An Early-medieval Monastic Cemetery at Llandough, Glamorgan: Excavations in 1994

Abstract

EXCAVATIONS ADJACENT to the church of St Dochdwy in Llandough, near Cardiff, examined part of a large monastic cemetery. In all 1,026 inhumation burials were examined, by far the largest Early-medieval burial population so far recovered from Wales. Sherds of imported Bii amphorae were found in the backfill of five graves indicating activity at Llandough in the late 5th or 6th century. Radiocarbon dates indicate that burial had commenced by the mid-7th century at latest, and it appears that the cemetery continued in use until the demise of the monastery in the late 10th or early 11th century. A Romano-British villa lay to the south of the church, and it is conceivable, although unproven, that there was continuity of settlement from the Roman Period onwards.