Our new Iron Age farmstead, Bryn Eryr, holds a recent story as well as the fantastic histories connected to it. Over the last few years over 2,000 volunteers have been working quietly at St Fagans Museum building it from the ground up. Our volunteers, with our staff, have debarked the wood for the walls and roof, built the clay walls, grown the spelt for the thatch and have even thatched the roof. It has truly been built from the ground up by the volunteers!
You may think we have finished, but that’s only half the story; since the building has been completed many volunteers have been helping us decorate the inside: our Youth Forum have recently helped us build an Iron Age bread oven, staff from across different departments have helped us build a loom, and over 1,000 visitors have helped us make string out of stinging nettles. Our current project involves volunteers from The Wallich who are helping us to create a garden that will grow vegetables and herbs that we can use in school workshops and events.
Our old Celtic Village was a favourite for many of our visitors and we hope that Bryn Eryr will become a favourite too! So the next time you come and visit the Museum just remember that the history of Bryn Eryr also holds a recent story that involves over 2,000 people donating their time to help tell the history of the Iron Age!
Bryn Eryr wouldn’t be possible without our volunteers and so in the spirit of Volunteers’ Week we wanted to say Diolch - Thank You to all 2,000 of you!
(Bryn Eryr is currently open during weekends and school holidays and for school groups)
Between 20 June and 4 July, our popular Evolution of Wales galleries will be closed while we undertake some essential maintenance work.
For these two weeks, visitors will not be able to access areas showing the introduction, Big Bang, Carboniferous forest, dinosaurs, mammoth or the Ice Age animals. Other galleries remain open during this time, including the Diversity of Life gallery (with lots of birds), the mineral collection and all the natural history galleries with the British woodland scene, basking shark, hump back whale skeleton and our new exhibition Wriggle! The art galleries upstairs are also open, unaffected by the maintenance work.
The work covers improved care of the collections and sustainability of the building, including:
Changing the gallery lighting to LED, to reduce electricity consumption, our carbon footprint and costs. LED lighting gives off less heat than conventional lighting so the air conditioning system will work better - it’s better for the items on display, because keeping a stable temperature helps maintain the condition of the objects. LED lighting also reduces future maintenance costs, and changes to the lighting will make the galleries brighter in some places.
Improvements to the fire alarm system so it's better for the collections, the building, staff and visitors.
Upgrading video screens from CRT to HD LCD with touch button interactive controls. This will improve video content delivery, reduce maintenance costs and provide a contemporary aesthetic to the gallery, making units more streamlined.
While the galleries are closed curators will be able to secure some of the items that have become loose in the cases, thus improving their long-term care. They will also clean the displays thus reducing the risk of potential pest infestations – pest management is vital to the care of museum collections.
Finally, installation of the new life-sized recreation of the new Welsh dinosaur, Dracoraptor hanigani as part of the dinosaur display.
Yr wythnos hon, mae amgueddfeydd ledled y wlad yn dathlu ac yn hyrwyddo cyfraniad arbennig eu gwirfoddolwyr. Yma yn Sain Ffagan, mae ‘cymuned’ o wirfoddolwyr yn chwarae rhan bwysig yng ngweithgarwch yr Amgueddfa. Gallwch weld eu gwaith ar draws y safle – o’r gerddi i’r adeiladau hanesyddol. Canrif yn ôl – yn ystod y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf – roedd gwirfoddolwyr yn gadael eu hôl ar Sain Ffagan o dan amgylchiadau pur wahanol.
Yn ystod y Rhyfel, sefydlwyd bron i 18,000 o elusennau newydd ym Mhrydain ac fe welwyd ymgyrchu gwirfoddol ar raddfa heb ei debyg o'r blaen. Ynghyd ag Urdd San Ioan, roedd y Groes Goch Brydeinig yn ganolog i'r ymgyrch hon. Yn 1909, daeth y ddwy elusen ynghyd i sefydlu cynllun y Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), gyda'r bwriad o roi hyfforddiant meddygol i wirfoddolwyr a'u paratoi i wasanaethu gartref a thramor mewn cyfnodau o ryfel. Yn ôl ystadegau'r Groes Goch, erbyn diwedd y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf roedd 90,000 o bobl wedi cymryd rhan yn y cynllun - yn eu plith Elizabeth Radcliffe o bentref Sain Ffagan.
Yn ferch i ofalwr capel y pentref, roedd Elizabeth a’i theulu yn denantiaid i’r Arglwydd Plymouth o Gastell Sain Ffagan. Ganwyd chwech o blant i William a Catherine Radcliffe – pedwar mab (William, Thomas, Robert a Taliesin) a dwy ferch (Elizabeth a Mary). Cyn y Rhyfel, bu Elizabeth yn gofalu am blant James Howell – un o berchnogion y siop enwog yng Nghaerdydd. Ond erbyn 1916, roedd hi nôl yn Sain Ffagan ac yn gwirfoddoli fel nyrs VAD yn yr ysbyty ategol a agorwyd ar dir y Castell ym Mawrth y flwyddyn honno. Ar y pryd, roedd hi’n ddi-briod ac yn 28 mlwydd oed.
Roedd y rhan fwyaf o nyrsys Ysbyty Sain Ffagan yn wirfoddolwyr lleol – menywod o’r pentref, yn anad dim, a oedd wedi derbyn hyfforddiant sylfaenol gan y Groes Goch. Dim ond 70 o wlâu a dwy ward oedd yn yr ysbyty, felly milwyr ag anafiadau ysgafn oedd yn cael eu trin yno. Roedd gofyn i’r gwirfoddolwyr wisgo iwnifform swyddogol y mudiad, sef ffrog las a ffedog wen gyda chroes goch wedi ei phwytho ar y frest. Mae llyfrau cyfrifon Ystâd Plymouth yn cynnwys sawl cyfaniad ariannol at gostau prynu gwisgoedd i staff yr ysbyty. Mae’n debyg fod siop J. Howell & Co. ymhlith y cyflenwyr.
