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Meetings and EventsThe Cambrians’ Summer Meetings are justly famous for their combination of intellectual rigour and bonhomie and have even been the subject of a memoir Out with the Cambrians! The week-long meeting in the summer has now been joined by an autumn weekend and, every other year, by an easter conference. The aim is to establish a comfortable base and explore the historic sites of all periods in the region under expert guidance, covering all parts of Wales and occasionally venturing into England, Ireland and Europe. The weekends tend to be more concentrated in scope, usually pursuing a single topic, while the Conferences provide the opportunity to discuss academic issues of the moment.
This coming year is a three-meeting year with an Easter Conference in Oxford, our summer meeting in Canterbury with our new President, the Bishop of St David’s, and an autumn weekend back home in the Vale of Glamorgan. Easter Conference: Wales and Oxford April 9th -11th 2010 Lacking a medieval university, Welsh scholars were inevitably drawn to the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and especially to Oxford where in the 17th century Jesus College was founded as a particular centre for them. This weekend conference will be based at Jesus College in the very centre of the town so we will be living right at the focal point of what we will be discussing. We have been lucky to have some very well-known
Welsh scholars in Oxford today to lecture to us, from the Regius
Professor of History to the Professor of Celtic, and some very notable
alumni of Jesus College itself. The programme has had to be selective
– we will not be discussing Edward Lhuyd, perhaps the most
famous Welshman in Oxford’s history, because he has been so
recently celebrated by a conference in Aberystwyth – but we
will be looking at the lives of other 16th century scholars and
at the effect that 19th century developments in Oxford had upon
certain aspects of Welsh life. We will also be examining two areas
of where Oxford scholarship impacted on the understanding of Welsh
culture in a very significant way. The Oxford colleges owned and
managed a good deal of land in Wales and we hope to open up that
area of research which we judge is at present an untapped resource.
We will be ending with a talk on The Dafydd, the highly influential
Welsh cultural (and social) society founded by OM Edwards at the
end of the 19th century which had a major impact on the development
of 20th century Welsh. Appropriately it will be given by the compiler
of the most recent dictionary – Dr Bruce Griffiths. CAA Easter Conference Oxford 9-11th April 2010 Base: Jesus College, Turl Street, Oxford OX1 3DW 01865 279700 Cost for the full period of the conference £270.00
+ conference fee (£25.00) = £295.00. Friday April 9th Saturday April 10th Free in Oxford (Ashmolean or tour of city centre etc.) 5.30pm Lecture 5 John Morgan Guy : Oxford Movement
and its effect in Wales Sunday April 11th Disperse about 4.30 - 5.00pm, after tea Printable booking form in PDF format
Domestic Arrangements The accommodation rates are B & B in single en-suite rooms at £35.75 per night; 6 nights (Sunday-Friday) £214.50. Breakfast and dinner is available in Rutherford Dining Hall (self service but with an area reserved for Cambrians). A three course dinner costs £10.50, a two course £9.00 so please indicate your preference on the booking form. Meal tickets will be issued on arrival. A formal dinner will be held on Wednesday 21st
in the Darwin Conference Suite following a Reception to be hosted
by the Association to which a small number of distinguished guests
will be invited. The costs of the Reception and the Association’s
hospitality to the invited guests will come out of the Registration
Fee. Members are welcome to book for a guest of their own. The dinner
will cost about £25 plus wine (own arrangements at the bar
before the meal). After the dinner, the incoming President, the
Right Revd J. Wyn Evans, Bishop of St Davids, will give his Presidential
Address. We plan to make an early start on Monday morning hence arrival by Sunday evening is recommended. Departure will be after breakfast on Saturday morning. A coach has been hired for the other three days. Priority will be given to those booking for the whole week as the Association has had to guarantee, and pay, a non-returnable deposit in advance, for our block booking.
Urban history will be another theme and we will devote two mornings to walking tours of Canterbury itself –a Roman town (Durovernum Cantiacorum) as well as a medieval city. A tremendous amount of excavation has taken place in Canterbury and it is appropriate that our guide on two days and lecturer for one evening will be Paul Bennett, Director of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. Another town where we will have a guided walk is Sandwich, one of the medieval Cinque Ports. These will not be strenuous walks.
