Cyfaredd 21: Research on Ynys Môn: Day Four

Haia Pawb

Today I was to leave Ynys Môn and drive up to Scotland for the next stage of my research trip. However, before leaving the island, I planned to visit the complex at Lligwy, which comprised a prehistoric burial chamber, a Roman-British farmstead (Din Lligwy) and the remains of a medieval chapel, Capel Lligwy. I planned to focus on the farmstead, as it might help me with some scenes set in a similar environment, though at a later stage than the Roman occupation of Ynys Môn.

Path to the settlement, with wildflowers

Information board

Video of the site

Artist impression of the settlement

I enjoyed my time, largely on my own, wandering around the farmstead. I measured out and sketched the layout of the site and its various buildings, something I hadn’t done at other sites and now kicked myself for not doing those times. As I did this, under a cloudy sky and in a coolness that refreshed, I felt quite grounded and content, the place and the work being what I was meant to do.

One of the roundhouses

Another video

I might be able to use the layout as a foundation for the plan for the Iron Age village in the beginning of my novel. I quite like the idea of a pentagon-shape for the village, five being one of the sacred numbers of the Celts.

Layout of the settlement

Given that my central character is connected to blacksmithing, the artist’s impression of the smithy in the site gave me a few ideas about structure, size, etc. The smithy itself was set in the ground, as if one is stepping into the earth, towards the darkness of the forge, towards the Otherworld, when engaging in the magical work of creating tools from molten iron.

The artist impression of the smithy

The smithy

Another view of the smithy

The site itself is a perfect example of the prospect-refuge theory Alan Garner mentioned in the talk I wrote about some time ago. Although the photos show trees blocking the view of the surrounding areas, this apparently wasn’t the case during the time of the farmstead’s use.

View of surrounding area taken during the walk to the settlement

I then moved onto the tomb. The small structure, made from quite large rocks, is set deep into the ground. After a moment’s meditation, I crawled inside and sat silently on the packed dirt floor contemplating my novel and listening to the whispers of the Atlantic wind.

Information board at the site

The tomb

View of the tomb from the other side

Inside the tomb

My reveries was cut short by a plane overhead:

Fuzzy shot of RAF planes on their training run

inside the ancient tomb

dirt and silence

scream of fighter jet

As my novel is set centuries before the medieval period, and time was running out, I didn’t investigate the chapel, except for taking some distant photos.

Capel Lligwy

That’s it for now. As always, I hope you’re enjoying these posts and I welcome any comments.

Cofion Cymes
Earl

Cyfaredd 20: Research on Ynys Môn: Day Three

Haia Pawb

This was my last complete day on Ynys Môn and it featured a mix of research and social activities.

The first thing I did was visit Oriel Ynys Môn, the museum and arts centre located in Llangefni. I had come to see the History Gallery, which gives an introduction to the island’s past through sound, imagery, reconstructions and real artefacts, including replicas of the finds from Llyn Cerrig Bach. After my conversations with Eflyn about her father’s discovery of these Iron Age artefacts and my visit to the site (during my previous trip to Ynys Môn), I wanted to see them myself, even if only replicas, the originals currently being held in St Fagan’s National Museum in Cardiff.

Replica of slave chain found at Llyn Cerrig Bach

Iron age artefacts

The History Gallery also contained finds and information about other aspects of Ynys Môn history and pre-history, including the Battle for Ynys Môn during the Roman invasion of the island circa 60AD.

Artist rendition of the battle

The exhibit for this battle included an audio of a translation of the report by the Roman historian Tacitus:

Along the shore stood the enemy in a close-packed array of armed men interspersed with women dressed like Furies in funeral black, with streaming hair and brandishing torches. Round about were the Druids, their hands raised to heaven, pouring out dire curses. The Roman troops were so struck with dismay at this weird sight that they became rooted to the spot as though their limbs were paralysed and laid themselves open to wounds. Then, bolstered by the encouragements of their commander and urging one another not to be afraid of this mass of fanatical women, they advanced with their standards, cut down all they met, and enveloped them in the flames of their own torches. After this a garrison was imposed on the conquered natives, and the groves devoted to their savage rites cut down; for it was part of their religion to drench their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their gods by means of human entrails.

