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JAMES GRASBY : Hello and welcome
to the National Trust podcast.

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I'm James Grasby, a senior
curator with the National Trust.

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Today we're journeying deep into
an ancient world at the UK's

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only known Roman gold mine.
Dolaucothi in Carmarthenshire,

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Wales. We'll be uncovering
hidden treasures and unearthing

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the ingenuity of the Roman
Empire. [

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Speaking Welsh] Mae n bwrw glaw,
mae n bwrw glaw heddiw.

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It's a soft rainy day in
beautiful Carmarthenshire and

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I'm approaching what I can only
describe as the remains of a

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Roman Amphitheatre buried in
ancient woodland.

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What an astonishing space
ground, rising on all sides.

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A flat central area with a
shanty town of corrugated iron

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buildings and the pitter patter
of this soft, pristine Welsh

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rain. It is a wonderful and
enigmatic place.

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There's the winding shed, the
shed, the sied weindio, the

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gweithdy, the workshop and the
sied daclu. The kitting up shed.

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Now look, I think that I'm going
to find my friend Donna in Here.

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DONNA TAYLOR: James, croeso i
Dolaucothi!

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JAMES GRASBY : Donna, hiraeth
has drawn me back, a sense of

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longing to be back in Wales.

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Now look, what gear have you got
here? We're inside the dressing.

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Shed?

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DONNA TAYLOR: Sied daclu.

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JAMES GRASBY : Sied Daclu, and
what went on in here?

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DONNA TAYLOR: So this is where
we get kitted up with our hard

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hats and miners lamps ready to
journey underground.

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JAMES GRASBY : I'm going to get
changed now, am I?

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DONNA TAYLOR: You're quite tall
and we wouldn't want you banging

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your head.

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JAMES GRASBY : Thank you, that's
very good!

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DONNA TAYLOR: And then we will
also get you kitted up in one of

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our lamps. So if you could just
hold that pack on your side.

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JAMES GRASBY : Very good.

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DONNA TAYLOR: And then we'll
just clip the lamp onto the

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front of your hard hat.

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There we go. How does that feel?

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JAMES GRASBY : Feel it feels
absolutely Splendid.

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DONNA TAYLOR: Excellent!

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JAMES GRASBY : Thank you very
much indeed.

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There's a bit of time travel
going on here, isn't there?

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Because in amongst this very
modern equipment is stuff that I

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would go- I guess, goes back at
least 100 years?

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DONNA TAYLOR: And that's mainly
evidence of what you'll see in

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the mine yard today, so shall we
leave the shed and go and have a

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look?

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JAMES GRASBY : Lead the way.

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DONNA TAYLOR: So we are going to
visit a couple of our mines and

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you might be forgiven for
thinking that to go underground,

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we'd be heading down.

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JAMES GRASBY : Yes?

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DONNA TAYLOR: But at Dolaucothi
we like to do things slightly

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differently. So we're gonna be
heading up the hillside.

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JAMES GRASBY : That's perverse!
Up the hillside?

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DONNA TAYLOR: Up the hillside!

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Well, the reason is is that
we're standing at the bottom of

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an open cast pit, so we've
actually got to climb our way

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out of this open cast pit to
find the rest of the mines.

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JAMES GRASBY : So we're going
uphill in order to go down?

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DONNA TAYLOR: Yes.

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JAMES GRASBY : Right.

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DONNA TAYLOR: Few steps, but
it's a nice walk.

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JAMES GRASBY : What a lovely
spot. It's hard to imagine this

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place being the centre of such
an important industry.

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DONNA TAYLOR: It's an amazing
landscape, isn't it? So today

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we've got fantastic oak
woodland, part of the Celtic

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Rain Forest, and so it doesn't
really hint at the massive

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industrial activity that would
have gone on here.

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So we can we've got a good view
then into the valley and you can

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just about make out the river
Cothi down at the bottom there.

