Barlands Farm

Barlands Farm Boat, Gwent Europark

During construction of a supermarket storage depot on the Gwent Europark development site in 1993 a Roman boat was discovered and excavated by Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust and lifted for recording and conservation, all with funding by the developer (Tescos). The boat survived to a length of 9.7m but its original dimensions were probably 11.4m long, 3.16m across and 0.9m deep. It was built of oak in the Romano-Celtic tradition with massive, closely spaced, framing timbers and tangentially sawn hull planks, flush-laid, edge to edge, not fastened to each other but attached to the frames with large nails driven through treenails and clenched (turned) over on the upper side of the frames to keep them in place. The planks were caulked with macerated wood to prevent leaks. It probably has three crossbeams attached high up on the frames.

This near flat-bottomed boat was probably powered by sail but could also have been rowed when needed. Its shallow draft meant that it could travel far up the tidal creeks fringing of the Severn estuary and either been beached or laid alongside a jetty to load and unload. With a cargo of up to 6.5 tonnes it could have achieved 4 to 5 knots under sail in favourable conditions.

Tree-ring analysis has shown that the boat was built sometime between 281 and 326 AD. It was resting on the bank of a tidal channel adjacent to a timber bridge built in 283 AD. The stern had been dismantled, possibly to allow use as a pontoon.

Later excavations at the site revealed several rectangular Iron Age buildings like those discovered at Goldcliff.