A Vale of lies
Nearly 200 years ago the founding father of the Welsh festival, the Eisteddfod – passed away.
THE standing stone rose out of the ground resolutely, shrouded in a thick yellow coat of lichen as if it had been there longer than the town.
I was in Cowbridge, a historic market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, 13 miles west of Cardiff, at a spot Wales owes much of the preservation of its culture to.
This was home to the Gorsedd of the Bards, aka guardians of Welsh language and culture, established in 1792, which was memorialised by the placing of this huge rock at the first meeting of the group in 1795… or was it?
You see, this story is one that came from the lips of a local, Edward Williams, commonly known as Iolo Morganwg – who is famed as a stonemason, a romantic poet, a passionate Welshman, and… a complete fabricator of the truth.
Always one to let the truth lead the way to a good story, I decided to find out more on the 4.5-mile circular Iolo Morganwg Heritage Trail.
I began, as he would, in a pub (my accommodation) – an old cobblestone hostelry called The Bear.
Dating back to the 12th century, it was a changing post for horses running mail between Swansea and the Welsh capital.
Fast forward to the 18th century and it became renowned as a hangout for poets and creatives who, fuelled by beer (and opiate laudanum), would recite verses and legends before brawling.
It would be barely recognisable to Iolo and his brethren today.
After raising a glass to Iolo, I crossed the street, to the standing stone and then through the Physic Garden, a community project completed in 2008 as a nod to the 18th-century apothecary gardens.
It would have been through places like this that Iolo discovered and relied on his poppy drink as a form of inspiration.
As well as his establishment of the Druidic order of the bards, he claimed to have unearthed poetry from the Welsh masters. They were published and lauded – and used as examples of 14th-century work – but later, after his death in 1826, found to have been forgeries, by himself.
There are, however, some examples of his work that are real. The memorial plaque at Holy Cross Church, the Town Hall, and the first fair-trade shop in Wales. It’s now a Costa Coffee with a plaque.
It was 1819 when his Gorsedd was officially merged to form the Eisteddfod.
The next day I went on a hunt that felt as though it was devised by Iolo himself.
My search took me first to St Illtud’s Church in Llantwit Major where there are some of the best-preserved 9th and 10th-century Celtic crosses in Wales.
Then to Ewenny Priory where JMW Turner visited in 1795.
And St Cadoc’s Church in Llancarfan with its collection of some of the bestpreserved medieval wall paintings of St George and the “Seven Deadly Sins”.
After these ecclesiastical offerings I stumbled upon two Neolithic burial sites called Tinkinswood (home to Europe’s largest capstone) and St Lythans. Both were in incredible condition given they are 6000-year-old relics that pre-date Stonehenge by more than 1000 years.
Legend says if you are there on Midsummer’s Eve you’ll see the capstone spin three times while the rocks go to the river to bathe. And a night spent at the first site at Midwinter will see you awake the following day as either a poet or mad.
I wondered if Iolo had done just that.