Llyn Hughes on Llandilo bridge 2

Lynn Hughes on Llandilo bridge
2

Their priority was efficient communications for operational purposes in the supply of goods and services to and from their mines, fortresses and ports. Although fords and ferries were the norm, uninterrupted passage between key stations at Luentinum (Pumsaint), Leucarum (Loughor) and the lead/silver mines at Rhandirmwyn, could not have been achieved without a number of strategically-located bridges. We can only speculate as to where they would have been sited, but they were usually associated with a ford. [1] Rivers change course; fords and bridges wash away. At key crossings on the Via Julia, between Moridunum (Carmarthen) and Alabum (Llandovery), they would have needed to erect several bridges of mainly wooden construction - in some cases defended, and with central drawbridges. Oak piles with iron-clad points were driven into the river bed and, on rock foundations, footings of stone or brickwork were employed as necessary, though we have no evidence for any in the county.

Carmarthen was, strategically, not a good military supply port. Progress along six miles of tidal river was slow and reliant on water and weather for oar and sail, and cargoes were vulnerable to ambush. Loughor was a more accessible and secure marine anchorage with direct access to the Bristol Channel. The supply-line to Caio's gold mines and the north, via Sarn Helen to Chester, followed the north-south wind-gap where it crosses the Towy, mid-valley. There may not have been a permanent pre-Roman settlement where Llandilo now stands, but the strategic worth of the bluff known as Penlan Fawr is obvious, commanding as it does vast vistas in all directions.

That the recently-identified and newly-drawn line of the Via Julia proceeds towards and runs eastward beneath this feature is hardly surprising. It apparently runs from Broad Oak to a hitherto uncharted marching camp between Cae William and the main entrance drive in Dynevor Park. [2.] A branch possibly veers off past Llandefeisant church to the modern bridge location. If so, the old road divided at a 'T-junction', crossing the Towy at Bridge Farm, heading south towards Loughor, and north in the direction of Llandovery. Physical evidence for this original crossing (likely to have been a bridge) of 2,000 years ago has long disappeared, though dressed stone and bricks from various eras reside in the river gravels and are exposed in the alluvial soil of the Towy's tall river banks for miles downstream. No formal investigation of these materials has ever been undertaken. Considering the large size of the 'Llandilo' encampment and associated settlement, relatively few Roman artefacts have come to light in the parishes of Llandilo Fawr, Llandyfeisant and Llangathen, but then the Roman fortress stood for no more than 60 years.

When the Romans left west Wales, in the late 300s AD, they had no obvious reason to ‘burn their bridges’. With the withdrawal of the garrisons, responsibility for local infrastructure and security became once again a matter of patrimony. In the dark era that followed the Romans' departure, any standing bridges would soon enough have needed repair and maintenance. Anno Domini, floods, tribal warfare and foreign raiders would have decided the fate of many a Roman bridgehead. According to strategic importance, it would have been for an ethnic king, a prince, a clan leader - or indeed a prelate - to take charge of bridge defence and upkeep. It is curious that the Welsh medieval laws, redactions from the Dark Ages to the 12th century, make scarcely a reference to roads and bridges or of obligations for their upkeep.

Inland commercial activity in Wales during the Dark Ages and the early medieval period seems to have been almost non-existent. The overall impression is that society became regressed and introverted: the population small and scattered, with few settlements larger than villages. Though the military purpose of permanent river crossings could never be ignored, bridges, it may be assumed, were rare and associated with an exceptional local power-base.

1 There is no evidence that the Romans themselves named these routes ‘Via Julia’ and ‘Sarn Helen’ - or ‘Elen’. ‘helen’ may well be a simple corruption of Heol, road, and is virtually a generic name for any Roman road in Wales.

2. The parish of Llandyfeisant is the location of the ‘missing’ Roman encampment, ‘a day’s march’ (c.12/15 miles) between Llandovery and Carmarthen. A pot of Roman coins was discovered in the vicinity, in Dynevor Park, c.1800, near the new line of the Via Julia.

back next