RY

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Printed by HUGH EV ANS and SONS Ltd.

The Brython Press, 9/11 Hackins Hey and 350/360 Stanley Road, Liverpool 20

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author acknowledges with great pleasure the help and enjoyable discussion and criticism of his family, Charlotte, Penrhyn, Gisela and Ceri, the considerable help and ideas from his friends whose names are given below (without any academic qualifications, which many have).

Terence G. Ward, C.B.E., East Grinstead G. J. " Guto " Davies, Bridgend, Dave Williams, London & Ystradgynlais, " Cos" Kyriakos, Athens, Jeanette David, Rennes, Brittany, Alex Calinikos, Athens & Cardiff, Vernon Bernfeld, Cardiff & The World, Tom Ellis, Swansea, Madge Davies, Neath, Gwyn Lloyd, Llanelly, Roose Williams, Anglesey & Liverpool, The Old Barrians, The Llangwms,

" Write a monograph". Ysbaddaden and Hercules. Aeschylus and Maen Llwyd. Culhwch. Arthur. Olympus & Eleusis. Cala. Beggars Reach & Seamanship. Glew. The burrowing thruster. The infuser.

and all those who have endured in silence in the chair for many years the mono­logues.

Special thanks the author gives to the illustrator John Louis Smith of Cardiff, for his inspired, effective and imaginative creations.

Cardiff, Iq61 WYSTAN ADAMS PEACH.

STONEHENGE

Spe culation by amate urs a s to the use made by the builde rs of that ve ry ancie nt temple at Stone­he nge in Wiltshire appe ars to be d eplore d by the cognosce nti, so much so that to ge t a he aring for a fie rce ly burning ide a the individual holding such an opinion must plunge into print.

The author be lie ve s that all those who take the trouble to re ad this short pape r will find out who built Stone he nge in Pe riod 11, why it was built, an id e a of the ce remonie s and an appre ciation of the gre atne ss of our ance stors of 1650 B. C.

The author furthe rmore claims no spe cial knowledge other than that gle aned from publica­tions fre e ly available to the public e xce pt an intimate familiarity with the rive r and tidal e stuary of the Cled dau in South Pembroke shire .

Period 11 at Stone he nge conce rns the e re ction of the blue stone s which came from the Pre se lau

Mounta ins in Pembroke shire and is remarkable for the fact that tw o of the' st ones are od d. Their

<.

A New Theory

odd ity is that the se stone s we re taken from the shore s of the Cle ddau estuar y and not from the top of the mountain.

The blue stones have bee n positive ly id e ntifie d geologically by Herbe rt H. Thomas, Pe trographe r to H.:M. Geological Survey, in a paper printe d in the Antiq uarie s Journal Vol 3, 1923 a s having come from an area about half a mile sq uare on a subsidiary mountain close to Pre se lau Top

from the region of Foe l Trigarn, Carn Minni and Cil Ma e n Llwy d, Ordnance Surve y she e t­she e t No. 139, I" O. S. are a bounde d by line s 140, 165, 320, 34 0. An e xamination of the map will show that the are a could fairly be d e scribe d as the WING of the ce ntral he ight of the Pre se lau in profile looking N. W. -a point the importance of which will become cle ar late r in the narrative .

The odd blue stone at Stone he nge ( known as the Altar Stone ) come s from the outcrop of the Cosheston Ge ological Beds at Be ggars Re ach ne ar

5

Llangwm on the We st shor e of the Clcddau . The pape r by Herbe rt H. Thomas mentione d only one stone as be ing od d. In the su bject matter of Profe ssor Atkinson's book " Stoneheng e-Hamish

Hamilton 1956" it was stated that another odd stone fr om the Cle dd au had b een taken fr om the

Coshe s ton Be ds at Mill Bay on the easter n shor e near Pe mbroke . A fact which came to light only some time after the 1923 paper of H. H. Thomas.

