A Century of Ceredigion from the Air
Saturday 11 April, 2.30pm

Join Dr Toby Driver, our Senior Investigator (Aerial Survey), for a fascinating talk at the Ceredigion Historical Society’s Annual General Meeting, held at the Drwm, The National Library of Wales.

From the very first aerial photographs of Aberystwyth in 1914 to a Roman camp discovered by airborne laser scanning as recently as March 2026, this lecture explores over a century of landscapes, townscapes, and archaeological discovery in Ceredigion. A truly unmissable talk–everyone is warmly welcome.

Can You Help? A New Snapshot for the 21st Century

The Capeli Cymru team has launched a new Census of Welsh Nonconformist Chapels, aiming to create the first comprehensive picture for over a century of how chapels across Wales are used, their condition, and their role within communities today.

This important national initiative will document everything from active places of worship to chapels that have been repurposed or lost—helping to safeguard this unique heritage for future generations.

We would love your help. You can take part by completing one of two short online questionnaires:

• A congregational survey for members of open chapels  
• A general survey to report on chapels in your area  

This work builds on landmark surveys from 1851 and 1905. By contributing today, you’ll help create a vital new snapshot for the 21st century.

Find out more and take part here:
https://rcahmw.gov.uk/projects/capeli-cymru/capeli-cymru-census/

Capeli Cymru: Preserving the Nonconformist Heritage of Wales is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Dates for Your Diary

• Wednesday 6 May
  Swansea, Y Storfa
  Capeli Cymru – Join the Conversation!
  Following a successful first workshop in Holyhead, our Capeli Cymru project continues this spring with more opportunities to get involved.  

• Saturday 9 May
  National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
  Capeli Cymru – Join the Conversation!
  A further chance to take part, share your knowledge, and contribute to this important national project

• Friday 15 May, 10am–3.30pm
  Mapping a World of Change: Carto-Cymru – The Wales Map Symposium 2026

• Thursday 28 May, 11am & 4pm
  Hay Festival Guided Walks
  To celebrate the launch of new historical maps of Brecon and Hay, enjoy guided walks around historic Hay led by Richard Suggett, former Senior Investigator

• 1–8 August 2026
  Eisteddfod y Garreg Las
  We’ll be at this year’s National Eisteddfod with a stand showcasing our latest projects, including Historic Welsh Place Names and Capeli Cymru. Please come and say helo—we look forward to seeing you!

Booking details for our May events will follow shortly.

From our Archives

We hope you enjoy this remarkable image above from a postcard published by Glyn Davies and rediscovered in 1995 by our former Commissioner, Tom Lloyd. It shows the Crucifixion carefully shaped in topiary at Glyn Aur, a small Victorian villa in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire.

The garden featured an extraordinary series of biblical scenes, including the Last Supper, the Flight into Egypt, King Herod’s Feast, and Noah’s Ark—transforming a domestic garden into a living biblical narrative.

Discover more about this remarkable collection on Coflein: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/sites/494  

Working closely with the Mapping Officer and the Research Manager at the Royal Commission, this critical role will also support future vectorisation work, with the maps made available online through ArcGIS Online (AGOL). These opportunities would particularly suit recent graduates seeking to gain practical experience in geospatial technologies and historical mapping before progressing to the next stage of their careers.

The successful candidates will join a friendly and dynamic team, with highly skilled and qualified staff who are enthusiastic, focused and committed to their work. The role is based at our offices within the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.  Our innovative long-term programme ensures Wales historical maps are visible and accessible online  – dive into Historic Maps Wales or our Deep Mapping Estate Archives project to discover more about the work of the team.

Established in 1908 and sponsored by the Welsh Government, the Royal Commission delivers a vital arm of the Welsh historic environment service – surveying, investigating, recording the historic environment and managing the built environment and archaeological archive of Wales. Through our publications, online services and our public search room at the National Library in Aberystwyth, we help the people connect with, understand and appreciate our shared heritage – both nationally and internationally.

If you:

• Have a degree in a relevant subject such as geography, remote sensing, heritage, history, archaeology, or an equivalent professional qualification in a relevant area or equivalent relevant experience

• Have experience georeferencing and working with GIS software (ArcPro, QGIS, MapInfo) and geospatial data

• Are comfortable with a repetitive task and have a good understanding of geospatial data, the importance of spatial accuracy and.

• Are comfortable maintaining a work log of progress using Excel to provide updated figures to the project team and experience of using SharePoint and other commonly used software applications.

We want to hear from you!

