Great House Farm, Llandough, Cardiff, South Glamorgan

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : E003875
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Unitary authority : Vale of Glamorgan
Event Type : Excavation
NGR : ST1673973315

Summary
In March 1994 Cotswold Archaeological Trust was commissioned by Wyn Thomas & Partners on behalf of Ideal Homes Wales Ltd. to undertake an excavation of part of a site to the north of the church of St. Dochdwy, Llandough, Cardiff, prior to a residential development. Given the location of the Cemetery was previously occupied by Great House Farm during the Post-Medieval period it was concluded that the farm house must have been intrusive on the site. (Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. : 1994)

A total of 858 inhumations were recorded.
A large amount of infant burials were in Areas 3 & 4.
Most of the burials were plain although 16 instances of evidence for wooden coffins and stone linings were apparent in all four areas.
Several graves also contained evidence for burial in shrouds.
4 graves as a group in Area 1 contained pillow stones for the head. A few Roman potsherds were recovered from two of these graves.
3 burials in Area 3 contained stone supports either side of the skull.
9 burials, mostly in Area 1 displayed signs of possible markers. One contained a distinct headstone and another two contained a vertical stone marker at its feet. All three of these graves contained sherds of Roman pottery. The other burials displayed stones near the top of the skull.
Remains of a timber building were recovered.
122 medieval potsherds were recovered in the excavation.
At some point much of the site had been the subject of intense quarrying.
Stone walls and demolition deposits apparent in the excavation all belong to Great House Farm and its outbuildings.
One burial contained a complete Roman brooch, three contained Roman glass beads. Two burials contained knife blades. One grave contained an unidentified iron object, possibly some type of belt, consisting of bands around the waist of a skeleton. Five burials contained iron-hob nails one of which also contained a Roman coin, several graves contained quartz and rounded limestone pebbles.
A total of 320 potsherds were found, 125 of which were found in grave fills.
14 sherds of late Iron Age pottery together with small quantities of animal bone, flint, glass, copper alloy, lead and slag were also recovered from some of the grave fills. Four graves yielded mid-4th century Roman coins from their fills.
Five sherds of imported Bii amphora were found showing evidence for the importation of fine wares and amphorae into post-Roman western Britain. (Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. : 1994)


Description
In March 1994 Cotswold Archaeological Trust was commissioned by Wyn Thomas & Partners on behalf of Ideal Homes Wales Ltd. to undertake an excavation of part of a site to the north of the church of St. Dochdwy, Llandough, Cardiff, prior to a residential development. Given the location of the Cemetery and as it was previously occupied by Great House Farm during the Post-Medieval period it was concluded that the farm house must have been intrusive on the site. The results of the excavations suggested that large parts of the site had been disturbed by Post-Medieval quarrying and leveling. (Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. : 1994)

At the beginning of the excavation it became clear that the site contained numerous burials which continued beyond the excavation area into a zone defined as being of low archaeological potential so Ideal Homes Wales agreed to fund an enlarged programme of investigation there by extending the area of excavation to the north, west and east.
The original ground of the cemetery had been reduced at some point as skeletons of poor condition to the north and west were found only centimeters below ground level. No skeletons were found in the north-eastern corner of the excavation and only a few in the north-western part of the site so it is likely that the burials had been removed by later truncation, therefore the full extent of the cemetery to the east and west cannot be certain. In total 1026 burial were investigated during the investigation and ceased altogether since September 1994 (Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. : 1994)

Additionally, 152 discrete areas of dis-articulated human bone groups were identified, mostly within the fills of later burials, reflecting the disturbance of earlier graves. arrangement beside a freshly dug grave.
The burials occur in 4 areas:
Area 1 comprised a possible curvilinear cemetery, bounded to the north-west by a line of burials on a sw-ne alignment, changing to the east to more of an east-west alignment.
Area 2 lay in the western part of the site and consisted of deliberately placed rows of inhumations. The full extent of this was not established.
Area 3 lay to the north and west of Area 1 on the same general alignment and contained further burials continuing to the south-west to cut the original burials in Area 2. No feature such as a boundary ditch or wall was detected although the extension was continued to the north on the northern edge of the site close to a steep escarpment and was the area most intensively used for burial (Area 4).
Area 4 the burials were generally on an east-west alignment and included a distinct row of east-west aligned graves.
5 flexed burials were found in no coherent group.
Crouched, prone and pit burials were found.
There were instances of intercutting graves and even where bodies seemed to be placed directly on top of each other. These double burials rarely occur in Late Roman Cemeteries however are more common in the Early Medieval Period.
A large amount of infant burials were in Areas 3 & 4.
Most of the burials were plain although 16 instances of evidence for wooden coffins and stone linings were apparent in all four areas. Several graves also produced very small corroded iron fragments which turned out to be coffin nails. (Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. : 1994)

