The Atlanterra Project II: Slate Studies

The Atlanterra project has also led to cultural tourism and heritage maps and guides of a number of mining fields including the Mapa de Patrimonia Minero de Galicia, (IGME, Madrid, 2013) and the Slate quarrying & mining sites of the French/Breton border in ‘Sur le Chemin des Ardoisières’ (Marie de Noyant-la-Gravoyère, 2013). Mapping and publication of mining on the iron pyrites belt of Portugal is also being published as part of the project. Mapping of the Swansea Valley coalmining field and its eighteenth and early nineteenth-century railways in south Wales has also led to a re-analysis of the origins of the public railway published in S. R. Hughes, 2010, ‘The Emergence of the public railway in Wales’, in G. Boyes (Ed.), Early Railways 4: Papers from the Fourth International Early Railways Conference (Six Martlets, Sudbury, 2010), 107-124. The international diffusion of narrow-gauge railway practice from Wales to Sardinia is discussed in Hughes, Stephen, 2011. ‘Piercy, Benjamin (1827-88), railway builder. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, Oxford University Press [http://www.oxforddnb.com].

The geological analysis of building-stones in the area studied as part of the Atlanterra project has included an analysis of part of the World Heritage Pilgrimage route to Santiago Compostella in a volume by Martinez, R.J. & Diaz Martinez, E. on Las piedras del Camino de Santiago en Galicia, (Instituto Geolόgico y Minero de España, Madrid, 2013); available at http://igmepublicaciones.blogspot.com.es/p/coleccion-guias-geologicas.html#!/p/coleccion-guias-geologicas.html.

A major aim of the Atlanterra project has been the heritage contribution to the valorisation and regeneration of old mining fields. Part of the explanation of this process has been published as Stephen Hughes, 2011 ‘The Comparative Regeneration of the Blaenavon and Pontcysyllte World Heritage Areas’, in Industrie Archäologie 10 (2011) (Industrial Heritage –Ecology & Economy: XIV. International TICCIH Congress 2009 in Freiberg, Germany – Selected Papers), 55-9.

The Atlanterra Project has also contributed to the process whereby TICCIH has agreed with ICOMOS to restart the series of World Heritage Studies. The background to this has already been explained in Stephen Hughes 2012, ‘Thematic World Heritage Studies’ in James Douet (Ed.), Industrial Heritage Re-tooled: The TICCIH guide to Industrial Heritage Conservation (TICCIH, Michigan, USA & Carnegie, Lancaster), 2012, 174-181.

The Atlanterra Project has provided the funding for the process of the compilation of initial studies of the slate and building-stone industries to be started. An initial summary of some of this comparative work has been published by Dr. David Gwyn in Anjou and Gwynedd: Slate Landscapes (Snowdonia National Park, Plas Tan y Bwlch, 2013). Much more and analytical detail of the north Wales Slate Industry will shortly be published in Gwyn, D., Welsh Slate: Archaeology & History of an Industry (RCAHMW, Aberystwyth, 2014).

The Atlanterra partnership has included representatives of areas that had some of the biggest international slate-producing industries. The largest industry developed in the Loire Valley in France in the medieval and post-medieval period and then was overtaken in scale by the nineteenth-century Welsh industry. In the twentieth-century the Spanish slate industry has become the largest in Europe.  Discussion and field visits have allowed draft documents to be produced as a foundation for future World Heritage Studies of slate and building-stone to be produced in consultation with a wider range of TICCIH members.

The methodology of producing animations for industrial archaeological interpretation continues and the annual Digital Past Conferences are one vehicle for carrying this discussion forward (check www.rcahmw.gov.uk for future conferences). Some further work has been carried-out as part of the Metal Links Irish-Welsh partnership led by the Royal Commission in Wales and this will be reported on in a future Bulletin.

Stephen Hughes.
Projects Director, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales & TICCIH Secretary

Further Reading:

• The Atlanterra Project I: the Development of Interpretative Animation & International Slate Studies
  22 Apr 2014
  The development and international diffusion of innovatory survey and presentation techniques was one of the objectives of the four year Atlanterra: Green Mines Project which was brought to a conclusion in the early months of 2014 ...

