History in the Round
The Caer Alyn Archaeological and Heritage Project (CAAHP) is a community based educational project. The aim of the project is to provide training in archaeology and heritage studies for the North Wales community as a whole, but with an initial emphasis on North East Wales. At the moment the project is running three Open College Network courses in partnership with Yale College Wrexham. In April 2006 CAAHP received a Heritage Lottery grant to cover the costs of equipment and training facilities. The Project Management Committee is made up of volunteers and the land owners.
The Caer Alyn Archaeological and Heritage Project intend to build a replica of an Iron Age settlement. The purpose of the reconstruction is to inform and educate. The settlement will provide insight into how our ancestors lived and will be a valuable educational resource for local schools and colleges.
The first stage of the project will be to construct a roundhouse.
The roundhouse will be built using traditional materials. The house will consist of a thatched roof and wattle and daub walls. The interior of the house will be furnished with respect to an Iron Age dwelling.
The house will be surrounded by an enclosure fence. The enclosure will have internal partitions for cattle and industrial processes i.e. smelting and pottery firing (furnace and kiln).
Hands-on history
Reading history from books is all well and good but doesn’t always fire the enthusiasm; “history is boring” how many times have we heard that?
Reconstructions like Castell Henllys Iron Age fort in Pembrokeshire (http://www.castellhenllys.com/index.htm ) has provided a hands-on introduction to history by reconstructing the past in the form of an Iron Age settlement.
The Caer Alyn Roundhouse will be the start of a similar project. It will give schools and colleges in North Wales the opportunity to introduce their students to history in a very visual and interactive way. As Caer Alyn is a community project the construction of the Caer Alyn Iron Age settlement will take a number of years to complete but we intend to do this in stages.
From the start of the roundhouse project, staff or volunteers will be available on site to give introductory talks and demonstrations to students and other visitors.
Sponsorship
This is an extremely exciting project and your company can be part of it. This is your opportunity to help the Caer Alyn Project provide a valuable educational aid, to not only your local community, but to the North Wales community as a whole. In return for your help, your company logo will be included on the sponsorship board near to the Iron Age Settlement and we will include your company logo on all publicity literature. If you sponsor our project your company would receive a wide range of publicity as The Caer Alyn Archaeological and Heritage Project is also sponsored by The Heritage lottery Fund
Your logo on our Web site
Your Company logo will also be included on our web site along side that of The Heritage Lottery Fund logo (We can provide a link to your web site through your logo). We are in the process of building a new interactive web site (our old site received a tremendous amount of traffic over its two year lifetime). As well as being available to the general public the new web site will be circulated to schools, colleges and local libraries throughout North Wales so this would be a good opportunity for your business to receive some free advertising.
We are asking for donations in the form of money or materials (the amount you give is up to you). With your help we can make this project a reality.
On behalf of The Caer Alyn Archaeological And Heritage Project, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. We hope to hear from you in the near future
Contact Details
Iron Age settlement, Project Manager;
Alan Brown 07960 911455
a.brown@dl.ac.uk
Iron Age settlement, Deputy Project Manager
Neil Adams 07732 129181
CAAHP Project coordinator;
Phil Cox 07947 768446
fillcox@yahoo.co.uk
Caer Alyn Archaeological and Heritage Project, C/O The Alyn Lodge, Pont-y-Capel Lane, Gresford, Wrexham, Clwyd LL12 8SA
The Caer Alyn Archaeological and Heritage Project intend to build a replica of an Iron Age settlement. The purpose of the reconstruction is to inform and educate. The settlement will provide insight into how our ancestors lived and will be a valuable educational resource for local schools and colleges.
The first stage of the project will be to construct a roundhouse.
The roundhouse will be built using traditional materials. The house will consist of a thatched roof and wattle and daub walls. The interior of the house will be furnished with respect to an Iron Age dwelling.
The house will be surrounded by an enclosure fence. The enclosure will have internal partitions for cattle and industrial processes i.e. smelting and pottery firing (furnace and kiln).
Hands-on history
Reading history from books is all well and good but doesn’t always fire the enthusiasm; “history is boring” how many times have we heard that?
Reconstructions like Castell Henllys Iron Age fort in Pembrokeshire (http://www.castellhenllys.com/index.htm ) has provided a hands-on introduction to history by reconstructing the past in the form of an Iron Age settlement.
The Caer Alyn Roundhouse will be the start of a similar project. It will give schools and colleges in North Wales the opportunity to introduce their students to history in a very visual and interactive way. As Caer Alyn is a community project the construction of the Caer Alyn Iron Age settlement will take a number of years to complete but we intend to do this in stages.
- Stage 1 Build the first Roundhouse (project volunteers)
- Stage 2 Build second Roundhouse (with the help of local schools and college students).
- Stage 3 Build out-buildings (project volunteers and schools and college students). Stage 3 will also involve reconstruction of Iron Age industrial processes, such as iron smelting and pottery production (making and firing).
From the start of the roundhouse project, staff or volunteers will be available on site to give introductory talks and demonstrations to students and other visitors.
Sponsorship
This is an extremely exciting project and your company can be part of it. This is your opportunity to help the Caer Alyn Project provide a valuable educational aid, to not only your local community, but to the North Wales community as a whole. In return for your help, your company logo will be included on the sponsorship board near to the Iron Age Settlement and we will include your company logo on all publicity literature. If you sponsor our project your company would receive a wide range of publicity as The Caer Alyn Archaeological and Heritage Project is also sponsored by The Heritage lottery Fund
Your logo on our Web site
Your Company logo will also be included on our web site along side that of The Heritage Lottery Fund logo (We can provide a link to your web site through your logo). We are in the process of building a new interactive web site (our old site received a tremendous amount of traffic over its two year lifetime). As well as being available to the general public the new web site will be circulated to schools, colleges and local libraries throughout North Wales so this would be a good opportunity for your business to receive some free advertising.
We are asking for donations in the form of money or materials (the amount you give is up to you). With your help we can make this project a reality.
On behalf of The Caer Alyn Archaeological And Heritage Project, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. We hope to hear from you in the near future
Contact Details
Iron Age settlement, Project Manager;
Alan Brown 07960 911455
a.brown@dl.ac.uk
Iron Age settlement, Deputy Project Manager
Neil Adams 07732 129181
CAAHP Project coordinator;
Phil Cox 07947 768446
fillcox@yahoo.co.uk
Caer Alyn Archaeological and Heritage Project, C/O The Alyn Lodge, Pont-y-Capel Lane, Gresford, Wrexham, Clwyd LL12 8SA
Posted by Ken White, Nov 28, 2006
