Hen Blâs, Flint
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CPAT Report No. 1403 Hen Blâs, Flint ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT YMDDIRIEDOLAETH ARCHAEOLEGOL CLWYD-POWYS CLWYD-POWYS ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST Client name: Cadw CPAT Project No: 1926 Project Name: Llysoedd and Maerdrefi Grid Reference: SJ 2216 7345 County/LPA: Flintshire CPAT Report No: 1403 Event PRN: 140103 Report status: Final Confidential: No Prepared by: Checked by: Approved by: Richard Hankinson Nigel Jones Nigel Jones Senior Archaeologist Principal Archaeologist Principal Archaeologist 16/03/2016 17/03/2016 17/03/2016 Bibliographic reference: Hankinson, R., 2016. Hen Blâs, Flint: Archaeological Assessment, Unpublished report, CPAT Report No 1403. Cover photo: Part of the inner bailey at Hen Blâs, from the west (CPAT 4129-0010) YMDDIRIEDOLAETH ARCHAEOLEGOL CLWYD-POWYS CLWYD-POWYS ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST 41 Broad Street, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 7RR, United Kingdom +44 (0) 1938 553 670 [email protected] www.cpat.org.uk ©CPAT 2016 The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust is a Registered Organisation with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists CPAT Report No 1403 Hen Blâs, Flint Archaeological Assessment CONTENTS SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................... II 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2 BRIEF NOTES ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HEN BLÂS ................................................................................ 2 3 AN ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE......................................................................................... 4 4 CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 7 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 8 6 SOURCES ............................................................................................................................................... 8 i CPAT Report No 1403 Hen Blâs, Flint Archaeological Assessment Summary An assessment of the medieval site known as Hen Blâs has been carried out as a further element of the Cadw-funded study of Llysoedd and Maerdrefi. The site was excavated by the local historian G. B. Leach in the 1950s and reported on in the Flintshire Historical Society’s Journal; the material from these excavations is currently held by Flintshire Museums Service. The 1950s investigations made it clear that the site had a number of phases, probably beginning with a motte and bailey of likely 12th-century date, although early medieval origin for activity here cannot be ruled out owing to the methods employed. Significantly earlier activity hereabouts was implied by the discovery of a number of flint artefacts, but it is not known whether any of these were associated with archaeological features. A range of post- holes were identified which may define post-built structures belonging to the moated site, but there is insufficient evidence to attempt to reconstruct the layout. A stone-built chapel was identified in the outer bailey, containing moulded stonework dated to the late 11th and 12th centuries on stylistic grounds, although this has subsequently been postulated as a building erected by Llewelyn ab Iorwerth on the birth of his son, Dafydd, at Hen Blâs in the early years of the 13th century. There seems to have been a hiatus of activity which ended with the partial levelling of the motte and the remodelling of the inner bailey to accommodate a number of buildings in the early 13th century; others were added in the 14th century. The buildings seem to have all been wooden sill-beam structures resting on low walls and had slate roofs with decorative ceramic ridge tiles. As far as can be determined the site went out of use at the end of the 14th century. ii CPAT Report No 1403 Hen Blâs, Flint Archaeological Assessment 1 Introduction 1.1. The assessment of Hen Blâs forms one element of the further study of Llysoedd and Maerdrefi undertaken by CPAT, on behalf of Cadw, in 2014-15 (Silvester 2015). Llysoedd and Maerdrefi were essentially centres of power in the early medieval and medieval periods, and in basic terms, the llys was the place where the court of a King or Prince was situated, while the often nearby maerdref constituted the King’s land in the district with its associated bond settlement. Both terms are dealt with in detail in the Welsh law codes. 1.2. During the original study Silvester identified a possible llys site at a small farm of that name on the north-western fringes of Flint (SJ 23297390; Fig. 1). He relates that in the Flintshire Inventory of 1912, the Royal Commission wrote that the farm name ‘… seems to support the conjecture that this township was the caput and special demesne of the tribal chieftain. In the year 1240 Dafydd ap Llewelyn granted a charter to the monks of Basingwerk from Colsull, by which Coleshill Fechan (then including the site of the present town of Flint) was probably meant, and near which the original dwelling of the chieftain may be expected to have been situated’ (Silvester 2015, 28-29). This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Welsh Government. Licence Number: 100017916 (2016). Atgynhyrchir y map hwn o ddeunydd yr Arolwg Ordnans gyda chaniatâd Arolwg Ordnans ar ran Rheolwr Llyfrfa Ei Mawrhydi © Hawlfraint y Goron. Mae atgynhyrchu heb ganiatâd yn torri Hawlfraint y Goron a gall hyn arwain at erlyniad neu achos sifil. Llywodraeth Cymru. Rhif Trwydded: 100017916 (2016). Fig. 1: Location of Hen Blâs 1.1. 1.3. Hen Blâs lies a little over one kilometre to the west-south-west of the farm and it has been strongly suggested by Stephenson (see Section 2 of this report) that this was the 1 CPAT Report No 1403 Hen Blâs, Flint Archaeological Assessment place from which Dafydd ap Llewelyn, in his capacity as the ruler of Gwynedd, issued the charter. Perhaps more significantly, Stephenson argues that Hen Blâs was the place where Dafydd was born in the Spring of 1212 and contends that he retained some affection for the site, perhaps particularly so as his birth is thought to have provided the impetus for the construction by his father, Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, of a chapel there soon afterwards. 1.4. Although nothing is known of its earlier history, an attempt to understand the origins of the site was made by the local historian J. B. Leach, who carried out excavations there between 1954 and 1957 (Leach 1957; 1960), by which time the site had already been designated as a scheduled Ancient Monument (Fl062). A range of evidence was revealed by the excavations, which is summarised and discussed in Section 3, below. Leach’s site archive and finds are currently held by the Flintshire Museums Service. 2 Brief notes on the significance of Hen Blâs by David Stephenson 2.1. Hen Blâs is a site of considerable interest and importance. As it lies within the township of Coleshill Fawr, it is quite likely that it served as the llys of the commote of Coleshill; it would be surprising if the commote and the township names coincided for any other reason (Richards 1969, 47). 2.2. The idea that Hen Blâs was a commotal centre is perhaps strengthened by the most notable event in its recorded history. In the course of a dispute over the celebration of divine service in the chapel of Coleshill in 1305 the abbot of Basingwerk claimed that Llywelyn ab Iorwerth ruler of Gwynedd from the late 1190s until his death in 1240, had taken to wife the sister of the then king of England [recte the daughter of King John, though also of course the half-sister of Henry III], and that in the course of time she ‘gave birth at Colsul [Coleshill] to a certain boy, named David [Dafydd], on the occasion of whose birth Llywelyn had a chapel built there...’ (Leach 1960, 13- 60). It has been argued that the birth of Dafydd ap Llywelyn, who would rule Gwynedd in the years 1240-46, took place in the Spring of 1212 (Stephenson and Jones 2012, 21-32). It has been suggested that Llywelyn may even have engineered a situation in which the birth took place at this central location in the cantref of Tegeingl in order to emphasise his (partial) recovery from the humiliating agreement forced upon him by King John after the war of 1211, an agreement by which he appeared to have lost his hold on Gwynedd east of the Conwy (Stephenson and Jones 2012, 31-32). 2.3. It seems that Dafydd ap Llywelyn regarded Hen Blâs with some affection and perhaps emphasised its importance, for there can be little doubt that it was here that he issued a charter to Basingwerk abbey in July 1240. The charter was issued at Colshull, just over three months after Llywelyn’s death on 11 April (Pryce 2005, Act no. 292). During some of the time between his succession to the principality and the issue of the charter to Basingwerk, Dafydd had been in England, attending a meeting with Henry III at Gloucester in May (Pryce 2005, Act no. 291). He had thus lost little time in holding court at Coleshill, where he issued the charter that, significantly, represents the only recorded act of monastic endowment of his principate. It is quite 2 CPAT Report No 1403 Hen Blâs, Flint Archaeological Assessment possible that the 1261 agreement between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (d.1282) and the southern ruler, Maredudd ap Rhys, dated at Conssyl [Coleshill] was also negotiated at Hen Blâs (Pryce 2005, Act no. 347). But Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had no reason to elevate the status of a place so closely associated with Dafydd ap Llywelyn, who had after all imprisoned Llywelyn’s father and then handed him over to the custody of Henry III, a custody that would endure until Gruffudd’s death in 1244. By coincidence, it was in that year that Henry III ordered the justiciar of Chester, John Lestrange, to strengthen ‘castrum de Coleshull’ with ‘optimo garrillo et iii bretachiis ad minus’ (Close Rolls 1242-47, 175).