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Tair Chwedl Arswydus o’r Archif ar gyfer Nos Galan Gaeaf

Fe fuom ni’n edrych drwy ein harchifau’r wythnos hon am rai o’n cofnodion mwyaf iasol ar gyfer Nos Galan Gaeaf. Roedd yn sicr yn iasoer yn ein storfeydd ond y rheswm am hynny mae’n debyg yw bod y tymheredd yno yn cael ei reoli! Croeso i’n dewis cyntaf, Ffowndri Tubal Cain yng Nghaerdydd - allwch chi weld rhywbeth annaearol yn y llun hwn?

DI2011_0165 Hawlfraint y Goron.

Ymddangosodd y ddrychiolaeth hon ar un o’r cofnodion ffotograffig olaf sydd gennym o Ffowndri Tubal Cain, sydd wedi’i dymchwel erbyn hyn. Roedd y ffowndri yn Tyndall Street, Caerdydd a chafodd ei sefydlu rhwng 1869 a 1871. Yn nes ymlaen, yn yr ugeinfed ganrif, roedd yn cael ei galw’n Penarth Industrial Services Ltd.

Ar gyfer ein hail ddewis, fe symudwn i Sir y Fflint a’r adeilad mae pobl yn honni yw’r ‘Tŷ Mwyaf Aflonydd yng Nghymru’. Croeso i Blas Teg. Mae llu o straeon ysbryd am y plasty. Hoffech chi fyw yn yr adeilad mawreddog hwn?

DI2007_0869 Hawlfraint y Goron.

Cafodd Plas Teg ei gomisiynu ym 1610 gan Syr John Trevor AS, syrfëwr llongau’r Frenhines. Credir mai Robert Smythson oedd y pensaer. Yn fewnol mae’r tŷ wedi’i adfer yn llwyr yn ddiweddar, a’r unig nodweddion gwreiddiol sydd ar ôl yw’r grisiau, rhai pyrth ac un lle tân. Ond mae tu allan yr adeilad wedi aros yr un fath fwy neu lai.

Ein dewis olaf yw llun o gae yng Nghas-gwent. Beth allai ystyr y patrwm diddorol hwn fod?

AP_2011_1146 Hawlfraint y Goron.

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Dyddio Hen Dai Cymreig

Uwchlaw’r-coed, NPRN: 28881, y tŷ hynaf yn Eryri sydd wedi’i ddyddio yn ôl arysgrif.

Yn ystod y pedair blynedd ddiwethaf bu’r Comisiwn Brenhinol yn gweithio mewn partneriaeth â’r Grŵp Dyddio Hen Dai Cymreig yng Ngogledd-Orllewin Cymru. Dan arweiniad Margaret Dunn, mae grŵp mawr o wirfoddolwyr wedi darganfod a dyddio oddeutu deg a thrigain o dai cynnar gyda chymorth Richard Suggett, hanesydd pensaernïol y Comisiwn Brenhinol. Y tŷ hynaf yn Eryri yn ôl y dyddiad sydd wedi’i arysgrifio arno yw Uwchlaw’r-coed, Llanenddwyn, Meirionnydd, sydd wedi’i ddyddio’n 1585.

Yr arysgrif 1585 yn Uwchlaw’r–coed.

Ond mae dyddio ar sail blwyddgylchau bellach yn mynd â hanes tai Eryri yn ôl i ddechrau’r unfed ganrif ar bymtheg ar ôl darganfod i Ddugoed ym Mhenmachno gael ei godi ym 1516/17.

Dugoed, NPRN: 26415, drwy astudio blwyddgylchau dyddiwyd y tŷ i 1516/17.

Mae llawer o dai eraill wedi’u dyddio ac mae’r canlyniadau i’w gweld ar Coflein erbyn hyn. Yn yr hydref 2014 bydd y Comisiwn Brenhinol yn cyhoeddi dadansoddiad o’r canlyniadau hyn, gan Richard Suggett ac aelodau o’r Grŵp Dyddio Hen Dai Cymreig, yng nghyd-destun newidiadau economaidd a chymdeithasol yr unfed ganrif ar bymtheg.

Gan Richard Suggett, Uwch Ymchwilydd Adeiladau Hanesyddol 

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Worktown Exhibition Official Opening

An artist with enthusiastic purchasers of Worktown: The Drawings of Falcon Hildred

Last Thursday evening, 11 October, saw the official opening of Worktown: The Drawings of Falcon Hildred at the Coalbrookdale Gallery, Ironbridge Gorge Museum.  The evening was very well attended and everyone greatly admired the range of drawings which covered nearly 50 years of observation of the changing industrial scene and was both celebratory and nostalgic. Speakers of the evening included the artist himself, Falcon Hildred, Steven Miller, Chief Executive Officer Ironbridge Gorge Museums, Dr Peter Wakelin, Secretary of the Royal Commission, and Harriet Delvin, committee member for West Midlands HLF. 

The free-to- enter exhibition will run until 30 April 2013 and will be open 10am-5pm, Monday-Friday. For further details, please call 01952 433424 or visit Ironbridge Gorge Museum. Future venues displaying the original artwork will include the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, and Newport Museum and Art Gallery. An exhibition of reproduction images will also be displayed at the Museum of Slate, Llanberis. Please check our website for further information on future events. The beautifully illustrated catalogue , a permanent record of Falcon’s work, and written by the Royal Commission’s Secretary, Dr Peter Wakelin, is now available to buy from the Royal Commission for £16.95 or at the special price of £15.30 for Friends.

A selection of photographs taken at last week’s successful event:

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The Story of Wales: A New Beginning

Pwll Glo Big Pit, Sir Fynwy
DI2006_0875  NPRN 433

Bydd y bumed raglen yng nghyfres BBC Cymru ar hanes Cymru, “The Story of Wales: A New Beginning”, yn edrych ar y mudo enfawr i gymoedd De Cymru a datblygiad y dociau yng Nghaerdydd a’r Barri yn ystod y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg a dechrau’r ugeinfed ganrif yn sgil darganfod glo rhydd yn y Rhondda. Bydd yn dangos cestyll mawreddog Caerdydd a Phenrhyn, a adeiladwyd â’r arian mawr a gynhyrchwyd gan y diwydiant glo yn y De a’r diwydiant llechi yn y Gogledd. Bydd y rhaglen hefyd yn ymdrin â chwaraeon, adloniant, corau meibion, ac ochr dywyllach diwydiannaeth - y tlodi, y damweiniau, y streiciau a’r cloi allan.


Cysylltau i’r safleoedd sy’n cael sylw yn y 5 raglen:

• Big Pit, Blaenafon
• Glofa’r Tŵr
• Dociau’r Barri
• Chwarel y Penrhyn
• Castell Penrhyn
• Castell Caerdydd
• Cofeb Evan James a James James, neu gofeb ‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’
• Theatr Parc a Dâr, Treorci
• Glofa’r Universal, Senghennydd

Unwaith eto, i’r sawl sydd â diddordeb, ceir ymdriniaeth wych â’r pynciau hyn yng nghyhoeddiad canmlwyddiant y Comisiwn Brenhinol, Trysorau Cudd: Hidden Histories, sy’n cynnwys dwy adran ardderchog ar ‘Cymdeithas Oes Fictoria’ a ‘Cymru ym Mlynyddoedd Cynnar yr Ugeinfed Ganrif’. Yn ogystal, mae ein cyhoeddiadau diweddaraf, sy’n cynnwys Fields of Play: The Sporting Heritage of Wales a Cymru Hanesyddol o'r Awyr / Historic Wales From the Air, yn gwneud cyfraniad allweddol i’n dealltwriaeth o’r newidiadau cyflym yn ystod yr oes hon. Gellir cael copïau o’n holl gyhoeddiadau drwy ein siop lyfrau, ac mae disgownt arbennig o 10% ar gael i Gyfeillion. I gael mwy o wybodaeth, ewch i wefan y Comisiwn Brenhinol neu ffoniwch 01970 621200.

