Heritage in Wales

Cadw— For us all, to keep.

2021

Heritage in Wales Roofing the world: World Heritage status for the Slate Landscape of North-West Wales

Protecting history in a crisis: How Cadw can combat climate change

Paul Robeson: Singer, actor, activist and friend of Wales

Roman Caerwent: The city under a village

Make a date with 2022 Start planning for 2022 with the new Cadw calendar, featuring 12 of our most‑loved sites at their very best, including Welsh-built Dolbadarn Castle on the front cover — your runaway favourite in our cover competition public vote.

Castell Conwy Conwy Castle

Tachwedd November Dydd Llun Monday

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Dydd Mawrth Tuesday

Dydd Mercher Wednesday

Dydd Iau Thursday

Dydd Gwener Friday

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Mae Castell Conwy'r un mor drawiadol heddiw ag yr oedd dros 700 mlynedd yn ôl. Yn edrych dros afon Conwy, safai’n symbol o bŵer gyda'i waliau gwyn cannaid, baneri herodrol, caeadau wedi'u paentio, a tharianau’n hongian o'r murfylchau. Roedd wir yn gaer oedd yn addas i frenin, sy’n cynnwys y set fwyaf cyflawn o randai brenhinol a gadawyd gan y frenhiniaeth ganoloesol yng Nghymru neu Loegr.

Lleuad Newydd

42374_Cadw Calendar 2022 (WALES)_FINAL.indd 23

3 CertifiedPDF®for digital print

Welsh Government ISO-15930 PDF/X-1a:2001

New Moon

Chwarter Cyntaf

No proofs required

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First Quarter

Dydd Sadwrn Saturday

Dydd Sul Sunday

Conwy Castle is as impressive today as it was more than 700 years ago. Overlooking the river Conwy, it stood as a symbol of power with its gleaming white walls, heraldic banners, painted shutters and shields hanging from the battlements. This was truly a fortress fit for a king and includes the most complete set of royal apartments left by the medieval monarchy in England or Wales.

Lleuad Lawn

Full Moon

Chwarter Olaf

Last Quarter

04/05/2021 16:38:10

Other sites making an appearance include an overhead view of the uniquely diamond-shaped Rhuddlan Castle, the hauntingly grand interior of Tintern Abbey, prehistoric Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber, the magnificent fortress-palace of Raglan Castle, the Elizabethan great chamber in Plas Mawr town house and, of course, the stunning Edwardian castles of Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech.

You can also seek solace in our religious sites, including the lovely Lamphey Bishop’s Palace and the awe-inspiring Llanthony Priory. An interior shot of the beautifully painted ceiling of Castell Coch’s drawing room crowns the collection for Christmas.

The Cadw calendar includes plenty of space for making note of important dates, events and special occasions. It’s a must-have for any history lover, but would also make an ideal gift. What’s more, by purchasing the calendar, you will be helping to conserve 130 of our historic sites across Wales.

The calendar is available to buy in Cadw shops or online at bit.ly/ Cadwcalendar2022 It is priced at £9.95 (£8.95 for members) with postage (to UK addresses only) starting at £2.95. A 10% members’ discount applies in shops and online.

Croeso i Heritage in Wales Gwilym Hughes, Head of Cadw.

As I have been travelling around our sites in recent months, it has been so encouraging to see visitors return in their droves to enjoy the rich heritage that we have on offer here in Wales.

Indeed, many of our Cadw site custodians have witnessed new audiences walk through our gates this summer. Perhaps they have previously been enjoying the sun and sand of far-away beaches. I do hope, however, that they are new converts to the history on their doorstep and return to our outstanding sites in the very near future.

In this edition of Heritage in Wales, we celebrate the fantastic news about the inscription of the Slate Landscape of North-West Wales as the fourth World Heritage Site in Wales. It is perhaps fitting that three of those four World Heritage Sites celebrate Wales’ industrial heritage, given the much quoted fact that, according to the 1851 census, Wales was the first country in the world to have more people working in industry than in agriculture.

As a contribution to Black History Month, we celebrate the remarkable association and friendship that grew between the iconic American singer Paul Robeson and the mining communities of south Wales. Although

Black History Month is an annual celebration, we should, of course, be celebrating the contribution that is made from all parts of our rich and diverse society, 365 days a year. This is the aim of the recently launched Black History Cymru 365 initiative, which is to encourage everyone, irrespective of ethnicity or colour, to take part in events, learn about our shared global history and celebrate diversity and cultural understanding all year around.

Several features in this edition throw a spotlight on the Roman heritage of Wales, in particular on the Cadw sites at Caerwent in Monmouthshire and Segontium Roman Fort, Gwynedd.

Our knowledge of this period of Welsh history is growing all the time, with more evidence emerging on both the military conquest and the subsequent civilian settlements. I have a personal affinity with the Roman story, having been involved, at various times in my career, in excavations at the Roman forts at Cardiff, Loughor and Llandelio, the Roman towns at Carmarthen and Cowbridge, and a number of contemporary Roman-British settlements.

Finally, in this issue, we also consider how Cadw can contribute to the greatest challenge facing the planet today — climate change. We are endeavouring to introduce energy saving measures at all of our visitor centres but appreciate that we all need to do far more if we are to achieve the ambitious targets for net-zero carbon within a matter of years. We have now appointed a ‘sustainability champion’ in Cadw whose task will be to provide constant challenge as we go about our working lives.

But we also recognise our role in providing leadership and example for the wider Welsh heritage sector.

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Welcome

Roman Caerwent

History Hunters

Gwilym Hughes, Head of Cadw, welcomes you to the winter edition of Heritage in Wales.

Dr Peter Guest explores the history and inhabitants of Venta Silurum — the ‘Market of the Silures’ — a 2,000-year-old Roman city that survives below modern-day Caerwent and was, at the time, the largest civilian centre in Wales.

Join Wil and Cate as they learn about all things Roman: food, fights, mosaics and money.

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Roofing the world As the historic Slate Landscape of North-West Wales joins the World Heritage club, Dr Kate Roberts, Cadw’s Head of Historic Environment, explains the history and significance of this remarkable environment.

4 News

What have we been up to?

Catch up with the latest news, from members’ tours of the ongoing works at Coity Castle to a new scale model at Chepstow Castle and a head’s up about future disruption at Caerphilly as our major works continue apace.

Searching for Paul Robeson’s Wales

7 Conservation action An update on works in progress at Caernarfon and Coity castles and Tretower Court and Castle.

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Singer, actor, activist: Paul Robeson never lived in Wales, but nonetheless forged a friendship with the Welsh working class that drew him back again and again. Listed Building Officer Dr Chris StiefvaterThomas explores some of the events that led to Robeson becoming a celebrity friend of Wales.

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Protecting history in a crisis

Members’ book offer

Climate change is becoming a central part of our lives and one of the greatest threats to our historic environment. Dylan Iorwerth talks to Cadw and partners to find out more about our work to adapt to the impact of climate change and tackle the causes by making our historic buildings more energy efficient.

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A spotlight on Segontium Roman Fort

Nine listed buildings that helped Britain’s wartime efforts in Wales

Nestling on the outskirts of Caernarfon lie the remains of a Roman fortress that went on to inspire a Welsh legend.

As the year comes to a close, we remember those who served and sacrificed. This year, we examine the roles of nine Welsh buildings that were transformed to play important — and sometimes unexpected — roles in war.

33 Six sites in south Wales: footsteps of a travel writer Norm Longley, author of The Rough Guides, brings his own 'rough guide' to six Cadw sites in south Wales that he visited this summer.

To celebrate the recent inscription of the Slate Landscape of NorthWest Wales on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales is offering Cadw members the opportunity to purchase Welsh Slate

by David Gwyn at a reduced price.

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How to visit Cadw sites without a car

Members’ area

Looking for an alternative form of transport to visit our sites?

Here’s our guide to visiting Cadw sites when you’re not driving.

Solve the Cadw crossword for a chance to win some luxury products from Tweedmill Textiles, plus find out the latest news and views from social media.

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News Conservation tours at Coity Castle

In August this year, we offered Cadw members a chance to enjoy exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to Coity Castle, Bridgend, to learn more about the detail and progress of the major conservation works there.

The restoration of Coity Castle, a heritage site that has been re-built and adapted throughout history — including after Owain Glyndŵr laid siege to the fortress in the fifteenth century — has sparked both local and national interest.

After 18 months of successful works at the site, we were delighted to host a series of ticketed, guided tours to showcase the project and provide opportunities for Cadw members to experience the conservation process first-hand.

With the utmost attention to safety, those in attendance were able to get up close and personal with the rebuilding of the masonry

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work, consolidation of wall tops and insertion of missing lintels — using only traditional building materials and techniques.

Led by our Senior Conservation Manager, Stephen Jones, each two-hour-long tour not only allowed attendees to step directly onto the castle’s scaffolding, but it provided them with a chance to have in-depth discussions with the project’s conservation masons, as well as an early insight into upcoming works planned for the site.

From learning more about the procurement of the project design and construction teams to the importance of pre- and postconservation site surveys, the exclusive events were extremely popular and provided a wellrounded educational encounter — not forgetting incredible views towards Ogmore Castle across the Welsh countryside.

Dr Jon Berry, Senior Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Archaeology, said ‘This is the first substantive conservation work at Coity Castle for at least a generation. Too often, really interesting conservation and archaeological recording goes on behind locked gates and site hoardings. Our Conservation in Action scheme was a great success.

It was an absolute pleasure to show some of our Cadw members the ongoing works. They asked challenging and informed questions, and, as well as the pride in being able to showcase our work, it was a great opportunity to explain Cadw's conservation philosophy.’

Head of Cadw, Gwilym Hughes, thanked staff for a fascinating and informative visit to Coity Castle, adding ‘it was great to see such a major conservation project in full swing’.

The two-year conservation project at Coity Castle, which began in spring 2020, will ensure that the monument remains at the heart of its community for years to come. It’s all part of a £4.25m investment towards conservation and development of heritage sites under our care during 2020/21.

For more detailed information on the Coity Castle restoration project, please visit the Cadw website — cadw.gov.wales Above Tour participants climbed to the highest point of Coity Castle and enjoyed far-reaching views towards Ogmore Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Right The tour groups found out all that is involved in a major conservation project and discovered more about the history of Coity Castle.

Chepstow Castle replica set on stone If you were to arrive at Chepstow Castle for the first time you might think that it’s just a small castle built on a twmp (Welsh for bump or small hill). Peek through the large looming gatehouse and you might think that your theory was right: a ticket office, a pair of ornamental gates and an enclosed castle ward greet your eye. You might think, ‘well, there’s no point in going any further, I’ve seen it all from here’.

