This publication is the culmination of the remarkable tenacity of a local archaeological society in ensuring that a high level of investigation and recording was undertaken of development within their town, and in particular the results from a two-year study at Parc Glyndŵr. The evidence gathered from various investigations demonstrated the existence of a lake that covered the area of the historic town up to a depth of 6m until as recently as the Iron Age. This was unexpected and attributed to the blockage of natural drainage, which created a post-glacial lake that would have formed the largest body of water in south Wales. More surprising still was the discovery in 2012 of three parallel round-bottomed hollows or trenches found as peat-filled cuts lined by a thin pond-weed marl, on the edge of these lake deposits at Parc Glyndŵr, which have been interpreted as the imprint of a double-hulled and outrigger canoe of Bronze Age date. In historic times Monmouth, which was located at the confluence of three rivers, was known for its boatbuilding and had access down the Wye to the sea; indeed, the seal of the town is a medieval boat, and the archaeological evidence could therefore indicate the considerable longevity of this activity. Ethnographic evidence, Scandinavian rock art and excavated remains of log boats from Lurgan and Carrowneden, Ireland, which would have been contemporary with the suggested evidence from Parc Glyndŵr, as well as Time Team excavations at Smallhythe, Kent, have been discussed in support of the interpretation.

This is a popular publication, which brings great credit to the author and contributors. It makes important archaeological evidence and interpretations available to the general public in an attractive and informative way, without dumbing down, but also without the sometimes uncompromising straitjacket of an academic publication. The latter can often get bogged down in detail, and the greater picture can be lost in the minutiae of such studies, important though they may be in their own right. The author has acknowledged that the detailed report should have preceded this popular format, but the significance of the discoveries and the need for impending development to be made aware of the potential for the survival of rich archaeological remains, fully justifies dissemination of the Society’s work to a broad audience. The style of the book is of a diary, with the narrative moving from investigations at one site to those of another site in another year, interwoven with personal accounts and differing interpretations offered by members of the team. This makes it a little difficult to grasp the spatial connectedness of some of the locations, and one needs to search in diverse parts of the book for details and related radiocarbon dates, but such limitations are a small concern in comparison to the usefulness of an easily accessible account of a complex series of archaeological investigations and their synthesis.