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Worktown: the Drawings of Falcon Hildred

Hollt yr Oakeley, 1974
Panorama o derasau chwareli llechi’r Oakeley o’u gweld wrth gyrraedd Blaenau Ffestiniog o’r gogledd dros Fwlch y Gerddinen. Ar y chwith mae tai teras Talwaenydd, a thu hwnt iddynt mae chwareli a melin lechi Llechwedd.
© Y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru, Casgliad Falcon Hildred,
FHA 01/08/02, NPRN 404307

Bu tîm o guraduron, gwirfoddolwyr ac archifyddion o’r Comisiwn Brenhinol ac Ymddiriedolaeth Amgueddfa Ceunant Ironbridge yn gweithio gyda’i gilydd i baratoi arddangosfa wych newydd o waith yr arlunydd Falcon Hildred a fydd yn agor yn Oriel Coalbrookdale yng nghanol Safle Treftadaeth Byd Ceunant Ironbridge ar y 5ed o Hydref.

Mae Falcon Hildred yn arlunydd hynod ddawnus sydd wedi neilltuo oes o waith i gofnodi adeiladau a thirweddau diwydiant y bedwaredd ganrif a’r bymtheg a’r ugeinfed ganrif. Drwy gofnodi manylion newidiadau technolegol a pheirianyddol a ffordd o fyw sy’n prysur ddiflannu, mae ef wedi creu gweithiau o werth esthetig, hanesyddol a chymdeithasol mawr. Gan weithio mewn partneriaeth ag Ymddiriedolaeth Amgueddfa Ceunant Ironbridge, a chyda chymorth ariannol Cronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri, prynodd y Comisiwn ei gasgliad unigryw o fwy na 600 o luniadau gwreiddiol o adeiladau a thirweddau diwydiannol yn gynharach eleni. Bydd yr arddangosfa yn ei gwneud hi’n bosibl i’r cyhoedd weld y casgliad eiconig hwn am y tro cyntaf.

Fel yr eglura Peter Wakelin, ein Hysgrifennydd, “Mae gwaith oes Falcon Hildred yn gofnod unigryw o ddiwylliant y dosbarth gweithiol ac o dirweddau diwydiannol. Mae’r casgliad yn adnodd gwych i’r sawl sy’n ymddiddori yn y dreftadaeth honno gan fod llawer ohoni wedi diflannu ers i Falcon ei dogfennu. Bydd yr arddangosfa gyntaf hon a’r llyfr sy’n cyd-fynd â hi yn tynnu sylw llawer o bobl at ei waith a’r hanes eithriadol o ddifyr y mae’n ei gynrychioli.”

Meddai Jennifer Stewart, Pennaeth Cronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri yng Nghymru, “Mae Cymru’n enwog ledled y byd am ei threftadaeth ddiwydiannol ac mae caffael y casgliad hwn wedi golygu bod modd rhannu’r gorffennol hwnnw mewn ffordd unigryw. Rydyn ni’n wirioneddol falch bod cynifer o wirfoddolwyr wedi cymryd rhan yn y prosiect a bod cynifer o bobl yn awr yn mynd i gael gweld lluniadau a lluniau dyfrlliw arbennig iawn”.

Cynhelir yr arddangosfa ddi-dâl yn Oriel Coalbrookdale yn Amgueddfa Ceunant Ironbridge a bydd ar agor rhwng 10am a 5pm, Dydd Llun i Ddydd Gwener, o 5 Hydref 2012 hyd 20 Ebrill 2013. Ffoniwch 01952 433424 neu ewch i www.ironbridge.org.uk  i gael rhagor o fanylion.