Here’s what some of our members had to say about their unique, on-site experience: ’ It was fascinating to travel to parts of the castle that we will most probably never see again’ Jan and Michael Matty ‘ Over the years since Bridgend and District Local History Society was formed, we have visited quite a lot of historical sites, but I have to say that this visit, complete with exclusive access to the ongoing conservation works, is one of the best that we have ever had’ Ian Hutchinson, Cadw member and Chair of Bridgend and District Local History Society.

Of course, as Cadw members, you know that’s wrong. But to many of our uninitiated visitors, that’s exactly the impression they have — they take a selfie and walk away.

It’s a great shame. Magnificent Chepstow Castle winds its way up the craggy cliffs overlooking the river Wye, showcasing the development of stone-built castles in Wales. The great tower was built by the Normans in the eleventh century and was followed by a succession of enlargements and improvements undertaken by William Marshal and his sons, by the Bigods, and by the earl of Worcester, right up to the English Civil War. So much to see (including some breathtaking views); so much to miss.

To help visitors understand the scale and drama of Chepstow we commissioned artist Rubin Eynon to create a bronze replica of the castle as it appeared in the sixteenth century. Words like bloodshed, prison, palace and pleasure-park appear around the sides of the model, introducing the wider stories the castle has to tell.

The tactile model is set low on a plinth of reclaimed red sandstone, which was rescued from an old building in Pontypool; the carved and shaped blocks give it a unique look. Red sandstone is also the local stone from which Chepstow Castle was built.

We hope our mini replica will encourage the doubters to venture into the castle. And with new interpretation planned for next year, we know they won’t be disappointed. © Rubin Eynon

Following the success of the tours at Coity Castle, we are hoping to arrange further behind-the-scenes member events at other Cadw sites undergoing conservation works. Please keep an eye on our website and e-newsletters for further announcements and information on how to book tickets. To sign up to our e-newsletter, visit bit.ly/cadw-enewsletter 5

NEWS

Possible disruptions for visitors at Caerphilly Castle this season Caerphilly is already a much-loved heritage site, welcoming thousands of visitors each year. But what’s in store for the sleeping giant this winter?

Cadw is embarking on an ambitious £5m transformation project at Wales’ largest fortress to secure the monument’s place as a world-class heritage attraction.

Planned developments include a new visitor centre and innovative interpretation across the site to bring the castle’s fascinating story to life, from the medieval to the modern era.

Works will begin at Caerphilly this autumn and will continue until the project is completed in 2023. For the duration of the works, we will do all that we can to maintain visitor access to as many areas of the castle as possible.

However, for health and safety reasons, we may need to close off some areas of the site to allow us to work on them.

But it’s not all bad news. Starting next year, we will be providing opportunities for Cadw members to enjoy exclusive ‘behind-the-scenes’ tours to meet the team and see the work being carried out.

While works are taking place at Caerphilly, we advise wearing shoes suitable for uneven ground and recommend checking the Cadw website for any disruption notices before booking site entry tickets or visiting the castle. All visitors to Caerphilly Castle during key periods of site disruption will be offered a free Caerphilly Castle guidebook.

For more information on the planned transformative works at Caerphilly Castle, and next year's tours, keep an eye on the Cadw website — cadw.gov.wales

Image Caerphilly Castle.

While exploring the grounds of Caerphilly Castle, please look out for our new winged friends.

Any visitors who capture a shot of a kingfisher on our brand-new perches, installed along the castle moat, could have their photo featured on our social media channels.

Please remember to tag us in any posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so we can see them! @cadwwales CadwWales @cadwcymruwales Image © David Chapman/Alamy Stock Photo

Enhanced listing descriptions provide clarity on slavery Cadw is continuing its work to respond to public concerns about memorials commemorating people linked with the slave trade or contentious aspects of the British Empire (see Saints or Sinners? in Heritage in Wales issue 71).

The latest project has been to add historical information to enrich our records of listed statues, buildings and other commemorations of controversial figures.

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Building on the work of Gaynor Legall and her team last year to produce The Slave Trade and the British Empire: An Audit of Commemoration in Wales, the list descriptions now give more details about the lives of people such as General Thomas Picton, who owned and tortured enslaved people; Admiral George Rodney, who defended slavery in Parliament; and General William Nott of Carmarthen, whose troops were accused of war crimes in Afghanistan in 1842.

Other figures whose reputations have been recently challenged include

giants of British history such as Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and William Gladstone, each of whom has statues and memorials across Wales. Short biographies are now included in the descriptions to acknowledge the controversies and complexities in a nuanced way and to set them in their historical context — a first step towards greater public understanding of these monuments.

You can access Cadw's list descriptions through Cof Cymru — cadw.gov.wales/ advice-support/cof-cymru

Work to convert a fifteenth-century barn into a visitor centre at Tretower Court and Castle, Powys, will be completed early next year.

Conservation action

A steel frame, to support the floor, being lowered into the King's Gate at Caernarfon Castle, Gwynedd.

The conservation and refurbishment of the King’s Gate at Caernarfon Castle, Gwynedd, continues.

Giant steel frames were recently craned into the castle to provide support for the new floors in the gatehouse. For the first time in centuries, visitors will be able to access the upper floors and admire the architectural features close up, including the beautiful arched windows. The existing ledges within the gatehouse will provide support for the steelwork, ensuring minimum intervention to the World Heritage Site.

A team of joiners have finished laying the decking for the new café and interpretation and education areas, marked by a ‘topping out’ ceremony in October. Over the past few weeks, the addition of roofs have made two of the three towers watertight.

Steelwork is being installed in tower three and used for the lift shaft and the upper balustrades. Conservation work has been completed on the upper levels, including cleaning, raking out and repointing the stonework. In the future, visitors of all physical abilities will be able to enjoy everything that the King’s Gate has to offer, including the spectacular views from the top.

At Tretower Court and Castle, Powys, the new state-of-the-art visitor centre is progressing well and is likely to be completed in the new year. From the outside, the fifteenth-century barn will look the same as it always has; we’ve even refurbished the existing

barn doors. But when you look inside, you’ll see new glazed doors and a modern facility for everyone to enjoy.

The work has come with the expected challenges of introducing modern materials to a Grade II* listed building. The area outside the building is also being upgraded with a re-surfaced carpark and an electric car charging point. The new visitor centre will include a shop, café and toilets and will ensure that visitors enjoy a warm welcome at this ‘pretty castle and fair place’ (John Leland, c.1540).

Work at Coity Castle, Bridgend, continues at a good pace. The immense scaffolding that has clad the castle for many months is now gradually coming down, revealing the newly conserved castle beneath. The next phase of the project will consist of conservation works to the outer ward and the northern boundary wall, due to begin in February 2022.

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Roman Caerwent Venta, a very ancient city…, whose name neither the rage of men nor time has yet extinguished.

William Camden, 1586 8

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Left An aerial photograph of Caerwent (Venta Silurum) showing the late Roman city walls.

Right below 1 Reconstruction painting by Alan Sorrell of Roman Caerwent as it may have appeared in the fourth century; the forum-basilica is the large building complex in the city's centre. © National Museum Wales Right below 2 One of six towers added to the city's south wall in the fourth century.

Drive along the A48 between Chepstow and Newport in Monmouthshire and you pass by one of the most remarkable sites from Roman Britain. Just off the main road, the sleepy village of Caerwent sits on top of the almost 2,000-year-old Roman city of Venta Silurum — the ‘Market of the Silures’ — the largest civilian centre in Wales at the time. Dr Peter Guest explores the history of the site and its inhabitants, including the most important interpretations arising from the excavation of the forum-basilica, the main public building in the city.

The impressive remains of Venta Silurum are well worth a visit. Visitors can walk along the city walls — among the most striking Roman monuments anywhere in Britain — and also see the remains of a luxurious courtyard town house, several roadside shops, a temple and, behind Caerwent House, the city’s forum-basilica.

The name of the modern village even harks back to its Roman origins: Caer is a Welsh word corresponding with the Latin castra, meaning ‘fortification’ or ‘camp’, while Went is derived from Venta, or ‘market’.

The forum-basilica building lay at the heart of Venta Silurum and was where the administrative, judicial, commercial and religious functions of the Roman city were located.

The site was first explored in the early twentieth century, but the National Museum of Wales re-excavated this large public building between 1987 and 1995; their aim was to find out more about its structural history and to reveal the remarkable story of how some people thrived after the Roman conquest.

Before the arrival of the Romans in AD 43, Wales was inhabited by at least four native tribes.

The Silures in south Wales and the Ordovices in mid- and north Wales resisted all efforts to subjugate them and, for 30 years, fought a brutal war against the Roman army.

After their final defeat in the later 70s, Wales would be occupied for another 40 years or so by about 25,000 soldiers. These soldiers manned a network of forts and fortresses throughout the country to subdue and control the still restive Britons, including the nearby base at Caerleon that was home to 5,000 men of the Second Augustan Legion.

Visitors can walk along the city walls — among the most striking Roman monuments anywhere in Britain.

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cultural assimilation was not widely adopted beyond the city’s gates.

The forum-basilica consisted of two elements. The forum was a rectangular open marketplace surrounded by ranges of rooms on three sides; the paved piazza provided space for temporary market stalls to be set up on market days, while the rooms served as shops, taverns and offices. The fourth side of the forum was closed by the basilica, consisting of a large aisled hall whose ends contained four small rooms [8, 9, 10, 11], with a range of further rooms [1–7] attached to its long side opposite the forum piazza. The great hall would have been used for large public meetings and ceremonies, and perhaps by businessmen and merchants.

A council of wealthy Roman citizens (exclusively men), presumably including the descendants of Silurian chieftains and warriors, met in a chamber [3] at the back of the basilica. The council chamber, known as the curia in Latin, had two banks of wooden seating for the councillors and a raised dais for the two chief magistrates.

Gutter

In the end, the Roman authorities decided that the Silures (but not the Ordovices) should be granted the same rights and privileges as other tribes in Britain. This led to the creation of the Civitas Silurum, an administrative area (civitas) similar to today’s counties, when the tribe was allowed a limited degree of autonomy.

Venta Silurum was founded as the ‘capital city’ of the new civitas and was not just the ‘Market of the Silures’, but also the seat of local government for much of south Wales.

At the centre of the town’s public life, the forum-basilica (marketplace and civic hall) was the most important public building in Venta and the date that it was built shows when the Silures were promoted to civitas status. A remarkably well-preserved coin of the Emperor Trajan, discovered in a construction layer, suggests this probably happened during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, successor of Trajan, between AD 115 and 120.

From this time, people adopted Roman customs and practices: they communicated in Latin, used money, worshipped Roman gods, enforced Roman laws and performed a range of public duties in the Roman manner.

It is likely that people also looked and behaved more like Romans in everyday situations too, although the absence of Roman artefacts in much of south Wales suggests this kind of

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Above Ground plan of the forum-basilica. © National Museum Wales Below A reconstruction of the forum-basilica as it may have appeared in the second century.