Further details, including application forms, can be found on our current vacancies page. For an informal discussion about this role please contact Jon Dollery, Mapping Officer on 01970 621212 or email jon.dollery@rcahmw.gov.uk

Fixed term contract to end 31/03/2027.

Salary £27,303 to £29,292 per annum (plus benefits)

37 hours per week

The closing date for applications is 09:00, 2 April 2026

What have you got planned for St Patrick’s Day? Our maritime expert Dr Julian Whitewright has been out to Marros Sands on the Carmarthenshire coast investigating ‘Rover’ (NPRN 273642), an Irish wooden schooner shipwrecked in December 1886. As part of this work, we’ve updated the Coflein entry for the ship and the shipwreck (NPRN 417716) with information on its provenance and history and our subsequent recording of the site – bringing this 150 year old shipwreck to life, with all the images, links and information about what survives in one place. Perfect for armchair explorers to dive into the wreck of the Rover; our first blog from Davy Jones’s Locker (aka Welsh maritime archaeology).

Built in Barnstaple, Wexford-bound

Built in 1840 at Barnstaple by John Westacott, the Rover was 79 gross tons, 71.4ft (21.8m) length, 18.7ft (5.7m) breadth, and 9.5ft (2.9m) depth, and was first registered at Wexford (1840/No.6) under the ownership of Richard Devereux (Dictionary of Irish Biography). Born 1795 in Wexford, Devereux was a merchant, ship owner and philanthropist – who founded Devereux Shipping in 1837 with John Thomas, his brother, commissioning schooners on coastal and cross-channel routes and expanding the business rapidly after the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. During the Irish Famine (1845-9) Devereux travelled repeatedly to find food and shipped Indian corn to Wexford to feed local people, and as his wealth grew he was committed to improving the lives of the poor, constructing schools, churches, monasteries and convents in Wexford and further afield.  

The Lloyd’s Register

A key source used by our investigators is the Lloyds Register of Ships, recording and classifying self-propelled merchant vessels between 1764-1998 of 100 gross tonnes or greater – designed to give insurance underwriters and merchants information on the condition of the ships through a classification system. The 1850 Lloyd’s Register records that the Rover had had a new deck and small repairs in 1848, and again in 1876 and that it was subsequently sold to John Codd (also of Wexford). The 1884 Lloyd’s Register records that the ship was fastened with iron bolts and was classed as AE1, meaning it was suitable for carrying cargo that could get wet, like coal, rather than material that had to stay totally dry.

Shipwrecked at Marros

On 8 December 1886 the Rover was carrying culm (anthracite ‘slack’ or small coal) from Saundersfoot to Wexford under the command of Master J. Murphy who had anchored in the roadstead at Tenby. At about 9.30pm the Rover’s anchor cables parted in weather described as a gale of great fury from the west-south-west, and the schooner was driven in the direction of Pendine (Tenby Observer, 9 Dec 1886). The next morning the Rover was observed on shore near Ragwen Point, having struck at about 11.30pm during the night before. The South Wales Echo reported that the crew spent the night in the rigging, before getting ashore at about 11am with help from the beach.

Recording the Rover

The wreck of the Rover was photographed during aerial reconnaissance by RCAHMW on 20th June 2008, but these incredible images were taken by former maritime investigator Deanna Groom following storms over the winter of 2013-4, which caused the sands to recede and exposed the wreck – standing some 0.5m high.  We often work in partnership with volunteers and other organisations and on this occasion the site was recorded by volunteers from the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) and Malvern Archaeological Diving Unit (MADU) on 15 March 2014 (Cundy and Turner, 2014).

The dramatic exposure of the wreck in 2014 showed that it sits on an even keel, with its bow to the beach. The sternpost, with remains of some elements of the rudder, is preserved at the seaward end, and is the highest part of the wreck. The remains include a very well-preserved lower hull from above the turn of the bilge around to the keel and framing timbers are preserved in their original orientation, with outer-planking, ceiling-planking, keelson, two mast-steps, and iron strap riders all visible. In 2014, the ship’s windlass, c. 2.6m in length, was recorded lying c. 10m to the northeast of the bow of the wreck. An area, c. 4m by 4m, of concreted anchor chain was recorded some 5m directly in front of the bow. A further large concretion, possibly the stem post, and further chain, was recorded 49m to the northwest of the wreck. Finally, a curving line of eight timber posts of unknown relationship with the wreck are located between 15m and 35m to the northwest of the bow of the wreck, and were recorded in 2014.

In 2022 when we visited the site again it was almost entirely buried with only a couple of inches of the sternpost exposed. A further visit in 2026 found it more exposed and we were able to record the visible remains and the surrounding sand levels with a photogrammetry survey.  

