0:00:12 > 0:00:18From the land of storytellers, this is the story of the land itself
0:00:18 > 0:00:20and of the peoples who've shaped it.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34It's majestic, it's thrilling,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37it's a story that tells us who we are, where we've come from
0:00:37 > 0:00:39and where we're going.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42It's a tale that's been 30,000 years in the making.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46It shows our country in ways we've never seen it before.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51From the Ice Age to the Information Age, this is our story -
0:00:51 > 0:00:53the story of Wales.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30To begin at the beginning, we need to come here,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33to the western end of the Gower Peninsula.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37And we need to take a walk along the cliff top.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44We're following a path taken by a geologist back in 1823.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47William Buckland scrambles down to a cave
0:01:47 > 0:01:49you can only get to at low tide.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Inside, he finds the bones of a single human being,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57stained by a red tint.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01He thinks they may be those of a Roman prostitute.
0:02:01 > 0:02:07And he gives her a name, a name that sticks: the Red Lady of Paviland.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09But the real tale is a little different
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and it starts 30,000 years ago.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Our story begins in a time
0:02:17 > 0:02:21when these cliffs are a ridge above a river plain,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23and the sea is more than 50 miles way.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38The earliest truly human occupants of the land we know as Wales
0:02:38 > 0:02:40are burying one of their dead.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43With the body,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47they place ivory rods that they've carved from tusks of mammoths
0:02:47 > 0:02:51and other treasures that will lie undisturbed
0:02:51 > 0:02:55until Buckland finds them, 30,000 years later -
0:02:55 > 0:02:58a mammoth's skull, and a necklace of seashells.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04But the person they're laying to rest isn't a woman,
0:03:04 > 0:03:09as Buckland thought, he's a young man in his twenties.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12His is the earliest-known human burial in Western Europe.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24The loss of a single human life
0:03:24 > 0:03:26counts for something, even back then.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33The Red Lady of Paviland does seem very distant
0:03:33 > 0:03:38from the story of Wales and the Welsh as we've come to know it.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42And yet, the way we think of that single life and death
0:03:42 > 0:03:46can set the tone for the whole of our history of Wales.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51One version of our past would see these people
0:03:51 > 0:03:56as sad and isolated, in a dark space of their own.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59But I'm determined to remind us
0:03:59 > 0:04:02that they're much more connected than that,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06sharing a whole way of life with others across an entire continent.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11That's how they know that this special pigment, red ochre,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13will stain the bones of the dead.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19And that's how they know that this is the way to honour the dead,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22burying them with beautiful things they've made.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27These people are tough.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Soon, they'll be facing the challenge of huge climate change.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Surrounded by mammoths and rhinos, hyenas and lions,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43these Stone Age hunters know how to fight to survive.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57'So as we trace our ascent from cave-dweller to modern citizen,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02'I want us to keep in mind that Wales has always been home to people
0:05:02 > 0:05:05'who take their chances at the cutting edge of change,
0:05:05 > 0:05:11'people who are open to new ideas, and find ways to move forward
0:05:11 > 0:05:14'without forgetting to honour those who've gone before.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18The story of Wales
0:05:18 > 0:05:22is the experience of each and every one of us in Wales,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24of anyone who's ever lived in this country.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27From the Red Lady of Paviland,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30buried in this cave on the Gower Peninsula
0:05:30 > 0:05:33tens of thousands of years ago,
0:05:33 > 0:05:34to you and me today.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37We are all part of the story of Wales.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59The climate changes.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04People are driven away from Paviland and everywhere else in Wales.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08A wall of ice 40 metres thick comes as far south as the Gower.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18For thousands of years, the whole of Britain is deserted.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Eventually, the melting ice
0:06:23 > 0:06:27begins to shape the coastline we know today.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34The great thaw brings back plants and animals.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36People follow slowly.
0:06:44 > 0:06:45The trees grow -
0:06:45 > 0:06:49an ancient forest stretching across much what we know as Wales.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55There are just a few gaps in the woodland,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59where the deer eat out glades, or people set fires to make clearings.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08About 6,000 years ago, agriculture reaches western Britain.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11The farmers begin to clear parts of the forest
0:07:11 > 0:07:12to grow primitive wheat,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16and to keep sheep and goats, cattle, pigs and dogs.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23Gradually, over the course of a thousand years,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26the people who live on this land, the land we call ours today,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28start to adapt.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32They start to cut through this vast natural forest,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36and start to tackle the challenges of the world around them.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48This is the age of the great religious monuments,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50like Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54They bear witness to cults of the dead and fertility rituals.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56These people are farming,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58and thinking about the meaning of their lives.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17The tomb's passage and chamber are perfectly aligned
0:08:17 > 0:08:21to receive the first rays of the midsummer sun.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27So these are people who understand the changing seasons
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and the spinning Earth they live on.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35And we know because of the distinctive way
0:08:35 > 0:08:37that they decorate this monument
0:08:37 > 0:08:39that they're trading goods and ideas
0:08:39 > 0:08:43with communities as far away as Orkney and Portugal.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49The people who inhabit this land are making some big statements.
