, also known as or ( en, The Lowland Hundred), is a 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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It has been described as a "Welsh

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

" and has featured in folklore, literature, and song.

The legend

Cantre'r Gwaelod was an area of land which, according to legend, was located in an area west of present-day Wales which is now under the waters of Cardigan Bay. Accounts variously suggest the tract of land extended from Bardsey Island to Cardigan or as far south as Ramsey Island. Legends of the land suggest that it may have extended 20 miles west of the present coast.

Rachel Bromwich Rachel Bromwich (30 July 1915 – 15 December 2010) born Rachel Sheldon Amos, was a British scholar. Her focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and she taught Celtic Languages and Literature in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic a ...

questions this identification, saying that "There is no certainty, however, that in twelfth century tradition Maes Gwyddneu did represent the submerged land in Cardigan Bay." She also links Gwyddno Garanhir with the

Hen Ogledd Yr Hen Ogledd (), in English the Old North, is the historical region which is now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands that was inhabited by the Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages. Its population sp ...

, not Wales. There are several versions of the myth. The earliest known form of the legend is usually said to appear in the ''

Black Book of Carmarthen The Black Book of Carmarthen ( cy, Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin) is thought to be the earliest surviving manuscript written solely in Welsh. The book dates from the mid-13th century; its name comes from its association with the Priory of St. John the E ...

'', in which the land is referred to as ( en, the Plain of Gwyddno). In this version, the land was lost to floods when a well-maiden named Mererid neglected her duties and allowed the well to overflow. The popular version known today is thought to have been formed from the 17th century onwards. Cantre'r Gwaelod is described as a low-lying land fortified against the sea by a dyke,

Sarn Badrig Sarn Badrig, also spelled ''Sarn Padrig'' ( Welsh for 'St. Patrick's causeway'), is one of several more or less parallel shingle reefs extending under the sea in Cardigan Bay on the west coast of Wales. The causeway is made of glacial deposits l ...

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints b ...

's causeway"), with a series of

sluice Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...

gates that were opened at low tide to drain the land. Cantre'r Gwaelod's capital was , seat of the ruler Gwyddno Garanhir. Two princes of the realm held charge over the dyke. One of these princes, called

Seithenyn Seithenyn (sometimes spelt Seithennin) sometimes known as ''Seithenyn of the feeble mind'' is a figure from Welsh legend, apparently contemporary with King Gwyddno Garanhir. He is the protagonist of a poem in the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Black Bo ...

, 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.

Relationship to myth of Llys Helig

Rachel Bromwich discusses a similar tale, that of the submergence of the kingdom of

Helig ap Glanawg Helig ap Glanawg (standard modern Welsh orthography: Helig ap Glannog) is a legendary figure described in various accounts dating to at least as early as the 13th century as a 6th-century prince who lived in North Wales. Post-medieval tradition ...

in the Conwy estuary. As with Cantre'r Gwaelod, there are tales of remains being seen of the sunken kingdom (

Llys Helig Llys Helig is the name of a natural rock formation off the coast at Penmaenmawr, north Wales. There may be a fish weir to the south which tradition dates to the beginning of the 6th century. The sea level was low enough around 1600 AD to make the ...

). Bromwich believes that the two stories influenced each other, and that "The widespread parallels to this inundation theme would suggest that the two stories are in fact one in origin, and were localized separately in Cardiganshire and in the Conway estuary, around two traditional figures of the sixth century. She also notes that J.O Halliwell in his 1859 text ''An Ancient Survey of Pen Maen Mawr'' gives Helig the title "Lord of Cantre'r Gwaelod". In the book ''New Directions In Celtic Studies'' Antone Minard wrote that "The Welsh legends of Cantre'r Gwaelod and Llys Helig (Helig's Court) contain the same details of audible bells beneath the waves and ruins which are visible at the equinoctial tides, which are the anchors of credulity in the story".

