This talk explores human activity in Radnorshire from the end of the last glaciation to the Roman conquest, giving a preview of the chapter currently in preparation for the Radnorshire Society’s forthcoming Radnorshire County History.
Although much of Radnorshire’s prehistory still remains unexplored, recent work, particularly in the Walton Basin near New Radnor, is suggesting that the distinctive pattern of land-use involving the seasonal exploitation of upland and lowland environments, which characterises this borderland county more recently is likely to have had its origins during much earlier times. What is known about the county’s early history is largely based upon what can be gleaned from aerial photographs of cropmark sites invisible at ground level, visible stones and earthworks of abandoned defended sites and burial mounds, and from chance finds. The talk gives examples which illustrate how these different kinds of evidence can contribute to our understanding of Radnorshire’s remotest past.
Bill Britnell, MBE, MA, FSA is a former Director of CPAT, now part of the new organisation known as Heneb – The Trust for Welsh Archaeology, and has been actively engaged in various of the Trust’s projects in Radnorshire, such as the Neolithic sites in the Walton Basin, Bronze Age cairns and later sites on Llanelwedd Rocks, and the Capel Maelog medieval church, Llandrindod Wells.
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