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The Rhondda Leader, 20-10-1906
“Talcen y Byd.”
“The Alps of Glamorgan.”
(By Rev. JOHN GRIFFITH, Author of “Edward II. in Glamorgan.”)
If the course of the river Cynon, which is fairly straight, extended to the
confluence of the rivers Nedd and Mellte, the courses of the Cynon and the
Nedd, almost equally long and straight, would form a right angle. At that
angle met the boundaries of three ancient principalities, Morgannwg,
Brycheiniog, and Dinefwr, and of two dioceses, Llandaff and St. David’s. At
that inter-state cockpit the interests of Morgannwg have always been well
guarded by an escarpment, which also forms a rough rectangle and extends a
good way down both the Nedd glen and the Cynon valley. It is known to
geologists as the “great Pennant scarp,” and to the natives, with exquisite
propriety, as “Talcen y Byd” (“The World’s Forehead”). It was to Morgannwg
the angle of greatest resistance and a flying wedge of great strategic value.
As “Talcen y Byd” is also the highest point in
Glamorgan, with all the ridges and glens between the Tâf and the Nedd more or
less joined to it, running out from it like so many radii within a
quarter circle, its strategic importance as the headquarters of the Blaenau
as against the Bro may be easily appreciated. Gwlad Forgan, or Glamorgan,
strictly speaking, as distinguished from the larger Morgannwg, was placed
between “Talcen y Byd” and the deep sea, and its peace and prosperity
depended
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more on the goodwill of the lord of “Talcen y Byd” than on the
guardian of its sea-board. It took the Norman lord of Cardiff two centuries
to annex “Talcen y Byd” to his estates; that is, the latter never knew a
Norman lord, and its final annexation by an Anglo-Norman was accomplished by
an astute statesmanship on the one part, and by the operation on the other
part of a natural law which eventually resulted in the re-conquest of the
Vale by “Talcen y Byd,” a conquest the nature and extent of which may be seen
in the fact that the most thoroughly Normanised county of Wales was, at the
beginning of the last century, in sentiment and speech, as thoroughly Welsh
as any part of Wales. It was from “Talcen y Byd” that the Normans derived
their inspiration to build their magnificent “blockhouses,” which afforded
great sport to the former to demolish.
The Normans are but a vague memory, and their castles have only some
archaeological value, but “Talcen y Byd” was never so dominant as at the
present moment, not over Glamorgan only, nor Wales, nor Britain; but as
Westminster is metaphorically, “Talcen y Byd” is literally the seat of the
might of the British Empire. The supremacy of Britannia as mistress of the
sea depends on her possession and wise utilisation of “Talcen y Byd.” In
scientific prose, “it is the headquarters of Welsh coal-mining, and
especially of the mining of the best quality of the Welsh steam coal.” The
name of the Pennant scarp, which was
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given to it by some unknown genius before the first quarter of
the last century, is severely scientific, historically true, truly poetical,
and profoundly prophetic.
Incalculably valuable as “Talcen y Byd” is to Britain, it will not help the
purpose of this light sketch to labour that point. All the world knows the
Rhondda Valley, but comparatively few know Glyn Rhondda. Again, the apparent
total absence from the district of Roman, Saxon, Norman, and English
monuments and remains may have given to many an impression of archaeological
poverty. There is an almost absolute destitution in the Rhondda of remains of
the cultures mentioned, but that fact, to my mind, clears and simplifies the
situation greatly, so that it is with some confidence that I invite attention
to a truly British museum in situ on still British soil. To visit this museum
you only need to know some Welsh. A smattering of Irish would be very handy,
while a dash of Pictish would be more valuable than all you know about the
Romans, Saxons, and Normans. It is also a distinct advantage to know where
you are at at the beginning of the inquiry, that you are plunging into the
pre-historic unknown. You can choose for starting point either the lowest
downward limit of time which is the upward limit of the historian, or if the
dawn of history will not do, you can start at once with the dawn of the
Bronze Age, and help us to decide how much earlier our characteristically
neolithic remains may be. The three great pre-historic Ages - Neolithic,
Bronze and Iron - have already been made, out there, but one is not satisfied
with such
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an ordinary record. The Pict, the Goidel, and the Brython are there right
enough, but so they are everywhere in the adjoining districts. But the
Rhondda Pict, who was probably slightly above what we consider medium size,
with a cephalic index of 84, could hardly sleep comfortably, except
dog-fashion, in the tiny night-shelter which may be seen almost everywhere in
the far-away hollows around “Talcen y Byd.” The more one learns of the type
of man who introduced the beaker, or “drinking-cup,” into the Rhondda, the
historic reality of Rhondda fairies seems to become more and more
problematical. It is the great number of the remains, in situations most
favourable for their preservation, of pre- historic outward appearance,
proved to be so wherever excavated, together with the fact that the whole
district is a “terra ignota,” speaking generally, to archaeologists, that
encourages the hope that “Talcen y Byd” may yet figure in archaeology as in
geology and state-craft - even as a Hallstadt or La Tene. The visible remains
of two classes of pre-historic sites in one parish alone I have roughly
estimated to be over two hundred, and they seem quite as thick in the
adjoining parishes; but our best early Bronze Age finds were found in a cairn
levelled to the ground, and finds of possibly an earlier period were made at
a spot purposely levelled as if to be the floor of a barn. At three other
spots where finds were made there was nothing to indicate the character of
the site. I mention this here because only one out of many visible remains
that we have excavated had been left undisturbed, but that that is no
criterion to go by in calculating the chances of digging. So with the
obliterated and conspicuous remains, the archaeological richness of the
district is above question.
