Cymdeithas Brycheiniog a Chyfeillion yr Amgueddfa
Brecknock Society and Museum Friends
February 2013
Dear
The Llangors Crannog and Viking Age Britain
I write on behalf of the Brecknock Society & Museum Friends, to invite you and your friends to attend
the 16th Sir John Lloyd Memorial Lecture which will be held at 7.30 pm in the Theatre Brycheiniog,
Brecon, on Friday 15th March 2013.
The Sir John Lloyd Lecture has established itself as one of the most prestigious Annual Lectures in
Wales and we are particularly excited about the topic and the speaker for this year’s lecture. In full it
will be entitled ‘Medieval Connections: Brycheiniog in the time of Llangors crannog and Viking age
Britain’ and it will be given by Dr Mark Redknap of the National Museum in Cardiff.
Most people know that Llangorse Lake is the largest natural lake in South Wales and that it has been the
subject of myths and legends for centuries. Only comparatively recently, however, have its mysteries
been unravelled through detailed studies of the thousand year old Crannog – a man-made island. Mark
Redknap’s talk will explain the context of recent discoveries and where they sit in terms of Welsh
History (further details overleaf). He has played a vital part in the work that will be described and is an
excellent speaker with a reputation for making his subject ‘come alive’. We look forward very much to
hearing him!
Tickets are free but they must be booked. Please make contact with the box office at Theatr
Brycheiniog (Tel 01874 611622 or www.theatrbrycheiniog.co.uk) as soon as possible to secure your
seat. Unless you call in person or send a stamped addressed envelope, the tickets will be held for
collection on the night. If having made a booking, you find that you cannot come, please contact the
Box Office to release the seat so that it can be taken by someone else.
We look forward to seeing you at the lecture. Please direct any questions you may have to our
Programme Secretary Elaine Starling (details below). Also, please pass on this information to any
contacts of yours who may be interested.
Yours sincerely
John Gibbs
Chairman.
Mrs Elaine Starling
Programme Secretary
Tel (01874 711484 or evstarling@lineone.net).
Early Medieval Connections: Brycheiniog in the time of Llangors crannog
and Viking age Britain
Over the last fifteen years our understanding of early medieval Wales and its relationships
with its neighbours has been given a boost by excavations of key sites and new analysis of
existing finds. This lecture will compare the evidence from one of the key sites, the late
ninth century royal crannog (artificial island) in Llangors Lake, with contemporary
evidence from other important excavations and discoveries. Cultural connections will be
explored, and compared with the insights that have come from recent research on
population mobility.
Dr Mark Redknap is Acting Keeper of the Department of Archaeology & Numismatics,
National Museum Cardiff.
He served as Vice-President of Medieval Pottery Research group (2004-2007), and on the
Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites (1996-2006). He is President of the
Coventry and District Archaeological Society, and currently serves as a Royal
Commissioner for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of
Wales. He co-directed the excavations at Llangors crannog between 1989-2004, and his
ongoing analysis of excavations at Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey, is recognised for ‘beginning to
revolutionize our understanding of the Vikings in Wales’. The new Corpus of Early Medieval
Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture Vol 1 (2007), co-authored with John Lewis, is a complete
revision of past work in this field.