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Newborough Warren is most famous as a beautiful network of sand dunes, overlooked by Snowdonia, on the southern tip of Anglesey.

Yet the carpet of grasses and flowers that covers the dunes left here by thousands of years of storms and tides mask what researchers believe is a lost part of Wales heritage.

Archaeologists believe that the area has been inhabited since Roman times and have found suggestions nearby of a small medieval village.

They believe it may date back to the Dark Ages, the centuries after the Romans left and from when there are few historical records.

Long since been buried in the sands and forgotten, researchers now hope to unearth its secrets

(Image: Google Earth) (Image: Smabs Sputzer/Flickr)

Researchers hope to uncover the village as part of a multi-million pound European research project investigating the risks of climate change to the coastal landscapes of Wales and Ireland.

The project, which will be launched on Thursday, will focus on the headlands and islands around Pembrokeshire, Cardigan Bay, and the Llyn Peninsula and sites along the south and east coast of Ireland.

As well as the village at Newborough Warren, they will also be hoping to uncover ancient shipwrecks.

Cutting-edge technologies will be used to analyse coastal and island archaeology and maritime heritage sites most affected by climate change, coastal erosion, storms and rising sea levels.

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At Newborough Warren, a dig last year uncovered a house buried in sand dunes near the Menai Strait.

At the time, senior archaologist David Hopewell said: “The building had been covered with over a metre of sand, perhaps from a well documented great storm in 1331 that buried part of Newborough.

“The house was quite large, around 12 x 7m externally with thick stone walls and opposing entrances in the centre.

“Radiocarbon dates suggest it dates from the 7th or 8th century.”

The house was found as part of investigations into a site researchers are calling Rhuddgaer.

He believes it is part of an entire village and told the Daily Post: "To see a whole village like this is a first in Wales."

The project is being funded by €4.1m from the EU’s Ireland-Wales programme.

Dr Toby Driver, a senior investigator at the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments Wales, said: “Our fellow researchers from Ireland will use a specially-equipped boat to carry out multi-beam surveys under the sea.

"Thanks to cutting-edge marine mapping, we’ll be able to take high-resolution images of the wrecks that foundered on undersea locations such as Sarn Badrig near Harlech.

“Some will have been there for up to four centuries and it will be the first time many of them will ever have been seen under water.

“We’ll also be looking at Newborough Warren on Anglesey where a whole village is said to have been buried in sand hundreds of years ago.

"Other areas include the Skerries, Stackpole, and the islands of Pembrokeshire as well as Irish coastal sites.”

The project is called Cherish (Climate, Heritage and Environments of Reefs, Islands and Headlands).

And it is being led by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) in collaboration with Aberystwyth University.

Aberystwyth University will look at the development of high-resolution records of environmental change from sedimentary and historical records led by Dr Sarah Davies from its geography and earth sciences department.

“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,” she said.

“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.

“Over historical timescales, documentary records can also provide valuable information about the changing nature of storm activity – and how communities coped with living in dynamic coastal environments.”

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

(Image: Keith Morris)

Public events will be held to share information about the findings and training sessions will be arranged to support development of tourism opportunities.

Welsh Government Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said: “This project brings Wales and Ireland together to tackle some of our shared challenges around climate and environmental changes in our coastal regions.

“It’s very important that heritage sites and assets under threat from climate change are protected and I’m pleased this investment will also support new opportunities for the tourism sector in both nations.”

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

As well as the €4.1m of EU funds, Cherish is being co-financed by €1.1m from the participating organisations.