C O N T E X T 1 4 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 7 41 THE IHBC’S NEW RURAL PANEL Cyllene Griffiths’ article epitomises much of what the IHBC’s newly formed rural panel is about: addressing everyday issues which arise from conservation practice within local authority work and private practice. The panel, which follows many years of monitoring the general tenor of rural problems by a single incumbent (now convenor), now has a precise agenda. This includes attending to consultations affecting the rural historic environment, preparing policy notes and briefing papers, reporting to the IHBC policy committee, and preparing articles such as this. The future of farm buildings has been in doubt since the advent of intensive farming, and the future of humble buildings like the pigsty has never been more uncertain. It is the mission of the rural panel to raise the profile of such buildings and contribute to their survival. Carole Ryan, convenor of the IHBC rural panel workings would appear to be considerable. The field patterns in the area demonstrate possible medieval strip fields with their distinctive curved boundaries. Since there is no evidence to contradict the identification of this building as a pigsty, the historical significance of pig keeping should be acknowledged. Early medieval societies counted their worth in cattle but pigs were a favourite for meat production. They were commonly kept to supplement diet or provide additional income. They were considered so important to the Welsh that the medieval laws of Hywel Dda provide a value for a pigsty of 30 pence when a battle-axe was two pence, and a sword with silver or gold hilt was 24 pence. Even the smaller households would have kept one or two pigs. Pork was the most popular salted meat in historic Wales, as it used less salt than other meats to preserve it, while staying succulent.The dominance of pig remains within bone assemblages from the early medieval excavation site at Dinas Powys, Glamorgan, has been identified, with over 61 per cent of bone waste coming from pigs. Pigs were easy to keep, being omnivorous, and helped greatly with forest clearance in the Welsh landscape, allowing previously forested areas to be used for goats, sheep or arable.Within the Hywel Dda, allowances were made for owners to graze pigs on common ground or woodland. This reliance on pork and the usefulness of pigs to the smaller householder, as well as the ease of keeping, means that pigs have continued to be kept as a vital source of food and income for small farms right up to the present day. The financial records and early census returns we have for historic Radnorshire show that mill owning was not particularly financially rewarding. Mill owners are often listed with another role or job (such as innkeeper, grocer or farmer) and with none or only one assistant, often a young boy or the miller’s son.This demonstrates the need for self-sufficiency and diversification for the owner of Coedtrewernau Mill, with the sty and other farm buildings providing evidence of this and a way of rural historic life which has since been mostly lost. An early account of Radnorshire water-powered corn mills was published in the Radnorshire SocietyTransactions of 1940 and 1941. The list is not claimed to be complete. However, one of the points which was clearly shown by this study was the noticeable reduction in the number of such mills which had occurred in relatively recent times, with 34 mills reported to be working at the turn of the 20th century and only nine still in use by 1939-40 and only two by 1954. It would therefore seem that the mill, associated buildings and features at Coedtrewernau are of special historic interest. It is set within a medieval landscape, with a possible medieval mill site, physical evidence of early-18th-century milling, and potential for archaeological deposits relating to the siting and working of the mill from these periods. The pigsty was an important part of understanding the social and economic history and development of the mill site, and of small industrial holdings in Radnorshire and beyond. Advice from specialist interest groups is also a useful source of guidance. For example, the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) supports the following philosophy on mill repair: ‘Ancillary machinery, engines and buildings, such as the miller’s dwelling, kilns, granaries, cart sheds and other related outbuildings, even if comparatively modern, are all part of the history and development of milling and, where options allow, should be retained and repaired in a like manner, alongside the mills they served’ (SPAB 2004). It would seem that there is a clear case for refusal in this specific case. However, it is also accepted that without sustainable new uses and regular maintenance, these small rural buildings are difficult to retain. Nevertheless, since the applicants were also applying for a number of new outbuildings, it would seem sensible that the pigsty could have been sympathetically converted into a wood store or shed. It is unusual to be able to investigate the history of a site such as this thoroughly and the scant evidence surviving demonstrates that often there is little evidence to find. The forthcoming new guidance from the Welsh Government following the introduction of the Historic Environment Act 2016 may help to explain to owners, developers and others the importance of identifying those small vernacular agricultural buildings, which contribute considerably to the significance of historic farmsteads, the historic landscape and our understanding of the development of these. However, it seems from the consultation already carried out on drafts of this new guidance that while ‘setting’ is thoroughly covered, there is little that will move us on fromwhere we already stand with our guidance. For this particular case, the conservation officer from Powys produced a very thorough report objecting to the proposal. However, considering that Powys has had its conservation staff reduced from 2.5 full-time equivalents to one, it is perhaps surprising that the officer was able to spend this amount of time on a seemingly innocuous application. It is possible that the response from the Council for British Archaeology initiated this. The application has since been refused. It will be interesting to see whether the applicant goes to appeal and whether an inspector might uphold this decision. It would be a useful precedent if it were, and confirmation that these small rural buildings may have much more to tell us than initially meets the eye. Cyllene (Cy) Griffiths is the listed building caseworker forWales at the Council for British Archaeology and director of the Griffiths Heritage Consultancy.
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