Welsh and Irish Coastal Research Project Begins

A multi-million pound European research project investigating the risks of climate change to the coastal landscapes of Wales and Ireland has begun, according to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW).

The project will focus on the headlands and islands around Pembrokeshire, Cardigan Bay and the Llŷn Peninsula and sites along the south and east coast of Ireland.

With funding of €4.1 million from the EU’s Ireland-Wales program, the CHERISH (Climate, Heritage and Environments of Reefs, Islands and Headlands) project is being led by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) in collaboration with Aberystwyth University.

Two Irish partners are also involved in the five-year study – the Discovery Program: Center for Archaeology and Innovation Ireland, and the Geological Survey, Ireland.

The project will fund new excavations, records of environmental change, marine mapping and landscape modelling.

“Sediments in coastal peat deposits, such as those at Cors Fochno (Borth Bog), as well as those in lagoons and dune systems, provide a detailed record of past climatic change. We’re particularly interested in how storm activity has varied over the last few thousand years and the lessons we can learn today from history,” said Dr Sarah Davies, a Reader in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences (DGES).

The project will also support future strategies on climate change by providing a deeper understanding of longer-term changes to Wales and Ireland’s heritage and coastal environments.