Cyfaredd 13: Thor's Cave

Haia Pawb

Before I get to the main topic of this post, I should clarify something. A few readers have said that, because my last post described an activity in Wales, they thought I was still there. I’m not. I returned home to Melbourne on 30 May. However, because I was travelling around England, Wales and Scotland during the last four weeks of my trip, I didn’t have the time to write up my experiences. This I plan to do over the few weeks, so I can have a complete record of the trip.

The day I left Corris, I travelled to Manchester to spend a few days with my friend Grevel Lindop. During my last trip to the UK, I meet Grevel in person at a conference in Oxford, though we had been in contact by email some years before when he had accepted a poem of mine for Temenos Academy Review. As I mentioned in my blog about Alan Garner, when I told Grevel about my dark ages project, he invited me to stay at his place so he could take me to Alderley Edge and show me sites associated with a Merlin legend there. We had a fantastic time exploring the Edge and also Lud’s Church, and enjoyed discussing our common interest in the sacred sites of indigenous Britain.  With this 2015 trip I organised to spend more time with him, so we could continue such explorations.

The day after my arrival, Grevel drove me to the Manifold Valley of the White Peak in Staffordshire to visit a Karst cave known as Thor’s Cave. The cave is situated in a steep limestone crag and 19^th and 20^th centuries excavations in it and the adjacent Thor’s Fissure Cavern have found human and animal remains, stone tools, pottery, amber beads, and bronze items. These findings suggest usage from the Late Paleolithic through the Iron Age and Roman periods.

The weather varied during the day, from heavy showers in Manchester to occasional drops of rain, mild squalls and brilliant sunshine, as we spent a delightful hour or so walking along the Manifold Way, which is the site of a disused railway line that used to travel from Hulme End (our starting point) past the cave to Waterhouses in the south.

We pressed ahead along the bitumen track past rook roosts, through choruses of wrens, thrushes and robins; past unseen blackbirds with their chink-chink alarm calls; past fields of sheep and inquisitive lambs that almost came up to us at the fence; past a manor house with fancy outdoor extensions of windowed terraces and with horses in its pastures; past buttresses of limestone; past fields, old stone barns and outhouses; past steep slopes of greening trees. Much of the path follows the Manifold River, which was high and muddy, the colour of coffee, with wind and river noise roaring yet indistinguishable.

The Manifold Way

Rook roost

Limestone buttress

Then we reached the cave, which is high up on a crag around which jackdaws chased insects, often diving into and through the cave itself, using a small opening at the side of the hill. We climbed the muddy, slippery stone track and came to the massive opening, with a stone ledge at its lip overlooking the Manifold Valley. And directly opposite, near a little refreshment place further down the valley, was another, much smaller, line-of-sight cave.

Thor's Cave, from The Manifold Way

Graphic with details about the cave

View of the Manifold Valley from inside the cave entrance

Photo of me in the entrance (taken by Grevel),
showing size of opening and the vista beyond

A rock wall inside the entrance of Thor's Cave

Though Thor’s Cave has vantage and security (see the Alan Garner talk about his discussion of Professor Jay Appleton’s prospect-refuge theory of aesthetics), it apparently wasn’t used for habitation, as no signs of food remains or ash from cooking fires has ever been found. The cave itself is huge, with caverns branching off one another and opening deeper into the hill. Even though other visitors had defiled the place with beer bottles, food wrappers and a fire or two, the further I went into the cave complex, the more sacred it felt. In one cavern, I turned around to see Thor himself in the shadows, shape and texture of a rock wall.

View from top of crag,
showing line-of-site cave down the valley

Another view of the Manifold Valley, from the top of the crag

After lunch on the ledge outside the cave, we climbed to the top of the crag for views of the valley and surrounds and then headed back to the car park, with a stop at the line-of-site cave. Many of the wildflower photos in an earlier blog posting were taken during this return walk.

Approaching the line-of-site cave

Inside the cave

We drove back to Manchester and had a delicious meal at Sanam Sweethouse and Restaurant on the ‘Mile of Curry’, a restaurant that Grevel and his wife, Amanda, used to visit 40 years earlier. Over nightcaps of Scotch and Welsh whisky we discussed plans for our next day’s visits to more sacred sites. More about this in my next posting.

Till then.

Cofion cynnes (Warm wishes)

Earl

Cyfaredd 12: Castell Henllys

Haia Pawb

One of the reasons I travelled to Britain in 2013 was to conduct research for my dark ages novel. I had a few sites in mind, which I then visited (or not, as explained in my post about Dinas Emrys). However, after my return to Australia I discovered more places I would like to visit, if I ever had the chance to come back.

The residency at Stiwdio Maelor came when I least expected such an opportunity and in the last week of my time there I picked up a hire car for the research phase of my trip. My posts about Cader Idris and Dinas Emrys describe two early research outings, but on the actual day I picked up the car I decided to visit Castell Henllys ('castle of the old court'), a reconstructed Iron Age village built on the site of an ancient village.

For my novel I plan to set a number of scenes in roundhouses, situated in various parts of the island, so I welcomed the chance to visit roundhouses built in the traditional way. Castell Henllys has four, plus a granary that is built off the ground, unlike the others. All of them have been reconstructed on their original foundations, with the upright poles that support the roof of each roundhouse having been placed into the original post holes. The size of each roundhouse has been gauged from the remains of drainage ditches.

One thing I noticed was the different levels of finish between what was termed the Chieftain’s Hut and the other roundhouses. This difference in finish was evident both in the interior, with the varied quality of paintings and lime wash around the wattle and daub walls, and the exterior, with the thatching around the doorway cut higher on the Chieftain's Hut so that those entering didn’t have to bend.

Below are videos and photos of aspects of the village I may use in the novel:

Video of the roundhouses and surroundings.

The 'Chieftain's Hut'.
Note the high thatching above the entrance.

Interior of the 'Chieftain's Hut'.

Typical Iron Age loom. 

Polished bronze cauldron. Sunlight coming through the doorway
(which is in the east) would make the cauldron glow like gold
to impress visitors to the 'Chieftain's Hut'.

Range of reproduction swords and scabbard.

Hilt of reproduction ceremonial sword.

Saddle quern, used to grind corn*. Bone analysis shows females
suffering from arthritis in hands, knees and back, possibly from
long hours spent using such querns in a bent over position.

Rotary quern, a more efficient way
of grinding corn.

Raised hearth in the 'Cook House'.

Typical wooden bowls.

Video of interior of a roundhouse used for meetings.
Up to 80 warriors could assemble in here. 

Chieftain's Chair in the Meeting Hut.

Forge in the smithy's roundhouse.
Note the double hand bellows on the right.

Small iron anvil embedded in a log.

Wooden container of charcoal used for the forge.
(My foot being there is not a mistake, but is used for scale.)

The granary. Being off the ground allows
air to circulate and keep grain dry.

Wood lathe. 

Bread oven.

Interior of another round housing, showing central hearth,
loom and box beds against the far wall. Note the iron cauldron,
obviously not used for showing off status.

Although I have done and continue to do much book research, such visits produce practical insights into lifestyle and setting that I am sure will provide authentic 'telling details' for my novel. 

For those following my jackdaws 'saga', here's another instalment:

'Is this seat taken?'

By the way, my friend Ali Ni Dhorchaidhe, whom I met at the 2009 W B Yeats Summer School and who has studied Irish and Scots Gaelic, tells me the Irish Gaelic for jackdaw is cág, pronounced ‘cawg’, the word being like the sound they make.

Till next time.

Cofion cynnes (Warm wishes)

Earl

PS. Corn in this case means wheat and other cereal crops, not maize, which is called corn by Americans and Canadians and wasn't introduced into Britain till after Columbus returned from the Americas.

Cyfaredd 11: Farewell to Corris, With Thanks

Haia Pawb

Now that I will be heading back to Australia, I think it opportune to detail the benefits of my eight-week residency at Stiwdio Maelor. When I applied for the residency, I had hoped the time away from normal routines would dramatically help me with my dark ages project. It certainly did this, even if I didn’t achieve exactly what I had hoped.

As you may have gathered from previous posts, my achievements during this trip, like climbing mountains, don’t usually happen in the way I expect. Sometimes this has been because of a tendency to jump into a situation without given it the right level of planning. In regard to my novel, I thought eight weeks would be enough time to redraft the 100,000 words of the manuscript. That I didn’t achieve this was more to do with the over-estimation of my editing and rewriting pace than with a lack of foresight or planning. For example, I found myself spending the early period of the residency in an unexpected structural edit of the manuscript, before resuming the line editing.

Still, I'm happy with what I achieved during the residency, which I’ve listed below:

Fiction

Editing of previously redrafted novel chapters          =           11, 864 words

Writing/editing/re-writing of new chapters                 =          50,195 words

Notes and other interdraft materials                           =            21,077 words

(However, the novel is growing in size, to an estimated 150,000 words, so I still have a long way to go.)

Poetry

Number of old poem drafts completed           =          3

Number of new poems written                       =          2

Number of haiku drafts written                      =          25

Other

Number of blogs written         =          11

(So far. I'll write up the rest of the trip after my return to Australia.)

Blogs and other pieces            =          10,703 words

This is all very good for my writing goals, but the residency meant I could also explore other pertinent interests. Every few days I went for a walk, taking tons of photos and making notes about weather, trees, water flows, birds and flowers.

I also attended an Easter School in Welsh language, a weekly conversation group and, for several weeks, a formal class. This immersion in landscape and language I hoped would inform my writing: its rhythms and textures, its colours and contours, its character and story arcs. Certainly I feel more in touch with the mythic and spiritual aspects of the Land and know this will, at some point after I’ve processed my experiences, help authentic the tone and content of the novel.

I also received benefits I never expected, like stimulating conversations with fellow artists at Stiwdio Maelor, with neighbours, and with folk met at the pub next door and at the Welsh language sessions. Such conversations included the history of slate mining in the area and the foundation of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), the nexus between language, landscape and worldview, the changes in the local landscape over the years, and the increasing friendliness of the village, possibly because of the influx of artisans and others with alternative ideas and careers. Some of these people have become friends, another bonus.

All in all, my experience at Stiwdio Maelor has enriched my work, my soul and my life. I would like to thank Veronica Calarco for accepting my application and for being such a hospitable, helpful and supportive studio manager, a wonderful conversationalist and a patient occasional Welsh language tutor. A residency at the studio is a fantastic opportunity for an artist to find the freedom, the headspace, to create new work, or edit old work, or explore ideas and techniques that may or may not result in any work but at least enhance the artist’s creative processes. For those wanting their work to flourish, put in an application and enjoy the experience and the results.

Thanks, also, to those who made my time in Corris fun, warm, informative, interesting and stimulating: Mary; Brian, his staff at The Slaters Arms, and the pub’s friendly patrons; Inge; Ellie and the Tuesday Welsh conversation group; the volunteer staff at the Corris Institute café; Jan at the Corris Post Office; Adam and Andy (best of luck with your new village venture); Adam and his son, Arthur; Lee Berwick, a fellow artist-in-residence; Martin and Beryl; and the many smiling, welcoming people of Corris I met in the street or during my walks around the village. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

So happy and productive was my experience in Corris that I have already promised I will return as soon as I can, maybe not for a residency but at least for a visit so I can catch up with everyone and introduce them to Jo, while showing her the village and the landscape around it.

Farewell drinks: Martin, Earl, Marilyn, Bill, Andrew, Simon
(from the Stiwdio Maelor Facebook page)

Till next time.

Cofion cynnes (Warm wishes)
Earl

PS. For those of you interested in applying for 2016, see here.

Cyfaredd 10: Climbing Dinas Emrys

Haia Pawb

As I indicated in a previous post, in 2013 I climbed what I thought was Dinas Emrys. For those of you who don't know, Dinas Emrys is a mountaintop stronghold made famous in the Historia Brittonum and Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae as the place where Merlin (or Ambrosius Aurelianus) as a child confounded King Vortigern's advisors and uncovered the prophecy of the Red and White Dragons. Being quite interested in Merlin mythology, I decided to experience the place myself.

Dinas Emrys (photo from here)

However, as my post on Cader Idris indicates, I have a tendency to go off on my own and not (re)consult maps and the like. After I climbed the mountain and found what I thought was the pool under which the dragons had been 'discovered', I didn't know till I arrived back in Australia and started looking at other people's accounts that I hadn't climbed Dinas Emrys at all, but a mountain further down the road. Somehow, I had missed the real location and found a mountain with a similar profile but which was much bigger, hence the aching limbs and tiredness that prevented me from climbing Cader Idris the next day.

Dinas Emrys (diagram from here)

This time around, I was determined to climb the right mountain. I followed travel instructions I found online, arrived at the Craflwyn car park (one mile north of Beddgelert) and studied the map that detailed the various paths.

Map board at Craflwyn car park

Of course, as you can probably guess by now, my walk didn't go exactly to plan. The colours used on the map weren't the same as the colours used on the trail markers and I ended up going on a long hike before reaching the track that took me up Dinas Emrys. For those of you aware of The Hero's Journey, based on Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, you'll understand how I was starting to feel as if the landscape was acting as some sort of Threshold Guardian and testing if I was worthy enough to reach Merlin's mythological site.

The path up the ridge to Dinas Emrys

So, after two attempts and a long detour I arrived at the summit of Dinas Emrys, with its ramparts and remains of walls and foundations. The views from there were amazing, which is probably why it was chosen (apparently by Llewelyn the Last) as a castle stronghold to guard the mountain pass of Snowdon.

Remains of a tower

View of Llyn Dinas from the top of Dinas Emrys

View of surrounding mountains

I knew I had found the right mountain because finally I was able to see the famous pool and its platform, though apparently the platform is dated later than the accepted periods for Vortigern and Ambrosius.

Pool and platform

Fortifications

More fortifications and building remains

With the masonry, the pool, the trees budding with Spring growth, the green moss and dormant heather, the hidden birds chatting amongst themselves about the quiet intruder, and the wind tousling leaves and rippling across the open areas, the place felt both mysterious and familiar.

Brief video of trees, birds and wind

A touch of magic

After exploring the summit, I found a small cave that kept the wind out and ate my lunch, after which I closed my eyes to concentrate on any mythic whispers that might come out of the earth. Maybe an idea for a scene in my book or useful images. White-knuckle mountains. The new leaf of a hazel tree feeling like the skin of a baby. Rivers like sweat from the brow of Gofannon, the Celtic God of metalworking.

The cave

I spent almost two hours on the summit and was only been interrupted once, by a man and a woman asking for directions. Luckily for me, they showed no interest in the place itself, no awareness of its mythological importance. But after some time in the cave I felt the need to move on. Just in time, too, for a group of walkers, who seemed intent on exploration, came up the ridge as I started down. After the testing by the Threshold Guardian, I had been blessed with quiet and inspiration and so could continue my own explorations elsewhere.

A waterfall I passed on the way back

When I returned to my car, I continued along the A498 to find the mountain I had climbed in 2013.  It was about another mile down the road. I still don't know how I missed Dinas Emrys the first time. That Threshold Guardian, I suppose.

The mountain I climbed in 2013

Dinas Emrys, in 2015 (less than half the height)

I hope you all manage to move further along your own hero/heroine journeys.

Till next time.

Pob Hwyl
Earl