Ayrshire as fully as in any other district ever traversed by man.
Mr, Smith has arranged his researches by an order of topography,
and has lavishly illustrated the vestiges (not always strictly prehis-
ANTIQUARIAN INTELLIGENCE. 95
oric) which l\e has met with in the perambulation of his fiekl of
work. There is, verily, no lack of material at home for the explorer
who sets about detailed examination of any such prolific site as Ayr-
shire evidently ofters to the antiquary. Caves and coffins, cromlechs
and crannogs, monoliths, circles, walls, and sculptured rocks, in turn
yield up their long-unheeded and misunderstood story, when looked at
in the light which Mr. Smith has shed on them. Precious stones,
glass, metals, pottery, and all the j^rized paraphernalia of prehistoric
man, reward the tiader with a rich harvest in payment for his task
By the study of this book we may make ourselves familiar with man-
nei*s and customs that prevailed in Britain so long ago that no one has
as yet ever categorically declared the exact number of millennia which
have elapsed since all these things were the current apparatus of
human life. It is well they should be recorded ere tliey disappear
before the irresistible march of destruction which characterises the
present condition of man, and Mr. Smith has merited, in this respect,
the thanks of all archaeologists.
A Perambulation of the Ancient and Royal Forest of Dartmoor and
the Venville Precincts. By the late Samuel Rowe, M.A. Third edit.
Revised by J. Brooking Roave, F.S.A. (Exeter : Commin, 1896.) —
This is a charming book, full of old-world interest, records, forest-lore
and anecdotes, descriptive scenery, dainty sketches, geology, natural
history, botany, and bibliography. It makes one long to visit the
places, which it has invested with a glory that no other site in England
possesses, — the forest of all forests for extent, wildness, history, con-
tents, and all that makes a country open-air life irresistible. The
antiquarian aspect of the district is beyond dispute ; and there are
relics prehistoric, relics historic, mediaeval, and post-medireval, sufficient
to satisfy every wish and fulfil every desire ; for upwards of 280,000
acres of land cannot possibly exist in any civilised country without
possessing a vast amount of local attraction and interest ; — and tlie
author and editor of this book have made the district their study, and
have not failed to arouse and sustain the reader's feelings from the
beginning to end of it.
Xooks arid Cor7iers of PemhrokesJtire, drafni and described by
H. TiiORNiiiLL TiMMiNS, F.R.G.S. (London : Stock, 1895.)— Pembroke-
shire has always been a favourite Welsh county for historians and
artists, from the days of Fenton to the present time. Not long ago we
welcomed Mr. E. Laws' Little England Beyond Wales, dealing with
the peninsular district of the southern part of the county. Now we
96 ANTIQUARIAN INTELLIGENCE.
have to hail a furtlier work on Pembrokeshire, in which the author and
draughtsman has gathered up a long array of attractive facts from
books which have passed before him, adding to them many quaint
tales, descriptive passages of scenery, and notices of antiquities and per-
sonages, and embellishing the whole with sketches which bring back
forcibly to the minds of those who have been happy enough to visit
the actual sites the memories of their past pilgrimages in Southern
Cymric. Castles, churches, tumuli, ancient sculptured slabs, and
carvings of every kind, meet the wanderer at every turn ; and they
are fully treated in this work, which pleases in reading by the fact
that it is not written in a heavy, prosaic style, but lightly and daintily,
filled with anecdotes and tales of current lore.
Well calculated as it is to give a general idea of the aspects of
ancient Pembrokeshire, it will also serve as a guide, endowed with
judgment and intelligence, if carefully perused before setting out to
follow the author in his excursions and itineraries over the land
wherein he has left few objects of interest unnoticed. Twelve years
have elapsed since the Tenby Congress introduced to our members the,
to them, novel aspects of the county. This work will keep alive in
their memory the principal antiquities they visited on that occasion ;
it will even make them desire more than ever to revisit the district of
South Wales at no very distant day.
TH E JOURNAL
93ntisl) iHrdjarolocjical "Hssoctatton.
JUNE 1896.
NOTES ON SOME ANCIENT STONE FORTS IN
CARNARVONSHIRE.
