‘The Berth’ Iron Age Hill Fort

Shropshire, England

(...and its connection to 'Avalon' & 'Llys Pengwern')

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If you're planning on taking the Virtual Vistas Tour then don't read this article

Now and Then. How it might have looked during its construction over 2,300 years ago.

‘The Berth’

   by Mak wilson

 

("berth" Celtic for resting placing for a boat/"berthog" Welsh for fair or beautiful to the eye / "burh" - Saxon for stronghold or fort)

The Berth, unlike its bigger 'sister', Old Oswestry Hill Fort just 15 miles away, is hidden away and not even known by many of the locals in the area let alone the rest of Britain. We hope to change that. This unexplored, unknown piece of history now sits quietly in farm pasture but would have once stood in a mere (lake) or marsh. Shropshire, in fact, has one of the largest concentration of hill forts in Britain.

 

AFORE YE GO...

 

Before you proceed, remember that history is an ever changing subject. What is thought to be fact today, may be 'proved' to be fiction tomorrow. The same goes for archaeology; opinions and interpretations change and have done so to a great degree in the past 20 years in the case of Iron Age studies. There are also differing views on the same subject to take into account. This is not an academic field trip, so we have to generalise a little and sometime take the most prevalent theory at this time. Please excuse us for this.

 

HISTORY OF  THE BERTH & ITS PEOPLE

The Berth, and the west and northwest Midlands region of what is now England,  was once occupied by the Cornovii tribe. (These shouldn't be confused with the Cornovii of what is now northern Scotland or the Cornovii of the south west who gave their name to the modern county of Cornwall). It is thought, by some, that this Celtic* tribe was a poor, warring, warrior nation because few artefacts of beauty or pottery have been found that they made or had the wealth to acquire. This, and the amount of hill forts in their territory, lead archaeologists to believe the Cornovii were nothing but an infighting bunch of impoverished Britons with no taste in jewellery!
        However, this isn't the view of all, including Roger White from Birmingham University. Giving good arguments to support his theories, he believes that we don't find much of the Cornovii artwork because, unlike the more southern tribes, their remoteness kept the influence of their continental brethren away from them and they weren't 'materialists' like other tribes and showed their status in other ways. He also points to the Cornovii's export of salt and a probable agricultural goods trade and as the sign of their success. Carthaginian and other coins found on the River Dee certainly point to some kind of trade with the Mediterranean people. The building of hill forts, he suggests, was the outward expression of this success. In short, they were more an export tribe than a warring one, who showed off buy constructing things rather than adorning themselves. Hill forts need many people to construct them and you have to pay them in some way and they have to have the time to build them. How do you do this if you’re poor and constantly fighting?

        Roger White and many others think each fort may have been used for different reasons and at different times of the year. Some would be centres of power and constantly in use, such as Old Oswestry, whilst some would be seasonal animal enclosures and others used for celebrations. Some, like the Berth perhaps, could have been a religious site.

 

(*Click HERE to open a sidebar relating to the 'Celtic' debate).

 

Of course there are always counter arguments and the Celtic expert, Barry Cunliffe does point to the fact that the Cornovii did like their swords. He does agree, however that their lack of ceramic pottery could mean a pastoral tribe on the move. They would tend to use more leather and wood than pottery because they were less breakable for a mobile (or warlike) people. Mr. Cunliffe knows his stuff. We just wish he had something to say about the Berth.

 

If the Cornovii were so tough and liked their swords, then why didn't they put up much of a fight when the Romans arrived? Maybe it was because they did spend too much time either fighting one another or in the classic, Celtic pursuits of cattle raiding and slave capturing! Or, perhaps it was because they weren't a cohesive tribe.

 

The Iron Age society in this period was undergoing quite a change in its social structure. What was once a family/communal  based society was turning into an hierarchical one. This was when we were seeing the emergence of the elite groups, such as chieftains and the warrior class. Had the Berth's inhabitants gone through this change by the 3rd. Century BC? Historians and archaeologists don't know. This may not have happened until the 2nd. and 1st. Centuries. This would mean the Berth could have seen a big change in the way it was used during its Iron Age period, if it began its life around 300 BC. It's also possible that the Berth didn't come into its hill fort existence until later when these elite groups had emerged.