0:08:49 > 0:08:50Here in Wales,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54we've discovered the largest timber construction anywhere in Europe
0:08:54 > 0:08:55from that age.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Thousands of trees are cut down in order to build it.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02And it tells us that these are people with complex needs.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07People who want to make their mark on the world.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18The Hindwell Enclosure is long gone,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21but from the post holes left behind in the soil,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25we can imagine how it dominates the Stone Age landscape.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31It covers almost the whole valley floor
0:09:31 > 0:09:35you could fit the Millennium Stadium inside eight times over.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41The wooden posts, more than 1,400 of them, stand six metres tall.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51And it's all built with stone and wood tools.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59There are other signs of ancient human settlement
0:09:59 > 0:10:00all over the Walton Basin,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04but it's the enclosure which sends a message far and wide -
0:10:04 > 0:10:08here are people who've organised themselves on an epic scale.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17The enclosure isn't a defensive wall,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and a space this big isn't for penning animals.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Experts believe it's used for feasts and celebrations.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28A hundred generations later,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31you can still see the curved footprint of its perimeter,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35determining the path of this country road as it crosses the Basin.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Just a few centuries after the building
0:10:49 > 0:10:54of the Walton Basin enclosure, the world changes.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Humanity emerges from the Stone Age.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10These days, this is what Llandudno is all about -
0:11:10 > 0:11:13it's about relaxation and enjoyment
0:11:13 > 0:11:17and this great tramway, which takes us all the way up the Great Orme,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20tells us so much about the Victorian heyday.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Llandudno is all about leisure.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26This is where people come to escape the grime of heavy industry.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31And what a contrast to the world of 4,000 years ago,
0:11:31 > 0:11:36when the heavy industry is right here, underneath this mountain.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38There's a revolution going on.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43I'm talking about metal, and the Great Orme is where it's happening.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52The Orme, Penygogarth in Welsh,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56'is still one of the great vantage points on the North Wales coast.'
0:11:56 > 0:12:00But what lies under my feet is even more impressive than the view,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02and that is saying something.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07Because under here, we have something that is world-changing.
0:12:07 > 0:12:08It is copper.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Now copper is a very beautiful, very valuable metal.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16But it's not very hard-working - it's quite soft.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21And here's the magical part - if you mix copper with tin,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25you end up with something that is harder and much more useful,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27and that is bronze.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40'Less than 30 years ago,
0:12:40 > 0:12:42'we knew nothing about the copper mines of the Great Orme,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46'and their place in the great leap forward of the Bronze Age.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51'They were discovered by chance when a new car park was being excavated.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55'Sian James began work as a tour guide here,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57'and found the mines so fascinating
0:12:57 > 0:12:59'that she's gone on to make a full study of them
0:12:59 > 0:13:02'as an academic archaeologist.'
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Wow. That's quite breathtaking.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11What are we looking at?
0:13:11 > 0:13:13We're in one of the large chambers,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17and this used to be full of malachite, of copper ore,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19that the miners were digging out.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23Digging it out with little tools, little implements?
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Bone tools, stone hammers.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Nothing really more sophisticated than that.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30About 30,000 animal bones have been discovered from the mine.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32- That's a huge number.- It is.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Originally, these were all thought to be food waste,
0:13:34 > 0:13:35probably by the miners.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38But I'm not sure you'd actually want to be eating down here.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40My research over the past few years
0:13:40 > 0:13:43suggests that these are all linked in with the mining itself.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46I'm sure people will be interested in what exactly they're digging out,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51- because I know that we've got an example here.- Yeah.- Just tell us what we've got here.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53This is malachite, this is the main copper ore.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56People think of copper today as this lovely orange metal,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58but this is how they'd have probably first seen it.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02If you smelt it with charcoal, a thousand degrees Centigrade,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06and suddenly you get this wonderful orange metal.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10So, you've got five miles of tunnels,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12what does this represent worldwide?
0:14:12 > 0:14:15This is the largest prehistoric copper mine anywhere in the world.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18We've probably only discovered about 10% of it so far.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25You see some of the little tunnels going off,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27- which are terrifyingly small.- Yeah.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31What kind of working conditions would there have been?
0:14:31 > 0:14:32Are people in there, digging?
0:14:32 > 0:14:35I think possibly children are in some of those areas.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37We're talking maybe five or six-year-olds.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42- There's just surprises everywhere you look.- Yeah.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46One of the most exciting things, Sian,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50is to think that this place was making a product
0:14:50 > 0:14:53which wasn't for sale locally, it was going much further afield.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58Enough copper came out of here to make about ten million axes.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00So we're not talking domestic trade,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03this is meeting some sort of demand, maybe internationally.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07We're saying that Llandudno copper was being exported
0:15:07 > 0:15:10- and used as weapons thousands of miles away?- Yes.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13- 4,000 years ago?- 4,000 years ago.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15- Now that is an eye-opener.- It is.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23The industrial scale of the Great Orme enterprise
0:15:23 > 0:15:27demands a really sophisticated support network
0:15:27 > 0:15:30to feed the workforce, to smelt the copper,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33and to ship out the end product.
0:15:34 > 0:15:40'By contrast, the basic tools of the trade are ingenious, but very simple.'
0:15:40 > 0:15:41This is what?
0:15:41 > 0:15:44This is a stone hammer, that they've just gone down to the beach,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48picked up a suitable stone, brought it up here, ready for digging with.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51- Yeah, that's a very basic kind of tool, isn't it? - Simple, but very effective.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54You've got something there which is a little more delicate.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57It is more delicate, but still very effective.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01These are two cattle bones that we found from the mine, they're both tools.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02This one's a rib bone.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Rounded on the end, and would have been used
0:16:05 > 0:16:08- for chiselling out, digging out the malachite.- Mm-hmm.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12And then this one is a humerus bone, so that's the front leg,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and that is the perfect shape for just holding and digging out...
