In the early 1940’s a remarkable discovery was made…

William Owen Roberts was head groundsman during the construction of RAF Valley, when the Air Ministry wanted to stop sand blowing into aircraft engines at the new airbase, which had been built on levelled sand dunes, he suggested dredging peat from the nearby bogs and spreading it across the site so grass seed could be sown.

The dredging of the peat led to the discovery of the Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard, one of Europe’s most important Iron Age discoveries.

Believed to have been cast into an ancient lake at Llyn Cerrig Bach around 2,000 years ago, the finds, of predominantly militaristic character were quickly realized to be of immense significance.

Fast forward 80 years and Llyn Cerrig Bach is once again revealing fascinating secrets. In April 2024 during an excavation led by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and personnel and veterans from Operation Nightingale ( a DIO initiative which supports the health and wellbeing of military personnel and veterans) an Iron Age horse bit and terret ring (used to guide the reins of a chariot), which would have originally formed part of the Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard, were discovered beneath the airfield.

The discovery of new Llyn Cerrig Bach finds, which are awaiting conservation work in Cardiff have coincided with Eflyn Owen Jones’s 90th birthday, Eflyn, the daughter of W O Roberts, has dedicated many years to raising awareness of the Llyn Cerrig Bach finds, through lectures, workshops and work with schools. Eflyn was also involved in the 2012 exhibition at Oriel Môn, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the hoards discovery, and the popular publication ‘Llyn Cerrig Bach: Treasure from the Iron Age’. We recently welcomed Eflyn to Oriel Môn to view some of the other exciting new treasure finds that have recently been acquired by the museum.