Welsh Journals

The nucleus of the book is altogether different-five chapters by C. A. Ralegh Radford, Leslie Alcock and Philip Rahtz, specifically based upon the results -of their excavations in south-west Britain and in Wales. Radford deals first with Cornwall, offering an extremely valuable summary of his excavation of the site of the Celtic monastery at Tintagel and of a sub-Roman hall within the Iron Age defences of Castle Dore, linking these accounts to the background of Arthurian legend. He returns later with a description of his extended campaign at Glastonbury Abbey, the traditional burial place of the king whose remains were subsequently removed, probably as early as 1190. One surprising fact to emerge from the abbey excavation was the absence of the characteristic imported Mediterranean pottery usually found on sites of the late fifth century in the south-west. One explanation, that other sites on the Glastonbury peninsula may have been more significant at this time, led Philip Rahtz to undertake an excavation on the crest of the Tor. The resulting discovery here of traces of late-fifth or early-sixth century occupation now raises the question of how extensive the sub-Roman occupation of the immediate locality really was. Leslie Alcock's sections take the story of the Somerset settlements a stage further with a summary of his excavations at South Cadbury (? edited by Geoffrey Ashe largely from interim reports published elsewhere). Alcock's own survey of the sub-Roman occupation of Wales is far more important. Drawing together the evidence from the excavations at Degannwy, Dinas Powys, Garn Boduan and Dinas Emrys, and combining it with the epigraphic evidence from south-west Wales, he provides a coherent and convincing picture of a fragmented and largely pastoral society owing allegiance to petty chieftains who lived in lightly fortified halls. There can have been little difference between the socio- cultural pattern of the century before the Roman interlude and that of a century after. Altogether this book is an attractively-produced mixed bag, geared presumably to the popular market, but so full of good things that it deserves to be read more widely by those with a serious interest in the subject. The almost nationalistic fervour of some sections and the marginal relevance of others should not be allowed to detract from its overall value. ARRY CUNLIFFE. Southampton THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND, 1216-1485. By Bertie Wilkinson. Longmans, 1969. Pp. xiii, 419. 45s. (£2'25). This is the sixth to be published of the series of ten volumes on the history of England, edited by Professor W. N. Medlicott; this fact has determined the period covered. As the author explains in his introduction: 'The date chosen for the end of this survey, as for the beginning, has no