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Cantre’r Gwaelod – The Lost Land of Wales |
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This picture shows the remains of Sarn Dewi said to be one of seven causeways left behind by the ice age which became ways or 'sarnau' to Maes Gwyddno or Cantre'r Gwaelod.
© Roy Carpenter |
Cantre’r Gwaelod was said to cover much of the lowlands now beneath Cardigan Bay, and many geographical features are connected to the legend. The Sarnau, single ridges several miles long, which run at roughly right angles to the shore, are located between each of the four river mouths in the north of the Bay. Legend has it that these ridges are the remains of causeways built to give access to the present mainland at high tide, but they are probably the remains of glacial moraines – formations of gravel, clay, sand and boulders left behind as the glaciers melted away at the end of the last Ice Age.
In his 'Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1833), Samuel Lewis recorded another of the features of Cardigan Bay, which could be seen at particularly low tides. Caer-Wyddno - "the fort, or palace, of Gwyddno;" is a collection of large stones and boulders, seven miles out to sea, west of Aberystwyth. Could this have been the actual palace of the unfortunate King, who partied while his kingdom flooded?
Many of the global legends that feature flooding, or inundation by water are thought to refer to the drastic changes in land formations after the last Ice Age. Between 17,000 and 7,000 years ago, great ice caps over northern Europe and North America melted down, resulting in floods, and sea-level rises of over 100 metres. 25 million square kilometres of formerly habitable lands around the world were drowned by the waves, and although the changes were mostly gradual, our ancient ancestors would have lived in a turbulent, vulnerable environment.
It is thought that stories were handed down from generation to generation in remembrance of those distant times, and have resulted in the myriad of myths that feature the loss of lands due to coastal flooding and sea level rises. In featuring a 6th Century King, the story of Cantre’r Gwaelod seems to have taken place at a much later point in time, but serves to illustrate how changes in the natural world provide food for the imagination, and tales of the hearthside.
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