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304 YNYS SELYF - PREHISTORIC FIELDS
GRID REFERENCE: SM716093
AREA IN HECTARES: 199
Historic Background
An area of modern Pembrokeshire comprising the land surrounding Old
Farm on Skomer Island (Ynys Selyf), that lies just off of the western
tip of Pembrokeshire, at the southern end of St Bride's Bay. Administratively,
the island formed part of the medieval Lordship of Haverford, under the
control of the earls of Pembroke, and later the crown, and until recently
formed a detached portion of the parish of St Martin, Haverfordwest. The
island was farmed during the prehistoric period and the physical remains
of field systems with cultivation marks, enclosures, clearance cairns,
huts, dams and even settlements, survive more-or-less undisturbed in this
peripheral area, which occupies nearly two-thirds of the island. The remains
cannot be closely dated but Evans noted that 'nothing like the arrangement
of the fields or the shape of the huts is known from the Roman or later
periods' and ascribed to the features to a date-range from the neolithic
to the iron age periods. Their exceptional survival is due to the fact
that though the island was rented for the seasonal depasturing of cattle
during the middle ages, and was rented annually for £4 7s in the 16th
century, there appears to have been little permanent settlement until
the 18th century when the present farm was established in the central
part of the island. No medieval or later settlement is recorded in this
peripheral area. During the medieval period rabbits were deliberately
introduced to the island and exploited for their flesh and skins. Warreners
came to the island each winter to catch rabbits, and Treasury records
from 1325-6 list payments to three rabbit-catchers, who with the aid of
ferrets and nets supplied 'carcasses and skins of rabbits' worth £13 12s.
Later in the 14th century there is a record of a combined ferreter's house
and carcass store on the island, in an unknown location. Rabbit farming
intensified during the 19th century and continued until 1950. Some lime-burning,
from the native bedrock, was also undertaken within the area during the
18th- and 19th-century. The island is now a national nature reserve managed
by the West Wales Wildlife Trust on a lease from the Countryside Council
for Wales.
Base map reproduced from the OS map with the permission
of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery
Office, © Crown Copyright 2001.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright
and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD272221
Description and essential historic landscape components
Ynys Selyf - Old Farm historic landscape character area consists of the
central, fairly level - 70m to 75m - part of Skomer Island in which Old
Farm is located. It is divided by dry-stone walls and banks into a system
of fairly regular, small fields. The fields and farm were established
in the 18th- and early 19th- century, but the farm buildings, including
the house, probably date to the mid 19th-century. The farmstead has a
typical 19th century layout, with a modest collection of outbuildings
set close to the farm. Other buildings within the area are confined to
the roofless remains of the earlier, late 18th- or early 19th-century
farmhouse. Within the fields are two ponds. Intensive cultivation of the
fields has produced a pattern of long, straight cultivation ridges. Agriculture
is no longer practised on the island, and the abandoned field system is
under bracken and rough grassland. There are tracts of boggy ground. Basic
accommodation for the small number of over-night visitors to the island
is provided in the farmstead buildings.
Recorded archaeology comprises some prehistoric features
including a scheduled settlement and field system. There is also a scheduled
medieval house platform, and a possible medieval hut platform.
This is a well defined historic landscape character area.
It is surrounded and separated from the prehistoric fields character area
of the island by a clear perimeter wall.
Sources: Dyfed Wildlife Trust n.d.; Evans 1986; Evans 1990;
Grimes 1950; Howells 1968; Lewis 1833; Owen 1911
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