(Illustration by John Banbury) Left This Roman coin of the Emperor Trajan helped date the construction of the forum-basilica. © National Museum Wales

The remains of this room can still be seen today at Caerwent, as can the raised floor of the aedes, the public shrine next to the curia. It was here that the statues of the emperor and his family or the city’s protective deity were housed and venerated. The chambers [10 & 11] at either end of the great hall probably served as tribunals for the local magistrates to hear legal cases. The basilica also included a strongroom and offices holding records of the local administration.

The basilica was in use for about 230 years before it was rebuilt around AD 350. This was a massive undertaking that required the building

to be stripped out, remodelled, rebuilt and refurbished. This involved considerable structural work and seems to have been completed in a short space of time, but the new basilica was probably a more impressive building on the inside than the previous one had been.

By the end of the fourth century, at the time when Britain separated from the Roman Empire, the basilican hall had been demolished and most of its building material recycled and reused elsewhere. Despite this, Caerwent’s forum-basilica reveals that, in south Wales at least, people continued behaving like Romans up

to the end and, probably, for some time afterwards too. A hypocaust, for instance, was inserted into the tribunal, heating a new floor of paving slabs covered with Roman concrete. The other rooms also seem to have carried on being used.

It might seem strange today, but Rome, or the idea of Rome, remained a significant part of Welsh culture for many centuries. Several royal genealogies claimed to be able to trace their lineages back to Roman generals and emperors, while the kingdom of Gwent’s name was also derived from Venta.

It is not known when the city was finally abandoned, but the fact that all of the farm buildings occupying the site in 1987 sat on the footprint of the basilica, often reusing Roman walls, demonstrates that the building has been used in a variety of altered forms and functions since the end of its history as a civic centre in a Romano-British city in Wales.

The next time you’re driving on the A48 between Chepstow and Newport, perhaps find the time to detour to Caerwent and explore the fascinating remains of ancient Venta Silurum. Our archaeological and historic sites often have remarkable stories to tell and visiting them is a great way to explore Wales.

An article describing the history of Caerwent’s forum-basilica will be published in the academic journal Britannia later this year (P. Guest, ‘The Forum-Basilica at Caerwent (Venta Silurum): a history of the Roman Silures'). This work was funded by an archaeological publication grant from Cadw.

Left top The council chamber (curia) during excavation; the channels in the floor were for wooden benches. © National Museum Wales.

Left bottom The hypocaust and the pillars that supported its ceiling in the recently excavated tribunal. © National Museum Wales

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The singer and actor Paul Robeson never lived in Wales.

Why then is the American film star better remembered here than in his own country?

Searching for

Paul Robeson’s Wales

Stock Photo 12© PictureLux/The H E R Hollywood I T A G E I NArchive/Alamy WALES

Listed Building Officer Dr Chris Stiefvater-Thomas explores some of the events that led to Robeson becoming a celebrity friend of Wales and gaining the affection of the Welsh working class. He also looks at some of the buildings surviving from this era, representing the Wales that Robeson knew and loved.

Legend has it that, on a cold night in 1928, Robeson was walking home after performing in the musical Show Boat on London’s West End when he heard a choir singing in the street. The singers were unemployed Welsh miners who had marched to London to protest about the poverty and destitution in the south Wales valleys, brought about by unemployment. Robeson spontaneously joined in the march, lending his astounding baritone voice to the choir. It marked the start of a long friendship with the Welsh working class, who found an unlikely champion in the black movie star from New Jersey.

A similar scene played out in The Proud Valley, released in 1940 and filmed in Llantrisant, Tonyrefail and Cwm Darran. In the film Robeson plays a black American sailor who docks in Cardiff and enters the Valleys looking for work. He is quickly adopted by miners keen to add him to their male voice choir.

In the film, Robeson’s character encounters just one episode of racism from a fellow miner; his friends come to his defence with the line ‘Aren’t we all black down that pit?’ Unfortunately, in real life, things were never that easy for black Welsh miners.

As well as performing all over Wales from Caernarfon to Cardiff in the 1930s, Robeson gave generously to poor communities in Wales. In 1934 he was performing at the Llandudno Pier Pavilion when news broke of the disaster at the Gresford Colliery, near Wrexham, which killed 266 men. This catastrophic event prompted him to make a large donation to the victims’ families. Gresford Colliery is now the Gresford Industrial Estate, but the Wrexham station of the Mines Rescue Service which responded to the disaster survives as a listed building. Unfortunately, the Llandudno Pier Pavilion was destroyed by a fire in 1994.

Robeson also gave generously to the Talygarn convalescent home. This mansion was built around 1880 for the industrialist G. T. Clark and was sold to the South Wales Miners’ Welfare Committee in 1922. Thousands of injured miners were treated in the house and its luxurious gardens and entertained with private performances by Robeson.

Top Paul Robeson plays a Welsh miner, David Goliath, in the 1940 film, The Proud Valley. © TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy Stock Photo Middle A still from The Proud Valley: Robeson's character joins a male voice choir after impressing the local choir director with his magnificent singing voice. © TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy Stock Photo Bottom An aerial photograph of Gresford Colliery, near Wrexham, one month after the mining disaster in September 1934; Paul Robeson gave generously to the victims' families. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW 13

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In the 1950s, the Welsh had an opportunity to repay some of Robeson’s generosity. As the Cold War developed between the USA and the USSR, he was caught up in the paranoid hunt for Communist spies. Robeson was banned from performing and his passport was cancelled, stranding him in the USA. The Welsh communities he had helped took a leading role in the international ‘Let Paul Robeson Sing!’ campaign and petitioned the US Supreme Court on his behalf. In 1957, still unable to travel, he sang down the telephone line to a packed house of 5,000 people in the Porthcawl Pavilion for the Miners’ Eisteddfod. The listed theatre now has a ‘Paul Robeson Room’ in his honour, as does the Park and Dare theatre, home of Treorchy Male Voice Choir who sang with him.

Top Paul Robeson supported the miners' rehabilitation centre at Talygarn; pictured are a group of miners recuperating at the centre in the 1930s. © National Museum Wales Right middle 1 The Proud Valley film poster, 1940. © Courtesy Everett Collection/Alamy Stock Photo Right middle 2 Paul Robeson addressing the World Conference of Partisans of Peace in Paris in 1949. © Courtesy Everett Collection/Alamy Stock Photo Right bottom Park and Dare theatre, Rhondda Cynon Taf, has a 'Paul Robeson Room' in his honour. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW 14

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At the legendary Porthcawl concert, Robeson was introduced

by Will Paynter, the President of the South Wales Miners Federation and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War. The civil war signified another important link between Robeson and Wales. When fascist generals led a coup against the elected government of Spain, hundreds of volunteers from Wales and other countries fought to defend Spanish democracy. In 1938 Paul Robeson sang to these troops on the front lines. Later, at the Welsh National Memorial Meeting to the 33 Welshmen killed in the war, he said ‘These fellows fought not only for Spain, but for me and the whole world.’ The memorial meeting was held at the Mountain Ash Pavilion, which was demolished in 2007.

Robeson’s uncle, Aaron Mossell, lived in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay for at least 20 years, further strengthening the actor’s links with Wales. Paul Robeson often visited his uncle, driving through the slum in a chauffeured limousine. In 1919, race riots broke out in Cardiff and other cities across the UK and

USA as unemployed men vented their anger on ethnic minorities. In the 1930s, Mossell campaigned against racist councillors in Cardiff and for fairer pay for black sailors. The docks of Cardiff Bay are listed structures, but little remains of the homes of the sailors and port workers. Mossell’s home in Loudon Square was bulldozed in the 1960s and replaced with the Loudon and Nelson tower blocks.

The Wales Paul Robeson knew and loved, of coal mines, music halls and Tiger Bay has mostly disappeared but, if he were to visit Wales today, there are still a few things he would recognise: places such as Talygarn, Cardiff docks, Porthcawl Pavilion and relics of the coal industry have been listed and protected by Cadw. You can explore the heritage that is protected in your own area by visiting Cadw’s online, interactive map, Cof Cymru — cadw.gov.wales/advice-support/cof-cymru — which includes information on the historic monuments associated with other influential black people from Wales’ past.

Top left A plaque on a stone of remembrance in Alexandra Gardens, Cardiff, commemorating the fallen Welsh soldiers who fought in the Spanish Civil War; Robeson sang to the Welsh troops on the front line.

Top right Paul Robeson speaking at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Ebbw Vale, in 1958. © History Collection 2016/Alamy Stock Photo Above right Robeson pictured alongside Aneurin Bevan and behind leading eisteddfod figure Cynan in the audience for the Gymanfa Ganu at the same eisteddfod. © National Library of Wales 15

Remembering Black History Month STRAND TITLE

Paul Robeson is not the only black person to make an impact on Wales. In recognition of Black History Month in October 2021, we take a look at some other famous figures in Welsh history and the listed monuments associated with them.

Frances Batty Shand (c. 1815–85) was born in Jamaica, grew up in Scotland and lived at 13 Windsor Place in Victorian Cardiff. The daughter of a plantation owner and his black housekeeper, she set up a small workshop in Canton where unemployed blind beggars could weave baskets used in coal shipping. This grew into the Cardiff Institute for the Blind, which is today known as Sight Life and helps blind and visually impaired people across south Wales.

John Ystumllyn (d. 1786) is the first black Welshman whose life is well documented in history. Enslaved as a child, he became a servant at Ystumllyn house in Criccieth and learnt Welsh and English. He was enough of a free man in Wales to be fired from his job when he eloped with a maid. His listed tombstone is in the graveyard at St Cynhaearn’s Church in Ystumllyn and has an inscription by the poet Dafydd Siôn Siâms recording his birthplace, wrongly, as India.

Nathaniel Wells (1779–1852) was born on St Kitts and was the only son of a slave woman and her Welsh owner. After inheriting his father’s fortune and plantations (slaves and all), he purchased the Piercefield estate — now the site of Chepstow Racecourse — and lived the life of a respected country gentleman. He rebuilt the walls and gatehouses of the estate and added a tower to the parish church. He was Justice and then Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1818.

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Top left 13 Windsor Place, Cardiff, the home of Frances Batty Shand who founded Cardiff Institute for the Blind.

Top right A portrait of John Ystumllyn, 1754, a gardener and the first recorded black person in north Wales. © National Library Wales Above The ruinous Piercefield House, Monmouthshire, purchased by Nathaniel Wells, Britain's first black sheriff, in 1802. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW

History Hunters

History Hunters will be appearing in every issue of Heritage in Wales.

We’ll help you enjoy Welsh history! You can cut out and keep the pages if you like!

.