        It seems that the population of these islands expanded greatly during this period and with more competition for land came the change in society and the emergence of the hill forts. Of course, it wasn't the same story over the whole of the British Isles as the differing environment and contacts with continental Europe meant different solutions. It does seem, however,  that the relative peace of the Bronze Age would be shattered by the coming of the Iron.

 

HIGHLY DESIRABLE RESIDENCE

 

Hill forts were for the upper echelons of ancient Briton society; for the chieftains and the kings and queens; for the noblemen and noblewomen or for the warrior class.  They would have lived in roundhouses at this time; kept warm by wattle and daub walls and a thatched roof. This kind of dwellings had already been around since the Bronze Age and had certainly proved its durability against the British elements. The reconstructed roundhouses at Castell Henllys have withstood winds of up to 110 mph (170 kph) and those at Buster Ancient Farm have proved that they withstand rain perfectly well. It's estimated that they would have lasted between 10 and 20 years, depending on the owners and the type of ground they stood upon. We know from other similar sites how they may have been laid out, but even with archaeology it's hard to tell just how many dwellings existed at the same time. It' was also difficult for us to calculate the number at the Berth because roundhouses could be anywhere from 15 to 50 feet wide (4.6 to 15.3 meters) and up to 27 feet high (8.3 meters).  No one knows how many dwelling  there would have been in the Berth's main enclosure (QTVR) as there hasn't been enough archaeology done on the site, but we calculate it could have contained up to 9 or 10, although it has been known for other very high status sites to have only between 1 and 3. By opening this QTVR you can take a look around the Berth's enclosure to see the roundhouses we've placed in it. We've put dwellings of differing styles and in different states of construction in our virtual fort.

        There's a possibility that some roundhouse were specifically used for animal storage. This theory has come about by the high level of phosphates found at some roundhouse sites, pointing to the presence of manure. Whilst this makes sense, it is still only a possibility.

        Outside the roundhouses would be granaries and underground storage pits.  Apart from small cultivation plots for each roundhouse, the farming was done by the farmsteads outside the fort. They paid their dues to their lords and in return got protection. There would be a lot of people and animals roaming around this enclosure and these will be included in future versions of the images.

 

THE LATER BERTH - 540 AD & BEYOND?

 

The above, bottom image (right) is a representation of how the Berth might have looked at its later stage. We've placed it in 540 AD (the year after the supposed death of Arthur) for our Berth Virtual Vistas Tour, although there's no archaeological evidence (as yet) that it was in use at this time (see below). There is evidence that it was occupied in the 4th Century and it just may have looked like this.

        By the 6th Century the Cornovian area had been divided into the kingdoms of Powys and Gwynedd, with possibly some minor kingdoms thrown in. the Berth was now in Powys and this is why it has been linked with the historical Arthur, Avalon, 'The churches of Bassa' and a king called Cynddylan  and his seat of power: Llys Pengwern (late 6th - early 7th Century).

 

So let's take a look at these theories...
 

AVALON & THE CHURCHES OF BASSA

 

The 'Isle of Avalon' was said to be the resting place of the legendary King Arthur. Here he is said to lie with his knights, waiting until Britain was in great peril before rising again to defend the isle. (We don't know what his idea of "peril" is, but he didn't budge during the Second World War!). The Anglo-Norman (?), Geoffrey of Monmouth, when translating the 'History of the Kings of Britain'  from Welsh into Latin, called it 'Insula Afallonis', which was shortened to "Avalon". However, the original Welsh text referred to it as 'Ynys Afallach' - "Island or Realm of Afallach" (Afallach - pronounce "Avaklokh" - was also a Celtic deity but in this case some believe he may have been an actual person). "Afal" means "apple", which is why it is sometime referred to as the "Island of Apples". The idea that the Berth was Avalon is not as far fetched as you might imagine.

 

'The Bear'

 

In their book King Arthur - The True Story, Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman tell us that there was a king of Powys in North Wales called Owain Ddantgwyn (pronounced something like "Owen Thantgooun"), also known as Owain Dantwyn. A king, the authors suggest, who was the son of a certain Enniaun Girt, the 'Head Dragon' of Gwynedd, which in Brythonic (the Briton language) would translate as pen dragon. Owain was known as 'The Bear' or 'Artus' in Brythonic. (In Welsh, the modern form of this language,  "arth gwyr" - "arth goour" - means "bear man"). In Latin this translates as Arturius. (Latin would have still been used in the upper echelons of Briton society).

