At the beginning of the twentieth century, the president of Amgueddfa Cymru, Lord Howard de Walden, formed a remarkable collection of ancient European arms and armour. The collection included a number of classical pieces - helmets, swords, spearheads, belts and armour that were mainly Greek and Roman - or so it was thought until work at Amgueddfa Cymru discovered otherwise...

The collection comes to Amgueddfa Cymru

Portrait of Lord Howard de Walden (1880-1946)

Etruscan bronze 'helmet' embellished with gold showing half of the false patina removed

X-Ray of helmet

In 1945, Lord Howard offered to lend seventy-nine 'antique bronze objects' to the Museum. Following his death in 1946, his son donated the collection to the Museum.

In 1990 research by a Russian scholar had shown that some items from this collection had almost certainly been made in a jeweller's workshop in Odessa, south Russia between 1890 and 1910. Further investigation has revealed some of the objects to be totally genuine, but others reveal signs of being 'improved' or even manufactured more recently from antique metal parts fashioned into classical forms.

In order to meet the demand for classical antiques during this period, it was quite common to produce a particular object using ancient pieces from a number of sources, or in other words, a pastiche (a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work). There are also a number of fakes, where the metal used was wrong for the period of the object. Lord Howard de Walden was well aware of this, for when the loan to the Museum was being organised, he wrote 'there are certain pieces you may not wish to have, such as...several specimens of doubtful authenticity'.

Bronze 'helmet'

One such object that Museum conservators examined was a helmet, made of bronze and decorated with gold, apparently dating from the third century B.C.

The helmet was X-rayed to determine the condition of the metal and the extent of the corrosion, as well as to reveal its construction. However, the X-ray uncovered much more than was originally expected, for dense solder lines could be clearly seen criss-crossing the image. The helmet had undergone considerable restoration work in recent times; cracks had been filled with solder and holes patched with metal. To disguise these recent repairs a fake patina (the sheen on an object produced by age and use) mimicking corroded bronze had been applied over the top.

Analysis of the metal revealed that the bronze helmet was in fact old, and even the patches of metal used to repair the holes were ancient. However, there were indications that the gold was modern.

The investigations concluded that the helmet had been repaired and embellished with gold that would have increased its value and made it more desirable to collectors. This work may have been carried out at the turn of the twentieth century.

Should the modern repair work be removed or conserved?

In the end, it was decided to remove half the false patina in order to reveal the repair work below, for it was felt that the alterations were now part of the history of the object and could shed light on techniques employed at the time the helmet was collected.

Study of this important collection not only throws light on the ancient technology of the genuine pieces of classical arms and armour, but also the practices of the antiquities market a century ago.

Tregwynt Mansion, September 1996: the tennis court under construction.

The Tregwynt hoard: a selection of the coins as found.

A Scottish Sword-and-Sceptre piece of James VI, 1602. The money brought south by James in 1603 when he became King of England was made legal tender in England and Wales.

A gold Pound coin: a twenty-shillings piece of King Charles I (1625-49).

A silver half crown (2s 6d [12½p]) of Charles I, 1642. Struck at an emergency mint at Shrewsbury at the beginning of the Civil War, this was a day's pay for a cavalryman. On the back, the King promises to fight for the Laws of England, the Protestant religion and the Liberty of Parliament. Round the edge: 'Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered!'

Tregwynt Mansion, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire

Each year Amgueddfa Cymru receives a few chance finds of coins and tokens, but occasionally something more spectacular comes to light. On 17th September 1996, one of Wales' finest coin hoards was discovered.

The story begins in 1996 at Tregwynt Mansion, not far from Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, when the owners were building a tennis court. As they levelled the site and removed the topsoil, a few coins were uncovered. As more soil was removed, more coins were found and after a few days 87 silver and gold coins had been uncovered dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

An initial news blackout on the discovery proved to be a wise precaution, since by mid October, further searching, helped by a hired JCB, brought the total to 33 gold and 467 silver coins, fragments of pottery, a sheet of lead, and a gold ring! At a coroner's inquest at Haverfordwest on 12th June 1997, the coins and ring were declared treasure trove.

The Museum was able to acquire the hoard with the aid of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Why is the Tregwynt hoard special?

The Tregwynt Hoard is one of the finest coin hoards ever recovered from Wales. At the time of its burial it was worth £51 9s. (in today's terms perhaps around £10,000) - enough to pay fifty soldiers for about a month.

The hoard contains an unusually wide range of mid-17th century currency in gold and silver, including a gold crown (five shillings) dating back to the time of Henry VIII.