There is simply not enough time to visit both Walmer and Deal Castles so a choice is offered – Walmer Castle is the official residence of the Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports and is fully furnished – HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother loved staying there during her long tenure of the office. The Duke of Wellington was a Lord Warden and the bedroom in which he died in 1852 is preserved. The castle gardens are another attraction (and its tea room). So this is a less strenuous option than Deal, although walking distances at Deal are short and on the level. The coach will drop Party A off at Walmer Castle and then proceed to Deal. Deal Castle is a perfect example of Henry VIII’s new concentric coastal castles and we will have a guide and also enjoy the interactive display. A stroll along the sea front will take-in the distinctive beach-launched fishing boats and a view of the famous anchorage of The Downs. The Time Ball museum will appeal to connoisseurs of small, quirky private museums and is housed in a former semaphore tower now surmounted by a large metal ball on a pole which was and is dropped at exactly 1 pm each day, indicating the time to shipping in the offing. Our visit to Chatham Historic Dockyard will further develop the maritime, and naval themes and the Achilles Room at the Royal Dockyard Museum has been hired for a simple lunch and talk. The Roman dimension will be explored with a visit to The Painted Roman House in Dover as well as Richborough Roman fort. Coastal defence – of all periods - will be a theme to be explored at Dover Castle, also Walmer and Deal castles built by Henry VIII. The Great Keep at Dover Castle has recently been completely renovated by English Heritage with exciting new state-of-the art displays on the medieval court of Henry II. The acclaimed Secret World War II Tunnels tour takes us deep into the White Cliffs in the key years of the Battle of Britain. Cambrians who are not already members of Heritage in Wales (Cadw) are urged to join as they will make considerable savings on entry to English Heritage sites (Dover, Deal & Walmer Castles, St Augustine’s Abbey, Richborough Roman Fort). Bookings for accommodation and events will all be through our Secretary, Heather James, who is organising the event together with our member Dr Anthony Ward, Master of Keynes College, University of Kent. She will be back from New Zealand on 20th January and then contactable by post, phone or email. Please remember that members are responsible for their own travel and cancellation insurance. At the time of writing the programme is still subject
to some minor changes. Monday 19th July : Canterbury city & cathedral. Tuesday 20th July: Dover Museums & Castle Wednesday 21st July: Canterbury city & St Augustine’s
Abbey. Thursday 22nd July: Richborough, Sandwich, Deal
& Walmer. Friday 23rd July: The Medway Towns: Rochester &
Chatham. Printable booking form in PDF format
The Accommodation, food and lectures will be at the Best Western Heronston Hotel, Ewenny Road, Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, CF35 5AW (Tel 01656 668811). Members should book their accommodation directly with the hotel, mentioning that it is a group booking in respect of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. The group rates for dinner, bed, breakfast and
use of leisure facilities including swimming pool are: The hotel is south of Bridgend on the road to Ogmore
by Sea. The meeting will be wide-ranging, covering the prehistory and history of the fertile Vale of Glamorgan but also drawing attention to recent developments in both sites and knowledge. We are privileged to visit Coedyrhydyglyn, the private home of the Traherne family where much conservation has been done in both house and garden. We will see other notable gardens in Cowbridge and Dyffryn. Sian Rees will be talking about more conservation at Ewenny Priory and we will see important groups of Early Christian stones at Merthyr Mawr and Llantwit Major. Our view of one of the many promontory forts on the coast will highlight problems of erosion. The Saturday lecture will reveal the amazing finds from an unprepossessing field in Llanmaes and on Sunday those who were at Ebbw Vale will be delighted to hear Brian Davies speaking on another charismatic local character – Iolo Morganwg. No significant walks are planned; the furthest
will be little over a mile on This meeting is organised by Brian R. Davies and Chris Jones Jenkins. Enquiries to either 02920 842743 or 01656 741622.
Friday September 24th Saturday September 25th Sunday September 26th Printable booking form in PDF format
Forthcoming Conferences and Lectures As well as our own meetings detailed above, members
might like to attend a two-day Conference on the Welsh Bronze Age
in Cardiff, organised by the Royal Archaeological Institute and
the National Museum with support from CAA. It will be on April 24th-25th
and fuller details were enclosed with the latest volume of Arch.
Camb. ‘410 AD’ ‘From Demetia to Dyfed:
Eisteddfod Lecture: August 4th Annual Caerleon Lecture: September.
Two-day Conference
Day School:
Reports of Previous MeetingsReport on the Easter 2010 Conference Report on the Autumn 2009 Meeting Report on the 156th Annual
Summer Meeting in the South Wales Valleys Report on the 155th Annual Summer
Meeting in the Conwy Valley Report on the Easter Conference
2008 held at the Llety Parc Hotel in Aberystwyth on March 28th -30th Report on the Autumn Meeting
of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, Paris, September 23-26th
2007 The 154th Annual Summer Meeting of
the Cambrian Archaeological Association, Carmarthen, August 12th
- 18th 2007 Report on the
Cambrian Archaeological Association Easter Conference April 8-9th
2006 Notes About the Status of Local History
Societies in North Montgomeryshire
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