Glywysing
Glevum
In my book THE BATTLE-LEADER OF RIBCHESTER (https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Leader-Ribchester-Definitive-Identification-Legendary-ebook/dp/B085VQQ43L/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3GCYEEABIYXIV&keywords=the+battle-leader+of+ribchester+august+hunt&qid=1684424099&sprefix=the+battle-leader+of+ribchester+august+hunt%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-3), I included a discussion on my in the Welsh poem PA GUR the god Mabon was placed in the valley of the River Ely in Wales.
However, I had forgotten an old note in another essay which discussed Mabon and his relationship to a site that clinches his being situated on the Ely. First, the section that currently exists in my book:
<And why was Mabon in the Ely Valley? Well, some map work helped with that one.
I noticed that Llantwit ('Llan-illtud') Fardre was in Taff Vale
(https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/6637). Why is this significant? Because Llanfabon, the Church of Mabon, was also in that river valley (https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/6636).
Furthermore, Llantrisant, where Illtud was also worshipped, was on the Ely River only a few kilometers southwest of Llantwit Fardre. The Ely and Taff rivers share an estuary near the Dinas Powys hillfort, where Illtud was master of soldiers.
Llantrithyd, another Illtud church, is just a little north of the famous Campus Elleti of Ambrosius (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-red-herring-of-llanilid-uther.html).
What that all means is that we cannot simply say that Mabon as a predatory bird (or war fury) of Elai/Ely was merely placed there because it was the scene of a battle or a monster fight in the 'Pa Gur.' Mabon (the so-called saint of Llanfabon could be a Christianized version of the earlier sun god, or perhaps a 'divine son' nickname for the Christ child) belongs to the Taff and Ely valleys, where Illtud churches are also located.>
And what I had neglected to add there:
In CULHWCH AND OLWEN we learn that Mabon was kept as a prisoner at Caer Gloyw, i.e. Glevum or Gloucester. The River Ely was in the Welsh kingdom of Glywysing, a place named for Glywys, an eponym for Glevensis, ‘a man of Glevum’. There can be little doubt, then, that Mabon is properly placed in the valley of the River Ely. I have already shown that part of Glywysing was Penychen, where St. Illtud served as master of the soldiers at the Dinas Powys hillfort. Thus is it only logical to accept Mabon's presence on the Ely, given the ease with which Caer Gloyw/Glevum would have been confused with Glywysing.
