Great House Farm, Llandough

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 03585s
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Llandough
Unitary authority : Vale of Glamorgan
NGR : ST16837334
Site Type (preferred type first) : Iron Age - Burial

Summary :
Excavation of an area of 0.22ha immediately to the north of the church of St Dochdwy was undertaken on behalf of Ideal Homes Wales following an earlier evaluation by GGAT in 1990 (AW30 1990, 66).

Description :
Excavation of an area of 0.22ha immediately to the north of the church of St Dochdwy was undertaken on behalf of Ideal Homes Wales following an earlier evaluation by GGAT in 1990 (AW30 1990, 66). The underlying geology of Lower Lias here took the form of alternating thin horizontal bands of rock and yellow clay, sloping gently to the south and west.
Historical sources indicate that Llandough was an important monastic centre which had been established by at least the mid 7th century; the monastery seems to have closed by the end of the 11th century. The location of the monastery has not been fixed with certainty, although the presence of a late 10th or 11th century inscribed cross-shaft within the present churchyard has suggested to many a location beneath the heavily rebuilt later church.
Soon after the commencement of the excavation it became clear that the site was occupied by a major early Christian cemetery of considerable extent, and that the original ground level had been truncated at some later date. Over much of the cemetery, particularly to the north and west articulated skeletons, often in very poor condition, were found only centimetres below the modern ground level. Although no skeletons were found in the north-eastern corner of the excavation and only a few in the north-western part of the site, it is almost certain that burials here had been removed by later terracing. The full extent of the cemetery to the east and west cannot therefore be certain. Much of the levelling was presumably associated with the construction of Great House Farm and its outbuildings (now demolished, but conceivably of medieval origin). Extensive post-medieval quarrying has also removed large parts of the cemetery. It is therefore certain that the cemetery contained far more burials immediately after its disuse than survived up to the point of excavation.
The burials: A total of 858 inhumations were recorded of which 434 were in a good state of preservation with most of the skeleton intact. A further 153 skeletons were less well preserved but were on average between 30-70% intact. The remaining 271 were very fragmentary. The vast majority of the skeletons from the latter two categories were recovered from the northern part of the site, reflecting the intensive use of this area for burial. In addition, 152 discrete areas of disarticulated human bone groups were identified, mostly within the fills of later burials and reflecting the disturbance of earlier graves. The great majority of these bone groups similarly occurred in the northern part of the site. In four instances the disturbance of earlier burials was recognised with the deliberate reburial of the disturbed bone in a linear arrangement beside the freshly dug grave.
Owing to the truncation of the ground surface, spatial analysis of the burials has proved important in an attempt to understand the development of the cemetery. Accordingly the burials have been provisionally classified into four spatial groupings. Area I comprises a possible curvilinear cemetery, bounded to the north-west by a line of burials on a south-west - north-east alignment, changing to the east to more of an east-west alignment. Apart from the orientation of these burials no physical barrier such as a fence, wall or ditch was detected. However, to the north and west of this alignment a gap of about 1m, occasionally cut by later burials, was apparent. It may be that this gap represents the former existence of a physical barrier, subsequently removed by ground truncation. Certainly the ground to the north-east of this burial alignment had been reduced after the cemetery had fallen into disuse.
Area II lies in the western part of the site and consists of deliberately placed rows of inhumations, occasionally intercutting, on a south-west/north-east alignment. The full western extent of these burials was not established and ground levelling to the north has probably removed much of its northern extent. However, a shallow ditch on an almost north-south alignment appears to be respected by the burials and may therefore delimit this area to the east. Unfortunately, much of this feature had been destroyed by modern disturbance and its full significance is uncertain.
To the north and west of Area I and on the same general alignment lay further burials (Area III). These include several graves forming a distinct south-west - north-east line for about 12m lying directly north of, and apparently respecting, the postulated northern boundary of the Area I cemetery. This line included an interspaced, near north-south burial. These burials also appeared to continue to the west to cut the original burials in Area II. It is possible that the burials in Area III formed an extension to the burials in Area I. The full northern extent of this expanded cemetery is unclear as again no feature such as a boundary ditch or wall was detected. However, further to the north this extension was continued to the northern edge of the site, close to a steep escarpment and was the area most intensively used for burial (Area IV). Here, the burials were generally on an east-west alignment and included a distinct row of east-west aligned graves. A large number of infant burials were also found in Areas III and IV, probably representing the final use of at least this part of the cemetery, as they cut and overlie earlier adult interments.
The vast majority of the inhumations at Llandough were extended and supine. However, there were at least eight instances of differing burial positions, including five flexed burials and single examples of crouched, prone and pit burials. Similarly the majority of burials were plain interments, although evidence for stone linings and wooden coffins was recovered from a few graves, and some (four in total from Area I) contained pillow stones, and nine burials (again mostly in Area I) displayed signs of possible markers.
