66 CARNEDDI HENGWM, WEST. The second view, looking westward, requires a more extended explanation. Yes; I was about to say, that my attention was attracted by what seems to be one of the ancient forts of the Britons, upon that eminence to the north-west, and commanding a prospect of the whole of the vale below." It is one of those circular intrenchments; and, doubtless, it was occupied by one of the hostile parties who fought the battle, of which these carneddi are a memorial. The name of it is Dinas Corddyn; but I imagine that to be not its primary appellation, as it seems intended rather to be descriptive of its appearance, that is to say, the rampart of the circular groove. Let me here draw your attention to a singular change which this mountain plain has undergone. "I perceive, as we are descending, we are getting into a peat-bog." "We are so; but I recollect it a fine dry sheepwalk, and the only indication of peat was about half a mile off, on its southern limit; and even so late as 1811, I passed this way on horseback, without observing what we now do; but coming over it, in like manner, in 1827, I found great difficulty in getting the horse to pass over the numerous gullies, formed everywhere over the plain, at which, you may imagine, I was greatly surprised. You see also the deep hollow on our right, which gives name to the place, as before mentioned; the nearest side of it, extending about half a mile downwards, I recollect as a famous nutting place, being a thicket of various underwoods, and especially the hazel; and now the whole of it is as bare as the side of yonder mountain. The continued encroachment of the sea must have caused these changes, as the trees are gradually disappearing in the vale below. By looking to the west, you descry a small island, in the horizon, off the promontory of Carnarvonshire; that is Enlli, or Bardsey, the holy island of Wales, on which are left some remains of its ancient monastery. "But what do I perceive in the sea, which, till now, I deemed to be an illusion, or some transient appearance of the sea?" I am pleased at your not having attended to that object sooner, as I designed to conclude our ramble with telling you all I know about it. That which seems a wall built in the sea, is Sarn Patric, or the causeway of St. Patrick. "What had he to do here?" Why, he was born beyond that middle range of hills, which you see to the north-west. According to our genealogy of the British saints, he was the son of Allvryd, the son of Goronwy ab Gwydion ab Don, of Gwerydog, in Arvon, and he became the apostle of Ireland. "And he went to the green isle along that causeway, do you say?" I do not; but there is no great harm in our calling that great work after his name. "Do you mean it to be the work of man?" It is the remains of a vast imbankment to stem the encroachment of the sea. It commences near the point of Mochras, and takes its course towards the middle of the bay, three miles off the present shore; and the sailors acquainted with this bay, describe it as extending in a south-west direction, to the distance of twenty-one miles, and nine miles of it is left dry at every low water; and there are three small breaches in it, through which vessels pass. As to the time of its construction, history is altogether silent; and what people, in so secluded a region, could have undertaken so stupendous a work is extraordinary to think of. At the extremity of the headland of Clynin, on the south side of Barmouth, another similar rampart, called Sarny Buch, or causeway of the buck, is to be traced for nearly two miles into the sea, in a direction to where the other terminates. On the Cardiganshire coast, there are some remains of the same kind, in the sea; and one of them, near Aberystwyth, is called Sarn Cynvelyn, the causeway of Cynvelyn; and near to which is Caer Gwyddno, or the fort of Gwyddno. Tradition has preserved several particulars of this district, which was overwhelmed by the sea, about the close of the fifth century, and which for many ages has gone under the name of Cantrev y Gwaelod, or the lowland hundred. Besides such traditions, we have a few curious memorials of it, in some of our oldest manuscripts, and from them inserted in the Welsh Archaiology, and which are here subjoined. The first are incidental notices, occurring in the genealogies of the British saints. Welsh Arch. vol. ii. p. 23. 1. Seithenin, the king, of the plain of Gwyddno, whose land was inundated by the sea. 2. Merini, Tutglyd, Gwynodl, Tudno, and Senevyr, the sons of Being on board of a vessel coming from London, in the summer of 1770, the sailors pointed these ruins to me, though under water, as we were sailing close by them. King Seithenin, of the plain of Gwyddno, whose land was inundated by the sea. 3. Senevyr, the son of Seithenin, of the plain of Gwyddno, whose land was inundated by the sea. 4. Tutglyd,* Gwynodl, Merin, Tyneio, Tudno, and Senevyr, the sons of King Seithenin, of the plain of Gwyddno, whose land was inundated by the sea. 5. Tudno, the son of King Seithenin, whose land was inundated by the sea. 6. The following is from the triads. Welsh Arch. vol. ii. p. 64. Of the three arrant drunkards of the isle of Britain, the third was Seithenin the drunken, the son of Seithyn Seidi, king of Dyved, who, in his drink, let in the sea over Cantrev y Gwaelod, so that all the houses and lands therein were lost; where previously were found sixteen principal towns, among the best of all the towns and cities of Wales, without including Caer Llion upon the Uske and Cantrev y Gwaelod was the dominion of Gwyddno Garanhir, king of Ceredigion. This occurred in the time of the sovereign Ambrosius; and the men who escaped from that inundation landed in Ardudwy, the country of Arvon, the mountains of Eryri, and other places, which were not fully inhabited theretofore. 7. There are two compositions by the before-mentioned Gwyddno, printed in the Welsh Archaiology, vol. i. p. 165, and which allude to the above-recorded catastrophe, and are out of a manuscript written about the year 1100. They have the character of our poetry of the earliest times; and, even in the old manuscript here alluded to, they bear evident marks of having previously suffered by transcribing, as may easily be seen by examining the verses. The first extract is from a poem by Gwyddno, unconnected with the present subject: the wave; "Kyd karui vi morva, casaa vi don; Though I may love the strand, I hate [my breast: the wave has force achieved to wound I grieve: it is all useless as to it! Digoneis don dreis oer kleis y ron: 8. The following verses are upon the subject itself of the inun dation, by the same bard: "Seithenin, saw di allan Ac edrych uirde varanres: Seithenin, stand thou out and view the western waves in rows: in sea the plain of Gwyddno is involved! There are churches in Wales dedicated to these saints, the sons of Seithenin. NO. V. D This last verse is not by Gwyddno, but is attached to the others in the old manuscript, and taken from the verses on the Graves of the Warriors, as inserted in the Welsh Arch. vol. i. p. 79. IDRISON. * Near Aber Porth, on the coast of Cardiganshire, there is a sand beach of small extent, called Traeth Saith, a name that seems to indicate a connexion with those preserved in the ancient memorials of the inundation of Cantrev y Gwaelawd. THE VALE OF CLWYD. BY ROBERT FOLKESTONE WILLIAMS. "The Vale of Cluid extended from the middle of Denbighshire to the sea, about eighteen miles long, and some five in bredth, having these three excellencies, a fertile soile, healthful ayre, and pleasant seat for habitation." Notes to Michael Drayton. "The vewe thereof so much contents the mynde, Churchyard's Worthies of Wales. How sweet it is, when memory turns to trace, Delightful Clwyd! such has been to me The mem'ry of thy sweet and tranquil vale, Hopes that the heart had thought would never fail In sorrow and in pain, I've turned to thee, And felt, through all the darkness of the gloomiest fears, Oft, in my solitude, when least alone, Coming upon my senses with a tone Of deep and holy feeling, which doth press From the calm precincts of a world unknown, |