Programme

Programme 2023-24

Unless stated otherwise, meetings are held at The Chepstow Club, 10 Moor Street, Chepstow, NP16 5DD starting at 7.30pm.

  • October 5, 2023      Caerwent Excavations – Mark Lewis, Senior Curator, Roman Legionary Museum
  • November 2, 2023  Five Mile Lane Excavations, Barry – Rachel Morgan and Rhiannon Pettit, Red River Archaeology
  • December 7, 2023  Mediaeval Medicine – Roger Morgan
  • December 13, 2023  Visit to the Tintern Abbey Excavations – Will Davies, CADW (Meet at 1pm at the entrance to Tintern Abbey)
  • January 4, 2024     Social Evening and bring and share supper
  • February 1, 2024    Richard Osgood Ministry of Defence Archaeology
  • March 7, 2024        The Holy Wells of Monmouthshire –  Lindsey Prosser
  • April 4, 2024          Hillforts of the Lower Wye – Simon Maddison
  • July 6, 2024            Monmouthshire Antiquarian Association – Tintern Abbey Study Day (09.30-17.30) – tickets can be booked through https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/monmouthshire-antiquarian-association/t-vvkqxgv 
  • August 1, 2024       Trip to Highclere & Tutankhamun Exhibition.
    Visit starts at 10.30 at Highclere. A coach will be arranged from Chepstow. Cost of entry to the exhibition is £26.50pp (coach extra). To book contact Felicity Taylor at     [email protected] as soon as possible – places limited!
  • Coming later in 2024  Day School at The Drill Hall “The Roman crossing of the Wye”, covering the Society’s latest investigations and research. 

Fieldwork 2024

Members of CAS are welcome to join the fieldwork programme. Current & potential future projects include:

  • Grove House & Tower at Piercefield park: work is ongoing to investigate Grove House in the grounds of Piercefield, and the remains of an adjacent tower.
  • Possible Roman Trackway: permission has been given to excavate what is thought to be a Roman trackway in Chepstow, below the Piercefield estate.

Contact our Dig Director Simon Maddison if you would like to be on the dig mailing list.

Summer Programme 2023

Members & visitors were welcomed to the Summer programme of 2023:

  • 13 May 2023 (Saturday, 10.30am): Visit to Chepstow Castle led by Will Davis (Inspector of Ancient Monuments for CADW). Meet outside the castle at 10.30am. Remember to bring your CADW/English Heritage card if you have one, otherwise you’ll need to pay the entrance fee.
  • 03 June 2023 (Saturday, 10am): Tour of the Caerwent excavations with Dr Mark Lewis – meet at St Stephen & St Tathan’s Church
  • 15 Jul 2023:  Saturday visit to Dean Heritage Centre with guided tour in the morning, followed by a visit to nearby Gunns Mill Blast Furnace with tour by Kate Biggs at 2pm
  • Aug 2023: (date to be announced): Visit to Goldcliff with Dr Mark Lewis and Martin Bell
  • 11 – 15 Sep 2023 (Monday to Friday): Trip to Canterbury led by Mark Corney. By coach to Canterbury and the Roman sites including Saxon Shore Forts. B&B accommodation at the Canterbury Premier Inn. Full itinerary available soon. Cost will be in the region of £550 per person. If interested, please contact Felicity by email at [email protected] or by phone on 01600 775656

Winter Programme 2022-2023

Meetings were held on the first Thursday of every month from October to April at The Club, 10 Moor St., Chepstow, NP16 5DD. Meetings were free for members (£10 p.a., see Membership page), and visitors could attend for £3 per person payable at the door.

  • 6 Oct 2022: Lindsay Prosser “Pontypool Japanware”
  • 3 Nov 2022: Dr Karen Wallis “On being Artist-in-Residence at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney”
  • 1 Dec 2022: Dr Elizabeth Walker (National Museum of Wales) “Paviland”
  • 5 Jan 2023: Members’ evening – short talks and a shared buffet supper
  • 2 Feb 2023: Katie Churchill (Churchill Archaeology) “Excavations at Trellech”
  • 2 Mar 2023: Mark Corney “Villas, Christianity and Community in South West Britain”
  • 6 Apr 2023: Professor Madeleine Gray “The lost Herbert tombs of Tintern Abbey”