        Their evidence goes on to tell us that a king called Cuneglasus was the predecessor of a ruler called 'Bear' - so he came before Owain.  Gildas calls Cuneglasus the charioteer of the Bear's stronghold (Din Arth). Cynddylan was said to be the "heir of the Great Arthur" - and he came after Owain. The legendary King Arthur was killed by his nephew Mordred at the Battle of Camlann in Cornwall. Owain died in a battle at Camlan - not in Cornwall, but at Camlan (map) (Cwm-Llinau - pronounced something like 'Cwoom-Klinny) on the ancient Powys/Gwynedd border. The dates of Owain's life tie in with the supposed dates of the life of Arthur. Their conclusion is that Owain/Artus/Arturius is our real King Arthur. He would have been called 'Artus map Pen Dragon' - 'Arthur, son of Head Dragon'.

        The other evidence they put forward is that Arthur at many times was said not to be a Briton, or at least not from Powys or Gwynedd. If he were from the Votadini tribe (Gododdin) of Scotland, as they suggest he is, they say he wouldn't have been. So our famous English king in shining armour, they say, would have been a Romano-Scot living in Wales fighting against the Anglo-Saxons (the English)!

        It's known that the kings of Powys were buried at "eglwysseu bassa"  - pronounced something like "eglooussay bassa", but in modern Welsh,  "egloousseye bassa".  In English this translates as  "the churches of Bassa".  This, by some, has been identified as modern day Baschurch (map), in the parish of which the Berth lies.  IF Cynddylan was buried at the "the churches of Bassa" and IF this site is indeed the Berth, it would follow that 'Artus'  was buried here too. So, if Owain is Arthur and this site is "the churches of Bassa", then the Berth is Avalon!

 

This is the BBC

Phillips and Keatman got the BBC interested in the story in the early ‘90’s. In a program called ‘Scoffield's Quest’ they persuaded the BBC to take a look at this site. They enlisted services of a lady who was a psychic and dowser (why, we don't know) to see if she could find signs of a burial. She did indeed, saying there was 'something large and round' beneath where she stood. Something like a large shield. On its own this meant nothing, but next they brought in geophysics and to everyone's  amazement they too found something large and round, right where she had said!
        So, we all thought, this would be it! English Heritage, we thought, would be in there digging in no time! We're still waiting for the dig 13 years later. But, it isn't going to happen, not yet anyway. English Heritage, who assign the historic schedule status to sites and give permissions to dig, aren't allowing digs here for the foreseeable future!

Any Conclusions?

 

King Arthur - the True Story does seem well researched book, but there are many holes in it: Why did Owain become known by his 'nickname' - Artus? Why do they say he was a king of Powys when he is known to have been a king of Rhôs? Why, when the original Welsh translated texts only calls him a dux belorum - 'leader of battles' - are they looking for a king? Why does Gildas - a contemporary of Arthur - not mention him in his writings of the time? Lastly; why plump for the Berth as 'the churches of Bassa' when there have been no findings beyond the 4th Century? Why say the Votadini were not a British tribe, when they were?

 

(Click here to read a more detailed explanation behind this theory by Mick Baker)

 

There are other theories, of course, that place Avalon elsewhere. It all comes down to who Arthur really was - or might have been.  He may very well have been the Arthur of the original Welsh stories.  Not a king at all, but a dux belorum, and not a man of Powys but of Gwynedd. Not of 'The Bear' but of 'The Dragon'. This is the next theory we'll put forward...

