A tour of Roman Caerleon

On Saturday 30th April 2016 the ACS spent the day at Caerleon, with our venerable Archaeologist as a most knowledgeable and entertaining   guide.  We visited the Barracks , the Amphitheatre , the Baths and the Museum with a spot of lunch in the pleasant surroundings of the Hanbury Arms.

There was almost a modern day Gladitorial  contest within the Amphitheatre when a young father was politely requested to stop his small son climbing all over the  walls of the preserved monument.  The aforementioned (supposedly responsible)  adult took great offence at the request  ( it’s only a pile of old stones innit ? )  and  (what’s  it got to do with you , my kid can play where he likes ) before lumbering  off , his knuckles making little streaks along the finely mown grass  to continue  his football game within those ancient walls. The child was later seen still engaged in his mountaineering activities with his father looking on.

We cannot corroborate reports that a similar looking young man was later seen to be chased by an older somewhat agitated bearded gentleman wildly swinging a CADW sign in wide swinging chopping motions .

To see some photos of the trip , please click the link below which will take you to our Flickr photo album.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskz2Bpqo

Update from the water wheel barn.

With recording of the cider mill trenches in progress , this afternoon we have switched our man ( and lady)  power to the other side of the site to clear the water wheel barn floor.

Here is the map of the site again to explain where we are 

Only a few members left at the cider mill trench now , tidying and squaring off  ready for recording.

Over at the water wheel barn , the rest of our diggers have been busy clearing away the debris from the floor of the area , which has been no mean feat !

After a monumental struggle , the floor of this area was cleared of debris only to find a layer of concrete several inches thick . There was a large oily deposit on the floor , and several trees growing through the concrete suggesting that possibly the floor may have been drilled for machinery , but over the passage of time the holes became seeded with trees resulting in the tropical rain forest we first  encountered within this area .

The layer of concrete is too thick for our diggers to break up with our digging  tools , so unfortunately we will not be able to lift the surface to expose what was underneath without heavy equipment .

Sorry , no photos of the cleared area today , my Iphone battery had enough of my continual blogging and decided it didn’t want to play anymore and turned itself off .

That’s all for today folks, check back in at 9am (ish) tomorrow to follow our progress on the last day of what has so far been a fantastic event .

Site Layout

Here is a little sketch of the site to give you an idea of the layout . It is not accurate , just my interpretation of where things are located . 

Judging by the amount of foliage around the site , this image was taken before remedial works to the site began in earnest . It is far less overgrown now .

If you wish to see  the google maps view from where this annotated screenshot was taken  , please click this link

Llanyrafon Cwmbran 

Also not to be forgotten is llanyrafon Mill , located just across the road from the Manor

http://www.welshmills.org.uk/llanyrafon.m0.html

also see Nigel Jones’s excellent Cwmbran info site about the mill

http://www.cwmbran.info/text_info.htm

 

Craft Fair at llanyrafon Manor

The Ancient Cwmbran Society were in the news again this week , this time in Monday nights Argus . We have a stall at Llanyrafon Manor Craft Fair on the last Sunday of each month , where this picture of Richard was caught in his native environment . So why not pop along and have a look.