White Farm Merthyr Dyfan, Barry Vale of Glamorgan
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WHITE FARM MERTHYR DYFAN, BARRY VALE OF GLAMORGAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION CA PROJECT: 1415 CA REPORT: 02105 Author: Tim Havard Simon Cox Approved: Signed: Issue: 01 Date: 15 OCTOBER 2002 This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology Headquarters Building, Kemble Business Park, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ Tel. 01285 771022 Fax. 01285 771033 E-mail: [email protected] White Farm, Merthyr Dyfan, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology CONTENTS SUMMARY........................................................................................................................2 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 3 The site ................................................................................................................ 3 Archaeological background.................................................................................. 3 Archaeological objectives .................................................................................... 6 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 6 2. RESULTS................................................................................................................... 6 3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................... 7 4. CA PROJECT TEAM.................................................................................................. 7 5. REFERENCES........................................................................................................... 8 APPENDIX 1: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS AND LEVELS .............................................. 9 APPENDIX 2: THE FINDS................................................................................................ 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan Fig. 2 The known archaeological resource Fig. 3 Trench location plan 1 White Farm, Merthyr Dyfan, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology SUMMARY Site Name: White Farm Location: Merthyr Dyfan, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan NGR: ST 1140 6935 Type: Evaluation Date: 9-11 October 2002 Location of Archive: To be deposited with National Museum of Wales, Cardiff Site Code: WFB 02 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in October 2002 at the request of WynThomasGordonLewis (on the behalf of Mrs M. Twigg) at White Farm, Merthyr Dyfan, Barry. In compliance with an approved written scheme of investigation, 15 trenches were excavated across the development area. A mini desk-based assessment, undertaken prior to the fieldwork indicated that the site lay in close proximity to the shrunken medieval village of Merthyr Dyfan. However, no archaeological features or deposits were encountered during the course of the evaluation. 2 White Farm, Merthyr Dyfan, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In October 2002 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for WynThomasGordonLewis (on behalf of Mrs M. Twigg) at White Farm, Merthyr Dyfan, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan (centred on NGR: ST 1140 6935; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken to accompany a planning application for residential development. 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a brief for archaeological evaluation (GGAT 1996) prepared by Glamorgan and Gwent Archaeological Trust, the archaeological advisors to the Local Planning Authority (Vale of Glamorgan Council), for a previous application (ref: 96/00386/OUT), and with a subsequent detailed written scheme of investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2002) and approved by Neil Maylan, Senior Development Control Officer, Glamorgan and Gwent Archaeological Trust. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (1999). The site 1.3 The site is bounded on all sides by residential development (Fig. 1) and lies at a height of approximately 78m to 92m AOD. The proposed development area encloses an area of approximately 6ha, and comprises land within six fields, currently under grass cover except for a small area of wild undergrowth at the north- east of the site. Field boundaries within the development area are mature hedgerows. 1.4 The underlying geology of the area is mapped as Porthkerry Formation of the Jurassic Era (British Geological Survey: England and Wales Sheet 263). Archaeological background 1.5 Prior to the undertaking of the evaluation fieldwork, a mini desk-based assessment of the development area was undertaken in order to define the known or potential archaeological resource. This involved the consultation of the Glamorgan and Gwent 3 White Farm, Merthyr Dyfan, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology Sites and Monuments Record, the National Monuments Record, books, journals, historical documents, cartographic sources and a site visit. This information was used to target areas of potential archaeological significance for the location of the evaluation trenches in the WSI, and is set out below and on Fig. 2. 1.6 There were no sites within the development area that were recorded on the Glamorgan and Gwent Sites and Monuments Record or the National Monuments Record. However, in the immediate vicinity of the development area twenty-one SMR sites and two NMR sites were present. 1.7 All of the SMR and NMR sites in the vicinity relate to the shrunken medieval village of Merthyr Dyfan. The church of St. Dyfan and St. Teilos was first mentioned in sources of the thirteenth century, and the chancel of the church is of this date (Newman 1995) (Fig. 2, 1). This seems to have been the focus of settlement, with the buildings uncovered so far located in two groups to the west and south-east of the church. A base for a cross in the churchyard was also of medieval date (Fig. 2, 2). Human remains were found on the east side of the churchyard wall in a bank, showing that the medieval churchyard is larger than the area enclosed by the walls (Fig. 2, 3). The remains were those of two inhumations, one male and one female. Thirteenth-century pottery and a bronze ring were found nearby (Tyley 1971). 1.8 Remains of fourteen buildings have been located so far, by excavations in the 1960s and 1970s by Barry Archaeological Group and by a rescue excavation in the 1980s prior to the development of a housing estate to the east of the current development area (Fig. 2, 4-17). These buildings had stone-built walls, which had been robbed in some cases, and corners showing the transition from round-cornered to right-angled form, with some such as 10 having an intermediate form, with rounded external corners but angled internal corners. Traces of plaster were found on the internal faces of the walls in some of the buildings, such as 12. Some of the buildings were dwellings but others showed evidence of other uses, such as 7 from which slag was recovered suggesting it may have been a forge, 6 which contained a corn dryer suggesting it may have been a bake-house, and 13 which had a metalled floor and internal drain, suggesting it may have been a cattle shed. Where dating evidence has been recovered from the buildings it has suggested a date of the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, although building 15 may have continued in use until the eighteenth century (Harris et al 1983, RCHAMW 1982). 4 White Farm, Merthyr Dyfan, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology 1.9 In addition to the remains of buildings, other medieval remains have been found or are known from documentary evidence to have been in the area. Traces of a hollow way 9m wide and 1.5m deep were seen on the east side of a house platform (Fig. 2, 18). A corn-drying kiln was found to the west of house 4, comprising a circular pit 0.9m in diameter and 0.6m deep with the possible location of a flue marked by a black strip in the soil (Fig. 2, 19) (RCAHMW 1982). Pottery of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was associated with the structure. The Ffynnon John Lewis (John Lewis well) was a nineteenth-century structure which probably replaced a medieval well (Fig. 2, 20). A holy well was documented in the area, known as St. Peter’s Well. A layer of medieval occupation material was found to the south-east of the church during ground-works in 1978 (Fig. 2, 21). This deposit contained pottery of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (SMR). 1.10 The 1842 Tithe apportionment map shows the field divisions within the development area, many of which are in the same location today (Fig. 2). Any hedges which are in the same position as those on the 1842 map may be considered ‘historic’ under the terms of the Hedgerow Regulations 1997 and so may be subject to statutory protection. 1.11 Two small agricultural buildings are shown on maps of 1878 and 1955 in roughly the same location (Fig. 2, a). The Rectory, which is shown on maps of 1842 to 1955 lies on the edge of the development area, possibly just to the north of it (Fig. 2, b). A track to the north of this building was also shown on maps of the same date (Fig.