862 REPORT — 1886. 



Edward Llwyd, a Welsh historian, also states that the trees, 'which retained 

 manifest signs of the strokes of the axe at the falling of them,' were again seen and 

 noted in the year 1590, and the trunks of the fallen trees are said to have been seen 

 by various persons in recent years. 



The foregoing evidence appears to support the theory of submergence, rather 

 than that of simple encroachment of tlie sea. 



There is an old tradition, still current locally, that previous to the year 520 a 

 large tract of land existed on the present northern shore of Pembrokeshire, extending 

 from Ramsey Island (ofE St. David's) to Bardsey Island (ofE the coast of Caernarvon- 

 shire). This supposed tract of land was known as Cantref y Gnaelod (i.e. the Low- 

 land Hundred), and is said to have been inundated about the year A.D. 520. 



We have not been able to discover any reliable proofs that the land inundated 

 was ever connected with the coast to wiiich this report refers. On the contrary, 

 nearly all the evidence, either physical or historical, opposes the local tradition re- 

 ferred to. The authorities we have consulted differ very greatly in their statements 

 regarding the extent and locality of the inundated lowland. [See accompanying 

 copy of chart on previous pa^e.] 



Theophilus Jones, of Brecon, ' a very celebrated Welsh herald,' writes : — ' History 

 as well as tradition agree in stating that Cantref y Gwaehd, ... of which my 

 ancestor Gwyddno Goronhir . . . was the king or reigning prince, reached all the 

 way to the Irish coast ; that it was only a river that divided them till it was 

 inundated.' 



Carlisle, in his ' Topographical Dictionary,' says : — ' Canirrfy Gn-aelod is supposed 

 to have occupied that portion of St. George's Cliannel which lies between the main- 

 land and a line drawn from Bardsey Isle to Ramsey, in the county of Pembroke, 

 and the proprietor is called in ancient authors Lord of Cantref y Gwaelod. in Dyfed — 

 Dyfed in old records always meaning the county of Pembroke. Mr. Edward Llwyd 

 greatly corroborates this tradition, having observed roots and stumps at a low ebb 

 in the sands between Borth and Aberdyfi, in the county of Cardigan. And Giraldus 

 says that St. David's Head extended farther into the sea, and tliat trunks of trees 

 with fresh marks of the axe were apparent.' 



Carlisle had, evidently, no acquaintance with the coast of Pembrokeshire. In 

 cjuoting Giraldus' remarks it is plain that he supposes Newgale to lie to the north of 

 St. David's Head. We cannot find that Giraldus an3'where states that St. David's 

 Head extended farther into the sea. 



Carlisle, in another place, says :—' History informs us that all the bay between 

 the Causeway [St. Patrick's Causeway] and the county of Cardigan was formerly dry 

 land, called Cantref y Gwaelod.' 



In Camden's ' Britannia,' p. 632, we are informed : — ' And that saying of William 

 Rufus shews that the lands were not here [? St. David's Head] di.sjointed by any 

 great sea, who, when he beheld Ireland from these rocks, said he could easily make a 

 bridge of ships whereby he might walk from England into that kingdom.' In the 

 foregoing Camden evidently misquotes Giraldus Cambrensis, who, in his 'Itinerary 

 through Wales,' tells us that ' in clear weather the [Irish] moxintains are visible ' 

 from St. Davids, ' and the passage over the Irish Sea may be performed in one short 

 day.' Ireland is to be seen even nowadays from this coast in clear weather. 



In Meyrick's ' History of Cardigan,' in his references to Cantref y Gwaelod, we 

 find: — ' The boundary of this \_Cantref y Gwaelod] on the north-west was, we are 

 told, Sarn Badrig, or St. Patrick's Causeway, wliicli runs out to sea in a serpentine 

 manner, about two-and-twenty miles from the coast of Merionethshire, about half- 

 way between Harlech and Barmouth. The coast included between this causeway 

 and Cardigan bounded it on the north-east and south sides, and a supposed line 

 from Cardigan to the extremity of Sarn Badrig formed its western limit.' 



