Rugged Romans and Muddy Monks
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Welcome to the Rugged Romans and Muddy Monks – Gwent sixth edition of our Levels history brought to life at Tredegar House! ‘Living the Levels’ newsletter which After last year’s successful event, the Living Levels Landscape will keep everyone Partnership is back with their second annual History Day. An event who has expressed for all the family, bringing the history and archaeology of the unique an interest in the Gwent Levels landscape to life. with a ‘trip through time’ amongst the Living Levels stunning grounds of the National Trust’s Tredegar House, in Newport. Landscape Visitors will enjoy re-enactors, fascinating displays of artefacts and Partnership up to demonstrations throughout the day. date. There will be captivating displays by local volunteers who have been hard at work uncovering the rich social history of the Gwent Levels. Time-travellers The Partnership aims will also find themselves treading in the footsteps of our Stone-Age ances- to recapture, enhance tors, courtesy of one of the UK’s top prehistoric reenactors James Dilley. and celebrate the Local folk tales and legends will be brought vividly to life amongst the unique Gwent Levels Gorsedd Stone Circle and there will be the chance to meet a Roman and has successfully Legionnaire. been awarded a £2.5 million grant from Although the remains of the Welsh dinosaur ‘Dracoraptor hanigani’ were the National Lottery discovered further along the coastline, youngsters are sure to be thrilled by Heritage Fund. a rather cheeky appearance by its distant cousin Tyrannosaurus Rex in the ‘Messylithic’ children’s activities zone in the parkland! The Project Partners Dig Ventures, and esteemed research archaeologists Professor Martin Bell and Professor Stephen Rippon will be on hand to showcase their research and the results of two very successful volunteer driven archaeological investigations at Peterstone and Redwick. Saturday, September 28, 2019 11:00am to 3:00pm Tredegar House Farm buildings and parkland – Free admission but normal House admission and carpark fees apply Long walks, tall tales and big skies! Ding dong! Have a go at bell ringing Saturday, 14th September 10.30am – 3.30pm Ever wonder what goes on up in the bell tower? Come along to St Mary’s in Nash to find out! Join us for our first bellringing taster session and take part in demonstrations, talks, and have a go for Unveiling the ancient history of the Levels yourself! St. Mary’s Church, People have been here for a long time, and through the years they Nash have shaped the landscape in many ways. Over the past few FREE - Booking decades, the area has boasted some amazing archaeological finds, Essential from 6000-year-old ancient footprints and historic field markings to the remains of a 13th-century boat. To discover more about Pillgwenlly Past and them and to give people the opportunities to try out some of the Present Walk techniques used to learn about the past, we organised a week full Wednesday, 25th of archaeological activities and talks in the village of Redwick for September the local and wider community to volunteer and take part. 10.00am – 12.00pm Come and explore how We started off with a session that explored the world of digital Pillgwenlly used to be mapping. To learn more about ancient history, we sometimes have to in days gone by on a use the newest, cutting-edge technologies and techniques. We went on Gwent Archives guided two surveys to explore the local fields of Redwick. The hundreds of fields tour (approx. 1.5miles). that make up the Gwent Levels have been shaped by human hands for Using archival many years. photographs, maps, plans and other With the guidance of Professor Martin Bell, we surveyed the Redwick documents, we will foreshore exposed during low tide. Many artefacts have been found reveal Pillgwenlly’s past here over the years, as they are preserved in the mud including multiple and its development. Bronze Age settlements at Redwick. £2 Booking essential The Gwent Levels also boasts a wonderful array of unique, old buildings. Rugged Romans & One good example is the Church of St Thomas, in Redwick, famous for Muddy Monks Levels its unusual design. History Day Saturday, 28th We started the week by exploring the Gwent Levels with modern September technology but we finished off with two events that took us back to the 11:00am - 3:00pm basics. On 3-4 August, we got our hands dirty and conducted test Discover our stone-age pitting which is essentially mini-excavations at a 1m2 x1m2 scale to look ancestors, Roman for ancient artefacts and items. soldiers and fascinating artefacts in the grounds After the success of Redwick we plan to do another week-long of Tredegar House. archaeological taster session next