the big picture r ie ld A map of the Gwent Levels in 1830 o s section three n a How similar is Magor and the countryside m section three Design a commemorative o R compared to a modern map? p. 13 a Where does the water on the stained-glass window f o l a Gwent Levels come from? d Show off the Levels’ inspiring n a s Using maps, draw where fresh water landscape and wildlife features. e h t comes from the mountains. p. 12 p. 12 m o r f

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section two Spot different periods of farmland across the Gwent Levels Patterns of drainage: which era does a certain pattern belong to? pp. 10 – 11

section one What is still the same? PART ONE What has changed? Create a timeline tracking the drainage of the Levels into How has the Gwent Levels farmland. pp. 6 – 9 landscape changed over time? Images from bottom-left to top-right: Living Levels Landscape Partnership (2); Klovovi (flickr); Public Domain; Gwent Archives SECTION ONE How has the Gwent Levels landscape changed over time?

What is still the same? Incredibly, the Gwent Levels look largely the same today as they did back in the 1700s and 1800s. The way in which the ditches (reens) drain the land and the fields, providing rich, fertile grazing for animals, means there has been little need for change. It has always been an area used to raise cows and sheep because the vegetation is so rich and lush.

What has changed? While much of the remaining farmland remains the same, some of the land has been modified. ªªThere are new buildings, from farm barns to industrial warehouses. Many areas have been built over, particularly the wet marshy land on the edge of Newport. ªªNewport used to be a relatively small town. In the medieval period it had a castle to defend the river crossing, a market, a mill, a few houses and a wharf. Now it is a big city. ªªThe Steelworks were built in 1962 across a large expanse of the Gwent Levels. When it opened there were more Yoke Reen during than 13,000 workers and contractors on site. the summer, It was the first oxygen-blown integrated an important steelworks in Britain. While steel isn’t made drainage ditch on site any more, it is delivered in huge slabs. and habitat for wildlife. The hot strip mill then rolls the steel into a Image: Living continuous strip; it was the first mill to be Levels landscape controlled by a computer. Partnership

Page 6 Part 1 | How has the Living Levels landscape changed over time? Page 7 landscape The Gwent Levels SECTION ONE hundreds ofyears. have donefor foreshore, asthey in this casethe the Gwent Levels, Sheep graze across similar now to how they would have looked 200 years ago. Many ofthe fields found across the Gwent Levels look very mini-aqueduct. water channels infields,even crossing one over the other, like a particular were creative engineers andcleverly modified the monasteries –drained large areas ofland. The monksin ago) wealthy landowners –including several newlyfounded the period(aroundand horses.During Norman 900 years especially duringthe summerfor grazing their cattle, sheep people to start draining the Gwent Levels, providing fields dry The Romans (around 1,900 years ago)were someofthe first water off the fields,andmaps photos reveal evidenceof this. past, people have found different solutions to drain the fresh with water flowing down from the mountains andhills.In the However, water stillcomesinfrom inlandrivers and streams, Levels by surrounding them with anearthen bank (the seawall). Over timepeople have stopped the seagettingto the Gwent out inplaces to make pondsandreedbeds for waterbirds. dumping ofashfrom the power station. This hasnow beendug was oncefarmland. Holes were dug for the areasSome have improved the landfor wildlife. For example, kills allthe other plants growing there. seeps into the drainage ditches, causingalgaeto spread which flourish. However, this stops flowers from growing anditalso Cow dungandurinebeingspread onto fieldshelps the grass to overgrazed, stopping flowering plants growing orbirds nesting. used for horsegrazing andrecreation, whileothers have been fieldsorareaschanges. Some have beendrained further and their fieldsfree from flooding. There have, however, beensome fields, relying on the old, traditional drainage channels to keep Farmers have continuedto graze sheepandcows onthese Part 1 |How hasthe Living Levels landscape changed over time?