BY LADY PAGET.
{Read 15 Apr If lS9(i.)
T is related by Professor Skene that " the
earliest known inhabitants of Great
Britain and Ireland were of the Iberian
type, small, dark-skinned, and curly-
haired, with long skulls. These Avere
followed by the Celts, consisting of two
great branches, the British andGadhelic
branch. One was fair-skinned, large-h'mbed, and red-
haired, and were represented in Britain by the people of
the interior, wliom the Romans thought to be indigenous,
and who, after the Roman province was formed, were
called by them Picts, or painted people. They are repre-
sented in the legendary history of Ireland by the Tuath
de Danann, and by the Cruithnigh, a name which was
the Irish e(|uivalent of the Latin * Picti', and was a])plied
to the Picts of Scotland, and to the people who preceded
the Scots in Ulster. Throughout the whole of the Welsh
189G 7
98 NOTES ON SOME ANCIENT
documents the Picts are usually denominated Gwyddyl
Ffichti, while the Irish are simply termed Gwyddyl."^
" The name Gwyddyl Ftichti, as applied to the Picts,
rests on better authority than that of the Triads. In
the old poems, though the Picts are usually termed the
Brithwyn. yet this name of Gwyddyl Ftichti is also
applied to them, as in a curious old poem in the Book of
Taliesin Five chiefs there shall be of the Gwyddyl
Ftichti... Three races wrathful of right qualities, Gwyddyl,
Bython, and Romani, create war and tumult."^'
The following quotation, given by Mr. Goudie in his
letter to The Shetland News (Dec. 21, 1895), is worthy
of consideration : — " The highest authority among Scan-
dinavian antiquaries, J. J. A. Worsaae (Minister of Public
Instruction in Denmark), now deceased, whom I had
the honour of meeting in Copenhagen in 1880, did not
hesitate for a moment to assign these Brough struc-
tures to the Celts or ' Picts'; and this is amply brought
out in his valuable book. An Account of the Danes and
Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland, published
(translation) in London, 1852, by Gilbert Goudie. We
find the seaboard of Wales, on the west, in the occupation
of the Gwyddyl or Gaul, and the Cymry confined to the
eastern part of Wales only, and placed between them and
the Saxons. A line drawn from Conway in the north to
Swansea in the south would separate the two races of
the Gwyddyl and the Cymry on the west and on the
east."'^
It is also on record that " the Dananns spoke the same
language as their predecessors, the Firbolgs. I believe
these Tuatha-de-Dananns, no matter from whence they
came, were, in addition to their other acquirements, great
masons. I think they were the builders of the great
stone cahirs, duns, cashels, and caves in Ireland ; while
their predecessors constructed the earthen works, the
raths, circles, and forts that diversi-fy the fields of Erin."^
1 W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland {\87 6).
- W. F. Skene, IWiesin, the Four Ancient Books of Wales (1868).
â– ' W. F. Skene, State of Wales in the Sixth Centuri/ (1868).
* Address to tlie Anthropological Section of the British Association,
Belfast, 1879, by Sir William Wilde, M.D.
STONE FORTS IN CARNARVONSHIRE. 99
In connection with these stone forts an Ogam stone
has been deciphered by Sir S. Ferguson, showing they
were in use during tlie Pictish period. The story is as
follows, and is recorded on a stone which he discovered
near an old earth fort on Mount Brandon in Kerry. He
reads: — "The stone of Curoi Mac Daire. Cuchullain and
Conor, two champions of the lied Branch, heard of the
beauty of Blanaid, daughter of" the King of the Picts,
and to win her invaded her country. When embarking
they were met by a peasant, whose apparent strength
induced them to ask him to join their party. He con-
sented on condition he should have whatever object in
the spoil he chose. This was Curoi, and he chose Blanaid.