year so keep an eye on our events FREE calendar and project lead Dig Ventures website for upcoming See website for details archaeology activities. Long walks, tall tales and big skies! Big Skies at Caldicot Castle! Saturday, 5th October Check website for details Tin Shed Theatre Co. present another community, outdoor performance event celebrating the Gwent Levels, that will be fun for all the family! They will be sure to transform and inhabit the castle in an exciting and spellbinding way with live Black Spots to Bright Spots in Duffryn! performances and storytelling as dusk ‘Black Spots to Bright Spots’ a project to reduce and prevent arrives over fly-tipping across the Gwent Levels landscape, has chosen an area Caldicot Castle… in Duffryn to clear and then create a pollinator garden. Caldicot Castle & Country Park FREE- The area is a dry reen along Tredegar House Drive, at the back of Booking essential Duffryn Arms car park. We held a community information evening to discuss the project and encourage local residents to become involved with the project activities. Natural Resources Wales, the lead Make sense of Maps! organisation for the project, is working in collaboration with the Duffryn (Part 1) Community Link’s project, ‘Woodlands Route to Wellbeing’. Tuesday, 8th October 1:00pm - 4:00pm Brenda Easton, Duffryn Community Link’s Project Coordinator for the Back by popular Woodlands Route to Wellbeing project, said, “As part of the Woodland demand! An Routes to Wellbeing environmental improvements, we are delighted introduction to maps and to collaborate with NRW on their Black Spots to Bright Spots. This will map-work further enhance the work that is being done by a wide range of people (focusing on the OS in Duffryn in bringing back the natural beauty of the area.” 1:25000 scale). The course is aimed at A clean-up of the reen on Wednesday 4th September, 10am – 2pm, is encouraging the use of being organised. so if you would like to join us, then we would welcome maps for walking in the all! We will be meeting at the Duffryn Arms public house. Please wear countryside and gaining appropriate clothing for the conditions; as well as getting dirty, and confidence in suitable footwear. all aspects of map interpretation and use. We will also be looking for volunteers to help with the prepping No previous knowledge work for the planting to start early October, so please contact required. [email protected] if you would Magor Marsh Nature like more information or wish to join in on any of these activities. Reserve FREE - Booking essential Long walks, tall tales and big skies! Recapturing the historic landscape Thursday, 10th October 11.00am - 12.30pm After months of studying old manuscripts and maps, the Living Levels RATS (Research and Transcription Service) A summer of BioBlitz-ing the Gwent Levels! want to share their discoveries with you! Surveying wildlife is essential if we are to improve our They are giving a series understanding of the state of nature. The information gathered during of short illustrated talks surveys is very helpful as it can reveal how wildlife numbers and at Glamorgan Archives distribution can change in response to climate change and habitat loss. on the theme of ‘recapturing the historic One very effective way of gathering information like this is a BioBlitz. A landscape’ of the Gwent BioBlitz is a session to record as much wildlife as possible within a single day Levels. at a single site. It’s a great way of getting a clearer picture of how Glamorgan Archives, nature is faring in the Gwent Levels, and over the past six months we’ve held Cardiff FREE four events at the Living Levels visitor hubs, starting at Caldicot Castle and Magor Marsh in May and Hendre Lake and Tredegar House in June. Despite some very wet conditions, and some very sunny ones too, over 250 people ‘Life on the Levels’ at from all ages, abilities, and backgrounds attended to make the events a Nash Saturday, 12th success. October 11.00am - 4.00pm In total, over 800 species were recorded, and it was great to see such mixed and varied interest across the different sites. The Hendre Lake BioBlitz had We have been some real highlights with soldier beetle and Shrill carder bee recorded, it recording fascinating also threw up a first recording for Wales - ‘Nysius huttoni’, a New Zealand oral histories from the endemic ground bug that is spreading quickly throughout Britain. We also Caldicot and saw recordings of invasive species such as zebra mussel and mink. The Wentlooge moors. Living Levels Invasive Non-Native Species Project is working to map and Join us to share what understand the risk of invasive species across the Levels. This valuable data we’ve learned so far, will help us build a better picture of the state of our wildlife in the Levels.