![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Picture9.png?resize=148%2C300\")
<\/a>In summary, the dig uncovered a previously unknown multi-period landscape which has been used in many ways since humans first settled in this area.<\/p>\nThe archaeologists were able to trace the development of this swathe of land, uncovering many surprises along the way.<\/p>\n
One cannot help but wonder how much more of our history lies buried in the Vale of Glamorgan for future generations to discover.<\/p>\n
The purpose of this article has been to present a brief overview of the study and the findings to date. For a comprehensive insight visit https:\/\/www.rubiconheritage.com\/ publications-and-articles.html and follow the links to Volumes 1 and 2 of their Five Mile Lane articles.<\/p>\n
Alternatively, copies of those publications have been placed in the Wenvoe Hub for reference.<\/p>\n
Tony Hodge, who thanks Rubicon for permission to reproduce the illustrations.<\/p>\n
Fun Fact: The Five Mile Lane as we know it is only four miles long. The missing mile is now Pontypridd Road, Barry.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIVE MILE LANE\u2019S HIDDEN PAST Most of us will have been familiar with the old narrow twisty, turny, downright dangerous section of the A4226 \u201cFive Mile Lane\u201d immediately north of Barry. The Vale of Glamorgan Council had plans to improve this section of road but before construction could commence a range of environmental studies had to be undertaken. It has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3VV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3406,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3406","url_meta":{"origin":15123,"position":0},"title":"WENVOE RAILWAY TUNNEL","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE RAILWAY TUNNEL \u00a0 The Barry Railway Company was built to release the stranglehold of the Taff Vale Railway (from Merthyr Tydfil) and Cardiff Docks on the export of south Wales\u2019 coal. Work commenced in1885. Building with great efficiency Barry docks soon overtook Cardiff in exporting coal. This impressive achievement,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe History Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe History Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=40"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6259,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6259","url_meta":{"origin":15123,"position":1},"title":"Six Green Flag Awards","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th July 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Six Green Flag Awards Six Green Flag awards was our tally for this year putting us well ahead of any other village in the UK and with more awards than most towns. The Green Flag Award programme is delivered in Wales by environmental charity, Keep Wales Tidy, with support from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Picture2-LR.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7957,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7957","url_meta":{"origin":15123,"position":2},"title":"Back To The Future","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Back To The Future Well at least for the time being, Covid 19 seems to be in retreat. During lockdown we have enjoyed walks around the village, often discovering paths and trails we never imagined existed. At last we can now visit our local pubs again and venture further afield.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Picture51-213x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2671,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=2671","url_meta":{"origin":15123,"position":3},"title":"History of a Wenvoe Farmer","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TOWYN WILLIAMS Local farmer Towyn Williams was born April 2nd 1926 at Ford Farm, Llancarfan, and died August 14th, 2016 at Whitehall Farm, Wenvoe. I got to know Towyn and his wife Audrey very well when designing alterations to Whitehall farm and from that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe History Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe History Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=40"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2985,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=2985","url_meta":{"origin":15123,"position":4},"title":"Twmbarlwm","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Twmbarlwm The day dawned misty but the weather forecast was \u2018clear by lunchtime\u2019 as we left Wenvoe. We started in Fernlea near Risca, climbing some steep streets and walking past allotments. We found the route to the footpath was blocked so headed back the way we had come to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14835,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14835","url_meta":{"origin":15123,"position":5},"title":"A Brief History Of Barry To 1939","author":"Alan Williams","date":"22nd November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A BRIEF HISTORY OF BARRY TO 1939 We all go to Barry, at least now and again, but how often do we pause to consider how the town of almost 60,000 people today became developed in a relatively short space of time? This chronology has been (mostly) taken from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Picture9.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15123"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15124,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15123\/revisions\/15124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Picture14.png?resize=245%2C300\")
<\/a>The \u201cdig\u201d undertaken by Rubicon encompassed the full extent of the footprint of the envisaged new road. The revealed treasure trove of burials (some 456 in number), artifacts, foundations of buildings and the like exceeded all expectations. In fact, beyond the pre-historic and Roman attributes, it also revealed a surprising glimpse into early medieval life (5th to mid 13th centuries).Prior to this study that medieval period of Welsh history had been poorly understood. For instance it was found that during this period pre-historic burial mounds were re-purposed as witnessed by some 378 burials in that period. This image is of a Medieval Christian burial located within a re-used Bronze Age burial monument.<\/p>\n