fwyfwy amlwg bod gan y castell lawer o nodweddion pensaernïol pwysig iawn, ac unigryw efallai. Bydd y muriau’n cael eu cyfnerthu, a’r nod yw atgyweirio yn hytrach nag adnewyddu. Mae’n galondid gweld bod nodweddion hanesyddol y castell yn cael y fath ofal a bod yr adeilad a’r tiroedd unwaith eto yn dod yn ganolbwynt i’r gymuned leol.


Tanysgrifiwch i Newyddion Treftadaeth Cymru a chofrestrwch ar gyfer yr RSS porthiant llawn: cliciwch y botwm RSS hwn Subscribe to Heritage of Wales News Blog Posts a thanysgrifiwch!

Rydym hefyd ar gael ar: Facebook Twitter Flickr
Twitter Hashtag: #RCAHMWales





Share this post:

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Uplands Dayschool 2014 at Sennybridge Training Area, Powys





This year’s Royal Commission Uplands Archaeology Forum and Dayschool, on the theme of Upland Military Landscapes in Wales, was held at Sennybridge Training Area in Powys, in collaboration with the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). The requisitioning of the upland landscape of Mynydd Epynt, or the Sennybridge Training Area, and its military stewardship since the second world war, unwittingly preserved a massive block of upland Wales against the effects of post-war and recent farming methods and upland improvement, making the range a haven for preserved landscape archaeology. For this reason it was fitting to hold our 2014 dayschool and fieldtrip in this remarkable upland landscape.
 
Delegates outside the Epynt Visitor Centre with Major Eddie Mahoney, Commandant of Sennybridge Training Area.
The event was held over two days. On Friday 9th May we held our dayschool of talks at the Red Kite Centre in Sennybridge Camp. The day was opened by Colonel Richard Howard-Gash, Commander Wales and West, and Major (retired) Eddie Mahoney, Commandant of Sennybridge Camp, who briefed 50 assembled delegates on the requirements of the training estate. The programme began with a talk by Richard Osgood, the Senior Archaeologist for the DIO, about archaeological priorities for the UK training estate. This was followed by papers from the past year’s archaeological walkover surveys funded by the Royal Commission’s Uplands Archaeology Initiative. Over lunch delegates had a rare opportunity to view preserved Prisoner of War (PoW) alpine scenes painted on the Cookhouse walls in the mid 1940s.
Delegates admiring in-situ Prisoner of War alpine murals on the walls of the Cookhouse at Sennybridge Camp.
The afternoon saw a splendid range of talks on the theme of Upland Military Landscapes in Wales with papers by Dr Bob Silvester and Jeff Spencer (CPAT), Jon Berry (Cadw), archaeologist Dr Stephen Briggs, military historian Mark Kahn, and Dr Bob Johnston from the University of Sheffield. On the following day, two minibuses of delegates braved the sunshine and showers on Mynydd Epynt to see how the military stewardship of this block of upland moorland has preserved prehistoric, medieval and twentieth-century sites.

Experiencing typical Epynt weather on the Saturday field trip at Hirllwyn enclosure, a scheduled ancient monument protected from military activity by a ‘no digging’ star.
By kind permission of the Commandant, we were able to visit famous sites of the Epynt, like the enigmatic defended enclosure at Clawdd British, together with relatively recent discoveries of national importance like Pant y Blodau medieval deserted settlement, and twentieth-century military monuments including drainage culverts built by German and Italian Prisoner of War. A highlight of the trip was a visit to the restricted German training village or FIBUA (Fighting in Built Up Areas), an urban training facility, guided by Mark Kahn.

Visiting the restricted FIBUA village (Fighting in Built Up Areas), a purpose-built training facility for urban combat, modelled on a German village.


Tanysgrifiwch i Newyddion Treftadaeth Cymru a chofrestrwch ar gyfer yr RSS porthiant llawn: cliciwch y botwm RSS hwn Subscribe to Heritage of Wales News Blog Posts a thanysgrifiwch!

Rydym hefyd ar gael ar: Facebook Twitter Flickr
Twitter Hashtag: #RCAHMWales

Share this post:

Monday 19 May 2014

O 2014 i 1525 – allech chi fyw yn Y Llys?






