Camp Hill/Pier Camp Hillfort, Hirael, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales
I've long sought a convincing candidate for Uther's Caer Dathal. In the past I've considered several Arfon hillforts. Most recently I wrote on Dinas Dinorwig:
That seems to represent my best argument to date. More evidence in support of the identification of Caer Dathal with Dinas Dinorwig is found in one of the names of the sons of Iaen, the occupants of the fort at Uther's time.
According to P.C. Bartrum (in his A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY), the "Culhwch ac Olwen" list of these children and that found in the "Hanesyn Hen" tract shared only two members: Siawn and Caradog. The latter was a very common name in Welsh and I realized it would be problematic - especially as it is a common place-name element as well. Siawn, on the other hand, was a very rare name. In fact, we only know of one such person - the very same son of Iaen who lived at Caer Dathal.
My search for the second extant example of this name did not take long. The following is from
This Siawn, then, quite possibly (I would say probably) the son of Iaen of Caer Dathal, is buried in/at a site in Arfon that is near Dinas Dinorwig.
Camp Hill/Pier Camp Hillfort location is telling. As Dinas Dinorwig is the source of the Afon Cegin and that stream runs north past Cororion, the Camp Hill hillfort is near the mouth of the Cegin. So the death and burial of a man from Dinas Dinorwig a neighboring Hirael adds some weight to my argument for the former hillfort.
I'm attaching some links here to archaeological descriptions of Camp Hill - although, to be honest, nothing is known about it as the site has not been subject to even a single excavation. It boasts one Roman coin of Constantine and that is it.
A recent thesis done by a graduate student of Dr. Kate Waddington of Bangor (A Study of the Archaeological Remains at Pier Camp Hillfort, Garth, Bangor by Owen J. Hurcum 7/5/2019) suggests that Pier Camp is only an agricultural feature and not a hillfort at all. While this may be true, even if the place once were a defended site it surely is much too minor of a feature to have been the famous Caer Dathal. Plus, we would think the author of the Graves' stanza would have called it Caer Dathal and not the 'Mountain of Hirael.'
Dr. Waddington was quick to point out, however, that
"I completely disagreed with the conclusion in the thesis that the ramparts are agricultural features. They clearly aren't. So, I wouldn't pay too much attention to that aspect of the thesis."
That being the case, had Siawn been buried at his home, a case could be made for Pier Camp being Caer Dathal. Creuwryon/Cororion could well be "below" Hirael Mountain in the sense of being to the south.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.