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“Talcen y Byd” is the largest, highest, and most imposing
remnant of a plateau of Pennant Grit. The tableland character of the district
is evidenced by the flat tops of the adjoining hills, which are of fairly
uniform height, allowance being made for the tendency of the whole country to
gain in elevation northwards. Though the range of the Brecknock Beacons is
still higher, it is to be noted that “Talcen y Byd” is about equidistant
between the sea and the Beacons, and tnat there is a marked depression
between the highest Glamorgan range and the Beacons.
From a height of 600 or 700 feet at Hirwaun, the ground rises abruptly to the
great Pennant Scarp, which is unbroken from the Cynon to the Neath, and which
presents a bold front to the north with a maximum height of 1,969 feet (“The
Geology of the South Wales Coalfield,” Part 4, p. 113). From all directions
it is a position of characteristic independence. For the homage “Talcen y
Byd” exacted from the lowlands, it was well able to guarantee the latter’s
integrity against invaders from the north. In the early annals of Margam
Abbey, we find the lord of “Talcen y Byd,” otherwise Glyn Rhondda,
undertaking the protection of the monks against the men of Brycheiniog.
During the Ice Age, a great mass of ice moved down from the Beacons with the
intention of overwhelming Glamorgan, but “Talcen y Byd” remained firm, and
actually diverted the ice to the south-east along Aberdar, and to the
north-west along the Nedd itself, true to its name, uplifting a cool and
clear forehead in the midst of a sea of ice. But not to be outdone in the ice
business, it developed glaciers of its own for the Rhondda, Ogwr, and Avan
glens.
(To be continued).
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The Rhondda Leader, 27-10-1906
“Talcen y Byd.”
Important Dialect Boundary.
[By Rev. JOHN GRIFFITH, Author of Edward II. in Glamorgan.”]
(Continued).
Dialect evidence seems to show that it was for a long time a barrier or
long-respected boundary between the Goidels and the Brythons, for “Talcen y
Byd” is the western limit of the narrow “a” area in Glamorgan. Throughout the
history of Wales, as far as known, it formed the western limit of Morgannwg
proper, a limit respected until the formation of the present county in the
time of Henry VIII. To the present time the Goidelic complexion of the
topography west of the “Talcen” is very pronounced, and the richness of the
district in fairy lore points to the same conclusion. As an inter-state and
inter-racial boundary, it must be remembered that the ridge which it crowns
extends right to the sea, the only point where the Glamorgan hill system
touches the sea. The foothills from Abergavenny to Margam describe half the
circumference of a circle, but leaving everywhere a wide margin of lowlands
until the mouth of the Avan is reached. There, two parallel ridges reaching
from the sea to the Beacons, with the courses of the Avan, Nedd, and Tawe,
form an effective barrier resembling the fortifications of many a hill earthwork.
A quarter of that circle is dominated by “Talcen y Byd.”
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Professor Anwyl says: - “In Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire,
‘ä’ (for ‘a’) is used in the dialect of the district east of the Vale of
Neath, thus comprising Monmouthshire and the greater portion of
Glamorganshire. The boundary between this dialect and that of Breconshire is
practically the boundary between the counties. It appears, however, that ‘ä’
is not used in the Vale of Neath itself, nor yet in Hirwain by natives. In
Cefncoedcymmer ‘ä’ is found, but not in Aberavon; is also found east of
Bridgend in the Vale of Glamorgan.” (“Transactions of the Guild of
Graduates,” University of Wales, 1901, p. 40).
I can add from personal observation that the narrow “a” is used at Mynydd
Cynffig, a few miles to the east of Aberavon, in the upper part of the Ogwr
glen, in the Rhondda and Aberdar. On the other hand, Mr. D. Williams, of
Ogmore Vale, a teacher of sounds, that is, music, who has given special
attention to this dialect boundary, informs me that the narrow “a” is not
found at Cwmavon, a few miles above Aberavon. At Cymmer there is a trace of
it and he confirms Prof. Anwyl’s statement about Hirwaun. Cymmer is
practically the head of the Llynfi valley, though actually on the course of
the Avan. Besides, a great road from the south-east crosses the Avan glen
there. We find, therefore, the narrow “a” close to Aberavon in the lowland,
and at the head of all the valleys abutting on the east the ridge of “Talcen
y Byd,” namely, the Llynfi (and the Garw most likely), the Ogwr, the Rhondda,
the Cynon, and the Tâf as high up as the confluence of the branches of the
Tâf, that is, the head of the Merthyr valley. On the other hand, not the Vale
of Neath, but the ridge of “Talcen y Byd” seems to be the true dividing line.
The whole of that ridge, including its broad base
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from the Nedd to the Avan, belongs to the broad “a” district.
The existence of such a marked dialect boundary “seems to indicate,”
Professor Rhys says, “that at one time that part of the southern border of
the Principality came under the influence of some Brythonic people pressing
westwards, such, for anything known to the contrary, as the Dobunni near the
mouth of the Severn may have been.” (“The Welsh People,” p. 22). The map of
The British Isles in the First Century A.D. published in the same work, does
not show any Brythonic people west of the Wye and south of the Somerset Avon.
But as the mouths of both rivers, with the country between, the estuary of
the Severn in fact, were in the possession of Brythons, and as the Gwent and
Morgannwg narrow “a” area has always been easily accessible to masters of the
Severn estuary, that area may have come very early under Brythonic influence.
