Just a stone's-throw from our doorsteps is one of the most spectacular and important natural environments in Wales and the UK - the Gwent Levels. DAN BARNES found out more about this wonderful landscape.
THE Gwent Levels is very much a landscape which works in tandem with the man-made world.
People were working the Levels as far back at 5,000BC.
Most of the landscape was formed during the last Ice Age. This is relatively recent in the grand scheme of things - but still around 15,000 years ago.
An aerial view of the Gwent Levels
At this time much of Britain, roughly following the M4 corridor’s north-south divide, was covered by a gigantic sheet of ice. As the climate warmed, so the ice sheet moved ever north.
The melting water gradually eroded rivers and valleys on its long trip back to the ocean.
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As this happened large quantities of sand were carried downstream to what would eventually form the Severn Estuary.
As the estuary widened, so larger particles such as clay settled. Over many years this formed the Gwent Levels and natural vegetation began to gain a foothold in the fertile soil.
The area which became Goldcliff was originally a small island at high tide. It was accessible during low tide and evidence of this is apparent in the footprints left behind in the river mud by a woman and her child.
For an unknown reason, possibly caused by sinking of unstable land, the Levels began to disappear under the sea once more around 2,000 years ago. Access remained to the few high points, such as Goldcliff, but this was confined to low tide.
A rank of ancient putchers near Goldcliff
Many years later, the land was to be worked by man yet again. Although, this time man from overseas.
Roman general Sextus Julius Frontinus had driven the native Silurians back around the time of AD 75.
After creating a fortress to defend their hard-won lands – which is still visible to this day at Caerleon – they set to work rebuilding the Levels, and would stay in the area for the next 350 years.
They created the very first sea wall, which was sited much further out into the estuary than the one which stands at Goldcliff. This allowed the land behind to dry out and be used as pastures for grazing horses and other livestock.
They also created an intricate system on drainage ditches, the remnants of which can still be seen from the air today.
The creation of land suitable to keep livestock meant that the expansion of the area could continue in earnest. Roman horses were famous for their hardy nature and were put to work moving materials used to create additional towns and fortresses – for example at Caerwent.
It wasn’t just pack animals which were made use of by the Romans, however. Silurian slaves proved hard workers too and were put to work ensuring the water was kept at bay.
A Roman looks out from the sea wall at Goldcliff
When the Romans left Britain in around 400AD, they left a power-vacuum left behind them. Ownership claims were fraught and often unstable.
While there is little evidence of what happened on the Levels during this time, the sea wall appears to have been completely breached at multiple points along its length. However, this is thought to be the work of Mother Nature and not of any band of brigands.
Despite this, many of the Roman fields survived. A field system from that time still exists in the Wentlooge area.
Some hundreds of years later, after the Battle of Hastings had seen the country change hands once more, a series of castles sprang up in strategic locations throughout Wales. Notably at Chepstow and Caldicot on the Levels.
Due to the fact that Wales was extremely mountainous and densely forested, these coastal areas would once again look inviting to the expanding occupiers.
A Norman priory was also founded at Goldcliff in around 1130.
During the years the monks were on the Levels, a drainage system - the first since the Romans way back when – was established throughout the majority of the area.
The former St Mary’s Church at Whitson on the Gwent Levels
Water networks were installed, as well as sluice gates to manage the flow.
Ditches which still exist to this day were dug by hand during this time, no small feat given the size of the area.
After the turmoil of the post-conquest years had passed, major landowners came onto the land – such as the Morgans of Tredegar and a system of managing the landscape for the greater good began to be established.
In the 1530s King Henry VIII set up the Court of Sewers, a move which signalled the first formal system of land management in the area. The system used in the present day owes much to Henry’s system.
The Courts – plural as there was one in Wentlooge and one in Caldicot, would inspect the Levels for problems and report back. Work on sea walls and land maintenance was at this time, the responsibility of the landowner. They, more of than not, would in turn make the work the responsibility of their tenants but it was the landowners who bore the overall responsibility.
Some of the works undertaken include:
- Reaping and sowing – bank cutting and de-weeding
- Stanks – clay dams used to temporarily block a reen
- Cutting new ditches and reens
Maintaining the sea wall was the obvious priority. However, in 1606 the whole of the area was hit by a catastrophic flood. Many lost their lives as the waters surged up to 14 miles inland.
In more recent times the sea wall was also breached, albeit not quite as seriously. In 1936 and 1940 the wall was breached and the land behind was flooded up to three feet in places.
Today, much of the Gwent Levels is now a Site of Special Scientific Importance (SSSI). The unique landscape in Wales, and animals living therein, would now be protected as a matter of urgency.
Management of the area remains much the same as it always has, just with more modern techniques. Living Levels work year-round to ensure the survival and protection of the landscape for future generations.
For more information about the work being carried out by Living Levels, visit livinglevels.org.uk
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