Goldcliff

Nearest town:
Newport (8km WNW)
OS reference:
ST37428191
OS sheet:
171
Latitude:
51° 31' 55.54 N
Longitude:
2° 54' 8.25 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Goldcliff (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by thesweetcheat

These intertidal flats at Goldcliff have yielded an impressive array of multi-period finds. Looking across the Severn/Hafrern towards Portishead.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.8.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 9, 2012
Image of Goldcliff (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by thesweetcheat

Approaching Goldcliff “island” from the east along the modern coastal defences.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.8.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 9, 2012

Articles

Goldcliff

Ancient remains discovered in Goldcliff near Newport

moss
moss Jan 8, 2013

ANCIENT remains dating back more than 7,000 years have been discovered near Newport.

Researchers from the University of Reading have uncovered 7,500 year-old worked flint ‘tools’, bones, charcoal and hazelnut shells while working at Goldcliff in September of last year.

The finds show that Stone Age people were more than just hunter-gathers, using fire to encourage the growth of plants, such as hazelnuts, crab apples and raspberries. The researchers believe these were all eaten.

Over the last two summers researchers have found Stone Age footprints at Goldcliff and new archaeological finds, including footprints of animals and birds, are constantly being made in the Severn Estuary.

Professor Martin Bell, head of the University of Reading’s department of Archaeology, said: “The 7500 year-old footprint trails show how the activity areas represented by flint tools and bones articulated together as parts of a living stone age landscape.”

He added: “The footprints include those made by children, which is extremely exciting as the role of children tends not to be visible in the archaeological record.”

“They show youngsters as young as four were actively engaged in the productive activities of the community.”

southwalesargus.co.uk/news/gwentnews/10143670._/

Goldcliff

C
CARL Sep 13, 2012

I visited this site several years ago after seeing it featured in a Time Team episode.

You can drive right to the sea wall and parking is easy.

I wasn’t expecting to see anything – and i didn’t as the tide was in! – but it was nice to just visit the place and think of the people who once roamed here.

Miscellaneous

Goldcliff
Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 9, 2012

Goldcliff is a multi-period site that has yielded finds from the Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age (as well as Roman and a medieval Benedictine priory).

Prior to the reclamation of the coastal plain from the sea by the Romans in the thrid century AD, Goldcliff was an island (hardly much out of the water though, judging by the contours here).

Gerald of Wales, writing in the 12th century, noted that the name was due to the golden appearance of the cliffs when the sun struck them.

Mesolithic finds include a carbonised hazelnut shell, as well as a tentative identification of the site of a frame used for smoking fish. There were large quantities of fish and animal bones. It is considered that Mesolithic occupation of Goldcliff consisted of a series of transitory hunting camps.

Remains of a sewn plank boat from the later Neolithic or early Bronze Age have been found at Goldcliff.

In the Iron Age, there was a more permanent settlement, including the remains of seven rectangular buildings made from oak planks, dendro-dated 273-271 BC. The remains of 13 Iron Age trackways have also been found at Goldcliff, connecting settlements across the bogs. Cattle appear to have been kept within the Goldcliff settlement.

[Information taken from “Exploring Gwent” by Chris Barber (1984 Regional Publications (Bristol) Limited) and “Prehistoric Wales” by Frances Lynch, Stephen Aldous-Green and Jeffrey L. Davies (2000 Sutton Publishing Limited). The latter book includes a photograph of one of the rectangular Iron Age buildings.]

Sites within 20km of Goldcliff

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