Hello everyone, my name’s Eirini and I am a student intern in the Archaeology and Numismatics department at NMW, Cardiff. This post is the second in my series of blogs on the numismatics collection at the Museum. Last time I took a look at the collection of Ancient Greek coins and this week I am back to examine the Roman coin collection.

While the Ancient Greeks never set foot in Wales, the Romans invaded in AD 48 so there have been a great deal of Roman coins found and reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Here are a few of my favourites from the collections.

Hoard of silver denarii found in Wick, Vale of Glamorgan (c. AD 165)

The 2 oldest coins date back to the Republic and are both coins of Mark Anthony while the rest date to the Empire. The front side of all of the Empire coins have portraits of an emperor, ranging from Nero (AD 54-68) to Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180).

The most interesting aspect of this coin hoard is the variety of reverse designs on them! There are many coins dating to the reigns of Vespasian (AD 69-79) and Trajan (AD 98-117). These coins predominately feature deities and personifications on their reverse sides. Some examples of the deities featured include Jupiter, Hercules and Mars. One design that sticks out to me is the personification of peace (Pax) holding an olive branch, sceptre and cornucopia (a horn that symbolises abundance). Other personifications include Pietas (duty) and Felicitas (good fortune).

There is an extensive variety of other reverse types on the coins including representations of the emperor and his family, types of military conquest and victories, legionary types, geographical imagery, architecture, animals and propaganda.

I like how varied the imagery is on these Roman coins as later coins found in Sully (c. AD 320), Bridgend (c. AD 310) and Llanbethery (c. AD 350) as well as our modern coins tend to have the same, repeated imagery on their reverse.

Sully Hoard of copper-alloy coins (c. AD 320)

This hoard is one of the largest hoards of Roman coins found in Wales. An incredible 5913 coins were discovered in two locations, 3 metres apart in the South Wales coastal village of Sully.

The latest coins from this collection all have the same reverse design regardless of where they were minted, from London to Rome –they represent an early single currency with a standardised design not found in the earlier hoards.

However, the designs on these coins are more crude and less detailed than the earlier Roman finds.

Great British Mollusca Types Project: A union database for the UK

The GB types project began 2 years ago with 6 mollusc curators from National Museum Cardiff and Natural History Museum, London leading the way. The idea - to find, document and make available online as many mollusc types as possible in 7 Museums around the UK. The project funded by the John Ellerman Foundation (Regional Museums and Galleries Fund) worked with Glasgow Museums, Glasgow Hunterian, World Museum, Liverpool, Newcastle Museums, Leeds Museums, Machester Museum and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. From October 2016, the process began of visiting the collections at each of the partner museums to locate known and potential mollusc type specimens. The specimens were loaned to National Museum Cardiff or the Natural History Museum for specialist photography, databasing and research. For the first time, data from these nine institutions will be recorded permanently on an internationally accessible online database: https://gbmolluscatypes.ac.uk/

Over 95 potential mollusc types were borrowed from LeedsMuseums, mostly from the extensive collection of Sylvanus C. T. Hanley. The collections contain many type figured and cited specimens of international importance.

Over 150 types were borrowed, researched and photographed from McrMuseum, many of these molluscs were named by Melvill and Standen at the end of the 19th Century.

Mollusc types in GMRCNitshill / GlasgowMuseums include 150 year-old types of Thomas Gray and Carl Westerlund. Thanks to Richard Sutcliffe, & former curator Fred Woodward for GB types work in the 1970s-1980s

Hancock, Alder and Angas collections dominate the GNM_Hancock Mollusca collections and the fluid-preserved nudibranchs proved tricky to photograph!

The mollusc collections at the hunterian are rich in historic material going back to Cook’s voyages, the Duchess of Portland and Laskey. They hold the infamous holotype of Gray’s Strombus listeri and several types of Godwin-Austen.

Over 100 of Col. George Montagu’s shell types were discovered at RAMMuseum. These as well as some found at NHM_London were presented in the following paper.

Marrat’s Olives and Nassas dominated the mollusc type material at World_Museum, easily found thanks to curator Nora McMillan who worked on the collection 1933-2000.

You can see more of the Twitter highlights following this project with the hash tag #GBMolluscaTypes or this Twitter Moment

Helo Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn,

Diolch i’r ysgolion sef wedi rhannu ei chofnodion blodau! Cofiwch i wneud yn siŵr bod y dyddiad yn gywir a bod taldra'r planhigyn wedi ei chofnodi yn filimedrau. Rydym wedi cael cofnodion yn dweud bod planhigion wedi blodeuo ym mis Ebrill a hefo disgrifiadau am grocws a chennin pedr anhygoel o fyr!