Yr adeg yma llynedd roedd cwmni cynhyrchu Boom Pictures Cymru yn edrych am griw o bobl fyddai'n derbyn yr her o fyw mewn plasty Cymreig am dair wythnos, a hynny fel y byddai wedi bod yn 1910. Darlledwyd eu hynt a'u helynt ar gyfres hanes byw S4C, Y Plas ym mis Medi 2013.

Yn 2014 bydd cyfres arall, ond y tro hwn mae'r her yn wahanol. Eleni, mae'r cwmni cynhyrchu yn edrych am bobl sy'n barod am yr her o fyw yn Y Llys.

Bydd y teuluoedd a'r unigolion llwyddiannus yn gorfod gadael eu bywydau bob dydd, a chamu nôl pum canrif i fyw mewn llys o Oes y Tuduriaid yn Llys Tretŵr ger pentref Crughywel yn ne Powys.

Dyma gyfnod Harri'r VIII, cyfnod yr uchelwyr oedd yn byw bywyd moethus gan wledda, mwynhau adloniant gan feirdd a chantorion, yn hela ac yn ymwan yn erbyn ei gilydd. Yn Oes y Tuduriaid byddai'n arferol i'r gweision a'r uchelwyr fyw a bwyta yn yr un lle – bwyta efo bys a bawd cofiwch chi!

Bydd byw yn Y Llys yn golygu gwisgo, gweithio, bwyta a chwarae yn union fel y byddai'r Tuduriaid wedi gwneud yn 1525, gyda chamerâu yn dilyn yr helynt bob cam o'r ffordd ar gyfer cyfres Y Llys a gaiff ei darlledu ar S4C yn ystod yr hydref eleni.

Mae'r cwmni cynhyrchu yn chwilio am hyd at 20 o bobl i gymryd rhan, a bydd gofyn iddynt fyw yn y llys am dair wythnos dros dymor yr hydref eleni.

Y dyddiad cau yw dydd Sul 1 Mehefin. Am ragor o fanylion ac i wneud cais cysylltwch â Boom Pictures Cymru ar yllys@yllys.co.uk / 02920 671545


Tanysgrifiwch i Newyddion Treftadaeth Cymru a chofrestrwch ar gyfer yr RSS porthiant llawn: cliciwch y botwm RSS hwn Subscribe to Heritage of Wales News Blog Posts a thanysgrifiwch!

Rydym hefyd ar gael ar: Facebook Twitter Flickr
Twitter Hashtag: #RCAHMWales

Share this post:

Thursday 15 May 2014

Gŵyl Bensaernïaeth Cymru: Y Lle Creadigol, 15 Mai - 17 Mai





Melin lechi Pant-yr-ynn, NPRN: 28260. Dyma un o gannoedd o luniadau Falcon Hildred yng Nghofnod Henebion Cenedlaethol Cymru sydd bellach ar gael ar Coflein.
 
Yn ddiweddarach y wythnos hwn, bydd y Comisiwn Brenhinol yn cyfrannu at Ŵyl Bensaernïaeth Cymru 2014, cyd-fenter rhwng Cymdeithas Frenhinol y Penseiri yng Nghymru a Chanolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth. Bydd arddangosfa’r Comisiwn Brenhinol ar waith celf Falcon Hildred, yr arlunydd tirweddau diwydiannol hynod ddawnus, yn dod i ben ar 28 Mai: Worktown: Lluniadau Falcon Hildred. Yn ogystal, bydd Richard Suggett, hanesydd pensaernïol, yn arwain taith drwy’r Ganolfan arobryn a’i chyffiniau am 2pm, ar Ddydd Sadwrn 17 Mai. I gyd-fynd â chanmlwyddiant geni Dylan Thomas, thema gyffredinol yr ŵyl eleni fydd Y Lle Creadigol, a bydd y pwyslais ar archwilio’r broses o greu. Bydd uchafbwyntiau eraill yn cynnwys digwyddiad lansio’r ŵyl: Noson o Syniadau; Awr Ysbrydoliaeth yr Ysgol Wanwyn: Gwneud Hanes yn Sain Ffagan, a Drama’r Prynhawn: Under Plywood, adolygiad amharchus o adfywiad ein “trefi hyll hyfryd” wedi’i gyflwyno gan Stiwdio Theatr Penseiri Cymru.

