Strata Florida Project

The Strata Florida Research Project:

The Environs

Beyond the precinct is an area where the monks of Strata Florida seem to have had their most influence in re-shaping the landscape and the exploitation of resources: this seems to have been known as a coherent demesne, although by the 16th century it seems to have been divided between two separate granges. This is an enigma which on-going research is addressing and is part of wider European re-examination of the supposition that the grange was a system of direct farming, established at the inception of individual houses.

Place-name evidence: The primary evidence for the existence of a zone of intensive demesne around the Abbey is, at the moment, a very distinctive and coherent cluster of place-names and some initial field observations of land-use and related occupation sites. These names, most of which are documented from the Middle Ages, are: 

• Dolebolion: the Meadow of the Foals: perhaps reference to a horse farm 
• Dolbeudiau: the Meadow of the Cow-sheds: perhaps reference to a dairying centre 
• Dolyrychain: the Meadow of the Oxen: perhaps a reference to where the draught animals were kept and perhaps bred. 
• Dolfawr: the Great Meadow: perhaps reference to the main hay meadows 
• Brynhope: perhaps, more speculatively the Hill of the Pigs: perhaps reference to a pig farm
• Bron y Berllan: the Hill-slope of the Orchard
• Cae Mawr: the Great Field: perhaps reference to the main arable farm
• Coed Abaty: Abbey Wood.

This core of names is a potentially comprehensive list of the principal elements of agrarian production needed for the direct maintenance of the Abbey complex itself. We may be able to add the existence of Pontrhydefendigaid itself as the site of the demesne village housing the labour force as well as one of the main demesne mills of the Abbey and its fulling mill for cloth production. To the east also on the edge of the upland, and importantly adjacent to this core lowland demesne, there appear to be at least three, if not four, sites marked by the earthworks of large barns and other structures which might suggest, bercaria or sheep-houses managing the great Abbey flocks on the Cambrian Mountains. One of these (Troed y Rhiw) has been studied in detail by Andrew Fleming and Louise Barker.

Abbey Wood: What is likely, in origin, to have been the demesne wood of the Abbey lies just to the south of the precinct on relatively flat or gently sloping land. This is today both a SSSI and a PAWS and contains some wonderful trees and other plant ecology, some of which show traces of long-term management. Katie Fretwell’s analysis of part of this woodland (funded by KEF grant: HE-08-FSP-1001) suggests that it was clear-felled at some point in the Great War although the managed elements seem to have survived, particularly along the sides of deep denes cut by small streams through the boulder clay. 

What is also remarkable about this woodland is the wealth of earthworks which can be seen throughout its area. These are being surveyed by Louise Barker of the RCAHMW and contain, inter alia, traces of a roadway (and bridge abutments) edged by a masonry wall cut away at both ends by the canalised Afon Glasffrwd, a very large kiln which has been trial excavated, clay mounds, a possible clay quarry, and a boggy area which other trial excavations have shown to be a possible settling tank for clays. There are also numerous signs of complex water management, field clearance and trackways, some related to at least two complexes of buildings and enclosures. The work here is continuing and the completion of the survey should give greater clarity to the interpretation and permit the development of a strategy to see whether any of these features pre-date the establishment of the wood.

Photo: View of the road through the woods (David Austin).

Mining: Within the demesne core, on the north-side between the farm-houses of Bron y Berllan and Dolebolion there are the extensive remains of lead mining, much of which can be attributed to a period post-1850 when there was extensive exploitation as Strata Florida or Strata Florida Consol Mine. This stopped production in the 1930’s and its remains were extensively cleared in the 1980’s.  This complex of earthworks, especially those on the flanks of Pen y Bannau, together with the architectures of mining and miners in the area are being studied in a PhD research programme by David Sables. In the summer of 2006, some of these earthworks were examined more closely and some trial excavation undertaken, funded by the Ceredigion County Council’s project The Spirit of the Miners (follow external link). This work focussed in particular on a linear group of pits which could be identified from early 19th century surveys on which they were marked as ‘old mine works’. Lead, zinc and copper concentrations in various spoils, sediments and soils in the vicinity of these works have also been investigated by Dr John Crowther (funded by KEF grant: HE-08-FSP-1001) in order to investigate the nature and extent of the area affected by mining activity. Initial findings suggested that, although these were re-worked in the later 19th century this group of pits may represent a focus of early, possibly medieval, mining for lead and silver where the ore lodes were relatively close to the surface. If medieval, this complex may, on its own demesne, be part of the Abbey’s own direct production of metals needed for building and other purposes. The contribution of the Cistercians in bringing new or revived technologies, especially those of water power, to the extractive industries is already well understood in other parts of Europe. This work on the mines and their social and landscape contexts is seen as a contribution towards the important work of the Early Mines Research Group who are researching much more extensively in Wales, especially through the work of Simon Timberlake and his associates, particularly at Cwmystwyth on another grange of Strata Florida (follow external links).

Photo: 4.9  Trench Bron y Berllan Mines 2: the adit (Daniel Jones).