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And you can also make out a
collection of buildings through

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the trees there.

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So that's the village of
Pumsaint. But it also is the

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site of a Roman Fort.

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So the Romans would have
occupied this area from around

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74, 75 AD.

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And the fort would have been
down right underneath where the

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village is today. So the Romans
would have been in control of

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this area and it's where the
military would have been based.

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JAMES GRASBY : And this was
right on the very edge of an

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enormous Roman Empire?

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DONNA TAYLOR: Yeah. So the
Romans, I think had a shopping

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list of what they wanted to get
from Britain, and a lot of it is

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our mineral and metal wealth.

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So they would have sent scouts
to find out where all these good

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deposits were and then bought
the military in behind them.

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It took them an additional 30
years to get into Wales.

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Wales was so heavily defended
and one of the reasons that we

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think the Romans wanted to come
here is because they knew of the

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gold deposits here.

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So it's likely that the local
people were already using the

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gold deposits, maybe making
jewellery and trading the gold

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and then the Romans would have
known that there was gold coming

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out of here.

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So yeah, an extra 30 years to
come this far and then apply

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their mining techniques here.

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BARRY BURNHAM: The Romans
clearly had an ability to

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identify worthwhile resources.

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The Roman state and the Emperor
effectively owned all gold

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mines, all lead, silver mines,
and some of the iron mines

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across the empire.

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So this would have been an
imperial estate more than

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likely.

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HELEN BURNHAM: It was relatively
near the surface and it's very

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likely that the gold that they
found was'free gold' which would

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be fairly easily processed by
methods that took advantage of

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the fact that gold relative to
most other things is very heavy.

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BARRY BURNHAM: I'm Barry
Burnham.

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HELEN BURNHAM: I'm Helen
Burnham.

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BARRY BURNHAM: At the moment, my
wife and I, Helen and I are

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heritage archaeology rangers.
We’re the only two in Wales as

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such.

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HELEN BURNHAM: I met Barry when
we were both students. We've

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been married now for 44 years.

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BARRY BURNHAM: But we've been
actively exploring the mines

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since 1982.

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We knew that the Romans had an
auxiliary Fort for 500 or

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perhaps 1000 soldiers on north
side of the river, about a

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kilometre away. They brought
with them the highest levels of

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technology that they had.

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They'd inherited quite a lot of
that from the Egyptians and from

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earlier civilisations, it wasn't
as if they started from scratch.

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They brought in significant
amounts of water to work the

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site because you can clear
debris, you can use it to

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process the metal that you're
trying to get at.

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HELEN BURNHAM: 'Free gold' is a
kind of gold that sometimes

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people are lucky enough to find
in other parts of the world

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where you can see gold and you
can just pick it up.

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And sometimes there are quite
large Nuggets, though that's

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very unusual.

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BARRY BURNHAM: Most of the rest
it's just hard manual labour.

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The reality of the mine itself
is that this is a mechanical

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mine. It's driven by picks,
mining tools, chisels. It's not

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sophisticated in any sense. It's
just hard Rock mining.

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Once the material was actually
mined, it would have to have

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been crushed, turned into a
powder, and then washed in such

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a way that the rubbish was
allowed to wash away and the

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gold would then have been
collected.

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At some point in that process it
would have been combined

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presumably into some sort of
bullion and it would have been

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taken out of Britain down to the
mints, probably in Rome,

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possibly Leon, where it would
have been turned into coinage.

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JAMES GRASBY : Donna, we've come
around the corner and there is a

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very much more prominent opening
in the hillside. I can see a

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horizontal tunnel, an adit,
going into the hillside.

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DONNA TAYLOR: Yeah, you're quite
correct an adit.

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So the term adit is mining terms
for a horizontal or self

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draining tunnel.

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This was known as ogof cau which
means a a bowl or a cauldron.

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So that kind of conjures the
imagination a little bit.

