A field system in Clyne Wood consists of two lengths of discontinuous curvilinear banking located either side of the a stream cutting which is crossed by the 'Lower Track' which in turn cuts through the banks. The banks are low, apparently structureless and flanked by a shallow ditch.


The banks were located during investigation and survey work related to the study of the Swansea industrial landscape. Curvilinear banks, along with linear mounds (probably pillow mounds) and a building platform, seemed to pre-date, or at least are unrelated to, the industrial exploitation of the wood. Attention was drawn to the banks by exposures visible in the cutting of a track. Dense Rhododendron undergrowth probably conceals further banking, particularly to the E of the banks described below.

The banks lie on either side of a stream cutting near a stone bridge, on the lower of two tracks which converge at Mill Lane. The bank to the S of the bridge can be followed for a distance of about 70m (from SS61119134-SS61129127), most of which lies to the S and W of the track and where a shallow ditch is discernible on its W side. On the uphill side it fades in the vicinity of a disused hollow trail. On the N side of the track the bank ends where the ground falls away steeply into the stream cutting.
A short distance N of the bridge there is the second and longer bank. Following a roughly L-shaped course from SE to NE (from SS61109139-SS61149150), it has a total visible length of almost 180m. Most of this is on the W, uphill side, of the track which rides over the bank at its N end; this effect has been accentuated by dumped brick rubble. The track also cyts through the bank at its S end beyond which it can be followed into dense undergrowth which envelopes the steeply falling ground of the stream cutting. The banks are composed of dumped stones with no obvious structure. A maximum height of 0.8m, width 2m, is achieved at the W (uphill) extent. Elsewhere the bank height averages 0.4m. The track with which the banks have a clear stratigraphical relationship appears to have replaced the 'Lower Road' which is shown on various plans attached to leases and conveyances of the mid-19th century but which was largely eradicated by railway construction soon after. The track was built either just before or soon after the purchase of Clyne Wood by the Vivian family. The banks are therefore earlier than the landscaping of the wood that took place after it became part of the Woodlands/Vivian Estate. Whether the intention of the builders was to enclose the landscape or to partition it, the respect shown for local natural features - the scarps of the stream-cutting - emphasises their purpose in some scheme of land allotment, though their place in the land-use history of the wood is not immediately apparent.
A small number of stone piles has been noted scattered throughout the wood, some in the vicinity of the banks described here. They are possibly connected with the same land-use episode represented by the banks, but in this context may have other origins, for example resulting from the decayed root systems of fallen trees or from episodes of mining and quarrying activity which are evident throughout the wood.

Surveyed at 1:1250

visited D.K.Leighton 25 October 1996