Meetings and lectures

The association holds two meetings each year, a week in mid-summer and an autumn weekend, visiting sites and monuments in all parts of Wales and, on occasions, in England, Scotland, Ireland and abroad. Easter conferences with lectures on matters of current concern in history and archaeology are held on a bi-annual basis. It arranges a lecture in the Welsh language each year at the National Eisteddfod.^[2]

Research grants and education awards

Research grants are awarded annually and are normally in the region of £500-£2000. In 2012 an award was made to Dr Toby Driver and Dr Jeffrey Davies for post-excavation work on their excavations at the Abermagwr Roman villa, Ceredigion. The Blodwen Jerman Schools Prize is awarded annually to a Welsh school for their promotion of Archaeology and History within the School. The G. T. Clark Prizes are awarded every five years for the most distinguished published contributions to the study of the archaeology and history of Wales and The Marches. There are five categories: Prehistory, Roman, Early Medieval, Medieval and Post-Medieval.^[3]

Publications

Apart from the journal Archaeologia Cambrensis, the association has a long tradition of publishing supplementary volumes on Welsh History and Archaeology. A most ambitious project was the publication in 1888 of a facsimile edition of Thomas Dineley's Progress of...Henry ..Duke of Beaufort (Lord President of the council in Wales and Lord Warden of the Marches) Thorough Wales in 1684.^[4][5] More recently the association has published between 1978 and 1998, in conjunction with Cadw, an important series of monographs on excavations in Wales. In 2013 it published a Festschrift, Reflections on the Past, on the theme of British prehistory and archaeology, to mark the longstanding contribution made by the prehistorian Frances Lynch to the work of the association.^[6] Other important publications by the association include:

• Sir Stephen Glynne (edited and transcribed by Archdeacon D. R. Thomas), Notes on the Older Churches in the Four Welsh Dioceses, 1903. These notes were made by the first president of the Cambrians between 1824 and 1874 and are particularly important as they describe many of the churches in Wales before they were altered by Victorian restorers.^[7]
• Rev John Skinner, Ten Days' Tour through the Isle of Anglesea December 1802, 1908. Skinner was a Somerset parson who travelled extensively throughout the British Isles recording archaeological monuments. Most of his manuscripts are now held by the Society of Antiquaries
• Edward Lhuyd, Parochialia, 3 parts, 1909–1911.
• Richard Fenton (ed. John Fisher), Tours in Wales (1804–1813), 1917. The publication of Richard Fenton's diaries in Cardiff Public Library, which describe Fenton's extensive travels within Wales, often accompanied by Sir Richard Colt-Hoare
• Edward Yardley (ed. Francis Green), Menavia Sacra, 1927. A description of the Diocese of St David's by Edward Yardley who was Archdeacon of Cardigan, 1739–1769.

Antecedents and founding years, 1846–1855

The Cambrian Archaeological Society was founded at a time when a sense of Welsh national identity was increasingly asserting itself. It was also at the moment that the dominance of the Antiquarian and Welsh learned societies centred in London were on the wane.^[8] There were two earlier learned Welsh Cultural societies in London; the Cymmrodorion founded in 1751^[9] and the Cymreigyddion (who conducted all their business in the Welsh language) founded in 1770.^[10] The Cymmrodorion had ceased to meet in 1843, although it was re-established in 1873, while the Cymreigyddion disappeared completely in the 1850s. The premier English antiquarian society, the Society of Antiquaries of London, which had received its royal charter in 1745, was also in an impoverished state, having virtually bankrupted itself as the result of publishing ventures.^[11] In Scotland the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland had been established in Edinburgh in 1780, while in Ireland the Royal Irish Academy, established in 1786, had its own Antiquities Section, and in 1890 the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland had been formed from the Kilkenny Archaeological Society.

Tower, Broncoed, near Mold 1846. Soft Ground etching by Harry Longueville Jones, Archaeologia Cambrensis, vol. 1 (1846), p. 54

Against this background the British Archaeological Association was founded in 1844, and was followed rapidly by a breakaway group, the Royal Archaeological Institute, which pioneered a model of holding annual meetings or congresses in various parts of the British Isles and producing an annual journal (published in quarterly parts). This was the model adopted by Cambrian Archaeological Association for Wales and the Marches.

