A successful summer of archaeological digs

There have been a number of successful archaeological excavations in the Clwydian Range over the summer, all with involvement from Denbighshire Countryside Service. On the Iron Age hillfort of Moel y Gaer Bodfari, archaeologists from Oxford, along with local volunteers, investigated an area of the fort thought to be a gateway into the site. At Penycloddiau hillfort near Llandyrnog students from Liverpool University have been learning the techniques of archaeological excavation whilst digging up the remains of an Iron Age house and Rampart. Open day visits at both sites were extremely successful with altogether about 300 people visiting the sites.

A local community group, Clwydian Range Archaeology Group, which started as part of the Heather and Hillforts project which was managed by Denbighshire Countryside Service, has grown from strength to strength and this year have been excavating on the slopes outside the hillfort of Moel Arthur. The group applied for and got a Heritage Lottery Fund grant which was matched with a grant from the Sustainable Development Fund of the AONB and with this they have been able to employ a professional archaeologist, Dr Ian Brooks, to teach them how to excavate. The group were excavating close to the Offa’s Dyke National Trail for four rather wet weeks in July and August. Their location did mean that they too had a great many visitors, about 260 of whom signed the Visitors Book! In previous years the group has found evidence of people in the area from 5000BC to the present day. This year they located an old stream bed and deposited within this were some extremely unusual limestone tools, the like of which has certainly not been seen from this area.

Work is now going on to see if anything similar has been found anywhere in the UK. The group are gathering together again at Loggerheads Country Park in early October for a workshop session when they will begin to document everything that they have found. Plans are that they will return next summer.

It is certainly exciting to see such a focus on our area, and heartening to see how many people made the effort to visit the sites to find out what is going on.