Pobol y Cerrig

Ancient Cwmbran

2009-09-15T22:08:00.003+01:00

OK, so Cwmbran is a new town, but set in a very ancient landscape.

A new project, the Ancient Cwmbran and the Cistercians Partnership has been set up, using a £48000 lottery grant, to explore and document this landscape. It brings together representatives of the Cwmbran Historical Society, Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust, University of Wales Newport, Torfaen Museum Trust, Communities First Thornhill, the Co-Star Partnership and Torfaen council.

Jennifer Stewart, head of Heritage Lottery Fund Wales, said: "People love learning about their local heritage and archaeology is a great way to unearth hidden histories.

"This is a fantastic project which will bring people, young and old, together to try their hand at something new and gain a deeper understanding of where they live."

An information day is being held at Greenmeadow Community Farm on 19 September for local residents who want to become involved in the project as volunteers - you can also phone 01633 648072.

source: BBC News

Community Archaeology

2009-07-01T11:27:00.000+01:00

Not South-Wales specific, but the Council For British Archaeology has launched an online Heritage Toolkit for Community Groups. Featuring lots of ideas on how to get started exploring the history of your local area, for walks, school-talks etc. Well worth a look if you are looking for ideas in this area.

Heritage Toolkit For Communities

Lost Dark-age settlement

2009-06-06T17:45:00.001+01:00

AT BARELY a centimetre across and almost unrecognisable after centuries underground, it may not look much, but could shed light on an almost unknown era of Welsh history. The discovery of a sword stud beneath shops in Monmouth, made public for the first time in today’s Western Mail, could be evidence of an Anglo-Saxon period settlement.

According to Stephen Clarke, chairman of the Monmouth Archaeological Society, the discovery is of “one of the most important early medieval sites in Wales”.

“The purpose of the timber building is unproven but considering the structure’s age, size, aceramic nature and the lack of domestic refuse it might be the remains of the lost church of St Cadoc, amongst the earliest of the Celtic saints active around the middle of the sixth century.

Full Story on Wales Online

Mapping local history

2009-05-08T20:58:00.001+01:00

Recently I helped out the Mary In Monmouthshire blog by taking all the early Christian sites in South-East Wales they had been featuring (up until January) and enter them all in a Google Map. I guess other local historians would be interested in these, so I’ve put them up for download:

Google Earth (kmz file) – download

Nokia Maps (lmx file) – download

Tom-tom poi map – download

Garmin poi map – download

iGO poi map – download

The Satnav ones are particularly handy if you’re planning on visiting any of these sites. Let me know if you find them useful, or if they don’t work at all (a possibility lol).

Tegernacus on Google Earth

2009-04-30T10:14:00.000+01:00

I found out that my model of the Tegernacus Stone is now officially in Google Earth. To see it, you have to switch on "3D Buildings". Brilliant, that motivates me to model some more local historical sites now!

(Slight problem though, the model that shows up in Google Earth is all jaggedy and the texture is all pixelated. No problem, you can still download my model from here. Maybe Google compressed it to save space or something... hmmm... bug report time.)

Community Archaeology

2009-04-30T09:51:00.003+01:00

The Gwent-Glamorgan Archaeological Trust has now set up a blog for Community Archaeology projects. One of the first ones spotlighted is a project in New Tredegar.

You can find/subscribe to the blog here:

GGAT HLF Community Archaeology Project

Help discover the history of Llancaiach Fawr

2009-04-16T19:59:00.001+01:00

Caerffili county borough council is appealing for local people to help piece together the history of one of the area’s most important tourist attractions.

Llancaiach Fawr Manor House in Nelson is holding a special Archaeological Finds Afternoon on Sunday 19th April 2009 and it is hoped the event will reveal more about the rich history of the site.

Llancaiach Fawr has received funding from the Rural Development Project Fund as part of the ‘Caerffilli Cwm y Mynedd’ programme to support rural areas in the county borough.

The grant of £150,000, spread over the next three years, will be used to fund investigations into increasing public access to areas of the Manor, the old stables and the mill by the river, as well as developing designs for more sympathetic lighting and heating systems for the interpretation of the Manor in its 17th century state.

Importantly, the grant will also be used to fund historical and archaeological research to discover more about the immediate area surrounding Llancaiach Fawr, in particular, the history of the site before the current Manor House was built c.1530.

To help build up a more complete picture, Diane Walker, the General Manager at Llancaiach Fawr, is appealing for local people who have done any metal detecting in and around the site to bring their finds to a specially arranged afternoon in the Education Centre at the Manor on Sunday 19th April, from 2-5pm.