Carchar Caerdydd, 1986
Comisiynwyd codi Carchar Caerdydd yn sgil barnu nad oedd y carchar cynt yn debyg o fod yn ddigon mawr i gymryd yr holl garcharorion wrth i’r dref ddiwydiannol ehangu’n gyflym. Agorwyd y carchar newydd ddiwedd 1832 ac yr oedd ynddo le i wyth deg o garcharorion ac ugain o ddyledwyr
© Y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru, Casgliad Falcon Hildred,
FHA 02/66, NPRN 3072

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Worktown: the Drawings of Falcon Hildred

The Oakeley Gash, 1974
A panorama of the terraced working of the Oakeley slate quarries, seen as one enters Blaenau Ffestiniog from the north over the Crimea Pass. To the left are the terraced houses of Tal-y-Waenydd, and beyond them are the Llechwedd quarries and slate mill.
© Crown: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Falcon Hildred Collection,
FHA 01/08/02, NPRN 404307

A team of curators, volunteers and archivists from the Royal Commission and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust have been working together in preparation for a remarkable new exhibition of the work of artist Falcon Hildred which will open at the Coalbrookdale Gallery in the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site on the 5th October.

Falcon Hildred is a highly accomplished artist who has dedicated his working life to recording the buildings and landscapes of nineteenth-and twentieth-century industry, producing works of high aesthetic, historic and social value. He has recorded in detail technological and engineering change and a rapidly disappearing way of life. The Commission, working in partnership with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, acquired his unique collection of over 600 original drawings of industrial buildings and landscapes earlier this year. The upcoming exhibition makes this iconic collection available for the first time.

Our Secretary, Peter Wakelin explains that “Falcon Hildred’s lifetime’s work amounts to a unique record of working-class culture and industrial landscapes. The collection is a superb resource for anyone interested in this heritage, much of which has disappeared since Falcon documented it. This first exhibition and the book accompanying it will make lots more people aware of his work and the fascinating history it stands for.”

Jennifer Stewart, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales said, “Wales is renowned worldwide for its industrial heritage and the acquisition of this collection has meant that this past can be shared in a unique way.  We are really pleased that so many volunteers have been involved in the project and that these very special drawings and watercolours are now going to be seen by so many people”.

The free to enter exhibition will be located in the Coalbrookdale Gallery at Ironbridge Gorge Museum, and will be open 10am – 5pm, Monday to Friday from 5th October 2012 to 20 April 2013. Please call 01952 433424 or visit www.ironbridge.org.uk for more details.

Cardiff Prison, 1986
Cardiff was commissioned after the earlier Cardiff Gaol was deemed insufficient to cope with the likely prison needs of the rapidly expanding industrial town. It was opened at the end of 1832 with room to house eighty prisoners and twenty debtors
© Crown: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Falcon Hildred Collection,
FHA 02/66, NPRN 3072

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Recent Work at Frongoch Metal Mine in Ceredigion

Excavation of a buddle.  The stone floor of this structure is rare; most were floored with timber.
Crown Copyright. RCAHMW

The Welsh Mines Preservation Trust and the Royal Commission’s Metal Links team have recently been working at Frongoch mine in Ceredigion. Frongoch was an extensive and important lead and zinc mine complex, first recorded in 1759 and operating until the turn of the 20th century.  A number of structures and features survive at the site including shafts, engine houses and powder magazines; a crusher house, stamps mill, winding house and dressing mill, together with numerous watercourses, structures and earthworks associated with the various ore preparation processes.

In 1984, the Royal Commission carried out a detailed survey of the remains here, the results of which were subsequently featured in a book ‘Frongoch Lead and Zinc Mine’ written by David Bick and published by the Northern Mine Research Society.

Recent work at the mine has concentrated on the lower dressing floors, where the fine particles of metal ore were retrieved.  In this area additional information, uncovered since 1984, has been added to the original Royal Commission survey and a series of buddles – a machine which washed and separated the metal ore - excavated.  This work was carried out in advance of planned Environment Agency work at the site, the first stage of which has now been carried out under the archaeological supervision of Dyfed Archaeological Trust.

An aerial view of Frongoch taken in February 2012.
Crown Copyright. RCAHMW AP_2012_1389

Find out more about the Frongoch Mine on coflein http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/302/details/FRONGOCH+LEAD+MINE/

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