The coins cover a range of values and reigns: sixpences and shillings of Edward VI (1547-53), Philip and Mary (1554-8), Elizabeth I (1558-1603), The remaining English gold coins are of James I (1603-25) and Charles I (1625-49), but there is also one Scottish gold coin of James VI dated 1602, just before he became king of England.

Tregwynt is unusual in containing coins from no fewer than seven of the emergency mints operated by the royalists during the Civil War. There are also two very rare Irish coins: a half crown probably issued in 1642 by the rebel Catholic Confederacy, and a crown from an emergency Dublin issue of 1643, probably the first recorded find of this type in a Civil War context in England and Wales.

Dating the Hoard

The latest coin at Tregwynt is a single shilling bearing as its mint-mark a sceptre, in use during 1647 and 1648, so the hoard was buried no earlier than 1647.

Oliver Cromwell and the Battle of St. Fagans

Tregwynt is the first 'Civil War' coin hoard to be recorded from Pembrokeshire, and although the hoard's burial cannot be dated with any precision, it seems likely that the county was a major focus of the so-called 'Second Civil War' - a series of royalist risings during the first half of 1648. In February that year Colonel Poyer, a staunch parliamentarian, refused to hand over Pembroke Castle to Colonel Fleming, and by March was in revolt. The parliamentarians were driven out of Pembrokeshire and the royalists were only finally halted at the battle of St Fagans, near Cardiff on the 8th May 1648. The revolt brought Oliver Cromwell to west Wales in person to attack Pembroke Castle, which did not surrender until 11th July.

When, By Who and Why?

It is highly likely, therefore, that burial of the Tregwynt hoard relates to the events of 1648. Who owned it? This we shall never know for certain, but whoever it was never came back to collect it.

The occupier of Tregwynt at the time was Llewellin Harries, an important farmer who died in 1663 and had at least twelve children. As the hoard was buried in a pot covered by a lead sheet, in an outbuilding it suggests that one of the family was probably involved in its burial: but was it the owner?

In the confused times of civil war, almost anything is possible. There is some slight evidence that the Harries were royalist, but if so, they seem to have kept out of the way when it came to the post-war fines imposed on the King's supporters.

Three men named Harries fought for the king at St Fagans but none were definitely connected with Tregwynt. The gold ring, which is presumed to have belonged to the hoard, is a 'posy' (motto) ring inscribed 'Rather death then [than] falce of fayth' - but the meaning cannot be assumed, nor its owner identified.

The Tregwynt Legend

There has long been a legend of treasure at Tregwynt, of valuables supposedly hidden in a hurry when the 1797 French invasion at Fishguard interrupted a ball at the mansion. Reality has proved somewhat different. We shall never know the full story of the Tregwynt treasure, but it stands out as a fine example of the currency of Wales in the early modern period and a spectacular reminder of the disruption visited upon every community during the English Civil War.

Background Reading

'A Civil War hoard from Tregwynt, Pembrokeshire' by E. Besly. In British Numismatic Journal, vol. 68, p119-36 (1998).

'Welsh treasure from the English Civil War' by E. Besly. In Minerva, vol. 9(4), p49-51 (July/August 1998).

Burry Holmes, Gower.

As the last ice sheet retreated from Wales 12,000 years ago, plants, trees and animals and people slowly started to return. By the start of the Early Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age period, 10,000 years ago, woodland had started to re-establish itself and hunter-gather humans had moved into the region.

Burry Holms Archaeology

Today, Burry Holms is a tidal island situated on the northern end of Rhossili Bay, Gower, Swansea. The island has a lot of archaeology including a Mesolithic site, a Bronze Age burial mound, an Iron Age fort with a deep defensive ditch and bank, and the remains of a settlement founded in the 11th century and abandoned during the 17th century.

Amgueddfa Cymru decided to investigate Burry Holms further as we hold a little understood collection of stone tools from work undertaken on the island in the 1920s.

Mesolithic discoveries

A scientific survey and excavation was undertaken at the area of the island where the Mesolithic finds are believed to have been found. Working on a tidal island were challenging with just five hours working-time on the island. However, this short digging day allowed time to process all the finds and samples as they were collected.

A number of stone items washed in from the surrounding higher parts of the island were found in one patch of sand deposited by wind during the Middle Ages. Finds such as these are very difficult to age, but some yellow glass beads have been dated as Iron Age, and, therefore, matching up with the Iron Age fort on the island.

Stone Age Tools

Below these sands was a layer of buried soil containing evidence of stone tools and spears of Mesolithic age. A column of sediment from the complete sequence of deposits was removed and tested for pollen grains, which will supply environmental evidence for the landscape during the Mesolithic and later periods at Burry Holms. In addition, large pieces of charcoal found from Mesolithic layer were sent for identification of the tree species and radiocarbon dating.

