Berwyn Mountains

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Berwyn Mountains,

At the age of just 12, By a strange twist of fate lasting some 6 weeks, I found myself living in a small village called LLandrillo.
It has the most sacred river of ancient times running through the middle of the village, The river Dee, plus 4 sacred sites,
2 of which are stone circles, and 2 that the church nicked and built their churches on them.

A little way into the mountain range from there, is Pistyll Rhaeadr. A place I vist frequently, especially in the winter months when there are no tourists and you can have the place to yourself.
http://www.pistyllrhaeadr.co.uk/celtic-mythology.html

Here's a video of the waterfall in action..

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Very few places touch me like this one does.

The mines that I visit at Bonwm, are located on top of the "Valley of the dead" where my mate gendalf lives, I found him that house about 20 years ago when he wanted to move from England. On the other side of the Valley is the Land of the Dead, this is where all the legends of "King" Arthur come from, as he lived there with his men. Not as exciting as the stories we are told, but VERY interesting non the less.
There is a stone on the side of the old courthouse in St Peter's square in Ruthin which has the mark of his sword, after he decapitated a man for having a brief affair with his wife.

This was one of only 4 buildings left standing in Ruthin, when Owain Glyndwr went on that rampage after the English "Lord of Ruthin" stole some of his land, and his men had been treating the Welsh people so vey badly.
Owain Glyndwr lived just down the road from my mate, the Welsh "William Wallace" who very nearly defeated the English back in the early 15th century, but you dont get to hear much of him, as schools generally dont teach you that stuff. Here's his sculture in Corwen.


Although not in the Berwyn Mountian range, I enjoy the walk to Moel Famaue. It is a very easy walk from the car park, and there is a ley line running through the summit from Rollrights King Stone in Oxfordshire that terminates in Castletown in the Isle Of Man.

That's the Jubilee Tower on the summit. IIRC, it blew down in a massive storm in february 1865 ?

If you ever get the chance to visit, These places and more are well worth the trip.


One day, I may tell more about my brief time in the Village, but isn't it strange how things work out in life ? mixing Ancient places with events that are yet to happen, out of this world.. ?? Literally..

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Hope you don't mind, I copied & pasted your post to a mate H Marks from Kenfig Hill, he does chats about Welsh history and knew he would be as interested as I, to read what you have written. Ta!
PS: He's a 'Nice man.......

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You are welcome anytime Doctor,

Bruce and Now DHM ! Two personal hero's. .

I do believe he is a very "Nice" man and there would be a warm welcome for him in these hills I can assure you . .

I wanted to write a lot more in that topic, but I find myself in some considerable pain today,
so SWMBO has left me to deal with it on my own, as only I can do.. Bless her.

Does D.H have anything "historical" on the Internet I can look at ? or even a book I can buy on the subject?
I am sure his perspective is more interesting than many things I have read on the subject.

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Apologies for a minor mistake yesterday.

The river that flows through Llandrillo, is the Afon Ceidiog, ("Afon" meaning River).
It joins with the Dee just a short way out of the village, by the All Saints church in Cynwyd.
The river Dee at that point, is fed by many other sacred rivers from five valley's in this area, the river Ceidiog being one of them.
This is why the Dee was considered so sacred.

I did end up living much much farther down the river in a place called Isycoed, meaning "in the tree's".
Ironic considering the lack of tree's in that area.

Although Cynwydd is the next village along, it's all part of the same area, certainly in ancient times, there would have been no distinction between the 2 places, infact, the original name for the church was Llangar, and it was in a small Hamlet of the same name that to my knowledge no longer exists.

The All Saints church is quite a special place, not because of the church, it is a scared Site, the stone marker from the site was incorporated into the church building, behind the porch, on the left.
All did not go well according to local legend when the church was being built.

Every morning when the builders turned up, all the work and materials had simply vanished without trace.
The builders were warned, supernaturally, that they must seek a spot where they found a Carw Gwyn (white stag).
The following evening they glimpsed a white stag in a clearing at the rivers edge.
The church was originally called Llan-garw-gwyn. The church of the white stag, where we get Llangar from.
(that's the common story for the masses, it's far more in depth than that, and involved the killing of the deer).

There was a small stone circle that surrounded the stone, these were also moved, and placed along the path leading down to the church.

At the entrance of the church grounds, stands 2 Yew tree's. There are graves beneath the Yew tree's, unmarked, but I know that they are there.

The church stands on top of many graves of the Ancients. That was discovered back in the 1970's during some restoration work.

Inside the church, it has whitewashed walls and many layers of paintings, so there is a mixture of pictures dating from the 15th century to the 18th century.

I have been inside a couple of times. Just lucky with my timing I guess, as it is not open normally, except on a Sunday between certain hours during the tourist season.
Here's some pictures I took of the Church, the grounds and the stones that now mark the path.



The church did not choose these places by accident, in the same way that in the West country in England, churches were built along Ley lines, and it is still possible to follow some Ley lines by climbing to the top of the church and looking for the next church spire.

What's this got to do with Egypt ?

We have to get across to Snowdonia, into Llandudno and across to Ynys Mon to get to that particualr point.. in time..


This is a Neolithic burial mound I found in Angelesy ( Ynys Mon, meaning Holy Island ) The capstone is the clue to one of the links with Egypt.

