Local tradition places Vortigern in Nant Gwrtheyrn (the ‘Valley of Vortigern’), a rocky valley leading down from Yr Eifl to the west coast of the Lleyn peninsula. Vortigern was supposed to have once had his headquarters there.
Here we also find his ‘city’: Castel Gwrtheyrn, once so marked on Ordnance Survey maps, but now unlocated. The best candidate for this fortress surely is Tre'r Ceiri, which lies just on the other slope of Yr Eifl, very close to the valley. His grave, Bedd Gwrtheyrn, is also to be found somewhere around here, as there are several locations bearing names familiar to us, such as Carn Fadrun, or the 'fort of Modrun' (she was a granddaughter of Vortigern) further south.
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The source for this name of this valley, which is the only one in Wales named after Vortigern, is not known. Vortigern's legends do take him to north Wales (especially Snowdonia), but never to the Lleyn peninsula itself. But maybe the legend about his death did travel to this area, as there are many more places that are connected with Vortigern in the direct neighborhood.
At least until around the year 1700 a stone grave covered with a turf mound existed there, which was called Vortigern's Grave (Bedd Gwrtheyrn) by the local population. George Borrow, writing in 1862 (Wild Wales), described it as follows: "It was in a wind-beaten valley of Snowdon, near the sea, that his dead body decked in green armour had a mound of earth and stones raised over it".
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Badbury Rings is supposed to be a candidate for the Battle of Badon Hill, where Arthur decisively beat the Anglo-Saxons. However, it is no hill at all, just the remains of a settlement with earth walls and ditches around it. It was called Durnovaria during Roman times, and 4 Roman roads meet here. The views are very beautifull, I can recommend a visit to anyone .
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Running a website is one thing, but about a subject which is across the sea is no easy matter! My interest in the Somerset and Wiltshire earthwork called Wansdyke (http://www.wansdyke21.org.uk/) often relies on the kind help of visitors who live a lot closer to it than I do! Wansdyke Project 21 hopes to make Wansdyke better known by making all kind of information about it available through the interent (with great success, I might add). The ultimate goal is raising so much interest that any further damage can be prevented.
Born in 1964 (the year of the Dragon) in the old city of Amersfoort, The Netherlands, which is famous for its collection of single megalithic stones. I guess that's where it all started...
Today my wife Philippine and I live with our daughter Marrit (1997), our son Jeroen (2000) and our cat in the village of Houten, only a short distance from the Roman limes fortress once named Fectio/Vechten.
Maybe not surprisingly I grew up with a sense of history already present when I was very young. Books aplenty (my father had many books on local history), true historical ones but children's books as well. I guess something just had to rub off.. I still collect books 'n stuff for my growing Arthurian Collection (http://www.geocities.com/vortigernstudies/bibliograrth.htm), which I started in my childhood with the first books I read by Rosemary Sutcliff. Her 'Eagle of the Ninth' has truly set me on a course towards the enjoyment of Roman history in general and her 'Lantern Bearers' and especially 'Sword at Sunset' led me to the fascination of Sub-Roman Britain in particular. My main historical interest lies with the 5th century AD, and with the shady character named Vortigern. Infamous for letting in the English (well, alledgedly), his character has been damaged further ever since. Read more about him and the spots connected to him at Vortigern Studies (http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/).
Here, too, I first stumbled across Wansdyke..
Apart from my activities on the Internet I am a member of a small re-enactment group that bears the name of this fort I mentioned above, Fectio (http://www.fectio.org.uk/). Our basis is the aforementioned complicated period of those post-Roman times.
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