THE 'PA GUR' BATTLE SITES (A REVISION)

From CHAPTER 4 of THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY...

ARTHUR’S OTHER BATTLES: MYTHOLOGICAL OR MISTAKEN

The Pa Gur Battle Sites

The Arthur presented to us in the early Welsh poem Pa Gur is a very different personage from the one we find in the battle list of Nennius' HB. In Pa Gur, Arthur numbers among his men the mythological Manawyd(an) son of Llyr. He and his men fight monsters and witches. We have clearly departed from history and have embraced the realm of the fantastic.

While the Pa Gur is, alas, a fragmentary poem, the following battles or locations are listed in the order in which they occur.

Elei

Tryfrwyd

Din Eidyn

Celli

Afarnach's hall

Dwellings of Dissethach

Din Eidyn

Shore of Tryfrwyd

Upland of Ystawingun

Mon

Elei is known to be the Ely River in southern Wales.  

I have proposed above that Traeth Tryfrwyd is the shore of the trajectus at Queensferry west of Edinburgh.  

Din Eidyn, as is well known, is Edinburgh. Arthur’s opponents in this battle are the Cynbyn or ‘Dog-heads’, whom I believe to be an echo of the Venicones tribe.

Afarnach’s hall may be a reference to the Pictish capital of Abernethy. Watson discussed the etymology of Abernethy as follows:

"Thus Abur-nethige of the Pictish Chronicle, now Abernethy near Perth, has as its second part the Genitive of a nominative Nethech or Neitheach (fem.), which is Gaelicized either from Neithon directly, or from a British river name from the same root."

Witches Hole is a small cave in a rocky face on the north side of the Castle Law fort at Abernethy.  It is supposed to have been the residence of some of the Witches of Abernethy (http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/27921/details/witches+hole+castle+law/).

I would add that Neithon comes from an original Nechtan or Neachtan, which appears to be cognate with L. Neptune.

Abernethy is on the border region between the Pictish kingdoms of Fortriu and Circenn. We have seen above that the Dalriadan Arthur is said to have fought in Circenn, and the Abernethy/Afarnach battle may well be a traditional memory of the Circenn conflict. 

For quite awhile now I've remained unsatisfied with the identification of Celli ("Grove") in the Welsh poem PA GUR.  We are told in that work that Cai fought bravely at the site, and that the grove was lost (although who exactly lost it is impossible to tell from the context).

The best that top Arthurian scholars have been able to do so far is best summarized in see Nerys Ann Jones' ARTHUR IN EARLY WELSH POETRY, p. 40, Note 33, where it is suggested Celli may be Arthur's Cornish Kelliwic.  

In the past, given that the majority of the PA GUR battle sites are in the North, I've sought to situate Celli in that region of Britain.  The Ravenna Cosmography's Medionemeton or Middle Sacred Grove was a logical candidate.  This nemeton may be Cairnpapple in West Lothian, although the Roman stone temple of Victory called Arthur's O'on on the Antonine Wall has also been proposed.

Alas, I overlooked two things.  One, Cai of the PA GUR is otherwise placed in contests in Derbyshire and in Gwynedd.  He is referred to as a Lord of Emrys (the Ambrosius who supposedly ruled Gwynedd from Dinas Emrys).  And, two, we have Cai in a saint's VITA fighting - and winning! a battle at a place that is literally overlooking the Roman fort of Gelligaer in Glamorgan, Wales.  Gelligaer is, transparently, the 'fort of the grove.'   I'm talking, of course, about Fochriw Carn, where Arthur, Cai and Bedwyr are found sitting in the Life of St. Cadoc:

[http://ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/cadog.html]