 

Land of the Dragon & The Dead

 

In their books, The Keys To Avalon and Pendragon - The Definitive Account of the Origins of Arthur, Steve Blake and Scott  Lloyd come up with an alternative Arthur and placement for Avalon. Steve knows his Welsh history, and with access to the ancient Welsh manuscripts, and experts to translate them, the authors went back to the original text to find their 'truth'. Their argument is that the Arthur of the various Welsh writings and poems is Arthur! This Arthur fights other Britons, rarely the Anglo-Saxons - which makes historical sense as testified by Gildas - and their findings place Avalon in North Wales. This is all down to the meaning of "ynys", which has been taken to mean "island". Whilst it can mean island, it can also mean a piece of land that is boarded by water. Geoffrey of Monmouth translated this into Latin as "Insula", which can only mean "island".  So, the 'Island of Avalon' it became and no one questioned it.  But if we go back to the Old Welsh, "ynys" can also mean "realm". As mentioned above, the original Welsh text calls it "Ynys Afallach", which would then translate as "the realm of Afallach"; which could mean "the realm belonging to Afallach". So they're suggesting Afallach is a figure: the leader of a realm.  They have also found a medieval text that actually says Avalon was in Gwynedd - but this could just be some medieval monk's fantasy! (The name Pendragon, which is associated with Arthur, gives him a strong link to Gwynedd. Where as Powys was known as 'The Bear', this kingdom was known as 'The Dragon'.  It's from Gwynedd's emblem the Welsh flag takes its famous red dragon symbol).

 

The northern reaches of North Wales have often been referred to as "The Otherworld" or "Annwn": the "land of the dead".  The authors believe, after gathering the evidence, that this isn't referring to some mythical land but that this is exactly what it was: the place where the dead leaders of Gwynedd - and others - were buried. This is mentioned in the writings of a Roman called Procopius in the 6th Century. His words, Blake and Lloyd tell us, have been misinterpreted; or rather changed to fit historian's views. It's all because Procopius mentions a wall built by the Britons running from north to south. Historians believe he must have been mistaken. There are no walls built at this time running north to south. Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall run east to west.  But what if he was referring to another 'wall'; a 'wall' we believe to have been built much later - Offa's Dyke?

        Could this be the wall referred to by Gildas in the 6th Century? Could this be the wall Severus was said to have built in the 2nd. Century but historians put down to a reworking of Hadrian's Wall? Is this why no Anglo-Saxon finds have been made anywhere on the Dyke? All this was just theory until a find was made at part of  Wat's Dyke - which runs parallel to Offa's in its northern reaches and was thought to be built at the same time. This find, in Oswestry (photo), discovered hearth remains that were carbon dated to around 446 AD: just after the Romans abandoned Britain and not Anglo-Saxon at all. This threw a 'cat amongst the pigeons' but made Blake and Lloyd very happy. If this was true of Wat's Dyke then the same could be so for Offa's.

        This now made even more sense of what Procopius says when he tells us that on one side of the wall it was fertile pastureland and on the other a land not fit for humans and full of vipers and serpents. Whilst this is a little harsh on the lands of what is now North Wales, it's understandable why someone in the 6th Century would think so. It certainly doesn't describe the environs of either Hadrian's or the Antonine Walls. Procopius also states that anyone passing over this wall would die and says, "They say that the souls of men departed are always conducted to this place." What more evidence do you need for an actual "Land of the Dead"? Blake and Lloyd do give even more facts to back all this up, but we're afraid you'll have to read their books to find out what they are.

        So this is why they place Avalon - or rather 'the realm of Afallach' - in the area that is now northeast Wales and northwest Cheshire (map) and the "churches of Bassa" at the nearby Basingwerk (map), on the Dee Estuary; the site of Basingwerk Abbey. (The name itself is from Anglo-Saxon, Besingwerc, meaning 'the stronghold of Bassa'). To get to this realm the people of Gwynedd would have to have crossed the River Dee - named Deva by the Romans - an ancient, sacred river. This is exactly the kind of water described in the legends of King Arthur.

 

If they're right, and we'd say the evidence looks pretty good, then the Berth isn't the fabled king's burial ground after all. Of course, this doesn't mean it wasn't a burial site in its own right and the fact that there are many Bronze Age burial mounds in the Baschurch area and Bronze Age finds at the Berth Pool means this had been a sacred area for a long time. So what about the site's other connection, to Llys Pengwern? Well... you'll find out about that later.

 

IMAGES OF ARTHUR?

 

If you're interested in all things Arthurian and would like to read an article we produced with the aid of 'Clan' artists about how the historical Arthur might have looked, click HERE.