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- The handle?- Chiselling out the malachite.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Well now, that chopping action you've done brings me to this,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23because this, for me, is the most surprising thing of all.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28You think of three and a half thousand years ago, and there's a level of sophistication here
0:16:28 > 0:16:32which, I have to say, took me by surprise, so talk us through this.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Yeah, this is one of the palstave axes that they would have used in the Bronze Age.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40It would have been made in a two-piece mould, but this is bronze, so this is the copper,
0:16:40 > 0:16:45which would have come from here, and then tin, which you would have to go to Cornwall, probably, to get.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51- That's something that was held three and a half thousand years ago.- Yeah. - Well, that's quite a thrill.- It is.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Just one look at this ancient gold cape will tell you
0:16:58 > 0:17:00how much industrial wealth is being generated here.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Discovered in Flintshire in the 1830s,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09and beaten out of a single gold ingot,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13the Mold Cape is an astonishing piece of workmanship,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16fit to adorn the slender shoulders of a queen.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24It dates from a time when Egypt is building the pyramids.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28North Wales has riches to rival the Pharaohs.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40People here are exchanging goods and ideas with mainland Europe.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45But who exactly are their trading partners?
0:17:45 > 0:17:47And how do they reach them?
0:17:50 > 0:17:54The latest research points west, to the open Atlantic.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57This is the trading superhighway of the ancient world.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02Through it, we may be able to trace our Celtic roots
0:18:02 > 0:18:06'much further back than we ever imagined.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09'And one of the pioneers of this new line of thinking
0:18:09 > 0:18:11'is Professor John Koch.'
0:18:12 > 0:18:17John, it's an intriguing thought, as we look at the sea here today, on the coast of North Wales,
0:18:17 > 0:18:22to think that this channel, this transport by sea,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25which, frankly, lots of people would never have imagined,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28was more sophisticated, more advanced, than we ever thought.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32It was probably easier to get around by sea than it was over land.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34The land was heavily forested,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36before the Romans were here, there weren't good roads.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38It was probably easier
0:18:38 > 0:18:43to maintain, and create, long-distance connections by sea.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45As soon as metals come into the picture,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and particularly copper and bronze, most especially,
0:18:49 > 0:18:51you need the long-distance connections
0:18:51 > 0:18:53just to keep the new economy going.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57You're saying we should think of Wales in a much bigger world?
0:18:57 > 0:18:59That's right. It's always...
0:18:59 > 0:19:02certainly, it's always been connected to the rest of Britain.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05But there's another side to it, and we're looking at that other side of it now.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09It's the western ocean, if John is right,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13which links Wales to the Celtic world of the continent.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22And it's not the story we used to be told,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26the idea of hostile forces sweeping in from the east,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29in a series of sudden invasions from the continent.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Well, that idea is wrong.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37For Professor Koch,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42the links have always been to do with trade, not invasion.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43They go way, way back in time,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45and all the way down the Atlantic seaboard.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52His evidence points to Celts from the West.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57It's a major change of perspective for those of us who grew up with a history
0:19:57 > 0:20:02that talks about Wales and its eastern neighbours and there's something very exciting
0:20:02 > 0:20:04about the way we're telling the story now, John,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08which is that it is an outward-looking Wales we're talking about, all those years ago.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Oh, it's a very different perspective now.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12You now have evidence
0:20:12 > 0:20:16for a diversity of very ancient Celtic languages
0:20:16 > 0:20:18on the continent of Europe.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22All of this new evidence is constantly turning up new connections
0:20:22 > 0:20:27with the Welsh language, names of people, names of gods and so on,
0:20:27 > 0:20:32so that there has always been this long-distance maritime connection.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40And this goes right back, through the Iron Age, the Bronze Age,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Copper Age, right on back as far as you want to go
0:20:43 > 0:20:45for human beings being here.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54The trading links go deep into history,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58but the technology is moving forward.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05There's a big change coming and we can understand a lot more about it
0:21:05 > 0:21:08because of a chance discovery a century ago.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11One hundred years ago,
0:21:11 > 0:21:16workmen were here at the foot of Craig y Llyn, Rhigos,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20creating a reservoir for the people of Rhondda, just over the hill,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25and in the course of clearing peat and vegetation,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27they made the most fantastic of discoveries.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37What they'd found was a hoard of weapons and tools
0:21:37 > 0:21:38from the late Bronze Age.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48Two bronze cauldrons, so big that you can't get your arms around them.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Carpenter's tools, chisels and gouges,
0:21:54 > 0:21:59and some of the finest decorative horse gear ever found in Britain.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05But there's something else, too -
0:22:05 > 0:22:08an iron sword, probably made in Eastern France.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18This superbly grooved, it's just part of a sword,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21the grooves on the blade telling us that...
0:22:21 > 0:22:25Hmm, this isn't just a first-time blacksmith's effort with iron,
0:22:25 > 0:22:31because, 2,700 years ago, 2,800 years ago,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33iron was something really new.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41New and valuable. Too valuable to have been left here without thought.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47From similar finds in bogs and rivers and lakes,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50experts believe they're offerings to a local goddess.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00But how do these gifts to the waters
0:23:00 > 0:23:02come to be here in Wales in the first place?
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Are they evidence of trade or war?
