Welcome to the latest monthly edition of the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW) Archives Bulletin which lists all newly catalogued material. The archival items, library books and journal articles are all available to view in our public reading room. The full archive catalogue is available on Coflein and contains digital copies of many of the items listed. All publications may be found on our online Library Catalogue.

Our Library and reading room is open:
We are open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 – 16:00, Wednesday 10:30-16:30
An appointment is advisable.

Archives

Archive items have been added to the following collections in the past month:

• General Digital Donations Collection
• Paul R. Davis Collection
• TPA – Trysor Projects Archive
• AWP – Archaeology Wales Project Archives
• Investigators’ Digital Photography
• ERC – Emergency Recording Collection
• Investigators’ TLS Survey
• UAV – Investigators’ UAV Survey
• PGS – RCAHMW Photogrammetry Collection
• Pen Dinas Excavation Collection
• CPLMD – Church Photographs – Llandaff and Monmouth Dioceses
• CHR – CHERISH Project Archive

Many of these items are hard copy, including large scale plans, photographs and reports, and are available to view in our searchroom in Aberystwyth; others are digital and can be viewed on our online catalogue Coflein.

Now catalogued and available on Coflein:

Marked by three gold-topped white spires (called shikars) in the style of a traditional Hindu temple, each marking an altar inside the building, the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple was the first Swaminarayan temple in Wales. Opened in 1982, it acquired its distinctive appearance following major refurbishment work between 2005 and 2007.

Read more in our site record: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/414969

Read our blog about the history of the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Cardiff, here: https://rcahmw.gov.uk/the-shri-swaminarayan-mandir-cardiff/

Dinorwig pumped-storage hydro-electric power station is one of the largest engineering projects in Britain. Work began on the conversion of the quarry in 1975, when millions of tons of slate had to be removed to create tunnels and machine halls. Dinorwig comprises sixteen kilometres of underground tunnels, deep below Elidir mountain. Its construction required 1 million tonnes of concrete, 200,000 tonnes of cement and 4,500 tonnes of steel.

Externally, all that is visible is a door on the side of the mountain, ensuring that the area of outstanding natural beauty is not impaired. The visitor centre closed in 2018. Read more in our site record: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/408885

Read more in our site record: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/525092

The marker was recorded with a photogrammetry survey undertaken by RCAHMW on 30/06/2023 as part of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Survey Project, in collaboration with the Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton. A 3D model of the marker is available here:

Cymraeg: https://skfb.ly/oIVOC
English: https://skfb.ly/oIVOy

The bell-frame, dating to 1537-8, is a King-post design to hold a peal of 3 bells. A system of Arabic numbers are carved into the timbers which would have helped guide those tasked with assembling (or reassembling) the frame up in the tower.

The church is a Grade II* Listed Building, an example of a largely unaltered Welsh medieval church. It is plain and dignified in style and built in a cross shape, complete with imposing 3-storey central tower. It is the best example of the three surviving cruciform churches with central towers in Ceredigion.

Reference: DS2023_106_014.

Read more in our site record: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/105145 Read our blog post celebrating the recent completion of a 4 year restoration project for the church: https://rcahmw.gov.uk/celebrating-the-completion-of-important-heritage-project-at-st-michaels-medieval-church-ceredigion/

Carmel United Reformed (Independent) chapel, built c.1829, is in the later Vernacular style of the long-wall entry type and is distinguished by an unspoilt interior retaining its early 19th century character. There are just four rows of wooden benches facing a simple pulpit.

Read more in our site record: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/8297

You can view the animation produced as part of the survey here.

Contact us

If you have any comments or enquiries, please feel free to contact us:

NMRW Library and Enquiries Service
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Penglais Road
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion SY23 3BU

Telephone: +44 (0)1970 621200
Email: nmr.wales@rcahmw.gov.uk
Website: rcahmw.gov.uk

Croesewir gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg a’r Saesneg | Correspondence welcomed in Welsh and English

Join the online launch of the Commission’s exciting new Welsh Asian Heritage Project which will celebrate and archive the experiences of Ugandan Asians in Wales, including documenting important places of cultural, religious and historical significance.

