Shadows in the Mist: The Quest for a Historical King Arthur: THE HOUSE AND OBSERVATORY GWENDDYDD BUILDS FOR HER BROTHER, MYRDDIN

Long Meg and Here Daughters Stone Circle, Cumbria

"So raise me a house... Before the other buildings build me a remote one to which you will give seventy doors and as many windows, through which I may see fire-breathing Phoebus with Venus, and watch by night the stars wheeling in the firmament..."

- from Geoffrey of Monmouth's LIFE OF MERLIN

Where is Gwenddydd’s house and its adjoining observatory, built for Merlin/Myrddin?

In my book THE MYSTERIES OF AVALON, I had provided an argument in support of the idea that both of these places were in Cumbria, not in Lowland Scotland. Until just the other day, I had literally forgotten this earlier work - and so wasted considerable time and energy searching for alternative candidates for these monuments. My apologies to my readers. What is posted below is a slight revision of the material excerpted from my book. Having gone over this carefully, I'm now confident that this is what lies behind the Galfridian tradition.

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Well, Ryderch (Rodarch) is called by Geoffrey of Monmouth the king of Cumbria, not Strathclyde. This may be a reflection of Carruthers and Carrutherstown in SE Dumfriesshire. The former is near the Caerlaverock or Lark’s Nest said to be the cause of the Arderydd battle. Both are also near ancient settlements and hill-forts, as well as the various Mabon place-names found here. Cair Riderc or Fort of Rhydderch is the origin of the family name lying at the root of these town names. At Carruthers is the Birrens Hill settlement, while between the two towns is the mighty Burnswark fort and Roman camp.

Gwenddydd is represented as the sister of Rodarch. If the court of this particular relocated Rhydderch is not to be found in Strathclyde, but here near the border with Cumbria, can we figure out where Merlin’s house and observatory are located?

We are fortunate in possessing an early 14th century elegy by Gwilym Ddu that says Myrddin descended from the tribe of Meirchiaun. This is Meirchiaun Gul of the North, whom I’ve suggested (in my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY) may belong to the area of Maughanby (earlier ‘Meirchiaun’s By’) in Cumbria, hard by the great Long Meg and Her Daughters stone circle, and only a few miles from the Voreda Roman fort at Old Penrith. This is in the heartland of the ancient Carvetii kingdom.

Meg is a common nickname for Margaret, and the person in question is said to be a 17th century witch, Meg of Meldon. I have wondered whether ‘Meg’ could be a late substitution for a name similar to that of the ancient Irish goddess Macha, i.e. Imona the horse goddess (see Chapter 6). Voreda can be compared with Welsh gorwydd, ‘horse’, and according to philologist Kenneth Jackson means ‘Horse stream’.

While Meirchiaun is a Welsh form of the Roman name Marcianus, it may well have been linked to the Welsh plural for horse, viz. meirch. The son of Meirchiaun was Cynfarch of the Mote of Mark hill-fort in Dumfries. The name Cynfarch means ‘chief horse’ (cf. Irish conn for Cyn-/*Cuno- in this context).

A possible association of Long Meg and Her Daughters with Myrddin is interesting, given the circle’s description (from English Heritage’s Pastscape Website):

“A stone circle located north of Little Salkeld and east of the River Eden. One of the largest extant stone circles in England, the monument currently comprises 69 large stones, some standing and some fallen, arranged in a flattened oval circa 110 metres by 93 metres. There are two apparent entrances, one to the southwest and the other to the northwest. According to Barnatt, the stones were set in a low bank visible intermittently around the site's circumference except to the north. The enclosure's northern side is "flattened", ie straight rather than curved. Air photography has demonstrated the presence of a large cropmark enclosure (NY 53 NE 21) on this side of the stone circle, and it appears that the stones were here following the line of the enclosure ditch - at least 10 of the stone appear to have stood on the outer lip of the enclosure ditch (which must therefore be earlier than the stone circle). The stone circle's northwest entrance appears to face directly into the entrance of the enclosure. To the southwest of the stone circle, circa 22.5 metres from the southwestern entrance, is a single outlier, an upright red sandstone block some 3.65 metres high known as Long Meg. One face of this boulder is covered with rock art, comprising linear grooves, concentric arcs, spirals, cup marks and grooves. Not all appear finished, and there is some modern graffiti. When viewed from the centre of the circle, Long Meg marks the direction of the midwinter sunset. It has been suggested that two of the stones in the circle's northern arc also feature possible spiral designs. Dating is problematic. No excavations are known to have been undertaken at the site, and a broad later Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date would probably encompass both stone circle and rock art. The enclosure NY 53 NE 21 is equally undated, but probably belongs to the same broad time-span.

Like many stone circles, Long Meg and Her Daughters have had a slightly troubled history. A narrow road runs roughly north-south across the eastern half of the circle, and a short distance to the west of this is the line of a former wall. Traces of ridge and furrow are also evident within the circle. In 1599 Camden noted 77 stones, compared to the 69 currently known. William Stukeley subsequently recorded that several stones had been broken up shortly before he visited in 1725. Subsequent accounts also mention the removal and, occasionally, the replacement of stones. Camden also referred to two "heaps of stone" within the circle. These have been regarded as possible burial mounds, although a later edition of Camden's "Britannia" referred to them as field clearance. In the later 17th century, Aubrey referred to "giants bones, and body" being found within the circle, although there is no confirmation from other sources. Note that Stukeley also referred to a second, smaller circle to the southwest (NY 53 NE 12) of which no trace now remains. (13-19).”

This circle sounds suspiciously like the house of seventy doors and as many windows Myrddin asks his sister Ganieda (Gwenddydd; see below) to build for him in the Vita Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth. We can visualize the doors as the stone uprights of the circle, and the opens spaces between those uprights as the windows. There is no other stone circle in all of the North which could have been said to contain 70 stones.

And what of the house Gwenddydd builds for her brother - one that is said, along with other "buildings", to be remote from the stone circle?

I suspect this is a reference to Little Meg, a curb cairn located not too far from Long Meg:

https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=12218&sort=4&search=all&criteria=Little%20Meg&rational=q&recordsperpage=10