Mendip Hills' historic importance highlighted in new report
A new report says Somerset's Mendip Hills nature reserve is of international importance due to its archaeology and more than half a million years of occupation, settlement and land use.The State of Heritage report, produced by the South West Heritage Trust (SWHT), examines nine key periods from the Palaeolithic to the present day. Caves, particularly at Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole, provide some of the best evidence for early human activity in Britain with connections across Europe, according to the report - the first of its kind on the area. Bob Croft, from the SWHT, said: "Archaeology is not only the archive of the human life, but also the natural world."
In the latter part of the prehistoric period, important ceremonial sites like the Priddy Circles were made, the report says.In the Bronze Age, the landscape was dominated by round barrows. Recent studies of the early Bronze Age uncovered evidence of extreme violence and cannibalism at Charterhouse Warren Swallet, where some of the earliest evidence of the plague in Britain was also found. In the Late Iron Age, the lead mining industry began and farms, whose remains can still be seen today, were established.
Mining continued into the 19th Century, but the area then reverted to farming as the main industry, with occasional military activities. Jim Hardcastle, from the National Landscape Team, said: "The area contains evidence of human activity which is of both regional and national significance.He added that the threats to the sites - such as ploughing, visitor erosion, recreational activities and the effects of climate change - remain a "significant concern"."Monitoring and protection should be highlighted as a priority," said Mr Hardcastle."This needs to run alongside making people aware of the incredible heritage value of the Mendip and involving people in its protection."
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5 days ago
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Sheep's wool used to make 'floating Roman footpaths' up Wales' highest mountain
A path-building technique borrowed from the Romans has been used to rebuild a route on Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon). It's underpinned by hundreds of sheep fleeces which act as a base on which the path 'floats'. As the method is particularly good for crossing boggy areas, it was selected for the footpath in Cwm Llan on the south-eastern flanks of Yr Wyddfa. Nearby runs the popular but demanding Watkin Path to the mountain's summit. A 60-metre section of footpath was constructed, half of which used fleeces. The fleeces were taken from Welsh Mountain sheep grazed by the National Trust's Hafod Y Llan farm nearby, and flown to the site by helicopter. 'There were about 200-300 fleeces used, given to us for free from the farm,' said Ifan Parry, National Trust Cymru area ranger in Eryri (Snowdonia). 'Sadly, the price of wool is extremely low in the UK and it costs more to shear the sheep than you get from selling the wool.' From Bronze Age times, people have used a variety of natural methods for crossing wet ground including bundles of willow and hazel, woven hessian and flat stones. Traces of these techniques can still be found in submerged sections off the Welsh coast. Wool provides a good medium as it is durable and has good compressional strength. 'This sheep wool fleece technique in paths was used by the Romans,' said Ifan. 'Now, we tend to use this technique in wet boggy ground through peatland. 'The wool acts like a membrane to separate the path stone from the peat so it doesn't sink. It's a more eco-friendly alternative to using plastic membranes." Ifan added: 'Once the wool is in and sealed, the peat is an anoxic environment so it won't rot – it will stay intact, acting like a barrier between the path and the peat. 'We try not to disrupt the peatland, so the wool allows water to flow through it underneath the path, preventing the surrounding peatland from drying out.' Fleeces were also used by Menter Môn to create bog-proof paths on Anglesey at Aberlleiniog Castle, near Penmon, and Rhos Llaniestyn, near Llanddona. It was part of the enterprise body's 'Made with Wool' project, which aims to find alternative uses for the versatile but under-valued fibre. In Cwm Llan, the 'walking on wool' path was laid over two days by British Mountaineering Council (BMC) volunteers and the National Trust's footpath team in Eryri. The work was for the BMC's latest 'Get Stuck In' event, part of the Mend Our Mountains campaign. Over the past two years, the initiative has seen volunteers clock up almost 500 man-hours of work in Eryri. Between them, they repaired more than 520 metres of footpath, laid 187 stepping stones and cleared five helicopter bags full of plastic tree guards. BMC hill walking rep Steve Charles said 30 metres of the "sheep" path were built just using stone – the other 30 metres used fleeces. 'Fleeces are used to build paths through boggy areas where stones would just sink into the mud,' he added. A trench was dug through peat about 1-2ft deep and the fleeces laid on at the bottom at least two bales deep. Larger stones were then used to weigh down the fleeces with aggregate added on top for the walking surface. Using wool does have drawbacks, said Ifan. 'Work-wise, fleece is easier in a way than stone-pitching or stepping stones because it's a lighter material and a less technical method that takes less time, skill and experience,' he said. 'But in other ways, it's harder than building a path with stone. Without a digger or a large group of people, it's quite a time-consuming task because of the sheer amount of material that needs to be dug out and then filled back in. 'The BMC Get Stuck In volunteers really helped us with this project and we did a lot more work than we thought we would do. Top job!' Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox With 10.5m visitor nights spent in Eryri in 2023-24, and more than 600,000 people climbing Yr Wyddfa every year, the national park's 1,497 miles of footpaths are seeing more footfall than ever before. It's left the BMC warning of a 'nightmarish downward spiral of footpath degradation', compounded by more extreme weather as the climate changes. One idea for combating these pressures is to appoint an apprentice ranger at the National Trust's Eryri footpath team. Fundraising for the two-year role is being led by the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust. So far £14,000 has been raised and another £53,000 is needed – there's more detail here.
