EMWARG Colloquium 2026 – Booking Now Open!

Posted On: September 25th, 2026

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Booking for the Early Medieval Wales Archaeology Group (EMWARG) Colloquium 2026 is now open. The 2-day event is taking place in Wrexham on the 10th-11th October and includes a programme of lectures covering new research and excavation on early medieval Wales and visits to nearby sites of archaeological interest, plus an optional conference dinner. Tickets are £60-£80 and include lunch and refreshments on both days. For further information and to book tickets click here. Meeting programme below.

We are delighted to announce that a selection of the talks will be made available as recordings to SMA members via our Members’ Area in due course.

 

MEETING PROGRAMME

10–11 October 2026

Location: Venue in the Park, Alyn Waters Country Park, Mold Road, Gwersyllt, Wrexham, LL11 4AG.

Paid car-parking available, £1 per day.

Saturday 10 October

Registration 9.15am – 9.35am

Welcome 9.40am

Session 1 (9.45am – 11.15am)

Marion Shiner (Cardiff University) Making the March: glimpses of the early medieval in the Welsh borders

Andy Seaman (Cardiff University) New Pieces: an elite early medieval hilltop site in the Breiddin hills

Howard Williams (University of Chester) Placing Wat’s Dyke

COFFEE

Session 2 (11.45am – 12.45pm)

Ben Guy (University of Cambridge) and Leidy González Bojacá (Cardiff University) Charters, boundaries and estates in early medieval Wales: a new project

Arwyn Owen (Manchester Metropolitan University) Early medieval discoveries in Anglesey and Northwest Wales

LUNCH

Session 3 (2.00pm – 3.30pm)

Gabor Thomas (University of Reading) KEYNOTE: Elusive monasteries: problems and prospects for an archaeology of Anglo-Saxon monasticism

Tim Young (GeoArch and Cardiff University) Work and death in Illtud’s monastery: an update on excavations at Llantwit Major 2023–6

TEA

FIELDTRIP 1 (4.00pm – 6.00pm)

Wat’s Dyke

The visit will focus on stretches of Wat’s Dyke in the southern environs of Wrexham

Leader: Howard Williams

CONFERENCE DINNER 7pm

(Cost not included in booking fee)

Anise Indian Restaurant, 1 Smithfield Road, Wrexham, LL13 8EN

Sunday 11 October

Session 4 (9.15am–10.45am)

David Petts (University of Durham) and Tudur Davies (Cardiff University) ‘Whose is the four-sided grave?’: revisiting early medieval square barrows in Wales and the Welsh border

Rob Evans (Heneb) St Cybi’s Churchyard, Holyhead

Katie Hemer (Institute of Archaeology, University College London) ‘Iechyd Da’? The health and disease burden of populations in early medieval Wales

COFFEE

Session 5 (11.15am–12.15pm)

Jessica Nutt (University of Edinburgh) Beyond raids: the archaeology of maritime networks and Viking movement in Wales

Nancy Edwards (Bangor University and Cardiff University) The Pillar of Eliseg: reflections on power, purpose and royal patronage

LUNCH

FIELDTRIP 2 (1pm–4pm).

Offa’s Dyke: Big Wood, Bersham

Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen

Leaders: Howard Williams and Nancy Edwards