But the mountain barrier north and west of a line from Abergavenny to
Aberavon seems to have remained for a long time stubbornly Goidelic. The
mouths of the Avon, Nedd, and Tawe, with the two ridges between, reaching
from the sea to the Beacons, may not only be looked upon as defences
consisting of three ditches and two ramparts - and of the three river courses
the Avan mostly resembles a V-shaped fosse - but also as forming the key
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to the whole Beacons position. That position did not invite frontal attacks,
but a power, or a race in possession of the sea-reaching ridges west of the
Avan, and of the Usk valley would have either taken the position on the
flanks or utilise it to the best possible advantage. The Goidels, who seem to
have held doggedly to the ridges and valley mentioned, had the best of the
natural position. The Romans eventually penetrated it, but that was before it
ceased to be Goidelic ground. As part of the large question of the Goidelic
fringes of Wales down to post-Roman times, the twin ridges between the Avan
and the Nedd deserve careful attention.
The Brythons as Cymry eventually imposed their rule and speech over all
Wales, but it may be that the forces commanded by Vortimer in his battles
were largely Goidels. At any rate, one of his battles seems to have been
fought on one of the spurs of “Talcen y Byd,” an ideal situation for a united
stand by the neighbouring Goidels and Brythons against the new invaders. In the
text of Nennius favoured by Mommsen, one battle is described: -
“Tertium bellum in campo iuxta lapidem tituli, qui est super ripam Gallici
maris, commisit et barbari victi sunt et ille victor fuit et ipsi in
fugam uersi usque ad ciulas suas mersi sunt in eas muliebriter intrantes.”
In the “Nennius Interpretatus” the words are “et bellum super ripam maris
Icht et Saxones in fugam versi sunt usque ad suas ciulas muliebriter.”
(Mommsen’s “Chronica Minora,” III., pp. 187, 188).
Muir n-Icht is the Irish name for the English Channel, meaning the Sea of
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Icht, or Ictian Sea.” Guorthemir - Gwrthefyr - Vortimer was
the son of Guorthigirn - Gwrtheyrn - Vortigern, “whose name outside the
Hengist story is found to have been more at home in Ireland and Brittany than
in Wales” (“The Welsh People,” p. 82). The movement represented by the names
may be regarded as an amalgamation of the native population, reinforced from
Ireland, for the purpose of opposing the Brythonic tribes and the Saxons. In
place-names and legend Gwrtheyrn is associated with the coast of Carnarvonshire,
the Teifi valley, and the upper part of the Wye. Assuming that he settled in
the district called Gwrtheyrnion, it is not unreasonable to connect one of
his son’s battles with the region of “Talcen y Byd.” For the site of the
battle described we must look for a spot offering some special natural
advantage close to the sea. Assuming that the enemy landed at Aberavon, we
have Mynydd Margam to consider. That mountain is chiefly known for its fine
inscribed stone, called “par excellence” Y Maen Llythyrog (The Lettered
Stone). Its vague popular name corresponds with the equally vague description
of Nennius as “lapis tituli” (The Stone of the Epitaph). A superstition
connected with the stone has helped to give it a special distinction. It is
still believed that whosoever readeth the inscription will die very soon. The
site is also a splendid “campus,” a mountain flat where a vast army could
manoeuvre. There is a Roman camp close by the stone and a Roman road leading
from it right to “Talcen y Byd,” from which direction we may assume Vortimer
to have marched against the invaders. On that road, a mile or two above the
Maen Llythyrog, there is one of those place-names which form a sort of cordon
along the circular border of the foothills all the way from the Ebbwy to the
Nedd.
(To be continued).
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The Rhondda Leader, 3-11-1906
“Talcen y Byd.”
Home of Romance.
I refer to place-names with the element “Saeson.” Some may have been
recognised boundaries between the Welsh and the English settlers, but they
may all be safely treated as marking the “ne plus ultra” of the English
invasion of the hills. Well, there is a Rhiw Saeson on the Roman road that
leads from “Talcen y Byd” to the Maen Llythyrog, and, curiously, the hill
above the spot is called Tor y Cymry, which, I think, is a corruption of Tor
y Cymmerau. The enemy defeated there would be driven helter-skelter along
Mynydd Margam or down the Avan glen and into his ships. It is also a curious
coincidence that the Maen Llythyrog, otherwise the Bodvoc Stone, commemorates
a Catutegernios, and Catigern, according to Nennius, was another son of
Gwrtheyrn. I may mention also that a place near Rhiw Saeson is called Castell
Cadarn, which, with Cwm Cadarn and Cerrig Cadarn in Brecknockshire, near the
supposed stronghold of Gwrtheyrn, require explanation. Altogether it seems
fitting that “Talcen y Byd” should have figured in such a struggle as that
connected with the name of Vortimer.
Leaving the mere commercial and strategic value of “Talcen y Byd,” let us now
ascend to the higher plane of romance. The district is rich in unwritten
Mabinogion, just as it is rich in unworked archaeological remains. In
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using the term Mabinogion I have in my mind the “Kulhwch and Olwen” type. The
compiler of that tale took a very old tale for leading incident, the
boar-hunt. “Around this theme of immemorial antiquity,” says Mr. Alfred Nutt,
the story-teller grouped numerous fairy tale traits and incidents drawn
undoubtedly from the rich store of popular tradition, and he handled the
whole in a tone and spirit so akin to the nature of his subject-matter as to
produce what is, saving the finest tales of the ‘Arabian Nights,’ the
greatest romantic fairy tale, even in its present fragmentary condition, the
world has ever seen.”