14 burials contained various degrees of deliberate stone-packing around the edges of the grave cut, re-using parts of the bedrock removed when the grave was dug. The vast majority of these graves occurred in Area 1. Majority of the graves were filled with re-deposited yellow clay with limestone fragments along with charcoal flecks, thus making the precise edges of the grave very difficult to cut.
Several graves also contained evidence for burial in shrouds.
4 graves as a group in Area 1 contained pillow stones for the head. A few Roman potsherds were recovered from two of these graves.
3 burials in Area 3 contained stone supports either side of the skull.
9 burials, again mostly in Area 1 displayed signs of possible markers. One contained a distinct headstone and another two contained a vertical stone marker at its feet. All three of these graves contained sherds of Roman pottery. The other burials displayed stones near the top of the skull, possibly supports for some type of grave marker.
Remains of a timber building were discovered in the north-east corner. The remaining post-holes suggest a rectangular structure with two paired post-holes on the western side possibly forming an entrance. The building post-dates the use of the cemetery as some of the post holes cut through earlier graves. 122 medieval potsherds were recovered in the excavation, which provide a broad date range of 12-14th century for the demolition of the structure.
To the west of the medieval building was a ditch which ran from near the northern edge of the site, turning to the south-west. The curve of the ditch compliments the curvilinear outline of the cemetery.
Much of the site had been the subject of intense quarrying, the date of which is uncertain however, a large part of the cemetery may have been removed by these operations.
One burial contained a complete Roman brooch, three contained Roman glass beads. Two burials contained knife blades. One grave contained an unidentified iron object, possibly some type of belt, consisting of bands around the waist of a skeleton. Five burials contained iron-hob nails one of which also contained a Roman coin of AD 330-45, several graves contained quartz and rounded limestone pebbles.
A total of 320 potsherds were found, 125 of which were found in grave fills. The majority of the latter seemed to be 3rd-4th century in date. One sherd is a single fragment of ceramique a l'eponge which was produced in south-west France in the late 3rd-4th centuries, and has a predominantly south-western coastal distribution in Britain. 14 sherds of late Iron Age pottery together with small quantities of animal bone, flint, glass, copper alloy, lead and slag were also recovered from some of the grave fills. Four graves yielded mid-4th century Roman coins from their fills.
Five sherds of imported Bii amphora were found showing evidence for the importation of fine wares and amphorae into post-Roman western Britain, probably originating from the Aegean or Constantinople. This discovery gives us archaeological evidence of 6th century activity at Llandough. The excavation at Llandough represents the largest Early Christian cemetery excavated in Wales to date. (Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. : 1994; Holbrook & Thomas 2003)

The washing and processing of the skeletal occurred between1996- 2001. Initially the individual parts of the skeletal guide lines had been bagged separately in accordance with the guidelines. However the Osteological advisor recommended that the bones from each individual be amalgamated into one bag. This Osteological recording of each skeletal remains was undertaken by the Rheumatology Unit of Bristol University (Holbrook & Thomas 2003). A total of 858 inhumations were recorded of which 434 were in a good state of preservation with most of the skeleton intact and a further 153 skeletons were less well preserved but were on average between 30-70% intact. The remaining 271 were very fragmentary. Majority of the skeletal remains were sufficiently preserved to allow full analysis as they were in good or fair condition and relatively complete, however no skulls had survived in complete condition. (Loe, L in Holbrook & Thomas 2003).



Sources :
Holbrook, N. & Thomas, A. , 2003 , An Early Medieval Monastic Cemetery at Llandough, Glamorgan: Excavations in 1994
Thomas, A. & Holbrook, N. , 1994 , Excavations at Great House Farm, Llandough, Cardiff, South Glamorgan. A Preliminary Report.

Core Records :
GGAT02038s : Great House Farm, Llandough
GGAT03586s : Great House Farm, Llandough
GGAT03585s : Great House Farm, Llandough
GGAT03584s : Findspot, Great House Farm, Llandough
GGAT03583s : Great House Farm, Llandough
GGAT02272s : Early Christian Cemetery, Great House Farm, Llandough

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October 23, 2026, 1:29 pm

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