West Monmouthshire & Adjacent Uplands
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The Uplands Initiative West Monmouthshire and adjacent uplands An Archaeological Survey Richard Hayman and Wendy Horton for RCAHM Wales October 2013 Richard Hayman & Wendy Horton Archaeological & Historic Buildings Consultants Mount Pleasant, Harmer Hill, Shrewsbury SY4 3EA 01939 291974 Crynodeb Cafodd arolwg archaeolegol Gorllewin Sir Fynwy a’r Ucheldir Cyfagos ei gynnal yn ystod 2013. Mae’n cynnwys wyth bloc penodol, o dir comin yn bennaf, rhwng cymoedd Bargod Taf, Rhymni, Sirhywi ac Ebwy a chyfanswm o ryw 13 cilometr sgwâr o ran arwynebedd. Mae’r tir yn gorwedd rhwng cyfuchliniau 300 metr a 500 metr yn bennaf ac mae’n cynnwys gweundiroedd glaswellt a grug agored, ac ochrau cymoedd serth o dan redyn a choed. Cafodd yr arolwg ei gynnal drwy gerdded trawsluniau rheolaidd o 30 metr, a’r nod oedd dod o hyd i safleoedd o bob cyfnod. Cafodd cyfanswm o 318 o safleoedd ei gofnodi, 44 ohonyn nhw wedi’u cofnodi o’r blaen yn y Cofnod Henebion Cenedlaethol. Ceir carneddi o’r Oes Efydd ar yr esgeiriau, ond cydran fach yn unig o’r archaeoleg yw’r rhain. Gwelir dulliau rheoli tir uchel y cyfnod canoloesol ar ffurf argloddiau sylweddol, a’r cynharaf o’r rhain yw’r clawdd canoloesol cynnar sy’n croesi’r esgair ar Gefn Man-moel. At ei gilydd, mae’r cloddiau eraill yn dilyn esgeiriau’r bryniau ac mae’n debyg eu bod yn gysylltiedig â rheoli da byw. Cafwyd tystiolaeth o hen aneddiadau mewn mannau nad ydyn nhw’n dir comin mwyach, er enghraifft y cytiau hir ar Fynydd Bedwellte ac uwchben Cwm yng nghwm Ebwy sydd wedi’u gosod ar derasau uwchben ochrau serth y cwm. Mae’r cyfan o ardal yr arolwg o fewn maes glo’r De. Tua diwedd y ddeunawfed ganrif y dechreuwyd cloddio am lo a charreg haearn ar raddfa fawr, ond mae’r rhan fwyaf o’r dystiolaeth ynglŷn â hyn, ac ynglŷn â phyllau glo dwfn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, wedi’i dinistrio gan waith modern i adfer y tir. Serch hynny, mae mân weithfeydd glo brig cynnar wedi goroesi, ynghyd â lefelau glo bach o’r bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg a fu’n gwasanaethu marchnad leol. Cafwyd hyd i sianeli a chronfeydd dŵr ar y tir uchel a fu’n dod â dŵr i lofeydd a oedd yn perthyn i Waith Haearn Tredegar a Chwmni Haearn Dowlais, ac i Weithfeydd Haearn Rhymni a Victoria. Mae rhwydweithiau cludiant perthynol wedi goroesi hefyd ar ffurf tramffyrdd a thŷ weindio inclein sydd wedi’i gadw’n dda uwchben Pyllau Bedwellte yng nghwm Sirhywi. Mae’r adroddiad yn gorffen gydag argymhellion ar gyfer gwaith cofnodi ac ymchwil at y dyfodol. Summary The West Monmouthshire & Adjacent Uplands archaeological survey was undertaken in 2013. It comprises eight discrete blocks, mostly of common land, between the valleys of the Bargoed Taf, Rhymney, Sirhowy and Ebbw. Covering a total area of approximately 13 square kilometres, the landscape falls mostly within the 300 metre and 500 metre contours and comprises open grass and heather moorland, with steep valley sides thick with bracken and trees. The survey was conducted by walking regular 30-metre transects and aimed to identify sites of all periods. A total of 318 sites was recorded, 44 of which had been recorded previously in the National Monuments Record. There are Bronze Age cairns that occupy the ridges, but they form only a minor component of the archaeology. Upland land management from the medieval period is represented by substantial banks, the earliest of which is an early-medieval cross- ridge dyke on Cefn Manmoel. The other banks generally follow the ridges of the hills and were probably associated with livestock management. Evidence of former settlement was found in places that are no longer common land, for example the long huts on Mynydd Bedwellty and above Cwm in the Ebbw valley that are sited on terraces above the steep valley sides. All of the survey areas fall within the South Wales coalfield. Large-scale exploitation of coal and ironstone began in the late eighteenth century, but most of the evidence for this, and for the deep coal pits of the nineteenth century, has been destroyed by modern land reclamation. Some small opencast workings of early date have survived, however, as do small coal levels of the nineteenth century that served a local market. Leats and reservoirs were discovered on the uplands that supplied water to collieries of the Tredegar Ironworks and Dowlais Iron Co, and to Rhymney and Victoria Ironworks. Associated transport networks have also survived in the form of tramways and a well-preserved inclined-plane winding house above Bedwellty Pits in the Sirhowy valley. The report concludes with recommendations for future recording and research. West Monmouthshire and adjacent uplands An Uplands Initiative Archaeological Survey Richard Hayman & Wendy Horton © Crown Copyright, 2013 Contents 1.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………. 1 2.0 Methodology ……………………………………………………. 1 2.1 Previous work…………………………………………………….. 3 3.0 Results of Survey ………………………………………………. 