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But what we have here is we have
a fantastic square tunnel driven

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into the hillside that opens out
into a gallery. So-

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JAMES GRASBY : Wow.

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DONNA TAYLOR: You ready to take
a look?

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JAMES GRASBY : It feels like
we're entering some ritual

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space, an amazing temple or
something. It's like the

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entrance into the underworld.
Donna lead the way.

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The walls are square wrought,
directly, into the bedrock and

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an astonishingly flat ceiling.
And this is this is precision

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quarrying.

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This is Roman work that we're
looking at?

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DONNA TAYLOR: That's as far as
we believe to do with the way

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that it's been engineered and
the technology that the Romans

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had available to them.

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But if you look up the tunnel,
you can see how beautifully

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square it is and it's very wide.
And in some instances, we might

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call this over engineered
because when you're mining out

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this bedrock, it's waste rock
and you're throwing it away.

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So this tunnel is- it's just too
wide, really.

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All around you here you can see
all the scratches. So these are

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all the pick marks that have
been left behind by the people

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that mined this out.

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So if you put your hand on a
pick mark there that was mined

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out around about 2000 years ago.

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JAMES GRASBY : That is quite
astonishing. It's time travel.

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DONNA TAYLOR: So you'll notice
that we're walking very slightly

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up hill as well.

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JAMES GRASBY : Yes, a gentle
incline.

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Not much of one, but what was
the reason for that?

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DONNA TAYLOR: No, but it's
enough to drain the water out of

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the mine.

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JAMES GRASBY : Right.

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DONNA TAYLOR: So any water
that's flowing into the mine

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from the surface or coming
through the rocks is going to be

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drained out and through this
nice square tunnel.

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JAMES GRASBY : We've come to the
end of this adit, into a into a

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sort of transverse excavation, a
much higher tunnel, almost a

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cavern, a cave?

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DONNA TAYLOR: So this gallery is
known as a pillar and room

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working, so we're currently
stood in a room and just here we

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have a pillar or a column of
rock and you can see either

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side, we've blocked them up now,
but they're almost like doorways

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and we think those would have
gone through and extended out

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into another room the other
side.

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JAMES GRASBY : Have you found
any? I mean- Do you see a

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twinkling bit of gold?

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DONNA TAYLOR: I have found gold
and then lost it within within

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about an hour.

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Yeah, I I was in the mine doing
the mine inspection. So for

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safety we come and check the
mines before any visitors come

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underground.

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And there was a a small bit of
of loose rock and and I've

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managed to remove it with my
hand And for some reason I

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thought I bet there's gold in
this, so I put it in my pocket

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and when I got to back to the
mine yard was speaking to my

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colleagues about it.

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And I looked in this piece of
quartz under a microscope and

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there was this smallest piece of
gold and it was absolutely

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beautiful.

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I handed it over to my colleague
to have a look and he couldn't

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find it. And when he passed it
back to me, I couldn't find it

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either.

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So I'd managed to lose it, but
it was just so tiny. But there's

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a saying that, you know, gold
when you found it. And there

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was, without question, a speck
of gold in there.

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JAMES GRASBY : Donna we're now
leaving the gallery and heading

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upwards, up this narrow
companion way back into the

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daylight from this underworld,
this twilight world.

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I'm turning my torch off and my
back in this ancient woodland.

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What an extraordinary tour.

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DONNA TAYLOR: So we've come out
of an underground working, but

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we're still in a mine.

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JAMES GRASBY : We're still in a
mine. I mean, this is a deep

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hollow again, one of those
workings that you were

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describing on the way in. This
is all man made is it?

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DONNA TAYLOR: Yeah. So we've got
a trench system that runs

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through here.

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JAMES GRASBY : When I first met
you down in the yard, you talked

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about the end, really, of mining
here in the in the 1940s. But

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was there continuous mining
going on here from perhaps the

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Bronze Age period through the
Roman period, right up to the

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1940s?

