CAER Heritage

08/10/2026

It’s was one lovely Love our Hillfort session yesterday! We were visited by Tenants Together Cardiff who came to help out with some finds cleaning and flotation, discovering new details about life in Trelai Park during the Bronze Age. We may even have broken a new record for number of finds cleaned in a morning! Thank you very much all for joining us. It was great to meet you and we hope to see you again soon!

28/09/2026

📚 NEW HISTORIES OF WALES

Discover new perspectives on Welsh history in this fascinating 6-session course, led by Dr Peter Morgan Barnes.

Explore:
🏰 The post-Roman origins of Wales
👩 Medieval women in Wales
⚔️ Civil Wars in Glamorgan
🪪 Identities in the 18th & 19th centuries

📍 CAER Heritage Centre
📅 Wednesdays, 14 October – 25 November 2026
⏰ 12:30–14:30
🍂 No session on 28 October for half term

The course aims to bridge the gap between current academic research in Welsh history and outdated popular narratives, and is suitable for adults who have not studied at university. There will also be plenty of opportunities for questions and discussion.

🎟️ Register for your FREE place:
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/iirPVMUX9K

23/09/2026

We had a flint-tastic session at Love our Hillfort today! Anna and Luc from Cardiff University Department of Archaeology and Conservation came and spoke to us about lithics, how they’re made, found and analysed, using some of the flint finds dug up by our awesome CAER volunteers as examples. We got to get our eyes in, identifying different types of lithic artefacts, looking out for the tell tale signs that a specialist would look for when checking if flint had been worked or not. Then we tried our hands at archaeological illustrations of one of the barbed and tanged arrowheads from the Bronze Age Roundhouse in Trelai Park and used it as inspiration for beautiful pieces of artwork! We also found some pieces of flint during some more finds cleaning from our 2026 community dig and saw a short demonstration of flint knapping. It was a great session, with new discoveries and knowledge being made all round! Thank you again to Anna and Luc for sharing your skills with us. We’ll all be checking every piece of flint in our finds cleaning now for a bulb of percussion, ripples and retouch!

22/09/2026

Last week our awesome CAER Love our Hillfort volunteers visited the Museum of Cardiff to see the wonderful, moving, interactive temporary exhibition on the history of play in Ely and Caerau. Co-produced by local young people and adults and Cardiff University postgraduate historian and Love our Hillfort member Rhianedd Collins, it was amazing to see this hidden history of our community brought into the heart of Cardiff!

15/09/2026

📢 A little change to our opening hours!

Caer Heritage Centre will be closed until 1:30pm on Wednesday 16th September as we take our lovely Love Our Hillfort group on a special trip to explore the fascinating Ely Memory Lane exhibition. ❤️

On display from 11th July – 31st October, Ely Memory Lane brings together oral histories, photographs and toys, alongside a specially created video game, to tell the story of how generations of children have played, grown up and made memories in the city.

The exhibition is the result of a fantastic co-production project, bringing together older residents from Ely, local school pupils and researchers from Cardiff University. It beautifully blends lived experience with creative interpretation.

For more information on the Memory Lane exhibition please go to:

New Ely Memory Lane exhibition and free family activities bring a summer of play to Museum of Cardiff, running until 31st October.

08/09/2026

📚 FREE BOOKS FOR FAMILIES! 📚

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has popped into the CAER Heritage centre to pick up their free books so far! ❤️ It’s been wonderful to see so many families and members of our community enjoying this fantastic opportunity.

We’re incredibly grateful to the National Literacy Trust for their generous donation of books to CAER Heritage. 📖❤️

And the good news is… we still have lots more books available! 🎉

We have a fantastic selection for all ages, so why not call in, have a browse, and choose something to take home? There’s something for everyone!

Thank you for helping us spread the joy of reading throughout our community. 📚❤️

Pop in and grab a book while stocks last! 📖

07/09/2026

Check out the awesome second instalment of our live stream from the CAER Heritage community dig this summer to the International Association for Community Development (IACD) World Community Development conference held at University of Glasgow.

In this episode Dave interviews Sam Froud Powell and Scott Bees from our inspirational community partners Action in Caerau and Ely (ACE).

Sam tells us about ACE's origins, values and innovative asset-based community development strategies which involve and employ local people in addressing significant community challenges while opening up new life opportunities. He explores ACE's integral role in CAER Heritage and close partnerships with Cardiff University and other organisations.

Scott then tells us a little bit more about the challenges faced locally and about his personal journey via both ACE and CAER from volunteer to ACE development worker and archaeologist!

Thanks to the brilliant Vivian Thomas for editing the live stream and to Russel Todd for coordinating!

Check out the awesome second instalment of our live stream from the...

26/08/2026

A huge thank you to Adrian Porch from the School of Engineering who came to the CAER Heritage Centre today to teach us all about Roman Engineering (without which we wouldn’t have Ely Roman Villa) through some very fun hands-on activities that really put our skills to the test!

We investigated the forces at work on Roman arches, used to build bridges, aqueducts, and the Colosseum. You can even see one still standing today after 2000 years in Caerleon! After finding out how they work, we built our own “Roman arches” using sugar cubes that we shaped. The Romans were excellent builders and we think our structures would have stood the test of time too, but we’d rather pop our building materials into a cup of tea!

We also had a go at creating mosaic tiles using colourful corn-crete and mixed up some of our own “Roman cement” using lime that we made in the kiln at St Fagans mixed with sand and a little water.

It was an excellent way to finish to our August Activity Programme delivered by experts from schools across Cardiff University, but don’t worry if you missed it! We’re planning more soon!