 

 

LLYS PENGWERN

 

Llys Pengwern was the late 6th and early 7th Century 'capitol' of Pengwern: a kingdom that split from Powys and incorporated part of what was the Cornovii's territory after they abandoned Viriconium. This has been assigned to several modern day places in the area. "Pengwern",  which if broken down into the two Welsh words of 'pen' and 'gwern' means "head of swamp or marsh",  has been suggested to be: Wroxeter (Viriconium) - which makes no sense if they were suppose to have abandoned it.  Shrewsbury (map) itself - although there's no sign of settlement there until the 9th. Century. Bury Walls to the north (map) of Shrewsbury and Whittington near Oswestry (map) - which does fit the bill.  But for us, the most interesting suggestion is that the Berth is Llys Pengwern. The following is going to get quite deep and complex, so only proceed if you're really interested!  If not, scroll down to the 'If...' section.

 

'The Song of Heledd'

 

Cynddylan (pronounced something like "Kunthullan") was a king/prince of Pengwern at this time (early 7th Century AD). We know of Cynddylan through the two poems written about him: 'Marwnad Cynddylan', (The Death Song of Cynddylan) and the 'Canu Heledd' (The Song of Heledd). The latter tells of his sister Heledd's lament at the destruction of the Kingdom of Pengwern and the killing of her brother and his family. Cynddylan had fought alongside King Penda of Mercia (Middle Angles) against the invading Northumbrians (Northern Angles), particularly at the Battle of Maes Cogwy (Oswestry, Shropshire). Here they killed their enemy, King Oswald (after whom Oswestry was named - where he was hacked to bits).  However, 14 years later, after Penda  had popped his Angle clogs, Oswald's angry Angle brother, Oswiu, thought it was about time to revenge his brother's death. He attacked Llys Pengwern and Cynddylan was cut down with several of his brothers. He was said to be buried at  'the churches of Bassa'.  This being the case, it doesn't make sense that the Berth is both places: Pengwern and 'the churches of Bassa'.

        It's also mentioned that Llys Pengwern (or as it is actually called in the poems, Tren or Trenn) sat in "the white town by the alder wood" and this doesn't sound much like the Berth either. 'The Song of Heledd' says...

 

Defending Tren, ravaged town........ 
White town between Tren and Rhodwydd, 

 

... and a 9th. Century poem called 'from The Elergy on Cynddylan' tells us...

 

The white town in the breast of the wood, this is the symbol ever - 
blood on the surface of its grass. 
The white town in the land, its symbol is green graves, the blood 
under the feet of its men. 
The white town in the valley, glad is the kite at the bloodshed of 
battle; its people have perished ... 

 

        Usually, since we're neither an historians or expert on such matters, we generally write down what we've read from experts... once we've deciphered it. In the case of this poem and the thoughts behind its meaning and translation, however,  We've done some of our own research. This started when we saw another translation of this poem that said "fair town" instead of "white town". There's a big difference between these and we wondered how this occurred so we went in search of the original. The original Brythonic says...

 

Y drefwenn ym bronn y coet.

ysef y hefras eiryoet.

ar wyneb y gwellt y gwaet.

Y drefwenn yn y thywyr

y hefras yglas vyuyr.

y gwaet a dan draet y gwyr.

Y drefwenn yn y dyffrynt

llawen y bydeir wrth gyuamrud kat.

y gwerin neur derynt.

Y drefwenn rwng trenn a throdwyd.

– oed gnodach ysgwyt tonn. yn dyuot o gat

nogyt ych y echwyd.

Y drefwenn rwng trenn a thraual.

– oed gnodach y gwaet ar wyneb y gwellt

noc eredic brynar.

...and the translation for this is...

The fair town on the slope of the woods –

this was ever its custom:

on the surface of its grass its blood.

The fair town in its lands –

its custom, green mementoes.

Its blood under the feet of its warriors.

The fair town in its valley –

happy ?kites at the confusion of battle.

Its people have perished.

The fair town between Tren and Rhodwydd

more usual was a broken shield coming from battle

than oxen going to the noon-time resting place.

The fair town between Tren and Trafal

more usual was its blood on the surface of it's grass

than ploughing fallow land.