Tacitus Annals XIV, 29-30

I then drove to Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch (apparently, at 58 characters the longest place name in Europe and the second longest official one-word place name in the world) to meet my Welsh teacher Anna and her husband Steve, who just happened to be back in Wales visiting family. (Anna teaches Welsh on a Tuesday night at The Celtic Club in Melbourne.)

Station sign, with approximate pronunciation

Translation of the name

After coffee at a café, we headed off to Ynys Llanddwyn, a small tidal island located at the far end of a pleasant beach near Newborough Warren. On the way there, we stopped off in blustery, drizzly weather to see Llys Rhosyr, one of the  Llysoedd or Royal courts of Llywelyn Fawr, Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd in the 13^th century. It is situated near Newborough Parish Church on the road leading to Ynys Llanddwyn.

Information board showing a reconstruction of some of the buildings on the site.

Part of the excavation.

Only a quarter of the site has been excavated at this time.

Another information board, showing the llys (court) layout

After we wandered around the site for a short while, the inhospitable weather sent us back to our car and we drove onto Ynys Llanddwyn.

The name Llanddwyn means ‘The church of St. Dwynwen’. Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, making her the Welsh equivalent of St. Valentine. Her feast day, 25 January, is often celebrated by the Welsh with cards and flowers. After various trials, as she tried to unite with her lover, Dwynwen retreated to the island to live the life of a hermit. There are ruins of her chapel on the island but, unfortunately, the tide was coming in after our walk along the beach and we couldn’t get to the island.

View of Ynys Llanddwyn as we walked along the beach, the drizzle having abated for a while.

The tide coming in

Close up of an outcrop near the island

Another one of my texture/colour studies

On the way back, we took one of the many paths through the sand dunes and discussed the vegetation and the birds around us. One thing I got out of the experience was the smell of gorse—like vanilla or coconut. For all my time in Wales and my interest in its flora, so I could use it in my writing, I realised I had paid more attention to the visual environment around me than to the other senses. Our conversation revealed the differences between two plants of similar colour blooms:

Gorse = a scent, yellow flowers, spikey vegetation

Broom = no scent, yellow flowers, no spikes

Gorse thicket near Aberystwyth

Gorse Inflorescence (source)

Gorse Spines (source)

Broom (source)

Broom flowers @ Ray Woods/PlantLife (source)

Afterwards, we went to The Ship Inn (formerly called Cei Bach, Little Quay and Hen Cei, Old Quay) at Red Wharf Bay for a late meal and discussions, with sampling, about whiskies and their trips to Speyside and Islay for various whiskey festivals and distilleries.

Location Map (source)

Traeth Coch (Red Beach), known in English as Red Wharf Bay (source)

The Ship Inn (source)

We then parted ways, Anna and Steve to head back to Wrexham and I drove back to the Harbour Hotel for my last night on Ynys Môn.

That’s it for now. As always, I hope you’re enjoying these posts and I welcome any comments.

Cofion Cynnes

Earl

Various Announcements

Hello Everyone

On Saturday, 5 February 2016, I attended the Melbourne launch of Yeats 150, a book of essays and poems celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the birth of the great Irish poet William Butler Yeats. The event was held at that renowned Melbourne literary venue Collected Works Bookshop and the book was launched by Hon Luke Donnellan M.P., a lover of Irish literature and friend of the editor Declan Foley. The launch speech paid homage to Declan’s efforts in promoting Yeats in Australia and overseas. In response, Declan gave a wide-ranging talk about Yeats and the various family members who influenced and supported the great poet in his endeavours, much of this knowledge previously being unknown to many in the audience.

Dedicated to Seamus Heaney, the book is divided into a number of sections including Academic Essays; The Plays; The Yeats family; Scholarly Essays; W B Yeats Poetry Prizes; and, appropriately, the town of ‘Sligo’ (influential for Yeats’s development), by Sligo natives and visitors to the International Yeats Summer School.

Contributors include former Yeats Summer School Directors Helen Vendler, Denis Donoghue, James Pethica and Ann Margaret Daniel, as well as Patrick J Keane, Deirdre Toomey, Yeats Annual editor Warwick Gould, publisher Colin Smythe, professor and director of Otago University, New Zealand, Peter Kuch, Tokyo professor Tomoko Iwatsubo, biographer Ann Saddlemyer, and critics Lucy McDiarmid and Martin Mansergh. I am thrilled to be included in such illustrious company with a personal essay about my own experiences at the Summer School in 2009.

