Questions that have come up in my research
Farms and Facilities
So many farms and cottages been abandoned in the last hundred years. This seems to be a function of a decline in farming, a movement to the towns and the poor quality of housing – but it seems surprising that even as late as the 1970s houses were being demolished rather than rebuilt. Are there other issues at work here?
This question must be about long ago: Why is the parish named for the smallest settlement in the area? – Because that is where the Catholic and then Church in Wales Church was .. but why was it there? If Sutton (Bigger village and similar age) was there at roughly the same time? But was Lambston bigger in say 13th century? – No idea because there are no maps and no houses remaining from then, even though the village name is mentioned.
There is a well on the crossroads in Sutton and one on the road between Providence Place and Portfield Gate. Looking at the maps most of the farms had wells shown or a spring or the start of a stream close by. Not all the wells are shown on the maps. Questions: Do you recall any of the wells when they were in use? Do you have any photos I could add?
Roads
There are few road names on the OS maps- Mount Lane, Lambston Hill, Plash Lane – are there other names that are in use ?
Geology and quarrying
Quarry at Portfield Gate – just out of the parish but my questions are: When did the quarry in Portfield Gate cease work? what did they quarry? Do you recall the site when it was working?
At the base of Sutton Mountain the quarry is shown on a PCC minerals map as a historic building stone quarry. I assume it was quarrying the hard sandstone which runs through just south of the main hill. so it can’t be the rab that we see at the top of the hill . Question: Does anyone have any record of the quarrying?
The Common
Sutton Mountain isn’t the highest land in the parish, it doesn’t seem to be especially poor in terms of vegetation (though some is very wet) and not all of it is steep. My questions are: Why do you think this piece of land would have remained as common land when the rest of the parish was enclosed? Is it particularly poor for soil? Is it that access was poor?
Raths
A Dyfed Archaeological Trust study of Iron Age Defended enclosures shows that there were at least four Iron age sites in the parish of which three are now unoccupied. My questions are ; Why are the sites used for those raths no longer occupied? If they were good sites for dwellings then, why were they abandoned? Perhaps there were additional settlements also on the sites of the present day farms or villages and on those sites the traces are lost.