About Me
Helo, my name is Amber Andrews, I am 24 years old and am currently finishing my masters in Public History and Heritage. I grew up in Oxfordshire, England but have lived in Wales for six years when I came to university in Swansea in 2016 to study Ancient and Medieval History. I graduated in 2019 after writing a dissertation titled ‘Roman Wales: The Impact of Climate Change on New Archaeological Discoveries’, alongside a bolstered CV that then housed a few volunteer work placements which I thoroughly enjoyed and completed throughout the summers of my degree. Thinking to improve my knowledge I began a masters in Ancient History and Classical Civilisations in September of 2019. However, after seeing a flyer in the library toilet advertising for volunteers to work with a heritage group I attended the first meeting and I will never forget seeing a fellow graduate of my undergraduate course across the room and hearing he is studying ‘Public History and Heritage’, and thinking ‘that is exactly what I should have done. Dammit!’ I attempted to change course but it was too late in the semester and so I ended up making a very difficult decision to drop out of the course I was on. This turned out to be an odd blessing in disguise, as, after working at Tesco for three months over the Christmas period (would not recommend), I began planning to go travelling around Europe in my van. However, life does have a funny way of pushing you forward, whilst seemingly holding you back, and COVID-19 hit a week before I was about to leave. I had my ferry booked and everything. Despite this initial disappointment, it meant I was able to return to my beloved Swansea and hunker down during lockdown with my best friend who had unfortunately broken her ankle the night before lockdown. We still got out a lot to do exercise (well I exercised and my friend rode her electric bicycle) and we socially distancanly saw people still. I was extremely fortunate and am forever grateful for my time during lockdown as it gave me a perspective and rest period I definitely needed and probably would not have gotten from travelling at that point. I ended up staying in Swansea for another year after and worked a job for a while but once that had finished I was at a loss for what to do. This is where I am particularly fortunate: I have people who believe in me and understand what I want even if I do not. My partner suggested I return to university to complete the masters degree in Public History and Heritage. It was mentioned that I was clearly extremely passionate about it as I had dropped out of another course due to not being able to get it out of my mind that I should be doing the other. I agreed, and after applying and getting accepted, I began to feel as though this is exactly what I should have been doing and was the result of all my previous education up until that point. Studying Public History and Heritage has given me such joy as I have never felt before whilst studying, and I am pleased to say that me and my fellow students have all done very well, with myself being on track currently for a high merit; the best grades I have ever achieved in university. It just shows, despite being cliche, that when you do what you love, you do better.
Why I have created this website
First and foremost, it is for the purposes of passing my masters thesis for Swansea University and to show the work I have completed over the summer.
That is the reason why I began this project, but there are, however, many reasons why I will continue to complete blog posts and improve this website as time goes on, even after I have finished my masters course. Something I have learnt over the duration of this project is that heritage can present itself in many forms, whether that be local, national, or individual, and the way in which we all engage with it has not been explored anywhere near as much as it should have been in relation to the Eisteddfod and the Gorsedd stone circles. This has been mentioned throughout my blog posts but I think it best to reiterate how significant it is, as the identity on a local, national, or individual scale can absolutely be affected by how the physical heritage (such as the stones themselves) and the more abstract heritage (such as information surrounding the sites) are treated by those in control of them. What I have also learnt however is that we are all in control of them. Almost all of these stone circles have been placed on what seems to be public land, meaning they are there to be enjoyed and appreciated by everyone, making the need to increase accessibility to information about them even more of a priority. Eisteddfods take place every year and have done for centuries, yet the archaeological sites that are symbolic of this time immemorial celebration of national identity are so greatly underappreciated, both in academic and public spheres that I hope this website will serve to kick-start a drive to rectify the lack of use these spaces have endured so far; both in terms of information present and historical appreciation of what they represent.
Overall, if you are interested in the history of these stone circles as a professional or curious member of the public, intrigued as to how I as a heritage student felt whilst researching and visiting them as a stranger or friend or family, what the state of each site is like ( especially if you are an advocate of protecting your local/national history, either personally or professionally), and also wish to judge the importance of projects such as these for posterity, I hope you will come along with me on this journey to show that these sites are still there and for us to engage with each other to discuss new ways of appreciating and protecting these sites.