“Although we can find out a huge amount about the past from the remains of buildings, the small, often insignificant looking objects, can tell us so much more about the people themselves, what work they did, what they wore and other fascinating details about their lives. I hope that anyone who has found any objects in the area whilst metal detecting or just out and about in the fields, will let us have a look at the finds so that we can identify and record them and plot them on a map to build up a fuller picture of the past in this area”.

Mark Lodwick, the Portable Antiquities Scheme Officer, from the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, and Mike Anthony from the Council for British Archaeology ( Wales) will be on hand to identify objects and record details of where they were found, so that the information can be plotted on to a map to reveal where people were living in the past.

The research team hope to be able to create settlement and activity maps for the area from prehistory, the Roman period, through the so called ‘Dark Ages’ or Early Medieval Period before the Normans came, the later Medieval era through to the Tudor and Stuart periods right through to the modern day.

For more information contact Diane Walker at Llancaiach Fawr Manor on 01443 414010 or email walked1@caerphilly.gov.uk

source

Talks At The Winding House

2009-04-12T13:02:00.002+01:00

There are some interesting local history talks coming up in the Winding House Museum, New Tredegar. Organised by the University of Cardiff's Centre for Lifelong Learning. Booking is essential for all events.

6th June 2009
Mediaeval Valleys – An Introduction To South Wales in the Middle Ages.
Talk given by Tony Hopkins

13th June 2009
Welsh Emigration To America 1800-1814
Talk by Gethin Matthews

20th June 2009
South Wales Miners During the Wars, 1914- 1945
Talk by Dr Ben Curtis.

There are also some local archaeology sessions coming in late July, more information when I get it.

For further information contact 01443 822 666 or email windinghouse@caerphilly.gov.uk. More events and exhibitions can be found on their website at www.windinghouse.co.uk.

Iron-Age offerings found

2009-03-19T17:03:00.002Z

Rare Iron Age artefacts buried as part of a religious offering have been unearthed by an amateur treasure hunter. Two bronze bowls and a bronze wine strainer, described by an expert as of “great importance for the UK,” were found by Craig Mills in his home city of Newport, South Wales.

The 35-year-old security guard came across the items in the Langstone area in December 2007, only nine months after he took up metal detecting.

It is believed the objects were used by ancestors for eating or drinking and were deliberately buried intact as a religious offering. The items are believed to have been made around AD 25-60 and were buried at the time of the Roman army’s campaign against the Iron Age Silures tribe of South Wales, between AD 47 and 75.

The two near-complete bowls have rounded bases, carefully formed rims and decorated fittings with rings for hanging them up and the strainer has a rounded bowl-shaped body with a wide, flat rim and a similar suspension ring. The decoration on all the vessels is of the late Celtic or La Tene style of the late Iron Age.

Adam Gwilt, curator of the Iron Age Collections at the National Museum of Wales, said: “This discovery is of great importance for Wales and the UK. Similar bowls have been found in western and southern Britain, but few find-spots have been carefully and recently investigated by archaeologists.

“It seems these valued and whole containers were carefully buried at the edge of an ancient bog or lake, as part of a ritual offering.

“We are looking forward to researching and investigating further during 2009, in order to reveal the full story of how these impressive decorated pieces were made, used and buried.”
Mr Mills said: “I didn’t realise how significant it was and I didn’t have a clue how old they were. I was detecting for nine months before that and I have found nothing like it.”
The items were declared treasure by Gwent coroner David Bowen under the Treasure Act of 1996.
It is hoped the bowls and wine strainer will be displayed at the National Museum of Wales in 2010 in the Origins: In Search of Early Wales gallery.

source

Compliments Of The Season

2008-12-24T09:49:00.000Z

Felix Dies Natalis Solis Invicti!

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

Virtual History

2008-12-12T22:07:00.001Z

Just to try it out, I made a simple model of the Tegernacus stone and geolocated it into Google Earth. Excuse the crudity and scale of the thing, but it will give you a general idea of how the stone looked in-situ. I have no idea if it'll get selected to enter the Google Earth 3D layer, but if you want you can load it into Google Earth yourself and have a look.

I must admit I'm hooked. Sketchup is weird software though (I'm used to Cinema4D). But look out for more South-Wales stones, house-platforms, wells, early churches etc soon

Ely Hillfort

2008-12-05T17:30:00.000Z

Hillfort - Lost World of Ely from First Light Movies on Vimeo.

Movie by the children of Trelai Primary School, Ely in Cardiff. I didn't even know there was a hillfort in Ely... brilliant.

Iron-age city revealed

2008-11-10T12:54:00.000Z

Gaer Fawr hillfort in Guilsfield, near Welshpool has been reconstructed by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales for BBCWales "Hidden Histories" series.

Hidden Histories is on BBC2wales at 7:30pm on tuesday nights. Well worth watching.

Rotherwas Ribbon

2008-08-19T16:42:00.002+01:00

The Prime Minister's office has responded to a petition to save the Rotherwas Ribbon in Hereford:

The interest generated by the discovery in 2007 of the Neolithic site known as the Rotherwas Ribbon in advance of work on the Rotherwas Relief Road is a vivid testament to the values people attach to their cultural heritage.

The Government recognises this and remains committed to the principle that there should be a presumption in favour of the physical preservation of nationally important archaeological remains (whether scheduled or not) that are affected by proposed development.

It agrees with English Heritage that the Rotherwas Ribbon is a significant find, worthy of being fully recorded for future research and of being protected in-situ. English Heritage is currently working with Herefordshire County Council, and with the contractor’s advisors, Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service, to ensure that a viable solution for the preservation of these fragile remains is being implemented.

Over coming months, it is hoped that post-excavation analysis, together with further investigations in the vicinity of the Rotherwas Ribbon, will help to broaden understanding of its significance.

The Government’s Planning Policy Guidance: Archaeology and Planning (PPG 16)

The petition and response can be viewed here

Kids digging the past

2008-08-06T16:33:00.003+01:00

Year 4 schoolchildren from Ysgol yr Eos in Penygraig and Penpych Community school in Blaenrhondda are working together on an in-depth study of the local Iron-Age ~~celts~~ Britons.

source

The project was proposed by Ken Brassil from the National Museum of Wales, and taken up by the headmasters of the schools. Activities include vists to Llanmaes, St Fagans, storytelling, music, talks with archeologists etc. They are also linking up with a school from Anglesey who are doing a similar project.

The project will continue during the forthcoming 2008-2009 school year, so if anyone has any skills or knowledge that they can offer the children (for example, Iron Age crafts, early music, local historical knowledge etc) then they are invited to contact either school via the headmasters.

I think this is a fantastic project, and one more schools in Wales should be participating in (infact, it should be part of the Welsh curriculum). Local history is far more relevant and interesting than any Englishman with six wives :) If you can engage the children’s imagination with what lies under their feet, their shared history and heritage, then those children will be far better placed to appreciate it and protect it in the future.

Capel Gwladys HDR

2008-08-06T11:23:00.001+01:00

An experiment in HDR photography. Canon EOS 20D, Goldfinger Lens, Lightroom and Photoshop. If you want, you can download a 1280x1024 wallpaper sized version from here. (Please don't put steal it or put it on wallpaper sites though. Link to this post if you want)

National Archaeology Weekend

2008-07-01T09:45:00.001+01:00

Become an Archaeologist for the weekend and take part in investigatory excavations.

Could the ditch in the field adjacent to the Manor be Roman practice works where soldiers from the fort at nearby Gelligaer were taken out to be taught how to dig defensive ditches and build palisade fences to protect their encampments at night when travelling away from the solid protection of the Fort? Or perhaps it is a ditch surrounding a building that predates the existing Manor House that was built in 1530?

Hopefully the answers will be revealed by a dig led by Mike Anthony from the Council for British Archaeology ( Wales).

You will also have the opportunity to process and record any finds and even make prehistoric Bronze Age and Roman pots.

The Glamorgan and Gwent Archaeological Unit and the Young Archaeologists Club will be here to answer any questions about archaeology in the area so come along and join the fun.

Llancaiach Fawr - 19th/20th July

Upcoming Events

2008-04-15T20:00:00.002+01:00

The Silures, Dr Ray Howells
Gelligaer Historical Society

30^th April 2008, starts at 7.30pm

Llancaiach Fawr, Nelson, (for details of this event, please contact Terry McCarthy on 01443 833318)

Gelligaer Historical Society meeting to consider range of historical topics.

May Day Revels

5^th May 2008, starts at 10am

Llancaiach Fawr, Nelson, 01443 412248

Dancing, games and activities for children around the maypole. Group offer £17.00 (2 adults & 2 children)

Summer Solstice Walk

21^st June 2008, starts at 7pm

Cwmcarn Forest Drive, Cwmcarn, 01495 272001

An exhilarating walk to Twmbarlwm to enjoy the mystical sunset of the longest day. Strenuous.

Fantastical Forest Adventure

26^th July 2008, starts at 11am

Cwmcarn Forest Drive, Cwmcarn, 01495 272001

A truly unique experience exploring the myths and legends of Nantcarn Valley with puppets and live performances. This is a joint event between CCBC and Forestry Commission Wales.

Early Gwent

2008-04-04T08:51:00.004+01:00

I would like to draw your attention to a blog/podcast I've been following, called Mary In Monmouthshire.

