GGAT 113: Mills and Water Power in Glamorgan and Gwent April 2012 A report for Cadw by Rachel Bowden BA (Hons) and GGAT report no. 2012/029 Richard Roberts BA (Hons) Project no. GGAT 113 The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Ltd Heathfield House Heathfield Swansea SA1 6EL GGAT 113 Mills and Water Power in Glamorgan and Gwent CONTENTS ..............................................................................................Page Number SUMMARY...................................................................................................................3 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................4 2. PREVIOUS SCOPING..............................................................................................8 3. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................11 4. SOURCES CONSULTED.......................................................................................15 5. RESULTS ................................................................................................................16 Revised Desktop Appraisal......................................................................................16 Stage 1 Assessment..................................................................................................16 Stage 2 Assessment..................................................................................................25 6. SITE VISITS............................................................................................................31 7. GAZETTEER ..........................................................................................................36 8. RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................207 9. CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................................208 10. BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................210 Appendix I Details of Second Batch of Mills (Occupied/Converted Sites) ..............212 Appendix II Summary of Site Appraisal and Site Visit Selection.............................222 Appendix III Summary of Additional Information from Secondary Sources ...........242 Appendix IV Polygon Data........................................................................................246 Appendix V Threats And Recommendations ............................................................250 Figures Figure 1: Distribution of all mill sites (medieval and early post-medieval not distinguished), unprotected and protected ...........................................................17 Figure 2: Distribution of unprotected mills and related sites (medieval and early post- medieval not distinguished; labelled) ..................................................................18 Figure 3: Distribution of protected mills and related sites (medieval and early post- medieval not distinguished; labelled) ..................................................................19 Figure 4: Medieval and early post-medieval mills and related sites showing Overall Significance..........................................................................................................26 Tables Table 1. Medieval and early post-medieval mills and related sites: 115 interest/groups of interests – 105 HER sites (PRNs), and 20 additional sites from publications (pre-fixed by MP); cross- referenced to 67 NMR registers (NPRNs)…………..20 Table 2. Results of assessment: Medieval and early post-medieval mills and related sites (115 sites/site groups, including 105 PRNs, 67 NPRNs, and 19 sites not previously on the HER)………………………………………………………… 27 Table 3. Medieval mill sites and related features selected for field visits (96 sites/groups of sites, including 93 PRNs and 12 additional sites from publications (pre-fixed by MP))………………………………………………………………31 Table 4. Second batch of HER sites (PRNs): 30 sites visited and assessed……….. 212 Table 5. Second batch of NMR sites (NPRNs): 12 sites assessed, but not visited... 219 Table 6. Summary of HER sites (151 PRNs) appraised……………………………222 Table 7. Summary of NMR sites (180 NPRNs) appraised…………………………229 1 GGAT 113 Mills and Water Power in Glamorgan and Gwent Table 8. Summary of sites from publications as yet not recorded on the HER (i.e. no PRNs) assessed………………………………………………………………... 239 Table 9. Pre-1750 sites in Taylor’s ‘Mills of the Lordship of Gower’……………..242 Table 10. Mill sites in Melin………………………………………………………. 244 Table 11. GGAT 113 Polygon information for mills and water power sites……… 246 Table 12. GGAT 113 Site specific threats and recommendations (1st batch sites)... 250 Table 13. GGAT 113 Site specific threats and recommendations (2nd batch sites).. 254 2 GGAT 113 Mills and Water Power in Glamorgan and Gwent SUMMARY Following on from a scoping project conducted in 2010 which reviewed the need to assess various classes of site dating to the medieval and post-medieval periods, a project examining Medieval Mills and Water Power in Glamorgan and Gwent has been undertaken by the Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust on behalf of Cadw. The project entailed a further desktop appraisal of some 370 mills and related sites, with specific assessment of 115 sites identified as satisfying set criteria. This included 20 new mill sites not previously recorded on the Historic Environment Record (HER). The current number of mill sites on the HER is not exhaustive and it should be noted that the remit of the current project was not to search for new mill sites. The assessment adopted a two staged approach: first identifying mills and related sites already scheduled and listed in order to establish a threshold and also identify geographical and typological gaps and secondly applying established criteria to access the overall significance of the resource. The work established that 15 of the selected 115 interests or groups of interests were protected, and that only a limited example of the resource was already protected either through scheduling or listing. An expected bias was noted in the geographic distribution to areas known to be better agriculturally such as the Vale of Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Gower, and where waterpower sources were available to industry, the protected examples were largely representative in terms of geographic spread, though perhaps less so in terms of mill type. Of the 115 sites/groups of sites assessed, 10 were assessed as being of National significance, a further three were of potential National significance, and 18 were borderline National/Regional Significance, whilst 6 were of Regional significance, 14 were of potential regional significance, and four sites were considered to be borderline Regional/Local Significance. The remainder were considered to be of Local, Minor, or Unknown significance. Recommendations for further archaeological investigation, survey and conservation have been made. Recommendations for consideration for protection form the basis of a separate report. 3 GGAT 113 Mills and Water Power in Glamorgan and Gwent 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Background Southeast Wales has a rich heritage of medieval and post-medieval sites. Many of the larger, upstanding monuments have been designated scheduled ancient monuments, but the vast majority of sites have not been classified and the condition of most is unknown. These sites are vital to our understanding of the medieval and post- medieval periods. The overall aim of this project was to use the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust’s Historic Environment Record (GGAT HER), the National Monument Record (NMR) at the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), secondary sources and field visits to assess the potential for enhancing the schedule of ancient monuments class of medieval and early post-medieval mills. This site type is currently under-represented on the schedule of ancient monuments. A second objective was the updating of HER records. The HER contains numerous records of mills, but their quality is variable, with many records containing minimal amounts of information.1 This report details the findings of the project and contains updated descriptions of all sites visited, with condition/significance information. Previous Surveys Mills in Glamorgan (both water and wind powered) are included in RCAHMW Glamorgan Inventory III part II as individual sites, often as part of wider complexes rather than as a separate class of monument. In Gwent, Courtney has conducted a survey of windmills and Coates and Tucker have surveyed watermills of the Monnow and Trothi (Courtney 1982; Coates and Tucker 1983). Detailed survey work and investigation has been undertaken at Melin Mynach (SS 593 991), a mill built by the Cistercian Monks from Neath Abbey in the 12th Century as part of the grange of Cwrt y Carnau (Lawler 1990). It retains a mill leat c.2.5km kilometres in length, reputably the second longest mill leat in Wales (Research Audit: South East Wales 2002). Informative studies on mills have also been undertaken on Gower, and the Wye Valley, whilst coverage extends to the Rhondda, and the Caerphilly area. For example c.82, mill sites have been identified on Gower (see Taylor 1991a and b; 1997; 1999a and b; 2005 and 2008), whilst specific studies carried out on the wireworks and paper mills of Whitebrook Monmouthshire identified 15 dams, 2 water powered corn mills (one derelict/one