Sitting down on a fine midsummer day on the highest point of “Talcen y Byd”
one could easily compile at least a parody of that tale, utilising only the
genuine traditions of the spot. But how much more valuable the tale of
“Kulhwch and Olwen” would have been if the compiler had contented himself
with noting down his materials simply in the spirit and method of a
present-day folklorist? But though there is great danger to one who has
fallen victim to the enchantment of “Talcen y Byd” to be carried off his
critical and scientific feet into weaving romances and evolving Druidical
systems, I am resolved to make a great effort to keep to some facts of folklore
and archaeology which others, if they like, can convert into sagas. That it
means a great effort to do so I am reminded by the sad fate of others who
have attempted the same task.
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It was from “Talcen y Byd” that Iolo Morgannwg caught the inspiration of his
life-work. When a lad it was his great delight to visit his relatives at Pont
Nedd Fechan, and would often run away from his home the Vale to that
fairy-bewitched spot, and each time he had to cross “Talcen y Byd.” But, oh!
the pity of it! that he preferred compiling, if not evolving, a system of
Barddas to recording the dying depositions of Dame Tradition. But knowing
“Talcen y Byd” as I do, I cannot blame him for losing his intellectual
balance on that dizzy height.
His son and successor to the Arch-druidism caught likewise his inspiration
from “Talcen y Byd.” He gave us some most useful information about the Vale
of Neath. As to the rest, he was content to be his father’s son.
Had Southey, Iolo’s friend, settled at “Talcen y Byd,” as he once seriously
intended, we might have had written the great epic of “Talcen y Byd,” based
on genuine traditions gathered on the spot, instead of his insubstantial
“Madoc,” based on nothing.
Taliesin ab Iolo’s successor to the Arch-druidism, Myfyr Morgannwg, was a
genuine son of “Talcen y Byd.” Born and brought up on its south-western
slope, he spent his long and busy life fairly within sight of its summit. He
found in Barddas a solution for all the great problems of the universe. When
dying, he commanded his daughter to place copies of all his published works
under his head in the coffin. But I have waded through his laborious book,
“Hynafiaeth Aruthrol y Trwn, neu Orsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain, a’i Barddas
Gyrin,” [sic; = Gyfrin] in the hope of finding some records of at least
tit-bits of local folklore, but I have been
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greatly disappointed. Had “Myfyr” lived in Anglesey, he could
hardly have produced a book with so little local colour. The solitary
exception seems to be the following flourish: - “Y man pennodol yn Ynys
Brydain ag ydys ddyledus iddo am gadwraeth yr Orsedd Arddunawl hon drwy y
ddwy fil ddiweddaf o flynyddoedd yw Gwent a Morgannwg, a’r unig fan ei
cynnelir y dydd hwn yw ar y Maen Chwyf, o fewn swyn-gylch Llŷs Ceridwen
a dadblygion y Sarph Dorchog, ar lan y Tâf.”
“Morien,” “Myfyr’s” successor of the Iolo Druidical succession - for there
seems to be two, if not three, such successions now in Wales - was brought up
on the Rhondda side of “Talcen y Byd,” and he has written a pile of books and
numberless articles on various matters connected with the region. As to his
Druidism, “Morien” seems to be a faithful follower of “Myfyr,” so far as an
ordinary mortal can understand the cult. “Christianity,
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in Wales, from the first coming there had been, most
mysteriously, closely associated with the earlier religion of the Isles of
Britain. That creed has been known under the names Druidism, Bardism, and its
adherents were known as Mabinogion, or adherents of the Infant Son. They
personified the Sun and called him Taliesun, etc., and believed a new infant
Sun was born every year; on December 27th, but that the first Infant Sun
called also “Y Coronog Vaban,” or the Royal Babe, was born at the dawn of
creation, from the Royal Barge of Cariadwen, Queen Spirit of Heaven, on
December 25th.... “Myfyr Morgannwg” adopted the extraordinary view that
Christianity was Druidism in an Oriental disguise, and his wrath was great
when descanting on his theory that the Christian religion is Druidism in
Jewish clothes.” (“Morien’s” Hist. of Pontypridd, pp. 83, 84).
Of the four Archdruids of the Iolo succession, “Morien” has made most use of
local colour in his elucidations of the cult. Whatever about his Druidism
“Talcen y Byd” is never out of his mind. He has in his way actually written
some Mabinogion of the type of “Kulhwch and Olwen.” In his “History of
Pontypridd and the Rhondda Valleys,” for instance, he weaves local
place-names and traditions into a philosophy that is to unravel the enigmas
of the universe.
(To be continued).
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The Rhondda Leader, 10-11-1906
“Talcen y Byd.”
[By Rev. JOHN GRIFFITH, Author of Edward II. in Glamorgan.”]
(Continued).
Its Free-Thinkers.
Few now living know “Talcen y Byd” as well as “Morien” does,
and I speak with sincere gratitude to him for the valuable clues his writings
afford. The late Dr. Price, of Llantrisant, was the associate of “Myfyr
Morgannwg.” More than any other modern Druid, he laboured to give a practical
expression to the occult teaching of his associates. His dress, I would
suppose, was that of the early Bronze Age, and he commanded that his body was
to be cremated on the southernmost spur of “Talcen y Byd,” which command was
obeyed. He took a leading part in the Chartist movement. He frequently
appeared in the courts, conducting his own cases and basing his arguments on
the old Welsh laws. Treating Christianity “Myfyr”-fashion he named his son
“Iesu Grist.” I well remember the golden-headed lad, and the strange feeling
that possessed me when I saw him in a Sunday School at Llantrisant learning
about the Founder of Christianity. Dr. Price appeared to all who knew him as
the soundest and sanest of men, a religious man in his strange way, and full
of noble deeds; yet through his life-long protest against the
conventionalities he is always referred to as “the eccentric Dr. Price.”