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00:13:20,396 --> 00:13:23,739
DONNA TAYLOR: It is one of the
intriguing things about

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Dolaucothi, so we know that we
have very early workings here,

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00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,073
but we're not entirely sure as
to when the mining stopped.

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00:13:31,073 --> 00:13:35,640
But we do know that the mining
did stop and then gold was

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00:13:35,650 --> 00:13:38,150
forgotten about. Now how can you
forget about gold?

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00:13:38,419 --> 00:13:43,809
It's always been so valued, but
it might be because a lot of

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00:13:43,820 --> 00:13:46,849
Roman places were known as
places of evil, so we have

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00:13:46,859 --> 00:13:50,390
stories of witches and wizards
which used to frequent these

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00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,070
mines, and the site was then
referred to as the Ogaufau,

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which means caves.

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NARRATOR: After the Romans
abandoned the mines, the mining

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00:14:01,919 --> 00:14:04,450
had been abandoned, but the
mines themselves weren't.

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They'd always been remembered as
a place of suffering and

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00:14:08,070 --> 00:14:12,289
torment, and so these bad places
attracted bad people.

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00:14:15,289 --> 00:14:18,200
An evil wizard had taken up
residence in the mine.

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And he hated good people.

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00:14:24,030 --> 00:14:28,429
One day, five saints were on
pilgrimage to St Davids, and as

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they were travelling past the
mines, the skies grew black.

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00:14:34,489 --> 00:14:39,630
As the skies grew dark, the
saints looked around. The wind

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00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,609
rose up, lightning flashed
across the sky.

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00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:49,059
Wind and rain rushed around the
ancient pits. The evil wizard

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00:14:49,070 --> 00:14:51,619
knew that they would never reach
St Davids.

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00:14:54,369 --> 00:14:56,909
The five saints were determined
to press on regardless of what

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00:14:56,919 --> 00:14:58,809
we're trying to stop them from
reaching their goal.

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00:14:58,820 --> 00:15:02,570
But the evil wizard was cunning
and clever. He summoned giant

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00:15:02,580 --> 00:15:06,260
hailstones that threatened to
throw the saints off the road.

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00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,210
At this the saints had to pause.
They climbed down into the old

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00:15:11,219 --> 00:15:14,380
pit, seeking shelter, but all
they could find was a great

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00:15:14,390 --> 00:15:15,030
rock.

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00:15:15,539 --> 00:15:18,840
They huddled tightly against the
rock, trying to shelter against

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00:15:18,849 --> 00:15:21,799
the hail, the wind, the rain.

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00:15:21,799 --> 00:15:24,119
The lightning flashed and the
thunder roared around them.

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00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:27,880
And the evil wizard cackled.

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00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:30,619
He knew he had got them.

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00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:36,539
As the sky brightened and the
suns rays returned, the saints

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00:15:36,549 --> 00:15:40,750
had gone and all that remained
was the imprints of their

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00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,869
shoulders and heads against the
rock.

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00:15:47,510 --> 00:15:49,890
DONNA TAYLOR: So if you want to
keep your friends and your

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00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:53,830
family safe, you might make up
stories to keep them out of

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these dangerous places.

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00:15:55,669 --> 00:15:59,619
People avoided them, and so the
knowledge of gold here was lost.

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00:15:59,630 --> 00:16:03,770
So much so that the Johnes
family, who were the estate

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00:16:03,780 --> 00:16:07,799
owners were given the Dolaucothi
estate by the monarchy.

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00:16:07,809 --> 00:16:12,140
Now no royal is going to give
away a known gold mine. So that

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00:16:12,150 --> 00:16:15,250
does tell us that the story of
gold was forgotten about at that

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00:16:15,260 --> 00:16:15,700
point.

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00:16:17,140 --> 00:16:20,809
JAMES GRASBY : So the Romans
came and went, and the dark ages

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00:16:20,820 --> 00:16:22,570
as you were describing
commenced.

