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IS "PORTH KERDIN" IN MOYLGROVE?

BY A. W. WADE-EVANS.

[The following appeared last December and January, in the now well-known "Amsang" column in the Pembroke County Guardian (H. W. Williams, Solva). With Mr. Williams' permission, it is here reproduced and revised. For the photographs we are indebted to the Rev. J. T. Evans, Rector of Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire].

THERE are certain reasons for believing that the place called "Porth Kerdin," in the story of Kulhwch (Oxford Mabinogion. p. 110), is in the parish of Moylgrove, in North Pembrokeshire. The following is the relevant passage from Lady Guest's translation (Nutt's Ed., 1902, p. 140):

"After this Arthur sent an embassy to Odgar, the son of Aedd, King of Ireland, to ask for the cauldron of Diwrnach Wyddel, his purveyor. And Odgar commanded him to give it. But Diwrnach said: 'Heaven is my witness if it should avail him anything even to look at it, he should not do so.' And the embassy of Arthur returned with this denial. And Arthur set forward with a small retinue, and entered Prydwen his ship, and went over to Ireland. . . . . And they slew Diwrnach Wyddel and his company Arthur with his men went forward to the ship, carrying away the cauldron full of Irish money. And he disembarked at the house of Llwydden, the son of Kelcoed, at Porth Kerdin in Dyfed. And there is the measure of the cauldron."

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The part in italics is as follows in the original Welsh (Oxford Mabinogion, p. 136):

"ar peir yn llawn o swllt iwerdon gantunt. Adiskynnu yn ty llwydeu mab kel coet ym porth kerdin yn dyuet. Ac yno y mae messur y peir."

Now where is this "Porth Kerdin yn Dyuet"? Lady Guest suggests Pwllerochan in Pencaer, and this is supported not only by the name itself, which means the pool of the pot or cauldron," but also by

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the following facts. First, there is a place not far off called Trefculhwch, that is, the tref or township of Kulhwch, who is the hero of our story. Then the northern promontory of the bay of Pwllerochan is called Trwyn Llwyd, which immediately makes one think of" Llwydeu mab Kel Coet," whose house is

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said to have been at the place, and especially so when we remember that this personage is called in the Mabinogi of Manawyddan, Llwyd ab Kilcoed. Also, there is another bay, a little to the north of Pwllerochan, called Pwll Arian, which reminds us of the cauldron being filled with Irish money; and, in addition, all kinds of quaint stories are known to exist or to have existed on Pencaer, concerning these and other

places in that vicinity, Of this, then, there is absolutely no doubt that the tale of Kulhwch and Olwen, in the Llyfr Coch o Hergest, is intimately connected with Pencaer, and it is highly probable that the old folk associated Pwllcrochan, Pwllarian, etc., with the cauldron of Diwrnach Wyddel, a well-known personage in their mythology. This, however, would not pre

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vent its having been associated with Pwllerochan in South Pembrokeshire, for there is a place of that name in the south as well as in the north of the county; and possibly with other Pwllcrochans which have disappeared from map and memory. But when the scribe of the Llyfr Coch wrote "Ac yno y mae messur y peir" (" and there is the measure of the cauldron"), he must have had his mind's eye on some particular spot

in Dyfed, where there was something which looked like a cauldron: something which any Dimetian would have called a "messur y peir." For instance, there is a thing on the Fishguard Road to St. David's which looks like a loaf, and is, therefore called "Mesur y Dorth" ("the measure of the loaf"). Where, then, in Dyfed is that thing which looks like a 'pair" or cauldron, and which might be reasonably called "mesur y pair" ("the measure of the cauldron") ?

In the summer of 1898, before I had read the Mabinogion, or knew anything of Diwrnach Wyddel, I visited Moylgrove for the first time. There I noticed a most weird-looking formation in the cliff, a large cavity into which by some unseen passage the sea entered with every incoming tide. Fenton noticed it on his tour in the first decade of the last century, and this is what he says (Historical Tour, p. 538):

"On the north side [of the pretty little dingle] I observe a curious opening in the cliff, nearly circular, admitting the sea through an arch at bottom, similar to those near St. Goven's, but not half so capacious."

It is known as "Pwll y Wrach," the "Witch's Pool;" but I very distinctly remember a lady living close by, and who had lived there from childhood, telling me she had always known it in English as "The Witch's Cauldron." The inhabitants say that it is a marvel to see in stormy weather, for in such a time it seethes. like a boiling pot. I paid it a subsequent visit on Tuesday, July 22nd last, in company with Mr. John Griffith (Pentrevor). At the first glimpse, and irrespective of the story in the Llyfr Coch, Mr. Griffith felt certain that the old folk must have associated some explanatory legend, a kind of working hypothesis as to the origin and existence of so remarkable an object (as indeed is indicated by its present name). Of this at least we were assured, that whether Pwll-yWrach in Moylgrove be the place referred to in the story or not. it represents exactly what a Dimetian would understand by the expression messur y peir.

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This, however, by itself is not sufficient to make us certain that Porth Kerdin yn Dyfed has been identified; but I believe the following considerations will assist us in arriving at that conclusion. First, then, another quotation from Fenton (p. 536):

"Moylgrove, or as more properly it should be called, Maltes or Matilda's Grove, for so the old Latin deeds term it, where anciently there were two hundred acres of wood and forest, is now totally denuded."

Two hundred acres of wood and forest! Not only does the English name "Grove" bear this out, but also the Welsh, viz., Trewyddel, i.e., "the woody tref;" for seemingly in most Welsh place-names into whose composition the word "gwyddel" enters, it does not mean an Irishman, or Goidel (as Bishop Basil Jones thought) but "wooded." I presume the word "gwyddel" is formed from "gwydd," which one constantly comes across in Dafydd ab Gwilym, e.g., in his cywydd to the thunder: "Tan y gwydd'r oedd tân yn gwau." (I am not quite certain of this. I was taught "learning" in Welsh schools-so called because no Welsh is taught in them!). However, this point is established, that Moylgrove was once very wooded. Now the place where the "messur y peir" is said to be, is called "Porth Kerdin." Although we were unable to find any spot called "Cerdin" in Moylgrove, it is significant that this word is a form of the modern Welsh word "cerdinen," a rowan tree; or, as some will have it, a mountain ash (Rhys' Celtic Folklore, p. 292, note 1). "Porth" not only means a port or harbour in the sense we generally use those words, but also any small landing-place, so that "Porth Kerdin" would signify "The Harbour of Rowan Trees." In addition to this, the man whose house is said to have been there is "Llwydeu mab Kel Coet," which would seem to mean Llwydeu, son (of him) of the Hidden Wood." In the Mabinogion he is called Llwyt uab kil coet," which literally means "Llwyt, son of (him of) the Retreat of the Wood" (ibid., p. 546, note 1). Thus

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