Bird's eye book sheds light on Preselis (From Western Telegraph)

Bird's eye book sheds light on Preselis

3:00pm Sunday 24th June 2012 in County News

A book looking at Wales from a bird’s eye view sheds new light on the historic features of the Preseli Hills.

The stunning scenery of the Welsh landscape is illustrated from a different perspective in Historic Wales from the Air – Images from the National Monuments Record of Wales.

Pembrokeshire’s rich and varied landscape is featured in images captured from the air dating as far back as the 1920s to the present day.

The 225 images, many of which are published for the first time, have been selected from the country’s largest collection of aerial photography, the National Monuments Record of Wales.

They range from some of the earliest work of private and military aerial photographers to the latest discoveries by aerial archaeologists.

One of the Pembrokeshire images features Foel Drygarn, an Iron Age hill fort enclosing three massive Bronze Age cairns. Built at the eastern end of the Preseli hills, the hill fort is remarkable for the dense concentration of scooped house platforms – at least 227 – that crowd the interior.

Dr Toby Driver, joint author with Dr Oliver Davis, said: “In all their richness and diversity, these fascinating images tell the story of Wales.

“It is all too easy to accept things as we see them when walking about on land but until you see things close up from the air you only see half the story.

“The photographs allow us to examine what we know in greater detail but also throw up a number of questions to which we have yet to find the answer.”