REAL TREASURES IN
SECRET beaches, prehistoric forests and pirate hideaways. You might expect a land of dragons and wizards to hold a few secrets.
But these true phenomenons of Wales are not the stuff of myth or legend – although there are plenty of those connected to them.
These are real places, real discoveries, of archaeological significance and natural beauty.
Many of them are world beating examples. Many are completely unique.
During the coronavirus pandemic social media expert Owen
Williams has compiled a series of threads on an array of little-known wonders spanning 220 million years. These are some of the secrets of Wales.
THE UNDERWATER ANCIENT FOREST
On the Ceredigion coastline lies a lost prehistoric forest, only visible when the tide is at its very lowest and strong winds have shifted the sands. These remnants of ancient trees may have spawned the tale of Cantre’r Gwaelod – a legendary Welsh city lost to the waves.
It was ruled by Gwyddno Garanhir (Longshanks), born circa 520AD.
The land was said to be extremely fertile but depended on a dyke to protect it from the sea. The dyke had sluice gates which were opened at low tide to drain the water from the land, and closed as the tide returned.
In around 600AD, a storm blew up from the south west, driving the spring tide against the sea walls. The appointed watchman, Seithennin, a heavy drinker and friend of the king, was at a party in the king’s palace near Aberystwyth.
Some say he fell asleep due to too much wine, or that he was too busy having fun, to notice the storm and to shut the gates.
The water gates were left open, and the sea rushed in to flood the land of the Cantref, drowning more than 16 villages.
THE GIANT’S THRONE
Looming over the southern Snowdonian coastline, Cader Idris (or Cadair Idris) is a mountain awash in legend. It derives its name, meaning “Chair of Idris”, from Idris Gawr, the titanic warrior poet and astronomer, who crafted his vast rocky seat to gaze in wonder at the stars.
There are numerous stories and legends associated with the mountain and Idris.
It is said that those who sleep on the mountain will awaken either as a madman, a poet or, indeed, never wake again.
CARDIFF’S SECRET BEACH
Cardiff has a secret beach. And the reason it’s secret is because it was effectively used as a rubble dump for the best part of the past century.
It’s a peaceful, awful place with huge potential.
The beach is near Rover Way, though you wouldn’t know it from driving past.
It’s littered with rubble, bricks, concrete, twisted metal and old tyres, remnants of the docks’ past.
Gavin Cox, who was a Splott councillor in 2011, described the beach back then as “probably Splott’s best-kept secret”.
“What people don’t realise is that Splott does actually have some beautiful open spaces,” he said.
“They are seriously underused and could provide great recreation for both old and young alike.”
THE SWANSEA DEVIL
In the centre of Wales’ second city, atop a modern shopping centre, sits a statue of Satan.
The cursed figure of “Old Nick” – The Swansea Devil – a 120-year-old sculpture is, according to legend, directly responsible for the destruction of a city church.
The curse was put on the church by an aggrieved architect overlooked for the building of the religious site.
He included the carved Satan as part of a neighbouring building project and prophesied that the devil would remain laughing “when your church is destroyed and burnt to the ground”.
The church was destroyed by Nazi bombings in World War II but Satan remained in tact, laughing.
GOWER’S PIRATE SEA CAVE Concealed from the world in a cleft in the Gower Peninsula’s rugged sea cliffs, the clandestine Culver Hole is virtually invisible from the Wales Coast Path above.
A magical medieval walled sea cave, Culver Hole is steeped in folk tales of pirates and hidden treasure.
THE TOWN OF GIANTS
450 metres above the wild Irish Sea, on the exposed peak of Yr Eifl, clinging to the northwestern edge of the Llyn Peninsula stands the vast, ancient ruin of Tre’r Ceiri (“Town of Giants”) – one of