        The difference is in the translation of drefwenn - or dref wenn as we've also seen it written. "Dref" is similar to the modern Welsh tref, meaning town. That seems to makes sense. But wenn has, in the first translation, been taken from the Breton Celtic language for white: wenn or the close Welsh equivalent gwyn also meaning white. The latter translation is taken from the Welsh gwen meaning fair... or white(?). Without having the services of an ancient Celtic language specialist to call upon we went to the internet to look up wenn. Amazingly, the only thing to show up was in a translation of the first British epic poem, Y Gododdin (The Gododdin). We had to read through the entire poem, in Celtic then in English to find this, as the translations weren't side-by-side. (This was from a scholarly translation so we can only take it that it was someone who knew what they were doing). We got there in the end and this is what we found...

Da y doeth adonwy at wen
Ym adawssut wenn heli bratwen

...which translates as...

It is well that Adonwy came to the support of Gwen;
Bradwen  abandoned the foaming brine,

        Notice in the first line wen is translated into a person's name, Gwen, which means "fair". The second line, containing wenn, is the only occurrence of the word in the entire poem and it doesn't mean white.  We finally found the Brythonic for white, which is gwynn; very similar to the Welsh. We also found the Brythonic for town, which is indeed dref. We're unsure as to which word wenn is attributed to in the second line, but if it's abandoned then this makes the poem talk about the "abandoned town"!  This makes a lot of sense since this is exactly what it was. The word wenn appears again in Heledd's poem...

 

Ffreuer wenn brodyr ath uaeth.

ny hannoedynt or diffaeth.

wyr ny uegynt vyglaeth.

Ffreuer wenn brodyr ath uu.

pann glywynt gywrenin llu.

ny echyuydei ffyd ganthu.

 

...this is translated as...

 

Ffreuer Wen, brothers nurtured you –

they did not spring from among the wicked –

warriors who did not nurse fear.

Ffreuer Wen, you had brothers.

When they heard of a powerful host

? faith did not leave them.

 

        Why not call him Ffreur White? Or does this again mean abandoned?

 

The other thing Heledd's poem got us thinking about was the town's name and the various claims for its placement. This is because many are attributing Pengwern to a place. This may indeed have been the case, but then why is the town called Trenn, not Pengwern. Pengwern is the name of the kingdom.  When the poem mentions Pengwern it says...

 

The court of Pengwern is a raging fire.

 

...and...

 

Tren is called an unfortunate town.

The eagle of Pengwern calls for a long time tonight.

He feasts on the blood of warriors

Tren [was] called a splendid town.

 

        As you can see it says Tren is the town (Trenn in the Brythonic) and both sound, to us, that they speak of Pengwern as a region.

        One of Pengwern's borders is said to lie on the Tren and Rhodwydd rivers. Some identify the Tren as the modern day River Tern in North Shropshire, which joins the River Severn (map) near Viriconium. Others suggest Rhodwydd to be the River Roden (map) to the north west of Viriconium (although others doubt this).  The poem makes it sound like the town of Trenn was on the river Tren and there is indeed a small hamlet called Tern (map) on the river, but this could hardly be called a "town". It is interesting to note that at the Wroxeter Roman City (Viriconium) Museum they quote the line from the poem and relate it to Viriconium itself. It makes sense to call this a "town",  "white" or "abandoned". There could be a problem, however, in where Pengwern's border's were. If it is the rivers suggested above, then Viriconium would lie outside of this area. Of course, the kingdom of Pengwern was much larger before the Angles arrived and could have included Viriconium, but by the time Heledd wrote her poem it was now outside her region and under the control of the Angles.  This could also be the reason she never mentions the river Hafren (River Severn) as part of their kingdom but says...

 

Gwedy vym brodyr o dymyr hafren.	After our brothers from the region of the Severn
y am dwylan dwyryw.	and on the banks of the two Rhiws,
gwae vi duw vy mot yn vyw.	alas, God, that we am alive.

 

        There's a river Rhiw (map) joining the Severn just south of Welshpool (map) in Powys. But is she saying that this is where she went after the destruction of Tren or that this is another indication of where Tren was?  It sounds to us like the former: that she went to another part of Pengwern after the defeat. If Viriconium was Llys Pengwern then why not call it by either its known name or by Caer Guricon and why no mention of the Severn, by which Viriconium stands, anywhere else in the poem when referring to Tren or Pengwern?

