Llywarch Hen’s Dyke: Place and narrative in Early Medieval Wales

Seaman, Andy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6441-4451 2019. Llywarch Hen’s Dyke: Place and narrative in Early Medieval Wales. Offa’s Dyke Journal 2019 (1) , pp. 96-113. 10.23914/odj.v1i0.252

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Abstract

Dykes must have been important features within the early medieval landscape, but scarcely attract more than cursory discussion in archaeological literature focused on Wales and western Britain. Analysis of a dyke recorded in a boundary clause attached to an eighth century charter in the Book of Llandaff demonstrates how a multidisciplinary approach can garner new insights into the function and significance of dykes in the early medieval landscape. Llywarch Hen’s Dyke defined a large part of the bounds of Llan-gors, a royal estate in the kingdom of Brycheiniog. On the ground the dyke is represent by a prominent agricultural land boundary, but the monument also operated as a ‘mnemonic peg’ through which oral traditions associated with power and place were narrated.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 April 2022
Date of Acceptance:	1 February 2019
Last Modified:	06 May 2023 08:26
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/147561

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