The Lords of the Southern March: Interpretation Plan
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The Lords of the Southern March Interpretation Plan Prepared for Cadw June 2010 The Lords of the Southern March Interpretation Plan __________________________________________________ The Lords of the Southern March The March of Power in Southern Wales TOUCHSTONE Heritage Management Consultants Red Kite Environment Pearcroft Pearcroft Road Stonehouse Gloucestershire GL10 2JY Tel: 01453 822013 Fax: 01453 791969 Email: [email protected] Lords of the Southern March Interpretation Plan Contents 1 Introduction............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background to the study .................................................................................................2 1.2 Inter-relating the stories ..................................................................................................2 1.3 Common strands ............................................................................................................4 2 Key events and timeline........................................................................................ 5 2.1 Timeline ..........................................................................................................................6 3 The interpretive resources.................................................................................... 8 3.1 The castles, the abbeys and the landscape ...................................................................9 3.2 Community pride in its local monuments – the wider context.......................................15 4 The market ........................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Main divisions of audiences..........................................................................................17 4.2 Widening the audiences ...............................................................................................17 5 Issues and opportunities .................................................................................... 19 5.1 Issues and opportunities...............................................................................................20 5.2 Overall story..................................................................................................................20 5.3 The wider context .........................................................................................................21 5.4 Links with other interpretive plans ................................................................................21 5.5 The range of sites.........................................................................................................21 5.6 Complementary sites ....................................................................................................22 5.7 Community involvement ...............................................................................................22 6 Interpretive aim and objectives .......................................................................... 23 6.1 Aims and objectives......................................................................................................24 7 Our approach ....................................................................................................... 26 7.1 Knowing the unknown...................................................................................................27 7.2 A double helix of history................................................................................................27 7.3 People to people...........................................................................................................28 7.4 People in the landscape ...............................................................................................29 8 Thematic approach.............................................................................................. 30 8.1 Themes.........................................................................................................................31 9 Media, mechanisms and locations..................................................................... 32 9.1 Principles ......................................................................................................................33 i Red Kite Environment Touchstone Heritage Management Consultants Anglezarke Dixon Associates June 2010 Lords of the Southern March Interpretation Plan 9.2 Delivering the interpretation – general..........................................................................34 9.3 Delivering the interpretation – castle clusters ...............................................................42 10 Action table ........................................................................................................ 64 11 Monitoring and evaluation ................................................................................ 76 11.1 Monitoring and evaluation...........................................................................................77 11.2 Pre-testing ..................................................................................................................77 11.3 Monitoring...................................................................................................................77 11.4 Evaluation...................................................................................................................78 12 Appendix 1 – Those consulted......................................................................... 79 13 Appendix 2 – The historical context ................................................................ 80 13.1 The rise of the Welsh princes .....................................................................................80 13.2 The delineation of the early English March.................................................................81 13.3 The Princes of Deheubarth.........................................................................................82 13.4 ‘Welsh Wales’ defined ................................................................................................84 13.5 The Lord Rhys ............................................................................................................85 13.6 The demise of the princes ..........................................................................................86 13.7 The Lords of the Southern March ...............................................................................87 14 Appendix 3 – References ................................................................................. 93 15 Appendix 4 – Design sketches ........................................................................ 94 ii Red Kite Environment Touchstone Heritage Management Consultants Anglezarke Dixon Associates June 2010 Lords of the Southern March Interpretation Plan 1 Introduction Caerphilly Castle RKE 1 Red Kite Environment Touchstone Heritage Management Consultants Anglezarke Dixon Associates May 2010 Lords of the Southern March Interpretation Plan 1.1 Background to the study Red Kite Environment, Touchstone Heritage Management Consultants and Anglezarke Dixon Associates were appointed by Cadw, at the beginning of 2010, to prepare two Interpretation Plans as part of Cadw’s overall strategy to develop and implement a programme of interpretation for its medieval properties throughout Wales. The first of the plans was commissioned to encompass the Princes of Deheubarth, a dynasty of Welsh rulers whose territorial boundaries changed over the years but were rooted in the south west of Wales. The second plan was commissioned, in parallel, to encompass the areas of southern Wales which were ruled by, or under the influence of, the Anglo-Norman marcher lords. The consultancy team is grateful to members of Cadw staff and to representatives of many other organisations who have provided information, advice, guidance and historical expertise during the course of preparing these Interpretation Plans. In particular, we acknowledge with thanks the guidance of our two expert advisers, Roger Turvey and Rick Turner, whose knowledge of, respectively, the princes and the lords, has kept us on a secure historical footing as well as providing a series of insights into both topics. We should also like to thank PLB Consulting Ltd and Siân Shakespear Associates for agreeing to share information about their own, parallel, interpretive planning work. This document is an interpretation plan for telling the stories of the Lords of the Southern March. It is for a period in the history of the Lords between 1066 and c1410. It is not a plan for the interpretation of individual castles and other monuments within the Marcher Lords study area. That would require separate, site-related interpretation plans. Many of the stories in this plan pre-date the physical evidence visible now at these sites – much of the stonework that remains was built after the 13th century. The stories will be brought alive, therefore, largely through the interpretive text and illustrations of graphic and digital media, and through activities such as self-guided trails, family activities, re-enactments and storytelling, than by explaining the physical significance of the relict monuments on the ground. We have also made recommendations for branding the interpretation of the Lords of the Southern March – again, the branding is for the Marcher Lords story, not for the interpretation of other features and stories at