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Free-standing stone shelter facing S. Comprising 2 stone shelves supported by pillar each, creating room for six skeps.

Before sugar became generally available during the 18th century, honey was the commonest sweetener available to most people. The skills associated with beekeeping had already been mastered by the Ancient Egyptians, who also had hives for housing their bees.

Welsh laws codified in the 10th century by Hywel Dda give is evidence of beekeeping in Wales at the time. Early hives were probably made from woven wicker, and hives of this type – known as skeps – were recorded across Europe during the Middle Ages. Later, skeps made from coiled straw – in the now-familiar beehive shape – gained popularity over the wicker hives.

Skeps, both of wicker and stone, were frequently daubed with clay or even cow-dung to make them more watertight. A swarm of bees would be kept in each skep, the bees gaining entry through a small opening near the base of the hive.

Specially-built roofed shelters were sometimes erected so that a number of skeps could be housed on one or more shelf. In Wales, these were generally built of stone, having one side open – often facing south or south-east. Alternatively, the skeps could be housed in ‘bee boles’, which were individual recesses, often built into a garden wall.

The number of bee boles in a wall could range from one or two to ten or more. One site at Ruthin contains twenty-five such boles. The bee shelter re-erected here can accommodate six skeps on two stone shelves.