Image: Chris Harris A cross-section of the Gwent Levels near Goldcliff during the 7,000 years ago: invaded England from France. Over the next different landowners in order to create more Mesolithic Period (when footprints were made in the mud) Mesolithic period 200 years they slowly took over , building farmland. The former tenants were offered a castles, occupying the best land for farming one-off financial settlement in return for losing During the Mesolithic period and living an affluent lifestyle. The Normans their rights in the common land. Many were Islands of drier land with oak, sea levels were lower. The ash and alder trees lived in big estates and took the best areas glad of the money; some, however, were paid land sloped down from the of farmland, leaving the poorer farmland and forcibly evicted from their former lands. SEA sea, and a hill at Goldcliff for the monks. The Normans also founded SALTMARSH formed an island within the This led to lots of social change. This was Occupied in summer monasteries, several of which held land on the by Mesolithic families wetlands. timely as the industrial revolution was Gwent Levels, and helped to build sea walls with access to food happening. Many commoners moved to and fresh water and drain the land. One of these was Goldcliff 1,900 years ago: Newport to earn money by working in local Priory (on the site of Hill Farm), which was the Romans industries. Moved inland during the winter established in AD 1113, and dissolved in the When the Romans arrived in 1530s. In 1850 the railway was built across the Gwent south-east Wales, they set Levels, often slicing through the middle of up a major British legionary fields. A bridge was built across the railway in Monastic lands (around fortress at , with 5,600 soldiers. The Magor so that farmers could still access their Newport and Chepstow) Gwent Levels became an important place fields. for rearing cattle, sheep and horses. Local The monks were given areas of good wild birds appeared on the dinner table of agricultural land in the coastal areas, and 1900s to today senior Romans, including the common crane some poorly drained land in inland areas. Many areas of the Gwent Levels remain as (now recently back on the Levels after going The monks probably came up with the more farmland, although it may not be owned in extinct in Britain in the 1600s). An effort was sophisticated drainage systems, including blocks by people living next door to it as it made to partly drain the Levels, for example the ability to send one drainage ditch under once did. As fields have become available, through digging ditches, although large areas another without the two mixing. often when landowners have died without will still have been occasionally flooded by the tide. The Goldcliff Stone (displayed at Caerleon’s Roman Legion Museum) records About 500 years ago A general cross-section of the Gwent some of this work. (1400 and 1500s) Levels from the 1400s onwards A Roman-period boat was discovered From the 1400s onwards the during the construction of the large Tesco’s climate deteriorated leading to distribution warehouse in the ‘Europark’ coastal erosion, which led to SEA development (between the steelworks and the rebuilding of the sea wall Silt/clay FEN EDGE Magor). This suggests that a tidal creek flowed inland of where it had been. Lower land, wet, Land usually 2m below inland from Redwick on the coast to a wharf at reedy and peaty high tide mark, exceptionally 7m the back of the Levels where the boat had been 500–200 years ago till 1700s (below highest spring tides) SECTION ONE moored up. (1500s–1800s) During the 1530s the 1,500 years ago A timeline of monasteries were closed, and At the end of the Roman period sea levels rose their land was sold off (which and a saltmarsh once again formed across the is known as the Reformation). changes on the Gwent Levels. During the 1600s and 1700s private landowners anybody to inherit it, land has been broken up were experimenting with their farming into smaller pieces and sold to people further Gwent Levels 800 to 900 years ago practices. In the 1700s and the 1800s common away. Fields today have very mixed ownership, (1100s to 1200s): the Normans land, used by local villagers for fuel, grazing and which has its own challenges. and how the land has been other materials, was divided up between all the managed by people Over 950 years ago, in 1066, the Normans

Page 8 Part 1 | How has the Living Levels landscape changed over time? Dr Jennifer Foster is an archaeologist who has worked at the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. She now teaches at Reading University and Continuing Education classes for Oxford University. Since 1992 she has been part of the team, led by Prof. Martin Bell, excavating in the when the tide goes out. She SECTION ONE has never found any treasure but making plaster casts of footprints made 7500 years

ago is very exciting. Briana Drury, Briana Drury Photography Activities A book to read The Boar with