After a long interval of time the aforesaid king Gwynllyw, depending now on his kingdom, desired with ardent affection on account of the excessive sweetness of her fame that a certain girl should be joined to him in lawful wedlock, born of most noble lineage, of elegant appearance, very beautiful moreover in form, and clad in silk raiment, whose name was Gwladus, the daughter of a certain regulus, who was called Brychan. Accordingly, he sent very many messengers to the virgin’s father to the end that they might more resolutely demand that she might be given to him as wife. But the father of the girl, having received the message, was indignant, and, full of anger, refused to bestow his daughter on him, and slighted the messengers, and dismissed them without honour. They, taking this very badly, returned, and told their lord what had been done to them. When he had heard, the king, raving with excessive fury, armed with all possible speed three hundred of his young men to take the aforesaid girl by force. Then starting at once on their journey, when they reached the court of the aforementioned regulus, which is called Talgarth, they found the said virgin sitting with her sisters before the door of her chamber and at leisure in modest conversation, whom they immediately took by force, and beat a hasty retreat. When this was known, her father, Brychan, moved by grief of heart, sorrowing inwardly at the loss of his beloved daughter, called to his aid all his friends and his subjects to recover his daughter. When all his helpers had assembled together, with rapid steps he follows up the enemy and his confederates. Gwynllyw, when he had seen them, ordered that the oft-mentioned girl should be brought up to him, and he made her ride with him. He, carrying the girl cautiously with him on horseback, preceded the army not indeed for flight, but to await his soldiers and to exhort them manfully to war. But Brychan with his men, boldly attacking the savage king and his satellites, slew two hundred of them and followed them up as far as the hill, which is on the confines of either country, which in the Britannic tongue takes the name Boch Rhiw Cam, which means the cheek of the stony way. But when Gwynllyw had arrived at the borders of his land, safe in body with the aforesaid virgin, although sorrowful at the very great slaughter in the fight with his adversaries, lo, three vigorous champions, Arthur with his two knights, to wit, Cai and Bedwyr, were sitting on the top of the aforesaid hill playing with dice. And these seeing the king with a girl approaching them, Arthur immediately very inflamed with lust in desire for the maiden, and filled with evil thoughts, said to his companions, ‘Know that I am vehemently inflamed with concupiscence for this girl, whom that soldier is carrying away on horseback.’ But they forbidding him said, ‘Far be it that so great a crime should be perpetrated by thee, for we are wont to aid the needy and distressed. Wherefore let us run together with all speed and assist this struggling contest that it may cease.’ But he, ‘Since you both prefer to succour him rather than snatch the girl violently from him for me, go to meet them, and diligently inquire which of them is the owner of this land.’ They immediately departed and in accordance with the king’s command inquired. Gwynllyw replies, ‘God being witness, also all who best know of the Britons, I avow that I am the owner of this land.’ And when the messengers had returned to their lord, they reported what they had heard from him. Then Arthur and his companions being armed they rushed against the enemies of Gwynllyw and made them turn their backs and flee in great confusion to their native soil. Then Gwynllyw in triumph through Arthur’s protection together with the afore­said virgin Gwladus, reached his own residence, which was situated on that hill, which thenceforward took from his name the British appellation Alit Wynllyw, that is, Gwynllyw’s Hill. For from Gwynllyw is named Gwynlliog, and Brycheiniog from Brychan.

Fochriw Carn may be one of the cairns on Mynydd Fochriw, but others prefer to identify it with the more significant cairn of Bugail.

https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/301283/details/carn-y-bugail-gelligaer-common 

 https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/535709/details/mynydd-fochriw-cairn-ii

https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/225353/details/mynydd-fochriw-ring-cairn

The folks at CADW, for instance, opt for Carn y Bugail:

[https://cadw.gov.wales/sites/default/files/2019-05/South%20Wales%20Blaenau%20Gwent_EN.pdf]

When Arthur came to Gelligaer

The cairns at Fochriw captured the imagination of our medieval ancestors and were drawn into

Arthurian legend. Sometime in the 1070s or 1080s, a monk from Llancarfan in Glamorgan

by the name of Lifris wrote a Latin ‘biography’ of St Cadog, the Vita Cadoci, and among the tales he tells about the saint is an account of his birth. A local Gwentian king called Gwynllyw — after whom Gwynll[g (the western part of Gwent) was named — eloped with Gwladys, a daughter of Brychan, king of Brycheiniog. Brychan, naturally being somewhat put out at this unruly behaviour, gave chase with his warriors. When he had almost caught the couple, Gwynllyw and Gwladys came to a hill named Boch Rhiw Carn where they met Arthur and his boon companions, Cei and Bedwyr, playing dice. In later French and English tales these red-blooded Celtic heroes were transformed into the rather surly Sir Kay and wishy-washy Sir Bedivere. The ‘three vigorous heroes’ (tres heroes strenui) promptly defeated Brychan and his men in a bloody battle, but not before Arthur has considered kidnapping Gwladys for himself! The happy couple went on their way, and the result of their

newly-wed passion was the holy St Cadog himself. Boch Rhiw Carn (‘the cairn of Fochriw’) is clearly a reference to Carn Bugail. So here we have Arthur, Cei and Bedwyr fighting a battle on the bleak moors above Rhymney — at least in

the fevered imagination of an  eleventh-century cleric. A further reminder of the story can be found at Capel Gwladys, about 3 miles (4.5km)

along the Roman road and about 1 mile (1.5km) from Bargoed (ST 125993). Here, within an impressive boundary dyke, you can see the restored foundations of a small, rectangular chapel with a modern carved cross marking the site of the altar. Although tradition has it that the chapel was founded by Gwladys in the sixth century, these remains are medieval in date. A carved grave slab found here and dated to the eighth or ninth century can be seen in the porch of Gelligaer church. On the open moorland of

Fforest Gwladys, about 550 yards (0.5km) to the southeast of Capel Gwladys, is one of the best-preserved and most accessible of the Roman practice camps (ST 131991).

