Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the abbey's land in Somerset. The site of the grange was probably at one or other of the modern farms at
WalterstononthenorthslopeofCefnBryn.AtCilibiontheabbey'sownershipofthemanormeantthatits
land in this part of Gower extended to the boundaries of Welshmoor. In Berry the boundary of the mon-
astic land is uncertain, but it probably formed a continuous strip, which connected to Paviland Grange.
Gower was not always an ideal place for farming, however. A note made by a monk in the twelfth
century records that the abbey's holdings in the peninsula were considered to be of low value because
whenever a lord of Gower died the lordship was overrun and devastated by the Welsh. Despite these set-
backs there is evidence for corn production shown by the monastic possession of barns and mills. The
Cistercians were great sheep farmers and, as this required suitable pastures, it is likely that Neath had
common rights in the area. As Cistercians never ate flesh, at least in the early days of the order, fish was
a very important source of fresh food and there were fish weirs on the coast at Paviland.
Coal, known as carbon stone, was also worked by the monks in South Wales. There was a thriving
trade in Gower coal, which depended on the proximity of coal to tidal water, the collieries being princip-
ally at Clyne and Wernffrwd in Higher Llanrhidian. Neath had three mines in Gower which lay in 'clay
andslimeground'andtheywere'maintainedandupholdenwithtimber'.Theveinsofcoaltheycontained
were called the 'pit coal', 'stone coal' and 'sea coal'. A 'Coalway' crossed the lands of the monastery to
the north of Walterston and the line of this is today followed closely by the 'red road' across Cefn Bryn
Common from Cilibion to Reynoldston. By the Elizabethan period there was a growing export trade in
coal from Gower. This sea coal came from small pits in the parishes of Upper Llanrhidian and Loughor,
sitedascloseaspossibletotidalwater.OneLlanrhidianfarmer,whodiedin1609,possessed£5in'coales
above the gound alredy wrought', and 'one Vayne of coles where upon there is two pitts open'. The scale
ofworkingwasambitiousfortheperiod,withcoalexportsfromnorthGowerin1699amountingto7,848
tonnes.
THE VIEL
Between Worms Head and the villages of Rhossili and Middleton lies the remarkable fossilised medieval
strip field system known as the Viel (Fig. 32). The name 'viel' is thought to have derived from the Old
English word
gefilde
meaning a field or plain, the
f
being pronounced as
v
. 'Land y vile' was also used
as a strip name in the Oystermouth area. The Viel is a unique survival and, as such, it is of national im-
portance. Groups of strips still retain distinctive names such as Sandyland, Priest Hay, Bramble Bush and
Stonyland.Thelatter,adjoiningRhossilivillage,isonthesouthernlimitofglacialdriftdeposits.Thefield
system contributed to an economy based partly on agriculture and partly on the products of the sea. The
fields are still communally occupied and cover an average of 1.5 acres (0.6 hectares), being enclosed by
drystone walls near the cliffs and earth banks near the villages. Within these field boundaries the unen-
closed strips are separated by narrow unploughed ridges known as landshares. Holdings are spread over
the groups of strips. A plan of 1780 shows the land of one farmer, John Griffith, which amounted to 32
acres(13hectares),as21separateparcels,mostconsistingofunenclosedstripswithintheViel.Suchland
waspassedonaspartofthefarmholdingwhentenancieschangedandsomeRhossiliandMiddletonfam-
ilies have farmed the same strips for many generations. Since the sale of this part of the Penrice Estate
in the 1950s the strip holdings are privately owned, but there have been few changes. A few wire fences
have been erected along the landshares, however, and they have occasionally been ploughed out.
