THE APPLE TREE OF MYRDDIN

Chapel Knowe Near Nemphlar, South Lanarkshire

(Photo Courtesy Alan O'Dowd Via geograph.org.uk)

In the early Welsh poem Yr Afallennau, 'The Apple Trees', we are told about a magical apple tree in which Myrddin the Mad finds refuge from the British Strathclyde king, Rhydderch.  We are given various enigmatic hints as to the location of this tree.  The tree is in the Celyddon Wood (in this case, the Scottish Lowland forest deriving its name from the Caddon Water, a relocation of the true Caledonian Forest that lay in the Highlands). It is said to be "beyond Rhun", and in a glade (Awallen peren atif inllanerch).  Also, it is on a bank of a river.

Many have dispensed with this tree as a mythological construct.  I once tried to identify it with Cairn Avel, a chambered tomb in Dumfries and Galloway. However, certain antiquarian writers did point out that the Welsh common noun llanerch or "glade" was present in the Scottish Lowland place-name Lanark.  The Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru has for the entry on llanerch:

"llannerch

[?llan+erch1 neu ynteu est. yn -rk- i’r Frth. *landa (> llann), H. Grn. lanherch, gl. saltus; digwydd mewn e. lleoedd yng Nghumbria ac yn yr Alban, e.e. Lanercost, Lanark, Lanrick, Lendrick, Caerlanrig]

eb.g. (bach. g. llanerchyn) ll. llanerchau, -i, -oedd, -ydd, llanneirch, llenneirch, llennyrch.

Lle agored mewn coedwig, &c., gwerddon, tir porfa, cowrt, beili, man gwag, clwt, mangre, lle, ardal; brycheuyn, ysmotyn; (geir.) trigfa; Her. maes neu wyneb tarian:

a clearing, glade, oasis, pasture, court, empty space, patch, place, area, region; blemish, spot; (dict.) habitation; field of escutcheon (in her.)." 

Alas, no one seems to have paid attention to this observation. Yet the connection has been confirmed by the best of the modern place-name scholars.  The following is from Alan  G. James' "The Brittonic Language in the Old North: A Guide to the Place-Name Evidence, Volume 2, Guide to the Elements":

"lanerc or *lanrec (f) Br *landā- (see lann) + -arcā- > OW(LL) lannerch > M-MnW llannerch. The suffix -arcā- may be diminutive, cf. early Modern Welsh glosses llan = Latin area, llannerch = areola (see GPC, and Williams 1952). If so, and assuming a secular sense for lann (which see), the meaning would be ‘a small (cleared, and possibly enclosed) area of (former) scrub, waste, fallow or wooded land’. The common interpretation, ‘a glade’ may over-emphasise the woodland connotations. The examples from the North mostly show single –n- and non-spirant –rc. Jackson, (1955a) at p. 164, regarded the latter as a Pritenic feature, but it was probably also present in northernmost Brittonic. 

The cluster of names with this element in and around the middle Irthing valley, recorded mainly

in the Lanercost Cartulary (Todd 1997), is of particular interest. Jackson argued, in LHEB §149,

pp. 571-2, that the absence of spirant lenition from these names may indicate that [-rk] > [-rχ],

which he dated to the late 6th century in West Brittonic, occurred later or not at all in northern

Brittonic/ Cumbric (assuming as he did that these names were adopted by Northumbrian English

speakers on their arrival, again in the late 6th century). However, this begs several questions, and

his later opinion on the similar feature in Pritenic (1955a loc. cit.) suggests an alternative view

that these names may reflect much later colonisation of the district by settlers from further north

(though not necessarily from Pictland): see A. G. James (2008) at p. 200.

