After a night of heavy rainfall that eventually cleared to blue skies and warm sunshine just as the weather forecast had predicted, five walkers met Geraint and his sheepdog Patch in order to visit the ancient hill forts at Dinas Powys and Caerau. Although it was muddy underfoot with plenty of surface water the day remained warm and dry.
Crossing the stone bridge over a swollen Cadoxton River and passing two lovely horses complete with coats to keep them warm, the group tramped the narrow path below the site of Dinas Powys Castle and through the newly installed metal kissing gates to paddle through their first lot of mud at the Millfields.
Then deviating from the field and scrambling up a steep muddy path they reached the site of the Dinas Powys hill fort where Geraint shared his knowledge of the history of the site with the group. The Iron Age site was found by Sir Mortimer Wheeler a British archaeologist who with his friend Leslie Alcock, a leading archaeologist specialising in early medieval Britain, organised a series of digs during the mid to late 1950’s at the site which was named Cwm George Camp.
The fort consists of four sets of banks and deep ditches and was not defended to the north, east or west due to the steepness of the hillsides and now there are wooden steps leading up through the ditches, placed there in order to preserve the site. It is situated close enough to the sea where there were landing places and the spectacular views would have stretched south as far as Glastonbury Tor. They discovered pottery and amphora or storage jars which were used for transporting wine, olive oil and fish sauce from Syria some 3,000 miles on a 6 month sea voyage to the fort, along with glass beakers and crystal cups with round bases that would have been used by the occupants when feasting, along with cooking jars for storing salt and spices.
The defences of the fort outweighed its actual size and it is likely that the living area was occupied by just one household although there could have been two houses on the site so there could have been up to a dozen people sharing the living space. Thousands of animal bones were uncovered, which had been butchered and burnt mostly from small pigs which were obtained from outside sources and in those days if you could prove that your tenants built the ramparts around your house you could claim Royal status! During the Roman era people were educated, refined, speaking Latin and living in pleasant houses and it is possible that the people residing at this site were Roman aristocrats. However when the Romans left Britain it became lawless with no one to keep the slaves in order, so people were often provided with land and food to encourage them to protect the self-made aristocracy who had set themselves up in forts, castles and villas, a sort of Rent-a-Security Officer!
They descended the easy way passing through the Ty’n y Coed Earthworks site which initially was thought to be part of the hill fort and several digs have failed to turn up any clues as to what it was really used for. The whole of the site is owned by the Woodland Trust but cared for by Cadw and descending the hillside they found some interesting fungi below the wooden steps which have been placed on the steep footpath in order to make access and egress much easier for people.
Descending into Cwm George they enjoyed a fine view back through the glorious beech wood, where the trees had lost their multi-coloured leaves that had fallen onto the ground forming a beautiful late autumnal carpet. Passing several dog-walkers they continued through the steep-sided cwm, then through a gate to walk beside open fields from where there were misty views up to Garth Hill.
Arriving at the old stone bridge across the Cadoxton River, formed by the confluence of the Wrinstone and Bullcroft brooks, the river was extremely high and fast flowing following nights of heavy rainfall and an awkward wooden stile led them out to the lane by Bullcroft.
Continuing along Cwrt-yr-Ala Road past the salmon leaps and the unit where the cows produce the milk which is used to make Fablas ice cream, further on the leader pointed out an old WW2 bunker in the field, half hidden by foliage which held generators to switch on a series of lights hopefully to confuse German bombers during air raids.
Passing through a gate beside which a large amount of bagged rubbish and an old fridge were dumped, the rough track ahead contained great puddles of water and thick soft mud as they entered The Lawns, which originally was the main drive to the Cwrt-yr-Ala estate and continues through to Caerau.
The open land has been fenced off and contains horses and further along the track they passed a paddock containing alpacas which originate from west-central South America and are closely related to the Llama. The Alpaca was domesticated and bred mainly for its fleece which is used in the woollen industry with its meat as a secondary choice. Sharing the field there were five baby rheas along with what appeared to be their parents who came down to the dividing fence and stared at the group as they passed by.
The track came out under the A4232 and climbing over a gate to follow a grassy track, then a steep path uphill that was running with water, they entered the massive Caerau hill fort which stands above Caerau, which is derived from the Welsh caer meaning fort and the estate grew up after the Second World War.
