Excavating a house platform at Cwmffwrn

*** Video of our excavation is now available here ***

Abbey Cwmhir Heritage Trust have been very fortunate to be able to investigate one of these ancient farmsteads first hand and look for evidence of how our ancestors lived.  A grant from the Shared Prosperity Fund allowed us to use the help of professional archaeologists Jenny Hall and Paul Sambrook of Trysor to dig for the second year at a site called Cwmffwrn near the Cistercian Abbey of Cwmhir in Radnorshire.  Prior to our excavations, the site was simply a few humps and bumps on a hillside – but when our earlier surveys in the area suggested that the site might have been an ancient habitation we were keen to investigate!

After site clearance and preparation last year, we held a four-day excavation in July 2024 with public participation on two days.  Over the course of the dig, we explored an earthwork site which has two distinct platforms or levels.  To either side of the upper platform was a drainage ditch.  Water management around the platform was obviously important and there was great excitement when a shallow stone-built drain was unearthed on the upper platform itself designed to help keep the platform dry.  When cleared, remarkably, it still functioned!

The upper platform has all the characteristics of an earthwork platform of medieval or early post medieval date. Platforms of this type are commonly found on the hills of Radnorshire, cut into the slope at right-angles to the hillside, with a slightly sloping platform surface, and often with drainage gullies around the sides to keep it dry.

There was no evidence for a stone building on the platform. Possible post-holes and a sill beam slot, suggest that a timber framed building may have stood on the platform.  Clay patches may have  derived from the walls of such a building.  There was no evidence of slate, stone or tile roofing suggesting a building may have had a thatched roof.

Platform houses of this type do not usually have an additional platform and therefore our lower platform may have been added later – maybe as a storage area or to house an ancillary structure.  A small amount of charcoal was found within the make-up of the lower platform and this has been analysed to give a radiocarbon date between 1510 – 1668 AD, i.e. probably early post-medieval. (16^th or 17^th century).

So what have we learnt so far about how our ancestors lived at this mountainous location?

• Our site is may be medieval or early post-medieval, so we are looking at how our ancestors lived at least 400 years ago.

• Although undoubtedly a common occurrence, there is surprisingly little written about farmsteads like this, as most research has concentrated in the houses of the rich and powerful, that were usually built on favourable lowland sites.

• Our ancestors chose a site where they could build into the hillside, to give some weather protection. And we witnessed during our dig that the location that they chose was brilliant! – as we watched storm clouds pass over the area, but we remained dry. Its also sheltered from the prevailing winds.

• Building a drain at the back of the platform would have kept the floor of the platform dry and diverted any spring flows from the hillside around the building. Remarkable that it still functioned.  The slight slope of the upper platform surface would have further helped to keep this area dry.

• Building in timber made good sense.  Old maps show extensive old woodland nearby, and we know that good building stone is scarce in this valley.

But when was the site first inhabited and what was the purpose of the lower platform?  To answer these questions, we must resume our excavation next year, and by digging deeper that the site, we hope to find pottery or further charcoal remains that would give us even more information about the occupancy of the site.  It is close to the abbey and also on to a route that the monks would have taken to travel to their distant granges and other abbeys such as Strata Florida on the far side of the Cambrian mountains – and there is even the possibility that the Abbey lay-brothers farmed this land.

Jenny and Paul delivering an on-line talk about the finding of the excavation and this can be viewed here.

Images from our 2024 excavation