There has been a slight, small-ish, almost in-consequencial debate floating around certain Welsh circles that CADW exists primarily to promote the Edwardian Castles, it's something I have addressed in my column in the Herald Gymraeg a few times, mainly because such a debate irritates the hell out of me. One, it's not true, two it's symptomatic of Welsh "defeatism" and thirdly as I have pointed out - just look at all the Neolithic sites on Anglesey that are under CADW care - none of the cromlechs were built by Edward 1st as far as I know.
I'm not even going to get into the argument
In defence of CADW, well the best case for the defence was an approach that we made recently as the North Wales Tourist Guiding Association (NWTGA) to Marilyn Lewis, Director of CADW about our concerns about lack of profile and activity at Segontium and within days we were meeting with CADW staff on site. Since then under the management of Adele Thackray we have seen two seasons of activities at Segontium - this is community engagement, again about involving locals, schools and visitors alike.
Things have changed and things did change quickly. The museum building at Segontium is now under re-construction / re-furbishment. CADW have acted. Segontium is the most important Roman site in North West Wales in terms of its administrative function during the Roman Period and it's long period of use. I rest my case ...... CADW have been open to discussion, willing to engage and those firing the shots from the side-lines have failed to engage - they would rather see Cae'r Gors fail (and even close) rather than be looked after by CADW - a strange attitude indeed. And Yr Ysgwrn run by the Snowdonia National Park Authority - is that any less idealogically sound or unsound - these historic houses of national Welsh importance are hardly sustainable in the harsh world of paying visitors - let's keep them open - let's make use of them - let's not get on to Edward 1st !
I feel that I'm always about to enter the argument ...........
Another consequence of NWTGA activities at Segontium has been the invitation to hold an Open Day at Barclodiad y Gawres as part of CADW's Solstice Weekend so a few of us Blue/Green Badge guides were on hand on the Sunday to welcome visitors to the monument and give them a guided tour.
Because of concerns about vandalism (again almost unbelievable that people can damage somewhere as special as Barclodiad) the site is no loner open without supervised access so the Sunday provides a wonderful opportunity for people to visit the site and boy are we busy. From shortly after 10am right up until 4pm there is a constant stream of visitors. Most know about the event, from social media or the CADW website (or both). We only have a few "passing" visitors which is quite interesting.
We have a real mix of locals and visitors. Some have travelled quite a long way from England just to see the interior of the monument while others are from Llanfaelog and Rhosneigr. A few request the tour in Welsh, some even do the tour twice, through the medium of English and Welsh. All are impressed, amazed and inspired.
We are inundated with questions and at times it takes three guides to hold the fort, especially after lunch when there is a rush of visitors. We started off with a headcount during the morning but by mid-afternoon we could only estimate that we had over 50 visitors.
There was a lot of discussion about the "meaning" of the stones during the day but I felt that most people accepted that there must have been contact with Ireland and the tombs of the Boyne Valley - after all we overlook the sea and look West from Barclodiad. Ireland is not so far away.
We also noticed that the passageway is roughly looking out North and on the skyline we could see Mynydd y Garn - there starts another debate perhaps about what is visible from these monuments.
Again thanks to CADW a brilliant day was had by all and my thanks to the NWTGA Guides for their presence on the day.
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