History RATS

The Living Levels History RATS (Research and Transcription Service) volunteers explore the story of the Gwent Levels through the records of the Monmouthshire Court of Sewers, newspaper archives, and other historical documents held by Gwent Archives.

The group gets its name from the late Rick Turner, who was instrumental in developing the Living Levels project. He thought that the history group should be called the RATS in recognition of its work using the records of the Monmouthshire Court of Sewers.

The language of those records contain many archaic terms, often unique to land drainage and no longer in use, and can be a challenge to read and understand. Rick started 'Levels Lingo', a glossary of terms that has been further developed by the RATS.

The research undertaken by the RATS forms part of the Recapturing the Historic Landscape project which has several other strands. These include field surveys, archaeological investigations and GIS mapping.

You can read some of their research below:

Featured

Parish Portraits in the 1880's

Using the 1881 census and contemporary historical sources, the History RATS have produced a series of portraits of parishes on the Levels in the late 19th century.

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Railways across the Gwent Levels

History RATS Glyn Parkhouse recounts the story of the coming of the railway to the Gwent Levels.

Cheese-making on the Wentlooge Levels

History RATS Marjorie Neal recounts the history of Caerphilly cheese making on the Wentlooge Levels.

After the monks: the Tudor Levels

Tony Hopkins, former county archivist at Gwent Archives and one of our History RATS, considers the effects of Henry VIII’s policies on Monmouthshire and the Gwent Levels.

Life alongside Monks Ditch Pill

Local farmer and member of the History RATS, David Waters, whose family have lived on the Levels since the 1600s, shares his memories of living and working alongside Monk’s Ditch.

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Nonconformism on the Wentlooge Level

History RAT Penny Gregson charts the history of nonconformism on the Wentlooge Level.

Sea walls and the 1884 Act of Commutation

History RAT, Tony Pickup, tells the story of the struggle to maintain the sea wall protecting the Levels during the 19th Century and the historic piece of legislation that solved the problem.

Balloon tragedy at the Cardiff Exhibition

The year 2021 marks the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the tragic death of fourteen-year-old Louisa Maud Evans.

The Story of Electricity Pylons

History RAT, Marion Sweeney, explores the history of pylons; an intrusive eyesore, or a thing of elegant beauty?

Lewis Jones - Farmer and Poet of the Levels

History RAT, Marion Sweeney, recounts the life and times of Lewis Jones, Wentlooge farmer and bardic poet.

Feeding the nation

History RAT, Pete Strong, recounts the effects of two World Wars on the farming community on the Levels.

Pillboxes on the Gwent Levels

Pillboxes became a landscape feature across the United Kingdom during the 1940s. Calum Sweeney reports on the state of those remaining on the Gwent Levels.

Peterstone Gout

Half a mile east of the former church of St Peter in Peterstone Wentlooge, Peterstone Gout, or Great Gout, is an important and interesting landmark on the Wentlooge Level.

Pengam Moors: From Pasture to Planes

In the late 1920s the possibilities of air travel were beginning to develop, and Cardiff did not wish to be left out of the race.

Parish Portraits

A picture of life during the 1880s within the Gwent Levels area.

Monmouthshire Court of Sewers records

The Court of Sewers was a court of record, on a par with Quarter Sessions, and many of its commissioners were also justices of the peace. The work of the court affected almost everyone living on the Levels because tenants and landowners were responsible for repairs and maintenance.

Sewers in this instance are watercourses, either natural or manmade, and Commissioners of Sewers throughout England and Wales held jurisdiction over drainage and sea defence in low-lying coastal lands including the Gwent, Somerset and Gloucestershire Levels beside the Severn Estuary.

The records reveal the impact of tidal and fluvial flooding, the continuity of land tenure, settlement patterns, local government in action, and much, much more.

Court of Sewer records survive from the early-eighteenth-century in Monmouthshire, from the late eighteenth century in Somerset, and from 1583 in Gloucestershire. Presentments and minute books detailing the drainage and transport systems, devices within the watercourses to prevent tidal incursion, and the provision and maintenance of sea walls are a rich resource. Major land and sea floods did not drive our predecessors from the Levels; they were home to generations of families. Their farming methods and settlement patterns reflected that regular winter land floods and tidal inundation were viewed as natural hazards, and the rich alluvium deposited by the tides over the farmland was often welcomed.

Summary of RATS outputs 2019-23 (PDF 150KB)

History RATS

Parish Portraits

Monmouthshire Court of Sewers records

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