The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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Possible Outer Enclosure, Machen Church

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 08612g
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Graig
Unitary authority : Newport
NGR : ST22808808
Site Type (preferred type first) : Early Medieval Enclosure

Summary :
The tithe map shows the churchyard as contained within a larger enclosure mostly represented by the ground of Machen House, whose north and west sides are bounded by a wall which takes the form of an arc of a circle.

Description :
The tithe map shows the churchyard as contained within a larger enclosure mostly represented by the ground of Machen House, whose north and west sides are bounded by a wall which takes the form of an arc of a circle. A geophysical survey in the fields to the south of the main road (Barker and Mercer 2000) picked up a length of ditch, which appeared to continue the same line, in the more westerly of the two fields; it did not reappear in the eastern field, but its absence in the area surveyed could credibly be accounted for by an entrance gap in the boundary.The initial Early Medieval Ecclesiatical Sites Survey field visit of 19/08/03 (on footpaths and permissive paths) established that this mapped boundary is that to the grounds of Machen House and consists entirely of a 10-foot high stone wall; any earlier traces on this line would have been completely destroyed. However, in the patch of woodland to the north of Machen House and the church, a short length of trackway showed what may be traces of a badly spread bank, continuing the line of the wall at ST2278888184 ; it was not possible to trace this on either side of the path because of the dense vegetation of the understorey. A second visit on 08/01/04, which included a tour of the woodland area, indicated that there was no other signs of a possible bank, but the area was previously part of the pleasure grounds of Machen House created in the 1830s (Cadw/ICOMOS 1994, 90-1) and can therefore be expected to have been significantly landscaped. An elaborate gothic-style bee-bole in the grounds of Machen House, although undated, appears to be a deliberately created garden feature and not a medieval survival, since the stone chosen for its construction is a conglomerate with lumps of white quartz rather than the more tractable Old Red Sandstone which is readily available and from which most of the older houses in the village are constructed.
Edith Evans, GGAT 73 Early-Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project, 2003-04 (Yr1)

Sources :
Evans, E M , 2004 , Early Medieval Ecclesiastical sites in Southeast Wales: Rapid field survey of selected sites
Evans EM, 2003-04, GGAT 73 Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project

Events :
E001416 : Lower Machen (year : 2004)
E001387 : Early medieval ecclesiastical sites in Southeast Wales (year : 2003-4)

Related records
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 05014g
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 08220g

Compiled date : 12-03-2004


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