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00:16:23,119 --> 00:16:27,760
And the mines became almost
lost, certainly forgotten.

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00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,780
And became part of folklore and
myth.

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00:16:31,340 --> 00:16:37,280
And at what point did the search
for gold start again? When was

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00:16:37,289 --> 00:16:38,260
that ignited?

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00:16:39,369 --> 00:16:42,900
DONNA TAYLOR: So the Johnes
family owned about 4000 acres of

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00:16:42,909 --> 00:16:45,669
the countryside around here,
running up to the cothi valley,

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00:16:45,679 --> 00:16:49,809
and they had a large game estate
and they would have invited

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00:16:49,820 --> 00:16:53,580
their friends to enjoy the
Dolaucothi, countryside.

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00:16:53,739 --> 00:16:56,909
And one of those friends was a
geologist, and he noticed that

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00:16:56,919 --> 00:17:00,395
these caves, as they were known
we're actually mine workings and

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00:17:00,405 --> 00:17:02,614
wondered what people could have
been mining for.

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00:17:02,695 --> 00:17:05,844
He noticed the amount of quartz
that we had here and managed to

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00:17:05,854 --> 00:17:10,155
find that elusive speck of gold.
And so then we have our new

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00:17:10,165 --> 00:17:13,765
phase of gold mining in the
Victorian and early Edwardian

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00:17:13,775 --> 00:17:14,275
times.

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00:17:14,655 --> 00:17:17,025
JAMES GRASBY : So Donna is there
evidence of that later working

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00:17:17,035 --> 00:17:17,770
of the mine here?

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00:17:17,770 --> 00:17:19,915
DONNA TAYLOR: Yeah, there
absolutely is. And we can have a

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00:17:19,925 --> 00:17:20,493
look In those mines.

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00:17:20,493 --> 00:17:27,828
JAMES GRASBY : Oh good, lead the
way!

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00:17:27,828 --> 00:17:30,208
Donna what a lovely walk
descending through that woodland

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00:17:30,218 --> 00:17:34,430
and you brought me to another
astonishing sight, which is a

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00:17:34,439 --> 00:17:39,209
gaping cavern in the hillside
with enormous oak trees hanging

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00:17:39,219 --> 00:17:39,609
over it.

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00:17:39,619 --> 00:17:44,949
This is a man made landscape
that has become naturalised into

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00:17:44,959 --> 00:17:47,670
an intriguing place, what am I
looking at?

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00:17:47,810 --> 00:17:50,310
DONNA TAYLOR: Well, you can see
why this site was known as

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00:17:50,500 --> 00:17:54,079
Ogaufau, the caves can't you?
Because it's got it's great big

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00:17:54,089 --> 00:17:56,380
gaping cave like mouth to it.

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00:17:56,819 --> 00:17:57,457
JAMES GRASBY : Can we go inside?

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00:17:57,457 --> 00:17:57,790
DONNA TAYLOR: Absolutely yes.

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00:18:06,739 --> 00:18:10,640
JAMES GRASBY : Gosh it's dark
and damp and drippy in here,

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00:18:10,650 --> 00:18:11,079
isn't it?

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00:18:23,260 --> 00:18:27,040
Donna, what is striking is that
this is a very different quality

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00:18:27,050 --> 00:18:30,560
of work to the labour we saw
done by the Romans in the

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00:18:30,569 --> 00:18:35,339
earlier adit, this is really
quite crude and broken surface

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00:18:35,349 --> 00:18:36,260
and irregular.

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00:18:36,859 --> 00:18:39,099
DONNA TAYLOR: Yeah, in the Roman
mines you could see that the

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00:18:39,109 --> 00:18:41,250
walls there had almost become
dressed.

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00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,829
They were very smooth surfaces,
whereas here we're blasting our

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00:18:45,839 --> 00:18:46,910
way through the rocks.

