A wooden shipwreck lies in the upper part of the intertidal zone, midway along Cefn Sidan Sands. The vessel sits upright in the sand and is orientated with its bow to the south, facing the sea, and its stern to the north. Its visible remains are 23m in length and the original ship would have had a width of about 7m. The bow lies in a large scour pool, while the stern is largely sanded over. Substantial elements of the upper, forward part of the hull are preserved and exposed, including iron knees, remains of shroud bases, stem-post, framing timbers, external planking and ceiling planking. Several substantial square posts are visible along the centreline of the ship, in its forward half. The nature of the stern is difficult to discern due to sand cover, but visible remains indicate the presence of fashion frames and the possible construction of the ship with a counter stern. The ship appears to be constructed with a timber hull, fastened together with iron-bolts, and reinforced in some areas with iron-knees. This provides a broad 19th-century date for the construction of the ship.
The identification of the vessel is unknown. But its dimensions match a number of ships known to have been lost in the area and further research is required in order to suggest an identification. The local Historic Environment Record (HER) reports a vessel called the Old Dan, a former coastal trader which was turned stern-on to the shore in an effort to refloat it following beaching, before eventually being sold for salvage (DAT HER 31412). This may correlate with the remains of Cefn Sidan Wreck 2.
Event and Historical Information
The wreck was originally recorded in detail in 1996 (Page, 1997: 4-5; DAT HER 56958). However, at the time, less of the overall vessel was exposed and the bow was thought to be the stern.
The site was visited by the RCAHMW on 21/02/2023 and recorded via photogrammetry. The resulting survey can be viewed here
Cymraeg: https://skfb.ly/oEQK6
English: https://skfb.ly/oEyE7
The site was re-inspected on 30/10/2023 during work to record other wrecks at Cefn Sidan and it was noted that the scour pool around the bow of the wreck had increased in size. The scour pool within the wreck had also increased, exposing a further square-section upright post towards the bow of the ship. Sand-levels at the stern of the ship, in the area of the fashion frames, appeared to be unchanged.
Sources
Dyfed Archaeological Trust HER PRN 31412: https://archwilio.org.uk/her/chi3/report/page.php?watprn=DAT31412
Dyfed Archaeological Trust HER PRN 35945: https://archwilio.org.uk/her/chi3/report/page.php?watprn=DAT35945
Dyfed Archaeological Trust HER PRN 56958: https://archwilio.org.uk/her/chi3/report/page.php?watprn=DAT56958
Page, N. 1997. Cefn Sidan Wreck Recording Project. Cambria Archaeology Project No. 56958. Access via https://archwilio.org.uk/her/chi3/report/page.php?watprn=DAT56958
Photographed at low tide by Dr. Toby Driver during the Royal Commission's programme of archaeological aerial reconnaissance on 30th September 2015.
J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, November 2023