Skip to comments.Unearthing Welsh History
Posted on 04/01/2006 3:17:12 PM PST by blam
Unearthing Welsh history
An archaeologist digs deep in his pocket to find a medieval town, reports Jonny Beardsall
That an amateur archaeologist was prepared to pay £32,000 for 4.5 unremarkable acres at Trelleck, Monmouthshire, must mean Welsh sons of the soil are salivating with glee. But so convinced is Stuart Wilson that the field is the site of a lost medieval town, he still insists it was money well spent a year after he bought the land.
Broken but valuable: archaeologist Stuart Wilson holds a roof tile dug up at the site
Mr Wilson, 27, and friends at the Monmouth Archaeological Society, have a strong hunch that, 700 years ago, Trelleck was not only the industrial heart of Wales, specialising in the manufacture of iron, but also its largest and most prosperous town. So in an attempt to confirm this, they have, for three years, been burrowing in fields to the south of the present day village.
Last year, Mr Wilson pricked up his ears when a tenant farmer mentioned that his landlord, Monmouth County Council, had asked him to move his sheep from an adjacent field as it was soon to be sold at auction. "Although we hadn't dug there yet, we'd always looked at this particular field as an area of archaeological significance because it has a road frontage, which is a good clue when looking for a settlement," he says. "It was old pasture land, which implies that the earth is stony for some reason and too difficult to plough."
Mr Wilson seized his opportunity, secured a £20,000 loan and tipped up at the auction. Building on the field looked unlikely, so he was surprised to clock a developer at the sale.
Too nervous to bid, his father stepped in. "Soon it was just the developer and us left in and, in the end, we went higher than I'd intended to get it," recalls Mr Wilson, who is a toll collector on the Severn Bridges.
Ken Morgan, of chartered surveyors Newland Rennie and Wilkins - which auctioned the field - was not surprised. "Grazing has been making over £4,000 an acre even in blocks of 20 and 40 acres and, in February, we even sold 19.6 acres between Cardiff and Newport, for £13,800 an acre. Many buyers are non-farmers. Some want to scramble bikes on it, others keep horses and now someone wants to dig it up these days we never worry about what people want to do with it."
After breaking the good news to his archaeological mentor, Stephen Clarke - the Monmouth society's chairman - both men were in the Valley of the Kings here was the opportunity to dig to their heart's content.
"I'd always wanted a piece of ground where I had full control as, normally, when you dig somewhere, you are forever reinstating the topsoil when you take a break. When you return, you have to dig it all up again," he says. Not any more. Digging began last spring.
Labour of love: Stuart Wilson's caravan at Trelleck
"We soon found a significantly large building with wide stone foundations and floors which dates from 1250-1350, which does suggest that this is the site of a medieval town," he reports.
But, if he is not intent on any development, will he ever see a return?
"I could sell the stone, rubble and topsoil that we've already removed and, as I'm the landowner, any artefacts I find are mine. If I turn up something of value and the Crown wants it as treasure trove, they must pay me the market value for it," he says.
Mr Wilson now parks a caravan on the site, which provides rudimentary shelter. "I've gathered from the council that I might well be allowed to reconstruct a building I find at some stage, in much the same way as Channel 4's Time Team does," he says.
With this in mind, he has spoken to the programme makers. "They bring the benefits of cash and expertise but I'm led to believe that they do tend to take over if you invite them in. The thing is, this is my little baby - do I want some big organisation telling me what to do?" Most would agree not.
When I was younger my family had a book detailing our Welsh side. Somewhere over the decades I've lost the book. However I DO recall something I've been totally unable to verify. That is that my family was descended from one of the first kings of the Welsh - King William the Ridiculous.
This IS NOT and April Fools joke!
Sadly I've searched the internet and found nothing detailing King Willie, only obscure references. One of these days I'm gonna get serious about it and see if I can determine if the story is true. In the meantime I celebrate the other celtic aspects of my heritage.
A Welsh room is in the works for the Cathedral Of Learning at The University of Pittsburgh.
Gotta run..Co-worker calls.
One of the things Thomas Jefferson believed Lewis and Clark might find on their expedition was a Welsh Tribe of Indians.
This is interesting. Keep us updated, if possible.
So who was the first person to ever "Welsh on a bet"? (Or is it Welch on a bet?)
Yup. However, when Lewis and Clark began to report, he interrupted and said, "I don't want to hear any tales of blue-eyed Indians." His fear was that some other European power would/could lay claim to the western lands.
This site in Tennessee was once believed to be built by Welsh immigrants of a very early date. More recent scholarship suggests American Indians built it. Lovely place for a hike!
Where can I read more about that? I didn't see anything on it from the link.
Here's a link. The key figure is one Prince Madoc.
I recall reading somewhere that Thomas Jefferson considered himself to be of Welsh descent, based on a family tradition.
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"Trivia: Facts: Narcissi are mainly cultivated in the Channel Isles, the Isles of Scilly, Great Britain and Holland. The daffodil is the emblem of Wales and is worn on St David's Day." So I always interchange March 1st as St Davids' Day or Dafodil Day. I believe there are several other days in March are called daffodil day, especially in the land of OZ or somewhere else "downunder"
I wish you could buy 4.5 acres that cheap around here.
Just spotted your remarks and may I offer my experience with a missing book. I have an original set of Dickens works (1864) but I was missing #II of "Bleak House."
So, after many years of wondering where Vol. 2 was, I thought about it and decided to ask some relatives. No luck. Then I decided to check with some friends whom I know like English literature novels (maybe I had loaned these volumes out). Again, no luck. Then, I decided to check different areas of my house and searched everywhere. No luck.
So finally I gave up. However, I didn't check the attic. And of course, everyone knows or should know, that old books and heat don't mix, so I never thought it would have been up in the attic. But it was there. When we did our last move, this edition II of Bleak House somehow was placed in a moving box with odd ball 'stuff.' And that's why it was in the attic and that's where I found it.
Anyway, perhaps the various places I've described above will help you to find your important book.
I'm a fan of the two most famous Welsh performers in Hollywood: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Ioan Gruffudd.
"Is truth stranger than fiction? Of course it is; it always has been One subject that has been debated for the last four hundred years was whether or not a Khumric-Welsh Prince called Madoc discovered America. Queen Elizabeth I was persuaded by her advisors that this was so and the Khumric-Welsh discovery was put forward as somehow giving England a prior claim in the political wrangles over first rights in the New World of the Americas."
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