Climate Change & Coastal Heritage

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Introduction

Grassholm Island, Skomer Island and the Marloes Peninsula form an important part of the unique prehistoric and historic coastal landscape of south Pembrokeshire. The coastline of the Marloes Peninsula is also renowned for shipwrecks of vessels travelling between Ireland, south Wales and the south of England.

Grassholm Island and Skomer Island

Aerial oblique photograph of Midland Isle, Skomer Island.
Aerial oblique photograph of Midland Isle, Skomer Island.

Grassholm and Skomer Island are two archaeologically rich islands situated off the west coast of the Marloes peninsula in south Pembrokeshire. Amongst the thousands of gannet nests and puffin burrows that cover the islands are the remains of countless mysterious stone structures, inter-linking stone field boundaries, ploughed lynchets and other archaeological features. The visible remains represent human occupation and farming on the islands that span both the prehistoric and medieval periods. Recent research by CHERISH has illuminated some of the islands’ mystery through exploring and recording its eroding archaeology.

Archaeological research has been ongoing on Skomer since 2011 and has been undertaken by archaeologists from the Royal Commission, The University of Sheffield and Cardiff University as part of the Skomer Project. A major product of the project was the collection of 0.50cm LiDAR data for the entire island from which archaeological mapping was carried out. This work resulted in the mapping of countless Bronze Age, Iron Age and medieval field systems, many of which were previously not known about. This work essentially laid down the building blocks for the CHERISH LiDAR data collection of a further six islands (including Grassholm) in 2017.

Aerial photograph of Grassholm Island.
Aerial photograph of Grassholm Island.

The LiDAR survey of Grassholm allowed for the precise identification and mapping of all surviving prehistoric structures and field boundaries spread across the island. Based on this work several areas of interest were identified which were investigated during a 2019 visit by CHERISH. The main priority for the team was to undertake a rapid two-day evaluation excavation of a single stone-built structure towards the centre of the island that had become exposed due to the erosion of the previously overlying vegetation. A small segment of one of the structure’s walls was excavated to characterise the way in which it was constructed and to recover any possible artefactual evidence. The small part of the structure that was uncovered was very well-built, however, a lack of dating evidence made dating the structure extremely difficult.

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Grassholm Island generate from LiDAR data.
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Grassholm Island generate from LiDAR data.

Marloes Peninsula

The Marloes peninsula is home to beautiful beaches, impressive cliffs and dangerous waterways. The impressive coastline is peppered with a fine selection of prehistoric promontory forts and coastal settlements which take full advantage of the natural topography as well as several shipwrecks which serve as a reminder of the treachery of seafaring. CHERISH is researching one particular wreck named ‘The Albion’ which is located at Albion Sands to the south west of Marloes. The wooden paddle steamer was built at Bristol in 1831 by General S P Company to transport people and goods between Bristol from Dublin. In 1837 the ship’s captain was forced to change course to avoid running down a rowing boat with four men on board. The change of direction and the force of the tide caused the Albion to strike a rock which forced the ship to run aground at Marloes. The wreck is now being monitored by CHERISH to analyse how storm events influence sand movement in the exposure and inundation of the wreck.
Different components of the Albion shipwreck site including storm scour (1), remains of the boiler (2), crankshaft (3) piston rod (4), and crankshaft bearing frame.
Different components of the Albion shipwreck site including storm scour (1), remains of the boiler (2), crankshaft (3) piston rod (4), and crankshaft bearing frame.

Why are we working here?

Although this area is archaeologically significant little is known about the coastal and island sites. Archaeological research undertaken by CHERISH is beginning to address some of these knowledge gaps and uncover some of the archaeological stories of this historically important coastline. Important data collected by the project (such as LiDAR, UAV and GNSS data) also provides an important baseline dataset that can be used in the future to monitor possible changes at the coast edge.

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