ACTIVITY Apple in his Tusks Jennifer Foster LIVING LEVELS LANDSCAPE Effects of transport PARTNERSHIP Jennifer Foster This story is all about life on the Gwent Levels 7,500 years ago. Electrification of the railway line across the Gwent To download a copy, visit the Levels has necessitated rebuilding of many of webpage for this resource. the bridges and huge visual modifications to the route with the erection of cable supports along the lines. ACTIVITY What has this meant for farmers, local people, businesses and wildlife? Why does the location of the Levels result in its Why does the Image: Ed Drewitt use for the M4, railway, Llanwern, warehouses landscape look and power lines, etc.? like this? CURIOUS QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE

Ask students different questions as you read through the timeline above. Describe what Newport was like 200 years ago. What is Newport like ACTIVITY today? What reasons can you think of for why it changed? How did the Romans use the land? Creating a time-line Why did they drain and clear the land? Make the information from the previous page The land might have been drained to into a visual timeline. Depending on the age and provide engineering experience and ability of the class, this could be completed by work to keep the legionary soldiers the students, or simplified into key events that busy whilst barracked at Caerleon. students add onto a timeline. Students could Image: Ed Drewitt How did monasteries influence and illustrate what the Levels would have looked like change the landscape? How did they using pictures, photographs and maps contained make best use of the land? in this resource.

APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE CURIOUS QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE

Page 9 Part 1 | How has the Living Levels landscape changed over time? SECTION TWO Spot different ACTIVITY The pattern of drainage can periods of show the date when the land Redwick, St Brides, , Caldicot was drained. Which era does a Spotting ancient and Nash and draw out the pattern farmland across certain pattern belong to? drainage patterns of fields. Then use the information in the table to uncover the age of the Across the Levels you can still see farm and drainage systems that you examples of the different field drainage the Gwent Levels can see. systems used over the centuries. While aerial photos reveal some of the Modified fields are common across the patterns produced by the drainage Gwent Levels although not always easy systems, LiDAR, a special survey Pattern of fields When fields/drainage to see, especially if you are driving, as technique, shows these patterns of system were laid out they are hidden by the hedgerows. From drainage ditches and creeks in more Regular long strips form a line 1500s and 1600s the train between Newport, Severn detail. The website livinglevelsgis. Tunnel Junction and Chepstow most org.uk shows maps of the Gwent Grid pattern with rectangular fields 1800s of the fields along the railway line show Levels during the 1830s. By zooming signs of low mounds and troughs that in you immediately see different Look at the arrangements of the help drain the water away. If you are patterns of fields by size, shape and houses and discuss: visiting Newport Wetlands then some arrangement. can be spotted on the right side of the ªªNucleated and dispersed How to use: If you tick the ‘LiDAR’ box in road as you travel along West Nash Road. the ‘View Map Layers’ box on the left of settlements – how the houses in some of the villages are spread out Instead of the field looking even the screen and zoom into the maps, you will see black, white and grey patterns and some have formed around a and relatively flat, you might notice – these are the ditches and creeks that centre. Think of some reasons why deliberate, straight lines in the fields drain the water off the fields. Under this might have happened. which are regularly spaced; because they ‘Set Layer Opacity’, move the bar on the horizontal line for LiDAR. This will change ªªThe reasons why the patterns of are draining the water, the soil beneath the contrast and overlap between the fields and drainage developed them is wetter and allows damp-loving patterns and the original maps. differently over different periods plants, such as rushes, to grow along of time. them, making them more visible. The history of a village can often be ªªHow different owners of the land worked out by using historical maps Monks Ditch, an important treated and used land in different drainage ditch or reen running and the patterns of the nearby fields. through the Gwent Levels. ways. Image: Living Levels Look at the fields near the villages of Landscape Partnership INTERPRETING DATA

Variations in field patterns Roman fields and evidence of farming and some the system used in the 1500s and 1600s. They are Nash: regular pattern of fields. Villagers had what bits were left, or they already had form of occupation (probably seasonal), have organised in a regular pattern with long strips of field Redwick: unlike many places, Redwick still has them anyway. been found at Rhymney, , all coming off the east side of the village in a long some of the larger rectangular fields that were once To the west of Monksditch – in Goldcliffand Nash St Brides Wentlooge, , Nash, Goldcliff, line. These may have come from Belgium via similar managed by the monks. Maps from 1830s show parishes – the fields are very irregular in shape, and Redwick, Magor and Caldicot as well as elsewhere. field patterns found in Pembrokeshire. strips of farmed land neighbouring these large fields. settlement is scattered across a wide area. This Known Roman farms cluster along the fen edge, Caldicot: fields here are typical of the 1800s – grids These strips remained because they stayed under landscape appears to have been created in the e.g. Caldicot, Portskewett, Mathern, , Ifton, of lanes with square or rectangular fields coming common law where the commoners (local people traditional Welsh way. In contrast, to the east of , Langstone and possibly and off them. Many fields contain undulating traces of working and living on the land) retained their rights – Monksditch, the landscape has a more English feel Llanwern. former tidal creeks (now silted up). Enclosure of they weren’t handed back to the landowners, unlike with compact villages (such as Redwick) and long Whitson: fields close to Whitson show patterns from common land (see also Redwick below). most areas when the Inclosure Acts were introduced. narrow fields characteristic of ‘open fields’.

Page 10 Part 1 | How has the Living Levels landscape changed over time? SECTION TWO Magor Marsh & Newport Wetlands

Magor Marsh Over the centuries the peaty boglands at the back of Levels were less valuable. They were peat bog/marsh before you got to the higher, drier villages such as Magor. Magor Marsh is still wet and peaty and is at the back of the marsh. The fields between it and the sea are dry and have probably always been dry. Magor Marsh remains an important and rare place for this habitat, and for both rare and common wildlife that needs such a place to live. You can visit Magor Marsh with your class to experience this rare habitat, explore the trees and birdlife, and go pond The Newport Wetlands dipping in the reens. Facilitated class sessions are available as centre provides the perfect well as the opportunity to explore on your own. venue for visiting schools. Image: RSPB gwentwildlife.org/discover-learn/magor-marsh- education/school-groups

Newport Wetlands A cross-section of the Gwent Levels, including Newport Wetlands is a National Nature Reserve and was developed to provide Magor, during the Mesolithic Period homes for wildlife as mitigation when the Bay Barrage scheme was undertaken. It is made from lagoons dug out and flooded for wildlife. Originally the area was a place for the adjacent power station’s ash to be Woodland in dumped. Fields were dug out into lagoons and fresh ash was pumped into them. Mesolithic times At a later date these were then dug out again and the water levels re-established. Today the ash is evident along the paths and molehills! The reserve is the size of 437 rugby pitches. Much of it is reedbed, a rare habitat for a range of animals and plants including otters, reed buntings and bitterns. More open pools and Magor Marsh is a haven for Rising land grasslands are home to nesting wading birds such as lapwings, avocets and wildlife, close to the railway Magor Marsh redshanks. and lanes, south of Magor. This area may have always been dry (and Image: Ed Drewitt not wet or drained) You can visit Newport Wetlands with your class to experience this important This area would have habitat and explore the wildlife; facilitated class sessions are available as well been wet during the as the opportunity to explore on your own. There is a visitor centre with a Mesolithic period when classroom, toilets, cafe and shop. It is home to a wealth of wildlife; children can the footprints were found investigate habitats and adaptations by pond dipping or watching the many ducks, geese and swans that visit the reserve. rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-teachers/school-trips/newport-wetlands

Page 11 Part 1 | How has the Living Levels landscape changed over time? SECTION THREE Where does the water on the ACTIVITY Gwent Levels come from?