They had to yield her ; but she had seen Cuchullain,
and much pi-eferred him to her husband. They kept up
a secret intercourse, and arranged their plot. She per-
suaded Curoi to send off his vassals on a foray. On a
concerted signal, Cuchullain stormed the fort, killed
Curoi, and carried off the lad3^ After some time a wan-
dering minstrel came to their dwelling, and liis skill was
such that the chief retained him in his service. At last,
when visiting Dunseverich Fort, the bard walked on with
Blanaid, drew her to the edge of the precipice, and tell-
ing her he was Curoi's bard, come to avenge his master
on his faithless wife, seized her in his arms, and leaped
from the precipice."
I received this account, some years back, in a private
letter from the Eev. Dr. Kobinson, the Observatory,
Armagh, Ireland. The Fort of Conor, or Dun Concho-
bhair, is on the middle island of Arran, and is described in
Notes on Irish Architecture, by Edwin, third Earl of
Dunraven, edited by Margaret Stokes.
" Cathbad, a Druid of the Picts of Ulster, had three
daughters. The eldest, Dectum, was the mother of the
celebrated champion, Cuchullain."'
Thus, according to Prof Skene, the Celtic Picts inha-
bited the western coast of Wales, and were known there
as the Gwyddyl Ffichti, inhabiting especially the moun-
tainous districts, though not entirely confined to the sea-
coast.
1 ^\'. V. Skene, Celtic Scvtland.
7»
100 NOTES ON ROMK ANCIENT
It may be mentioned that about the same period the
eailiest colonists in Ireland, the Firbolgs and Tuatha-de-
Danann tribes, which our historians bring hither from
Greece at a very remote period, were accustomed to build
not only these fortresses, but even their dome-roofed
houses and sepulchres, of stone without cement, and in
the style now usually called Cyclopean and Pelasgic.^
But remains probably belonging to the Picts are still
to be found in Wales. In Carnarvonshire alone there
can be easily traced thirty-six uncemented stone fort-
resses or forts between the river Conway and the Eifl,
the western ridge of the Snowdon Mountains. Most of
these are nearly or quite destroyed. The stones on Caer
Seiont may still be seen in the picturesque walls of Con-
way Castle, while the mountain cottages and walls have
laid claim to the stones of other ancient buildings. The
first uncemented stone fortress in Wales to which atten-
tion should be given is that of Pen-y-Gaer, in Carnarvon-
shire, North Wales, probably belonging to the Gwyddyl
Ffichti, on account of an interesting similarity between
the building arrangements for its defence, and those of
the Dun Aengusa (or Fort Aengus) on the island of
Aranmor, on the west coast of Galway, Ireland ; both
having upright stones placed in front of the entrance,
described as follows in Notes on Irish Architecture, by
Edwin, third Earl of Dunraven : — "A feature worthy of
note in the military defence of this fortress is the manner
in which the approach across the open space of the exte-
rior ward is rendered difficult. A few yards in advance
of the wall are placed long, narrow stones set on end,
and sloping irregularly outwards, and placed at irregular
distances, but with about room for a man to pass between
them. This labyrinth of stones is evidently intended,
like the chevatix-de-frise of a modern fortification, to
retard the approach of an assailant, and to scatter and
expose to the weapons of the garrison any body of men
who might "have crossed the exterior wall."
The Prehistoric Fort of Pen-y-Gaer. — A plan of the
ancient fort of Pen-y-Gaer was kindly taken for me by
^ Geo. Petrie, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland : the Round
Towers (1845).
STONE FORTS IX CA RXA RVOXSHIRE. 101
Mr. James Thompson, eldest son of the Warden of Kadlev
College, near Oxford, and is here given. In general its
shape is oval, with two gates. The north-east, east, and
south-east sides of the hill being veiy steep, are only
defended by a single line of stonework. The north-
west, west, and south-west sides, being less steep, are
defended by a triple line of earthworks in addition to
â– o/ .,.v\\\vW\\\\V\\\\\N\\\\\\\\\\\w,v\\\v^7. :â– :;â– .? "'<;
y0 '^"'"""|^ni}<|^..„l
M
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\m;^ '^-'//irwm^^
Pen-j'-Gaer. — Gate on Xortb-West Side.
A. Outer Entrance, about 7 ft. wide"\
B. Second ,, ,, I n t
C. Third „ ,. I^''^**'"-
D. Inner „ „ )
X.X. Earthworks about 3 ft. high.