Cate s i this ntures and ve l ne i W f ad sible o m ’ o I ! s Hi lot sen o on the ing g s ’ e W ryth She e . v r e the g! ws toge nd kno thin y n a ut a abo

g ell ttin s ge st as w y a alw s ju ut Wil’s , so it’ im o h t s ape o ge scr re t e o t h n i ble!

I’m rou that of t

This is Gelert.

He loves digging up the past!

Come and join us on

our quest to rediscover history!

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go Italian M’S

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Like wha the t Rom ans ate?

BONES? rumble rumble

Pasta?

Mum!

Pizza?

ICE CREAM?

ble rum ble m ru

What’s for tea?

Can Cate stay?

No!

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urchins maybe...

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T hat’s cruel! soooo ing I’m go ! veggie

y ike Cr key i Sp

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sauce, tomato Not gut sauce! h s fi N mented ans’ r m o e R tf the bu at’s c e! u T h ite sa ur vo fa

Roman Great! s burger

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h ggh

We’re going to Cate’s for tea!

Romans liked fast food...

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Not bones then?

H E R I TAG E I N WA L E S

Lush !

With toma to sauc e!

Yumm y!

Rotten fish guts? Not even I’m eating that!

Gladiator games A drawing of how the amphitheatre at Caerleon may have looked in the first century AD.

Amphi-Facts!

Gladiator games were very expensive so would only have been held at Caerleon during the most important holidays or festivals.

Amphitheatres were also used for sporting contests and military training, or as gathering places to hear speeches from commanders or important visitors.

The very best gladiators were incredibly popular and even had fan clubs — just like today’s celebrities. A ‘star’ name might be hired for a special occasion.

Performers in the amphitheatre included soldiers who were fighting as amateurs, volunteers who wanted to ‘have a go’ or men on horseback hunting deer.

The cheapest form of entertainment involved criminals sentenced ‘to the beasts’. Caerleon wouldn’t have had lions or other big cats, but the local forests provided bears, wolves or boars.

There were around 25 different types of gladiator. Some wore armour and had lots of weapons, while others didn’t have much protection apart from a net and a trident (a spear with three points).

While training was harsh, gladiators were well looked after. They were fed well, received the best medical care and even had sport massages!

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Create your own mosaic Reproduced with permission of Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

The Romans used little squares of tile or stone – which they called tesserae — set into mortar to create pictures to decorate the inside of their buildings. They were used on floors and walls, such as the baths at Caerleon Roman Fortress and houses in the Roman city of Caerwent.

They could be made of decorative patterns, animals, people, or could tell the stories of heroes and gods.

Using the grid, or creating your own, larger grid, draw a picture of your favourite animal, person, your family and friends, or even your favourite cartoon!

Found at Caerwent

Once you have drawn your picture, cut up pieces of coloured tissue or paper and stick them on the grid to create your mosaic — or simply colour in the squares.

Spend like a Roman!

The Romans had lots of different types of coins, such as the As, which was made from bronze, the Sestertius, which was made from brass, or the Denarius, which was made from silver. There were even coins made of solid gold! They were not just used to buy things. The pictures on them also celebrated emperors and Roman victories in war.

Why not try making your own Roman coins?

1. Mix the flour and salt into the water to

You will need

• 200g plain flour • 100g salt • 150ml of water – lukewarm is best.

• A dinner knife or plastic knife • Acrylic paint or food colouring (optional)

Arabic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Roman I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X

make a firm dough. If you’re using food colouring, add a couple of drops to the water before you mix it into the flour — but make sure you wear plastic gloves or you’ll colour your hands, too!

2. Pull off small pieces, roll them into balls

and then flatten them into coins. You can make them as big or small as you like — some Roman coins could be as big as 3.5cm across!

3. Using the knife, carve some Roman

numerals into coins — see our guide.

Leave them to air dry until they are hard. Depending on their size, this can take up to a day or more, so leave them overnight and check them in the morning.

4. Once they are dry, you can paint your

coins. If you have metallic paints, then use these — or you can use brown for the bronze and brass coins, grey for the silver ones and yellow for the gold. Or make special coins in whatever colour you like!

Port Penrhyn, Bangor, is a well-preserved industrial S T R built A N DtoTserve I T L EPenrhyn Slate Quarry between port 1790 and 1855. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW

Roofing the world The Slate Landscape of North-West Wales 22

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Kate Roberts, Cadw’s Head of Historic Environment, celebrates the recent inscription of the Slate Landscape of North-West Wales on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Her insightful look into the history of the slate industry and the legacy it has left behind shows why this striking landscape is considered to be of outstanding universal value and listed amongst the top sites in the world.

On 28 July 2021, the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee agreed the inscription of the Slate Landscape of North-West Wales as a World Heritage Site. It is the fourth historic site or landscape in Wales to achieve World Heritage status and joins the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd and Ynys Môn/Anglesey, Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal in receiving the international recognition they deserve. The inscription marks the culmination of over 12 years’ work by a partnership led by Gwynedd Council, of which Cadw is a core member.

Below Dinorwig Slate Quarry, once the second largest in the world. A system of stepped galleries gave way to extensive areas of tipping and inclined planes which transported slate down the mountainside. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW

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The Industrial Revolution was powered by coal from the South Wales Valleys, but the homes people lived in and the factories where they worked were covered with slate quarried by hard-working and skilled men in the mountains of north-west Wales. Shipped from harbours in Gwynedd to ports across the globe, Welsh slate can still be seen on the roofs of buildings across the world.

Welsh slate quarrying dates back to Roman times, but it was from 1780 to 1940 that the scale of working made Snowdonia the main source of global slate production.

Slate is formed from mud placed under huge geological pressure and heat. It can be easily split into smooth, watertight sheets which make ideal roofing materials. Other uses include building blocks, floor slabs, school slates, billiard tables, gravestones and even furniture.

By the late nineteenth century, north-west Wales produced about a third of the world output of roofing slates and architectural slabs. Its use in terraced housing, factories, warehouses and architecture contributed to rapid global urbanization. The extraction and transport of such large quantities of slate also resulted in a period of ingenious technical innovation in

quarrying and stone processing, and the development of narrow gauge railways for transporting the slate through challenging, rugged, mountainous environments.

A visitor to Snowdonia will be struck by the exceptional scale of slate working that has left its mark on the region. The slate deposit in north Wales is one of the finest in the world. The presence of veins on the surface and deep underground led to a variety of techniques that the chwarelwyr (quarrymen) used for its extraction: ranging from the giant, open hillside stepped galleries of Penrhyn and Dinorwig to the complex underground mines that burrow into the mountains around the ‘slate city’ of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Slate quarrying was skilled, yet hard, manual work. There were many roles in the process: from rockmen who extracted the blocks from the ground to splitters who worked in the mills and shelters. Much effort went into shifting the waste rock that accompanied extraction; it is estimated that less than 10% of the rock extracted was suitable for use. The resulting giant waste tips are one of the defining characteristics of the industry, covering the mountainsides of the main quarrying valleys, Nantlle, Peris and Ogwen, and dominating Blaenau Ffestiniog.

In the early days, slate and waste rock was moved by horse and cart but, as extraction increased, new technologies were adopted. In the early 1800s, wagons were drawn along inclined planes using ropes or chains; when descending the incline, the weight of the full wagon pulled up empty wagons on a parallel track. A working example of this can be seen today at the National Slate Museum in Dinorwig Quarry, Llanberis.

Famously, the industry made early use of rail transport. Wagons were initially pulled by horse power but, from the mid-nineteenth century, steam-powered locomotives took over. The engineering feat that resulted in the Ffestiniog Railway is particularly remarkable. The railway snaked its way on a steady downhill gradient from the quarries of Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog harbour. It used bridges and tunnels to maintain a gradient suitable to allow slate-laden wagons to be rolled the entire way driven only by gravity.

The empty wagons were then hauled back up the line by a steam locomotive.

These ‘gravity trains’ are still occasionally operated by the Ffestiniog Railway company and are quite a spectacle.

The slate industry always retained a particularly Welsh character and worked almost exclusively through the Welsh language. Slate settlements took a variety of forms depending on the nature of landholding in the area. Some quarry owners provided accommodation for workers and their families, such as the regimented planned housing at Mynydd Llandegai, Penrhyn Quarry. This contrasted with the less uniform appearance of nearby Bethesda village — for quarrymen who preferred not to live on the Penrhyn estate and built their homes around the local Bethesda chapel instead.

Top The quarries and tips of the Ffestiniog area dominate the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, known as the Victorian 'City of Slates'. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW Middle Roofing slates are created from splitting squared blocks with hammers and chisels and then trimming each slate with a knife. © David Gwyn Bottom A gravity train on the Ffestiniog Railway, carrying slate to Porthmadog. © 2ebill/Alamy Stock Photo 25

Left The village of Bethesda overlooked by Penrhyn Slate Quarry, once the largest slate quarry in the world. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW Below A group of quarrymen from Dorothea Quarry in the Nantlle Valley. © Gwynedd Archives Service Right The Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape: geology and topography meant that slate had to be won from a series of pits, some 150-metres (492 feet) deep. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW

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But not all quarrymen were able to live at home. In the higher altitude, more remote quarries, such as Ffestiniog and Nantperis, long barrack houses were built to house men who had to spend most of the week away from their families — only returning home on Sundays. Conditions in the barracks were hard and spartan. Men had to manage all week on the supplies they carried up with them on the Monday morning and slept packed close together.

Unlike the metal mining industries, women did not work in the slate quarries; although some managed pack-horses and the transport of slate to the harbour before the introduction of the railways. Many quarry families supplemented their income by raising animals and crops on a smallholding and the women carried out this work.

Life in slate quarry communities is portrayed in the novels written by Kate Roberts, in which she recalls her life in Rhosgadfan, near Caernarfon.

Many quarry workers placed great emphasis on religion, education and Welsh culture. Chapels were important and provided spaces for education, music and poetry alongside worship.

A tradition particular to the industry was that of the caban (cabin), where the quarrymen took their meals and engaged in poetry competitions, readings and debates. Education was looked upon with great respect and subscriptions were raised through the

caban to enable a quarryman to go to university or theological college.

The life of slate quarrying could be harsh and dangerous; men could be killed in rock falls and blasting accidents. More insidious was the impact of the fine slate dust produced when drilling or sawing slate: it caused silicosis, a respiratory disease that went unrecognised for many years.

Some wealthy quarry owners provided hospitals within the quarries. A hospital established at Dinorwig Quarry in 1860 is now open to the public as a museum.

The provision of hospitals suggests a warm relationship between wealthy landowner and workers, but this was not always the case. Quarry workers were not directly employed by the quarries, but worked to a contract or bargen (bargain) whereby a group of between four and eight men, often members of the same family, negotiated a payment for what they produced on a monthly basis.

The system was open to abuse.

Some officials favoured churchmen over non-Conformist chapel-goers, or members of one chapel over another; it was also resented by men who, for whatever reason, could not join a bargain. Other skilled workers, such as engine drivers and blacksmiths, were paid by the day.

