Outstanding in his own field
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 1:19 am
An archaeologist who bet his life savings on a hunch he had found a lost medieval city in Monmouthshire has said people thought he was "mad".
Stuart Wilson, 37, was convinced he had located the site of 13th Century Trellech - once Wales' largest city.
He paid £32,000 for a 4.6 acre (1.86-hectare) field at the edge of the modern-day village and started to dig.
Now, 12 years later, he believes he has revealed the footprint of a bustling iron boom town from the 1200s - and he does not regret his decision.
"I should have really bought a house and got out from my parents' [home], but I thought: 'To hell with my parents, I will stay at home and I shall buy a field instead," Mr Wilson said.
"People said 'you must be mad'," he added.
He discovered the site was for sale in 2004, after conducting a dig nearby, and went to the auction armed with his savings.
"It was a close-run thing - it was meant to be a guide price of £12,000 and 30 seconds later it had shot up to £32,000. So it was a very hit-and-miss thing, but eventually we did get it," he said.
Since then he has spent £180,000 in total on the site and enlisted the help of hundreds of volunteers to dig each summer since 2005.
They have uncovered eight buildings, including a fortified manor house and various outbuildings which would have sat alongside the medieval city's market.
Today, Trellech is a somewhat sleepy village with a population of about 2,800.
However, Mr Wilson, a member of Monmouth Archaeological Society, said in the mid 1200s it became the centre of iron production for the army of the de Clare family.
The de Clares were a family of powerful and influential Norman lords allied with Edward I and his bid to conquer Wales.
"At its peak, we're talking about a population of maybe around 10,000 people. In comparison, there were 40,000 in London, so it's quite large," said Mr Wilson, from Chepstow.
"This population grew from nothing to that size within 25 years. Now it took 250 years for London to get to 40,000 people, so we're talking a massive expansion.
"And that's just the planned settlement. The slums [to the east of modern-day Trellech] would have been quite numerous. There you would be talking even 20,000 plus. It's a vast area."