Life on Burry Holms in the Stone Age

By studying the evidence discovered with the collections held at the Museum, an interpretation for the Mesolithic site on Burry Holms can be suggested. The twenty-two small stone spears found at the site have been identified as microliths. Microliths are small stone points only found in the Mesolithic period, and were attached to a handle and used as hunting and fishing spears. One of the microliths has an impact fracture at its tip suggesting that it was broken during use. It is possible that its Mesolithic owner took the damaged spear to Burry Holms where he discarded the broken microlith and made a replacement for his spear before going off hunting or fishing again. There is a good supply of flint and stone at the area, ideal for the manufacture of sharp tools. The variety of objects discovered clearly shows that stone tools were being produced at the site. Most of the microliths discovered are Early Mesolithic, but three appear to be of Late Mesolithic appearance.

During the Early Mesolithic period the sea level was much lower than it is today meaning that Burry Holms would not have been an island at that time, but a distinctive inland hill. In many ways this site would have been an ideal place for Mesolithic people to have established a camp or settlement. The hilltop shelter from the winds and the prominent position would have been ideal for scanning the surrounding landscape for prey to hunt and the nearby River Loughor a source of fish for their diet. Unfortunately, due to the acidic soils, bones have not been preserved at the site, so the remains of their meals and indeed the remains of the people themselves, as well as any of their bone or wooden tools, will not have survived.

Diving operations on the Smalls Reef (1992)

Detail of an animal in profile depicted on one side of the Smalls sword guard.

Detail of beast on the top of the Smalls guard.

The Smalls Sword, ca. AD 1100.

The location of the Smalls Reef in South-west Wales

Amgueddfa Cymru holds one of the most remarkable examples of late Viking art ever to be found in Wales. The discovery of the lower guard of a Viking sword, dated to about AD 1100, was made by a sports diver in August 1991. The findspot lies off The Smalls Reef - some 13 miles due west of Skomer island (Dyfed), the nearest landfall being the island of Grassholm, approximately 7 miles due east. This makes it one of the most remote archaeological sites in Wales.

Cast in brass and finely decorated

The sword guard is cast in brass, each side being finely decorated with a pair of stylised animals in profile, interwoven with thin, snake-like beasts. On the top of the guard two animals with open jaws bite the position of the grip which once projected through the guard, but has now perished. The main areas of ornament are inlaid with silver wire, and the background was originally filled with a black inlay called niello, to form a handsome design of gold, black and silver appearance.

Urnes style decoration

This decoration is in a style known as Urnes, which took its name from the decoration of a small wooden church built at Urnes in western Norway in about AD1060. The new find, with its elegant, refined animal profiles, reminds us that the Vikings were not only pirates and raiders, but also craftsmen and creators of art which, based on animal forms, were full of vigour and vitality. Its ornament is related to metalwork produced in Ireland from the second half of the 11th century, where it caught native imagination, as can be seen in the famous Cross of Cong (dated about 1123) and St Manchan's Shrine (12th century).

Following the identification of the find, the site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, which aims to prevent unauthorised interference on wreck sites considered to be of archaeological, historic or artistic importance. Such was the rarity of the discovery that the Museum was granted a licence to survey the site.

The logistics of such an investigation were formidable, with large swells frequently rolling in from the Atlantic and smashing onto the exposed rocks. In spite of these difficulties, it was possible to inspect the area and make complete video and photographic records of the underwater environment of the reef, and the likely context of the find.

The discovery of a prized possession in such a location is unlikely to represent a casual single loss, but rather the capsize and loss of a vessel, probably Viking, on one of the long-distance sea-routes at some point during the period of frequent attacks by the Dublin fleet on wealthy centres such as St. David's and Bristol. The ship was a dramatic symbol of Viking culture, and to judge from other Viking finds, the vessel carrying the sword may have measured between 13 and 28 metres in length - either a large, slender, fast ship for warfare, or a broader, sturdier vessel for the long-distance transport of people and cargoes.

Many ships were lost on the Smalls before the advent of navigational aids such as radar and lighthouses, and any vessels wishing to travel to Ireland from the south coast of Wales still need to keep a course well to the south of the 'Hats and Barrels' to be sure of clearing the hazardous rocks, inbetween the islands of Skockholm, Skomer and Grassholm, themselves all being Scandinavian names.

The rarity of this find, the quality of workmanship and the nature of the findspot are all factors which help shed light on the ancient operations of Norsemen around the Welsh coast.