Previous years’ talks & activities

2022

  • 2021-2022: Fieldwork at Grove House & Tower, Piercefield park (various dates when weather conditions and COVID-19 restrictions permitted)
  • 3 Mar 2022: AGM & talk (via Zoom)
  • 3 Feb 2022: Professor Chris Gerrard (University of Durham) – “The Archaeology of Earthquakes” (via Zoom)
  • 6 Jan 2022: Andrew Ziminski – “Stonemasonry of historic monuments” (via Zoom)

2021

  • 4 Nov 2021: Eleanor Bird (Author) – “Landscape in art from 16th to 20th century” (via Zoom)
  • 23 Oct 2021: Resistivity meter training (Fieldwork)
  • 7 Oct 2021: Richard Lewis (Black Mountain Archaeology) – “Bronze Age St Athan” (via Zoom)
  • 2 Sep 2021: Olga Cuckovic – “Virtual tour of Rome” (via Zoom)
  • 10 – 19 Aug 2021: Society trip to Orkney
  • 5 Aug 2021: Ian Dungavell (CEO, Friends of Highgate Cemetary) – “Highgate Cemetery through Victorian eyes” (via Zoom)
  • 17 Jul 2021: Get together at Veddw Gardens (Fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Society, raising £89)
  • 1 Jul 2021: James Wright, buildings archaeologist “Medieval Graffiti” (via Zoom)
  • 10 Jun 2021: Professor Evan Jones and Sarah Wordsworth (Bristol University) – “Covid in Context – Severnside and the Great Plague of 1603-4” (via Zoom)
  • 6 May 2021: Richard Irving (co-founder of the Coombe Down Heritage Centre): “A Brief History of the Stone Mines and Quarries at Combe Down, near Bath” (via Zoom)
  • 1 Apr 2021: Dr Julia Best (Cardiff University) – “Llangorse Lake Crannog” (via Zoom)
  • 4 Mar 2021: AGM, followed by Bill Zajac (CADW) – “Gerald of Wales and his journey through Wales in 1188” (via Zoom)
  • 4 Feb 2021: Rhiannon Philp (Archaeology Wales) – “Applications of Environmental Archaeology” (via Zoom)
  • 7 Jan 2021: Chris Jones-Jenkins FSA (Illustrator, CADW) – “Castrum Leonis Roars Again: Reconstructing Holt Castle, Denbighshire” (via Zoom)
  • 19 Jan 2021: Adam Gwilt (National Museum of Wales) – “Rare chariot burial in Pembrokeshire” (via Zoom)

2020

  • 3 Dec 2020: Richard Osgood (Senior Archaeologist at The Defence Infrastructure Organisation at The Ministry of Defence, MoD) – “The Secrets of Burrow Island (Rat Island) in Portsmouth Harbour” (via Zoom)
  • 5 Nov 2020: Dr Richard Madgwick (Cardiff University) – “The New Archaeological Science of the Mary Rose” and Jarrod Seifert (Cardiff University) – “Cannonballs of the Mary Rose” (via Zoom)
  • 1 Oct 2020: Richard Lewis (Black Mountain Archaeology) – “Hafod-y-Morfa Copperworks, Swansea” (via Zoom)
  • 16 Mar 2020: Society trip to the Tutankhamun Exhibition (Saatchi Gallery, London)
  • 5 Mar 2020: AGM and speaker Dr Evan Jones (Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Bristol) – “Rediscovering Cabot: Bristol and Atlantic Exploration, c.1470-1508
  • 6 Feb 2020: Chris Hodges “A new look at stone walls”
  • 2 Jan 2020: Bring & share supper, accompanied by ‘A Symphony of Sound’ by the de Caversham Household entertaining us with a variety of medieval music played on medieval instruments. 