Z.Z. Strong Stone Defence ; inner one about 20 ft. thict.
Y.Y. Remains of circular Entrenchments, very numerous.
W.W. Space in which Ground is covei'ed with sharp Rocks, appai-ently to
hinder the Enemy's Approach.
strong stone fortifications. The two gates come on the
north-west and the south-west sides, and in each case
towards the west end of the side.
It was in this stronghold that, according to the J/r</>///-
ogion, Math ap Mathonwy held his court. He ^^â– as lord
over Gwynedd, and known as a great magician. This
uncemented stone fortress is called in the Mahinogion
*' Caer Dathyl" and " Caer Dathal", and it has been called
102 NOTES ON SOME ANCIENT
in later times " Caer Helen". It is situated on the sum-
mit of a hill, about a mile distant from Llanbedr, between
Llanrwst and Conway.
6>
Y
Y
Pen-y-Gaer. — Gate on South-West Side.
A. Inner Entrance, about 8 ft. wide.
B. Second „ ,,
C. „ ,, (additional) ,,
D. Outer „ about 10 ft. wide.
E. ,, ,, (additional) ,,
Z.Z. Strong Stone Defences, but weaker than at North- West Gate.
X.X. Earthworks, very strong.
Y.Y. Interior of Fort, with numerous circular Entrenchments.
The name of Pen-y-Gaer as Caer Dathal occurs in an
elegy on the death of Owen Gwynedl, ciixa 1169 :
" Around tlie region of Caer Dathal
Lay those whom the vultures had mangled,
Reddening tlie hill and the headland and the lake."^
These lines lead to the su}3position that the ancient fort-
ress was inhabited as late as the twelfth century.
Two miles east of Pen-y-Gaer, in the plain near the
river Conway, are found the remains of the Roman Cono-
vium. After the departure of the liomans it became
Rhuii's chief residence, and from him obtained its subse-
quent name of Caer Rhun. He died in a.d. 586. " Khun
^ Oambro- Briton, vol. ii, p. 3.
STONE FORTS IN CARNARVONSHIRE. 103
ap Maelgwyn Gwynedd was the most graceless man in
the world. "^
A very perfect British shield was found in these ruins
during the present century. It is now preserved in
Hawarden Castle.
Pen-y-Gaer. — South-West Side. Section of Triple Defences.
A. Stone Defences. B, C, D. Lines of Earthworks.
Caer Bach. — About two miles north from Pen-y-Gaer,
and on the south-east of the Tal-y-Fan mountain, as
marked on the Ordnance Map, is Caer Bach, apparently
one of the numerous watch or signal-towers, built of un-
cemented stone, which are found about two miles distant
from each other over every part of the mountains ; thus
showing that the enemies the}'' dreaded came from the
land as well as from the sea.
Before calling attention to these ancient fortresses (all
of uncemented stones) in the parish of Dwygyfylchi, Car-
narvonshire, the general features of the country ought
to be considered. The tourist of to-day, climbing Pen-
maenmawr or Caer Seiont, must realise that they were
once thickly wooded, and three or four miles from the
sea, the river Ell dividing Carnarvonshire from Anglesea.
Lhjs Ildig. — There is in this neighbo\n-hood an inte-
resting old palace called Llys Helig, now submerged.
Some of the walls, of uncemented stone, about 10 ft. high,
can still be seen, and walked upon at low spring tides,
between Gogarth and Priestholme. The writer has been
to the walls.
^ Mabhtoyion,
104 NOTRS ON SOME ANCIENT
" Hellig^ ap Glannog, Lord of Abergele, Rhos Arllech-
wedd Llyn, Cantred Gwaylod, and Earle of Heretford.
