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A Barrow on Breach Farm, Llanbleddian, Glamorgan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2014

W. F. Grimes
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Extract

The Vale of Glamorgan (fig. 1, 1) is the middle part of the coastal plain of South Wales. An undulating belt of country much dissected by river systems, its highest parts consisting of knolls and ridges which rarely achieve a height of more than 400 ft. above sea-level, it was occupied fairly intensively throughout prehistoric times. Round barrows are found scattered throughout its length. But they are particularly concentrated in one area in the middle portion of the Vale, where, between the ancient towns of Llantwit Major on the coast, and Cowbridge, about six miles inland, between 20 and 30 have been recognised. None of these barrows has hitherto been scientifically examined, nor do they appear to have suffered damage apart from ploughing. The excavation here described was undertaken by the Archaeological Section of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society in the hope that from it might be derived definite information bearing upon the intensive Bronze Age occupation of this part of the coastal plain which the barrows clearly attest.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , July 1938 , pp. 107 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1938

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References

page 115 note 1 Clark, , P.P.S.E.A., 1928–1929, 41–54Google Scholar.

page 117 note 1 Ancient Wilts., I, 183Google Scholar.

page 119 note 1 Smith, R. A., Arch., LXXVI (1927), 96, 100Google Scholar.

page 119 note 2 I have made no mention of the flint of which they are made, some of which may or may not be of foreign origin. Nor do I attempt to discuss the pigmy cup. The Brittany associations of the Clandon cup (Proc. Dorset H.N and Arch. Soc., LVIII, 18–20Google Scholar), may have a bearing on the origin of our type; both at least are biconical. But apart from such varieties as the grape cups and pedestalled cups whose source is more or less self-evident discussion of individual specimens is valueless without prolonged research over a wide area.

page 119 note 3 Ancient Wilts., I, 202–4Google Scholar; cf. Wessex from the Air, 191–2.

page 119 note 4 Proc. Dorset H.N. and Arch. Soc., LVIII, 20 ff.Google Scholar

page 119 note 5 It is of course true that the burial with which the dagger and pommel were associated may not have been the primary burial. But it was found on the old ground surface, not merely in the body of the mound, to the south of the centre; and since there seems no need to question the excavator's statement that the small central cairn contained no burial, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this was the burial for which the barrow was built. Trans. Devon Assoc., V (1872)Google Scholar.

page 119 note 6 It also occurs, significantly, in the Channel Islands. Since the above was written Mrs Hawkes has kindly drawn my attention to two Jersey examples, Hougue de Vinde and Les Cinq Pierres, the latter probably of Early Bronze Age date.

page 120 note 1 Arch. Camb., 1856, 52 ff.Google Scholar Another site at Coity, Glamorgan, 5 miles from Breach, is shortly to be published by Sir Cyril Fox.

page 120 note 2 Ibid., 1918, 35 ff.

page 120 note 3 Ant. J., 1938, 172Google Scholar, where the beaker from Brean Down shows unmistakable Breton affinities.