Newsletter 76

Hidden Treasures of North Wales

Plas Tan y Bwlch is the Study Centre for the Snowdonia National Park and is run by the Peter Crew of the Nation Park Authority. It occupies a spectacular position overlooking the Dwyryd valley, near the town of Maentwrog. After a long 3-hour journey, Peter and his wife made us very welcome with coffee and biscuits and a tour round their facilities at the Centre. Peter and his team have been experimenting with bloomery furnaces to smelt iron in the traditional way. Up until the advent of the blast furnace in the later Medieval period, this was the only way iron could be produced, but little is know of the process.

After a pleasant lunch on the terrace we made our way to Tomen Y Mur, the Roman Fort near the Trewsfinydd Power Station. This walled auxiliary fort had been reduced in size during its life. An area just outside its southern boundary is thought to have been occupied in the Dark ages and in the Norman period a motte was constructed on top of the reduced fort's northern gate. It is intriguing to think that this gateway may still survive intact under this mound. Peter expertly guided us round the many other features here such as the bathhouse remains, the bridge abutment, cemetery, amphitheatre and the multitude of man-made water courses (leats), some Roman, some Medieval and even later. It is highly likely that a Roman leat provided fresh water for the fort, using a wooden aqueduct to span the fields near the parade ground to reach the fort on the other side.

Peter then took us to the Medieval Iron Smelting site at LLwyn Du lying about 5 miles south of the fort deep in the midst of the Forestry Commission plantations. Peter has been excavating this site for over ten years and has discovered a number of bloomery furnaces dating to the 14th century. From the huge waste deposits of slag and unusable charcoal he has been able to extract very accurate dates from the many well-preserved wooden artefacts, using the latest dating techniques. As he has accurate historical references for this site already, he has been able to use the data to validate these cutting edge methods of dating.

Our final site of the day was the corn-drying kiln at Tyddyn Du, which Peter and his team have lovingly restored. Threatened with demolition when nearby road improvements were being planned, this rare example of an intact kiln with its hearth and perforated tile floor was eventually rescued by Peter in 2002. Peter hopes eventually to open it up for full public access and may even be able to fire it to see how effective it really was.

The original reason for making this trip was to bring our collection of kiln tiles, recovered from the Standish Hall Corn Mill excavations in 1996, to Peter who will keep them for a while to study and catalogue them in detail. His opinion is that this batch of early hand-made examples are probably the most important single collection in the country and represent continuous operations on the site over many years. When he has finished, it is likely we will plan another trip in the future to retrieve them.

GCSE in Archaeology

This year the Wigan Community Sixth Form College is offering this course on Thursday evening as well the usual Wednesday afternoon. The evening class is in the Parson's Walk Building, Wigan and the daytime session is at the Marshall Street Building, Leigh. If you are interested contact either Steve Hewitt on 01942 761639 or Richard Watson on 01942 762528.

Next Meeting

Wednesday 1st September at the Baden Powel Centre (Scout HQ) in Greenough Street, starting at 7.30 pm as usual. Another change of plan this month, David Wooliscroft who was to be our speaker is unavailable, however Dr Mary Higham from Lancaster has agreed at short notice to gives us a talk on Medieval Roads in the North West. Mary has given us talks in the past and I'm sure this will be just as enjoyable.

Hope to see you there - B.A.