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00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:52,119
So we're using hand drills to
create a hole and then we're

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00:18:52,130 --> 00:18:55,560
using explosives to blast the
way through the rock, which

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00:18:55,569 --> 00:18:58,060
leaves behind these very jagged
surfaces.

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00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:02,116
So this is an area where we
assume that they found gold

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00:19:02,116 --> 00:19:05,596
because we've come out of that
small narrow tunnel and we're

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00:19:05,596 --> 00:19:07,810
now in a much larger space.

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00:19:07,810 --> 00:19:11,030
So we believe they've been
following these veins of quartz

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00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:12,469
off in different directions.

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00:19:12,479 --> 00:19:14,930
So wherever the veins of quartz
are going, the miners are

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00:19:14,939 --> 00:19:18,800
following them, removing them,
pushing them out through the

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00:19:18,810 --> 00:19:20,140
mines on mine carts.

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00:19:20,150 --> 00:19:22,630
So right through the mines, we
would have had like a railway

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00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,750
track in which the carts would
have run and those would have

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00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,399
been pushed in and out of the
mine by people.

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00:19:28,399 --> 00:19:31,140
JAMES GRASBY : Donna these
torches penetrate the darkness

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00:19:31,150 --> 00:19:33,540
amazingly, and you begin to see
the colours.

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00:19:33,829 --> 00:19:37,760
These vertical striations of the
natural rock and greys and

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00:19:37,770 --> 00:19:40,579
ochres and umbers and sort of
rusty colours.

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00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,479
But what is quite astonishing,
if I look upwards, is an

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00:19:44,489 --> 00:19:51,660
iridescence, a silver sparkle.

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00:19:52,739 --> 00:19:53,116
Which looks very improbable and
unreal, what is that?

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00:19:53,116 --> 00:19:55,319
DONNA TAYLOR: It's a question
that our visitors quite often

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00:19:55,329 --> 00:20:00,489
ask us, but amazingly, it's a
fungus and the bacteria that

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00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:02,923
live on the surface of the rock
there.

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00:20:02,923 --> 00:20:07,140
It's scientific name is
Acidithiobacillus Ferrooxidans.

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00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,839
So it's a fungus and bacteria,
and it lives in a symbiotic

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00:20:10,849 --> 00:20:11,599
relationship.

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00:20:11,609 --> 00:20:14,339
So they need each other to be
able to survive and it's

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00:20:14,349 --> 00:20:18,530
surviving feeding on the surface
of the rocks there.

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00:20:18,550 --> 00:20:22,479
It's incredible because without
our torches underground, there

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00:20:22,489 --> 00:20:26,819
is no natural light underground,
so it's able to survive in these

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00:20:26,829 --> 00:20:27,619
conditions.

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00:20:28,449 --> 00:20:30,350
JAMES GRASBY : Say the name of
the name of the thing again.

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00:20:30,350 --> 00:20:32,569
DONNA TAYLOR: Thiobacillus
Ferrooxidans.

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00:20:32,569 --> 00:20:33,589
JAMES GRASBY : You've been
practising!

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00:20:34,709 --> 00:20:37,829
DONNA TAYLOR: That's your
password to get out the mine!

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00:20:43,599 --> 00:20:44,099
JAMES GRASBY : Donna we've
reached-

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00:20:44,099 --> 00:20:47,246
We've reached a dead end. How we
how are we going to get out?

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00:20:47,246 --> 00:20:51,579
DONNA TAYLOR: So to get out,
we're gonna climb our way out of

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00:20:51,589 --> 00:20:52,829
the mine.

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00:20:52,829 --> 00:20:52,829
JAMES GRASBY : Climb our way?

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00:20:52,829 --> 00:20:56,270
DONNA TAYLOR: Yes. So if you
look right above your head, you

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00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,349
can see that patchwork of
woodwork, and that forms a

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00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:00,300
handrail.

