Introduction

The Caerau and Ely Rediscovering Heritage Project (CAER) was established in 2011 and is a collaboration between Cardiff University, Action in Caerau and Ely (ACE) (a local community development agency), local schools, residents and community groups. From the beginning, the guiding principle has been to actively involve community members, groups and heritage professionals in the co‑production of archaeological and historical research. The project is focused on the Cardiff suburbs of Caerau and Ely. These are two of the most socially and economically challenged areas in Wales, but are also home to several regionally and nationally important heritage sites, including a large multivallate Iron Age hillfort. Until the instigation of CAER, these sites had received little attention and potential opportunities for using heritage to enhance social and economic well-being were entirely unrealised. Over the last seven years, the project team have employed a range of co‑productive strategies to harness this potential through the process of researching heritage. In many respects, CAER has been effective precisely because it is about ‘Heritage as Action’, as it is framed in the Introduction to this book. The knowledge, energy and creativity of local people have been expressed through their engagement both with their local heritage and each other. It is the action of doing things together that has led to local communities having a stake both in the archaeology and the future of the area. As the project has developed over such a length of time, there have been many successes, but also many challenges. Using CAER as a case study, this chapter reflects on the potentials and problems of long-term co‑production with communities, providing a range of perspectives from the key project partners involved.

Caerau and Ely: housing and heritage

Caerau and Ely are adjacent electoral wards on the western fringe of the city of Cardiff, although they possess a strong sense of shared identity and are often referred to together as ‘Ely’. The housing estates that constitute each ward are home to a combined population of around 26,000 people. At the beginning of the 20th century, the area was essentially rural. However, after the First World War, with growing demands for housing to provide ‘Homes fit for Heroes’, in 1922, the area was taken inside the Cardiff City boundary and a programme of house building was initiated founded on ‘Garden Suburb’ principles.