Subject: RE: FOI - 2026-024 - Great House Farm, Llandough From: FOI Requests Direction: received Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:56 UTC Institution: Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales Refs: none Archive id: gm-1a03d806e52c46bb ------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Mr Buckler Thank you for your email requesting an internal review of our response to FOI 2026-024. Internal Review We have accepted your request for an internal review of FOI 2026-024. The purpose of an internal review is to consider whether Amgueddfa Cymru handled the original request appropriately, including whether: * the request was interpreted correctly; * reasonable and proportionate searches were undertaken; * relevant information held by the Museum was identified and considered; and * the response complied with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The internal review process is not ordinarily intended to redefine or broaden the scope of the original request, nor to conduct new searches solely on the basis of additional search terms or lines of enquiry proposed after the original response has been issued. Nevertheless, the reviewer will consider the points raised in your correspondence when assessing whether the original request was interpreted appropriately and whether the searches undertaken were reasonable in the circumstances. We aim to provide the outcome of the internal review within 20 working days of receipt of your request. If, exceptionally, we are unable to conclude the review within that period, we will write to you again explaining the position. Additional Information Request Your email also requests information concerning other archaeological discoveries recorded at Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough, including details of those discoveries and the records identified during our searches. We consider this element of your correspondence to be a new request for recorded information, distinct from FOI 2026-024. We have therefore registered this as a separate Freedom of Information request, ref FOI 2026-32. Under section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we will respond to that request within 20 working days of receipt. Based on the date your correspondence was received, we aim to respond to the new request by 23 September 2026. The internal review and the new request will be considered separately and may result in separate responses. Cofion cynnes, [A picture containing text, tableware, plate, dishware Description automatically generated] FOI Team [cid:image002.png@01DD3548.863D3AA0] [email redacted]<[email redacted]> amgueddfa.cymru | museum.wales Rhif elusen | Charity number 525774 From: Sion Buckler <[email redacted]> Sent: 26 August 2026 07:24 To: FOI Requests <[email redacted]> Subject: Re: FOI - 2026-024 - Great House Farm, Llandough This email comes from outside the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless it is an email you expected to receive. Dear FOI Team, Thank you for your response. I am requesting an internal review of the handling of my request. I do not consider the response sufficient because it appears that the searches were conducted too narrowly around the later description of a "medieval visor, lance, helmet or other item of armour", rather than around the underlying historical discovery at Great House Farm itself. The issue I am investigating is a reported nineteenth-century discovery at Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough. My understanding from contemporary or near-contemporary newspaper and historical accounts is that the discovery was described as involving the remains of a Roman soldier, with associated remains and objects. The dating and description of the individual objects as "medieval" may therefore itself be inaccurate, or may represent a later conflation or retelling of the original discovery. Your response is particularly significant because it states: <"Our searches identified records relating to ... other archaeological discoveries recorded at Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough. These records do not relate to, nor are they otherwise associated with, the discovery described in your request. We have therefore not considered them to fall within the scope of this request."> I respectfully challenge that approach. The central question is precisely whether the discovery described in later historical accounts can be identified, corroborated, corrected or explained through the Museum's records concerning archaeological discoveries at Great House Farm. If the Museum has identified records relating to other discoveries at the same historically significant site, it is not sufficient simply to conclude internally that they are unrelated without disclosing what those discoveries are, when they were recorded, and the basis upon which that conclusion was reached. I therefore request that the internal review reconsider the scope of my request and undertake searches using, at minimum, the following terms and concepts: - Great House Farm - Ty Mawr - Llandough - Llandough, Cardiff - Roman soldier - Roman burial - Roman grave - Roman remains - human remains - skeleton - horse remains - equine remains - soldier and horse - cavalry burial - military burial - grave goods - Roman military equipment - visor - helmet - lance - spear - armour - archaeological discovery - nineteenth-century discovery - 1870 and adjacent years Please also search for relevant records under alternative historical place-name indexing, donor names, findspot descriptions, parish names and catalogue terminology where the precise modern name "Great House Farm" may not have been used. Most importantly, I ask that you disclose sufficient information about the "other archaeological discoveries" which your searches identified at Great House Farm to enable me to understand and assess the Museum's conclusion that they are unrelated. This should include, so far as held: 1. A description or title of each relevant discovery or record. 