Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Summary Description
Reference Number
22786
Building Number
Grade
II
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
19/01/2000
Date of Amendment
Name of Property
Perimeter wall of The Vile open field system
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Swansea
Community
Rhossili
Town
Locality
The Vile
Easting
240916
Northing
187362
Street Side
Location
Surrounding the western part of The Vile open field, west and south of Rhossili village.
Description
Broad Class
Agriculture and Subsistence
Period
History
The Vile is a remarkable mediaeval open field system integral to a landscape of outstanding historic interest. The village system of open fields including the Vile is likely to date from the same period as the village and the present church. These succeeded an earlier settlement and were probably established at latest by the C14. Although it has been conjectured that the perimeter wall may enclose some later mediaeval or post-mediaeval encroachments onto the coastal commons, its line is probably substantially mediaeval and certainly the line is unaltered since mapped by John Williams in c1780.
Exterior
A drystone wall up to about 2 metres in height, forming part of the perimeter of the Vile open field against the clifftop grazing commons. The oversailing profile of the wall is said to be a device to discourage sheep and other animals grazing on the commons from attempting to trespass within the open field. Many small headland pits particularly along the southern and western parts of the wall are thought to have been stonepits used for the construction and repair of the wall.
The drystone wall commences at Grid Ref. 24167.18746, about 10 metres south of a steel ladder on Rhossili Parish Footpath no 12. The southern part of the wall continues west and south in an irregular line to Grid Ref. 24089.18713; the western part continues thence north and west in an irregular line to Grid Ref. 24057.18769; the northern part continues thence north and east in an irregular line to the corner of a carpark near the old Coastguard Station at Grid Ref. 24119.18799. The line is almost continuous with a few minor breaches.
The southern part of the wall survives to a height of 1 to 2 metres and in many places retains the characteristic profile, battered on both sides but with an upper bulge on the side facing towards the clifftop commons. The western part is similar but in better state of repair. The northern part is in even better repair but has lost its characteristic profile in many places.
Interior
Reason for designation
The perimeter wall of a surviving open field, a rare monument of a land system formerly characteristic of the southern lowland fringe of Wales.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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