3 3.1 Prehistoric sites ……………………….. 5 3.2 Roman sites ………………….….. 5 3.3 Medieval settlement and agriculture .………...……………. 7 3.4 Post-medieval settlement and agriculture .………………….. 9 3.5 Industrial sites ……………………….…………………….. 11 3.6 The twentieth century ……………………….……………. 18 3.7 Summary and statement of significance ……………….………. 18 4.0 Recommendations ……………………………………………. 19 5.0 References ……………………………………………………. 21 5.1 Documentary and cartographic sources …..………………... 21 5.2 Printed sources ………………….……………………….. 21 5.3 Online resources ………………….……………………….. 22 Appendix 1: Table of sites by period, altitude and type ……………. 29 List of tables Table 1 sites grouped by contour ……………………………………… 4 Table 2 sites grouped by period ………………………………………. 4 Table 3 sites grouped by Broad Class …………………………………. 4 Table 4 sites to be appended to Ordnance Survey mapping ……………. 20 List of figures Figure 1 location plan …………………………………………….. 2 Figure 2 location plan showing survey areas ……………………. 2 Figure 3 distribution of sites in the survey area ……………….…… 5 Figure 4 cairn on Mynydd Fochriw (nprn 305964) …….………….. 6 Figure 5 Roman road on Mynydd Fochriw (nprn 535800) …………. 6 Figure 6 cross-ridge dyke on Cefn Manmoel (nprn 407565) ………….. 7 Figure 7 long hut on Mynydd Bedwellty (nprn 535569) ………………. 8 Figure 8 ditch on Cefn Manmoel (nprn 535781) ….……..……………. 8 Figure 9 cultivation ridges on Cefn Manmoel (nprn 535578) …….…… 9 Figure 10 bank on Comin Coed-y-moeth (nprn 535641) ……………… 10 Figure 11 bank on Tarren-y-trwyn (nprn 535689) ………………..… 11 Figure 12 Pant-y-Waun and Gelligaer Common in 1901 …………. 13 Figure 13 South Tunnel Pit …………………………… 14 Figure 14 powder store on Mynydd Fochriw (nprn 80450) .…….…… 15 Figure 15 inclined plane at Bedwellty Levels (nprn 33725) ………...…… 16 Figure 16 quarry above Elliot’s Town (nprn 535656) .…….…….…….. 17 Figure 17 Cefn Golau cholera cemetery (nprn 403539) ……………….. 17 List of maps Map 1 archaeological sites on Gelligaer Common and Merthyr Common …….………………………..…. 23 Map 2 archaeological sites on Rhymney Hill ……………….………. 24 Map 3 archaeological sites on Mynydd Bedwellty and Cefn Manmoel ………………………………….…. 25 Map 4 archaeological sites Tarren-y-trwyn & Waunllwyd and Cefn yr Arail …...……………………………..…. 26 Map 5 archaeological sites on Comin Coed-y-moeth ……………. 27 Map 6 archaeological sites on Cefn Crib …….……………………. 28 Acknowledgement The Historical Map Data is © and database right Crown copyright and Landmark Information Group Ltd. All rights reserved. The archaeological data superimposed on the map is Crown copyright: RCAHMW, 2013. 1.0 Introduction The West Monmouthshire & Adjacent Uplands archaeological survey area comprises eight discrete areas of upland, mostly of common land, between the valleys of Bargoed Taf, Rhymney, Sirhowy and Ebbw (figs 1, 2). Covering an area of approximately 13 square kilometres, the landscape comprises open grass and heather moorland on the hilltops, and steep valley sides with a dense covering of bracken and trees. Some parts of the survey area have been subject to land reclamation schemes, notably former ironstone workings on Merthyr Common and Rhymney Hill at the heads of the valleys, and the sites of several nineteenth-century collieries. Altitude ranges from 150 metres AOD to 520 metres on Mynydd Carn-y- Cefn above Ebbw Vale. Most of the landscape surveyed is common land and is designated as Access Land. The survey areas fall within the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. The largest of the individual blocks is Mynydd Fochriw and Merthyr Common, which is on the east side of Dowlais and represents the northern end of Gelligaer Common. This landscape includes the East Merthyr Reclamation of the late twentieth century. The second largest block is Rhymney Hill, the northern section of which has also been reclaimed. It is at the northern end of the commons of Bedwellty parish. A further section on the ridge between the Rhymney and Sirhowy valleys, is the valley slope above Bedwellty Pits. Comin Coed-y-moeth, above Bargoed and Brithdir in the Rhymney valley, is a detached southern portion of this same stretch of moorland. Cefn Manmoel common is between the Sirhowy and Ebbw river valleys. The other three areas, including Cefn Crib common east of Llanhilleth, are on the eastern side of the Ebbw valley. All of the survey areas fall within the South Wales coalfield. Merthyr Common and Rhymney Hill extend to the northern end of the coalfield where the underlying geology is the Middle and Lower Coal Measures. Elsewhere the underlying geology is the Upper Coal Measures, chiefly Pennant sandstone. The field survey was undertaken between June and September 2013 by Richard Hayman and Wendy Horton, with grant in aid from RCAHM Wales under the Uplands Archaeology Initiative. 2.0 Methodology The project aimed to identify and record the resource through rapid, systematic field survey. Archaeological remains of all types and periods were considered equally. Data from the regional Historic Environment Record (HER) was provided by RCAHM Wales, which yielded 33 records within the survey area.