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Perhaps 50 years ago,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12an archaeologist looking at this Llyn Fawr collection
0:23:12 > 0:23:17might say that the foreign sword from the continent
0:23:17 > 0:23:19meant that an invader carried it here.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23By today, many of us believe it was trade.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Gifts passing through many hands.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Most intriguing of all,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36there's evidence here in the Lshaped iron sickle
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and the short spearhead,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42that local smiths are transferring their skills in bronze
0:23:42 > 0:23:44to work in this even more useful new metal.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Here is our bronzesmith,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52somehow being introduced, or experimenting, with iron ores,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55that you can find in the geology,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58in the rocks behind us here on the South Wales coalfield.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Experimenting with smelting, forging the iron
0:24:01 > 0:24:06and creating new metal objects in the old style.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14We're heralding. we're in the cradle of native ironworking,
0:24:14 > 0:24:15not just in Wales,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19because these are the oldest native-made iron objects
0:24:19 > 0:24:21in the whole of the British Isles and Ireland.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Fantastic story.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46'The Llyn Peninsula in the north-west corner of Wales
0:24:46 > 0:24:49'is another location that opens our eyes
0:24:49 > 0:24:52'to the nature of life here in this new age of iron.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00'In the centuries before the Romans arrive,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04'the population of Wales may have been around 80,000.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07'There are no towns,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10'but there are hillforts, more than 1,000 of them.'
0:25:14 > 0:25:18Just think, this entrance has been here for 2,000 years
0:25:18 > 0:25:20and it still tells us a story.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30'We may be on top of an exposed peak 450 metres above the sea,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33'but this is a major Iron Age settlement.'
0:25:35 > 0:25:38'Tre'r Ceiri is one of the best preserved
0:25:38 > 0:25:41'and most densely-occupied hillforts in Britain.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43'Behind its ramparts,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47'you can still see the shapes of more than 150 stone houses.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54'But "hillfort" is a misleading term.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57'The people of Tre'r Ceiri are farmers, not fighters,
0:25:57 > 0:25:58'and from their homes,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02'they can look down on the fertile land below.'
0:26:04 > 0:26:07So what does this mesmerising place tell us?
0:26:07 > 0:26:10It tells us that, long before the Romans arrived,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13there was a sophisticated society here,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17trading, not just in the local area, but much further afield.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20And don't be fooled - it may look as if it's been built
0:26:20 > 0:26:24to withstand an invasion from a distant enemy - not the case.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27It's all about local power and local control.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38So, by 2,000 years ago, a pattern has emerged -
0:26:38 > 0:26:41the ancient peoples of Wales
0:26:41 > 0:26:43have settled into a group of separate tribes.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48From what's about to happen to them,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50we can distinguish their characteristics,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52and even give them names -
0:26:52 > 0:26:55the fierce Silures in the southeast,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58the Ordovices, led by the druids of Anglesey in the north.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Each tribe is many thousand strong,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12with its own royal family, and priests and rituals.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17They squabble and they skirmish, but they speak a common language
0:27:17 > 0:27:20and they know each other's customs and gods.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24This is their home.
0:27:41 > 0:27:4343 AD.
0:27:43 > 0:27:44They're confronted
0:27:44 > 0:27:47by the most efficient killing machine in the world.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57The Roman Army sweeps across Britain.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59Many tribes surrender without a fight.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04BATTLE CRIES
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Others try guerrilla tactics, to ambush and surprise the invaders.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13SWORDS CLASH
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Across the Menai Straits, inspired by the Druids,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27the Ordovices put up some of the strongest resistance.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32In the south, the Silures take the battle to the Romans.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39This land, rolling down towards the Severn Estuary,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41is the power base of the Silures.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44And power is the right word.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46They're strong, they're fierce,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49they're not the kind of fighters who hide in the hills
0:28:49 > 0:28:51and launch the odd raid.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56They're in the business of making full-frontal attacks on the Romans.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58According to one story,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02they demolished three Roman units in a single day.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04And then they follow that success
0:29:04 > 0:29:08by almost wiping out an entire legion.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16Roman generals come to hate them.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19They swear to sweep the Silures off the face of the earth.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21BATTLE CRIES
0:29:21 > 0:29:23But that's not so easy,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26particularly when the Silures are joined
0:29:26 > 0:29:29by one of ancient Britain's most skilful warlords.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33His name is Caractacus, or Caradog, as he's known in Welsh.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36It takes an epic struggle to capture him,
0:29:36 > 0:29:41but he's such a catch that he's sent for trial to the Emperor himself.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48When he gets to Rome, Caradog is condemned to death,
0:29:48 > 0:29:49but for some reason,
0:29:49 > 0:29:54the Emperor Claudius allows him one final plea for his life
0:29:54 > 0:29:58and the Roman historian Tacitus sets down the words of that plea.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02What we have is the first speech in history
0:30:02 > 0:30:05credited to someone who's lived in Wales.
0:30:05 > 0:30:06It's quite a speech.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16"Noble Emperor and people of Rome,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20"I face humiliation, while you have glory.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23"I had horses, men, weapons.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27"Are you surprised I'm sorry to have lost them?
0:30:27 > 0:30:30"Just because you want to rule the world,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33"do you think everyone else is happy to be made a slave?
0:30:35 > 0:30:38"If I had surrendered without a fight,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41"no-one would have heard of my downfall or your triumph.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46"If you kill me, they will both be forgotten.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50"But if you spare me,
0:30:50 > 0:30:54"I shall stand forever as a symbol of your mercy."