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Nothing like an adequate sketch of “Talcen y Byd” can be
written without some account of its typical human products. The five I have
named represent the “Talcen” type, and their cult is strictly local. “Myfyr”
and Dr. Price I remember as slightly-built men of medium size, but as I never
saw the former without his slouch hat, nor the latter without the fox-skin
which dangled about his ears, I can venture no opinion as to their cephalic
indications beyond an impression from good portraits of both now before me,
that they were long-headed. In a word, the “Talcen” breed are daring
free-thinkers in the unabused sense of that term. Lollardism and
Protestantism found there a safe nursery. At the foot of the “Talcen” proper,
at Glyn Eithinog, dwelt Thomas Llewelyn, a bard who is said to have
translated portions of the Bible before Dr. Morgan, who is mentioned as one
of the free lance preachers which Grindal licensed, though I failed to find a
copy of his license at Lambeth, and who is regarded as the father of Nonconformity
in the district.
A native of “Talcen y Byd,” Thomas Stephens, was the father of historical
criticism applied to Welsh literature. Under its shelter, at Hirwaun, the
late Dafydd Morgannwg wrote the best general history of Glamorgan. Under its
beetling Aberdâr brows the elective Archdruid, Dyfed, nursed his muse. The
late Judge Gwilym Williams was, and Sir Marchant Williams is, above all else,
genuine “Talcen” gentlemen. Mr. Tom John, the ex-President of the National
Union of Teachers, is another.
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Mabon was brought up on a narrow “a” boundary at Cwmavon, and he continues to
rule the realm of Labour from “Talcen y Byd.” Sir William Thomas Lewis was
born in sight of the “Talcen,” and he has been its real master for many a
year. On its south-western slope, in Llangeinor, was born Dr. Richard Price,
who was considered in his day one of the three greatest men in Europe and
America. John Thomas, King’s harpist, is a “Talcen” native. The list may be
made much longer, but it may suffice to show the persistence of the type of
homo which only “Talcen y Byd” could produce. Of the “Talcen” druids and
bards I have mentioned only those of the last century, but the Bards of Tir
Iarll, the western slope of the “Talcen,” formed an independent bardic
fraternity dominated as usual by “Talcen y Byd.” Dafydd Benwyn, for instance,
was a native of the “Talcen,” and at Aberpergwm the last “bardd teulu,”
Dafydd Nicolas, was kept. That reminds me of the fact that a “Talcen” native,
Miss Jane Williams (Ysgafell), preserved for us a fine collection of Welsh
airs, and thinking of the Aberpergwm family brings to mind the fact that
Oliver Cromwell belonged to that family, and “Talcen y Byd” explains that
strange individuality.
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Besides “Morien” I must acknowledge with gratitude the
indebtedness of all lovers of “Talcen y Byd” to “Cadrawd” for his “History of
Llangynwyd,” to Mr. Taliesin Morgan for his “History of Llantrisant,” to the
late Glanffrwd for his “Plwyf Llanwyno,” and to the late Mr. Jenkin Howell
for his articles in “Cymru” on the parish of Aberdâr. “Glanffrwd” especially
was an embodiment of the spirit of “Talcen y Byd,” and his book, which is
more of a parochial epic than a parish history, was written from his North Wales
home, which shows how “Talcen y Byd” never lets off its victims.
“Brynfab,” who worthily maintains - almost alone, alas! - the strictly local
bardic traditions of the “Talcen,” has enriched the files of “Tarian y
Gweithiwr” with most valuable information of by-gone Glyn Rhondda.
As we have no definite account of any conquest of “Talcen y
Byd,” it will not appear strange that, it remained an untrodden track to the
tourist until the beginning of the last century. Nearly fifty years later we
find the Rhondda vaguely described in a footnote to the “Iolo MSS.” as a
place west of Aberdar. Malkin was the discoverer of the Rhondda, and he was
fully conscious of the fact – “I question,” he says, “whether any part of my
tour is better furnished with its apology, if an untrodden track may excuse
an author for supposing that, his observations are of sufficient value to
come before the public.”
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The Rhondda Leader, 17-11-1906
“Talcen y Byd.’
As Malkin saw it 100 Years Ago.
[By Rev. JOHN GRIFFITH, Author of Edward II. in Glamorgan.”]
(Continued).
“The vale is very much confined, admitting only a road and a few fields on
one side, and on the other, the cliffs rise perpendicularly from the water in
all their naked grandeur, but all clothed on the top with some of the
choicest and most majestic timber that Glamorganshire produces. The union of
wildness with luxuriance, and of solemnity with contracted space, is here
most curiously exemplified.” That refers to the portion of the valley between
Pontypridd and Cymmer. “Travellers in any sort of carriage are precluded from
adopting this interesting route.” “A country of uncommon wildness.” He saw a
grove of oaks, remarkable for their height.” “It may be observed generally
that among those mountains, the oak, if it grows at all luxuriantly, is drawn
up to an uncommon tallness.” Dinas mountain, at Trewilliam, a rocky ridge,
grand in its elevation, and most whimsical in the eccentricity of its
shapes.” “Towers of limestone (sic, sandstone rather) occasionally start up,
which overhang the road, and seem to endanger the traveller.” Higher up he
finds “a degree of luxuriance in the valley infinitely beyond what my
entrance on this district led me
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to expect. The contrast of the meadows rich and verdant, with
mountains the most wild and romantic, surrounding them on every side, is in
the highest degree picturesque.” Poor Malkin is now in the toils of “Talcen y
Byd,” and he was not a native, mind you! He regrets that he has “no common
language in which to converse” with the natives. “Indeed, how can a man be
said to know the world, without knowing Ystradyfodwg?” The “Talcen” speaks
these. After passing the parish church, where “the drowsy hum of mountain
scholars, twanging their guttural accents to their Cambrian pedagogue in the
church porch,” greeted his ears, “the rocks and hills gradually close in
becoming bolder and more fantastical in their appearance.” These he calls the
Alps of Glamorganshire.” The Rhondda side of “Talcen y Byd” he describes as
follows: “The front of this narrow dell is filled up by a single cliff, high,
broad to the top, and as it were regularly and architecturally placed,
appearing as much the result of design, as those on the sides seem to
indicate the fortuitous vagaries of sportive Nature. The height of this
mountain (Pen Pych) seems much greater than it is, from its rising abruptly
from the level ground, unencumbered by hillocks at its foot, the
perpendicular nearly unbroken from the summit to the river that passes its
base.”
