Strata Florida Project
The Strata Florida Research Project:
Current Programmes 1:
Strata Florida Landscape Project
This project will be looking at both the wider and core landscapes of Strata Florida in an attempt to enhance the holistic and long-term narratives which are so important historically and in terms of sustainable future management and use. In a sense this is a large and ambitious undertaking, but with careful sampling some key issues about the history and development of the upland landscapes of Wales will be addressed. Some of these issues are very pragmatic and largely empirical and relate particularly to the Research Framework for the Archaeology of Wales and its research strategy especially the medieval section. Among the key targets for the next five years will be:
The development of appropriate environmental strategies to examine the relationship between long-term Holocene processes and human intervention. A key focus will be the pollen record on which a great deal of work has been done. Two primary focuses are envisaged: the edge of Cors Caron and the related boggy terrains which run up towards the Abbey precinct; and smaller bog sites along the Afon Glasffrwd, especially those which lie close to the complex and changing boundary between the upland and lowland.
Photo: View southwards across Blaenglasffrwd (David Austin)
The identification of historic units of resource on the productive valley floors and hill-slopes: ancient farms. The archaeology and documentary history of these landscapes is difficult in methodological terms with so few surviving earthworks, with so much ploughed out and under permanent grass and with so few documents earlier than the sixteenth century. However, it is clear, from recent work, that it is possible to identify ancient farm units which are at least as old as the foundation grants of Strata Florida Abbey in the 12th century. These will be selectively examined, using intensive survey techniques and, where appropriate, excavation. A clear example is Maes Llyn a farm mentioned in the early grants on the southern edge of the core landscape of Strata Florida. Another more complicated example is the farm of Hen Fynachlog, present as an agrarian unit by the 13th century, but probably also the location for an antecedent to the present site of the Abbey.
Photo: Aerial photograph of Maes Llyn and Cors Caron (Toby Driver. Copyright: RCAHMW)
These will be examined in the context of local structures of power, not simply the Abbey itself, but also royal, aristocratic and freehold secular interests. There will be an attempt to understand the estate structures and the ways in which people acted within these frameworks.
Photo: Aerial photograph of Maes Llyn and Cors Caron (Toby Driver. Copyright: RCAHMW).
The detailed survey of the adjacent uplands in the core landscapes where sites are frequent, but often very difficult to date. These upland locations, although more apparent through survival as earthworks and ruins, are, however, problematic as they relate to complex strategies of exploitation largely dictated by the ancient farms and lordships which exercised control over them, including the Abbey itself. The upland also has traces of extensive settlements, especially in the post-medieval period, which were designated as ‘squatters’ under English law, but which were vital locations for the poor and alienated members of the local Welsh community and as such important in their stories of identity. The research will identify sites, survey a selection and conduct intensive investigation through a broad range of methodologies. A good example of this work is Troed y Rhiw where a separate project has been conducted and will be published soon.
Photo: Aerial photograph of Troed y Rhiw and Teifi Pools (Toby Driver. Copyright: RCAHMW).
The regional identity is also strongly influenced by industrial activity. This comes in the form of extractive industries, taking the heavy metal ores, notably lead, silver, gold occasionally and a little copper and zinc. This takes us back early into prehistory, but the most abundant signs are those of the last three or four hundred years. Another major industry was the production of cloth using water-power technologies which date back to the earlier middle ages. The traces of mills, ponds and leats are abundant throughout the upland and on the adjacent valley floors.
Photo: View from Abbey towards Bron y Berllan (David Austin).
Specific undertakings related to this project are:
Mapping the great estates and their antecedents: This project is being undertaken by Dr Jemma Bezant as a Research Assistant funded by HEFCW in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. The objective is to provide base digital mapping in GIS, drawing on documents and historic maps as sources for boundaries and land use in the core landscapes. This one-year project will establish a viable methodology and a number of worked examples operating at the scale of the core landscape and the ancient farms.
Hen Fynachlog: this is a student field project led by Dr Jemma Bezant examining the landscapes and surviving archaeology of the ancient farm of Hen Fynachlog.
Blaenaeron Grange: William Whiteley, as part of his doctoral research at UWL, has been looking at the Strata Florida grange of Blaenaeron situated on the western side of the core landscapes, on the interfluve between the Rivers Aeron and Teifi. The topography of east-west ridges divides the landscape into clear ancient farm units with open commons and rough grazing interspersed with boggy stream valleys, especially those draining into Cors Caron. How much earlier than the 12th century this basic anatomy of a landscape is will take some unravelling over the next few years.
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