Day 1 Thursday 20th August

In all 23 people met at the Red Lion. Dr Bezant gave a short talk and explained what we hope to achieve over the 15 days of the project. Bob Sylvester (CPAT) gave the background to the maps available for the survey. He showed examples of the Badminton atlas (1587) and told us about his work using these maps in the Dyffryn Crawnon. He extended his talk to the later maps (1760) and showed an example of how encroachment had taken place on common land at Llangattock. Bob gave some helpful suggestions of tasks we might undertake, given that there are gaps in the area covered by the Badminton survey. He also directed us to some of the grey literature, which will allow us to research further.

After lunch we walked to a field site in Castle Road to assess how we might go about recording, and as the walk progressed ideas about the features we might like to cover, and the variety of methods we could use were generated. The walk continued on a triangular route back to top village where we took the opportunity to look at some of the older cottages and to look at Persondy Field, the site of excavations up to 2002.

Thank you to everybody who supported the first day. I look forward to day 2. As usual, meet in the car park opposite the village hall at 9.30. The focus for day 2 will be Pwyll Court and Court Farm. These can be found on the road from top village up the east side of the Dyffryn Crawnon. Walking from the church gate head up hill on the wider road and bear right in front of the Beaufort. Prepare for showers.