Cantre'r Gwaelod

Cantre'r Gwaelod, ( _en. The Lowland Hundred) is the legendary ancient sunken kingdom said to have occupied a tract of fertile land lying between Ramsey Island and Bardsey Island in what is now Cardigan Bay to the west of Wales.

The Myth

Cantre'r Gwaelod's capital was Caer Wyddno, seat of the ruler Gwyddno Garanhir. There are several versions of the myth. It is described as a walled country that was defended from the sea by a dyke called Sarn Badrig (Saint Patrick's causeway), over which two princes of the realm held charge. One of these princes, called Seithenyn, is described in one version as a notorious drunkard and carouser, and it was through his negligence that the sea swept through the open floodgates, ruining the land.

The church bells of Cantre'r Gwaelod are said to ring out in times of danger.

Origins of the Myth

The myth, like so many others, may be a folk memory of gradually rising sea levels at the end of the ice age; and its structure is comparable to the deluge myth found in nearly every ancient culture. The physical remains of the preserved sunken forest at Borth, and of Sarn Badrig nearby, could have suggested that some great tragedy had overcome a community there long ago, and so the myth may have grown from that. There is no reliable physical evidence of the substantial community that legend promises lies under the sea.

Reported Sighting

In 1770, Welsh antiquarian scholar William Owen Pughe reported seeing sunken human habitations about four miles (6.4 km) off the Ceredigion coast, between the rivers Ystwyth and Teifi.

Cantre'r Gwaelod in fiction

Although not as famous as Atlantis, with which it has been compared by some modern authors, Cantre'r Gwaelod has featured in fiction with a Welsh flavour, notably the alternate universe Louie Knight series. In the satirical parody "Aberystwyth Mon Amour", a group of Druids plan to launch an ark and reclaim the land of Cantre'r Gwaelod. A schoolboy genius, Dai Brainbocs, assumed it really did exist and was proved right - using microphones to echo locate the town by the sound of the community's bells ringing underwater. Unfortunately to launch the ark Brainbocs needs to destroy the Nant y Moch dam above Aberystwyth, so the flood would destroy much of it. The irony is obvious.

Cantre'r Gwaelod is also a major location in Susan Cooper's "Silver On The Tree", the fifth and final book in her series "The Dark is Rising". Young Will Stanton, last of the Old Ones (a group of immortal beings associated with the Light that must save mankind from the Dark) and his friend Bran Davies, son of the famous King Arthur, travel through time to Cantre'r Gwaelod, the Lowland Hundred, in search of the last great Thing of Power. With it the Light can finally stand together against the Dark and banish it forever.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/wales/w_mid/article_1.shtml Cantre'r Gwaelod - The Lost Land of Wales]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/coast/pages/5.shtml The submerged forest of Borth]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/5016240.stm Experts look for 'watery kingdom']
* [http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/gwyddgmd.html An exploration of the 'walled realm' version of the myth, and the semi-legendary King Gwyddno]
* [http://www.llangynfelyn.org/dogfennau/disgrifiadau_topog.html local history page looking at possible documentary evidence]