• Thursday, 5 October 2023
• 17:00 – 18:30

Speakers at the event will give an overview of the political climate that led to the expulsion of Asians from Uganda; will share personal experiences and details of how the project will engage and work with Welsh communities to chart the journey from expulsion to resilience, and create a permanent record for the National Monuments Record of Wales and the People’s Collection Wales to be available for present and future generations.

Speakers

Speakers are Chandrika Joshi, ex-Tonfanau resident and Storyteller, Perminder Dhillon Project Leader of The Welsh Asian Heritage Project, and Christopher Catling, CEO of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales.

Tickets

This talk is free and open to all, however tickets are limited so to avoid disappointment please book in advance.

For tickets and further information visit our Eventbrite page.

This project is being funded by the Welsh Government as part of its Anti-racist Wales programme. 

• Full time: 37 hours per week
• Permanent
• £26,900 – £30,610 (Plus benefits)
• Closing date: 5pm on 1 October 2023.

Do you think you have a flair for communicating information to a wide and diverse audience within Wales and beyond?

Do you love heritage in all its variety – archaeology, historic buildings, maritime history and much, much more! Could you write a blog based on the Royal Commission’s work, regularly create posts for social media, attend and represent the Commission at heritage events, and send newsletters to a large network of over a thousand Friends? If so, this may be the job for you!

Job purpose and significance of role

The Communications Team is responsible for promoting the Royal Commission and its activities through an engagement programme that is accessible to a wide and diverse audience. The Commission has a strong Friends’ network which is regularly kept informed of Commission activities and events.

As a member of this team, the Public Engagement Officer will play an important role in maintaining and developing this audience through innovative as well as established methods of online and in-person communication and engagement. This will involve connecting people from across Wales and beyond to the work of the Commission and the resources of the National Monuments Record of Wales. The job holder will be a member of a motivated and close-working team in a bilingual environment led by the Communications Manager.

For an informal discussion about this post please contact:
Nicola Roberts, Communications Manager, on 01970 621248, email nicola.roberts@rcahmw.gov.uk

Further details

Further details and application forms can be found on our current vacancies page.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales is launching its new Welsh Asian Heritage Project which will celebrate and archive the experiences of Ugandan Asians in Wales, especially documenting important places of cultural, religious and historical significance.  

In August 1972, President Idi Amin issued an order to expel Asians from Uganda declaring that Britain should take responsibility for their subjects of Indian origin.

Thousands of Asians, including those born and brought up in Uganda, were given just 90 days to leave the country. Many fled to the UK with little or no possessions, grateful to escape just with their lives.

A thousand bewildered and traumatised families arrived in North Wales in October 1972 and were accommodated at the disused military base at Tonfanau, Tywyn, Merioneth.

Local communities stepped up to support the new arrivals and offered them a glimmer of hope for the future in the strange unfamiliar environment they came to.

Whilst many Ugandan Asians families later left the camp to move to other parts of the UK, some stayed and made their home in Wales shaping the physical, economic, and social landscapes of their local communities by building places of worship, restaurants, cinemas, and schools, and introducing diverse traditions, festivals, and artistic expressions.

Chandrika Joshi was a resident at the Tonfanau camp. A retired dentist and now a creative storyteller, she shares her experience:

“More than 50 years ago, I came to Tonfanau as a fourteen-year-old girl with my family from Uganda. We came without any possessions but brought with us our language, our food, our religion, and our stories. Just like sugar which melts into milk, we have melted within the Welsh community, and I believe we have made it sweeter by creating a bond with the land we now call home.”

The Welsh Asian Heritage Project: Celebrating and Archiving the Experiences of Ugandan Asians will collect, display and archive stories like Chandrika’s. These will form part of the Commission’s archive (The National Monuments Record for Wales) and the People’s Collection Wales and will be available for the present and future generations.

Christopher Catling, Chief Executive of the Royal Commission, said: ‘it is time that national collections like ours recognised the many ways in which people of Ugandan Asian origin have changed and enriched the culture of Wales. We hope that this project will set the pattern for a number of future efforts to record the heritage of those who have found a sanctuary in Wales – from the boat people of Vietnam who came here in 1975 to more recent refugees from the war in Ukraine’.

