Heritage of Wales

Trading

Across post-medieval and modern-day Wales evidence for trade is everywhere, from the village shop or retail park, to the ports and harbours which export Welsh products such as coal, iron and steel on an international scale. Looking further back in time, we can see the planned towns and markets of the Roman and Medieval periods or, perhaps more significantly, the first use of currency. The following article looks at the origins and development of trade in Prehistory. Details of many forms of sites and monuments relating to this theme can be found on Coflein and in the National Monuments Record of Wales.

  • Hen Siop, Clych-y-garn, Anglesey: surviving Victorian fittings of the village shop which closed in the 1960s. (Image: DI2007_0357 / NPRN: 308489)
  • Stepney Street Arcade, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire: this two-storey arcade with a glazed roof was built in 1894. It originally comprised twelve shops at ground level and fourteen sets of offices above. (Image: DI2006_0330 / NPRN: 23340)
  • Saundersfoot Harbour, Pembrokeshire: the harbour opened about 1830 and was linked via the Saundersfoot Railway to several collieries and the Stepaside Ironworks. (Image: GTJ26394 / NPRN 34611)

The Neolithic ‘Axe Trade’

It is during the Neolithic period (4500-2500 BC), with the adoption of farming and a more settled way of life, that the first real evidence for trade appears in the archaeological record. The prime example of this is the ‘axe trade’. The axe was a hugely important tool to the early farmers, essential to forest clearance and early cultivation, and the polished stone axe head is one of the defining artefacts of this period. Through petrological analysis of the stone it is sometimes possible to indicate the source and even the quarries at which the tools were made and thus map their distribution.

One of the largest axe factories known in Wales is Graig Lwyd near Penmaenmawr. Here surface outcrops of fine-grained igneous rock were exploited, and the resulting axes, as well as dominating the local market, were distributed as far as the Peak District, Yorkshire and the Midlands.

  • Graig Lwyd Axe Factory, Penmaenmawr, Conwy: the prominent hills overlooking the modern town of Penmaenmawr are comprised of hard fine-grained igneous rock which was keenly sought in the Neolithic period for the manufacture of stone axes (Image: AP2005_2822 / NPRN: 407068)
  • Graig Lwyd axes, Penmaenmawr, Conwy: at Graig Lwyd blocks of raw material were selected from the natural scree and crags and firstly flaked into manageable form before being worked to roughly the correct shape and size. At this point the ‘roughouts’, as they are termed, appear to have been moved from the site and were ground and polished to their finished form elsewhere. (Image: DI2007_1931 / NPRN: 407068)
  • Carn Meini, Mynydd Preseli, Pembrokeshire: the shattered outcrops of characteristically white-spotted rhyolites and dolerites, known collectively as ‘bluestones’ for their colour when wet or freshly broken, have been exploited since the Neolithic period. (Image: DI2006_070_001 / NPRN: 401098)


Mynydd Rhiw on the western tip of the Lleyn Peninsula was the site of another significant axe factory. Here a series of hollows was first excavated by the Royal Commission in 1958, revealing a series of quarry pits which followed the rock seam. The hollows had been created through the backfilling the pits and a series of open hearths had been placed in them, suggesting they subsequently provided temporary shelters for the workforce. A new research project led by the National Museum of Wales, with survey by the Royal Commission, is currently underway on the mountain.

  • Mynydd Rhiw, Botwnnog, Gwynedd (Image: DS2007_459_001 / NPRN: 302263)
  • One of the Mynydd Rhiw axes, a roughout, discovered during excavation in 2007 (Image: DS2007_459_011 / NPRN: 302263)
  • A selection of Mynydd Rhiw axes, discovered during recent investigations on the site. (Image: DS2007_459_013 / NPRN: 302263. Copyright: National Museum of Wales. 2007).


