Caer Ddyvir is Berwick. Caer Sergent is Cicester. Caer Camber is Llandovery; Camber built it. Caer Athrwy is Beaumaris. Caer Callestr is Flint. Caer Vantell is Wrexham. Caer Colyn is Colunwy or Clun. Caer Wyddring is Glastonbury. Caer Drom is Dorchester. Caer y Garre or Caer Gor is Chichester. Caer Loiw is Gloucester; it was built by Gloiw Casser, or according to others, by Gloria, Earl of Gloucester. Sowyth Hamton (Southampton); Gwerydd ab Tenoran built it. Queen Alfleda built Tamworth and Chersburgh. Corboniam built Cambridge. Crantam was built by Peredyr. Tre Pickring was built by Elydr. Correspondence. ON THE BEST MEANS OF EXTENDING THE SUCCESS AND UTILITY OF THE CAMBRIAN ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. To the Editor of the Archæologia Cambrensis. SIR, I believe it is proposed to establish a new National Institute for Wales, having similar objects to those of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, &c. It is impossible to overrate the advantage to Wales and the Marches of such a Society; but to its efficiency a union of all the intellectual energy of the Principality is obviously essential. A country fuller of unexhausted interest to the Naturalist, the Historian, the Geologist, the Antiquarian, the Statistician, the Metallurgist, the Merchant, and the Manufacturer, does not exist in Europe. The rapidly developing resources of South Wales alone, with its ores, its coal fields, its metallic works, its railways, both present and prospective, and above all, its unrivalled Haven, (so long and shame fully neglected,) would,-apart from its charms for the Antiquarian and Geologist,-indicate at once the scope and utility of such an institution for such a country. I apprehend that one of its chief uses would be to congregate men of different acquirements for the purposes of discussion, and the free interchange of information and experience. For this purpose there should be two meetings in the course of each year. A fund of varied knowledge and research possessed by a host of intelligent men is now comparatively wasted, and scattered over the whole Principality for want of communion and co-operation. This is remarkably the case between the North and South of Wales, which are to each other almost like foreign countries. To effect this union is one of the greatest requirements of Wales. How is this to be done? I believe by making the Archæological Association the nucleus of the new Institute, and so enlarging its sphere as to embrace all, instead of one only, of the objects of a NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, such as that which has proved of such vast utility to English science and enterprise. I do not believe that fragmentary institutions, with separate subscriptions, have half the same chance of usefulness. To be successful they must be comprehensive, and appeal to great national wants, sympathies and pursuits. The same subscription now paid for the "Archæological Association" would suffice for its own objects combined with all the other sections of the proposed Institute, were it but generally supported by the Nobility, Clergy and Gentry of the whole Principality and the Marches. A Quarterly Cambrian Journal might then be maintained such as would reflect the richly gifted intellect of the country, and be worthy of its name. I know of few means whereby the capacities and importance of this part of the United Kingdom would be more speedily developed, or effectually raised to their proper rank among the countries of the empire.-I remain, &c., June 22, 1853. A FRIEND TO WALES. P.S.-I am not aware that any other change in the title of the present Institution would be requisite or expedient, than simply that of dropping the word "Archæological." Its name would then be "The Cambrian Association." The list of the sections (of which Archæology would be one), would best set forth its various objects. [The preliminary meeting of the National Institute of Wales will be held at Brecon in the week commencing 12th September, simultaneously with the next Annual Meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Association.] ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. IV. 2 E THE GRAVE OF GWALLAWG. To the Editor of the Archæologia Cambrensis. SIR,-The discovery of this grave, or rather of the sepulchral urn, of Gwallawg ap Lleenog, opens a wide field for archæological research, whether viewed in connexion with the abandonment of Britain by the Roman legions, and the consequent irruptions of the Picts and Saxons to effect a dismemberment of the old British constitution, or as an authentic fact affording ocular demonstration that the rites and customs of burial, as recognized in the decemviral laws, and general throughout Europe and Asia, were practised in the Principality as late as the seventh century, and that the light of Christianity, though gradually amalgamating with the doctrines and tenets of druidism, had not hitherto had the effect of extinguishing the funeral pile or Mygedorth. In the former case we shall have occasion to notice the united efforts of the Cumbrian, Venedotian, Cornish and other western tribes, in forming a barrier to the encroachments of the Irish and Gaelic tribes, and their ineffectual struggles in maintaining an ascendancy over the barbarian hordes who carried fire and sword into all parts which enjoyed the privileges and security of Roman citizenship. In the latter case we can lay down some fundamental rules, by which to estimate the progress of the Christian faith in the erection of churches and seminaries, and take an impartial view of ecclesiastical history in its earliest stages as it applies to the Principality. The question mainly rests on the quality of the materials, historical and traditional, which can be brought to bear upon these subjects, and the amount of authenticity to which they have a fair title. The maxim, lux quia non lucet, will not enable us to steer a clear course through the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the twelfth and and subsequent centuries; and facts, and not idle conjecture, must be employed in the winnowing process of separating the grain of authentic truth from the overwhelming chaff of the credulity and superstition of the middle ages. In the grave of a Caledonian chieftain of the sixth century, in a retired part of Arfon, we have ocular proof of the reality of that movement among the Cumbrian Britons in seeking an asylum in in North Wales, which is but faintly alluded to by the early annalists, and we can no longer doubt that Maelgwyn Gwynedd, the representative of a race of British sovereigns, after the example of his