HLW (D) 8

Dolaucothi  

2002  

Outstanding  

Designated  

The area comprises the upper part of the middle reaches of the River Cothi and its valley west of Mynydd Mallaen on the southern fringes of the Cambrian Mountains. The flat, but narrow valley floor rises gently from 120m above OD at the Cothi’s confluence with the Twrch at Pumsaint, to about 220m above OD in the north east of the area. The low rounded hills and ridges on either side rise steeply above the valley floor to between 250 and 400m above OD. The prime importance of the area is in its relict evidence for Roman and later gold mining. The gold mine at Dolaucothi is sited within a landscape of surviving elements of parkland and of still active small tenant farms. The Johnes Estate was presented to the National Trust in 1941 and the family had been instrumental in organising early archaeological work on the site and preserving outstanding finds of Roman goldwork from the area, now in the British and Carmarthen Museums. The local name of the site, Ogofâu (caves), indicates the survival of extensive surface and underground evidence of working in Roman times and perhaps 17th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Although the deciduous woodland covering most of the site makes the setting of some of the slighter features difficult to appreciate, the main opencasts, adits and trenches are clearly visible and well interpreted in laid out trails which cover the core of the mine. The interpretive facility run by the National Trust also includes significant underground sections which are open to the public. An active period of archaeological research in the early 1970s resulted in extending not just knowledge of the Roman operation of the mine, but also the contemporary landscape. Excavations demonstrated the existence of the long suspected Roman fort at Pumsaint, sited on meadowland (dolau) at the confluence of the Rivers Twrch and Cothi, controlling the crossing of the latter. It was also sited on a Roman route from Llandovery north along Sarn Helen. Survey was also carried out on the remarkable 8km length of contour leats or aqueducts which conveyed water from the headwaters of the Cothi, along the steep southern side of the valley to the mine. There were shorter lengths of leats bringing water from the River Annell along the eastern limits of the area. However, these latter lengths are less well-preserved because of afforestation and deep ploughing in recent times, and they remain extremely fragile and highly vulnerable to further damage. The water carried by the leats was stored in tanks and then released in torrents to scour the cleared rock faces; the technique known as hushing is characteristic of all early mining and need not automatically be of Roman date. Certainly, more recent archaeological work suggests a previously unrecognised 17th century mill complex on the site. The area thus remains one of great archaeological potential as suggested by the hints of a high status Roman building close to the fort, revealed recently by a geophysical survey. The area also includes the historic nucleated settlement of Caio, where most of the workers from the last phase of mine operations in the 1930s lived. The other settlements of Pumsaint and Cwrt-y-cadno are but hamlets in a classic area of dispersed settlement. The modern Caio forest on the north side of the village obscures its nodal position in a communication network which included upland Drovers’ routes extending east across Mynydd Mallaen and beyond. The rare survival of a 9th century land charter as marginalia in the famous Llandeilo Gospels suggest that Caio may have been the centre of a Dark Age multiple estate. Landscape research would more fully demonstrate the strong elements of continuity and ancient origin to the present day patterns of land use and settlement in which the gold mines may, at times, have played a focal role. Even with modern communications the area appears remote, a factor which allowed the late survival of traditional folk practices such as that of the dyn hysbys or white wizard of Cwrt-y-cadno, and the importance of the area in early Welsh nonconformist history.