Evelyn is coming at this period from the opposite end of the spectrum to me: I'm interested in it because the pagan period was on the wane at this point; she is interested in it because the 6thC saw the first of the major Christians. Are the two connected? Absolutely.

She does a good thorough job of it, examining the early saints like Gwynllyw and Gwladus, mainly from the Vitas. So if early Welsh history interests you, pop over there for the religious angle.

One thing I would like to comment on, was something Evelyn said in her latest podcast:

Early saints were often characterised by high birth and by monarchy.

True, and I would like offer an opinion on why.

After the Romans conquered Britain, the people of Britain were given status as Roman citizens. This was especially true of the regional and tribal rulers, who would keep their powers if they towed the Roman line. So they generally bought into the Roman lifestyle, both socially and literally. They would have eaten imported Roman food from Roman plates, spoke and wrote Latin, allowed their tribal gods to be Romanised, and worshipped in the Romano-British temples.

By 410, when Roman administration was pulled back to Rome, these high-born people would have thought of themselves as Roman. "Sure, I'm from Brittania and king of Northern Gwent, but I'm a Roman." They didn't stop being Roman because Rome pulled out.

In this period, it is more useful to think of Rome in terms of modern party politics. If you're a Conservative, and Labour come into power, do you stop being a Conservative?

I'll take that simile one stage further. Think of the ruling families as conservative, the common people as labour. The conservative rulers have bought into the party, agree with the politics. When a new party manifesto arrives from Rome, saying Rome is Christian now, they become Christian too. It's the thing to do. In fact, they would have been eager to learn about this new religion, to study it, as good Roman citizens. They wouldn't have been "true believers" until a few generations later. By the sixth century, these ruling families would have been Christian by birth. This is the reason that a lot of the early saints are of "high birth".

For the rest of the Britons, the low-birth farmers, the "labour", who didn't particularly like the Romans anyway, this new religion would have had nothing to do with them. They were happy to light their hill-fires and worship at the local spring. Of course, the Christian rulers wanted their people to be Christian too, so you get the sacred springs turned into "holy wells", churches built on gathering sites. But, party politics again, if Conservative get into power, do you stop being Labour?

Also, when you read about the early saints, don't think of them in terms of mediaeval/modern saints, canonised by the Pope. In that respect, a lot of them were far from saintly. No, in early Christianity, EVERYONE was a saint. The term comes from the Latin "Sanctus", meaning holy. Saints like Cattwg, Gwynlliw are remembered because they built churches. It is only much later that saint came to mean a special person, a miracle worker.

The Vita of the saints, written long after their death, are part history, part inspirational (in a Christian sense) story, and part party-political. Don't take them as blind fact, or any other literature from the early period, as all the histories and genealogies are factually dodgy, but they are often all we have. The trick is to look though any bias the writer may have had, to find the facts.

Hope that makes some kind of sense, it is quite early in the morning to be covering this.

Celts? Who are they then?

2008-04-01T11:01:00.001+01:00

This post is going to be a bit of a personal rant/diatribe rather than historical exploration, and may not make much sense, so please bear with me...

Cwmcarn Forest Drive has opened its £2 Million modern visitor centre. Which is wonderful, any attempt to get people from their big flatscreen TVs and out into our spectacular countryside is something well worth the cash.

On Sunday 13th April they are hosting a "Coal, Celts and Contrast Walk" - which is "an exhilarating 6.5 mile walk through beech and forestry woods taking in some of the best views in the area".

There. They said it. The "C" word.

I wish that people, especially people who are attempting to educate (schools, councils etc) would drop that dreadful term "Celtic" once and for all. I realise that it is engrained in the modern psyche, through media and advertising and popular culture. But it is meaningless, and more than a little misleading.

I won't go much into the history and usage of the term "Celts" and "Celtic", you can do a Google search and find more information that you'll ever need on the subject. Basically, it is a catch-all term to describe a style of art, or a group of languages, spread over north-western Europe in Roman times, commonly used by archaeologists and historians.

It's use in popular culture comes from the 18th century, with the beginnings in politics and literature of a notion of nationalism in countries like Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The antiquarians and linguists at the time were exploring a common thread in the "Celtic" languages and cultures, and this was latched onto in the popular imagination, in a kind of "us and them" stance against the (English) Government. These languages and cultures came to be known as "The Celtic Fringe".

But to group all these countries together is to do them a dis-service. When Cwmcarn are offering me "Celts", what is that exactly? Are we going to see Irish castles? Scottish brochs? Gaulish cairns? Cornish fogus? Erm... no, I think they mean Welsh... erm... I'm confused.....