Os ydych yn gweld bod eich cofnodion angen ei chywiro, yna yrrwch rhai newydd i mewn hefo esboniad o hyn yn y bwlch sylwadau.

Rwyf wedi mwynhau darllen y sylwadau hefo’r cofnodion tywydd a blodau dros y pythefnos diwethaf. Rwyf wedi atodi rhai o’r sylwadau isod. Daeth cwestiwn diddorol o Ysgol Stanford in the Vale flwyddyn ddiwethaf, yn gofyn a oedd rhaid cofnodi pob blodyn i’r wefan os oedd y dyddiad a’r taldra'r un peth? Mae’n bwysig i rannu’r cofnodion i gyd, oherwydd mae'r nifer o blanhigion sydd yn blodeuo ar ddyddiad unigol a’r taldra'r planhigion yn effeithio'r canlyniadau.

I weithio allan taldra cymedrig eich ysgol ar gyfer y crocws a’r cennin pedr, adiwch bob taldra o’r crocws neu’r cennin peder, a rhannwch hefo'r nifer o gofnodion. Felly os oes genych deg cofnodion o daldra i’r crocws, adiwch y rhain at ei gilydd a rhannwch hefo deg i gael y rhif cymedrig.

Os oes gennych un blodyn hefo taldra o 200mm ac un blodyn hefo taldra o 350mm, fydd y rhif cymedrig yn 275mm. Ond, os oes gennych un blodyn hefo taldra o 200mm a deg hefo taldra o 350mm fydd y rhif cymedrig yn 336mm. Dyma pam mae’n bwysig i gofnodi pob cofnod blodau.

Mae pob cofnod blodau yn bwysig ac yn cael effaith ar y canlyniadau. Os nad yw eich planhigyn wedi tyfu erbyn diwedd mis Mawrth, plîs wnewch gofnod data heb ddyddiad na thaldra ac esboniwch pam yn y bwlch sylwadau. Os mae eich planhigyn yn tyfu, ond ddim yn blodeuo erbyn diwedd mis Mawrth, yna plîs cofnodwch daldra'r planhigyn, heb ddyddiad blodeuo, ac esboniwch hyn yn y bwlch sylwadau.

Cadwch y cwestiynau yn dod Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn! Mae 'na nifer o adnoddau ar y wefan i helpu hefo’r prosiect. Unwaith mae eich planhigyn wedi blodeuo, fedrwch greu llun ohono a defnyddio hyn i labelu'r rhannau o’r planhigyn! Hoffwn weld ffotograff o rain, a wnâi rhannu pob un sy’n cael ei yrru ata i ar fy blog nesaf!

Daliwch ati gyda’r gwaith called Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn,

Athro’r Ardd

Ebrill 1 2018 yw canmlwyddiant ffurfio’r Awyrlu Brenhinol, ac i gyd-fynd â hyn hoffwn rannu stori ryfeddol o’r casgliadau. Yma yn Sain Ffagan, mae gennym gasgliad o lythyrau a thelegramau a anfonwyd i ac oddi wrth Eli Evans o Gaerdydd. Maent yn ymwneud â phrofiadau mab Eli, Arthur Wellesley Rees Evans, yn y rhyfel. O’r ohebiaeth hon, rwyf wedi gallu olrhain yr hanes.

Ganwyd Arthur Wellesley Rees Evans ar 18 Mehefin 1898 yn Llaneirwg, Caerdydd. Roedd yn byw gyda’i rieni – Eli a Laura Evans – ar 204 Heol Casnewydd, Caerdydd ac yn gweithio i Mr D. P. Barnett, perchennog llongau, yn Baltic Buildings yn y dociau.

Ym mis Rhagfyr 1916 derbyniwyd Wellesley ar Gwrs Hyfforddi Swyddogion, ond fe’i gwrthodwyd yn Whitehall oherwydd twbercwlosis ar ei ysgyfaint. Yn y pendraw, cafodd ei dderbyn i’r Fyddin Brydeinig a chafodd ei ddatgan yn ffit i ymuno â’r Corfflu Awyr Brenhinol ar 22 Awst 1917. Flwyddyn yn ddiweddarach cafodd ei yrru i Gaer-wynt at Adran Cadetiaid rhif 2, cyn cael ei drosglwyddo i Sgwadron Hyfforddi rhif 25 yn Thetford, Norfolk.