By the standards of the nineteenth century, pay was generally good, but demand for slate was not steady

and when it declined so did wages.

The North Wales Quarrymen’s Union was formed in 1874 to represent their interests. One of its meeting places, Craig yr Undeb (Union Rock) near Llanberis, is included within the World Heritage Site. On 22 November 1900, 2,800 men at Penrhyn Slate Quarry walked out in protest at quarry owner Lord Penrhyn’s attempts to stop union contributions. This marked the start of a bitter three-year-long strike that divided the local people, but was supported by communities throughout Britain. The story of the strike is told by the National Trust at Penrhyn Castle.

Six of the most important historic quarrying areas that marked the heartland of the slate industry in north Wales, with their associated transport networks, ports and settlements (including the towns of Blaenau Ffestiniog and Bethesda), have been selected for World Heritage status.

However, the inscription is just the start. We will continue to work with partners to inform the next steps in the development of the World Heritage Site, including conservation and interpretation works that will further enhance the visitor experience.

There’s plenty to see and do to learn more about this fascinating industry — see our list of places to visit for some ideas. For more information on the Slate Landscape of North-West Wales, visit llechi.cymru/home 27

STRAND TITLE

The World Heritage Site comprises the following six areas: 1. Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda, and the Ogwen Valley to Port Penrhyn 2. Dinorwig Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape, Llanberis 3. Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape 4. G orseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarries, Railways and Mill to the north of Porthmadog 5. Ffestiniog: Slate Mines and Quarries, ‘City of Slates’ and Railway to Porthmadog

Places to visit The National Slate Museum, Llanberis museum.wales/slate

Set within the engineering complex of the Dinorwig Slate Quarry, the museum provides an overview of the industry as well as opportunities to see slate being split by hand. Quarrymen’s cottages are dressed as they would have appeared in different periods. © Mick Sharp/Alamy Stock Photo

6. B ryneglwys Slate Quarry, Abergynolwyn Village and the Talyllyn Railway near Tywyn.

BANGOR

Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda, and the Ogwen Valley to Port Penrhyn BETHESDA

Dinorwig Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape

Snow don ia

LLANBERIS

National Slate Museum

BEDDGELERT

Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarries, Railways and Mill

Conw y

Zip World

CAERNARFON

Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape

CONWY

Penrhyn Castle

Isle o f Anglesey

LLANRWST

Slate Tr ail

BETWS-Y-COED

Llechwedd Slate Quarry Blaenau Ffestiniog (Ffestiniog Railway)

PORTHMADOG

Porthmadog Harbour (Ffestiniog Railway)

Ffestiniog: Slate Mines and Quarries, ‘City of Slates’ and Railway to Porthmadog G w yne dd

HARLECH

DOLGELLAU

BARMOUTH

Bryneglwys Slate Quarry, Abergynolwyn Village and the Talyllyn Railway

Abergynolwyn (Talyllyn Railway)

TYWYN

MACHYNLLETH

Tywyn Wharf

Pow ys

(Talyllyn Railway) Ceredigion source: Cartographics • Welsh Government

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The Ffestiniog Railway: Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog festrail.co.uk

The world’s oldest narrow gauge railway. Historic trains climb over 213 metres (700 feet) from sea level to Blaenau Ffestiniog daily.

Talyllyn Railway

Penrhyn Castle, Bangor

talyllyn.co.uk

nationaltrust.org.uk/penrhyn-castle

The world’s first preserved railway, operated by volunteers, runs return trips daily from Tywyn to Abergynolwyn (11km/ 7 miles). The railway has its own museum which includes a special collection devoted to one of their earliest volunteers — Reverend W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Llechwedd Slate Quarry, Blaenau Ffestiniog

Former home of the Pennant family, this awe-inspiring Neo-Norman house was built between 1819 and 1835 as a result of wealth acquired from Jamaican sugar plantations worked by enslaved African people; the profits also provided the investment for Penrhyn Quarry. Today it is owned and managed by the National Trust and includes a railway museum.

© National Trust Images/James Dobson

llechwedd.co.uk

Incorporating historic Oakeley, Maenofferen and Diffwys Quarries, visitors today can enjoy historic tours both above and below ground.

Zipworld – home to the fastest zip line in the world zipworld.co.uk

For the more adventurous, experience Zipworld, Penrhyn Quarry — zoom down a 1.5km (0.9 mile) zip line over Penrhyn Quarry lake; mountain-kart down an obstacle-filled 3km (1.8 mile) slate track; or learn all about the history of Penrhyn Quarry in a tour of Britain's largest slate quarry.

Zipworld Slate Caverns — bounce and slide your way through a disused mine on the best playground ever; experience a challenging underground course set in a historic slate mine; or take an exhilarating historic tour of Llechwedd Slate Quarry.

The Snowdonia Slate Trail snowdoniaslatetrail.org

Created by Cwm Community Action Group with author Aled Owen, this 134km (83 mile) walking trail links former slate villages and runs from Port Penrhyn (close to Bangor) through Bethesda, Capel Curig, Beddgelert and Llanberis.

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The village of Beddgelert in Gwynedd.

To mark Remembrance Day (Thursday 11 November) and pay tribute to those who have served and sacrificed, we’ve delved into the archives to shine a light on nine listed historic buildings that played an important, yet alternative, role towards Britain and its allies’ wartime efforts in Wales. From ferry ports that became makeshift army bases to fancy hotels that were converted into temporary hospitals, behind each historic building is a story of transformation, unity and determination.

STRAND TITLE

Nine listed buildings that helped Britain’s wartime efforts in Wales 30

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Munition workers at Ruthin Gaol, Denbighshire, during the Second World War (Courtesy of North-East Wales Archives).

Imperial Hotel, Llandudno, Conwy, Grade II. © Brinkstock/Alamy Stock Photo

1. T he former Cambria Hotel, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion Now the site of a business centre, the former hotel, situated on Aberystwyth’s iconic promenade, first opened its doors on 31 July 1896.

Designed and built by famed engineer George Croydon Marks, the Cambria Hotel went on to become the United Calvinistic Methodist College in 1906.

However, for the duration of the First World War, the building was loaned to the British Red Cross and converted into a temporary hospital, providing essential care to those who had fought so bravely on the front line.

Tabernacle Chapel, Bangor, Gwynedd, Grade II.

2. Imperial Hotel, Llandudno, Conwy This promenade hotel — the most famous of all the town's hotels — stopped welcoming holiday makers and became a second home to London-based government departments during the Second World War. Desperate to escape the dangers of the English capital, the Inland Revenue headquarters evacuated and relocated some of its 5,000 staff to buildings of this kind, located in the relatively safe area of north Wales.

Among them was a young James Callaghan, who went on to become prime minister of the United Kingdom in 1976.

3. Former Tabernacle Chapel, Bangor, Gwynedd Built in 1907 by Victorian church architect James Cubitt, this beautiful former chapel is now home to a collection of modern apartments — a far cry from its wartime use as a news broadcasting centre.

Following large-scale evacuations in London during the Second World War, the BBC’s Variety Department began broadcasting much-needed morale-boosting comedy and music programmes from the chapel, including iconic performances from the late ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’, Dame Vera Lynn.

Pritchard-Jones Hall, Bangor University, Gwynedd, Grade I.

4. Prichard-Jones Hall, Bangor University, Gwynedd From exams and entertainment to banquets and balls, Bangor University’s Prichard-Jones Hall has played an integral role in student life since it first opened in 1911.

However, just before the Second World War began, more than 500 precious paintings from London’s National Gallery were moved here under armed guard to protect them from anticipated aerial bombing.

Comprising priceless works by the likes of Rembrandt, Rubens and Botticelli, the paintings remained in Bangor for two years, before being moved to the disused underground slate quarry of Manod near Blaenau Ffestiniog.

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Willans & Robinson Factory, Flintshire, Grade II.

The Priory Church of St Mary, Usk, Monmouthshire, Grade II. © WhiskyBottle/Alamy Stock Photo

5. Baron Hill, Beaumaris, Anglesey Abandoned and overgrown, Baron Hill House is one of Wales’ most spectacular and fascinating ruins.

Forming part of an estate that was once home to the powerful Bulkeley family, the Royal Engineers were initially stationed here during the First World War. By the Second World War, the government requisitioned Baron Hill as a temporary housing facility for Polish soldiers.

Having found the building so cold, the soldiers started a fire inside the mansion in the hope of being moved to new accommodation. Sadly, their plan backfired. The flames destroyed large parts of the mansion’s interior, meaning the soldiers had to be moved to tents on the grounds of the estate instead.

6. Holyhead Breakwater, Anglesey Sheltered by a 1.7-mile-long (2.7km) breakwater, the Port of Holyhead served as a new base for the Royal Dutch Navy during the Second World War while their country was occupied by the Nazis. Today, this commercial ferry port

Ruthin Gaol, Denbighshire, Grade II*.

8. Usk Priory, Usk, Monmouthshire & Canolfan Henblas, Bala, Gwynedd

sees more than two million passengers travel between north Wales and Dublin each year.

Usk Priory, originally a Benedictine nunnery, and Canolfan Henblas, a former Georgian town house, have something in common. In the build up to the D-Day invasion, the buildings were

7. Former Willans & Robinson Factory, Queensferry, Flintshire

both requisitioned to serve as US Army barracks. They housed American soldiers who were stationed in Wales at the time.

Originally a late Victorian boiler factory, this modernist building saw multiple occupancies over the years.

9. Ruthin Old Gaol, Denbighshire

By 1914, it was acquired by the government for use as a prisoner-of-war camp, but was soon transformed into a large munition production plant instead, manufacturing nitrocellulose tetryl and TNT. In addition, a temporary hospital was set up on site, treating around 19,000 people between 1916 and 1917. Today, the three buildings that made up the factory are still standing and are owned and operated by Scottish Power.

During the Second World War, it became a munitions factory with numerous adaptations made to the building to accommodate wartime production. Today, the gaol is the only purpose-built, Pentonville-style prison open to the public as a heritage attraction.

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Between 1654 and 1916, Ruthin Gaol (an old-fashioned term for ‘jail’) started out as a ‘house of correction’, an establishment where those ‘unwilling to work’ were sent for punishment and reform.

Six sites in south Wales: footsteps of a travel writer A word from Rough Guides and Bradt Guides author, Norm Longley, who has spent the last four months travelling around Cadw’s south Wales sites…

Travelling the length and breadth of south Wales for my latest guidebook, the Bradt Guide to South Wales, I (along with my wife and daughter who regularly travel with me) was fortunate enough to visit numerous Cadw sites during the course of my research.

And whilst I always find it difficult to select a favourite, there are some places that I just keep coming back to.

