Our story begins on the north-eastern coast of Anglesey, in the parish of Llanbedrgoch, where a farm called Y Glyn lies about 1km (0.6 miles) from the sea. Its Grade II*-listed farmhouse has attracted much interest from antiquaries because of its richly decorated interior, which boasts exceptional painted plaster relief friezes and panels. Dating from 1613, their imagery features martial emblems (cannon, guns, swords, pikes, and a powder barrel), a coat of arms flanked by Classical figures in loincloths, and a biblical scene. From 1994, however, it was the area outside this historic structure that was the focus of attention, as Mark Redknap and his team began to uncover unusual archaeological features in one of the farm’s fields (see CA 184).
It had long been known that this landscape had witnessed Viking Age activity: between 1887 and 1894, limestone-quarrying at a coastal site about 2km (1 mile) north-east of the farmhouse revealed a hoard of silver arm-rings. Described as Hiberno-Scandinavian in style, and featuring a variety of punched decorative schemes, these artefacts are notable for being complete – unlike most silver of the period, they had not been cut into smaller pieces (known as hacksilver) for use as a form of currency to pay for goods by weight. They post-date the first seaborne Viking raids on Anglesey in the mid-9th century, and the hoard has been associated with the Hiberno-Norse warlord Ingimund and his followers, who were expelled from Dublin in AD 902. According to Welsh and Irish annals, they first made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a base on Anglesey, but subsequently moved on to the Wirral Peninsula. By then, the Wirral already possessed an informal beach market at Meols, and finds from this location point to the presence of traders of Scandinavian origin in the 9th century. Perhaps they chose to draw up their boats and operate from the sands of Meols in preference to the more regulated and taxed trading environment of Chester.
What Mark and his team were to discover at Llanbedrgoch was something comparable to the market at Meols but unique in form. Known as Site 2 (the team excavated four areas in all), it was home to at least two successive enclosures. The first, smaller example was surrounded by a (probably late Roman) ditch. This was filled in by the early 7th century, when a new and much larger ditch was dug, accompanied by an imposing rampart measuring 2-2.2m (6.5-7ft) in width and faced with clay- bonded stone walls. The new defences incorporated the rock-cut parts of the earlier enclosure to the north, but they also extended much further south, encircling some 0.8 hectares (2 acres) of well-drained land, and forming an enclosure three times larger than its predecessor. The ditches secured a natural spring, too, which had served the site’s prehistoric inhabitants and continues to provide a source of fresh water today – it was modified by the construction of a large stone-lined cistern, measuring 4m (13ft) square, with steps on one side to provide access to the water.