Yn ffodus iawn, mae gwisg Elizabeth Radcliffe o’r cyfnod hwn wedi goroesi, ynghyd â llun ohoni yn ei lifrai. Rhoddwyd ei ffedog a'i llewys i gasgliad yr Amgueddfa yn 1978, ac yn ddiweddar cawsom ragor o wybodaeth amdani a’i brodyr gan aelodau’r teulu. O’r pedwar brawd aeth i’r ffrynt, dim ond un ohonynt – Taliesin – ddaeth adref i Sain Ffagan yn fyw. Mae enwau William, Thomas a Robert Radcliffe i’w canfod ar gofeb rhyfel y pentref, ynghyd ag Archer Windsor-Clive - mab ieuengaf yr Arglwydd Plymouth - a laddwyd ym Mrwydr Mons. Mae’n amhosibl i ni amgyffred â mawredd y golled i Elizabeth a’i rhieni – un teulu ymysg y miliynau a rwygwyd gan erchyllterau’r Rhyfel Mawr.
Os hoffech ddarganfod mwy am waith y Groes Goch yn ystod y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, mae adnoddau gwych ar wefan y mudiad, gan gynnwys rhestr o'r holl ysbytai ymadfer a agorwyd ym Mhrydain. Mae llu o wrthrychau a delweddau perthnasol yn y casgliad yma yn Sain Ffagan hefyd. Ewch draw i'r catalog digidol i ddarganfod mwy.
Treasures: Adventure in Archaeology has several amazing Welsh finds on display like the Cwm Nant Col Hoard, the Dolgellau Chalice and Paten and the Sully Hoard. These objects are only a small part of the collection that the National Museum Wales holds.
Capel Garmon Firedog
In the Iron Age, the hearth was the centre of the home. Many hearths of high status families would have been decorated with large iron stands called firedogs. They were often highly designed, most likely to reflect the status of its owner. In 1852, a firedog was discovered near Llanrwst, Conwy. Each end was topped off with what looked like a mythical animal, a combination of ox and horse. Analysis of the object shows that it was made up of 85 different pieces and would have taken several years to construct. When it was discovered, it had been buried in a boggy area and was in one piece, which led archaeologists to believe that it may have been buried as a ritual offering to the gods. It was not uncommon for people to put offerings into lakes or bury them in boglands during this period.
Capel Garmon Fire Dog
Langstone Tankard
While people of the past left many objects behind, they don't always survive for us to rediscover. This is especially true for objects made out of organic material like wood. However, if the conditions are just right, usually buried in a water-logged and oxygen-free environment, objects can survive. That’s the case for a handful of wooden tankards dating back to the Late Iron Age or Early Roman Period. By examining these objects, we are given clues to their use and greater insight to the society who made them. The Langstone Tankard held about four pints. It’s unlikely that was a single serving so the tankard may have been passed around, perhaps during a ritual. One of the most interesting things about the tankard is that it was made out of yew wood. Yew wood is toxic and, with enough exposure, fatal and according to Roman writings from this time period the toxicity was well known. However, as with several other plants, in small doses it has been linked to medicinal uses. It could be that the tankard was used with those medicinal uses in mind.
Langstone tankard
Caergwrle Bowl
One of the most impressive objects has to be the Caergwrle Bowl. Dating back to the Bronze Age and about 3,200 years old, the bowl is made up of shale, tin and gold. This was the same time period when the Trojan War was being fought in modern-day Turkey. It was found in 1823 when workmen were digging drainage ditches at Caergwrle Castle in Denbighshire. The bowl was in pieces but has since been restored. Designs were carved into the bowl and then the gold was added. It is thought that the bowl itself was made to represent a boat and the wave pattern on the bottom certainly furthers that. There are also shields and oars and even a pair of oculus. If you have ever seen a drawing of an Ancient Greek or Roman boat (especially the triremes) you will have seen that most of them are decorated with oculi, which were thought to ward off bad luck. While the Bronze Age people of Britain would have used boats for trading, there has not been a lot of evidence found.
Caergwrle Bowl
Paviland Cave
During the height of the last Ice Age (22,000 to 10,000 BC) the majority of the British Isles were covered by glaciers but we do find evidence of human activity in a few places. The caves that line the shore of the Gower Peninsula have provided information on some of the earliest people to arrive to Wales. In 1823, the Red Lady of Paviland was discovered. This burial was accompanied by beads, tools and rings and the bones were stained with red ochre. The analysis showed that the Red Lady was in fact a male in his mid-twenties who died around 27,000 BC making it one of the oldest formal burials in Western Europe.
Every year in June hundreds of organisations celebrate volunteering and the people who donate their time for free through Volunteers’ Week. Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales is no different and this year we are celebrating what makes us that little bit extra special – our volunteers.
Our volunteers help us every day and the odds is as a visitor you have met a volunteer! Our volunteers keep us grounded, they inspire us and tell us exactly how it is. They help us see things differently and make us work that little bit harder.
Our volunteers helps us with a range of things from farming, to conservation, to making rag rugs, to taking visitors on tours, etc. They are the people who are always amazing and help us share our passion for our collections and the stories we collect and protect.
So a big diolch – thank you to each one of our amazing volunteers!!
Fancy getting involved? Take a look at our Get Involved webpages for more information or follow us on twitter @AmgueddfaVols.
