Cwm Betws, Eglwyswrw Archaeological Appraisal By Dr Iestyn Jones Report No. 1096 Archaeology Wales Limited, Rhos Helyg, Cwm Belan, Llanidloes, Powys SY18 6QF Telephone: 01686 440371 E-mail: [email protected] Cwm Betws, Eglwyswrw Archaeological Appraisal Prepared For: Capture Energy Edited by: Authorised by: Signed: Signed: Position: Position: Date: Date: By Dr Iestyn Jones Report No: 1096 Date: December 2012 Archaeology Wales Limited Rhos Helyg, Cwm Belan, Llanidloes, Powys SY18 6QF Telephone: 01686 440371 E-mail: [email protected] Contents Summary 1 1. Introduction 1 2. Site Description 1 3. Historic Background 1 4. Desk-based Assessment Results 2 4.1. HER Result 2 4.2 Map Regression 2 4.3 Site Visit 3 5. Assessment of Impact on the Archaeological 4 Resource 6. Discussion and Conclusions 4 7. Bibliography 5 List of Illustrations Fig. 1. Site location map Fig. 2. 1889 OS map of site location Fig. 3. 1908 OS map of site location Fig. 4. Modern OS Map of site location Fig. 5. 1838 Llanfair Nant Gwyn parish tithe map Fig. 6 1840 Bridell parish tithe map Fig. 7. Map showing location of HER sites Fig. 8. Site visit photographs Fig. 9. Additional site visit images Copyright Notice: Archaeology Wales Ltd. retain copyright of this report under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, and have granted a licence to Capture Energy to use and reproduce the material contained within. The Ordnance Survey has granted Archaeology Wales Ltd a Copyright Licence (No. AL 52163A0001) to reproduce map information; Copyright remains otherwise with the Ordnance Survey. i ARCHAEOLOGY WALES LTD, RHOS HELYG, CWM BELAN, LLANIDLOES, POWYS SY18 6QF Summary Archaeology Wales carried out an archaeological appraisal in November 2012 to examine the archaeological potential of a proposed wind turbine site on land south of Cwmbetws farm, Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshire. The site lies within one Historic Landscape Character Area and on the fringes of another and there is evidence for prehistoric settlement within the area. Search of cartographic sources suggest that the proposed turbine site lies adjacent to the site of a former 18th or early 19th century farmstead for which there is no visible surface evidence. 1. Introduction In November 2012 Archaeology Wales was commissioned by Capture Energy to carry out an archaeological appraisal on a proposed wind turbine site on land south of Cwmbetws farm, Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshire (NGR: SN 16593 39122, fig. 1). The proposed turbine will be 32.9m in height. The archaeological appraisal is being carried out pre-planning. The site is located 2.45km west-south-west of Eglwyswrw village and approximately 680m south of Cwmbetws farm. The site is located within two Historic Landscape Character Areas (see below) and consequently Dyfed Archaeological Trust, in their capacity as archaeological advisers to the local authority, requested an archaeological appraisal to determine whether there is the need for a further detailed assessment. This appraisal included an examination of the relevant documentary and cartographic sources, a study of the Pembrokeshire HER and a site visit. This report provides relevant information to DAT-HM and the local planning authority regarding the potential impact of the site on the heritage resource to allow a determination of whether further archaeological mitigation or monitoring work is required. The work was carried out by Dr Iestyn Jones in November and December 2012. 2. Site Description Location, Topography, Geology The proposed turbine site is at an elevation of 216m AOD in a field some 53m above and 680m south of Cwmbetws farm. The highest point of the field (221m AOD) has views of Cardigan Bay to the north and the Preseli mountains to the south-west. The top north-eastern end of the field is sheltered by a narrow linear deciduous tree plantation orientated east to west in an adjacent field. A footpath runs approximately north-to south along the eastern extent of the field. A wind turbine is located on land to the east of the proposed site. The site’s bedrock geology is Nantmel Mudstone whereas the village of Eglwywrw to the west is characterized by Sandstone (BGS 2012). 