Welsh Journals

EXCAVATIONS ON THE ROMANO-BRITISH SETTLEMENT AT FFRITH, CLWYD, 1967-9 By KEVIN BLOCKLEY Introduction The excavations described below were undertaken by the late Mr G. Bevan in 1967-9 after joining a group of 'weekend collectors' excavating a site in Ffrith, Clwyd (SJ 284 553). The site lies on the Roman Road from Chester (DEVA) to Caer Gai some 21 km from Chester and only 6 km west of Holt (BOVIUM) the works depot of the Twentieth Legion (Fig. 1). The finds made during these excavations were divided amongst the group and only those retained by Mr Bevan are discussed here the remainder are not available for study at the present time.1 All of Mr Bevan's finds and site records were deposited in the Grosvenor Museum,2 Chester, after his death in 1983. PREVIOUS EXCAVATIONS ON THE SITE The Romano-British settlement at Ffrith has been known since c.1586 when the site was first described in Camden's Britannia Camden noted that a hypocaust system was found, with brick vents and tiles stamped LEG XX, but the precise location of the findspot was not given. In 1828 several Romano-British finds including coins, brooches, finger rings, beads, an altar and cremations in urns were found3 these have since been lost. Later in that century (1870 and 1874), further fragments of hypocaust system were recorded,4 and in 1910 a section of hypocaust was found during the construction of a house (Arosfa) on the west side of the High Street. Further finds of a Roman date were made at the south end of Ffrith in 1926 and 1933, 1 It has recently come to my notice (pers. comm. Dan Robinson) that there are more finds, in the possession of local residents of Ffrith, available for study. 2 Thanks must go to the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, for allowing the author access to the material for detailed study, and in particular Dan Robinson, Peter Carrington and Glenys Lloyd-Morgan for valuable comments on a draft of this text. 3 Lewis, Topographical Dictionary (1842), under Hope. 4 A. N. Palmer, History of the County Townships of the Old Parish of Wrexham (1903), 122. Report by Mr A. T. Acton housed in the Haverfield Library, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.