The driving figure in the establishment of the Cambrian Archaeological Association was the Rev. Harry Longueville Jones^[12] who was supported by the celticist the Rev John Williams. Rather than form a society directly, Longueville Jones produced a 'manifesto' -On the study and preservation of national antiquities- calling on interested people to join and form an association.^[13] Longueville Jones at this date was living at Beaumaris in Anglesey. Between 1834 and 1842 he lived in Paris, where he worked for the English language publisher Galignani and edited several editions of Galignani's Paris Guide. He worked with leading literary figures including William Thackeray. The ideas he put forward owed much to current developments in France, which followed the appointment in 1834 of the French novelist Prosper Mérimée as the first Inspector-General of Monuments Historiques.^[14] Longueville was also a talented artist and his work was used to illustrate early volumes of Archaeologia Cambrensis.

Early years 1847–1855

Sir Stephen Glynne, president 1847–1849

The first annual meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological Society was held at Aberystwyth between 7 and 10 September 1847, and the first president was Sir Stephen Richard Glynne. By the time of the second annual meeting at Caernarvon it was claimed that the membership had grown to 350. Initially the association was well supported by members of the Welsh Manuscripts Society. In 1849 Harry Longueville Jones resigned as joint general secretary on his appointment to the Civil Service position in the Privy Council office as Inspector for National Schools in Wales. This appointment was a result of the uproar that had been created by the publication of the 1847 Welsh Blue Book on Education. Jones remained a very active member of the association and resumed as editor of Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1855. He was succeeded as joint general secretary by the Rev Basil Jones, later to become Bishop of St David's.

Many scholars and academics were involved in the work of the association at this time. These included G. T. Clark, the manager of Dowlais Ironworks for Lady Charlotte Guest, who was to become a leading authority on British Castles.^[15] Clark's first article to be published in Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1853 was on Kidwelly Castle. It was accompanied by plans and drawings by a Mrs Trehearne engraved by John Henry le Keux.

Kidwelly Castle plan used to illustrate G T Clark's article

Another figure was the youthful Edward Augustus Freeman,^[16] later celebrated as a medieval historian, and, from 1884, Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. Freeman submitted a series of articles on church architecture in Wales and on the domestic architecture of Pembrokeshire. Also in this group was John Obadiah Westwood, a notable Oxford entomologist, whose studies of inscribed and sculptured stones of the post Roman period was to provide a systematic approach to the subject. The Cambrian Archaeological Association was to sponsor the publication of Westwood's Lapidarium Walliæ: the early Inscribed and Sculptured Stones of Wales in 1876–1879.^[17] A final key figure was Rev Cardale Babington, who came from Ludlow in Shropshire. Professor of Botany at Cambridge, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851. Babington was also interested in archaeology, and joined the General Committee of the association in 1855: he was to chair the committee until 1882.

In the 1850s a schism developed among the membership of the Cambrians. John Williams, who had been to Jesus College, Oxford, and whose sympathies lay with the Tractarians (or Oxford Movement), belonged to an older school of celticism, which wished to promote the authenticity of the writings of Iolo Morganwg. Williams did not fit in with the members of the association, whose primary interests were in Welsh architecture and archaeology. The association was also in a poor state financially as there had been a failure to collect subscriptions. Williams resigned as general secretary and Editor late in 1853^[18] and he was followed by other joint secretary the Rev Basil Jones who resigned at the Summer Meeting at Ruthin. The published list of members now shows that membership had shrunk to 163. Williams, following his resignation created an alternative society, the Cambrian Institute, publishers of the Cambrian Journal, which Williams edited until his death in 1863, when the Institute faded away.^[19]

The re-constituted association: 1856–1880s

Following the Ruthin meeting active steps were made to re-establish the association, the objectives were redefined and a new constitution was adopted at the Welshpool Meeting of the association in 1856. For much of this period the General Committee of the association was under the capable chairmanship of Cardale Babington (from 1864 to 1884)^[20] and the general secretary to the committee was the Rev E L Barnwell (from 1854 to 1875).^[21] At this point the association became more involved in Archaeology, sponsoring through an appeal the Rev David Davies' (their local Secretary for Montgomeryshire) excavations on the Roman auxiliary fort at Caersws which was published in Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1857.^[22]

