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Aber Garth Celyn
Aber Garth Celyn, now known as Abergwyngregyn or Aber, is a settlement of great antiquity and strategic importance on the north coast of Gwynedd. Its boundaries stretch from the Menai Strait up to the headwaters of the Afon Goch and Afon Anafon. Protected to the east by the headland of Penmaenmawr, and at its rear by Snowdonia, it controlled the ancient crossing point of the Lafan Sands to Anglesey. A pre-Roman defensive enclosure, Maes y Gaer, which rises above Garth Celyn on the eastern side of the valley, has far reaching views over Irish Sea with the Isle of Man visible on a clear day. The Roman road from Chester, linking the forts of Conovium and Segontium, crossed the river at this point. Abergwyngregyn is a village in Gwynedd, North Wales adjacent to the A55 five miles east of Bangor. ...
'an earthen motte in the mouth of the valley marks the settlement and the prince's residence was set on a shelf just above it to the east.' Dr Colin Gresham (T.C.H.S. 1979) The settlement of Aber Garth Celyn was on the valley bottom on the west bank of the river. The precise nature of the 'earthen motte', Pen y Mŵd, has led to much debate. It was renamed 'Aber Castle Mound' by the Ancient Monumuments Board, on the grounds that 'it was assumed to be a Norman castle'. E. S. Armitage in her work The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles, confused Aber Garth Celyn with Aber Menai leading to the assumption that it might have been constructed by Hugh D'Avranches, earl of Chester. The word Mŵd in early Welsh means 'vault' or 'chamber', and there is no record or proof that the Normans, or anyone else, built a motte and bailey castle at Aber. The mound is circular, 22 foot high with an oval top 57 feet by 48 feet. It has been suggested that it might be a fifth or sixth century A.D. mound built over the body of a local champion warrior lord who in his lifetime had protected his people, and in death was expected to do the same. The area was Christian at this time, but the people still clung to their traditional beliefs. Other similar mounds have been found in western Britain, and while it is difficult to resolve the debate, it is worth mentioning.
From about 1200 Llywelyn the Great made Garth Celyn into his main home, and it remained the royal home throughout the thirteenth century until 1283. Llywelyn ap Iorwerth ( 1173–April 11, 1240) was a Prince of Gwynedd and eventually ruler of much of Wales. ...
The maerdref of Aber Garth Celyn consisted of 24 families, with additional families brought in to supplement the labour force on the 200 acre demesne farm, Hen Faes. There was a church, dedicated to St Bodfan, a water mill, a smithy and fish weirs. An Extent of the manor was prepared on the instructions of Edward I in 1284. The whereabouts of the original document are not known, but its details are preserved in Ministers' Accounts 1230/2,held in the Public Record Office, London.
References to the royal home, Ty Hir, are found in the Record of Caernarfon, under the commotes of Arllechwedd, which shows that the free inhabitants of the whole of Arllechwedd were all responsible for its structural maintenance.
References
- Public Record Office, London: Welsh Rolls (C47; Exchequer Books (E36); Charter Rolls (C53); Miscellanea (E163); Pipe Rolls (E372), Ancient Correspondence(SC1); Ancient Petitions (SC8)
- Lambeth Palace Archives, London Register of Archbishop John Peckham (1282)
- http://www.llywelyn.co.uk
Bibliography - Hanes Aberwyngregyn, Llewelyn Hughes (1894) Unpublished, handwritten History of Abergwyngregyn
- Tystiolaeth Garth Celyn Y Traethodydd ISSN 09698930
- Registrum Epistolarum Fratis Johannis {Peckham Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, ed. C. T. Martin, 3 Vols (RS, 1882-86)
- Caernarvonshire Historical Society Transactions 1962 Article Aber Gwyn Gregin Professor T. Jones Pierce
- Y Traethodydd 1998 Tystiolaeth Garth Celyn ISSN 0969 8930
- Gwynfor Evans (2001) Cymru O Hud Abergwyngregyn
- Gwynfor Evans (2002) Eternal Wales Abergwyngregyn
- John Edward Lloyd (1911) A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest (Longmans, Green & Co.)
- Bezant Lowe Mountain Walks from Llanfairfechan
- Kathryn Pritchard Gibson Gohebiaeth Llyfrgell Llys Lambeth (1995)
- F. E. Fynes-Clinton The Welsh Vocabulary of the Bangor District (Oxford, 1912)
- Registrum Epistolarum Fratis Johannis Peckham Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, ed. C. T.mmartin, 3 vols. (RS, 1882-86)
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