Whilst most of these axes would have been used as working tools, a number may have been carried as status symbols. The distances that some of these axes travelled is often surprising and, with no evidence for currency or trade centres, it is thought that ‘trade’ during this period most likely operated through exchange for other goods or services, or passed hand to hand between neighbours, perhaps as gifts. Certain structures of this period such as the henge, a circular enclosure defined by a bank and internal ditch, sometimes containing a stone or timber circle, may well have been the focal point for collective events such as trading, especially as they are frequently located at significant points on lines of communication, such as the confluence of valleys.

  • Dyffryn Lane Henge near Berriew, Powys: this circular henge monument is situated adjacent to the River Severn and measures some 80 metres in diameter. It comprises a bank with an internal ditch, inside which there is a stone setting and later barrow. (Image: DI2006_1096 / NPRN: 30697)
  • Gors Fawr Stone Circle, Pembrokeshire: this is one of the best preserved stone circles in Wales, a near perfect circle of sixteen stones, measuring some 22 metres in diameter. Eight of the stones are of spotted dolerite, the famous ‘bluestone’, sourced as being from the nearby Carn Meini outcrops, famous in archaeological literature as the geological source for the ‘bluestones’ used at Stonehenge in Wiltshire (Image: DI2006_1492 / NPRN: 300422)
  • Nant Tarw Stone Circles, Llywel, Powys: two adjacent stone circles, each of 15 stones, are situated in the foothills of the Black Mountain. (Image: DI2006_1882 / NPRN:104 )

Further evidence for the exchange of goods and ideas can also be seen in pottery and burial monument styles of this period, illustrating connections between quite distant groups and regions, involving travel across both land and sea.

  • Chambered Long Cairn at Tinkinswood, Glamorgan: here a megalithic chamber is set within an exceptionally well built and neatly walled cairn. Such tombs are very similar to those found in the Cotswolds and Wessex. (DI2006_1996 / NPRN: 94510)
  • Pentre Ifan, Pembrokeshire: the chamber comprises a capstone of about 16 tonnes held on three uprights. The chamber and inturned forecourt were set at one end of a cairn some 30 metres long and would originally have been covered with earth and boulders. This tomb belongs to a group often termed portal dolmens, and has close similarities with monuments in Ireland. (Image: DS2005_111_005 / NPRN: 101450)
  • Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey: this tomb can be classified as a passage grave, wherein the burial chamber is reached via a long stone passageway. Here the simple polygonal burial chamber and long passage was covered by a round cairn. This monument is thought to be late Neolithic in date, yet its plan is very similar to early Neolithic structures in Brittany. (Image: AP2005_0306 / NPRN: 93827)

Prehistoric Mining: The Metal Trade

The increasing use of metal during the Bronze Age and the availability in specific areas of Wales of important ores, such as copper and lead, resulted in increased and far-reaching exchange networks. The copper mines on the Great Orme above Llandudno are the best example of prehistoric mining in Wales. Here there is an extensive complex of surface and underground workings, incorporating passages extending for more than 5 kilometres and penetrating a depth of 70 metres. Archaeological evidence from the fill of the galleries includes well-preserved bone tools and broken hammer stones; charcoal has provided radiocarbon dates from the Bronze Age. Further evidence for Bronze Age mining can be found on Parys Mountain, Anglesey and at Copa Hill in the Cwmystwyth mines near Aberystwyth.

  • Great Orme, Llandudno, Conwy: an extensive complex of surface and underground workings dating from the Bronze Age period exploited the copper ores in the soft and easily worked strata. (Image: AP2006_4382 / NPRN: 33779)
  • Parys Mountain Copper Mines, Amlwch, Anglesey: on the northern slope of the mountain a spoil heap has been dated to the Early Bronze Age, and a stone hammer found in one of the underground galleries may indicate that the prehistoric mines were extensive. The visible remains seen here date largely from the eighteenth century. (Image: DI2005_1354 / NPRN: 33752)
  • Cwmystwyth Copper, Lead and Zinc Mines (Copa Hill), near Aberystwyth: radiocarbon dating provides evidence for the prehistoric exploitation of a copper lode here. The site has been largely reworked in more recent times. (Image: GTJ28620 / NPRN: 33834)

Such a dependence on new materials of restricted availability led to the emergence of specialist craftsman and exchange networks. ‘Exotic’ goods such as amber and jet not only illustrate the far-reaching exchange networks and variety of goods traded, but show the rise of certain wealthier individuals in society, who chose to adorn themselves in fine personal ornament.