Longueville Jones, who was travelling extensively in Wales as part of his duties as inspector of National schools, now had more time as editor of Archaeologia Cambrensis. He produced many articles and listings of archaeological sites, which furthered his campaign for the establishment of a Monuments Record and Inspectorate, and anticipated the formation of the Welsh Royal Commission in 1908. E L Barnwell also had a wide range of interests. Between 1855 and 1884 he contributed 102 articles and notes on a wide range of subjects to Archaeologia Cambrensis. His main interests were Archaeology, Vernacular Architecture, Medieval History and Genealogy. His last article in Archaeologia Cambrensis, "On Some South Wales Cromlechs", disputed some of the assertions in Ferguson's recently published "Rude Stone Monuments of all Countries" and provides an overview of Chambered Tombs in Wales.

Wigmore Grange by Edward Blore 1872

Other important publications were by Hon W O Stanley on his excavation of tumuli in Anglesey and one on Wigmore Abbey and Monastic Grange in Herefordshire by Edward Blore. Blore was a leading architect, who had been employed by Queen Victoria to re-build Buckingham Palace and he was an accomplished topographical artist specialising in later Medieval architecture. His drawings of Wigmore Grange were engraved by John le Keux and are some of the finest topographical prints published in Archaeologia Cambrensiis.^[23]

The Cambrians also established a relationship with the "Office of Woods and Forests" who were responsible for Castles and other monuments belonging to the Crown in Wales. The Cambrians had already influenced Salvin's restoration of Caernarvon Castle and made a financial contribution towards it. They now inaugurated a scheme whereby the Office would lease Castles and other monuments to members of the association so that they could be preserved and restored. The Rev E L Barnwell, took up a lease of Denbigh Castle on behalf of the association. Slightly later the monastery of Strata Florida was leased by the association so that it could be safeguarded and displayed to the public.

Late Victorian period to the end of the First World War

By the early 1880s few of the original members or the association were still active. Cardale Babbington resigned as chairman of the General Committee in 1884, and was replaced by Archdeacon D R Thomas, who remained as chairman until 1916. New figures included John Rhys, who had become Professor of Celtic at Oxford in 1877. The emphasis changes slightly with more emphasis on Celtic studies and Alfred Neobard Palmer, who contributed articles on the local history of the Wrexham area and the medieval borough of Holt. The great Welsh historian, SirJ E Lloyd joined the association in 1896. The greatest impact was made by John Romilly Allen whose family came from Narberth in Pembrokeshire. Romilly Allen joined the Cambrian Archaeological Association in 1875, was elected a member of the general committee in 1877, became one of two editors of its Journal in 1889, and was sole editor from 1892 until his death in 1907. Romilly Allen was to replace Westwood (who died in 1893) as the acknowledged expert on inscribed and sculptured stones of the post Roman period and his researches in Scotland are even better known than those he undertook in Wales. Romilly Allen campaigned for a Welsh National Museum and wrote scathing criticisms when antiquities were acquired by British Museum; the Grosvenor Museum in Chester purchased some Bronze Age Urns from North Wales and particularly when the Late Iron Age Trawsfynydd Tankard was removed to Liverpool Museum. It was fitting that the National Museum of Wales was granted its foundation charter in 1907, the year of Romilly Allen's death.