“The path up the mountain (on the east of the village of Blaenrhondda), which
is the highest in Glamorganshire, is winding and difficult.” The fall of the
Rhondda Fawr “well repays the labour of the
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journey.” On gaining the summit (the “Talcen”), what he sees
“all bring to the mind the best descriptions of Alpine scenery, though on an
inferior scale.” “The upper part of the Ystradyfodwg parish is untameably
wild, as anything that can be conceived; and the few who have taken the pains
to explore the scattered magnificence of South Wales, agree in recommending
this untried route to the English traveller as one of the most curious and
striking in the principality, not excepting the more known and frequented
tour of the northern counties. Hanging over the steep descent (that is, over
the ‘Talcen’ itself), you have immediately below you Llyn Vawr, a
considerable lake, the largest in Glamorganshire. It is of great depth, and
seems to be formed by the floods, which in heavy rains must pour down the
perpendicular sides of the mountain in one broad continued sheet. The deeply
furrowed troughs, as far as the pool extends, worn by the streams, which had
long ceased to flow, assign a sufficient cause for so large and permanent a
body of water. This lake affords ample scope to the fisherman, and attracts
the lovers of that amusement from the whole country round.” “A stranger has
considerable difficulty in descending a narrow path, worn upon the side of an
almost perpendicular declivity.” “The way after descending the mountain is
rough and dreary, over barren and unprofitable ground.” After finding a
“complete course of bacon and eggs” at Pont Nedd Fechan, “I consider it as a
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necessary caution to my reader to inform him that he must
travel thirty miles from the Duke’s Arms in the Vale of Tâff (at Pontypridd)
to Pontneath Vechan, without expecting the most humble accommodation.” He
seems to have judged the distance by his rate of travelling, making it about
ten miles longer than it really is.
The reader will have noticed that I use the name “Talcen y Byd” occasionally for the hill
district between the Cynon and the Nedd. As the scarp gives unity to the
whole district, and as no other name in present use suits my purpose so well,
I would recommend its adoption as the archaeological name of the Glamorgan
Alps. Perhaps the following striking archaeological coincidence will further
justify the resuscitation of the name, with an extended application.
In Lady Guest’s translation of the Mabinogi of Branwen, we read the following
part of the account of the disastrous
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expedition of Bendigeid Yran to Ireland: Now the swineheards
[sic; = swineherds] of Matholwch were upon the sea-shore, and they came to
Matholwch. ‘Lord,’ said they, ‘greeting be unto thee.’ ‘Heaven protect you,’
said he; ‘have you any news?’ ‘Lord,’ said they, ‘we have marvellous news, a
wood have we seen upon the sea, in a place where we never yet saw a single
tree.’ ‘This is indeed a marvel,’ said he; ‘saw you aught else?’ ‘We saw,
lord,’ said they, ‘a vast mountain beside the wood, which moved, and there
was a lofty ridge on the top of the mountain, and a lake on each side of the
ridge. And the wood, and the mountain, and all these things moved.’ ‘Verily,’
said he, ‘there is no one who can know aught concerning this, unless it be
Branwen.’
“Messengers then went unto Branwen. ‘Lady,’ said they, ‘what thinkest thou
that this is?’ ‘The men of the Island of the Mighty, who have come hither on
hearing of my ill-treatment and my woes.’ ‘What is the forest that is seen
upon the sea?’ asked they. ‘The yards and masts of ships,’ she answered.
‘Alas,’ said they, ‘what is the mountain that is seen by the side of the
ships?’ ‘Bendigeid Vran, my brother,’ she replied, ‘coming to shoal water;
there is no ship that can contain him in it.’ ‘What is the lofty ridge with
the lake on each side thereof?’
‘On looking towards this island he is wroth, and his two eyes, one on each
side of his nose, are the two lakes beside the ridge.’
(To be continued).
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The Rhondda Leader, 24-11-1906
“Talcen y Byd.”
[By Rev. JOHN GRIFFITH, Author of Edward II. in Glamorgan.
(Continued).
Bran was evidently a deity, whether a creation of the Goidels or non-Aryan
natives, we cannot say for certain. Professor Rhys says: “He sat, as the
Mabinogi of Branwen describes him, on the rock of Harlech, a figure too
colossal for any house to contain or any ship to carry. This would seem to
challenge comparison with Cernunnos, the squatting god of ancient Gaul,
around whom the other gods appear as mere striplings, as proved by the
monumental representations in point” (“Celtic Folklore”, p. 552).