Physical evidence

There is no reliable physical evidence of the substantial community that according to legend lies under the sea, although there are several reports of remains being sighted. In 1770, Welsh antiquarian scholar

William Owen Pughe William Owen Pughe (7 August 1759 – 4 June 1835) was a Welsh antiquarian and grammarian best known for his ''Welsh and English Dictionary'', published in 1803, but also known for his grammar books and "Pughisms" (neologisms)."The Inventi ...

reported seeing sunken human habitations about four miles (6 km) off the

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cer ...

coast, between the rivers Ystwyth and Teifi. In the 1846 edition of ''The Topographical Dictionary of Wales'', Samuel Lewis described a feature of stone walls and causeways beneath the shallow waters of Cardigan Bay: Lewis takes the view that maps by the

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

marked the coastline of Cardigan Bay in the same location as it appears in modern times, suggesting that the flood occurred before the second century AD. The "causeways" described by Lewis can be seen today at beaches around Cardigan Bay. Known as , these ridges stretch several miles into the sea at right angles to the coast, and are located between each of the four river mouths in the north of Cardigan Bay. Modern geologists surmise that these formations of clay, gravel and rocks are

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

s formed by the action of

melting glaciers Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can ...

at the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. In a 2006 episode of the BBC television documentary ''

Coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

'', presenter

Neil Oliver Neil Oliver (born 21 February 1967) is a British television presenter, archaeologist, historian and author. He has presented several documentary series on archaeology and history, including ''A History of Scotland'', ''Vikings'', and ''Coast'' ...

visited

Sarn Gynfelyn Sarn Gynfelyn is a shingle spit on the coast of Cardigan Bay, in the county of Ceredigion, Mid- Wales, in the United Kingdom. It is located at Wallog, a few kilometres north of Llangorwen, close to Clarach Bay, south of Borth and north of the ...

at Wallog. The programme also showed the remains of the submerged forest at Ynyslas, near Borth which is associated with the lost land of Cantre'r Gwaelod. The vista of dead oak, pine, birch, willow and hazel tree stumps preserved by the acid

anaerobic Anaerobic means "living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen", as opposed to aerobic which means "living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen." Anaerobic may also refer to: * Anaerobic adhesive, a bonding a ...

conditions in the soil is revealed at

low tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

; storms in 2010 and 2014, and particularly Storm Hannah in 2019, have eroded the sea-bed offshore and revealed more stumps. The forest is estimated to have been submerged between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. Evidence of human habitation includes a timber walkway made of coppiced branches and upright posts, human footprints preserved in hardened peat, and burnt stones thought to be from hearths. In 2022, geographer Simon Haslett and linguist David Willis published research suggesting that the medieval

Gough Map The Gough Map or Bodleian Map is a Late Medieval map of the island of Great Britain. Its precise dates of production and authorship are unknown. It is named after Richard Gough, who bequeathed the map to the Bodleian Library in 1809. He acqui ...

provides evidence for two offshore islands within Cardigan Bay. These were suggested as "likely to be the remnants of a low-lying landscape underlain by soft glacial deposits laid down during the last ice age which has since been dissected by rivers and truncated by the sea".

Images

File:Badgernet BorthBeach1.JPG, Submerged forest remains, March 2008 File:Badgernet BorthBeach2.JPG, Submerged forest remains, details, March 2008 File:Petrified tree stump at Ynyslas, Ceredigion, Wales.jpg, Preserved tree stump on Borth sands near Ynyslas File:Low tide at Sarn Gynfelyn - geograph.org.uk - 845252.jpg, Sarn Gynfelyn revealed by low tide File:The end of Sarn Gynfelyn - geograph.org.uk - 845257.jpg, The end of Sarn Gynfelyn

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

. 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.

Analogies in other legends

The legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod is comparable to the

deluge myth A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval ...

found in nearly every ancient culture and it has been likened to the story of

. Several similar legends exist in

Celtic mythology Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed ...

which refer to a lost land beneath the waves. Both the Breton legend of Ker-Ys and the Arthurian tale of

Lyonesse Lyonesse is a kingdom which, according to legend, consisted of a long strand of land stretching from Land's End at the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, to what is now the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea portion of the Atlantic Ocean. ...

refer to a kingdom submerged somewhere in the Celtic Sea, off the coast of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

respectively. A weaker parallel is the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, an ...

otherworld Tír na nÓg ('Land of Youth'), often conceived of a mystical land reached via a sea voyage; however, it lacks an inundation myth.

Cultural references

Literature

The legend has inspired many poems and songs throughout the ages. The earliest mention of Cantre'r Gwaelod is thought to be in the thirteenth-century

in a poem called ( en, The Drowning of the Land of Gwyddno) which relates the tale of Mererid and the well. The story inspired a

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

-novel, '' The Misfortunes of Elphin'' (1829), by

Thomas Love Peacock Thomas Love Peacock (18 October 1785 – 23 January 1866) was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels, ...