2. The approximate date of the discovery or record. 3. The nature of the material or remains involved. 4. Any accession number, catalogue number or archival reference. 5. The recorded provenance or findspot. 6. Any dating attributed to the discovery. 7. The basis upon which Amgueddfa Cymru concluded that each record was unrelated to the nineteenth-century discovery described in my request. I am not asking the Museum to create new archaeological opinions or undertake speculative research. I am asking for recorded information which has already been identified during the searches and which directly concerns archaeological discoveries at the specific site named in my request. If the Museum maintains that any of those records fall outside the original scope, then please treat this email additionally as a refined request for the recorded information identified above. I would also ask the reviewer to consider whether the original response gave insufficient weight to the possibility that the historical account may have inaccurately dated or described the find. A search which excludes Roman, nineteenth-century, burial and equine terminology risks missing the very records capable of establishing what was actually discovered beneath Great House Farm. Given that your searches have already identified records concerning archaeological discoveries at Great House Farm itself, I would be grateful for a full reconsideration and disclosure of the recorded information requested above. Yours faithfully, Sion Buckler (Ret'd Sergeant) Royal Signals Cyber and Electronic Warfare Professional and Life Member On Tue, 25 Aug 2026, 04:25 FOI Requests, <[email redacted]<[email redacted]>> wrote: Dear Mr Buckler, Thank you for your request for information received on 27 July 2026 concerning records relating to a reported discovery at Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough, including a soldier, horse remains and items described as a visor and lance. Amgueddfa Cymru has undertaken searches of its collections management systems, accession records and associated documentation. We have not identified any records relating to the acquisition, accession, donation, transfer or deposit of a medieval visor, lance, helmet or other item of armour associated with Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough. We have also not identified records relating to the specific discovery described in your request, including records of associated human or animal remains, reburial records, excavation reports, watching briefs or discovery reports. Accordingly, under section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, our response is that Amgueddfa Cymru does not hold the requested information. For completeness, our searches identified records relating to other archaeological finds from Church Farm, Llandough and to other archaeological discoveries recorded at Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough. These records do not relate to, nor are they otherwise associated with, the discovery described in your request. We have therefore not considered them to fall within the scope of this request. If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an internal review by writing to [email redacted]<[email redacted]> within 40 working days of the date of this letter. Cofion cynnes, [A picture containing text, tableware, plate, dishware Description automatically generated] FOI Team [cid:image002.png@01DD3548.863D3AA0] [email redacted]<[email redacted]> amgueddfa.cymru | museum.wales Rhif elusen | Charity number 525774 From: Sion Buckler <[email redacted]<[email redacted]>> Sent: 27 July 2026 02:22 To: FOI Requests <[email redacted]<[email redacted]>> Subject: ALLANOL/EXTERNAL - FOI - Great House Farm, Llandough This email comes from outside the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless it is an email you expected to receive. You don't often get email from [email redacted]<[email redacted]>. Learn why this is important Dear Freedom of Information Team, I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and, where applicable, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. A published local history account states that, during works to replace the stone floor of the dining room at Great House Farm (also known as Ty Mawr), Llandough, Cardiff, the remains of a soldier and his horse were discovered beneath the floor. The remains were subsequently re-buried in the churchyard, and the soldier's visor and lance were given to the National Museum of Wales (Amgueddfa Cymru). I therefore request the following recorded information held by Amgueddfa Cymru: Any records relating to the acquisition, accession, donation, transfer or deposit of a medieval visor, lance, helmet, or other items of armour associated with Great House Farm / Ty Mawr / Llandough. The accession number(s), date of acquisition or transfer, name of the donor or transferring body, and any provenance or discovery notes linked to these objects. Any catalogue entries, object records, or internal correspondence concerning the above items. Any records of associated human or animal remains from the same discovery, including notes on reburial. Any related excavation, watching-brief, or discovery reports held by the Museum. If any of the requested information is already publicly available (for example via the Museum's online collections database), I would be grateful if you could simply provide the relevant accession numbers or catalogue links. Please treat this as a request for recorded information only. I am not seeking advice or opinion. I look forward to your response within the statutory timescale. Yours faithfully, Sion Buckler (Ret'd Sergeant) [cid:image003.jpg@01DD3548.863D3AA0]