What strikes me is the probability that some well-known landscape feature
furnished the story-teller with the description he gives of Bran, even if
such a landscape feature was not actually an object of worship. It happens
that “Talcen y Byd” presents to the west precisely the same aspect as Bran’s
face did to the Irish. There is the broad forehead. There is the sharp
promontory for a nose, and there are the two lakes, Llyn Fawr and Llyn Fach,
for eyes. What specially deepens the impression of a colossal image is, with
the nose and the eyes, the extension of the line of the forehead itself
across and above the bridge of the nose, and above the forehead the gentle
dome-shape crown of the mountain, the highest point in the county. I cannot
say how such a combination of features strikes one from the opposite ridge of
Cefn Hirfynydd on the north-west, but a glance at any map will bear out my
description of it. Is it likely that any other spot in Wales fits so well the
image of Brân? Situate on the eastern
side of a famous boundary line,
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who knows with what feelings it may have been regarded by the
Goidels, say, on the west of the Nedd? Though I am not aware that this
colossal image has been noticed before, the name “Talcen y Byd” shows that it
may have been noticed in its entirety. It is really impossible to notice the
“Talcen” without noticing the nose. The Welsh would have no better or handier
name for such a promontory than “Trwyn.” Then, apart from the situation of
the two lakes on each side of the nose at “Talcen y Byd,” such pools seem to
have been once universally described as “Llygaid,” as springs generally were.
Llyn Fawr is in size and situation almost exactly like Llyn Llygad y Rheidiol
under Plinlimmon. In Cwmaman, Aberdâr, there is a place called Llygad Eglur,
meaning a spring that can be seen from a distance. There is Llygad Clydach in
Llanwynno, and in Llangeinor a group of springs which unite into a stream a
little below is called Llygaid y Ffynonau. So Llygad for a spring is common
in the district. The real names of the “Talcen” lakes have disappeared, but I
fancy Llyn Fawr must have been called once Llygad Gwrelych, or some such
name. Its oldest form in the local charters is Magna Pola, a translation of
Pwll Mawr, or, say, Llyn Fawr. But have we not an earlier name in Nennius?
Where else, I wonder, are we to look for one of the wonders of Britain which,
he says, is “in regione Cinlipiuc”, or “Cinloipiauc,” which he calls “Finnaun
Guur Helic,” or “Guor,” or “Gor,” Helic, or “Heilic.” I find more than one
Pwll Helig in Glamorgan (Chronica Minora, III., 214, 215). In the chapter
heading (p. 130) it is called Guorelic. It was evidently a pool or lake, and
not a mere well. Men fished it on four sides, each side containing a
different species of fish, which is bunkum, of course. The author probably
never saw it, and his statement that it was only twenty feet square and only
knee deep is manifestly inconsistent with its renown as a fishing resort. The
similarity of the name to Gwrelych, or Gwrelech, or Gwerelech, the
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name of the brook that flows out of Llyn Fawr, is striking, enough to justify
this digression. Perhaps in Cinlipiuc we have a similarly vague reference to
the district as Gwynllywc or Gwenllwg-Wentioog, a district near enough to
suit the purpose of a wonder-hunter, who usually dislikes exactitude as
spoiling his business, so much about what I can only call a striking
coincidence, the resemblance between Bendigeid Fran on the war-path and
“Talcen y Byd” in repose.
That it is not unreasonable to think that “Talcen y Byd” may have been once
regarded as the embodiment of a divinity is not only shown in the general
prevalence of mountain worship, so to speak, everywhere, but especially in
the presence in the same district of many freaks of Nature which the natives
have labelled with suggestive names. At the back of the same mountain, on the
precipice under which the tunnel from Blaencwm to Blaengwynfi runs, there is
a striking resemblance to a human face. A cairn
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on the top of the mountain is called Bachgen Careg, and the
adjoining slope is called Mynydd y Ddelw. Guided by such names and feeling
sure that there was on the spot something to justify the use of such names, I
made a careful search for it among the “whimsical” and “fortuitous vagaries
of sportive Nature” as Malkin would say. The first day I spotted the rock
which presents the image I was searching for, but as I was looking at it from
one side I did not make out the image. The next day, with the aid of the
early sunlight in midsummer, I saw the image to the best advantage from the
road in front of Pen Pych. The face is slightly turned to the north-east.
Repeated visits to the spot have shown that the image must be viewed in the
early morning sunlight, when the scars on the face are toned down and the
shading shows the facial outline. The image must be some thirty-five feet
long, a squarish rock on the top resembling the diminutive cap which Tommy
Atkins sometimes wears. True to the name, Bachgen Careg, the face seems to be
that of a very big boy. I found the image quite unknown to the villagers and
natives, though they had preserved two suggestive names which they could not
explain. So far I have not found any legend or tradition about it.
(To be concluded).
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The Rhondda Leader, 01-12-1906
“Talcen y Byd.”
(Continued).
[By Rev. JOHN GRIFFITH, Author of Edward II. in Glamorgan.”]
Arthur’s Sleeping-Place.
Passing the cairn of the Bachgen Carreg into Glyncorrwg, on the east side of
that glen is the well-known Maen yr Allor, an arrested landslip, the rock
dislodged forming a huge oblong exactly like an altar. The two lusus naturae
I have noted happen to be situate on the neck, so to speak, of the mountain,
of Brân’s face, or “Talcen y Byd.”
