, 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 Ramsey Island (Welsh: ''Ynys Dewi'') is an island about off St David's Head in Pembrokeshire on the northern side of St Brides Bay, in southwest Wales, in the community of St Davids and the Cathedral Close. It is in area. Ramsey means (in Old ...

and

Bardsey Island Bardsey Island ( cy, Ynys Enlli), known as the legendary "Island of 20,000 Saints", is located off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh name means "The Island in the Currents", while its English name refers to the "Islan ...

in what is now

Cardigan Bay Cardigan Bay ( cy, Bae Ceredigion) is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between Bardsey Island, Gwynedd in the north, and Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire at its southern end. It is the largest bay in Wales. Geo ...

to the west of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It has been described as a "Welsh

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...

" 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

to Cardigan or as far south as

. 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 at ...

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 Gwyddno Garanhir was the supposed ruler of a sunken land off the coast of Wales, known as Cantre'r Gwaelod. He was the father of Elffin ap Gwyddno, the foster-father of the famous Welsh people, Welsh poet Taliesin in the legendary account given in ...

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 spo ...

, 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 Ev ...

'', 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 ("

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 be ...

's causeway"), with a series of sluice 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 Boo ...

, 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 Inventio ...

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 , name_etymology = , image = File:Llyn Teifi - geograph.org.uk - 41773.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Llyn Teifi, the source of the Teifi , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...

. 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 im ...

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 shee ...

s formed by the action of melting glaciers 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 gree ...

. In a 2006 episode of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

The legend

Relationship to myth of Llys Helig

Physical evidence

Images

Origins of the myth

Analogies in other legends

Cultural references

Literature

Music and art

Local representation

Television

See also

References

External links