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REVIEW BY TOBY DRIVER
Richard Hayman is an established author on a range of historical, archaeological, and industrial topics, and here he turns his hand to an appreciation of the historic Welsh landscape, in all its forms. During the confinement of lockdown, he seemingly poured a great deal of knowledge and enthusiasm into this book, derived, largely, from his 14 years surveying the Welsh uplands as a contractor for the Royal Commission. The result is a really fabulous handbook to help every reader, walker, and researcher get to grips with the common monuments – and various oddities – of the Welsh rural landscape. It’s a book I could have done with as a teenager, setting out to try to recognise and date the vast array of remains one sees when walking the hills.
Hayman keeps formalities to a minimum with the briefest of introductions to access, navigation, and ‘finding out more’ in the opening section, before exploring upland Wales via ten themed chapters including ‘Roads and Tracks’, ‘Upland Farming’, and ‘Industrial Sites’. Chapter 1, ‘Mynydd and the Nature of Uplands in Wales’, is a necessary introduction to Welsh place-names, oral traditions, the language, and social history. The themed chapters then explore the types of monument one may come across on an upland hike. As a professional photographer, and with the benefit of both the modern design and excellent reproduction that characterise Logaston publications, Hayman helps the famous and less well-known monuments of Wales shine out.
Highlights for this reviewer include the numerous stunning drone photographs, and also sections spotlighting and explaining the many ‘ordinary’ monuments of the hills, including boundary stones, tramroads, slate fencing, quarries, pillboxes, and peat stands. Hidden treasures are given room to breathe, such as Bedd-yr-Afanc passage grave in Pembrokeshire (p.19), an atmospheric abandoned farmstead at Nant Pasgan-Mawr in Gwynedd (p.120), and the seldom visited but remarkable curving ‘half-tunnel’ holding back quarry spoil at Gorseddau Quarry, Gwynedd (p.189). The breadth of Hayman’s text and images, relayed in an approachable style, shows just how many miles he and his surveyor colleagues have walked over the years. An excellent read.
Hidden History in the Welsh Mountains
Richard Hayman
Logaston Press (£16.99)
ISBN 978-1-910839-80-5
