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Banc y Warren

Enclosure

Folklore

This rather strange conical hill had a defended enclosure built on it in the Iron Age. The battle of Crug Mawr was fought in the vicinity in 1136 (Welsh 1, Normans 0). It seems to be the location for the following story:
Crug Mawr, or Pen tychryd Mawr, is a mountain, or lofty hill, in Cardiganshire, situated in the vale of Ayeron, mentioned in Giraldus, where, he says,

"there is an open grave, which fits the length of any man lying in it, short or long."

Hence rose the ancient tradition, that a powerful cawr, or giant, kept his post on this hill, who was endowed with the genius of the Ayeron vale. He had a lofty palace erected on the hill, and used occasionally to invite the neighbouring giants to a trial of strength on the top of it; at one of these meetings coits were proposed and introduced, and, after great efforts, the inhabitant of the spot won the day, by throwing his coit clear into the Irish shore, which ever after gave him the superiority over all other giants in Caredig land.
He then proceeds to explain the stories away in a manner that completely misses the point that they are stories, invoking mistranslations and concealed machinery. Tch.
From 'The Cambrian Popular Antiquities' by Peter Roberts, 1815.
http://www.archive.org/stream/cambrianpopular00robegoog#page/n238/
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
19th May 2011ce
Edited 19th May 2011ce

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