Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

suggests that it had originally served as an Easter Sepulchre. During the post-Reformation period a human skull and several long bones had been placed within the recess which was subsequently sealed with mortar and stones. Howard J. Thomas and G. Tyley for the Barry and Vale Archaeological Group JACKSON'S BAY, BARRY ISLAND (ST 122 661) Twelve complete vessels of sixteenth- to seventeenth-century 'merida-type' ware, imported from the Iberian Peninsula, have been acquired by the National Museum of Wales. The vessels were found in the tidal muds of Jackson's Bay, after heavy storms in August 1986. They are all conical in shape with a small spout, an unparalleled form. Their function is uncertain, but they may have been intended for use as small measures or decanters for wine or oil. Such commodities are known to have been shipped from the Iberian Peninsula to South Wales in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Paul B. Williams PORT EYNON, GOWER (SS 469 846) Excavation of the Salt House near Port Eynon Point has continued throughout 1987. Considerable archaeological evidence has been found to support scanty documentary evidence of salt production on the site. It is thought to be the earliest coastal saltworks in Wales and possibly the only sixteenth-century example in Britain. Three substantial masonry chambers, the largest of which measures some 20 m. by 3m., have been uncovered on the beach. The largest seems to have functioned as a cistern filled by the tide, from which sea-water was pumped to supply evaporation pans. The remains of a wooden pump survived in situ. Similar technology was in use at Scottish saltworks, but they are of eighteenth-century date. Excavation of adjacent buildings has shown that the cottages which occupied the site in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries represent a refurbishment of a building which earlier in its history, though not at first, had been fortified. This might confirm documentary sources which suggest that the Salt House was fortified in the sixteenth century, and was a stronghold from where smuggling, wrecking and piracy were conducted. Paul Wilkinson for the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust