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An upcoming series of summer events will raise awareness of historical sites in Wales at risk from the climate crisis.
The events will be run by CHERISH, a project led by Welsh and Irish scientists aiming to study the impact of climate change on coastal communities around the Irish Sea – and to help those communities adapt.
“As sea levels and global temperatures rise, many sites around our coast are at risk of being lost forever,” the team said.
“The CHERISH project is investigating how these changes are affecting features like hillforts, shipwrecks, reefs and islands, making sure there’s a permanent record of our history.
“Now our team of experts want to share their knowledge and findings with the public.”
Caerfai Bay, Pembrokeshire. (Picture: VisitWales)
Archaeologists will lead tours and open-days around sites identified as at-risk from climate change, including a prehistoric fort at Caerfai, near St Davids, Castell Bach in Cwmtydu, Ceredigion, and St Govan’s Chapel in Pembrokeshire.
A livestreamed event will take place at a fort on Flimston Bay, Pembrokeshire, to allow people to take part from home.
Archaeologist Hannah Genders Boyd, who organised the events programme, said: “We hope to give people an opportunity to explore climate change from a new angle: through the lens of archaeological sites at risk from changing weather patterns like increased rainfall and extreme weather events.”
Coastal erosion and flooding has long been identified as a significant risk to Wales, with around 60 percent of our population living near the sea, and 71,000 properties currently at risk of flooding.
Research and campaign body Climate Change Central projects that major urban centres – such as Cardiff, Swansea and Newport – along with towns like Aberystwyth and Holyhead, could all be underwater by 2050 if global temperature rises are not kept below 2C.
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The village of Fairbourne, Gwynedd, has already been identified as an area of “managed retreat” due to predicted sea level rises, with flood defences expected to be abandoned by 2052.
Fairbourne residents are likely to be the UK’s first climate refugees.
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