3. Historical Background According to George Owen of Henllys the rural population around Eglwyswrw area expanded exponentially during the post-medieval period which had implications for the settlement pattern of the parish (Sambrook 2006, 104). Cwmbetws farm (SN 1644039780), an eighteenth century farmhouse, was owned, in the late eighteenth- century by the Baptist minister Rev. William Williams, the founder of the Ebeneser chapel, located nearby (Hall and Sambrook 2009, 10). The name Betws, derived from 1 ARCHAEOLOGY WALES LTD, RHOS HELYG, CWM BELAN, LLANIDLOES, POWYS SY18 6QF English ‘bead-house’ or ‘oratory’, may suggest the location nearby of an unrecorded medieval church in the area. No such church has been discovered to date. The field in which the site is located is crossed by the parish boundary between Llanfair Nant Gwyn to the west and Bridell to the east. The site is located within two Historic Landscape Character Areas as defined by the Dyfed Archaeological Trust: Eglwyswrw (280) and Crossway-Glanpwllafon (413). Eglwyswrw (280) This landscape has been described by Dyfed Archaeological Trust’s Landscape Characterisation as ‘rich and diverse’ with evidence of prehistoric as well as historic settlement (DAT 2012). Name place and documentary evidence suggests that the area was significant during the early medieval and medieval periods. In the early medieval period settlement foci within the Eglwyswrw area have been identified as parts of a possible Multiple Estate whilst during the thirteenth-century Eglwyswrw was part of the demense manor of the Lordship of Cenmaes. The post-medieval medium-sized irregular and regular fields have been interpreted as being evidence of various periods of enclosure possibly by individuals rather than estates (DATa 2012). Crossway-Glanpwllafon (413) Cwmbetws farm lies near the south-eastern border of the this Historic Landscape area whilst the possible turbine site lies immediately outside the defined border. Again, the early medieval and medieval character of the Eglwyswrw landscape figures prominently in the characterisation area. It is noted that the medieval caput was relocated from the village motte and bailey to a moated site at Court Farm 1km north- west of the village (DATb 2012). The remainder of this Historic Landscape area lies further north where the areas around the Teifi estuary remain distinctively different to the south. 4. Appraisal results 4.1 HER Data A search of the regional Historic Environment Record was conducted for sites within an approximate radius of 2km of the site. A total of 39 sites were identified (fig. 7; Appendix I), including two Scheduled Ancient Monuments and four Listed Buildings: Scheduled Ancient Monuments: • Castell Iron Age Hillfort (PRN 1173) • Cilgerran Enclosure (PRN 1182) Listed Buildings: • St Mary’s Church Crymych (PRN 17378) • Maesyfelin House (PRN 59301) • Post-medieval boundary marker (PRN 29514) • Pant y Deri building (PRN 60506) The majority of the sites on the HER are post-medieval in date and include holy wells, churches, houses and boundary markers. There are two Bronze Age sites listed (PRN 4981 and 12121), both the possible locations of standing stones based on placename evidence, and five Iron Age enclosures (PRN 1173, 1172, 1182, 5203 and 2 ARCHAEOLOGY WALES LTD, RHOS HELYG, CWM BELAN, LLANIDLOES, POWYS SY18 6QF 998). A single Roman site is recorded, comprising the findspot of a daggar (PRN 1181). Cwmbetws farm, located immediately below the proposed development site, is listed in the HER twice, once as evidence related to Betws as a possible church site (PRN 5726) and also as a historic post-medieval farmstead (PRN 48044). No features of archaeological significance are listed for the proposed turbine location. 4.2 Map Regression Llanfair Nant Gwyn Parish Tithe Map 1838 The western side of the field lies within the parish of Llanfair Nant Gwyn (fig.5). The 1838 tithe map shows a numbered field (33) described as a ‘Small Piece’ and a structure to its immediate south (34) described as ‘House, Garden and Baye (?)’. An associated small field to the south labeled as number 35 is described as ‘Two smalls closed’. The house and garden and the aforementioned plots of land are named as Siberia and the tithe apportionment names the occupant of Siberia in 1838 as Morris Griffiths. Bridell Parish Tithe Map 1840 This tithe map covers the far eastern end of the field which is depicted as divided into three separate fields labeled as 490, 491 and 492 (fig. 6). These fields are described in the apportionment as belonging to Pentre (?) and were occupied by Morris Griffiths. OS 1st Edition County Series Map 1889 The 1889 OS map (fig. 2) clearly shows the house, curtilage and garden referred to in the Llanfair Nant Gwyn tithe map as ‘Siberia’. The garden plots immediately east and west of the house structure appear to extend east-west for approximately 70m and are likely to be approximately 30m wide (north-south). The east-west field boundaries to the east of Siberia marked on the Bridell tithe map as 490-492 are not marked and it is likely that these three fields were turned into one larger field in the mid- nineteenth century. OS 1:10,500 Map 1908 In the 1908 OS map (fig. 3) the house and garden of Siberia are absent although otherwise the field system seems little changed. A possible trackway, marked as a dotted line, extends from the direction of Cwmbetws farm in the north and passes the former location of Siberia. OS Map, Modern The modern OS map (fig. 4) shows that the former field boundary marked as 35 in the Llanfair Nant Gwyn tithe map no longer exists and is part of a larger field to the south-west.