HLW (D) 6

Skomer Island  

2001  

Outstanding  

Designated  

Although only some 600m separate the mainland from Skomer Island and the small islet of Midland Isle on its eastern side, the rock-strewn Jack Sound with its fierce tidal streams, the high cliffs of the island and its difficult landing places, prevent easy access. The bare and windswept land surface rises to 79m above OD and today the island is most well known as a National Nature Reserve and Marine Nature Reserve with important sea bird colonies, but its archaeology is equally remarkable. It contains extensive relict remains of prehistoric fields and associated small settlements, forming a naturally isolated landscape in microcosm. Apart from the centre of the island, where 18th and 19th centuries farming and sod-busting ploughing have obliterated earlier traces and imposed new walled fields centred on Old Farm, the whole of the main body of the island is covered in prehistoric field boundaries. On the Neck and Midland Isle, by contrast, there are few boundaries. A promontory fort of probable Iron Age date is sited on the cliffs overlooking South Haven. This difference in field remains may reflect a division between arable and pastoral land. Some of the field boundaries survive as low banks of earth and stone, others as single lines of large uprights, others are marked by lynchets produced by ploughing across a slope. Field shapes are fairly regular squares or rectangles. There are five surviving prehistoric settlements of small size spaced around the island, with attached fields, water sources and areas of coastal grazing. The circular, stone-walled huts have attached pounds, coeval with the field boundaries. Other features include stone dams across streams, clearance or sepulchral cairns and a standing stone. The small number of settlements and the general scarcity, though not total absence, of evidence for superimposition of boundaries and sub-division of fields suggests either a relatively short occupation, or a long period with a stable population and economy. The lack of excavation and sparsity of surface finds make dating difficult. Whilst an Iron Age date has been suggested, the Bronze Age or even conceivably the Neolithic periods remain possible alternatives. The prehistoric evidence suggests cereal production, supplemented by grazing and probably sea and shore resources, although supporting palaeoenvironmental information is lacking. In the Middle Ages the island was used for rabbit farming, which the Norman incomers of the 12th century successfully introduced to sand dune and island environments in South Wales. Although well-documented, the only physical trace on the island of this phase are the rabbits themselves. The physical traces of 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries farming, including the Old Farm buildings, farm machinery and a limekiln are not without interest. The prehistoric field systems have attracted recurrent attention and survey since the last War. Aerial photography has added more detail of the field systems, but there is still potential for future work, in addition to the advantage that the archaeological traces of Skomer are visible, accessible and understandable to the general public as well as the specialist.