“We will work with all local Asian communities and will collaborate with people with lived experience to co-create this project. Everyone is welcome to contribute their stories and to volunteer and support the project. Through the collection, display and archiving of memories, photographs, films, writings, and artifacts, we will chart the journey of expulsion to resilience,” says Perminder Dhillon, Project Leader of Welsh Asian Heritage Project: Celebrating and Archiving the Experiences of Ugandan Asians.

The project can be contacted on wahproject@rcahmw.gov.uk .

This project is being funded by the Welsh Government as part of its Anti-racist Wales programme. 

Project launches online on Thursday 5^th October 2023 at 5.00pm with talks, expert guests and interviews.

For tickets and further information visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/716011899867?aff=oddtdtcreator .

Notes to editors

1. The Welsh Asian Heritage Project: Celebrating and Archiving the Experiences of Ugandan Asians is an eighteen-month project led by the Royal Commission and funded by the Welsh Government as part of the Anti-racist Wales Programme. https://www.gov.wales/funding-announced-culture-heritage-and-sport-actions-anti-racist-wales-action-plan#:~:text=Amgueddfa%20Cymru%20%E2%80%93%20National%20Museum%20Wales,racism%20at%20a%20national%20level.

2. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales is the national body of survey and record for the built, archaeological, and maritime heritage of Wales ( rcahmw.gov.uk ). The Commission curates the List of Historic Place Names of Wales ( historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk ). Its online archive of historic sites is called Coflein ( coflein.gov.uk ).

3. Christopher Catling, CEO, RCAHMW, Chandrika Joshi, ex-Tonfanau resident and Storyteller, and Perminder Dhillon, Project leader of The Welsh Asian Heritage Project: Celebrating and Archiving the Experiences of Ugandan Asians  are available for interviews.

For further details, please contact Perminder Dhillon, perminder.dhillon@rcahmw.gov.uk, or Nicola Roberts, nicola.roberts@rcahmw.gov.uk.

Come and enjoy the Pendinas Archaeology Festival on Saturday 16 September between 10:00-16:00. This fun-filled festival for all ages will be celebrating the Pendinas Hillfort Community Archaeology Project, which was launched in March this year. Activities will run throughout the day in the Hub in Penparcau. There will be Celtic themed activities for all the family including slingshot firing, facepainting and pot making as well as heritage information stands. Map your wildlife memories of Pendinas with wildlife expert, Chloe Griffiths. Don’t miss the guided tours of the hillfort in the morning and the opportunity to meet and talk with volunteers excavating an Iron Age roundhouse within the hillfort.

At 12:30 join the Question-and-Answer session on metal detecting and archaeology with experts, David Howell from the Portable Antiquities Scheme and Christopher Catling of the Royal Commission. From 14:00 to 15:00 there will be unmissable talks by archaeologists Ken Murphy and Dr Toby Driver on ‘Recent and current archaeological excavations at Pendinas’ and ‘From the Celts to the Romans of Pendinas’. To round off the afternoon enjoy free tea, coffee, and a slice of celebratory hillfort cake!

Activities will include:

• Iron Age Villagers from Castell Henllys take over the Hub!
• Celtic activities for all the family at the Hub and on Pendinas!
• Heritage information stalls in the Hub
• Tours of Pendinas and an opportunity to chat with volunteers
• Archaeology talks by experts:
  • 12:30: Q&A on Metal Detecting and Archaeology with David Howell and Christopher Catling
  • 14:00: ‘Recent and current archaeological excavations at Pendinas’ by Ken Murphy
  • 14:30: ‘From the Celts to the Romans of Pendinas’ by Dr Toby Driver
• 15:00: Celebratory Tea and Cake

Free parking is available in Llwyn-yr-Eos School carpark. The ‘What3Words’ reference is drainage.waxes.latitudes.

Bring a picnic and enjoy the day!

This is a two-year partnership project between the Royal Commission and Dyfed Archaeological Trust and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with additional support from Cadw. Over the last six months the project has undertaken its first archaeological excavation staffed by 50 local volunteers and worked with over 100 children from the local primary school and led numerous walks for local community groups.

This is a free event open to all, there is no need to book in advance.

If you have any questions, please email: beca.davies@rcahmw.gov.uk and nicola.roberts@rcahmw.gov.uk