Subject: Great House Farm, Llandough, Cardiff
From: Sion Buckler
Direction: sent
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2026 03:02 UTC
Institution: RCAHMW (Royal Commission)
Refs: none
Archive id: gm-1a07ef79c476e63d
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National Monuments Record / FOI Officer,

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and, so far as
the records concern the historic environment, the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004.

I request copies of recorded information held by RCAHMW / the National
Monuments Record of Wales relating to a reported discovery of ironwork or
“armour” under the rear wing of Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough, Vale
of Glamorgan (approx. ST 1681 7331; SMR / HER GGAT02038s; NMR NPRN
associated with Great House Farm).

The published citations which identify RCAHMW as the source, and which
state that the objects are at the National Museum of Wales, are:

1. RCAHMW, December 1988 — “Unpublished Records relating to Great House
Farm prepared by R F Suggett, December 1988.” This is the source cited in
the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust assessment lodged on planning
application 89/01396/OUT (and carried into 92/00671/RES):

   “it is likely that some medieval ironwork which is held by the National
Museum of Wales was discovered under the rear wing c 1880 (RCAHMW 1988).”

   Bibliography: RCAHMW 1988 = Unpublished Records relating to Great House
Farm prepared by R F Suggett, December 1988.
   (GGAT, Land at Great House Farm, Llandough: An Archaeological
Assessment, August 1990.)

2. The same statement is repeated in Holbrook & Thomas, “An Early-medieval
Monastic Cemetery at Llandough, Glamorgan”, Medieval Archaeology 49 (2005),
p. 70 n. 142:

   “Mention should also be made of the fact that medieval ironwork was
discovered under the rear wing of Great House Farm c. 1880. It is now in
the collections of the National Museums & Galleries of Wales.”

3. The Heneb / Archwilio HER entry for Great House Farm (GGAT02038s)
records armour / medieval ironwork found under the rear-wing floor c.1880
and attributes the note to RCAHMW.

Please therefore provide:

A. The full text of R F Suggett’s December 1988 unpublished records
relating to Great House Farm, including every page or card that mentions
ironwork, armour, a visor, a lance, a helmet, a burial, a soldier, a horse,
a museum, or a find under the floor or rear wing / dairy.

B. Any earlier NMR / RCAHMW survey notes, correspondence or drawings that
Suggett was using (including H. J. Thomas’s 1974 survey of the house,
updated December 1988), insofar as they mention the c.1880 find or the
destination of the objects.

C. Any record of the source of Suggett’s statement that the ironwork “is
held by the National Museum of Wales” — for example a letter, accession
note, conversation record, or museum catalogue reference.

D. Any later NMR / Coflein / correspondence file that confirms, corrects or
withdraws that museum attribution.

E. File references, NPRNs and any copy letters sent to or received from the
National Museum of Wales / Amgueddfa Cymru, GGAT, Cadw or the Vale of
Glamorgan concerning this find.

I am not asking for advice or for a new interpretation. I am asking for the
recorded information that underpins the 1988 sentence now cited as fact in
the planning file and in Medieval Archaeology.

Please supply electronic copies where held. If any item is already
published on Coflein, a catalogue link and reference is enough.

Regards,

Sion Buckler
[email redacted]