Bydd y rheiny sy’n dod i’r ŵyl hefyd yn cael cyfle i dreulio peth amser creadigol mewn replica o sied ysgrifennu eiconig Dylan Thomas a fydd yn gwneud ymweliad arbennig â’r ŵyl fel rhan o’i thaith drwy’r DU. Y tu mewn i’r sied, er mwyn anrhydeddu cariad Dylan at eiriau, cewch gyfle i ddyfeisio eich gair perffaith eich hun a’i weld yn cael ei gyhoeddi mewn Geiriadur i Ddylan.


I gael mwy o fanylion, cysylltwch â: Canolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth.

Tanysgrifiwch i Newyddion Treftadaeth Cymru a chofrestrwch ar gyfer yr RSS porthiant llawn: cliciwch y botwm RSS hwn Subscribe to Heritage of Wales News Blog Posts a thanysgrifiwch!

Rydym hefyd ar gael ar: Facebook Twitter Flickr
Twitter Hashtag: #RCAHMWales


Share this post:

Friday 9 May 2014

Bwletin Archifau a Llyfrgell Cofnod Henebion Cenedlaethol Cymru – Ebrill 2014





Croeso i’r rhifyn diweddaraf o Fwletin Archifau a Llyfrgell Cofnod Henebion Cenedlaethol Cymru (CHCC) http://www.cbhc.gov.uk/HI/CYM/Ein+Gwasanaethau/Rhoi+Cofnodion/Derbyniadau+Diweddar/. Gellir gweld yr eitemau archifol a’r llyfrau llyfrgell ac erthyglau o gylchgronau yn ein hystafell ddarllen gyhoeddus. Gellir gweld y deunydd archifol ar Coflein hefyd yn www.coflein.gov.uk

Rydym ar agor i’r cyhoedd ar yr adegau canlynol:
Dydd Llun – Dydd Gwener 09.30 – 16.00, Dydd Mercher 10.30 – 16.30.
Fe’ch cynghorir i wneud apwyntiad.

Os oes gennych unrhyw sylwadau neu ymholiadau, mae croeso i chi gysylltu â ni:

Gwasanaeth Llyfrgell ac Ymholiadau CHCC
Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru
Adeilad y Goron, Plas Crug
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion, SY23 1NJ

Ffôn:  +44 (0)1970 621200
Ffacs: +44 (0)1970 627701
E-bost: chc.cymru@cbhc.gov.uk
Gwefan: www.cbhc.gov.uk
Blog: www.newyddiontreftadaethcymru.blogspot.co.uk

Gan Lynne Moore


Tanysgrifiwch i Newyddion Treftadaeth Cymru a chofrestrwch ar gyfer yr RSS porthiant llawn: cliciwch y botwm RSS hwn Subscribe to Heritage of Wales News Blog Posts a thanysgrifiwch!

Rydym hefyd ar gael ar: Facebook Twitter Flickr
Twitter Hashtag: #RCAHMWales

Share this post:

Thursday 8 May 2014

Exploring Fan Llia to Fan Dringarth with the Big Welsh Walk 2014!





Throughout May, Ramblers Cymru is holding its annual event, the Big Welsh Walk. The event aims to encourage people to get out and about walking, with a programme of group-walks around Wales. Last Saturday (3 May) the Royal Commission provided the historical expertise for an 8.5-mile walk on the Brecon uplands planned by Cadw. 25 walkers and 4 Royal Commission staff members assembled near a Roman camp on the slopes of Fan Llia, some 400m above sea level. We were led on the walk by David Leighton, the Royal Commission’s Uplands Project coordinator. This long-running project aims to survey and record archaeology on all moorland over 244m above sea level. Although some 2380 square km have been surveyed to date, this area has yet to be covered. The 8.5-mile circular walk revealed the extent and variety of archaeology existing in upland areas such as this, from prehistoric cairns through to nineteenth-century sheep folds!

The walk proceeded along the western side of Fan Llia, where we saw a group of circular and oval platforms representing the remains of a prehistoric settlement which could date to as early as 2000 BC. This is an exciting site, as there are few examples of platform groups such as this in Wales: they are better-known in the north of Britain where the majority of those excavated are Bronze Age in date.