2019

  • 5 Dec 2019: Guy Salkeld (Ministry of Defence Infrastructure Organisation) on “Archaeology of the MoD base at Caerwent – ranging from the Roman era to Blue Streak rockets”
  • 7 Nov 2019: Katie Faillace (Bioarchaeology Department, Cardiff University) on “The Origins of Teeth”
  • 3 Oct 2019: Will Davies (CADW) on “Newport Castle Re-visited”
  • 19-24 Sep 2019: Trip to Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum and all things Roman (and Greek).
  • 12 Sep 2019: Toby Driver (Aerial archaeologist of the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales) on “A Summer of Discovery in Wales: Aerial Archaeology and the Remarkable Heatwave of 2018”
  • 10 Aug 2019: Meeting the Lave Net Fishermen at Blackrock, hearing about their ancient craft of salmon fishing & visiting their museum.  Followed by a visit to Nash Church and hearing about its links to the sea and lunch at The Waterloo Inn. Afternoon visit to the Wetlands RSPB reserve and the East Usk light House and Usk Power Station.
  • 7 Jul 2019: Guided tour of Crickhowell and visit to Tretower Court and Castle
  • 15 Jun 2019: Coach trip to visit the Botanical Gardens at Kew
  • 20 Jun 2019: Dr Mark Lewis (Curator of National Roman Legionary Museum, Caerleon) on “Chepstow and its landscape under the Romans”
  • 11 May 2019: John Evans and Tim Ryan visiting and hearing talks about the Severn Bridge and its predecessor, The Severn Princess ferry
  • 6 May 2019: Offa’s Dyke Study Day – a guided walk along the Dyke starting from Tidenham Chase Car Park.
  • 4 April 2019: Richard Osgood (Ministry of Defence, Archaeologist of the Year 2019) talking about “Barrow Clump” a 6th century burial site on Salisbury Plain.
  • 19 March 2019: Invitation to join the Living Levels Projects’ presentation on the “Intertidal Archaeological Discoveries at Goldcliff, Nash, Redwick/Peterstone” by Professor Martin Bell (Reading University) at Nash Village Hall.
  • 7 March 2019: Kasia Howard talking about The Landmark Trust’s role in saving many historically important buildings, including Llwyn Celyn, a building in the Llanthony Valley with a remarkable story.
  • 7 February 2019: AGM and presentation from Simon Maddison on the “Hillforts of Britain and Ireland“
  • 3 January 2019: Bring-and-share supper with short talks by CAS members (Anne Hawkins “A row on a Trow”, Keith Tayton “Shirenewton Church”, Keith Mosely “What our ancestors endured; climate change over the last 120,000 years”, Simon Maddison and Dick Finch “An update on the Offa’s Dyke Study Group”, Jeremy White “East Usk Lighthouse”).

2018

  • 6 December 2018: Paul Barnett on the “Severn Bridge Disaster” – a little-known tragedy on the River Severn
  • 29 November 2018: External meeting at Chepstow Drill Hall (7pm) on the latest revelations from the work around Chepstow at Lancaut Peninsular and Spital Meend promontory fort
  • 1 November 2018: Dave Scaysbrook with a talk entitled ‘Death of Stereo’.  This is the story of a forgotten local First World War tragedy that Dave has been researching
  • 4 October 2018: Paul Woollans on ‘Metal Detecting in the Cotswolds
  • 8 September 2018: Tour of Llanfihangel Court near Abergavenny
  • 11 August 2018: Tour of Mathern Mill
  • 7 July 2018: A guided tour of Malmesbury Abbey & Abbey House, Wiltshire (11.00am)
  • 16 June 2018: Tour of the Three Castles – White Castle, Skenfrith and Grosmont with Will Davies, Inspector for Ancient Monuments at CADW (10.45am at Cross Ash Community Hall)
  • 5 May 2018: Guided tour of Ruperra Castle and its Iron Age Hillfort, with Pat Jones Jenkins, Honorary Secretary of the Preservation Trust.
  • 15-20 May 2018: Society trip to Guedelon Castle at the Burgundy region.
  • 5 April 2018: Peter Taylor of Bristol talking about “The History of Clay Tobacco Pipes”
  • 16 March 2018: “Lancaut Revelations – A Day-School on Recent Revelations from Archaeological Investigations in the Lancaut Peninsular & Spital Meend Fort” (External event, Chepstow Drill Hall)
  • 1 March 2018: Meeting cancelled due to snow
  • 1 February 2018: AGM and presentation from Dr Lucy Cramp (University of Bristol) on “The analysis of food residues on Prehistoric Pottery”
  • 4 January 2018: Bring-and-share supper and CAS members’ short talks (Simon Maddison “Fascinating archaeological sites in Europe”, Keith Moseley “The study of beetle remains in Roman latrines”, Ian Sewell “The survival of WW2 concrete defences”, Keith James “Researching an ancestor who fought at Waterloo”, Del Samuel “An alternative scenario on the origins of the Staffordshire Hoard”, and Tony Valdamar “Research into Dinham village”)