For those Yeatsians amongst you, copies of the book can be obtained at Collected Works if you live in Melbourne or through Book Depository.

In even more exciting news, I have been accepted for another residency at Stiwdio Maelor in Wales. My residency will be split into two parts, the first from early September 2016 to early October and the second from early November to sometime in January 2017. During the intervening period, I intend to visit friends in Wales, Scotland, and England and conduct more research for my novel. I also plan to visit family in Washington, USA, on my return flight.

Last week I finished my second draft of the novel (which currently stands at 154k words), but the story and the writing still have a long way to go to match my vision for the book. Thus, the residency will be a chance for me to spend undistracted time on the project, with the aim of creating a completed draft that I can submit to publishers. As I did with my previous trip, I will blog about my experiences over there, specifically the three W’s: Writing the novel, Walking the landscape and practicing my Welsh language. (I know, I know, I still haven’t finished the last trip L I plan to do so as soon as possible.)

I am enormously grateful to my wife Jo for encouraging me to take this time off to write, research and visit friends and family. I couldn’t do this without her support. In all likelihood, the trip will be my last solo escapade in Britain. The next time I go it will be with Jo, so we can share the places we both love, both in the UK and over on the continent.

Some of you might remember that in 2015 The Morning Bell crew interviewed me about my last trip to Wales. Early this year they invited me back, this time to talk about how some literary writers are adopting genre conventions for their own use. We based much of the conversation on The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Also, during the podcast we discussed the latest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. If you are interested in either of these topics, you can listen to the podcast here.

That’s it for now. As always, I hope you’re enjoying these posts and I welcome any comments.

Cheers

Earl

Cyfaredd 19: Research on Ynys Môn: Day Two, Part Three

Haia Pawb

One of the joys of doing research on the spot is how synchronicities can occur. A chance conversation with my friend Grevel Lindop led me to the place where the druids on Ynys Môn made their last stand against the Romans. Ynys Y Fydlyn is a small rocky island on the northwest coast of Ynys Môn and accessible at low tide. Erosion has caused the island (which some call a promontory) to split into two, though one can scramble over rocks and slimy seaweed to the seaward end.

Earlier that day I had tried to reach the island in between my visit to Melin Llynnon and my meeting with Eflyn, but I became lost in the winding back roads of the island. Although I eventually found the right car park, I then went down the wrong trail. This time, I took the right track and after a pleasant walk over grassy meadows, past a fenced-off forest plantation and a small lake, I strode down to the shingle beach and gazed at the island. Here the remnants of the druids and their supporters, after the Battle for Ynys Môn fought on the Menai Strait, took refuge in a promontory fort whose remains are barely visible. The Romans besieged the Celts and threw them into the sea, though I image some escaped to either Ireland (Ierne) or the Isle of Man (Ynys Manau).

View of Ynys Y Fydlyn and the shingle beach, late in the afternoon.
Man-made ridges are visible on the landward section of the island.

Closer view of part of the possible man-made ridge-fortifications.

Continuing the wildflowers them from earlier posts: Forget-me-knots?

With the tide out, contrasting colours and textures.

Some of the seaweed I had to climb over to get to the seaward end of the island.

The plateau at the western end of the island, dotted wth wildflowers.

Looking over the edge of the western end.
Did druids scramble into boats here to escape the Romans?

Looking westward from the western end of the island, at the setting sun,
and imagining surviving druids escaping on small boats.

Solitary goose checking out the lie of the land or searching for its mate.

Can anyone see a creature resting its head on its forelegs?

Small lake and woods behind the shingle beach at Ynys Y Fydlyn

Departing view of Ynys Y Fydlyn

No jackdaws this time, just large gulls circling.

Other highlights of my trip to Ynys Y Fydlyn include

• Spotting a large bird, an osprey, I think, perched on a fence, which then flew off at my approach, but was back there when I next passed by.
• Watching a large kestrel hover, dive after a swallow, miss it, hover again, disappear behind a ridge of bushes, reappear with something small--a field mouse?--in its talons.
• Enjoying flights of swallows, for days now, swooping, dipping, weaving above fields and meadows.

I returned to my car relaxed and blessed and drove back to Cemaes Bay. The local fish 'n' chips shop had closed minutes before my arrival, so I settled for a pub meal and went back to my room for some writing and emailing.

As always, I hope you’re enjoying these posts and I welcome any comments.

Cofion cynnes

Earl