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00:21:00,310 --> 00:21:05,000
So we've got a few steps leading
to a hole cut out into the rock

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00:21:05,010 --> 00:21:08,280
and then we can climb our way up
there so are you prepared for

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00:21:08,290 --> 00:21:09,329
one more adventure?

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00:21:09,339 --> 00:21:11,859
JAMES GRASBY : Well you lead the
way, you lead the way and i'll

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00:21:11,869 --> 00:21:13,979
follow, it looks rather
daunting!

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00:21:14,130 --> 00:21:17,680
This is a Lara Croft, Tomb
Raider moment isn't it really?

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00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:20,930
DONNA TAYLOR: Yeah, I think It's
probably best not to look cause

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00:21:20,939 --> 00:21:22,489
it looks worse than it is!

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00:21:22,619 --> 00:21:24,020
JAMES GRASBY : Have you done
this before Donna?

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00:21:24,020 --> 00:21:25,455
DONNA TAYLOR: Several times!

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00:21:25,455 --> 00:21:27,449
JAMES GRASBY : You're sure you
know the way?

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00:21:27,459 --> 00:21:28,660
DONNA TAYLOR: Absolutely yeah!

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00:21:28,900 --> 00:21:29,910
JAMES GRASBY : No look at me!

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00:21:32,199 --> 00:21:34,000
DONNA TAYLOR: If you look back
down below us-

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00:21:34,010 --> 00:21:34,750
JAMES GRASBY : I don't want to!

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00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:36,250
DONNA TAYLOR: That's where we
were standing!

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00:21:37,250 --> 00:21:39,910
JAMES GRASBY : I'm beginning to
get a glimmer, a glimpse of

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00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:44,675
daylight flooding into the
entrance of this mine.

383
00:21:44,675 --> 00:21:50,069
Donna that was absolutely
wonderful, memorable!

384
00:21:53,010 --> 00:22:00,339
The huge forces of nature and
all that labour to dig those

385
00:22:00,349 --> 00:22:00,670
tunnels.

386
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,880
I could have gone on exploring
that all day.

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00:22:03,369 --> 00:22:08,959
We're now heading downhill back
towards where we started. Donna,

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00:22:08,969 --> 00:22:10,439
there's more exploring to do?

389
00:22:11,650 --> 00:22:14,579
DONNA TAYLOR: Yeah, we
absolutely still have loads of

390
00:22:14,589 --> 00:22:16,920
riddles to solve at Dolaucothi.

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00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:23,160
Right from the archaeology to
the geology, we don't actually

392
00:22:23,170 --> 00:22:26,739
fully understand why there's
gold here in the first place.

393
00:22:26,750 --> 00:22:29,089
It's a bit of a geological
anomaly.

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00:22:29,489 --> 00:22:32,760
JAMES GRASBY : And this is a
material gold, that resonates

395
00:22:32,770 --> 00:22:36,760
today as something precious and
valuable and fundamental to our

396
00:22:36,770 --> 00:22:40,880
economies and basic to our
ornament and decoration of

397
00:22:40,890 --> 00:22:41,500
jewellery.

398
00:22:41,530 --> 00:22:46,839
This is something excavated,
mined worked by people for more

399
00:22:46,849 --> 00:22:50,650
than 4000 years in this country,
certainly 2000 years here from

400
00:22:50,660 --> 00:22:54,119
the Roman period and onwards and
it started here!

401
00:22:54,680 --> 00:23:21,475
And what would we do without the
Romans?

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
Thank you for listening to this
episode of the National Trust

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
Podcast. If you like what you
have heard please make sure to

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
subscribe on your favourite
podcast app or visit us at

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts.

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
More information on Dolaucothi
and deeper dives into our Roman

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
history can be found in the
links in our show notes along

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
with information on this year's
nationwide festival of

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
archaeology.

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00:23:21,475 --> 00:23:21,475
Until next time from me, James
Grasby, goodbye