Beacon Hill, Radnorshire - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

RCAHM Wales Uplands Initiative – <strong>Beacon</strong> <strong>Hill</strong>2006; Suggett 2005). No definitive evidence of medieval strip-field cultivation wasfound. Therefore it is suggested that the earliest evidence for settlement on <strong>Beacon</strong><strong>Hill</strong> is of the later medieval period, when the economy of <strong>Radnorshire</strong> recoveredfollowing the aftermath of the Glyndwr revolt. In the fifteenth century the economy of<strong>Radnorshire</strong> was dominated by stock rearing, especially cattle sold to Englishmarkets. From the late sixteenth century stock rearing became less profitable and inthe eighteenth century sheep became the mainstay of the farming economy. In termsof farmsteads, it has been argued that new sites were selected for house building in thefifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The profitability of farming allowed for cruckframedfarmhouses to be built professionally, often at high altitudes – one example ofwhich at Upper Cwm yr Ingel (nprn 81573) is close to the edge of <strong>Beacon</strong> <strong>Hill</strong>common. Cottages were built on the common from the seventeenth century by farmlabourers and the younger sons of freehold farmers, while later population growth sawsmall squatter cottages built around the fringes of the common (Suggett 2005, 12). On<strong>Beacon</strong> <strong>Hill</strong> the latter class of dwellings are all just outside of the survey area, butinclude The Scrubs, a squatter settlement on Cefn Pawl, and cottages with ironicallygrand names such as Golden Grove, High Park and Sycamore Hall. Tracks associatedwith these dwellings are found on the common.Medieval settlement is represented by building platforms. In general the platforms arelocated close to the edge of the common, a tendency that has also been observedelsewhere (Silvester 2004, 57). They were dug to accommodate downslope houses,and are typically 11x5m (figure 5). Some of them are not associated with otherarchaeological features. These include isolated platforms on Wernygeufron <strong>Hill</strong> (nprn244234), although this is next to a spring, and above Lawn Farm (nprn 244218).Platforms are found in pairs side-by-side on Warren Bank, as described below, and inclose proximity on Cefn Pawl (nprn 244069, 244071).Figure 5. Building platform on Cefn Pawl (nprn 244069).There is no direct evidence of seasonal occupation, comparatively little evidence forwhich has been found in eastern <strong>Radnorshire</strong> (Silvester 2004, 59). Hafod and Lluestplace names exist only on lower ground at Hen Hafod and Llanlluest, both just7