Ar 9 Ionawr 1918, dechreuodd Wellesley ar ei hyfforddiant hedfan ac ymladd yng Nghanolfan Hyfforddiant Old Sarum, yr Amwythig, a graddiodd gyda 103ydd Sgwadron yr Awyrlu Brenhinol ar 5 Ebrill 1918, bedwar diwrnod wedi ffurfio’r RAF. Aeth yn ei flaen i Ysgol Llywio Awyr a Gollwng Bomiau rhif 1 yng Nghôr y Cewri, cyn gadael am Lundain ar 24 Medi ar ei ffordd i Ffrainc.

Cyrhaeddodd Wellesley ym Mharis ar 28 Medi 1918, ac oddi yno cafodd ei symud i ‘rywle yn Ffrainc’ i ymuno â 110fed Sgwadron yr RAF ar 15 Hydref. Cymerodd ran yn ei ymgyrch gyntaf chwe diwrnod yn ddiweddarach, ar 21 Hydref. Hedfanodd y sgwadron i fomio Cwlen (Köln), ond ni ddychwelodd Wellesley. Roedd ef a’i wyliwr, Is-gapten Thompson, wedi’u saethu i lawr.

Derbyniodd Eli a Laura Evans wybodaeth swyddogol gan y Weinyddiaeth Awyr fod eu mab ar goll ar 21 Hydref. Anfonodd Eli lythyrau a thelegramau i’r Weinyddiaeth ac i’r Asiantaeth Garcharorion Rhyngwladol yn Genefa yn gofyn am fwy o wybodaeth. Rhyddhad mawr oedd darganfod fod Wellesley yn fyw ac yn iach, ond yn garcharor rhyfel yn Limburg, yr Almaen.

Yn ffodus i Wellesley, byr fu ei gyfnod fel carcharor. Daeth y rhyfel i ben yn dilyn cadoediad 11 Tachwedd, lai na mis wedi iddo gael ei ddal. Ar 3 Rhagfyr, gadawodd yr Almaen gan fynd adref trwy Swistir a Ffrainc ac i Dover ar 10 Rhagfyr. Ar 7 Chwefror 1919, cafodd ei ryddhau o’r fyddin ac wythnos yn ddiweddarach roedd yn ôl yn nociau Caerdydd gyda D. P. Barnett. Ychydig fisoedd wedi i’w fab ddychwelyd adref, bu farw Eli Evans yn 52 oed. Mae’n bur debyg fod straen a phryder y cyfnod hwn wedi dweud arno.

Wedi’r rhyfel arhosodd Wellesley yng Nghaerdydd fel Swyddog Marchnata i’r Bwrdd Glo Cenedlaethol. Priododd â Gladys Gwendolyn Mitchell a chawsant ferch. Bu farw Arthur Wellesley Rees Evans ar 5 Ionawr 1965 yn 66 mlwydd oed, yng Nghyncoed, Caerdydd. Mae wedi’i gladdu gyda’i wraig yn Eglwys Blwyf Llaneirwg.

Cefnogir gan Gynllun Cyfamod y Lluoedd Arfog

As Lambcam comes to a close for another year, we look back at the history of lambing in Wales.

Voices from the Archives is a series of articles with sound clips based on recordings in the Oral History Archive of St Fagans National Museum of History. They accompany agricultural activities and events at the Museum. The speakers were farmers who had usually lived all their lives in the same locality as where they had been born and grown up. Their descriptions, experiences, recollections, voices, accents were authentic and distinctive, from different parts of Wales, and from different times.

March is lambing time at the Museum’s working farm, Llwyn-yr-eos. Lambing time on a farm at the foot of the Black Mountains, south east Wales was described by William Powell when interviewed in 1978. He farmed Gellywellteg, near the village of Forest Coal Pit, a few miles north east of Abergavenny. To the north of the farm were the Black Mountains, and Sugar Loaf mountain to the south.

He kept 140 ewes, home-bred Hill Radnor sheep, the predominant breed in the area during his farming life. They had brown-grey faces, no wool on their heads, convex noses, sturdy legs, and were compact and hardy. Two or three Hill Radnor rams were also kept, brought in, and changed every two years.

In the first selection of clips from the interview, William Powell describes when lambing took place and how:

The ewes about to give birth had to be checked regularly in case they had any difficulties. Ideally lambs would be born by their two front legs and head coming out first. There could be complications if one or both front legs were pointing backwards, or if the two legs were coming out but not the head. William Powell gained a reputation locally for his expertise:

Sometimes a weak lamb could be adopted by a ewe whose own lamb had died using an age-old method:

Young lambs could be vulnerable to illnesses and diseases, such as running noses, known locally as ‘snuff’:

And finally, how many lambs could be produced from a flock of 140 ewes: