Cosmeston Medieval Village
Encyclopedia
Lavernock
Lavernock is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, lying on the coast south of Cardiff between Penarth and Sully, and overlooking the Bristol Channel.- Marconi and the first radio messages across open sea :...
in the Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
not far from Penarth
Penarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
and Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
in south Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. Based upon remains discovered during a 1980s archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
dig in the grounds of Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, it is a re-creation of 14th century peasant life in Wales in the Middle Ages.
The reconstructed village regularly plays host to groups of reenactors
Historical reenactment
Historical reenactment is an educational activity in which participants attempt torecreate some aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge at the Great Reunion of 1913, or as broad as an entire...
, who camp in authentic tents around the outskirts of the village, and perform displays of historical combat
Medieval warfare
Medieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. In Europe, technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery...
for the public.
Cosmeston was also used as one of the filming locations for the BBC TV drama series Merlin, broadcast in autumn 2008.
Early Medieval
The original Cosmeston village grew around a fortified manor house constructed sometime around the 12th century by the De Costentin family, who were among the first NormanNormans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
invaders of Wales
Norman invasion of Wales
The Norman invasion of Wales began shortly after the Norman conquest of England under William the Conqueror, who believed England to be his birthright...
in the early 12th century following William the Conqueror's invasion of neighbouring England in 1066. It is unlikely that the manor house at the site was a substantial building and there is documentary evidence that by 1437 the manor house had already fallen into total ruin. Its precise site has just been located. The village would have consisted of a number of small stone round houses, or crofts, with thatched
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
roofs, as depicted in the current reconstruction, and the village population would have been between 50 to 100 people at most, including children.
The de Costentin family had originated on the Cotentin peninsular in northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. They were the first lords of the manor and they called the village Costentinstune, which over time became known as Cosmeston. They built the original manor house and perhaps a few dwellings or small farms, but for the next two centuries it appears that little further development occurred.
Later Medieval
Around 1316 the manor passed into the hands of the de Caversham family, also of NormanNormans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
descent.
The buildings that have been excavated so far seem to be from the 14th century. It would appear that the de Caversham family brought a more designed approach to the development of the community and a better regulated and more compact settlement began to develop during their stewardship of the village.
There is little sign that the village continued to develop much past the later middle ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Unusually, no Norman church was ever established in the immediate area, so by 1824 all that remained of Cosmeston village were four isolated crofts and the Little Cosmeston Farmhouse as shown on the Marquis of Bute's detailed maps of the time. It is quite possible that the majority of the villagers were all wiped out during the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
plague of the 1340s or the later outbreaks, leaving Cosmeston a Deserted medieval village
Deserted medieval village
In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more...
.
In addition to the plague the villagers would have to combat several other difficulties. The land is low lying and at the mercy of the many water sources that now feed the Cosmeston Lake. There is substantial evidence of drainage dykes but even they would have struggled to keep the arable land free from waterlogging and constant flooding. Additionally the period was one of permanent political upheaval with intermittent resistance and armed conflict between several local Welsh leaders. In January 1316, for instance, Llywelyn Bren
Llywelyn Bren
Llywelyn Bren , or Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ap Rhys or Llywelyn of the Woods , was a nobleman who led a revolt in Wales during the reign of King Edward II of England in 1316. The revolt would be the last serious challenge to English rule in Wales until the attempts of Owain Lawgoch to invade Wales with...
attacked Caerphilly Castle
Caerphilly Castle
Caerphilly Castle is a medieval castle that dominates the centre of the town of Caerphilly in south Wales. It is the largest castle in Wales and the second largest in Britain after Windsor Castle...
, and for the next two months there was conflict and much devastation spilling throughout the Glamorgan region.
Modern History
Countryside Commission
The Countryside Commission was a statutory body in England and Wales, and later in England only...
funding as a Country Park
Country park
A country park is an area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.-History:In the United Kingdom the term 'Country Park' has a special meaning. There are over 400 Country Parks in England alone . Most Country Parks were designated in the 1970s, under the...
. During the landscaping of the new country park the first evidence
Earthworks (archaeology)
In archaeology, earthwork is a general term to describe artificial changes in land level. Earthworks are often known colloquially as 'lumps and bumps'. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features or they can show features beneath the surface...
of the medieval village was unearthed and an archeological exploration was undertaken.
The resulting heritage reconstruction has been described as the best representation of a medieval village currently available in Britain. In addition to being open to the general public the village also accepts school tours and archeological groups, together with staging of special events and re-enactment
Medieval reenactment
Medieval reenactment is a form of historical reenactment that focuses on re-enacting European history in the period from the fall of Rome to about the end of the 15th century. The second half of this period is often called the Middle Ages...
s throughout the year.