Romilly Allen was also very adverse to what he perceived as other bodies interfering in Welsh matters. In 1886 the Cambrians launched an appeal to sponsor an excavation at Strata Florida. The Cistercian Abbey had been taken into 'guardianship' by the association and the intention was to provide a plan of the abbey and to make it accessible for visitors. The excavation were placed in the hands of Stephen Williams and he started work in June 1887. The excavations did not find favour with J W Willis-Bund, who was the local secretary of the Society of Antiquaries for South Wales. Bund denigrated William's work, alleging 'the mischief likely to be done if the excavations were continued without the direction of some competent person'. This was not taken well by the association, but St John Hope, the Assistant Secretary of the Antiquaries gave advice and was able to mediate.^[24] Later, Romilly Allen, as editor of Archaeologia Cambrensis, commented that "the Cambrian Archaeological Association has always shown itself willing to receive advice courteously offered, but it can never admit the contention that the Society of Antiquaries has the right to send its officials to Wales to dictate how explorations should be conducted".^[25]

The association was now becoming more adventurous as far its summer meetings and increasingly started to visit other 'Celtic' lands outside Wales and the Marches. The first of these visits was to Truro in 1862, followed by the Isle of Man in 1865. More ambitious was the visit to Brittany in 1889 and in 1891 Professor John Rees organised a trip to Kerry in Ireland. The most ambitious meeting was in 1899 when the association hired a steamer to voyage round the Western Isles of Scotland to visit remote sites and see sculptured stones. The social life on these yearly trips and meetings from 1908 onwards is well described in Evelyn Lewes' book Out with the Cambrians, which was published in 1934^[26]

Following the death in 1907 of Romilly Allen, the Rev Rupert Morris, originally from Holywell in Flintshire took over the editorship. Morris had joined the Cambrians in 1875 and in 1892 he had become Chaplain and Librarian to the Duke of Westminster at Eaton Hall near Chester.^[27] Morris immersed himself in the history of Chester, his most notable publication being Chester during the Plantagenet and Tudor Reigns , published in 1894, and he also edited the Chester Archaeological Journal. He then moved to St Gabriel's, Pimlico, a large London parish in the Duke's patronage. It was from here that he edited Archaeologia Cambrensis until his death in 1917. With the onset of the First World War the association was able initially to keep up its publication programme, but then reduced the issues of Archaeologia Cambrensis to two each year. The summer meetings were abandoned, with a general meeting being called each year at Shrewsbury. Much of the organisation of the association was undertaken by the noted geologist and Palaeolithic archaeologist William Boyd Dawkins, who had been born at Buttington, near Welshpool. Boyd Dawkins, who was knighted in 1917, stood in as president of the association between 1914 and 1919.

1918–1950

By the mid-1920s the influence of the recently established National Museum of Wales starts to make its mark on the association. Mortimer Wheeler was appointed keeper of archaeology in 1922, and in 1924 he became director of the museum. He immediately started on notable excavations on the Roman sites of Segontium^[28] on the outskirts of Caernarvon and Brecon Gaer. These volumes were published in Y Cymmrodor, an annual journal of the Society of Cymmrodorion rather than in Archaeologia Cambrensis, presumably because the Cambrians would not devote a single volume to each excavation. Archaeologia Cambrensis was still being published quarterly in a quarto format, which could not be adapted for the publication of excavation reports with large plans. As a result, Archaeologia Cambrensis was changed to the larger quarto format in 1928. 'Mortimer Wheeler encouraged non-professional archaeologists, such as the Bangor Architect Harold Hughes and Dr Willoughby Gardner in their research on Hillforts of Northern Wales. This research had started in 1909 and in his presidential address to the Cambrians in 1924, Willoughby Gardner gives an extensive review of this research, illustrated with plans. They were later to survey Ffridd Faldwyn, Montgomery near Montgomery.^[29] This work was to form the basis for the excavations that followed at Ffridd Faldwyn by St John O'Neill, the Office of Works Inspector in Wales. Also Sir Cyril Fox, who succeeded Wheeler as the Director of the National Museum of Wales, published his survey of Offa's Dyke in parts in Archaeologia Cambrensis. It was afterwards republished as one volume by the British Academy in 1955.^[30]

In the War Years, from 1939 to 1945, the Cambrians were unable to hold any meetings, but volumes of Archaeologia Cambrensis continued to be produced. In 1946, to commemorate the centenary of the association, the volume for that year was entitled 100 Years of Welsh Archaeology 1846–1956, which was a masterful survey of the state of knowledge about Welsh Archaeology. In the 1940s the noted church architectural historian Fred Crossley, together with Maurice Ridgeway, started a detailed county by county survey of roods screens, lofts and carved woodwork in Welsh Churches.