Forts and Farms on Margam Mountain Glamorgan

By Cyril Fox

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Apr 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473383609

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Forts and Farms on Margam Mountain

Glamorgan

by CYRIL and AILEEN FOX

THE progress of archaeology in Britain, as elsewhere, depends on excavation. This is a commonplace; but a more leisurely approach to that final arbitrament than is usually adopted would, we think, be advantageous. Until an area is studied, its visible antiquities planned, the evidence afforded by their geographical and topographical relationships weighed, the natural environmental conditions—forest and open country—assessed, and resultant possibilities discussed, the selection of particular sites for excavation in that area is premature. The following account of a field survey of a limited area in Glamorgan is a practical expression of this point of view.

Margam Mountain is a convenient title for an upland region the highest part of which is called Mynydd Margam, measuring 8 miles along its main axis (SE to NW) and 4 miles across. It is on the southern fringe of the Glamorgan coalfield, with steep slopes overlooking a narrow coastal flat to the southeast of the industrial town of Port Talbot (FIG. 1). On the northeast it is defined by the valley of the Llynfi, a tributary of the river Ogmore (Ogwr) and on the northwest by a ravine known as Cwm Dyffryn. On the north, the steep scarp of Mynydd Bach fronts the saddle which separates Cwm Dyffryn from the Llynfi valley. This saddle (800 ft.) is the only link between Margam Mountain and the Glamorgan plateau.

On all sides the outline of the massif is indented by ravines and cwms, each with its small stream rising in boggy ground near the crest. Thus, though the main ridge, which rises gradually from 800 feet in the southeast to over 1100 feet in the northwest, is unbroken, there are many subsidiary hill-tops and spurs on either flank. The area over 1000 feet is