Welsh Journals

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wish to savour Wales, its character, history and scenery in detail. Not only does the guide provide an introductory section on 'Background Information' which describes the administrative framework of Wales, its national parks and those aspects of Welsh life that are known the world over (the red dragon, bards, eisteddfodau, Welsh mountain sheep and the rest), but it also incorporates two brief vintage essays by H. J. Fleure and T. Gwynn Jones on, respectively, 'Prehistoric Wales and the Welsh people' and 'The Welsh Language'. Elsewhere, a systematic attempt has been made to bring the guide up to date, though it is surprising that the biographical notes on distinguished Welshmen, and those who have made a significant impact on Wales, still exclude David Lloyd George, Dylan Thomas and Kingsley Amis. A section on 'Practical Information' gives the tourist all he needs to know (and more besides) about the official agencies that regulate Welsh life (including the National Trust and the Welsh Development Agency), and that essential information on travel, pursuits and language which saves annoyance at unexpectedly closed ancient monuments, or puzzlement when confronted with a plate of laver bread. The bulk of the guide is its forty-nine carefully charted routes through Wales, each with a wealth of detail on topography, sites, buildings, cultural and political associations, craft centres and countless other matters which can ensure a full and enjoyable day's observation and promote an understanding of places and things Welsh. This reviewer learnt a few hitherto uncomprehended facts even about his own patch from this fat guide. There are, too, thirteen town plans, seven ground plans (of cathedrals, castles, etc.), an atlas section of 1: 10 maps, and four other maps. And the book can still be fitted into the average jacket- pocket-just! RALPH A. GRIFFITHS Swansea COWBRIDGE: ARCHAEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY. By David M. Robinson. Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Limited, 1980. Pp. xiii, 85. £ 4.50. One of the most hopeful developments of recent years has been the establishment of regional archaeological trusts. Not the least of their services hitherto has been to alert us to the dangers of mindless, even philistine, destruction of sites of archaeological and historical importance in the interests of 'progress' and 'developers'. Following the publication of the epoch-making The Erosion of History: Archaeology and Planning in Towns (1972), the Welsh Trusts set to work urgently to excavate and examine the fifty towns considered to be in danger in Wales. First of the more definitive surveys to be published was that on Carmarthen by Terry James, now quickly followed by Dr. David Robinson of the Glamorgan-Gwent Trust on Cowbridge. He begins by drawing attention to the considerable concentration of prehistoric sites of stone-, bronze- and iron-age date around Cowbridge, pointing out particularly the large number of bronze-age barrows and the relatively large Caer Dynnaf hillfort- possibly the first capital of the Vale' (H. N. Savory). Following these prehistoric remains comes the clear evidence of well-defined activity on the site of Cowbridge during