More detail The sea wall along the coastline of the Gwent Levels now keeps the Water flows down through seawater away from the farmland. So, 45 rivers, streams and canals, Design a stained- where does all the water come from? forming a catchment area that flows from the Black Mountains glass window Some of the water comes from winter to the sea. The main river, the rainfall – many fields have channels that Usk, flows 125km south-east drain the water away from them. Other through Brecon, Crickhowell, Design a commemorative stained-glass places, such as Magor Marsh, naturally Abergavenny, Usk and Newport. window celebrating the Gwent Levels. The flood. Most of the fresh water comes During heavy rain and snowmelt, glass might include part of a story from from higher ground via streams and more water than usual flows this resource, or a key animal, habitat or springs. During really heavy rainfall, so down rivers, naturally flooding person that makes the Levels special. much water reaches the lowlands that fields and marshland known as the rivers and streams break their banks It is possible to make a simple stained-glass the floodplain. As the water flows and flood into the fields. window using coloured boiled sweets, by downstream towards the Gwent crushing similar colours together. A simple Levels, some of it is pumped frame can be created out of pastry and the boiled sweets put inside. This can then be off to feed the baked to create the design. If done in hygienic ACTIVITY and Brecon Canal and the conditions this can then be eaten.

Llandegfedd water storage WORKING CREATIVELY reservoir, and it is also used to provide water for factories, fish Mapping a river farms, hydropower, watering getting very far, such as a weir ªªremove or control non- crops or feeding animals on at Trostrey, a weir at Brecon native and invasive species; farms. On the Gwent Levels, a and bridges at Llanfoist and ªªclean up, stop or reduce Map the route of the system of gates known as sluices Crickhowell. Weirs are steep pollution; from where it begins in the Black stop too much water flowing dams that change the speed ªªremove or alter barriers so Mountains to where it enters the onto the fields. The sluice gates of the water. fish are better able to travel sea at Newport. and a sea wall running along the upstream to spawn. To ensure clean and healthy ªªWhich places does the river edge of the Gwent Levels stop water for people and wildlife, During heavy rainfall or pass where water might be very high tides from flooding the the whole river catchment snowmelt, the increase in taken for people and farmland fields. area is cared for in a way that water causes the rivers to animals? “Most of the fresh The River Usk is home to many helps: overflow into nearby fields. ªªAre there any obstacles along different fish including salmon. When the water flows over water comes from the river’s length that may stop ªªhabitats be better It is a healthy river and provides the riverbanks, friction causes fish such as eels, salmon and connected and form internationally important places it to slow down and leave higher ground twaite shad getting up it to lay corridors for wildlife such for fish such as twaite shad, behind materials such as eggs (spawn)? as otters, water voles and via streams and lamprey, bullhead and brown rocks and clay. This results in kingfishers; trout to live. Some of these need the build-up of a natural wall ªªprovide more places for springs.” to travel upriver to lay their eggs or embankment known as a wildlife to live; PROBLEM SOLVING (spawn); some barriers stop them levee.

Page 12 Part 1 | How has the Living Levels landscape changed over time? THE BIG PICTURE The Gwent Levels in 1830

This map is of Magor and its surrounding countryside in 1830. During this period, very detailed maps were drawn up by the Commissioners of Sewers of the Gwent Levels, revealing how the land was laid out and recording field boundaries, drainage and sea defences. Two books of maps were produced, one for the Caldicot Levels and one for the Wentlooge Levels. The works costs around £440 (£27, 000 in 2018). These beautiful maps are now stored in the Gwent Archives. When overlain on modern Ordnance Survey maps or aerial photographs, they are remarkably similar. The colours relate to different owners of the land at the time. Look closely at this map. How does it differ to a modern map, such as Google Maps or an Ordnance Survey map? Compare where fields and their boundaries are today; look for similarities and differences. What is present today on a modern map that is missing from the 1830s version? (for example, roads, a railway…)

Image: Gwent Archives

Page 13 Part 1 | How has the Living Levels landscape changed over time?