Welsh Journals

Friday, the last day of the Meeting, was fine and began with a visit to Oystermouth Castle, where Emeritus Professor William Rees, the Association's President, gave an account of the castle's history. After inspecting the ruins the Cambrians proceeded to Penmaen Burrows where Mr. Leslie Alcock described his recently commenced excavation at the Norman fortress known as Castle Tower." The adjacent Megalithic tomb and the ruined medieval church were also visited. The afternoon was spent in Swansea, first at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, then at Swansea Castle and the Museum of the Royal Institution of South Wales where tea was taken by invitation of the members. During the evening Mr. Evan Evans put on a display of colour-slides by several members at Neuadd Gilbertson. With this last item the meeting broke up regretfully after a thoroughly enjoyable and most rewarding week in the Lordship of Gower and Neath Abbey. The local arrangements were in the hands of a committee which had been active for two years. Professor Glanmor Williams was its chairman Mr. Teilo Thomas was secretary Mrs. Teilo Thomas was responsible for accommodation and Mr. Bernard Morris was excursions secretary. B.M. Excavation of Castle Tower, Penmaen by LESLIE ALCOCK DURING LATE AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, a number of members of the Gower Society provided valued help in the archaeological excavation of Castle Tower overlooking Three Cliffs Bay. The site was shown to be a small castle of the twelfth and early thir- teenth centuries, built without the use of dressed stone and lime mortar and therefore requiring no skilled mason for its con- struction. It was situated on the end of a Carboniferous Limestone spur which, to judge from the cliff formation in the area, must originally have been shaped like a house-roof. To make the place habitable at all, it was necessary to quarry away the top of the ridge and to build up the ground on either side to produce a rela- tively level area. On the flattest p'ece of solid ground that was available, the principal dwelling was then erected-a rectangular timber halt about 17 feet long by 12 feet wide. This hall was defended naturally by steep hill-slopes on three sides, but it was easily accessible over level ground from the north- west. Artificial defences had therefore to be built on that side. They took the form of a ditch or dry moat of some 6 feet or more deep and a bank of up to 24 feetwide and over 5 feet high. The ditch was crossed by a timber bridge, and the defences were entered