0:31:02 > 0:31:03The words work.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07Caractacus is freed, but he never returns to Britain
0:31:07 > 0:31:09and history records no more of him.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17What we can say is that the Ancient Britons are a bit of a handful,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20to put it mildly, and that's certainly the case here in Wales.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23We're at the very edge of the Roman Empire
0:31:23 > 0:31:27and Rome realises that it needs a very powerful military presence
0:31:27 > 0:31:30if it's to keep things under control.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34So what do the Romans decide that they have to do?
0:31:34 > 0:31:39Well, they decide to build an immense fortress here at Caerleon.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41And they call this place Isca.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45This is where thousands of soldiers are fed and watered,
0:31:45 > 0:31:46housed and trained -
0:31:46 > 0:31:50trained to put the locals down and keep them down.
0:31:58 > 0:32:0130 years after the Romans invade,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04this amphitheatre is where a whole Roman legion is entertained,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06as well as put through its paces.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20But Isca, it turns out, isn't just a big army camp.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25Whilst we've been filming this series,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27archaeologists have been digging here
0:32:27 > 0:32:31on a large area between the military site and the River Usk.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36Their extraordinary new findings
0:32:36 > 0:32:39give us a completely fresh understanding of this place.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Caerleon is a Roman city and a major port.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53What we can see here is a new reconstruction that we've had done.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55It's still in the development stage,
0:32:55 > 0:32:58but it shows what this part of Caerleon might have been like
0:32:58 > 0:33:01at the end of the first century AD as we imagine it,
0:33:01 > 0:33:02around about 100.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06You can see a river ship coming up the Usk from the Severn Estuary,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09bringing men and materials into Caerleon.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12Here we have the quayside, which we've been excavating here,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16where all the materials and the men would've been offloaded.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19And then we have a flythrough of the Roman buildings
0:33:19 > 0:33:21that we've been uncovering,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23including the very large courtyard complex,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25a series of buildings
0:33:25 > 0:33:28that we think are the marketplaces, that include bath houses.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Here we can see the amphitheatre
0:33:30 > 0:33:33and then we fly through the fortress's west gate
0:33:33 > 0:33:35into the centre of Isca,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38where we can see barrack blocks and store buildings,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41the commanding officer's house and headquarters,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44Caerleon's bath house, where the Romans would have kept clean.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46And then we fly through the main streets,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49out towards the civilian settlement on the other side.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52And it really gives a tremendous sense
0:33:52 > 0:33:55of how big some of these buildings were
0:33:55 > 0:33:57and how imposing and important they must have looked.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03One of the new riverfront structures discovered by Dr Guest
0:34:03 > 0:34:06is more than 100 metres long and 100 metres wide -
0:34:06 > 0:34:11big enough to fit the amphitheatre inside its central courtyard.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16It's just part of this port complex which is changing our view
0:34:16 > 0:34:20of how Caerleon connects Britain to the rest of the Roman Empire.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25We're in one of the excavation trenches closest to the River Usk.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28And in this trench, we think we have the remains of the Roman port.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Here, this wall, we think, is the quayside wall
0:34:31 > 0:34:35that the Romans would've constructed outside the fortress of Caerleon,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39which would've allowed ships and boats to moor on the River Usk
0:34:39 > 0:34:42and for men and materials and other goods to be offloaded
0:34:42 > 0:34:46and then taken into the fortress and the other parts of Roman Wales.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57One of the things the Romans brought to Britain nearly 2,000 years ago
0:34:57 > 0:34:58was the use of writing.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01This is a Roman brick that you can see here,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03which has a stamp on it
0:35:03 > 0:35:05which records the fact that this tile was made by
0:35:05 > 0:35:08the Second Augustan Legion.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10And this is a particularly special find.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13It has parts of three letters on it.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16An A. You can see the crossbar of the A there.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20A V or a U, and then what is either a C or a G.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24Roman inscriptions, particularly imperial inscriptions,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28often record the imperial titles of the emperor,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30one of which was Augustus.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35The Romans were very keen to make sure that you knew, as you came to a place like this,
0:35:35 > 0:35:38that it was now part of the new civilised world
0:35:38 > 0:35:41and that the people who had done the civilising were the soldiers,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43were the Second Augustan Legion,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46but they were doing it in the name of the emperor.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Presumably, if we're lucky, we may well find more of this inscription
0:35:50 > 0:35:52which might tell us which emperor that was.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56The discoveries made by Doctor Guest and his team
0:35:56 > 0:36:01allow us to see Caerleon in a much, much broader way
0:36:01 > 0:36:03than we've ever done before.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06It's the first, and only time, that we in Britain
0:36:06 > 0:36:10became part of a Mediterranean world.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15Caerleon was a major access route.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18So the wine Romans liked to drink
0:36:18 > 0:36:21or the olive oil they liked to put on their food
0:36:21 > 0:36:24came in large storage vessels.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27And it's not just the material things, but also
0:36:27 > 0:36:30the new gods that Romans brought with them. The new languages.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33The new ways of dressing and thinking about the world.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36These would also have been brought into Western Britain,
0:36:36 > 0:36:38presumably at places like this.
0:36:40 > 0:36:46So we now have a better idea of the true scale and purpose of Isca.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51The Romans clearly want Caerleon to be a major city,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54a great city. An integral part of the empire.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58And they want all the benefits of Roman civilisation
0:36:58 > 0:37:01to apply right here in this new province of theirs.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06So what we're talking about now is not just a military battle.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09It's also a battle for hearts and minds.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23Down the road from Caerleon, at the door of this church in Caerwent,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27is a relic of Roman times which shows just how quickly
0:37:27 > 0:37:30the native Britons embrace all that Rome has to offer.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36It's a stone tablet with a Latin inscription -
0:37:36 > 0:37:40a kind of operating licence for Civitas Silurum,
0:37:40 > 0:37:44the self-governing council of the Silures.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49The Romans have built a whole new town
0:37:49 > 0:37:52for the tribe themselves to rule and govern.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59Just a generation after fighting to the death to defend their land,
0:37:59 > 0:38:04the Silures have accepted Roman rule and agreed to pay their taxes.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10In return, they're enjoying all the benefits of Roman civilisation.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13They even get their own assembly building.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17You could say it's the first time devolution comes to Wales.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37And it's not just in the south that the Romans secure their grip.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40The mountains are no barrier to them.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47They build a whole network of roads, military camps and towns,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50stretching from Caerleon and Caerwent
0:38:50 > 0:38:54to Carmarthen in the west and Caernarfon in the north.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02The Roman occupation of Britain is a massive enterprise.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04It ties up the Empire's military resources
0:39:04 > 0:39:08and personnel for decades.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Just imagine the logistics involved
0:39:14 > 0:39:18in building and maintaining this one fort,
0:39:18 > 0:39:22'Segontium in Caernarfon, at the end of the Roman supply chain.'
0:39:23 > 0:39:27So, why do the Romans come here and stay here?
0:39:27 > 0:39:29One reason is prestige.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Conquering Britannia brings the Emperor Claudius a lot of glory.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35It tightens his grip on power.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38And never discount the importance of PR
0:39:38 > 0:39:41in the politics of Ancient Rome.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46But there are good practical reasons to be here, too.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48This island is a bread basket
0:39:48 > 0:39:51and Rome can tax its farmers
0:39:51 > 0:39:53and enjoy the fruits of their labour on the land.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57And then there's the most valuable resource of all - people.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01While some Britons enjoy all the benefits of Roman civilisation,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04many more of them are traded, as slaves.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Or "living tools", as the Romans called them.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13And they're put to dig out Britannia's mineral wealth,
0:40:13 > 0:40:15like the gold at Dolaucothi in West Wales.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20Many other slaves are shipped off to Rome to serve its politicians,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22philosophers and army veterans.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29Life for many is nasty, short and brutal.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32But others do thrive on Rome's bounty.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40Any Welsh speaker will confirm just how comprehensively
0:40:40 > 0:40:44the tribes of Wales adopt the benefits of Roman civilisation.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47The language proves it.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51Some of the words used here at Segontium 2,000 years ago
0:40:51 > 0:40:55are still being used on the streets of Caernarfon today.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57Pont, for bridge.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Ffenest, for window.
0:40:59 > 0:41:00These are Latin words,
0:41:00 > 0:41:05which now form some of the nuts and bolts of the Welsh language.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13And there's something else that Rome leaves behind - Christianity.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20At first, the Romans persecute the new faith, but then they embrace it.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26In the year 306, when he's on a military campaign in Britain,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29Constantine the Great is proclaimed Emperor.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34He is the first Christian to rule Rome.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44The Romans rule Britannia for 350 years.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47There are Imperial soldiers here right up to the year 400.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53But in the end, with their empire under threat,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56the Romans march out of our history
0:41:56 > 0:42:00and leave Christian Britain to defend itself.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07Towns are abandoned.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09Those living in the ruins of empire
0:42:09 > 0:42:12have to deal as best they can with new threats -
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Irish pirates and Saxon invaders.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25Dyfed and Brycheiniog are overrun by the Irish.
0:42:25 > 0:42:30Gwynedd is invaded, probably by tribes from north of Hadrian's Wall.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33And then come the Angles and the Saxons.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46From the year 400, these Germanic peoples
0:42:46 > 0:42:48push eastwards from the Continent,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53smothering the old Celtic and Roman culture in lowland Britain,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57forcing it back into the hills and the mountains of the west.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06The Anglo-Saxons don't share the Christian faith Rome has brought
0:43:06 > 0:43:11and it seems that Britain's Roman legacy may be eclipsed completely.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22These are mysterious times,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25filled with battles against the odds.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Something in them sparks the Celtic imagination.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30The hard facts are scarce,
0:43:30 > 0:43:32but the struggle to keep the faith alive
0:43:32 > 0:43:36inspires some of the greatest stories of Wales.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47There is a world of difference between history and legend,
0:43:47 > 0:43:49but when you come to a magical place like this,
0:43:49 > 0:43:52deep in the heart of the Welsh countryside,
0:43:52 > 0:43:54they seem to come together.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02In this land of mystic waters and sacred springs,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04it's a time for tales of heroes
0:44:04 > 0:44:09whose exploits have cast spells on the world ever since.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12I'm thinking especially of King Arthur,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15the great defender of Christian Britain
0:44:15 > 0:44:19and, of course, of his resident magician,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21the mighty Merlin.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29In one story, written down more than a thousand years ago
0:44:29 > 0:44:31by a Welsh monk known as Nennius,
0:44:31 > 0:44:35it is Merlin who predicts that the Red Dragon, the native Britons,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37will eventually defeat the White Dragon,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40the invading Anglo-Saxons.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48These are tales of conflict and heroism.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52They set up the notion that this land is embattled,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54ringed around by dark forces.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57And legend has it that Arthur and his warriors
0:44:57 > 0:45:01are still waiting somewhere in the deepest countryside,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04ready to come to our rescue.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12The fact is that, the Arthur industry, if I can call it that,
0:45:12 > 0:45:13built around Camelot,
0:45:13 > 0:45:16the Sword in the Stone, the Knights of the Round Table,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19all of this is invented, at a much later time.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22But these inventions are based on
0:45:22 > 0:45:26some intriguing fragments of historical evidence.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34In one account of a great battle with the Anglo-Saxons,
0:45:34 > 0:45:36said to take place in the year 516,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Arthur carries the Christian cross on his shoulders for three days
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and nights, before leading the Britons to victory.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52All over Britain, there is an epic struggle going on.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56And because the Celts from Cornwall in the south
0:45:56 > 0:45:58to Central Scotland in the north
0:45:58 > 0:46:03speak a language that's an early form of Welsh,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06we can still get a sense of the drama and turmoil,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08if we know where to look.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18This is the Book of Aneirin
0:46:18 > 0:46:20in the National Library in Aberystwyth.
