A5 LLANGOLLEN GOLF CLUB BENDS, CLWYD, NORTH WALES Record of Determination

North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency (NMWTRA) are proposing improvements to the A5 to the east of Llangollen, in the vicinity of Llangollen Golf Club to improve the safety of the road and in relation to the club. The design of the improvements has not yet been finalised and may extend to the bends both east and west of the club and to any of the side roads and private accesses. Consequently, Axis, on behalf of NMWTRA, commissioned Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) to undertake archaeological desk-based research to contribute to a Record of Determination to assess whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed scheme is required. This was carried out in July and August 2013.
The study area for the Record of Determination comprises an area 500m in radius centred on the stretch of A5 proposed for road improvements. The Record of Determination comprised desk-based research including a search of records held by
the Clwyd-Powys Historic Environment Record (HER), and the archives and library held at OA North. In addition to this, a site visit was carried out, in order to relate the
landscape and surroundings to the results of the desk-based research, and identify any additional features that would not be procured solely from documentary sources.
In total, 40 heritage assets have been collated in a gazetteer compiled for the study area, 12 of which (Sites 01-12) were identified through a search of the HER, with the
remaining 28 sites (Sites 13-40) recorded through map regression and the site visit. The earliest archaeological evidence within the study area is represented by a Bronze
Age findspot (Site 10), and further prehistoric sites are known in the environs of the study area. The putative route of a Roman Road (Site 05) is recorded towards the east
end of the proposed road improvement scheme. Medieval sites include land holdings (Site 08); and a farmhouse, Bryn-Dethol, within the study area that has been found to
have medieval origins (Site 03). Post-medieval sites include a barn associated with Bryn-Dethol Farmhouse (Site 04); a summerhouse (Site 01); a house (Site 06); and the findspot of a pendant (Site 11), a house, Aber-cregan (Site 13, 37 and 14), the route of the former Llangollen Railway (Site 12); relict field boundaries and lynchets (Sites 15-9, 23-5); a stone trough (Site 40); and a former drive to a house (Site 22).
The most notable of the sites relate to the construction of the Holyhead Road in 1815- 26; this was designed by Thomas Telford and was the first large civilian civil engineering project ever to be directly funded by government. As such, it was a wellfunded, well-constructed, road that incorporated a consistent and high quality aspect that paved the way for road design that followed. Within the study area, 13 sites relating to the historic road were noted, including six stone storage depots (Sites 26- 31); four stretches of walling (Sites 32-34 and 36); an embankment (Site 35); and a milestone (Site 07). Three quarries were also recorded close to the road, which may be associated with its construction, though this is not certain (Sites 02, 20 and 21).
It should also be noted that the entirety of the study area is located within the buffer zone of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Llangollen Canal World Heritage Site. Once
designs for the road improvements are finalised, consultation will need to be made as to any requirements for mitigation of the scheme pertinent to the archaeological sites and World Heritage Site buffer zone. Recommendations have also been made in this