Several forms also show metathesised –rec, which may be compared with Landrick Per (x2) and

Lendrick Ang and Knr. R. A. V. Cox (1997) shows that such metathesis was characteristic of

Gaelicised forms of this word. This may be relevant to the names north of the Forth, and even to

the local pronunciation of Lanark recorded as Lainrick. However, it is doubtful whether the

names in the Lanercost Cartulary are Gaelic or Goidelic-influenced. See also Nicolaisen (2007) at

p. 120 and A.G. James (2009a) at pp. 151-2.

a1) Lanark CPNS p. 356: see above. Lanerton Cmb PNCmb p. 115 [+ OE –tūn ‘a farm’]. b2) Lanercost Cmb PNCmb p. 71 + personal name *Ǭst: though unrecorded, such a name could be a neo-Brittonic form for the Latin Augustus, via Vernacular Latin *Agust- > late British *Aɣust or *Awust, cf. Welsh Awst, the month of August. See I Williams (1952) at pp. 67-9, and cf. Coates in CVEP, pp. 54-5, on Aust Glo, but note Watts’s reservations, DEPN(C), p. 27. Such a personal name need not necessarily date the place-name formation to the post-Roman period, it could have been current much later. The Augustinian priory was established here around 1166: Williams loc. cit. thought this ‘a happy coincidence’, but it is not wholly impossible even at that date that a (dialectally northern) Cumbric-speaking community existed here, or was introduced in association with the foundation, and that *Awst here is a late Cumbric hypocorism for Augustine. If so, the other lanerc names, and other late Cumbric names in this area, could have been associated with the same foundation. See A. G. James (2008) loc. cit. and (2009a) loc. cit. Lanrechaithin Cmb (Burtholme) PNCmb p. 72, Lan Cart 6 and note + -ejthin: note the exceptional (but very early) –ch- in this record of c1170, replaced by –c- or –k- in subsequent records. Lanrecorinsan Cmb (Brampton?) Lan Cart 28 ? + ï[r]- ? + -ïnïs- + -an: see Breeze (2006c) at p. 326. Lanrekereini Cmb (Nether Denton) Lan Cart 49 ? + ï[r]- ? + -üwn (see *oɣn and Breeze (2006c) at p. 326), or + -*rieini, plural of *rijajn (which see; A. Walker, pers. comm.) Note that this is not a variant of Lanrechaithin as stated in PNCmb at p. 72: see Todd (2005) at p. 93 and p. 102 n37. 

 Lanrequeitheil Cmb (Burtholme) PNCmb p. 72, LanCart 149 ? + -cȩ:d- [+ OE –hyll > ‘hill’] A.

Walker, pers. comm., or + personal (saint’s?) name -Judhael, see *jǖδ and Breeze (2006c) loc.

cit.

c1) Barlanark Lnk (Shettleston) CPNS p. 356 + *baɣeδ-, which see.

c2) Caerlanrig Rox (Teviothead) CPNS p. 368, PNRox p. 6 + cajr-, which see. Macdonald in

PNRox prefers OE *lang-hryċġ, as ‘long ridge’ is appropriate here; if this is correct, cajr- must

be attributed to post-Northumbrian Cumbric-speaking (re-) colonisation. However, [-ŋ(h)r-] > [-

nr-] is not a regular development between Northumbrian Old English and early Scots.

Drumlanrig Dmf (Durrisdeer) + *drum-, which see.

Records for Panlaurig Bwk confirm that this was not -lanerc, see under laβar."

'Rhun', if considered in the context of Rhydderch's Strathclyde, can only be a reference to the 9th century Strathclyde king of that name.  Now, critics have claimed that Rhun's kingdom could not be that which appears in the Myrddin poem.  Why?  Because Myrddin was of the 6th century.  But these same critics forget that 'Yr Afallennau' is extant only in MSS. dated well after the reign of Rhun.  So by the time the poem was put to paper - regardless of any prior verbal transmission - the kingdom of Strathclyde might easily have been anachronistically called the land of Rhun in the medieval Welsh poem.

I thought to begin my search by looking for an actual apple tree place-name in the vicinity of Lanark.  The result of that search? There was a chapel associated with nearby Nemphlar called variously 'All men's apple tree" or "Old Man's apple tree."  Some rather dated books discuss this place, but the best information is to be found on more modern and very respectable Websites:

http://www.wosas.net/wosas_site.php?id=10265

https://canmore.org.uk/site/46641/nemphlar-church

The location of the chapel is shown only on the Roy maps of 1752-55:

The site of the apple tree chapel is near the Clyde, the chief river of the Kingdom of Strathclyde.  I take this to be the river mentioned in the 'Yr Afallennau.'