This massive hill fort is around 12.5-acres in size with two sides protected by three sets of banks and ditches but nowadays just appears to be a huge flat field with surrounding banks. There is a ringwork in the north-eastern corner, overlooking the A4232 which possibly dates to the 12th century and this site occupies a fantastic position with views overlooking the Taff and Ely valleys. The ringwork has no mound only an enclosing bank with a ditch outside and at the top of the bank would have stood a palisade along with an entrance tower which would have doubled up as a keep and on this occasion the only occupants were two horses quietly grazing!
Situated within the fort are the peaceful ruins of the medieval St Mary’s Church which was built on the site of an earlier church between 1254 and 1291 and following the Reformation when King Henry VIII broke away from Rome, the Protestants wrecked the interiors of most churches including this one, and the roof and wall murals were covered in whitewash and re-plastered with many ornaments being stolen and sold. In 1553 the parish became Catholic once more and it is said some of Cromwell’s soldiers hid inside the church following the Battle of St Fagans.
Over the centuries that followed the church was in need of much repair and in 1885 the church was restored and three years later the Sexton found a skeleton and some 17th century buttons plus a coin whilst digging close to the yew tree in the churchyard. Then in 1937 the yew tree was set alight by vandals after which precious ornaments and the contents of the offertory box were stolen.
The church was closed in 1957 but the vandalism continued and the church became a ruin with no roof, whilst windows and doors were bricked up. The communion rail however remained intact and later the Rev Victor Jones known as Father Jones set about restoration and camped at the church during the re-building, so building materials would not be stolen. The altar was re-consecrated in 1961 after which services, christenings, burials and weddings continued and after Father Jones left in January 1962 to become a Padre with the Royal Navy the building eventually fell into ruins once more. Recalling his time at St Mary’s you can access Father Jones memories at www.stmaryscaerau.org/mem_fatherjones.html
The stone seating in what was once the entrance to the church made the perfect place to stop for late morning coffee in the sunshine whilst Patch made himself comfy on the wall.
The CAER Heritage Project was set up with the help of Cardiff University, Action Caerau and local schools and residents and in the summer of 2014 a dig was set up where members of the public were encouraged to take part. During that time evidence was found in the shape of flint tools and arrow heads that date back not to the Iron Age but to the Neolithic era or the New Stone Age some 5,000 years prior to the date originally given to the site.
Afterwards, they ventured through the ditches and through the site of the ringwork castle where the view across the sprawling capital of Cardiff was amazing and the next few minutes were spent identifying landmarks such as The Garth, Castell Coch, Llandaff Cathedral, the tax office and Rudry.
A muddy and partly concreted pathway which no doubt was the main way up to the church led them downhill into Caerau and following pavements past a newly created park on the outskirts, which has paths and an entrance gate but apparently no name, they moved on to Caerau Lane.
At Mary Immaculate High School, they passed the entrance to Wenvoe Jubilee Wood with its brand new waymarker sign. The project was launched in February 2013 in a field to the west of the school as part of the Woodland Trust project, where 6,000 trees have been planted including yew, hawthorn, oak, field maple and aspen. The Woodland Trust Jubilee Woods project aims to plant six million trees throughout the country, to benefit wildlife and people by storing carbon and the woodland will also stabilise the soil and generate much needed oxygen and will be open to the public. Craning over the hedge line it was just possible to make out part of the field where the saplings have been planted as they moved on.
Deviating along the lane past the main entrance to Wenvoe Quarry and continuing past Alps Farm there were glorious views across the valley towards Wenvoe village highlighted in the afternoon sunshine.
Further along the lane and entering a field, they headed up the long field of Cwm Slade, spoiled only by the line of tall electricity pylons that passes through the middle and reaching the muddy stile leading into the woods they tramped back to The Lawns and headed back beside fields filled with grazing sheep towards Michaelston-super-Ely.
Following the lane past Cwrt-yr-Ala House, some of the trees were still displaying their beautiful autumnal colours’ and dropping gently downhill in glorious, still warm late autumnal sunshine they perched along the parapet of the old bridge below the salmon leaps and enjoyed a late lunch.
Then following tracks and fields through kissing gates back to the Millfield a pause to view minute fungi growing on top of the gatepost before they returned to Dinas Powys after what had been a glorious tramp back through time.
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