One of these, and our first port of call, is Chepstow Castle, Monmouthshire, once described by the late, great Jan Morris, Welsh historian and travel writer, as ‘like a huge fist of rock at the very gate of Wales’. There’s no doubt that Wales’ oldest surviving stone-built castle makes for a jaw-dropping introduction to the country. But as impressive as its scale is (and it’s a biggie), it’s often the smaller details that resonate more.

In the mighty great tower, for example, you can just about detect the remains of a Roman relief (thought to depict Venus and her nymphs) and, in the left-hand niche at the far west end, traces of a wall painting… go seek ‘em out.

For all that, the castle’s most treasured specimen is its pair of gatehouse doors. In situ until 1962, these magnificently preserved doors — bearing iron-clad planks constructed from green oak — date from the late twelfth century, hence are reckoned to be the oldest surviving castle doors anywhere in Europe.

Right, top The striking great tower dominates the middle bailey of Chepstow Castle, Monmouthshire.

Right, bottom Following over 800 years of service, the original doors of Chepstow Castle are now displayed in the porch of the great hall.

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We then embarked on the first leg of the Wye Valley Walk from Chepstow to Tintern (a fairly ambitious undertaking with a ten-year-old who has an aversion to walking). No matter how many times I cast my eyes upon the magnificent Tintern Abbey, it rarely fails to inspire. The abbey’s story has been well told over the years, but pottering among the ruins made me think of how hard life must have been for the monks — the first of whom arrived here from l’Aumône in Normandy in 1131. The warming house, for example, was one of the few areas that would have been heated, while their one daily meal would have consisted of little more than bread, veg and a few beans — though the daily ale allowance was pretty generous by all accounts.

The roofless church, which forms the majestic centrepiece of this vast complex, is unquestionably one of the greatest specimens of Gothic architecture anywhere in Britain; the west front’s skeletal seven-light window, with its exquisite tracery, is a singularly sublime piece of stonemasonry. One can only wonder what the choir monks must have sounded like when this building was fully intact.

There are some Cadw sites that tend to fly under the radar, and one of these is the Roman city at Caerwent, which is odd because it is a remarkable place (see article on p. 8). Embracing much of the village, its second-century city walls are among the most complete in Britain, more than a match for, say, Chester’s or York’s. Rising up to 5 metres (16 feet) in places and peppered with crumbling bastions, the walls should take no more than fortyfive minutes to circuit, but a little tip here: if you’re short on time, walk the section between the West and East Gates, which 34

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Top The striking remains of the west front of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire, stand as testament to the former magnificence of the abbey church.

Above The interior of the church at Tintern Abbey, looking along the length of the nave to the east window.

affords uninterrupted views of the lush Nedern valley. Within the perimeter wall lie the vestigial remains of several Roman buildings, among them a temple, forum-basilica and shops.

Moving north up into the valleys, a long-standing favourite of mine is Blaenavon Ironworks, Torfaen, one of the most complete extant sites of its kind anywhere in the world.

Here, too, it’s not difficult to appreciate the harsh working conditions endured by the ironworkers. Their experience is vividly (and very loudly) brought to life inside the old cast house, thanks to a cleverly conceived multi-sensory experience — involving the clanking and roaring of a furnace accompanied by dramatic light and smoke effects.

We took a walk up to the top of the hulking water balance tower for a bird’s-eye view of the site before sneaking a peek inside the whitewashed Stack Square cottages — cramped four-room abodes that were once home to the foreman, craftsmen and their families.

Top The foundations of Caerwent's Romano-Celtic temple, one of the treasures of this former Roman city in Monmouthshire.

Middle An installation in the cast house at Blaenavon Ironworks, Torfaen, portrays the hot, harsh working conditions experienced by the ironworkers.

Bottom An iron sculpture shows how Blaenavon Ironworks looked in its heyday, while behind is the site as it stands today.

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Up next was Dinefwr Castle in Carmarthenshire, which we visited on a very soggy October morning after inspecting neighbouring Newton House, itself well worth a visit.

Dramatically perched atop a wooded bluff overlooking the river Tywi, the castle’s substantial, but surprisingly intact, ruins date from 1165, before being strengthened in 1282.

This is one of those places you come to soak up the views — and the views from here down the Tywi valley and across towards the Brecon Beacons rank alongside any in Wales.

Finally it was the turn of Pembrokeshire, whose star turn is St Davids Bishop’s Palace, surely the finest of its kind in Britain. Nestled in a grassy hollow, with the famous city cathedral as its neighbour, its vast quadrangle is enclosed by an elegant confection of largely ruined buildings. Each building is distinguished by extraordinarily rich colours and some striking chequerboard stonework — a favoured motif of the palace’s chief architect Henry de Gower.

Additional unique features of the palace are the carved stone human heads and mystical beasts that spot the high walls. We took time to admire each and every one — or so it seemed. We concluded that, on balance, this was our favourite site (to date anyway) — and we’re far from done yet!

For more information on any of the Cadw sites included above, please visit the Cadw website — cadw.gov.wales 36

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Top Dinefwr Castle, Carmarthenshire, offers commanding views up and down the Tywi valley, including Dryslwyn Castle and Paxton's Tower.

Middle left The imposing entrance to Dinefwr Castle, overlooked by the original keep crowned with a seventeenth-century summer house.

Middle right The grand east range of St Davids Bishop's Palace, Pembrokeshire, originally an opulent residence for the bishops of St Davids and their guests.

Above Decorative corbels in human and animal form can be found dotted throughout St Davids Bishop's Palace.

Protecting history in a crisis Climate change is one of the greatest threats to the historic environment but Cadw and its partners are well on the way to creating coping strategies. Dylan Iorwerth has been talking to some of the vital players.

The threat of rising sea levels prompted archaeological excavations at St Patrick's Chapel, Pembrokeshire. This year’s excavations have revealed evidence of the site’s use back to prehistoric times. Pictured is a digital reconstruction of how the chapel may have looked in the medieval period. © Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority All images relating to the Cherish project © Crown: CHERISH PROJECT 2019. Produced with EU funds through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Programme 2014–2020.

All material made freely available through the Open Government Licence.

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It’s a race for time and against time.

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During June and August this year, archaeologists were working on part of Pembrokeshire’s most famous beach, Whitesands near St Davids, digging beneath the sparse remains of a medieval chapel, investigating before the inexorable rise in sea levels and extreme weather events sweep the evidence away.

Their finds at St Patrick’s Chapel made the project worthwhile, particularly the discovery of a square stone, marked with Christian crosses, with the bones of babies around it. Experts at Sheffield University are now trying to decipher the meaning of these burials. Could the stone have been an altar, shrine or something else altogether?

Over the past few years, hundreds of other bones have been found on this site, on the edge of the Irish Sea, and analysis of those remains can tell us a great deal about the people they belonged to… what they ate, what diseases they had, even where they came from.

For Tomos Jones, Community Archaeologist with Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, the finds prove the value of excavating the site now, before it’s too late: ‘The Authority placed huge boulders here to try and protect the site, but they were swept away in a storm in 2014. The site is eroding and will eventually disappear.’

The excavation of St Patrick’s Chapel is one example of the way in which the historic environment sector is having to face up to the already undeniable effects of climate change.

Behind these emergency responses lie ten years of research and preparation work: a sub-group was set up in 2011, under Wales’ Historic Environment Group, involving all the major stakeholders in the field, including Cadw. After gathering data and devising responses, they published the Historic Environment and Climate Change in Wales: Sector Adaptation 38

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Top An archaeologist recording an unearthed burial at St Patrick's Chapel, Pembrokeshire. © Shoults/Alamy Stock Photo Above The collapsed remains of a historic shelter on Aberystwyth's promenade, damaged during severe storms in 2014. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW

Plan in 2020. The mitigation and evidence‑rescuing efforts at St Patrick’s Chapel are part of this wider strategy that defines and maps the risks and opportunities and lays down a detailed programme for action and monitoring.

The threat is clear: for instance, 12% of scheduled monuments and 12% of listed buildings are in areas where flooding is a danger. That means more than 4,000 sites and structures are potentially at risk.

The sub-group’s analysis is multilayered, dividing the historic environment and its buildings into different types and locations, modelling different climate change scenarios and their effects on different structures and sites and, vitally, suggesting actions. These range

from the first form of defence — good maintenance and repair — to protection measures and, at the most extreme, managing loss and recording evidence.

‘We are asking people to consider how they can include adaptation to climate change as part of their day job’ explains Jill Bullen, of Natural Resources Wales, who chairs the sub-group.

‘There are a variety of actions that people can implement; our task is to set the framework, to co-ordinate and see where there are evidence gaps, to motivate and inspire action.’

For her, two events brought home vividly the effects of climate change on historic sites and their communities — the severe damage to a historic shelter on Aberystwyth’s prom in the

Top Upland areas often include extremely well-preserved buried archaeology and earthworks. A wildfire on Llantysilio mountain, Denbighshire, in August 2018 caused significant damage to the site. © Gary Thornley Above This aerial view shows the extent of Cors Fochno (Borth Bog), Ceredigion, and its close proximity to the sea. © Drew Buckley/Natural Resources Wales

great storm of 2014 and the burning of 250 hectares of historically rich upland on Llantysilio mountain in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Both events damaged historic sites and also affected the lives of local people. Llantysilio land management is an example of how protecting the natural and historic environments often go hand in hand.

The management of Cors Fochno (Borth Bog) is another project that has involved organisations representing the natural and historic environments working together to save a site of historical and environmental value.

Cors Fochno is one of the largest and finest remaining examples of a

lowland raised bog in Britain. Peat has been accumulating at the site for over 6,000 years, building an archive of environmental and historical information: there is evidence of human activity from the Bronze Age, industry dating to the Iron Age/Roman period and a medieval trackway. It also has the highest level of environmental protection in the UK, owing to the exceptional rare plants and wildlife that can be found there.

But the future of the bog is being threatened by climate change and action needs to be taken before the site dries up and dies, or is lost to rising sea levels. One challenge is to restore the natural water table levels of the bog, explains Dana Thomas, LIFE Welsh Raised Bogs Officer with

Natural Resources Wales. ‘The site has suffered due to historic drainage and peat cutting in the past’.

The LIFE Welsh Raised Bogs project is trying to reverse the impact of these past activities by constructing low level banks of peat to hold the water on the bog to help restore natural water levels; remove trees, shrubs and Molinia grass which further dries out the bog; and restore sympathetic grazing. The goal is to provide ideal conditions for important plants like sphagnum (peat creating bog moss) to establish and thrive.

As peat is created it acts like a sponge to store water and carbon and the raised bog will grow. The results of the work should ensure Cors Fochno becomes more resilient to climate change and sea level rise. By working collaboratively, it is hoped that the future of the bog, including its habitats and the crucial environmental and historical information that it contains, will be protected.

Other partners have vital roles.