 

Blake's Severn

 

We spoke to our Early Medieval expert friend, Steve Blake about all this and he told us that much confusion can be gained by trying to decipher the early writings without background knowledge. He's not kidding! He went on to say that the names of the rivers can cause problems because: a) their names change over time; b) the scribes who wrote them down very often could change them when translating; c) in earlier times a river could be given a different name by different people at different locations of its course. So a river like the Severn could have had three names, depending on its geographical location. So one of these other rivers could still be the Severn and Tren could be Viriconium. Steve certainly thinks it could be, although we're still not sure that its description in the poem fits this Romano-British town.

        We also talked about our theories on Tren and its translation. He told us that this was the same conclusion an early Welsh text expert friend of his came to: that it should read "abandoned town" and not "white town". That made us feel better.

 

Make your mind up!

 

Just when we thought things were becoming a little clearer we read this verse...

 

Baschurch is his resting place tonight.

his final abode –

the support in battle, the heart of the men of Argoed.

Baschurch is ?crumbling tonight –

our tongue caused it.

It is reddened; too great is our sorrow.

Baschurch is confined tonight;

for the heir of the Cyndrwynyn:

it is the land of the grave of Cynddylan Wyn.

Baschurch is ?fallow land tonight,

its clover is blood

It is reddened; too much is our emotion.

Baschurch has lost its privilege

after the slaying by English warriors

of Cynddylan and Elfan Powys.

Baschurch is destroyed tonight;

its warriors are no more.

Men know and us here.

Baschurch is glowing embers tonight

and we am sorrowful.

It is reddened; too great is our grief.

(The translator has said Baschurch, but the original says eglwysseu bassa: 'the churches of bassa' and not all agree that this is Baschurch). 

        Now it sounds as if Tren and 'eglwysseu bassa' are one and the same! Or is it saying that 'eglwysseu bassa' was also destroyed as Cynddylan lay in rest there? Or is she being poetic in saying Baschurch is now 'destroyed' - meaning worthless - because Cynddylan is dead? It certainly seems to reads as if 'eglwysseu bassa' is a separate place because of the line...

...the support in battle, the heart of the men of Argoed.

        This line itself throws up other questions. If we take the translation as it is, then it's saying 'eglwysseu bassa' lies within the region of the Argoed. This has been suggested to be part of the Rheged kingdom, which has been identified with a large area ranging from the north west of England and part of North Wales  into what is now southwest Scotland.  If it's referring to its southern half, then there is an Argoed (map) in Flintshire, northeast Wales, which puts 'eglwysseu bassa' in the region where Blake and Lloyd say it is. There is also a Pengwern in this region, very close to Rhuddlan Castle.

        It's all very confusing and we look forward, one day, to being able to ask Roger White, Shropshire head of archaeology, about tall this and Viriconium's claim to be Trenn.  It does appear, to us, that some people have simply followed the findings of someone else. We hope this adds to the debate... even if it turns out to be wrong. When all's said and done, the Berth would have been in the kingdom of Pengwern and still may have been used or visited by Cynddylan. So all is not lost.

 

IF...

 

If the Berth is "the churches of Bassa" - and it's a big "if" -  then it follows that there'd have been churches here. Not of the medieval type of course, but timber. Many of the Britons were Christian in this part of the land and probably had been since the late 4th Century. So this historic site would have changed somewhat in appearance.

        The answers can only come in archaeology.  So far only 4th Century artefacts have been discovered at the site. If future digs can't find anything from the 6th or 7th Century, then this will be the end to both claims!

        If the Berth was either "the churches of Bassa" or Pengwern, it would have been of some import. Being the burial site of the kings of Powys or the capitol of an ancient British kingdom gives an historical site some standing! But not the Berth. It seems to want to remain a hidden enigma. Only archaeology is going to answer these questions and there's no sign of that in the foreseeable future. For now we can only look and wonder.

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

Much to our frustration - but understandably not the farmers - there’s been very little archaeology done on this site and, at present,  English Heritage aren't allowing any digs to take place here.  we did track down articles relating to the 1962/63/64 digs at the Shrewsbury Archive Library as well as a wealth of information by the famous Shropshire archaeologist Lily F. Chitty OBE, MA, FAS written in her own handwriting. We've also have recently been given more information on the site by Mrs. Jane Ing, which relates to much earlier work carried out at the Berth, some of which comes from Lily Chitty. Below is listed the finds that have been made. (If you click HERE (image) you can take a look at an old 1961, drawn plan of the Berth; presumably done prior to the dig).

 

In 1976, fragments of Roman blue glass beads  (c. 4th Century AD) were found.

 

The 62/63/64 digs found both Mid to Late Iron Age artefacts, including an Iron Age dagger and knife and a La Tene III brooch.  They also discovered pottery from the Worcester area. These finds were interspersed with 'sterile' regions, indicating the site had been abandoned in between the periods of the finds. The '64 dig also found black polished pottery shards from the Iron Age A & B periods.

 

Only two signs of dwellings were in evidence: one, Mid to Late Iron Age, the other c. 4th Century AD. These were placed on top of one-another and lay 50 yards (46 meters) north west of the entrance. Strangely, the postholes of the latter structure were in a line, 15 ft. apart. We've yet to see this evidence first hand, but if this is correct, it is unusual indeed. Although there were no post-Roman finds they did comment that there was some features which may indicate so.

 

Analysis of sediment from the Berth Pool, which looked at tree pollen, discovered that there was widespread woodland clearance from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age. This makes sense if this area was populated with the farmsteads needed to support the fort. Trees would have to be cleared for arable land as well as for fuel and building materials. Even so, Shropshire remained one of the most forested of English counties up until the 16th Century. (The dominant tree, by-the-way, was the lime in this part of the country and not, as you might imagine, the oak).

 

In 1952 Lily Chitty writes about the possibility of a "boathouse site" where the Pool meets the ramparts. It's also at this time that the "stone boiling" or "deer roast" sites are mentioned. We heard about these for the first time just a couple of weeks ago and found them hard to believe, but there they were. These rectangular ditches at the boundary of the ramparts and the mere would take in the water to be used for.... boiling deer? Well, that's one of the theories. Chard wood and ashes were found by them, so the thought is that they heated stones, put the carcass in the water, dropped the heated stones and boiled them. Sounds a bit fishy to us! Whatever they are, they are common throughout the Shropshire Plain and another is situated close by in Petton.

 

In 1937, Miss Chitty discovered a document from 1700, which calls the Berth Pool, the "Burgh Pool". So its name could be Saxon after all.

 

In 1901 a large Bronze Cauldron (photo & image) (c. 1st. Century AD) was found at the point where the small brook, which runs into the Berth Pool,  intersects the south (left) side causeway. This was a votive offering probably but there are other theories relating to this, which you'll discover later. Click HERE to see a photograph of the brook that shows you, roughly, where it was found. (In the background is the Outer Camp).

 

Around this time, or earlier, the Berth was used as a quarry; for sand we presume. This resulted in quite a bit of damage to the site, especially its western side, which can be seen in this image (photo) taken near the railway bridge and electricity sub-station on the Baschurch to Weston Lullingfield's road. It's from here that our wife's sister, when she was a child,  discovered an Iron Age bead. It's an object which our mother-in-law will eventually hand over to the Rowley House Museum in Shrewsbury, but at present she keeps it as an affectionate reminder of a daughter who, through the curse of cancer, is no longer with us.

 

Even earlier archaeology found evidence of two gate towers where the causeway joins the Main Camp. Actually, the causeway doesn't join the camp mound, but is slightly separated from it, which means there would have to have been some kind of bridge between the gate towers. (Later you can see QTVR reconstructions of this area).

 

It's worth mentioning that in 1804 a bronze shield was supposedly found at nearby Hordley. This subsequently went missing, so we've no idea if the story's true or whether this shield was anything like the famous Battersea or Cherstey shields found in the Thames or the Witham shield from Lincolnshire? Hordley was also the site of an Iron Age axe find, as well as a large Iron Age enclosure and the discovery of 362 Roman coins dated between 138 and 282 AD.

PASTSCAPES VIRTUAL  TOUR

 

If you'd like to discover even more about the Berth and go back in time to experience its past, click HERE to be taken to the PASTSCAPES VIRTUAL TOUR.

 

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Aerial photograph © Powys - Clwyd Archaeological Trust the Berth CAPT 84-C-215