father Caswallon, held the shield of protection over those Romanized Britons from the north, who sought refuge in his dominions. If we adopt the Saxon Chronicle as our guide in forming an outline of the history of these times, we shall soon find that its bearings are of a hostile tendency to everything British, and unfavourable to the claims of sympathy for the deplorable condition of the aborigines. The author of this Chronicle appears to have flourished about the middle of the twelfth century, and being a determined partizan of the Church of Rome, has thought proper to ignore the very existence and exploits of Arthur, the Cornubian prince, in checking the inroads of the western Saxons, and to pass over in silence the reign of Maelgwyn, though his sovereignty was then acknowledged on the banks of the Thames. The history of both these princes is so mixed up with the fabulous legends of the monastic school, that it is difficult to detect a grain of historical value in the reputed productions of this period, even by the aid of the pestle and mortar. Laying aside, therefore the Saxon Chronicle, we have the bards of the court of Maelgwyn to refer to for their testimony as to the events which distinguished his reign in his efforts to resist the encroachments of the Saxons. How comes it to pass, therefore, that Taliesin, the head of the bardic profession, and in high favour at court, should appear, notwithstanding, dressed in the cowl of an Augustine monk, and in open hostility to his royal patron. The only reply which can be made is, that all his poems have undergone some modification to suit the taste and prejudices of the twelfth century, in order to advance the views and objects of the monastic orders, to the detriment of sound knowledge; in fact, that they have been remodelled and elaborated on the anvil of St. Dunstan, at Glastonbury, at the same time that the Gododin underwent the same process of metamorphosis. * If we examine these bardic effusions with attention, we shall soon discover that they are totally at variance with chronology and topography, and more calculated to corrupt the sources of national information, than to illustrate the current of history. From such a poem as that of the Gododin, it would be in vain to look for any light for penetrating into the dark abyss of bardic lore; nomenclature, genealogy, and topography are the only means left, in the absence of authentic details, from which we may obtain some clue for unravelling the mystery connected with the bardism of the middle ages, and for dissipating the cloud of superstitious credulity which has usurped the place of history. Fortunately the poems of Taliesin, though strangely perverted, contain an index pointing to a particular locality, a minute survey of which will enable us to establish an historical theory, or rather, in the pompous phraseology of the school of Morganwg, to excogitate a canon, from which may be deduced several important facts in the history of the Principality. I shall, therefore, by the help of this index, take a position on an eminence on the banks of the Conway, commanding a view of Gogerth, or Orme's Head, and the adjoining district, together with a portion of the commot of Dindaethwy, in the Isle of Anglesey. The spot I select is called Bryn Eurun, in the immediate vicinity of Llandrillo, in Rhos, an eminence 412 feet in height. Bryn Eurun, or as it is generally called Bryn Arien, has been for This is some time an object of deep research, apparently within reach of discovery, but, like another Will-with-the-wisp, always evading the grasp of the poet and the antiquary. Every Welsh disciple or noviciate of the bardic profession should approach this hill barefooted and with due reverential awe, for here has been deposited the sepulchral urn of no less a personage than Tydain Tad Awen, whom the British antiquaries, in the excess of their zeal, particularly those of the school of Bryant, have attempted to identify as the Hyperborean Apollo of antiquity. The period when he flourished is not known, but cannot be very remote, and his mortal remains may yet be discovered on the skirts (godre) of this hill. Here was the Omphalon of the British muse from whence issued the oracular language of the Hierophant of the period of Gwallawg ap Lleenawg, and around this Parnassian Bryn the phantom of Taliesin had been hovering, and uttering its denunciations for a period of 700 years. Within the distance of a few hundred feet may be seen the palatial, or rather the marine, residence of another distinguished character, whom the poets have attempted to invest with a kind of mythological character. called Llys Eurun, where Maelgwyn Gwynedd held his court, to whom we are indebted for some of the principal ecclesiastical endowments in Wales. The district where these two places may be seen is called Creuddyn, and forms one of the most interesting localities in Western Europe, from the historical associations which may be traced through the whole of its extent. After the departure of the Roman legions and the settlement of an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, the Principality of North Wales became the retreat of the Northumbrian Britons, and Creuddyn in particular, whether for the salubrity of the climate, or the fertility of its soil, became a favourite residence of the Cumbrian princes, and in process of time, the cradle of the old British sovereignty, and the Delphic abode of Galatea, or the Celtic muse. Here we meet with memorials of the ancestry, as well as of the posterity, of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, who seem to have entertained a partiality for this spot, as a place of security between the sea and the Snowdonian range of mountains. Of the former, among whom we recognize several eminent princes who wielded in succession the British sceptre, was Einion Eorth, whose Din, or head-quarters, may be seen midway between Bryn Maelgwyn and Bryn Eurun, now called Dineorth. He was the father of Caswallon Law Hir, and though we possess but scanty materials to compose a history of his reign beyond ocular proofs of numberless forts and encampments throughout the country, which perpetuate the name of this British monarch, yet such was the celebrity of his military exploits, though not even alluded to in the Saxon Chronicle, and so lasting the impression produced by the public occurrences of his reign, that even at this day, notwithstanding the lapse of so many centuries, which has buried in oblivion the acts and deeds of kings and conquerors, all antique coins, wherever found, are called, by the common people in England, Onion, or Einiawn's money. |