. At the 1925

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitor ...

, held in

Pwllheli Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plai ...

, Dewi Morgan ('Dewi Teifi') won the

Bardic Chair The Chairing of the Bard () is one of the most important events in the Welsh eisteddfod tradition. The most famous chairing ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week. Winne ...

with his Awdl recounting the legend, adopting Thomas Love Peacock's version as the basis for his poetic rendition. Ptolemy Cosmographia 1467 - Great Britain and Ireland

Ptolemy Cosmographia 1467 - Great Britain and Ireland

Geologist William Ashton's 1920 book, ''The Evolution of a Coast-Line, Barrow to Aberystwyth and the Isle of Man, with Notes on Lost Towns, Submarine Discoveries, &C'', discusses the legend and takes Ptolemy's map as evidence of the existence of an area of lost land in Cardigan Bay. Ashton also includes a conjectural map of Cantre'r Gwaelod within the bay.
map illustration on page 257
Cantre'r Gwaelod is also featured in modern

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

. Cantre'r Gwaelod is central to the setting of the 1977 Newbery Honor Book '' A String in the Harp'' by Nancy Bond. The kingdom also plays a major role in ''Silver on the Tree'', the last book of '' The Dark Is Rising'' by Susan Cooper, parts of which are set in

Aberdyfi Aberdyfi (), also known as Aberdovey ( ), is a village and community in Gwynedd, Wales, located on the northern side of the estuary of the River Dyfi. The population of the community was 878 at the 2011 census. The electoral ward had a larg ...

. Siân Lewis and Jackie Morris's book ''Cities in the Sea'' (2002) retells the legend for children, and Welsh musician Cerys Matthews's first children's book ''Tales from the Deep'' (2011) features a story, ''The Ghost Bells of the Lowlands'', which was adapted from the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod.

Music and art

St Peter's Church and Terrace Road Aberdyfi - geograph

The

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

The Bells of Aberdovey The Bells of Aberdovey ( cy, Clychau Aberdyfi) is a popular song which refers to the village now usually known locally by its Welsh-language name of Aberdyfi (sometimes still anglicised as ''Aberdovey'') in Gwynedd, Wales at the mouth of the Riv ...

"), popularised in the 18th century, relates to the part of the legend about the bells being heard ringing beneath the waves in the town of

. This song inspired cultural projects in the town involving bells; a new chime of bells was installed in September 1936 in the tower St Peter's Church, Aberdyfi, specifically designed to allow the playing of ''The Bells of Aberdovey''. An

art installation Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

by the sculptor Marcus Vergette, a bronze "Time and Tide Bell", was mounted beneath the jetty in Aberdyfi Harbour in July 2011 as a homage to the folk song. The bell is rung by the action of water at high tide. The story of Cantre'r Gwaelod was the theme of the song entitled
Y Bobl
that competed in the final of Cân i Gymru 2021, which was written by Daniel Williams and performed by Lily Beau.

Local representation

In the 1990s the village of

had a small primary school which changed its school badge to show a raven surrounded by bells on a shield. The raven represented the nearby Corbett Estate which owned a large amount of land and built a number of houses. The raven can be seen on various buildings in the area. The school has since been closed and demolished, making way for affordable housing.

Television

An episode of the BBC CBeebies programme '' Telly Tales'', first broadcast in 2009, featured a children's re-enactment of the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod through a mixture of animation and live action. Cantre'r Gwaelod featured in the BBC documentary series ''

''. Presenter

visited the sands of Aberdyfi and Ynyslas, near Borth, and examined the remains of the submerged forest and Sarn Badrig which are revealed at low tide, assisted by local historians and dendrochronologists.

References

External links

Cantre'r Gwaelod - The Lost Land of WalesExperts look for 'watery kingdom'
* * ttp://www.llangynfelyn.org/dogfennau/disgrifiadau_topog.html local history page looking at possible documentary evidencebr>Submerged forest, Borth Sands, Wattle walkway exposed by storms of January 2014 - from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
{{coords, 52.5, -4.5, display=title Cardigan Bay Flood myths Locations in Celtic mythology Mythological kingdoms, empires, and countries Welsh mythology