In his tyme happened the greate inundation which sur-
rounded Cantredd Gwaylod, and the most delicate, fruit-
ful, and pleasant vale lyinge from Bangor Vawr yn
Gwynedd to Gogarth, and so on to Dlganwy or Gannog
Castle ; in length and in breadth from Dvvygyfylchi to
the point of Flintshire, which came up from Ruthlan to
Priestholme (otherwise Puffin Island), and in the upper
end thereof did extend in breadth from Aber and Llan-
fair unto the river Ell. Which did divide Caernarvon-
shire from Anglesey ; and did likewise divide Anglesey
from Flintshire, runnynge between Penmon and Priest -
holme, and so dischardgyng yttself into the sea, a greate
way beyond Priestholme. This Flood did surround many
other rich and ffi'uytfull vales within the Counties of
Caenarvon, Fflint, Anglesey and Merionedd ; most of
them beinge the landes of Helig ap Glannog, whose
chiefest Palace stood in this Vale, muche about the
myddle way from Penmaenmawr to Gogarth (Orme's
Head), the ruins whereof is now to be seene, upon a
grounde ebbe, some two miles within the sea directly over
against Trwyn yr Wylfa ; which is a hille beynge in the
myddest of the parishe of Dwygyfylchi, within the
landes of Sir John Bodvil, Knight ; unto whiche hill
Helig ap Glannog and his people did run uppe to save
themselves, beynge endangered with the sudden break-
ynge in of the sea uppon them, and then saved their
ly ves ; and beynge come uppe to the pointe of that hill,
and lookinge backe and beholdynge that dreadfull and
ruthfull spectacle which they had to survey and looke
uppon instead of their incomparable vale. Helig and all
his peo[)le wringing their hands, made a great outcrie,
bewaylinge their misfortune, and calling unto God for
mercy. The point of which hill to this day is called
Trwyn yr Wylfa, that is the Point of the Mourninge
Hill.^'
Traeth EH, or Traeth-y-Leven {Traeth Ajiaiven). —
^ Extracts from Carnarvonshire Antiquities, from an old MS., coni-
municatecl by J. Wright, Esq., F.S.A., to ArcJufoloyia Cambrensis,
3rd h'f-r., vol. vii(18Gl).
STONE FORTS TN CARNARVONSHIRE. 10-5
" Lleclnvedd-uclia doth ineane north west uppon the
mayne sea that sunoiinded the delicate vale aforesaid,
and in the upper end, from Penmaenmawr to Bangor,
doth mean north and west upon the greate Washe called
Traeth Ell ; so called from the river Ell, formerly the
meare between Carnarvonshire and Anglesey ; as Traeth
Mawr hath his denomination from the ryver Mawr,
which dischardgeth itself through that Washe into the
mayne sea ; and ytt is alsoe called Traeth y Leven
(Traeth AHawen), that is an unpleasant wharf, because
ytt is an unpleasant syght unto the spectators, and a
fearful! and dismall objecte, brynginge dayly in minde
how unhappy they were to loose soe fFaire, soe ffruitful
and soe ffeartill a country, beyinge beaten backe with
overwhelmynge waves."
Conway River. — "The general tradition of the country
says that the river Conway emptied itself to the sea, in
the direction of Rhos Mynach, below the church of Llan-
drillo yn Rhos."^ It was before the great inundation
took place, of the sixth century, that the river flowed in
this direction. " It has been celebrated from the earliest
period of British history for its pearl-fishery. Pliny
asserts that Julius Caesar dedicated to Venus Genetrix,
in her temple at Rome, a breastplate set with British
pearls. The shell in which they are found is called the
pearl-mussel; its Linnsean name h Mija MargaritiferaJ'
Caer Seiont or Caer Scion — On Penmaen Bach is the
large town and citadel of Castell Caer Seion. This camp
is erroneously called Castell Caer Lleion, after Pennant.
The remains of this fortress, built without mortar or
cement, can easily be traced along the mountain ridge,
with numerous Pictish-formed habitations on the south
and west sides of the hill. This fortress is often alluded
to in ancient Welsh documents. It is situated in the
parish of Dwygyfylch, or Caergyvylchi (" Dwy" meaning
two, and " Gyfylchi" in the form of a gap).
According to the Mahinogion, it was to this fortress
that the starling reared by Bronwen flew, which bore,
tied to its wing, the letter from Bronwen, in Ireland, to
' Owen Jones.
106 NOTES ON SOME ANCIENT
her brother Bencligald Yraii (or Bran the Blessed), com-
plaining of her husband Matholvvch's cruel treatment
of her.
About a mile from Dinas Penmaenmawr stands the
most remarkable monument called Y Meinen Hirion. We
are indebted to Mr. E. Davies for observing that Hy wel's
Caer of the Cyvylchi, in Eyri in Avon, was the circle of
pillar-stones called Y Meinen Hirion, enclosing an earthen
vallum, and themselves enclosed by a wall on the mount
of Dwygyfylchi " Wynne of Gwydir".
Y Meinen Hirion. — Howell Dha ap Cadell ap Rodri
Mawr, the Welsh legislator, in compiling his celebrated
W^elsh Code in the tenth century, made use of the laws
of Dyvynwal Moelmud. Now it was translated to the
writer from an old Welsh book (author forgotten), that
Hywel Dha had his residence on Allt Gwyn Penmaen
Bach, Avhere foundations of a strong fort can still be seen.
Also that he had the circle of stones placed on the
mountain over Gwddw Glas, on the way to Penmaen-
mawr, where he used to give judgment. The following
story rather confirms this supposition.
About the year 1870, the writer was lodging on the
mountain near Gwddw Glas, and the landlady, sent by
her husband, hoped the writer would not feel uneasy at
several men assembling there in the middle of the night,
for they were going up to the circle of stones to settle a
dispute about some land, the result being that both
parties considered the judgment given at the stones as
binding.
Ceridwen. — Another subject connected with this vill-
age of Dwygyfylchi must not be overlooked. It is that
of the goddess Ceridwen, who was worshipped here.
" Her temple was at Caer Gyvylchi, near Penmaenmawr,
in Carnarvonshire, where a great number of immense
stones, showing its circular form, are still to be seen."^
Ceridwen is generally considered to be the Goddess of
Nature of Welsh mythology.^'
Pair Ceridwen (the cauldron of Ceridwen) is frequently
' ylrcA. Cainb., vol. i, p. 71
^ ^Jotes in the MfiMvorfion.
STONE FORTS IN CARNARV^ONSHIRE. 107
alluded to by ancient poets. In one of Taliesin's songs
this occurs :
" I have obtained the muse from the cauldron of Ceridwen ;
I have been bard of the harp of Lleon of Loclilin ;
I have been on the White Hill in the court of Oynvelyn ;
For a day and a year in stocks and fetters
I have suffered hunger for the Son of the Virgin."
Accordino- to the " Notes" in the Mahinogion, Mael-
gwyn Gwynedd succeeded to his father, Caswallon-law-
hir, in the sovereignty of Gwynedd about the year 517
A.D. Taliesin was frequently at his court. The few
lines quoted show a curious mixture of heathenism in
Ceridwen and faith in the Christ.
A strange superstitious feeling about the cauldron
still remains about the Carnarv^onshire mountains. About
the year 187- a copper cauldron on three legs, which had
belonged to a " witch", was to be sold by auction in the
parish of D — . The writer, from an antiquarian view,
wished to possess the copper cauldron, but the greatest
care was taken to prevent the day of the sale being made
known. A Welsh friend afterwards explained, " Oh,
they (the parishioners) were determined you should not
have the cauldron, fearing you would find out through
the cauldron any wrongdoing in the parish."
" When Bronwen was married to Matholwch, her
brother, Bendigald Vran, gave Matholwch a cauldron
with magical powers, saying, ' I had it of a man who had
been in thy land' He came from Ireland."^
Dinas Penmaen, or Penmaenmaivr. — Mr. Caswel, at
the request of Mr. Flamsteed, the great astronomer, who
died 1719, measured the height of Penmaenmawr, and
found it to be, from the sands, 1,545 ft. ; according to
the Ordnance Map it is 1,553 ft. Mr. Caswel found that
"after climbing for some space among loose stones, the
fronts of three, if not four, walls presented themselves
very distinctly, one above the other. In most places the
facings appear very perfect, but all of dry work. T
measured the height of one wall, which was at the time
9 ft.; the thickness, 7-J ft. Between these walls, in all
^ Kotes in the Mnlnnoginn