What is photogrammetry?

Photogrammetry is a technique used widely throughout the heritage sector to record objects in 3D. The technique uses overlapping photography and the principles of light ray intersection to produce a 3D point cloud of a subject for monitoring and research purposes. The range of this technique is immense – it can record everything from individual artefacts to entire landscapes. The ability to use photography to create 3D products has seen the technique surge in popularity in recent years and now forms a core method used for archaeological survey.  Discover more about how we record Welsh built heritage and archaeology here: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/llongddrylliad-shipwreck-traeth-marros-sands-e7055a48166347c48d55404e1f7e650d

Discover the Rover on Sketchfab

Our 2026 survey enabled us to produce a dynamic 3D Sketchfab model of the wreck of the Rover, and as Marrosis fairly tricky to get to unless you are a keen walker (and the Rover itself is now happily protected by a covering of sand) this is great news for armchair explorers! Importantly, the survey is fully georeferenced, which means that any future surveys can be used to directly compare the levels of sand across the site, and to assess if any archaeological material has been lost. Explore Rover and other maritime models including wrecks, on the Commission’s Sketchfab collection here.

Caroline Welch, Corporate Executive Assistant, with Dr Julian Wainwright, Senior Investigator (Maritime).

The Capeli Cymru project aims to preserve the Nonconformist heritage of Wales. We would love to talk with people about the chapels of Merthyr Tydfil and the surrounding area, those open and those now closed and in a different use.

For chapels that are open, we would like to hear about your experiences – the things that work well for your chapel, the challenges, and what would help to keep the chapel open.

For those that have closed, please bring your memories. We would love to see photos, minute books, chapel crockery or other objects that were important to the chapel congregation.

If you own a former chapel, we’d also love to hear about your experiences.

Thursday 26 March 2026

Canolfan Soar, Pontmorlais, Merthyr Tydfil

What3Words: ///degree.hurry.plots

Drop-in session – 1pm – 7pm

There will also be talks throughout the day.

3pm – Lis from Canolfan Soar, Merthyr Tydfil will be talking about the process of converting a chapel into a vibrant community space.

5:30pm – Susan Fielding (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales): “Welsh Nonconformist Chapels: Recording, Research and Preservation.”

For further information, please contact capelicymru@rcahmw.gov.uk

The Capeli Cymru Project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we are helping to preserve the Nonconformist heritage of Wales.

This is an exciting time to be joining the Board as the Royal Commission considers its future strategic direction in partnership with other organisations in the heritage and cultural sector in Wales – in particular the relationship with Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic environment service. The Culture Minister’s recent statement to the Senedd provides further information on this topic: https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-review-relationship-between-cadw-and-royal-commission-ancient-and-historical. 

The Royal Commission is a small but highly effective organisation with an ethos that encourages new and innovative ways of working to the benefit of the heritage sector and the people of Wales, whose quality of life is enriched by a high-quality historic environment. By joining the board at this stage you will make a real difference to the ways in which government-funded historic environment services are delivered, providing constructive challenge across the business of the Royal Commission to ensure the best use of specialist professional expertise and resources. 

Our current work includes a major new project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop a strategic approach to recording, preserving and celebrating the nonconformist heritage of Wales (https://rcahmw.gov.uk/projects/capeli-cymru/).   In addition we are compiling the list of historic placenames in Wales (https://rcahmw.gov.uk/discover/list-of-historic-place-names/) as well as recording maritime heritage, archaeology, historic schools and civic buildings and identifying distinctive 20^th-century buildings in Wales as candidates for listing. 

We are also responsible for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW), which holds the national collection of information about the historic environment of Wales from the earliest times to the present day; based on this we provide an enquiry service and a search room where archives can be consulted. We are also engaged in work to deliver the most used parts of our collections (including historical aerial photographs) available online via Coflein, our online database and catalogue. 

A knowledge of any of these areas would be helpful, and we are especially keen to diversify the board and appoint Commissioners who speak Welsh. Given the current context,  we are also keen to recruit people with strategic planning and change management expertise. 

Further information, including an information pack and guidance on how to apply, is available on the Welsh Government’s public appointments website. You can view the opportunities here:  

Chair: 
• Appointment of Chair – Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales 

 Commissioners: 
• Appointment of Commissioners – Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales 

The Royal Commission’s Secretary/CEO, (Christopher.catling@rcahmw.gov.uk), is happy to answer any questions about these roles. Please do consider making an application and do feel free to pass this information on to anyone you know who might be interested.