You may need to look further south than Luxor for the inspiration to solve the puzzle..


Firstly, I will have to make sure I dont make any silly mistakes again, so I will have to read up on a few more things, get out to these places again, and not depend on my sieve like memory

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I swear you can almost feel it, if you stare long enough.

Need to view full size.

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I have found this book, regarding the Arthurian legends from the Corwen Area. Corwen originally stood high on the valley in Ancient times, it only came down to the lowlands in the last few hundred years, due to climate change allowing this....Not your modern climate change ********..

http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/T ... edir_esc=y

The Keys to Avalon, by Steve Blake, Scott Lloyd, John Baldock



Excellent review...

Well, talk about putting the historical cat amongst the pigeons! The Keys to Avalon by first time authors Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd is the result of some 20 years of research, and this certainly shines through in this fascinating new book.

Picking it up I was certainly prepared to scoff at the proposed 'new findings' on King Arthur, as in many previous so called ground-breaking books - but this one is different. The fundamental understanding of our Dark Age history is thrown completely up in the air, with the resulting landing creating a more plausible explanation of events during this period.

With a 132 mile long lost Roman Wall, complete re-evaluation of the Saxon invasion and one of the most important traditions of Stonehenge being taken from it, there is far more to this work than just King Arthur.

But, having said that, Blake and Lloyd have certainly put forward the most convincing case for the actual existence and location of this so-called legendary figure I have ever come across. Their work covers all the existing known historical sources such as Gildas, Bede and the Saxon Chronicle but more importantly they have studied the hitherto ignored original Welsh documents. By utilising these sources it became quickly obvious to them that our understanding of Dark Age geography is heavily flawed.

I would normally treat such broad ranging ideas with a little sinicism, but the book effectively shows how this new geography answers many of the major questions we have about the period. Many instances presently taken as myth become perfectly feasible, such as saints traveling a distance of around 5 miles in North Wales, via Glastonbury, in an afternoon!

This new geography pulls everything back into credible boundaries. Common sense dictates that armies from North Wales were not going to march to Scotland, for a battle, for no reason! There are far to many examples to give here but the more that are quoted within The Keys to Avalon, the more convincing the case becomes.

So, where did this confusion arise? Look no further than Geoffrey of Monmouth who translated a book 'in the British tongue' into Latin in 1135. Place names get changed, political pressures from the Norman monarchy are applied and, Bobs your uncle, Arthur's everywhere bar where he should be.

Glastonbury, Tintagol and all the other places who make an Arthurian claim are not going to like this book one little bit. Come to think about it, neither is the world of academia who must surely, at the very least, read the book and talk to the authors!




I knew an Historian in the area, I found out today that he has since departed this earth, sad really as he was such an interesting man, when you could catch him, as like me, he would be out in the countryside exploring the area..

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I will be going out this weekend, armed with camera..

Hopefully next week, I will be able to put together a brief story of Arthur and Myrddin ( Merlin ) with a more truthful element to it.

Regarding the sacred sites I live by, I will start a new topic, since I do not wish to mix up my visits experiences with the Arthurian legends..

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Looking forward to it, Good stuff BM.

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So, What happened..???

synchronistically, I read "The Keys to Avalon" That's what happened... !!!

Suggest that you do the same, this topic would appear to be pure plagarism if I went ahead with it.

Once you have digested the contents of the book, keep it with you and follow the Author's trail.
So, why not get up here, ? and get a nice B&B in somewhere like Llangollen for a couple of days and head out to the places mantioned in the book. ( 2 days will scrtch the surface, but it's a start)

Start with a walk to Crow Castle, (or Castell Dinas Bran for it's true name)
Takes about 1.5 hours from the School car park just meandering up the hill.

Valle Crucis abbey is 5 mins drive outside of Llangollen, can also recommend the full English breakfast at the farm's cafe.
From there walk 2 mins towards Ruthin to see Eliseg's Pillar.
Back in the car to the Horseshoe pass, and rest at the Ponderosa, and look for the Blue Pool.

A short drive to Corwen, and take a look around there, then head out to LLandrillo, wonderful walks, and maybe chat to the locals about what happened in 1974
Walk back on yourself for wondeful scenery and a stone circle up in the mountains, then head towards Cynwyd, and old sacred site, where now stands a 15th c Church.

Drive out to Ruthin, and visit St Peter's square. Keep your eyes open up there..
Then drive towards Denbigh, stopping off at Llanraedr, there's a small pub and a small waterfall there.
Get into Denbigh, and head for the caste.

Spend a day in Anglesey ( Ynys Mon ) South Stack is a good place to start, and park up by the Neolithich village just before you get there.
Bull Bay is another interesting place, look out for the Dolphins..
Many standing stones on the Island to be explored, and Plas Newydd is an interesting home to visit.
I could spend a lifetime out there and not see it all in Anglesey to be honest.
As you arrive on the Island, you have to visit llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Easy to find, just off the bridge, follow the big signs)

Berwyn mountains hold many secrets, and some wonderful views and stone circles and other interesting things to find..

You have barley got started !!!,
I have lived here on and off for the best part of 40 years, and I still find new (old) things eveytime I go exploring..