Alan James, a foremost expert in the Brittonic place-names of North Britain, has informed me that:

"Very helpful friends in the FB Scottish Place-Names group have come up with more on Nemphlar. The earliest record is a grant 1173x1214 by King WIlliam to the parish church of Lanark of the parish of Nemflare (sic in the rubric, in the text of the grant, Nenflare) 

There is no record of any Templar holding there, notwithstanding Chalmers (who gives no source), Alan Macquarrie has confirmed that."

I would hasten to add that very near where this apple tree chapel was said to have stood, there was a holy well.  It went by various names, but came to associated with St. Mary:

https://canmore.org.uk/site/46640/nemphlar-my-ladys-well

Why might this be important?  Because in Strophe 4 of 'Yr Afallennau', we are told that Myrddin "contended at its base [of the apple tree] in order to please a maiden." As the chapel of the apple tree and the holy well were very close to one another, it may be that the maiden in question was the pagan equivalent of Mary.

Lanark is the only place in Scotland to have an actual ancient church dedicated to St. Kentigern.  Other churches are always dedicated to his nickname, Mungo.

https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=1335890004

Kentigern is elsewhere brought into connection with Merlin/Myrddin, and I have convincingly shown that this saint appears in the Welsh Myrddin poems as a certain Gwasawg (see http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/07/slight-revision-of-merlinmyrddin.html). Gwasawg is the "supporter of Rhydderch" and thus an enemy of Myrddin, and is mentioned in the 'Yr Afallennau.'

This chapel of the apple tree is only some 15 kilometers as the crow flies from Myrddin's Tinto Hill (see http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/02/ive-been-asked-to-post-my-study-on.html). Tinto is the "central mountain" of the Scottish Lowlands, at least in the scheme presented to us in the early Myrddin tradition.

Lastly, it would appear the Nemphlar region was quite famous for its apples.  From http://www.clydesdalesheritage.org.uk/clydesdales-heritage-an-overview/:

"Blaeu’s map of the Upper and Nether Wards of Clydesdale, based on Pont’s 1596 survey, shows a figure holding a basket of apples, a reference to the prosperous orchards of the Clyde Valley."

Nemphlar is in the Upper Ward. 

Given all of the above, I would put forward the proposal that Myrddin's apple tree in the Celyddon Wood of Lowland Scotland is none other than the All Men's Apple Tree/Old Man's Apple Tree chapel of Nemphlar in South Lanarkshire.

NOTE: Alan James has shared with me a possibly interesting derivation for the All Men's portion of the appletree name

"According to OPS (p. 119), Nemphlar, in the reign of King William the Lion (reign 1165 – 1214), seems to have had a church of its own, which, after its annexation by that king to Lanark, became a chapel dependent on the mother church. Its site was at East Nemphlar, probably at a spot called 'Alman's appletree'. Roy’s 1755 map records this spot as Allman’s Appletree, located near NS859446, where My Lady’s Well is now mapped.

The Nemphlar apple tree seems to be first recorded on Roy's map, at a time when apple cultivation was only starting to get going, and in enclosed gardens and orchards, so this would have been either a notable crab apple tree or, less likely, an even more exceptional planted one.

Simon Taylor notes: 1173x1214 the whole parish of Nemphlar and Cartlan was granted by King William to church of Lanark, and thereafter remained a pendicle of that church, which itself was annexed to Dryburgh Abbey (Dryburgh Lib. nos. 44-6; Retours nos. 325, 328). Cowan 1967, 154-5.

My (AJ) immmediate thoughts: those are helpful, if only in confirming a fair degree of consistency over 8 centuries or so - /n/ > /m/ is the only real phonemic-level change, and that's unsurprising before /f/.

Alman's Appletree is tantalising, it might just possibly have been a meeting-place (ON al-manna)."