Cosmeston Medievil Village

Report written by Trudy

Date; July 1st 2006

Investigators Present; Anne, Dave, G, Jane, Michelle, Russ, Tracy, Trudy & Val

Location History:-

The village grew out of a fortified manor constructed around the 12th century by the Costentin family, who were among the first Norman invaders of Wales. In 1350 the chosen year of life we see in Cosmeston today. Many of the small villages along the coast were multi-cultural with populations made up of Welsh, English, French and Flemings.

Cosmeston Medieval Village is set in the year 1350, a troubled period in the history between the English and the Welsh. Apart from the reconstructed village huts, there is a building on site currently being used as a museum. This was originally a two storey house inhabited by Agnes Adams and later her son who lived there until 1966. Only the downstairs area is being used for the museum, the upstairs has been sealed off, the original staircase blocked by a glass display unit.

The remains of this medieval village were discovered and excavated during the 1980's by a team of archaeologists working for the local Authority who owned the land. As excavations progressed it was realised the site presented a unique opportunity to interpret and bring to life the history of Wales. The information gathered by these archaeologists was used to plan a program of reconstruction that has made Cosmeston a heritage project that is unique in Britain.

Information obtained from:-

www.aboutbritain.com/cosmestonlakes

www.bbc.co.uk/wales/historyhunters/locations/pages/9_1_cosmeston

Reported experiences:-

During medieval re-enactments, which are frequently held at the village, people have been known to turn to the person they have sensed standing next to them, to find there is actually nobody there.

Two of the wardens were locking up the village one evening, they looked across the field towards the site of the old manor house, on the left hand side they saw two people walking across. They looked at each other to question why these people were there and by the time they looked back, there was nobody to be seen. Considering the expanse of ground, there was nowhere these people could have gone in such a short space of time.

Locking up the museum one night, Nick the warden fixed a heavy padlock on the window security bars. He walked across the room to set the alarm for the building, when he turned back to the window he saw the padlock was swinging continuously. He went to steady it and tested the possibility of it swinging on its own, by pushing it out to the side and letting go.

The padlock just swung back down into position and kept perfectly still.

Vigil 1 – Reeves cottage

Group 1 Trudy, Tracy, Russ & Dave

This area was very dark even though it was earlier on in the evening and it was still very sunny outside. There wasn’t much atmosphere here, whether this was due to the very thin beams of sunlight creeping in through the wooden slats of the walls of the cottage or it could have been the fact it was still early evening and extremely warm. They sat for some time in this area taking pictures and filming but all was quiet until they were startled by a sudden bang and were bathed in sunlight. The wooden window shutter had fallen down suddenly causing all group members to jump in alarm. There appeared at first to be no reason for this as there was absolutely no wind and all was still. One group member said a few seconds before this happened she had noted the ducks/chickens located in the shed next door had started kicking up a fuss and when the shutter fell decided to go outside and investigate, where a large rat was seen running across the ground away from the cottage.