The Settlements of Northwest Wales

From the Late Bronze Age to the Early Medieval Period

Author(s) Kate Waddington

Language: English

Genre(s): Welsh Interest, History

  • October 2013 · 416 pages ·246x189mm

  • · Hardback - 9780708326664

About The Book

This volume examines long-term processes of social change and settlement practices in later prehistoric and early medieval Wales. As a case-study, it examines the settlement archaeology of north-west Wales encompassing the counties of Gwynedd, Anglesey and west Conwy, and covering a period of two millennia from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Early Medieval period (1150 BC - AD 1050). The shifting dynamics underlying society are examined throughout this period in the introductory chapters via an exploration of settlement and hill fort architectures, the distribution patterns of site-types, and the histories of particular places, with comparisons drawn from the evidence in other regions of Britain and Ireland. Much of the data comes from the grey literatures and Gwynedd Archaeological Trust Historic Environment Record, making much unpublished information available for the first time.

Endorsements

"Elegantly written and illustrated, Kate Waddington's detailed and scholarly account of the settlements and enclosures of northwest Wales fills a considerable gap in the literature--highly recommended."--Ian Brown, University of Oxford

Contents

Introduction A long tradition of fieldwork in northwest Wales The settlement study: methodology and organisation Structure Chapter One: The settlements in context The Later Bronze Age and Earliest Iron Age The Iron Age The Romano-British period The Early Medieval period Chapter 2: Settlement forms and classifications Earlier settlement classifications (non-hillfort sites) Previous interpretations Earlier hillfort classifications Previous interpretations The settlement classifications employed in this study The unenclosed settlements (Type A): definitions and chronologies The enclosed settlements (Type B): definitions and chronologies Unclassified settlements (Type C) Hillforts: definitions and chronologies Roundhouse construction Conclusion Chapter 3: A spatial analysis of the settlements The study area Aberconwy Arfon Anglesey Dwyfor Meirionnydd The prehistoric and early historic environments in northwest Wales The distributions of the main settlement types Altitude and location preferences The associations between settlement types and fields Unenclosed and enclosed settlements Hillforts Distributions of unenclosed settlement types Distributions of enclosed settlement types Distributions of hillfort types Small hillforts Medium hillforts Large hillforts Hillfort shape Hillfort and fields Hillfort groups and pairs Discussion Chapter 4: Settlement biographies Scattered single roundhouses Enclosures and large roundhouses: the first half of the first millennium BC The first enclosed settlements The first hillforts Hillforts in the first millennium BC Later Iron Age settlements New settlement practices of the Late Iron Age and Romano-British periods Early medieval settlements Discussion Conclusions Chapter 5: Conclusion Chapter Six: The Settlement Gazetteer Structure of the settlement gazetteer List of excavated sites in Aberconwy List of excavated sites in Anglesey List of excavated sites in Gwynedd Arfon List of excavated sites in Gwynedd Dwyfor List of excavated sites in Gwynedd Meirionnydd Gazetteer of sites Aberconwy Hillforts Enclosed settlements Unenclosed settlements Unclassified settlements Gazetteer of sites in Anglesey Hillforts Enclosed settlements Unenclosed settlements Unclassified settlements Gazetteer of sites in Gwynedd Arfon Hillforts Enclosed settlements Unenclosed settlements Unclassified settlements Gazetteer of sites in Gwynedd Dwyfor Hillforts Enclosed settlements Unenclosed settlements Unclassified settlements Gazetteer of sites in Gwynedd Meirionnydd Hillforts Enclosed settlements Unenclosed settlements Unclassified settlements

About the Author(s)

Author(s): Kate Waddington

Dr Kate Waddington is a Lecturer in Archaeology at Bangor University. She specializes in the settlement and material culture practices of British later prehistory, particularly the Late Bronze Age and earlier Iron Age of England and Wales.

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