During periods of instability and crisis trade would undoubtedly have been affected and during the Late Bronze Age there was a marked downturn in metal trade. This is visible in the archaeological record through the deliberate dumping of goods, often termed hoards, such as that discovered at St Mellons in Glamorganshire. Thought to be a merchants stock, the hoard contained multiple copies of tools, several from the same mould.

By the Iron Age we see a return to trade and the development of complex exchange networks, some of which operated on a Europe-wide basis. These promulgated widespread fashions in art and decoration that could be emulated by local craftsman. In addition to the metal trade there was also an expansion of trading in other commodities such as pottery and salt, and the fact that the distribution of some products corresponds closely with those from other areas may hint that some form of a controlled trading network was in operation. It may be that some of the larger, communal settlements of this period, specifically the hillfort, may have acted as trade centres for the gathering and redistribution of goods. Outside Wales during this period we also see the first evidence for the use of coinage. Whilst coins are found in Wales, they do not appear in sufficient quantities to suggest regular use.

  • Foel Trigarn Hillfort, Mynydd Preseli, Pembrokeshire: this is one of the largest hillforts in Pembrokeshire. The pockmarks in the interior represent the sites of levelled house platforms. Excavations here in 1899 by S. Baring Gould unearthed artefacts which included spindle whorls, fine glass beads and a jet ring. (Image: DI2005_0906 / NPRN: 94948)
  • Pen Dinas Hillfort, Aberystwyth: this is one of the largest hillforts in mid-Wales and is visible for many miles around. It crowns the twin summits of an isolated hill set high over the sea between the mouths of the Rheidol and Ystwyth. (Image: AP2004_0786 / NPRN: 92236)
  • Penycloddiau Hillfort, Flintshire. The hillfort crowns a mountain rising from the Vale of Clwyd and encloses an area of nearly 19 hectares. (Image: AP2006_1018 / NPRN: 306898)

Trade Routes

Aside from the evidence of the actual goods traded in prehistory, another indicator of trade in the archaeological record is the actual trade routes and transport used. It is difficult to trace the land routes used during prehistory, but it is thought that ridgeways would have been utilised, as these were more accessible than the densely vegetated lowland areas. The cairns and stone settings which line the Kerry and Clee ridges in mid-Wales, or the hillforts crowning the Clwydian range and Llantysilio Mountain in north-east Wales, help us trace some of these routes.

  • Moel y Gaer, Llantysilio Mountain, Denbighshire: a chain of Iron Age hillforts crown the hilltops of the Clwydian Range and Llantysilio Mountain. It is likely that the ridgeways here formed natural routes across the landscape (Image CD2003_623_017)
  • Saith Maen Stone Row, Carmarthenshire: set on the eastern edge of The Black Mountain, the stone row comprises of seven upright or leaning orthostats. (Image: DI2006_0772 / NPRN: 84328)
  • Great Castle Head Promontory Fort, Dale, Pembrokeshire: excavations here revealed evidence for occupation from the early Iron Age into the Roman period. The fort also appears to have been adapted and used in the Medieval period, being eventually abandoned in the thirteenth century. (Image: DI2006_1235 / NPRN: 301244)

There is also evidence for the construction of trackways, primarily across wetland areas, such as those uncovered at Goldcliff in Newport, which have been dated to the Bronze Age. These once crossed a large expanse of bog and ranged from simple brushwood bundles thrown into river channels to more substantial tracks of pegged timbers which supported walkways of brushwood and planking. Two major advances in land travel which undoubtedly had a huge impact on trade were the use of the wheel and the horse as an animal of traction in the Iron Age.

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