OK, let's clear up this confusion. In the period they are referring to, the "Celtic" period, you had the Gauls, in what is now modern-day France. You had the Britons, who covered modern-day Britain. And you had the Gaels, who covered modern-day Ireland. And that's it. Of course, each of these groups were split into tribes as well. The point is, that these people would never have thought of themselves as "Celtic", infact they probably had more differences than they had things in common.

So when Cwmcarn are offering me "Celts", what they should be saying is "Coal, BRITONS, and contrast". Yup, and I'll say it again... BRITONS. From the Island of BRITAIN.

The Britons spoke Brythonic. In later years, when the Saxons had pushed them westward into Wales and Cumbria, it morphed into Welsh. (And into Cornish, and was taken into Brittany by the BRITONS who moved there).So the Welsh ARE the original Britons, in the actual sense of the word.

In a modern day political and cultural context, it is more useful to talk in terms of Cymru, Kernow, Scotland, and England. Britain and Briton is usually used when someone dies overseas "three Britons killed..."

But in an historical and educational context, please don't mislead. The people of the modern country of Wales were Britons (and called themselves such, Brythoniaid) up until about the 10-12th century, when the term Cymry overtook Briton. So, Cwmcarn: If you're showing me iron-age, Romano-British, or Early Wales, call them Britons. If you're showing me post-Norman, you can call them Welsh. But PLEASE don't call them Celts.

LINKS:

Wales @ Wikipedia
Another "Celtic" Rant
Welsh are the true Britons

Book Recommendation

2008-03-23T09:57:00.003Z

Dr Ray Howell - Searching For The Silures

(£12.59 from Amazon)

Dr. Ray Howell is the Reader in History and Medieval Archaeology at the University of Wales, Newport. He specialises in Roman and post-Roman history, medieval history and medieval archaeology. Dr Howell is the Director of the continuing archaeological investigation of the decayed medieval urban site at Trelech, the co-editor of volumes one and two of the new five-volume 'History of Gwent', and author of many other publications, including 'A History of Gwent' (Gomer 1992) and 'Celtic Wales' (UWP, 2000).

University Of Wales, Newport

Dowlais Reclamation - Ffos-y-fran

2008-03-22T20:31:00.006Z

There has been a lot of local press lately about the landscaping scheme currently underway in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil. (Most of it coming from local opposition, it must be said). The media did make a big play on the discovery of Margaret Rees' house, 50 years after she moved out of it.

However, there hasn't been much publicity about the Iron-age settlement that has been discovered. Thankfully, Miller Argent, the company doing the landscaping, found it before they started, and so have fenced it off from the bulldozers for future archaeological investigation.

The reason I'm posting this, is that I've seen suggestion that Carn y Bugail and its landscape will be a victim of this. According to the plan submitted by the contractor, Miller Argent, this is not the case.

click for larger view

In the above map (thanks Google), you can see the area of the reclamation shaded in yellow. Carn Bugail is quite safe... well, from contractors. Whether it's safe from joyriders and their ilk is a different matter...

Carn Bugail is a very special site, spiritually and historically speaking, so I will be making a separate post about this soon.

Links:
Miller Argent Strategy Diagram (PDF)

Volunteers Needed - New Tredegar Museum

2008-03-22T09:53:00.001Z

From the South Wales Echo:

VOLUNTEERS are needed to help make the new Winding House Museum in New Tredegar a success. This summer will see the opening of the Winding House following a makeover. But before it throws its doors open, friends and volunteers are needed to help out at the site.

Anyone interested should go along for free tea, coffee and cakes at an open evening on Wednesday, April 23, at 6.30pm at the White Rose Resource Centre.

Elliots Town colliery in New Tredegar was started in 1883 and closed down in 1967. The Winding house, with its engine, is the only thing to survive from the pit. Caerphilly Council, with the help of Objective 1 funding, the Assembly and the Welsh tourist board, have given the site a £2.5 million facelift, creating a modern visitor center and library next to the building. This includes a fully-equipped resource library, activity room and cafe bar.

CCBC Councillor Tudor Davies said:

"It is important that we preserve our history and heritage, especially in traditional mining communities such as New Tredegar - which is currently enjoying a major facelift thanks to this and a number of other ambitious regeneration projects taking place in the village at the moment."

The museum will cover all aspects of local life, from the prehistoric onwards, but (obviously) with particular emphasis on the mining community that so changed the landscape.

Community projects like this are very important, so if you have an interest in mining or valleys history, and can spare the time,

For more information, call 01443 822666 or e-mail: sidgwv@caerphilly.gov.uk.

CCBC Project Page
Elliots Collery Museum @ BBC
Collierys' Facelift

Roman Risca

2008-03-21T19:45:00.002Z

From "The Gentleman's Magazine" by Sylvanus Urban, vol 38, 1852.

"Notice of the discoveries in excavating for the foundations of the new church at Risca: by the Rev. Daniel Jones, M.A. Vicar of Caerleon. The old chancel had been built within the remains of a Roman building of circular form, the floor, bricks and roof-tiles having the stamp of the Second Augustan legion so long stationed at Caerleon.

It was also found that the old church had been erected with the materials of the Roman building, stones already dressed, tiles, and limps of the Roman floor forming walls promiscuously. In the tower, at its juncture with the west gable wall, were discovered at three feet from the door two cists, made in the original work, one on the north side containing numerous bones, the other to the south containing two entire skeletons, a male and a female, with about thirty beads of coal. The inferences drawn were that the Roman building had been used by the Romans and Britons when they became Christians, as a place of worship, whatever had been its original use; that sepultures had been made within it; that the old church had been built with Roman materials after the reconciliation of the Welsh Church with Canterbury; and that the skeletons disturbed in building the chancel had been placed in the tower entrance as the place of humility, because the Welsh had been heretics in the estimation of the Romish church.

Risca church is situated on the banks of the river Ebwyth; parallel to it is another river, the Rumney, in the next valley, and between them is a mountain, whence the Romans and earlier nations dug lead ore. A bridge over the Ebwyth is called Pontymeistr (Pons-magistri) on the road from Caerleon to Ruddry, where the Roman iron works may now been seen, thence to Caerphilly. In the Rumney valley is Fwrwm-meistr (Forum-magistri), and the name of the parish if Machen (Machina). A road may be traced from the diggings, which are very curious in extent and depth, down to Machen church, where evidently the ore was weighed. Risca is the river Isca with the British prefix Yr, the present name Ebwyth being a corruption of some latin participle which served to distinguish this lesser Usk from the greater river of that name at their principle station."

source

More Pondering On Tegernacus

2008-03-21T18:02:00.003Z

Doing some research, the form Tigernacus turns up quite a lot. There is a stone in Carmarthen that bears that name, and there is Tigernach, Bishop of Clogher in Ireland, godson of St. Bridgit in around 506. Latin inscription reads "Venerabilis Praesul Tigernacus regali ex progencic natus, nepos Echachi regis"

After a consultation with Celtic Scholar, Mark, I found this out:

Tigernos was the word in British for a lord, related to *tegon/tigon, 'house', exactly in the way that Latin Dominus, 'lord' comes from 'domus' 'house'. ('One who rules over a household')

With the divine suffix -onos you get Tigernonos, 'Divine Lord' which is the form that lies behind Teyrnon in the Mabinogi.

Tegernacus (the vacillating e/i is normal for the period) is the 'lord' word plus an adjectival suffix -akos, lightly Latinised here. This suffix is wildly common and gives all those Welsh names in Middle Welsh -awc, Modern Welsh -og, Breton -oc.

So his name, in Brythonic, would have been TIGERNAKOS.

Tigernakos ---> Irish Tigernach, Middle Welsh Teyrnawc, Modern Welsh Teyrnog. (Irish aspirated a -k- between vowels to -ch, then lost final syllables. Welsh lost -g- between vowels, though it lingers as a ghost-letter -y- here. Final -akos underwent vowel-diphthongisation and loss of the final syllable, > -awc. The -c- was shifted to -g, and then in middle welsh the diphthong -aw- was reduced to a single vowel again, but not the original one, > -og. Thus you get two very different looking names from the same original word in a little under 200 years.)

Still with me? lol

Interestingly, there is Tredegar (that is, the actual Tredegar, that is, the old estate near Newport where Tredegar house is now.). Anyhow, Tredegar comes from the Welsh TREF (farm or estate) and TEGYR (lenited to Degyr and changing to Degar in the Gwent dialect). Tredegar means "Farm of Tegyr". Tegyr comes from the same word Tigernos.

Llyn Fawr

2008-03-16T21:14:00.004Z

Llyn Fawr in the 1880s

Llyn Fawr is a lake at Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley. In 1911/1912, the lake was drained in order to construct a reservoir. Workers digging in the peat came across a hoard of iron and bronze objects, dated to approx 600 B.C. Objects included two massive bronze cauldrons, bronze axes and sickles, bronze horse harness gear, a triangular shaving razor, and part of a finely decorated iron sword with bone handle. The Cauldrons are now at the National Museum in Cardiff.

This metalwork was thrown into the old lake 2500 years ago, as an offering to the goddess of the lake. This was a common British practice (see Flag Fen) and part of the pagan system of belief.

The ceremonies at Llyn Fawr were probably huge events, attended by people from all over the area, probably arranged by local druids.

The lake site is now a reservoir.

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Directions:
Leave the A465 Heads of the Valleys road at Hirwaun and take the A4061. After passing the Tower Colliery on your right, the next road on your right is a Forestry track to the site for pedestrians only. There is no car park. The site is about half a mile along the Forestry track.

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Tegernacus

2008-03-16T15:56:00.009Z

On an inscribed stone at Capel Brithdir, Glamorganshire

(from Archaeologia Cambrensis - Vol III 1862)

I had often heard of a remarkable inscribed stone at Capel Brithdir, near Gelligaer, and had seen very grotesque sketches and interpretations of the stone and its inscription, when, in May last, I resolved to visit the place, and see whether it might not form an appropriate subject for a paper to be read at this meeting.

This stone, mentioned by the Rev. John Griffith at the Bangor meeting, stands in a very desolate spot in a district difficult of access, and does not seem to have attracted the attention of any competent antiquary. I made my way thither from the Hengoed Junction, taking the Rhymney railway as far as Tirphil station; then ascending the Cefn Brithdir ridge, I came to Capel Brithdir, a small chapel frequented apparently by but few persons besides the clergyman and his clerk; and having a rotten wooden belfry, but no bell, the bell having been stolen, it is said, in 1858. The sole evidences of vitality about the place were two venerable yew trees, quite decayed in the trunks, and with only a few green sprigs at the top. To the north of the chapel, in a field on the west side of a mountain road, stands the stone in question. It is a rough sandstone slab, six feet eight inches high, and three feet three inches across, and about three inches in thickness; but there is no appearance of a mound, nor any indication of a grave.

I failed to take a rubbing of the inscription, owing to the roughness of the stone, which appears to have been taken in its natural state, without any attempt having been made to prepare it to receive an inscription. A photograph has since been taken, of which a copy is here subjoined: the letters are very rude, and read thus.

TEGERNA

CUS FILI

US MARII

HIC IACIT

The first letter of the second line is wanting, as also the last one of the third line; but the one was evidently C, as I learn from a sketch taken in 1917, and the other may have been an I (1). The A in Tegernacus and Marii is peculiar in form, and seems at first sight to have been a V; but on comparing the inscription with the Tegernacus inscription at Cwmdu, I conclude that it must have been intended for an A - possibly the long Roman A or au, as the modern o in such names as Teyrnog was formerly represented by an au, as in Madauc, Catguallaun, etc. In English, the inscription would read thus,

"Teyrnoc, the son for Mar or Marius, here lies"

This name, Mar, may at first slight appear to have been unusual; but the lines

"And thou Dalhousie, like the god of war,
Lieutenant-general to the Earl of Mar,"

sometimes cited to illustrate the "art of sinking " in poetry, will call to mind a noble Scottish family of that name. A similar name, that of Mor, occurs repeatedly in the lists of the British saints,as

Mor, son of Ceneu or Keneu
Mor, son of Pasgen
Mor, a contemporary of Cerenhir, bishop of Llandaff a.d. 877
Mor, a contemporary of Bishop Libiau a.d. 927

The first was the saint of Llanvor in Carnarvonshire, and of Llanvor in Merionethshire, if we may not assume that one of the two was named from the second, who is said to have been buried at Bardsey. The third and fourth names possibly represent but one person. This name may have been originally Mar, and that a British form of Marius; for Cymric names of Roman origin are by no means unfrequent, as Tegid, anciently Tacit, from Tacitus, Taliesin from Telesinus etc.

This name, Mar, seems to be traceable in the district of Siluria in the names of several churches as :

Mar-stow in Herefordshire
Mar-cross in Glamorganshire
Mar-gam, anciently Mar-gan

The first, it is true, is said to have been named from St Martin but the abridgment of Martin into Mar in improbable. The second is said to have been founded by St. Samson, to be dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and to have been named from St. Mark; but this derivation is probably conjectural, and the variation seems to indicate uncertainty as to the true origin of the name.

Several explanations of the name Mar-gam have also been given - such as that which refers its origin to the Welsh form of the name of the Virgin Mary, ie Mair; but it may more probably be derived from the masculine name, Mar. A person of this name is connected with this district, namely Mar the son of Gwynlliw, and brother of the famous Cadoc or St. Cattwg; and Margam, in the Vita Santus Cadoci, pp22,301, is expressly said to have been named from him. The word in the original (Cambro-British Saints, p22) is Mar-Gan, literally "Mar's Chant"; hence Margam would denote Mar's Choir. This is also the form given to the name in Annales de Margan; and the explanation here suggested may at least lay claim to considerable antiquity.