A short distance to the north-east lie the remains of a Bronze Age burial cairn. Its centre has been robbed out and a slab on the edge of the mound is thought to have been the capstone.

David Leighton explains how the burial chamber would have looked, with upright stones defining a stone-lined burial pit and supporting a larger capstone.
We continued north, crossing the Afon Llia at Rhyd Uchaf, a ford over the Sarn Helen, an old Roman (and post-medieval turnpike) road. We then headed towards Maen Llia (NPRN 84541), one of the largest standing stones in Wales.
 
Walkers fording the Afon LLia on line of the Roman road.
Although Maen Llia reputedly bears traces of a Latin/Ogham inscription, its precise geometric relationship with nearby bronze-age monuments suggests that it is prehistoric in origin. We paused exactly 320m south-east of Maen Llia at the remains of a Bronze Age burial cairn (NPRN 84539). David Leighton explained that the cairn forms the apex of an isosceles triangle whose other two corners are formed by Maen Llia and a multi-banked Bronze Age ring barrow (NPRN 84544). Distances between the three sites have been measured by the Royal Commission and the cairn was found to be equidistant from the other two sites. Intriguingly, a platform (possibly for a structure of some kind) sitting inside this triangle of sites is equidistant from the ring barrow and Maen Llia.
 
Platform lying precisely equidistant from ring barrow and Maen Llia.
More recently, a possible recumbent standing stone (NPRN 409642) has been identified projecting from a field-bank at the current roadside to the south-west of Maen Llia. GPS readings indicate that the stone is also at the mid-point between the ring barrow and Maen Llia.

Walker standing on possible recumbent standing stone, positioned at an equal distance between Maen Llia and the Bronze Age ring barrow.
Maen Llia, measuring 3.61m high and 2.75m wide, is located at the head of a pass between Fan Llia and Fan Nedd. According to legend, at Midsummer’s eve the stone walks to the river to drink. This story could refer to the stone’s shadow, whose evening shadow reaches towards the nearby river and is, according to local people, the shape of a forked tongue.

Maen LLia, one of the largest standing stones in Wales.
Lunch was eaten overlooking the Llia Valley and much fun was had flying kites kindly supplied by Ramblers Cymru!

Looking south down the Llia Valley.
After negotiating the 500m+ upper slopes of Fan Dringarth, we made our way down to the eastern slopes of Fan Llia and followed the line of the Nant y Gaseg stream towards Ystradfellte Reservoir. There are numerous abandoned post medieval dry-stone sheep folds and other tumbled stock enclosures in the vicinity of the reservoir.

One of many abandoned folds known to have been used from the medieval period up until at least the nineteenth century, possibly built on an earlier structure.
The reservoir, constructed in 1907-14 to provide water for Neath, has the remains of a number of probable later medieval or post medieval building platforms close to its northern and western shores. Some are thought to represent seasonal dwellings, occupied in summer when cattle grazed the upland pastures.

The Royal Commission’s David Leighton and Richard Suggett (Buildings Investigator) discuss the interior layout of a probable longhouse on the reservoir’s northern shore.
Given the close proximity of the reservoir, it is likely that further remains lie under the water itself.

Remains of medieval or later longhouse bisected by the western shore of the Ystradfellte Reservoir.

From the reservoir it was a short walk back to our start-point. We all agreed that the walk was invigorating, informative and fun!

Ramblers Cymru’s annual Big Welsh Walk continues throughout May. See their website at http://www.ramblers.org.uk/wales/what-we-do/events-index/2014/may/big-welsh-walk.aspx for details.

A list of heritage walks planned by Cadw can be found on the events page of Cadw’s website at http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/events/?lang=en

 By Nikki Vousden.


Tanysgrifiwch i Newyddion Treftadaeth Cymru a chofrestrwch ar gyfer yr RSS porthiant llawn: cliciwch y botwm RSS hwn Subscribe to Heritage of Wales News Blog Posts a thanysgrifiwch!

Rydym hefyd ar gael ar: Facebook Twitter Flickr
Twitter Hashtag: #RCAHMWales

Share this post:

LinkWithin