In collaboration with Cadw and other heritage bodies, the National Trust has created hazard maps, overlaying the locations of important sites and habitats with predictions of climate change impacts.

And the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales are lead players in a Europeanfunded Welsh-Irish research project, CHERISH, that is investigating the impact of climate change on the natural and historic environments. This includes using the latest technology to measure past and present changes and predict future effects. All the evidence and reports from the six-year-long project will be freely available online.

CHERISH is also adding directly to our knowledge of threatened sites such as Iron Age coastal promontory forts. Ironically, their locations have protected them from development pressures and the need for excavation; now, the climate threat to those same locations make investigation vital.

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It's crucial to get a really detailed understanding and garner as much evidence and information as we can before we lose them. says Louise Barker of RCAHMW. At Caerfai promontory fort near St Davids, for instance, local people and interested volunteers have been involved in a community excavation funded by CHERISH and led by DigVentures. They have found valuable archaeology on the site, including remains of structures and evidence of metalworking.

‘This evidence will help us understand how and when the site was used, and the range of activities undertaken there.’ says Louise Barker of RCAHMW. ‘It’s important too to involve volunteers who are interested in gaining an understanding of these at-risk sites.

They will help us monitor such sites in the future.’

All owners of historic buildings also have a role to play and Cadw is

providing them with the information they need. Professor Carolyn Hayles from Cardiff Metropolitan University has been on a year-long fellowship with the Welsh Government, hosted

by Cadw, modelling the effects of climate change on the housing stock, using baseline time periods (2030 and 2070) across different parts of Wales.

She has found some variation — predicted rainfall will differ across the country, for instance — and a mixture of good and bad news: ‘The propensity for overheating in pre-1919 buildings is low, because of their construction methods and materials, but one of the main vulnerabilities is the potential build-up of internal moisture; this could affect people’s comfort and health, as well as the building fabric, if homes are not appropriately ventilated.’

More sun and solar radiation might mean a need for more frequent repair and maintenance, such as more regular painting of timber windows and doors, but overall the extra costs for protecting historic buildings should not be prohibitive; Professor Hayles's modelling of climate impacts suggests an increase of between 1–7% on baseline

costs for building upkeep to 2070.

Research findings were presented at the Climate Resilience Heritage Summit, an event hosted by Historic Environment Scotland on 27 October.

As well as promoting actions to adapt to the impacts of climate change, Cadw is also encouraging action to address the causes of climate change. For example, it is working with partners and colleagues from across Welsh Government and the heritage and qualification sectors to help grow a well-qualified and competent retrofit industry in Wales, capable of installing suitable, well-designed and robust energy efficiency measures in our traditional and historic buildings. The unintended consequences of getting energy efficiency measures wrong, or doing them badly, include harming the significance of the building and its fabric or the health of the occupants, and failure to achieve the predicted savings or reduction in environmental impact.

As with Carolyn Hayles's report, it will be vital to make the information readily accessible to those who need it. Cadw is producing new guidance to assist owners to make their buildings more energy efficient. Energy

efficiency and historic buildings in Wales will join two earlier guides on renewable energy and flooding.

‘Cadw has already been showing the way‘, says Historic Environment Skills Manager, Jill Fairweather. ‘Examples include hugely cutting back the carbon footprint of floodlighting at Cadw sites and installing air-source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to provide heat and electricity to our visitor centres‘. Ambitious future plans will see the development of carbon management plans and the installation of car charging points at several Cadw sites, including Blaenavon Ironworks and Tretower Court and Castle.

‘Another aspect is conserving the carbon embedded in existing buildings through the materials used, the transport of those materials and the construction processes,’ she says.

‘Re-use and responsible adaptation of our existing historic buildings has many benefits: it protects their embedded carbon, reduces waste and protects their significance and contribution to economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing. Research shows that when a typical Victorian terraced house is sympathetically refurbished and retrofitted, for example, it will emit less carbon by 2050 than a

new building when lifetime carbon emissions (whole life carbon) for both buildings are considered.‘ Despite the threats, sub-group chair, Jill Bullen, is optimistic about the historic sector’s response to climate change.

‘We’re well on our way with 10 years’ experience of building a framework and greater understanding. What we need to do now is to step up our adaptation actions and activities and have more resources to do that.

‘In the next two to three years, I’d like to look back at where we are now and say that there’s been a really big step change in our adaptation activity, that we have made good connections between the historic environment and the natural environment, communities and tourism. We’ve got to build upon where we are now.’

The Cadw guidance publications can be found in the Advice & Support section of the Cadw website — cadw.gov.wales — Climate Change / Flooding and Historic Buildings Historic Assets / Listed Buildings

/ Best practice Guidance

Opposite, top left Cadw has supported archaeological excavations at Dinas Dinlle hillfort, Gwynedd, to investigate and record information before the fort is lost. © Crown copyright: CHERISH PROJECT 2021.

Opposite, top right Not as visible, but no less important, is Wales’ offshore heritage. Here, divers are recording the cannon, anchors and cargo from the Bronze Bell, a seventeenth-century wreck on the Sarn Padrig reef in Cardigan Bay. © Crown copyright: CHERISH PROJECT 2021.

Opposite, bottom left This aerial view of Caerfai promontory fort shows the scale of erosion that our coastal heritage is facing. © Crown copyright: CHERISH PROJECT 2021.

Opposite, bottom right Rescuers ferry residents of Nantgarw, Rhondda Cynon Taf, from their flooded homes in February 2020.

Storm 'Dennis' was one of the strongest storms of its type ever recorded. © Ben Birchall/Alamy Stock Photo Top Work is underway to develop guidance for increasing energy efficiency in existing historic buildings, such as this Valley terrace. © Dave Angel/Alamy Stock Photo Middle 1 An air-source heat pump has been installed on a discreet flat-roofed area of this 1930s house to provide hot water.

Middle 2 Insulating a roof space with sheep’s wool is just one of many sustainable ways to improve the thermal performance of a historic building. © Ty-Mawr Lime Ltd Bottom Solar energy is being increasingly adopted across the Cadw estate; Solar panels can be seen on the roof of Denbigh Castle, Denbighshire, visitor centre.

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How to visit Cadw sites without a car As the issues and concerns surrounding climate change become increasingly prevalent and pressing, there’s never been a more important time for us — both individually and collectively — to play our part in protecting the environment.

And, as a valued Cadw member, there are various simple things that you can consider doing when visiting our sites that will help to create the positive impact that is so desperately needed.

One of those things includes leaving your car at home (where possible!) and using an alternative means of transport to travel to one of our sites. From walking and cycling to train or electric car hire, here are some of our top tips on the more environmentally friendly ways you can enjoy your next day out with us!

Castell Coch, Cardiff, is located near the Taff Trail.

Castell Coch by bike Wales’ fairy-tale castle can be found at the end of a picturesque 6.5-mile (10.5km) stretch of the Taff Trail, beginning at Bute Park in Cardiff city centre. A light, easy route that is regularly enjoyed by experienced and novice cyclists alike, the trail also comprises some equally fascinating historical landmarks along the way, including the Melingriffith Water Pump, dating back to 1807; the pump is nestled along the route between Llandaff and Tongwynlais.

Caerphilly Castle by train A mere five-minute walk from the town’s train station, this medieval powerhouse is easily accessible by rail. And, with the journey boasting plenty of interesting rail-side sights along the way, catching the train provides another adventure entirely!

Tintern Abbey by foot There are two equally spectacular walking routes that allow you to visit Tintern Abbey, both of which make the very most of the local area’s beauty. The first — along the Offa’s Dyke Path — boasts unrivalled views of the Wye valley, countryside and Black Mountains. The second route, known as the Wye Valley Walk, also features incredible valley vistas, not to mention Michelin-star restaurant, The Whitebrook. Either way, you’re in for a truly memorable experience!

Skenfrith Castle, in the beautiful Monmouthshire countryside.

Visit Cadw sites as part of an eco-friendly holiday If you’re looking to book an eco-break in Wales in the near future, why not consider twinning your getaway with a trip to a nearby Cadw site? Many Cadw sites are situated in close proximity to eco-friendly and sustainable places to stay. To find out more, visit visitwales.com/eco Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle by foot Last, but by no means least, is what’s known as the Three Castles Walk. Eco- and walker-friendly in equal measure, this captivating, 31km (19-mile) circular walk across north-east Monmouthshire allows individuals to revel in the area’s trio of medieval fortresses.

So, what are you waiting for? Make your next visit a greener one.

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Welsh Slate:

Archaeology and History of an Industry This book sets the scene for the successful campaign to achieve World Heritage status for the Slate Landscape of North-West Wales, making it the fourth World Heritage Site in Wales.

By the late nineteenth century, as many as a third of all the roofing slates produced worldwide came from Wales, competing with quarries in France and the United States.

Written by Dr David Gwyn with Louise Barker, Welsh Slate traces the slate industry from its origins in the Roman period and its slow medieval development, to its massive expansion in the nineteenth century and decline in the twentieth century. The book draws not only on the extensive industrial archaeology of the quarries themselves, but also on documentary sources, building up a total picture of this distinctive industry — ‘the most Welsh of Welsh industries’.

Left Single-storey, slate-built barracks at Dinorwig Quarry, Gwynedd, built to accommodate quarry workers.

The 300-page book examines the quarries and the ways in which the rock was worked, including the mills where the raw blocks were shaped and sawn and then hand-split to make slates. It also explores the technologies that made the quarries possible: the networks of internal railway, the transport systems that took the finished slates to the harbour or to the main line and the sailing ships that exported them all over the globe.

The distinctive communities created by the quarrymen and their families are described in detail. Towns like Bethesda and Blaenau Ffestiniog and villages like Deiniolen, Talysarn and Abergynolwyn are now acknowledged as outstanding examples of Victorian industrial settlements.

Right A slate-maker trimming slate at a quarry in Gwynedd.

Images © Crown copyright: RCAHMW

The book is superbly illustrated with 248 full-colour images and aerial photographs from the National Monuments Record of Wales, historic images, and maps and drawings.

Published by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Welsh Slate is available in Welsh or English for £45.

Offer for Cadw members To celebrate World Heritage status, Cadw members are being offered a £10 discount by quoting CADW35 when ordering from the Royal Commission’s online bookshop (shop/rcahmw. gov.uk) or by telephone 01970 621248. The total price is £35 with free packing and postage.

Offer ends 28 February 2022.

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Segontium Roman Fort, Gwynedd, is visible in the bottom right-hand corner, with Caernarfon Castle beyond.

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A spotlight on…

Segontium Roman Fort

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On the outskirts of Caernarfon, bisected by the A4085, lie the remains of a fortress that marked the completion of the Roman conquest of Wales and then passed into legend. Taking its name from the nearby river Seiont, the fortress was named Segontium.