In the north-east corner of the excavation the remains of a timber building were recovered. The full ground plan of this building did not survive due to later levelling but the remaining postholes suggest a rectangular structure. Two paired postholes in its western side may form an entrance. No floors or other internal deposits survived and it is therefore difficult to assign a function. The building postdates the use of the cemetery as some of the postholes cut through earlier graves. The filling of the postholes yielded pottery of 12-14th century date. To the west of the medieval building a heavily truncated ditch ran from near the northern edge of the site, turning to the south-west. The date of the ditch is uncertain: it cut and overlay burials, but also respects the curvilinear aspect of the cemetery for much of its length. It could either pre-date or postdate the medieval building.
Chronology: Some early Welsh cemeteries had their roots in the prehistoric past (Edwards and Lane 1992, 6) and from this point of view the recovery of a few flints and fourteen sherds of late Iron Age pottery may be significant. All can be considered as residual in later graves with the possible exception of a single sherd associated with the pit-burial. Pit-burials are well attested in late Iron Age central/southern Britain, and seem to have been particularly popular in the period prior to the Roman conquest. If this burial is of late Iron Age date it is presumably associated with the settlement which preceded the Roman villa 150m to the south (Owen-John 1988, 129).
A total of 105 sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from stratified contexts: 70 from graves within Area I and 35 in Areas III and IV. The pottery dates predominantly to the later 3rd-4th century, and it may be significant that the villa to the south appears to have been abandoned in the first quarter of the 4th century (Owen-John 1988, 163). Roman grave goods were also recovered, in the form of the beads and a complete 1st century AD Colchester-derivative brooch. If any of the burials at Llandough are fully Roman, as opposed to post-Roman, the brooch burial would seem a likely candidate. The burials containing Roman beads, which are spatially associated in the northern part of the cemetery, may also be of a similar date. Of further interest is a group of east-west aligned graves at the southern edge of the site within Area I (ie nearest the church) which might date to the late-Roman period. Within this group five burials contained iron hobnails, a well-attested Roman burial tradition, and one also produced a Roman coin of AD 330-345 from the grave fill, suggesting a mid-late 4th century date for the inhumation. A further three burials, from the same vicinity as those containing hobnails, also produced Roman coins of the period AD 330-350. Without a more comprehensive programme of radiocarbon dating it is impossible to fully define the scope of Roman burial on the site. However, at this early stage the possibility of the post-Roman cemetery having Roman origins cannot easily be dismissed.
The dating of the main period of burial at Llandough is dependent upon the results of radiocarbon dating and the recognition of five sherds of imported post-Roman Bii amphora (to be broadly dated to the period AD 475-550) from a number of grave fills. The following four radiocarbon dates have been obtained from analysis of the collagen within selected burials
Lab Ref Burial No C14 (BP) 1 sigma calibrated
Beta-76463 2 1570?70 cal AD 420 - 590
Beta-76464 65 1170?60 cal AD 790 - 970
Beta-76465 228 1070?50 cal AD 960 -1015
Beta-76466 380 1210?60 cal AD 770 - 890
Burial 2 is one of a group of stone-lined graves within Area I. The radiocarbon date from this burial and the imported amphora fit together well to suggest that the curvilinear cemetery (Area I) was in use at sometime, or throughout, the 5th-6th centuries. Burial 65 also occurs within Area I and suggests that this cemetery was still in use between the late 8th-mid-10th centuries. The date from Burial 380, a coffin burial within Area II, suggests that this part of the cemetery was in use during the period of the late 8th-late 9th centuries, and was therefore at least partly contemporary with Area I; similar regular burial in rows is attested at the small cemetery excavated at the Atlantic Trading Estate, Barry, which could have spanned the period from the 2nd-10th centuries (James 1992, 96-7). Both cemeteries appear to have been replaced by the expanded, possibly curvilinear cemetery of Area III. The radiocarbon date from this area (Burial 228; part of a clear alignment of graves just to the north of the postulated Area I boundary) suggests that it was in use in the latter part of the 10th or early 11th century AD. Further to the north the expansion appears to have continued, possibly until the demise of the monastery, with distinct east-west aligned graves (Area IV). The marked absence of sherds of medieval pottery from the graves, in contrast to those associated with the timber building, strongly suggest that regular burial in graves had ceased by the 12-14th centuries.
The latest burial activity on the site is possibly the cluster of infant burials in Areas III and IV. No direct dating was recovered, although the concentration of infants suggests a special cause or event, possibly a plague.
The excavation at Llandough provides a major addition to the corpus of knowledge on early medieval Glamorgan, and is the largest Early Christian cemetery excavated in Wales to date. The identification of sherds of imported post-Roman amphora begs comparison with the high-status defended hilltop site at Dinas Powys, only 2km distant, where such wares occur in quantity.

Sources :
Gunther, N. M. , 2024 , A GIS study of settlement patterns for the later prehistoric period with particular reference to southeast Wales
Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. , 1994 , Excavations at Great House Farm, Llandough, Cardiff, South Glamorgan. A Preliminary Report.

Events :
GGATE003875 : Great House Farm, Llandough, Cardiff, South Glamorgan (year : 1994)

Related records
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 2272s
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 584s

Compiled date : 16-05-2002
Last updated : 17-11-2023

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October 23, 2026, 1:25 pm

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