The following excellent source tells us more about Fochriw Carn and its relationship to nearby Gelligaer:

https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Equalities/Place-Names-in-Caerphilly-County-Borough-2014.aspx

Fochriw (originally boch+rhiw+garn)

(phonetic: voch-riw)

OS Grid Reference - ST 103 054

The more recent form of the name should correctly be Y Fochriw and the literal translation of this village name is often given as “slope of the pigs” as the assumption is that the word “moch” (pigs) has mutated to “foch”. The original word however, was “boch” as the full name for the settlement is Bochriw’r Garn. This changes the meaning, as “boch”, though usually meaning “a cheek” as on a face, can also mean a bulge in the ground or a hill, possibly referring to a rounded piece of rock on the slope (“rhiw”) below the “carn”, the Roman stone found above the village on Gelligaer Common. Examples of the name can be found as far back as c1170 with Bohrukarn, later y voyghryw garn c1700 and Y Fochriw in 1867.

Gelligaer (gelli+caer)

(phonetic: gare-ll-ee-guy-rr)

OS Grid Reference - ST 135 969

Literally meaning “grove by the fort”, the village gets its name from its history as a Roman auxiliary fort and even further back in history from when there was an Iron Age fort on the adjoining hill, Buarth-y-gaer that is immediately to the east of the village. One of the greatest Welsh saints of the 6th century, Cadog, was born in Gelligaer (the local ward name is Saint Cattwg) and legend has it that he was a monk, had magical powers, was a kind and generous host and was a very successful dairy farmer - in fact the name carries on in Llangadog in West Wales, famous for the now closed creamery that produced fantastic custard and rice pudding, and you can still purchase the Welsh Cadog cheese in local supermarkets. The spelling of Gelligaer has altered over the years in reflection of the way the name has been pronounced e.g. Gelligâr from 1750. Gelligaer Church Hall, erected in 1911 has a plaque with the spelling Neuadd Kell Y Gaer 1911 which is still there. Early map spellings also have the name beginning with the letter K, such as Kil-gaer 1281, Kylthy-gaer in 1307, Kilthi-gaer in 1349 and Kethlygajer on Pieter van den Keere's map of Monmouthshire in 1605.

Gelligaer Common / Comin Gelligaer (gelli+caer)

(phonetic: com-in-gare-ll-ee-guy-rr)

OS Grid Reference - ST 125 985

Not so much a settlement as a scattering of dwellings on this open upland, the main population being Welsh Mountain ponies and other horses. Running roughly northwards across the Common is the Roman road from Cardiff to Y Gaer, near Brecon and this is still clearly visible above Fochriw.

I now have no reason to believe that Cai's 'Celli' is anything other than Gelligaer, and the 'grove' was lost to Brychan.

Dissethach, where Arthur’s opponent is Pen Palach, looks like Tig Scathach, ‘House of Scathach’, and Beinn na Caillich (allowing for the difference between P- and Q- Celtic), ‘Hill of the Witch’. Dunsgiath or Dun Scathach, the ‘Fort of Scathach’, and Beinn na Caillich, are both in the southeast of the Isle of Skye. From Beatrix Faerber, CELT project manager, we learn that there is a reference in Tochmarc Emire, which incorporates the story of Cu Chulainn’s training at arms with Scathach. In this case, Scathach’s house is tig Scathgi (= Schathaigi).

The upland of (Y)stawingun, where nine witches are slain by Cei, is quite possibly Stanton Moor in Derbyshire, where we find the stone circle called the Nine Ladies. The ‘lord of Emrys’ mentioned in the poem just prior to (Y)stawingun is a known periphrasis for Gwynedd, as Ambrosius/Emrys was the traditional lord of that land. Emrys in this context may actually be a reference to the Amber river, which lies just east of Stanton Moor.

The –gun, if from an earlier –cun, could have come about by mistaking in MS. an original t for c. The middle –w- may represent a u, such as is found in Staunton, a known variant of Stanton.

Much later story substitutes the hero Peredur and transplants the witches to Gloucester, presumably because of the presence in Gloucestershire of towns named Stanton and Staunton.

There is no mystery regarding Mon, as this is the common Welsh name for the Isle of Anglesey in northwest Wales. Welsh tradition insists that Cath Palug or Cath Palug, which Cai battles on Mon, is the cat of a person called Palug. Modern scholars prefer to view palug as perhaps meaning ‘scratching’ or ‘clawing’, hence Cath Palug as the Clawing Cat.

Cath Palug is linked in line 82 of the poem to ‘lleuon’, i.e. lions. The association of lions with Arfon (where the cat is born) and Mon may have to do with the simple confusion of llew, ‘lion’, for lleu, the god who is the Lord of Gwynedd in Welsh tradition. The letters u and w readily substitute for each other.