Age old tasks

Wales: Archaeological excavations have uncovered numerous tools and artefacts that give an insight into how the Iron Age people at Castell Henllys actually lived from day to day. Our (personal!) tour guide showed us different methods of grinding grain to make flour. She had a concave rock that enabled her to rub hard at the grain with a stone, work clearly needing strong arms and a lot of stamina. She also had a simple corn mill: two flat stones with the upper one rotating around a wooden post. Grain was poured down the centre and distributes out through grooves. The action of the stones rubbing together grinds it down into flour.

They have not found any cloth still surviving but they have found stone weights that were used to hold the warp threads on a rudimentary wooden loom. Spun threads of wool and flax were used to weave cloth, dyed with herbal decoctions.

In the grounds of the fort, there was a simple wood-turning lathe, powered by a foot paddle.

Some of the roundhouses were decorated with painted designs: shields, knots and wild animals like this powerful wild boar. The warriors would have killed deer and boar for their meat and skins.

We had such a good time on our visit to Castell Henllys. It is a kind of living history and seeing, touching and smelling makes it all come alive. It must be a super place for children to learn. It's all in a lovely setting too, with a path by a stream tumbling through a wooded valley and leading up to the hill fort. There's a very good visitor centre with a shop, an excellent café and some interactive information boards and videos. Highly recommended if you're in the Cardigan/Pembrokeshire border area.