The Vita Cadoci professes to have been written by one Lifris (CB- Saints, pp80,376). He was probably the same person as Lifric, the Archdeacon of Glamorgan and Master of St.Cadoc at Llancarvan, and the son of Herwald, Bishop Of Llandaff, who held the see from 1056 to 1104; and as Lifric's name appears as a witness in a grant made in 1069, the derivation of Margan here may claim to have been that which was accepted among the ecclesiastics of Glamorgan in the eleventh century (2).

Several persons named Teyrnog figure in the lists of the Cambrian saints, as:

Teyrnog ab Corun ab Ceredig
Teyrnog ab Hawystul, or Arwystli Gloff.

But this Teyrnog was probably a native of Gwent, or Venta Silurum, and was evidently the person whose name appears in an inscription at Cwmdu near Crickhowell -

"Catacus filius Tegernacus hic jacit."

This was probably the person who gave his name to the locality in which Tintern Abbey now stands. Tin-teyrn in its British form would be Din-teyrn; and the latter word is an abbreviation of Teyrnon. The name in this form occurs in the Welsh Chronicles:

"A.D 1179, this year a convent was completed at Nant Teyrnon."

In the latter form the name is that of a lord of Gwent-is-coed; and the Mabinogion preserve the remembrance of the chieftain "in his habit as he lived." The British heroes were accustomed to wear tufts of feathers in their caps, helmets, or head-dresses; thus Lywarch Hen represents himself to have been adorned with yellow plumes:

"After having had sleek steeds, ruddy garments,
And yellow plumes,
My leg is slender, my piercing glance is gone."

And thus Teyrnon, who was probably the Murat of his day, is described as Teyrnon of the tufted plumes, Teyrnon-twryf-vliant. This personage was the contemporary of Pwyll Pendefig Dyved; and if we may assume the names Teyrnon and Teyrnoc to have been identical, the latter lived at the commencement of the seventh century. This corresponds pretty nearly with the age which I should attribute to the Brithdir inscription.

Assuming these views to be correct, this stone may be connected with the topography of the district in which it is found. A neighbouring mountain, that of Gelligaer, is called Forest Gwladus; and an old ruin thereon is called Capel Gwladus. This lady was the daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog, the mother of St.Cadoc, and possibly either the mother or stepmother of Mar. From this date we may construct a short pedigree:

At all events the Tegernacus of this inscription may fairly be identified with the Tegernacus of the stone at Cwmdu.

(1) A sketch sent me by H.L.J, since this was written, reads T in this place, making his name Marti; but there is no such British name as Marti and I have not literary audacity enough to suggest that "Cadoc the wise" and his preceptors could not have known the genitive form of Mars.

(2) Lib. Landav., p 542-5.

Bloggers note: the above genealogy may be wrong. Lifris lists Mar as the BROTHER of Gwynllyw, not his son or step-son. Thus, I offer the revised list:

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The Tegernacus stone at Cwmdu

The Cwmdu stone is now built into the southside of the church. The Latin inscription reads:

CATACVS HIC IACIT FILIVS TEGERNACVS
Catacus lies here, son (of) Tegernacus

The Catacus mentioned on this stone is NOT the well known St.Cadoc, St.Cadoc, who founded many churches in Wales and Brittany, was the son of Gwynlliw. That makes Catacus, son of Tegernacus, his nephew.

The stone used to stand in a field called Tir Gwenlli, a mile southwest of the church in the valley once known as Cwm Cattwg. It is possible that a memorial stone to Cadoc, son of Gwynlliw, used to stand on the threshold of Llandefaelog Fach church in Powys. But unfortunately it has been destroyed or lost, although it was apparently inscribed CATVC.

Further links:

Tegernacus Stone @ New Tredegar.com
Discussion @ University College London
Llanfihangel Church @ The Megalithic Portal
Vita Sancta Cadoci

Pobol y Cerrig

Ancient Cwmbran

Community Archaeology

Lost Dark-age settlement

Mapping local history

Tegernacus on Google Earth

Community Archaeology

Help discover the history of Llancaiach Fawr

Talks At The Winding House

Iron-Age offerings found

Compliments Of The Season

Virtual History

Ely Hillfort

Iron-age city revealed

Rotherwas Ribbon

Kids digging the past

Capel Gwladys HDR

National Archaeology Weekend

Upcoming Events

The Silures, Dr Ray Howells Gelligaer Historical Society

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Llyn Fawr

Tegernacus

(1) A sketch sent me by H.L.J, since this was written, reads T in this place, making his name Marti; but there is no such British name as Marti and I have not literary audacity enough to suggest that "Cadoc the wise" and his preceptors could not have known the genitive form of Mars.

(2) Lib. Landav., p 542-5.

The Silures, Dr Ray Howells
Gelligaer Historical Society