0:46:20 > 0:46:25And it contains the record of a battle from around the year 600.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29"Gwyr a aeth Gatraeth oedd ffraeth eu llu.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33"Glasfedd eu hancwyn a gwenwyn fu."
0:46:34 > 0:46:38'The men who marched to Catterick were a swift war band.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41'Their drink was mead. It proved to be poison.'
0:46:41 > 0:46:43They're very famous lines.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47They're taken from the earliest surviving Welsh poem,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49written by a poet living in Edinburgh.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52And what's striking is that, it is still possible
0:46:52 > 0:46:55for a Welsh speaker to get the gist.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57It tells the story of an army of soldiers
0:46:57 > 0:47:00going into battle against the Angles.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02in the north of England.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04And what we get, in all of these stories,
0:47:04 > 0:47:08is a gradual recognition of our identity as a people.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11We are the Cymry, the compatriots.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13The Brithoniaid, the Britons.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16The Wealhas, the Welsh.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19That's the Anglo-Saxon word for "strangers",
0:47:19 > 0:47:24or more precisely, those strangers who used to live in a Roman world.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39Part of Rome's great legacy is Christianity,
0:47:39 > 0:47:43but now, Wales produces its own Christian leaders.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50They're determined to make the faith on these shores more rooted
0:47:50 > 0:47:52and much more outward-looking.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Between the years 400 and 600,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05they managed to defend and strengthen Christianity
0:48:05 > 0:48:08in the teeth of Anglo-Saxon aggression.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14This is the Age of the Saints.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Some focus completely on the spiritual life,
0:48:21 > 0:48:24away from the turmoil of war that's all around.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32It's a search for remoteness and isolation,
0:48:32 > 0:48:34for the kind of spiritual peace
0:48:34 > 0:48:38that can still be found along parts of the Welsh coastline.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41These are people who want to withdraw from the world
0:48:41 > 0:48:43and who take as their example
0:48:43 > 0:48:48the Christian hermits of the Middle East, thousands of miles away.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50We're on the edge of Europe here,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53but we are in the mainstream of Christianity.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04MONASTIC CHANTING
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Other saints chose a different path,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10engaging with the lives of ordinary people around them.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13They build communities, which shelter the faith
0:49:13 > 0:49:17in the troubled times of Anglo-Saxon attack.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22The most important is the settlement at Llanilltud Fawr,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Llantwit Major.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29'As Dr Juliet Wood explains to me,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32'this is where a remarkable man called Illtud'
0:49:32 > 0:49:35turns his back on a soldier's life
0:49:35 > 0:49:37and builds what we believe to be
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Britain's first ever centre of learning.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51We don't have a lot of written records from this period,
0:49:51 > 0:49:53but we do have the saints' lives
0:49:53 > 0:49:55and we do have stories about mythical figures.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Now, these are always, sort of,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00done much after the historical period.
0:50:00 > 0:50:01You have to be careful with them.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04But they tell us what was important to the culture.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07And certainly with the Illtud stories,
0:50:07 > 0:50:09you're getting this image of a powerful saint,
0:50:09 > 0:50:11a saint who taught other saints,
0:50:11 > 0:50:15a saint who carried forward this notion of the Christian message.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19And Illtud starts out as a warrior, rather than a monk.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23He was raised as a Christian - he's not a Pagan -
0:50:23 > 0:50:25but he decided he was going to be a warrior.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28And then he becomes converted to the monastic life.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35The Church of St Illtud dates from long after the original monastery,
0:50:35 > 0:50:38but it's built on the tradition
0:50:38 > 0:50:41that Illtud sets up a powerhouse of learning,
0:50:41 > 0:50:43producing a thousand graduates.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46Some sources claim that both Saint David of Wales
0:50:46 > 0:50:49and Saint Patrick of Ireland are pupils of Illtud.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52MONASTIC CHANTING
0:50:55 > 0:50:57The Celtic crosses at the church door
0:50:57 > 0:51:01date back almost as far as the Age of the Saints.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06One of them bears the name of Illtud himself
0:51:06 > 0:51:08and several of his chief followers.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14They are men who cling to faith and learning in a time of war.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Prayer and study are their weapons,
0:51:17 > 0:51:20but the violent times they live in mark them
0:51:20 > 0:51:23with a steely determination to fight for the faith.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27The Welsh saints are a different bunch.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30There are no martyrs. They're quite tetchy.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33Um...they can really blast their enemies.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36They're very strong figures.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38So you get these wonderful legends,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41which tell you what it is about a Welsh saint
0:51:41 > 0:51:42that we ought to emulate.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47Illtud's focus is on the world outside.
