My daughter Leah is a history fanatic. There are many periods and places that she studies but she is especially enamored of the Medieval Period. Since reading Sharon Penman’s Welsh Princes trilogy she has devoured everything she can read about 13th century Wales. The trilogy covers the saga of the medieval princes of Gwynedd (North Wales), in particular Llewelyn Fawr and his grandson, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, through a turbulent 100 year period, marked by war, betrayal, royal machinations, and upheaval. Wales had rather progressive (for the time) rights for women and there were a number of very strong female characters who are portrayed in the book including King John’s (illegitimate) daughter Joanna, and Simon de Montfort’s daughter Ellen (who was cousin to King Edward). Leah wanted to visit Wales and tour the locations from the books while she was home this summer, but we have had difficulties finding time. This post is the story of 48 hours in Wales in search of history. (A note to my regular readers: Despite this being a knitting blog, there is no knitting content whatsoever in this post, except for the occasional photo of my Killybegs sweater!)
We drove to Wales on a Thursday afternoon, arriving late. Friday dawned with rain and clouds and gloom, which continued throughout the day. Leah had plotted out an itinerary of sites from the book, but we had trouble from the beginning. Some sites were impossible to find (the Pass of the Two Stones) others disappointing (it was too wet and late in the day to hike up to Aber Falls). By four in the afternoon, we were totally dispirited. As Leah said “All we’ve had today is the castle we couldn’t find, the Pass we couldn’t find, the church that wasn’t the church, the church that was the church but was closed, the sea view with no view and the hill that might have been the site of a castle.” We decided to try one last site before heading back to the hotel – Dolbadarn Castle.
The next morning dawned bright and sunny. We had stayed in the town of Dolwyddelan because much of the trilogy takes place at Dolwyddelan Castle. We hiked up there just after breakfast.
Leah: Well, its too bad that we now have a crowd here, but at least they are speaking Welsh. It adds to the atmosphere.
Me: How do you know they are speaking Welsh?
Leah: Can’t you hear? The language has voiceless lateral fricatives. There are not too many languages with voiceless lateral fricatives, Mom. I mean, Navajo is one I suppose but it’s highly unlikely a busload of Navajo speaking teenagers is touring around Welsh castles today.
This is music to the ears of any linguist parent: a child who says the words “voiceless lateral fricatives” in ordinary conversation, much less recognizes them when she hears them. Oh, the simple joys of parenthood!
I can’t resist, since this is indeed a knitting blog, the following photo which shows off my Killybegs sweater. When you are hiking through this kind of weather, with sun and wind and mist and rain, you realize that there truly is nothing that works as well as wool. (I am convinced that all of the sheep in Wales agree with me.) I am also sitting in a 13th century window here, which is pretty amazing.
The last stop of the day was totally magical. This was the church at Llanrhychwyn. Parts of the church date to the 11th century- it is, in fact, the oldest church in Wales. Llewelyn Fawr and his wife, Joanna, worshipped here. Part of the magic was in finding it at all. It is up in the hills, and not signposted; it was true serendipity in the guise of two hikers who appeared at just the right moment and directed us through unmarked fields to this amazing treasure.