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The Ty Mawr Project

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ShropshireTraveller S
ShropshireTraveller Feb 23, 2007 09:25:50

If you don't know, you're in for a shock next time you visit Holyhead. There is an enormous retail development happening, which will completely surround Ty Mawr Standing Stone http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/569 , and if I've interpreted the plan correctly, will wash up to Trefignath's northern limit bar a couple dozen feet.

I wrote elsewhere last week:
"A huge sign is to the left of the A55 on entering Holyhead, inbetween the dual carriageway and Trefignath's enclosure, highlighting land for development. The development seems to be completely about Ty Mawr standing stone; it has an orange fence at a reasonable diameter around it. As for Trefignath, the other side of the lane to west, the fields are completely in a state of literal upheaval. Diggers and dumper trucks are continuously at work. Groups of folk in hi-vis vests stand around gesticulating, whilst others survey. A compound to the north seems to be the base of operations for much of the plant, and make shift offices. It seems the tide of modern human activity is washing higher around this once quiet site. On my first visit, the only modern intrusion was the aluminium plant. Then came the A55 redevelopment, and now a retail park will sit to the immediate north and west of the neolithic stones. I guess this means the amount of detritus left (ie. cigarette packets, beer cans and bottles will increase), and the immediacy of the monument for nearby idle hands may bode ill. In all fairness, the work of development seems to be being done as considerately as possible, but as long as populations grow, the demand on space and resources, and ways to get those resources to their destinations will increasingly impact on natural and archaeological contexts.

A small plan of the project is here; have yet to find a larger plan:
http://www.holyhead.com/future/Ty%20Mawr%20Project.jpg

I contacted CADW who responded:

The development does not physically encroach on the scheduled (ie protected) area around the individual monuments. However, the proposal does affect the setting of both sites and Cadw has worked with the developer to try to reduce the impact so far as this is possible in a developemt on this scale. While Cadw can control (through the Ancient Monuments legislation) what happens within a scheduled area, consideration of the wider setting is primarilly a matter for the Local Planning Authority. Cadw has indicated those areas which we feel need to be taken into account in the planning process.

I hope this helps, and I am grateful to you for your concern

Mike Yates"

A word from a friend of a friend in Penrhos says "something" has been found. The archaeological contractors, I think, are Atkins Heritage.

FYI,

Cheers

Tim

R Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 23, 2007 15:29:15
Replying to ShropshireTraveller

That is very sad, for the countryside as well as the stone. Perhaps CADW could put a soundproof dome over the stone with the previous view on the inside. And with a hole in the top to watch the sun and the rain through. What else can you do. I'm not being flippant. I'd just like to protect it and the 'delight' that it engenders in visitors, according to one of the fieldnotes. At least the stone is protected as it is scheduled. In the past it would have been carried off without a thought. Crap. The bastards will probably call the development something cheesy and unwittingly ironic that relates to the stone as well. Like the idiotically titled 'solstice' development near stonehenge. Sigh.

S slumpystones
slumpystones Feb 23, 2007 21:21:33
Replying to ShropshireTraveller

Quite was does an exclusion zone mean? Could that 200' diameter circle end up being surrounded by an industrial estate, left as a nice ornamental roundabout at its centre, but that's okay because the exclusion zone is still secure?

This is quite frightening, as terrible prescedents are being set everywhere, and there seems to be little that any protestor can legally do to at least slow the processes down. The forceful nature of these planning applications where the decision is already made is doing nopbody any good at all. They are encouraging the same civil unrest as they caused at Newbury bypass and the A12 extension.