{"id":131,"date":"2014-02-02T16:45:20","date_gmt":"2014-02-02T16:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/?p=131"},"modified":"2014-02-02T18:48:42","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T18:48:42","slug":"the-mutual-benefits-of-volunteering-with-susie-sandford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/the-mutual-benefits-of-volunteering-with-susie-sandford\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mutual Benefits of Volunteering with Susan Sandford"},"content":{"rendered":"

During my time at Cardiff University I have been keen to add to my practical skills by volunteering. There are always opportunities for students to donate their time to local heritage projects and between 2013\/2014 my colleagues, Sara Brown<\/strong> and Johanna Thunberg<\/strong> and I, have been working with the National Trust at Aberdulais Tinworks and Waterfall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The waterwheel at Aberdulais Tinworks and Waterfalls. Photograph published with permission of the National Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The beautiful National Trust<\/a> property at Aberdulais near to Neath, South Wales is situated next to a waterfall which has made the property the place it is. Its water has provided the power for various industrial enterprises over the last 400 years from copper smelting to tinplating. The remains of the latter can be seen today alongside the replica waterwheel in action generating electricity. It is these remains which form the stories in the current exhibitions and have been the subject of excavations since the 1980\u2019s. As with many sites<\/a> there remains much post excavation work to be done from these early excavations and the current property team have commenced a project <\/a>to get this work done and produce archaeological reports.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>
Some of the finds kept outside on the site. Iron can corrode quickly when kept outside so making the best recommendations about conserving these finds can be a challenge! Photograph published with permission of the National Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Johanna<\/a>
Johanna has spent a lot of time matching the objects we now have with the records made when they were excavated so that the site can be interpreted by archaeologists. Photograph published with permission of the National Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As part of this project our work for Aberdulais Tinworks and Waterfall is to accession and preserve the collections at the site. These consist of archaeological finds which have been excavated on various digs between 1980 and 2010 and various other objects made from Tin, Bronze, Leather and assorted building materials.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A lot of our time has been spent accessioning the 122 iron finds around the site. Here I am labelling large objects in the exhibition area. Photograph published with permission of the National Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So far we have:<\/p>\n