Arthur’s connection with “Talcen y Byd” “Talcen y Byd.” [sic] Other peaks in
the district will be noted in their turn. Arthur’s connection with “Talcen y
Byd” is most patent. A charter of 1203 mentions “Fennaun Arthur” (Arthur’s
Well) as a boundary point, between the head of the “Rotheni Maur” (Rhondda
Fawr) and Magna Pola (Llyn Fawr). A native of the adjoining parish of
Blaengwrach tells me that he knows the well by that name. It is one of the
springs of the Rhondda by Carn Mosyn, which he calls Carn “Moisa.” Both the charter
and the native place it at the top of the dome-shaped summit of “Talcen y
Byd.” Arthur there is clearly a divinity, a well divinity too, as he seems to
be also in Llanfihangel yng Ngwynfa, Mont., where there is a Ffynnon Arthur.
The fashion of resorting to mountain tops on Gwyl Awst is .
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known on the Beacons. Professor Rhys tells us of the Fan Fach custom, and the
late Rector of Vaynor relates the same of his parishioners on the east of the
Beacons. The custom doubtless arose from the worship of a mountain deity at
some well near or on the summit.
That is not all. My Blaengwrach informant says that a place by Blaengwrach
Farm is called Plas Arthur, and sometimes Stafell Arthur, where there is a
stone on which “Arthur Sant” used to preach. Arthur as a divinity would
naturally assume the role of a Christian saint, though the real Arthur was
not so regarded by some of the saints of his day. Blaengwrach Farm abuts the
western end of the “Talcen y Byd” scarp. I have not visited the spot, nor
have I seen the interesting traces of Arthur in Llanwonno, the eastern
extension of the scarp. “Glanffrwd,” in his “Plwyn [aic; = plwyf] Llanwynno,”
mentions Pont-Bren-Arthur (Arthur’s Wooden Bridge), and Llun-troed Arthur
(the Image of Arthur’s Foot) on the river Ffrwd there (p. 36). These
Arthurian place-names in the district will help to account for the fact that
of all
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the Arthurian legends in Wales, outside the Mabinogion, and
other old writings, “Talcen y Byd” has yielded the best. To Iolo Morgannwg we
are indebted for it. Professor Rhŷs gives it as the first of a group of
cave legends involving treasure entrusted to the keeping of armed warriors
(Celt. Folk, pp. 458-461).
At both ends of the parish of Ystradyfodwg there is a Craig y Dinas. The
southern one is actually in the parish of Llantrisant, but the mountain forms
the natural boundary of Ystradyfodwg on the south. “Morien” says that the
tale of Arthur and his sleeping warriors is related of that mountain, but I
have only heard of a king who is supposed to have lived at Penrhiwfer, the
fortified headland by Craig y Dinas. Iolo’s son, Taliesin Williams, says that
the Craig y Dinas of his father’s tale is the one on the very northern end of
Ystradyfodwg, near the confluence of the Mellte and the Nedd. It is a rock
formed of strata turned up almost to the perpendicular right on the river
side. Mr. Llywarch Reynolds has also heard the tale in connection with that
spot, with the place of Arthur taken by Owen Lawgoch, who often takes the
place of Arthur in the typical tale. That tale is too well-known to need
repetition here. But the “Talcen” version not only gives the essential
particulars of the
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typical tale, but reads just like what the original tale must
have been, a description of a visit into a large chambered barrow before
cremation became universal, a time, say, before the Goidels gave shape and
body to our stock tales. There is always a passage into the “cave,” reminding
one of the “passage-graves” of the Barrow period. The Iolo tale makes the
warriors to lie down fast asleep “in a large circle, their heads outwards,
every one clad in bright armour, with their swords, shields, and other weapons
lying by them.” A megalithic grave-chamber fits the description, except that,
according to Lord Avebury, no metals are found in such graves. The typical
tale must be older than the practice of cremation. The Neolithic megalithic
chamber fits also the attendant conception of a hero imprisoned in a rock.
On regaining “Talcen y Byd” from a visit to Craig y Dinas, and standing once
more at Ffynnon Arthur, and looking at a point slightly east of north, what
do we see? Why, a colossal chair, and it is Cader Arthur (Arthur’s Chair). A
similar cavity between two peaks forms the Cader Idris of North Wales.
Looking westwards, we see the Gower peninsula, where there is an enormous
cromlech, Maen Ceti, called also “Arthur’s Stone.” Looking south, we see
Garth mountain, the southernmost extension of the “Talcen” sphere of
influence, which in Saxton’s Map is called Arthur’s buttes
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hill.” With Coed Arthur, in Llantrithyd, down the Vale, I have
exhausted my list of Arthurian place-names in the district. “Arthur’s Round
Table” at Caerleon has probably no legendary basis. “Talcen y Byd” is a much
better site for it, and in confirmation of its Arthurian associations. I have
observed that the Beacons’ “chair” is hardly recognisable at Resolven. It is
best seen from “Talcen y Byd” and Carn Celyn, above Penygraig. Regarding
Cader Arthur as the centre of a circle, as we have done in connection with
another matter, the area dominated by “Talcen y Byd” forms nearly a quadrant
of that circle, and it is the people of that area most likely that recognised
in the Beacons formation the seat of a divinity called by them Arthur.
(The End).
[Note. - In Mr. D. Rhys Phillips; Welsh Librarian of Swansea, we have another
enthusiastic student of the mysteries of “Talcen y Byd.” He is a native of
its north-west slope. He has supplied us with most interesting information in
“Cambrian Notes and Queries,” published by the “Western Mail,” Ltd. He is
still, I believe, under the iron grip of the “Talcen,” and is not likely to
find much peace until he divulges at length the many secrets of the “Talcen”
which were included in his patrimony.]
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