0:51:47 > 0:51:53In church terms, Llantwit Major is what we call a "class monastery",
0:51:53 > 0:51:56a flexible settlement linked to the local chieftains,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59who are also determined to defend their patch.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07It was a time when Wales was beginning to think of itself as different.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09But it wouldn't have been all of Wales,
0:52:09 > 0:52:12in the sense that we now think of this.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16When we think of the story of Wales, you're really dealing with a mosaic,
0:52:16 > 0:52:18which is eventually going to come together.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22Illtud himself taught a number of very important Welsh saints.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26And they went out and they founded their own class monasteries.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33The mosaic of Welsh life isn't yet complete,
0:52:33 > 0:52:35but the picture is filling out.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38In the 500s and 600s,
0:52:38 > 0:52:43Illtud's disciples build small communities all over Wales.
0:52:47 > 0:52:52The physical evidence of their existence is long gone,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55but the religious enclosures, the timber churches,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57the small buildings, the cemeteries,
0:52:57 > 0:52:59all inside a protective wall,
0:52:59 > 0:53:04they've certainly left their mark in every part of Wales.
0:53:06 > 0:53:11If you want to find lasting traces of the early Welsh Church,
0:53:11 > 0:53:13just look at a map,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16because the old Welsh word for enclosure is "llan"
0:53:16 > 0:53:18and there are hundreds of Welsh place names
0:53:18 > 0:53:21which combine the word llan with the name of a saint.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24We've already been to Llandudno - the llan of Saint Tudno.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27There's Llanbadarn - the llan of Saint Padarn.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30There's Llanelli, of course - The llan of Saint Elli.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32There are slightly more complex ones.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Llantrisant - The llan of three saints.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37Llanpumsain - The llan of five saints.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41And then, of course, there's the most exotic one of them all,
0:53:41 > 0:53:46the one that talks about Saint Mary, and Saint Tysilio
0:53:46 > 0:53:48and lots of other things, too.
0:53:51 > 0:53:52And, yes, I CAN say it.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndro bwyllllantysiliogogogoch.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58How's that?
0:54:04 > 0:54:08The Welsh saints certainly leave their mark in every corner of Wales.
0:54:08 > 0:54:09And they do more.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13Surrounded by Saxon enemies who don't share their faith,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16they manage to break out to inspire others.
0:54:20 > 0:54:21Their impact is immense.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23Crossing the Celtic seas,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26they nurture the Christian life of Ireland and Scotland,
0:54:26 > 0:54:28Cornwall and Brittany.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37The traditions they establish give us masterpieces,
0:54:37 > 0:54:42such as the illuminated manuscripts of faraway Lindisfarne.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57But not all of these spiritual giants are travellers.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04The best-known figure of the age stays at home, here in Wales,
0:55:04 > 0:55:06and he builds a wooden church
0:55:06 > 0:55:09in this sheltered, tranquil spot
0:55:09 > 0:55:12in the far west, on the coastline.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17Today, it is the site of this magnificent stone-built cathedral,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20which exudes power and certainty.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23It is, of course, the cathedral church of Dewi Sant,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26our patron saint, Saint David.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29BELLS TOLL
0:55:31 > 0:55:34Every schoolchild in Wales knows about the miracles of Saint David.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37How the ground suddenly rises under his feet,
0:55:37 > 0:55:41so that a crowd in Llanddewi Brefi can hear him preach.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Though I have to say, it's a mystery to me
0:55:44 > 0:55:48why you'd need to create a hill in Ceredigion, of all places.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52And then we learn that this gentle soul, on his deathbed,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55urges people to be faithful to the little things.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58It's a comforting image.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00It's a reassuring image.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Saint David emerges as a bit of a softie.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06Don't believe a word of it.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09MONASTIC CHANTING
0:56:11 > 0:56:16David's nickname was Aquaticus, "the water man".
0:56:16 > 0:56:19People used to think this was because
0:56:19 > 0:56:21water was the only thing he'd drink.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27Experts now believe it's because he's given to testing his faith
0:56:27 > 0:56:32by standing for hours in ice-cold pools.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38We have very few facts about him,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41but the way we see Dewi is important.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Because his name, his tradition are part and parcel
0:56:44 > 0:56:48of a distinctive Welsh form of the Christian faith.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53One that tries to hold onto its independence for 500 years to come.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56And it's that tenacity, that determination,
0:56:56 > 0:57:00which earns Dewi his place as our patron saint
0:57:00 > 0:57:03and as a national figurehead.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14So people have learnt to live
0:57:14 > 0:57:17and to thrive in this landscape.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21It's challenged them and they've left their mark on it.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27They innovate, they trade,
0:57:27 > 0:57:31they deal in objects of fabulous worth and beauty.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39They've faced the armies of Rome
0:57:39 > 0:57:42and they've benefited from all that mighty empire has to offer.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49Now, they're fighting for their place in the world
0:57:49 > 0:57:51and for the way THEY want to live.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55So the Welsh have arrived.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57They're a force to be reckoned with
0:57:57 > 0:58:00and the battle to strengthen and defend that identity
0:58:00 > 0:58:02is about to begin.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08The Open University has produced a free booklet
0:58:08 > 0:58:12for you to learn more about the history of the people of Wales.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16You can call 0845 366 0253
0:58:16 > 0:58:20or go to bbc.co.uk/storyofwales
0:58:20 > 0:58:23and follow the links to The Open University.
0:58:45 > 0:58:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd