CPAT Report No. 1620

Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION

YMDDIRIEDOLAETH ARCHAEOLEGOL CLWYD-POWYS

CLWYD-POWYS ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST

Client name: Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant Burial Board CPAT Project No: 2316 Project Name: Llanrhaeadr–ym-Mochnant cemetery extension Grid Reference: SJ 1348 2503 County/LPA: Powys Planning Application: P/2018/0165 CPAT Report No: 1620 Event PRN: 140262 HER Enquiry: N/A Report status: Final Confidential until: November 2019

Prepared by: Checked by: Approved by:

Richard Hankinson Nigel Jones Nigel Jones Senior Archaeologist Principal Archaeologist Principal Archaeologist 07 November 2018 07 November 2018 07 November 2018

Bibliographic reference: Hankinson, R., 2018. Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys: Archaeological Evaluation, Unpublished Report. CPAT Report No 1620.

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 2018

The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust is a Registered Organisation with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

CONTENTS

SUMMARY ...... ii 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 3 2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ...... 4 3 EVALUATION ...... 4 4 CONCLUSIONS ...... 7 5 SOURCES ...... 7 6 ARCHIVE DEPOSITION STATEMENT ...... 8

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CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

Summary An archaeological evaluation was conducted by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust in connection with a planning application for a proposed cemetery extension at Llanrhaeadr- ym-Mochnant, Powys. The area immediately to the north of the proposed extension has been designated as a scheduled ancient monument (SAM DE220) owing to the presence of prehistoric and probable early medieval funerary and ritual activity, but no features of archaeological interest were identified in the three evaluation trenches. The archaeological potential of the development area is therefore considered to be low.

Crynodeb Bu Ymddiriedolaeth Archaeolegol Clwyd-Powys yn cynnal gwerthusiad archaeolegol mewn cysylltiad â chais cynllunio ar gyfer estyniad arfaethedig i’r fynwent yn Llanrhaeadr-ym- Mochnant, Powys. Mae’r ardal yn union i’r gogledd o’r estyniad arfaethedig wedi’i dynodi’n heneb gofrestredig (SAM DE220) oherwydd gweithgarwch angladdol a defodol canoloesol cynnar tebygol, ond ni nodwyd unrhyw nodweddion o ddiddordeb archaeolegol yn y tair rhych werthuso. Felly ystyrir bod potensial archaeolegol ardal y datblygiad yn isel.

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CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

1 Introduction 1.1. The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) were commissioned by Huw Ellis Williams, Chairman of the Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant Burial Board, to undertake an archaeological evaluation on land adjoining the existing village cemetery (Fig. 1, NGR: SJ 13489 25036), in support of their planning application (P/2018/0165) for the change of use of agricultural land to provide an extension to the cemetery.

1.2. The scope of the work was detailed in an evaluation brief (EVB 894) produced by Mark Walters of CPAT, acting in his capacity as the archaeological advisor to Powys County Council. A Written Scheme of Investigation (CPAT WSI 1922), based on the brief, was then produced by CPAT. In the absence of Mark Walters, this was approved by Chris Martin, Head of Curatorial Services at CPAT.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2018 Fig. 1: Location of the proposed cemetery extension

1.3. The evaluation comprised the excavation of three trenches within the area of the proposed extension (see Fig. 2). The work was carried out at the end of October 2018 and this report written as soon as possible thereafter.

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CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

2 Archaeological Background 2.1. The area of the proposed cemetery extension lies less than 1km to the south-east of Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant, a village which straddles the River Rhaeadr about 7km north of Llanfyllin. In its lower reaches, the Rhaeadr, a tributary of the River Tanat which is less than 2km away, occupies a shallow valley, but at the place where Llanrhaeadr has developed, the valley sides are steeper, particularly the southern slopes. The church and market place lie on the valley floor north and east of the river, and from this focus the settlement has expanded along the gentle slopes of the valley and less densely on the opposite bank of the river where there is steeper terrain. The settlement form has thus been dictated by the natural topography. The name first appears in 1254 as ‘Llanracarder’ and then as ‘Thlanrather in Meuhenhand’ in 1284. A more intelligible form, ‘Lanraiader en Mochnant’ is documented between 1344 and 1357. Roger Mortimer of Chirk was granted the right to hold a weekly market and two annual fairs in Llanrhaeadr by Edward I in 1284.

2.2. The river passing through the village acted as the county boundary until recent years. Thus in say the 18th century the settlement will have been split between Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire (though this may not have been the case at the time of the Act of Union in 1536, assuming John Speeds county map is correct). The two parts were only reunited with the creation of unitary authorities in 1996, when it came within the jurisdiction of Powys County Council.

2.3. A mother church, probably with a clas community, was established at Llanrhaeadr in the early medieval period, with its precinct slotted in to a bend on the north side of the river. The ecclesiastical centre of the cantref of Mochnant, it may have been founded as early as the 6th century and it has been claimed that it continued until at least 1291, for later medieval records refer to a community of clergy here during Edward I's reign.

2.4. Although there are no known archaeological features within the area of the proposed cemetery extension, the immediate locality is known to contain significant sub- surface archaeological remains, primarily belonging to the prehistoric period but also of potential early medieval date; these are collectively designated as a scheduled ancient monument under SAM DE220 (see Fig. 1). The prehistoric activity is largely funerary and ritual in character, comprising two timber circles and two ring-ditches first identified as cropmarks, all located in the field immediately to the north of the existing cemetery; there are also linear features nearby that may be of a similar date. The likely early medieval activity comprises an inhumation cemetery, again first identified from cropmarks, that is believed to consist of at least 68 graves, located in the north-western part of the field to the west of the modern cemetery. The two localities were examined in trial excavations carried out by CPAT in 2007 (Jones 2008) and 2010 (Jones and Hankinson 2011), respectively; these excavations confirmed the cropmark evidence.

3 Evaluation 3.1. The evaluation was conducted according to the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists’ (CIfA) Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation (2014).

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CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

3.2. Three evaluation trenches were excavated, ranging from 20m to 30m in length and 1.6m wide (Fig. 2); given the lack of any known archaeological features in this locality, they were placed to provide general coverage of the development area. The lengths of the trenches varied somewhat from those specified in the WSI, owing to the need to avoid the section of the field adjoining the B4396, where services had been identified. Each trench was excavated by machine down to the top of the natural subsoil, and the base and sides of the trench were then cleaned by hand to identify any archaeological evidence that might be present.

Fig. 2: Trench locations

Trench 1 3.3. The soils removed by machine comprised the topsoil, a 0.25m-thick layer of brown silt containing some small stones, and an underlying layer of orange-brown stony silt, 0.15m thick. These layers directly overlay the natural subsoil, a mixture of grey gravel and orange-brown silt. No archaeological features were identified in the trench.

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CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

Fig. 3: Trench 1, from the south. Photo CPAT 4561-0001

Trench 2 3.4. The soils removed by machine were effectively the same as for Trench 1, comprising the topsoil, a 0.25m-thick layer of brown silt containing some small stones, and an underlying layer of orange-brown stony silt, 0.10m thick. Again these directly overlay the natural subsoil, a mixture of grey gravel and orange-brown silt. No archaeological features were identified in the trench.

Fig. 4: Trench 2, from the south-south-east. Photo CPAT 4561-0003 6

CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

Trench 3 3.5. The soils removed by machine were the same as for Trenches 1 and 2, comprising the topsoil, a 0.25m-thick layer of brown silt containing some small stones, and the underlying layer of orange-brown stony silt, 0.10m thick. Beneath these layers was the natural subsoil, a mixture of grey gravel and orange-brown silt. No archaeological features were identified in the trench.

Fig. 5: Trench 3, from the west. Photo CPAT 4561-0006

4 Conclusions 4.1. Three evaluation trenches were positioned to determine the archaeological potential in the area of the proposed cemetery extension. Despite the proximity of nationally important archaeological remains within scheduled ancient monument SAM DE220 the evaluation revealed no evidence for any features or artefacts. On this basis the evaluation has concluded that the archaeological potential of the development area is low.

4.2. The soils identified in the evaluation trenches were typical of land subjected to occasional improvement and/or arable activity. The underlying natural gravels, probably of fluvio-glacial origin, contained evidence of silting that was contemporary with their formation and not related to human activity.

5 Sources Published sources

Jones, N. W., 2009. Meusydd timber circles and ring-ditch, Llanrhaeadr-ym- Mochnant, Powys: excavation and survey, 2007. Archaeologia Cambrensis 158, 43- 68. 7

CPAT Report No 1620 Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant cemetery extension, Powys Archaeological Evaluation

Unpublished sources

Jones, N. W., 2008. Excavation and survey at Meusydd Henge and Timber Circles, Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant, Powys 2007, CPAT Report No 909. Jones, N. W., and Hankinson, R., 2011. Early Medieval Cemeteries in Mid and North- east Wales, CPAT Report No 1071

6 Archive deposition Statement 6.1. The project archive has been prepared according to the CPAT Archive Policy and in line with the CIfA Standard and guidance for the creation, compilation, transfer and deposition of archaeological archives guidance (2014). The archive is entirely digital and will be deposited jointly with the Historic Environment Record, Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust and the National Monuments Record (RCAHMW).

Site Archive

CPAT event PRN 140262

7 digital photographs, CPAT Film No 4561

3 CPAT trench recording forms

Penmap survey files: 2316surv.pts

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