It is likely that the first works at Segontium began towards the end of AD 77 following the suppression of the rebellious native tribe, known as the Ordovices, and the capture of the isle of Mona (modern Anglesey) by the Governor of Britannia, Cnaeus Julius Agricola. Combined with numerous lesser forts and linked by Roman roads to the major bases at Deva Victrix (Chester) and Isca (Caerleon), Segontium became the military and administrative centre of north-west Wales for over 300 years.

Designed to hold a 1,000-strong regiment of auxiliary infantrymen, the fort was shaped like a playing card with defences of earth and timber, symmetrically placed gates and streets of timber-framed buildings. Still clearly visible after nearly 2,000 years are the remains of a shrine, a strongroom for the pay-chest and the basilica where the commanding officer would issue orders and hold courts martial.

The fort was surrounded by a settlement, or vicus, full of camp followers, traders and eventually the families of soldiers.

Out here you can find traces of the garrison bathhouse, a mansio (guest house) and a temple to the god Mithras.

Coins recovered from excavations show that Segontium was garrisoned until about AD 394. This long occupation, unique in Wales, is likely due to the fort’s strategic position alongside the Menai Strait, controlling access to Anglesey’s fertile lands and mineral deposits and defending the Welsh coast against Irish raiders.

Segontium’s significance did not end with the departure of the Roman legions, passing instead into legend as the great castle of Eudaf Hen, King of the Britons and legendary ancestor of King Arthur.

His daughter’s marriage to the emperor Magnus Maximus is famously related in the Dream of Macsen Wledig, part of the Mabinogion — a remembrance of imperial times that remained long after those who had lived them were gone.

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MEMBERS' AREA

Crossword competition

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, we cannot accept entries by post. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Alternatively, you can take a photo with your phone or tablet and email it to cadwmarketing@gov.wales with ‘Crossword competition’ in the subject line. If you submit an image of a completed crossword by email, the crossword must be fully legible.

The closing date for the competition is 31 January 2022.

Terms & Conditions The prize is two cushions and one throw, courtesy of Tweedmill Textiles. The prize has no cash value or alternative and is non-transferable. By participating in the competition, entrants are agreeing to receive email newsletters from Cadw until such time as they unsubscribe. The competition is not open to employees of Cadw or Equinox or members of their families.

Winner’s announcement Congratulations go to… Clare Broome from Ludlow, Shropshire, who completed issue 72’s Cadw crossword correctly and won a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ90 camera.

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H E R I TAG E I N WA L E S

You can find all the answers in this edition of Heritage in Wales — good luck!

Across 5

What style of prison is Ruthin Gaol? (11)

6 Which former chapel in Bangor was used as a broadcasting centre by the BBC during the Second World War? (10) 8 James_____was one of 5,000 workers transferred out of London to buildings like the Imperial Hotel in Llandudno. (9) 9 Which type of grass is being removed from raised peat bogs to stop them drying out? (7) 12 What form of underfloor heating was inserted into the tribunal of Caerwent’s forum-basilica? (9)

Win some luxurious home accessories, courtesy of

Tweedmill Textiles 2 Pure New Wool Cushions (50x50cm) and 1 Pure New Wool Throw (150x183cm).

13 The Roman civilian settlement at Caerwent was founded for which tribe? (7) 16 Which natural force was used in Victorian times to propel wagons downhill along what is now the Ffestiniog Railway? (7) 17 What was Paul Robeson’s voice type? (8) 18 The forum-basilica at Caerwent was probably built during the reign of which Roman emperor? (7) 19 What tradition incorporating poetry competitions, readings and debates was unique to the Welsh slate industry? (3,5)

Down 1

t which beach in Pembrokeshire have archaeologists A been excavating the remains of a chapel? (10)

2 The great storm of 2014 damaged a Victorian shelter on which town’s seafront? (11) 3 At which quarry did slate workers go on strike for three years in 1900? (7) 4 Paul Robeson sang via telephone to an audience of 5,000 at which seaside town’s pavilion? (9) 7 Welsh slate quarrying first began during which period of Welsh history? (5) 8 Local people and volunteers have been taking part in a community excavation at which promontory fort? (7) 10 The Royal Dutch Navy used which Welsh port as their base during the Second World War? (8) 11 Which miners’ convalescent home was supported by Paul Robeson, including giving private performances for the patients? (8) 14 Where was Frances Batty Shand born? (7) 15 The Roman _______ was an administrative region similar to a modern county. (7)

Tweedmill is a British brand established in 1971, renowned for its creativity, reliability and quality. A family-run company, Tweedmill is always striving to create new and exciting textile products, while keeping the value and quality we are known for.

Situated next to Flint Castle in the historical town of Flint, our designs are influenced by the colours and serenity of the surrounding area. With local woodlands, nature reserves and the river Dee on our doorstep, we have been inspired to create a fantastic and diverse range of products.

We have been working with Cadw for nearly 20 years, producing an extensive and colourful choice of key textile products consisting of throws, cushions and picnic rugs. Our products are produced from a wide range of materials, specialising in Pure New Wool and Tweed production.

Our homewares are available for sale in Cadw shops and would make perfect presents for the festive season.

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Share your historic what, where and when on social media...

Denbigh Castle; 923Dan

TripAdvisor Castell Coch; wednesdayDerbyshire Fun passing visit to pretty castle.

Walked here from our hotel (the village) to walk off our breakfast.

Well sign posted and nice route via taff trail under the roads. Walked around the castle and then through the woods — worth a visit.

Denbigh Castle, Denbighshire.

Highlight of our trip to Denbigh.

Stunning castle ruin overlooking Denbigh — well maintained by Cadw.

Pre-booked free ticket using our Cadw membership. Friendly and helpful staff in the gift shop / visitors centre / café. Lots of info boards. Good covid awareness and sanitiser in place.

Clean and tidy toilets. Lots of places for the kids to explore with their free activity sheets. Well done Cadw.

Twitter Instagram Rebecca Tyson @Tyguson My daughter has been here [Tintern Abbey] many times in her young life, and I am so happy to see that her excitement to explore is there every time we visit. I hope it lasts her whole life, as it has mine.

Dr Charlotte Young @charlie_l_y Beaumaris Castle. Wow. No further comment needed.

Facebook Lucy Victoria Mary Lewis Ooooh this is exciting! [new visitor centre at Tretower Court and Castle] We visited for the first time a few months ago and loved it, so we’ll definitely be back!

Ed Jones Great to see additional access being made possible [Caernarfon Castle King’s Gate project].

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Wxmmerv Spent a lovely morning at Llangollen’s beautiful Valle Crucis Abbey, courtesy of Cadw’s open day. Served as a timely reminder to renew our Cadw membership — great value opportunity to visit some amazing historic buildings.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Holyhead Mountain Hut Group Caer y Twr ˆ Hillfort Caer Gybi Roman Fortlet Penrhos Feilw Standing Stones Tyˆ Mawr Standing Stone Trefignath Burial Chamber Tregwehelydd Standing Stone Presaddfed Burial Chamber Tyˆ Newydd Burial Chamber Barclodiad y Gawres Burial Chamber Din Dryfol Burial Chamber Bodowyr Burial Chamber Castell Bryn Gwyn Caer Lêb Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber Hafoty Medieval House

1

Capel Lligwy Lligwy Burial Chamber Din Lligwy Penmon Priory Maen Achwyfan 2 Hut Group and St Seiriol’s Well 3 Cross 7 Penmon Cross Conwy Castle Basingwerk and Dovecot and Town Walls ISLE OF 8 4 Abbey 5 16 ANGLESEY Rhuddlan Castle Plas 9 and Twthill 6 Flint Castle 11 15 Mawr Beaumaris St Winifred’s Chapel 14 Castle and Holy Well 10 Denbigh Friary, Leicester’s Church 12 Ewloe and St Hilary’s Chapel FLINTSHIRE Castle 13 Segontium CONWY Caernarfon Castle Denbigh Castle Roman Fort Caergwrle and Town Walls Gwydir Uchaf and Town Walls Castle Chapel DENBIGHSHIRE Dolbadarn Derwen Churchyard Capel Garmon Cae’r Gors Castle Cross Burial Chamber Eliseg’s Dolwyddelan Pillar Castle Rug Chapel St Cybi’s WREXHAM Well Llangar Criccieth Valle Crucis Abbey Old Parish Church Castle Penarth Fawr GWYNEDD Medieval House Harlech Castle Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chamber Cymer Abbey

Prehistoric site

Pont Minllyn

Roman site Castell y Bere

Castle, historic house, palace

Montgomery Castle

Religious site Historic industrial site

Dolforwyn Castle

Dyfi Furnace

Bryntail Lead Mine

Other historic site

0 Kilometres

30

15 10

0 Miles

POWYS

Strata Florida Abbey

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CEREDIGION

St Dogmaels Abbey Cilgerran Castle Carreg Coetan Arthur Burial Chamber St Davids Bishop’s Palace St Non’s Chapel

Dryslwyn Castle CARMARTHENSHIRE

PEMBROKESHIRE Wiston Castle Llawhaden Castle

Carreg Cennen Castle

Llanthony Priory

N FAE TOR

FIL YD

NEATH PORT TALBOT

Hen Gwrt Moated Site Monmouth Castle Blaenavon Raglan Ironworks Castle MONMOUTHSHIRE Tintern Abbey Chepstow Castle and Port Wall CAERPHILLY Caerleon 20 Roman Fortress 19 U NA T AE EN BL GW

Kidwelly Castle

Heritage Cottage RHONDDA Swansea Castle SWANSEA CYNON TAF Parc le Breos Weobley Castle BRIDGEND Caerphilly Castle Burial Chamber Margam Castell Coch Stones Museum Coity Castle Oxwich Castle CARDIFF Newcastle (Bridgend) Tinkinswood St Quentin’s Burial Chamber Castle Ogmore Ewenny Castle Priory St Lythans Old Beaupre Castle Burial Chamber

So many Cadw sites waiting to be discovered...

Loughor Castle

Grosmont Castle Skenfrith Castle White Castle

Tretower Castle and Court

Llansteffan Laugharne Castle Castle

Carew Cross Carswell Medieval House Lamphey Bishop’s Palace

Dinefwr Castle

Bronllys Castle Brecon Gaer Roman Fort

T YR RTH ME

Haverfordwest Priory

Talley Abbey

Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber

Neath Abbey

NEWPORT

18 17

Newport Castle 17 Caerwent Roman Town 18 Runston Chapel 19 Chepstow Bulwarks Camp 20 Llanmelin Wood Hillfort

THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN

49

Cadw is the Welsh Government’s historic environment service working for an accessible and well-protected historic environment for Wales. © Crown copyright (2021) Cadw

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The magazine content was correct at the time of going to print.

Image: Penrhyn Slate Quarry, Gwynedd. © Crown copyright: RCAHMW

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ISSUE 73