I t is accepte d by many pr of essiomd Ar cheol­ogists that the Pembroke shir e stones wer e taken to Stonehenge by water . How the y were carr ied is not known and opinions ar e varied as to whe ther the y were taken singly, a fe w at a time or all to­ge ther . In this paper the au thor su ggests that the Stones wer e all take n in one gr e at convoy of 80/ IOO st one s and were carried by the tides b y floating them down the Cle ddau to the mouth of Milfo,d Have n with the ebbing tides and up the Br istol Channe l with the flooding tide s.

If one consid e rs the £lJter native of the stones be ing take n singly or a few at a time it shou ld be borne in mind that a small tr ibe could have

6

Blues�ones came from this area

Cormarthen 8a�

Figure I. Kei map showing the Preselau Hills and the Cleddau River.

dragged the stones horn the mountain to the nearest or easiest p oint on the tidal estuary one

at a time or even say three or four at a time then built rafts and taken th em by sea to Stonehenge.

But with possibly one jo urn ey a year at the most favollrable time, which would be only in summer,

s.w NI. Bluesrones came from here Foel cwmgerw�n

CasHebythe

Figure 2. Profile of the Preselau Hills showing where bluestones came from.

it would have taken many years to build the temple under these cond itions. A leader would have to whip up enthusiasm for the terrific labour of dragging the stones down extremely diffi cult terrain from t he mountain to the sea each year

and face the appalling sea j ourney up the Bristol Channel repeatedly year after year. The author d oes not believe this to be a possibility and beli e ves the pro bability is therefore that they w ere taken all at the same time.

110ving the stones from the top of the mountain to the sea where they cou ld be floated must have been the work of many thousands of able bodied

men and women. M oving the stones from 'AT est Wales into Sal isb ury Plain would need not only the a cqu i esc ence of the people living in Sali sbur y

Plain but their active co-op erat ion and help. A temple which was used con sistently, built and re­built on many occasions over many hund red s of years wc.s most probably th e wor k of many per haps

all the tribes of Britain and neighbouring lands. The temp le that was built at Stonehenge was a

new conception and therefore would involve a

new ritual. Never in human history has change been associated with peace and therefore one must assume that there was confl ict by the �ld practi­tione rs against the new .

How was it done? Our ideas of prim itive ancestors of the late Stone Age must be modified.

These peop le were acute thinkers and great orators <I.!! well as great doers.

We know the stones were moved from Pem­brok eshire to Salisbury Plain which proves these

7

pe ople we re gre at practical pe rf orme rs. We have re asonably assume d that se ve ral tribe s took part in the ope ration and the refore the y must have be e n pe rsuade d by oratory by some one .

Finally, the ne w temple was an accurate ly de signe d instrume nt for marking the sun in its passage through the he ave ns which prove s the ability for scie ntific thought by the se ve ry ancie nt pe ople ­our ancestors.

Originally the e xpe dition must have starte d with 80 to 100 stone s and if e ach stone was floate d on a raft or pontoon of skin boats e ach with a cre w of say 6 warriors the re must have be e n 500-600 warriors. The le ade r would have be e n with them.

This le ade r would be a y oung man, a gre at orator who pe rsuade d the tribe s to support him.

An astute politician who must have ove rcome the opposition of the e lde rs in d e ve loping a ne w ritual,

8

who pe rsuade d the pe ople that by taking the stone s from one place of worship to anothe r that no taboo was be ing broke n. In fact as will be se e n late r in the narrative the ve ry e xpe dition was a signal act of worship in the ne w ritual in a truly gigantic manne r.

An astronome r may be stagge re d by a NOVA in his te le scope , by an e ve nt happe ning millions of y e ars before , so may the re ade r be stagge re d in the minds e y e by this e ve nt of 3,700 y e ars ago in Britain, for he re is a flowe ring of human thought and e nde avour as brilliant in its pe riod as the Re naissance or the splitting of the atom.

The author thought that if such a me ntal picture we re true , that not e ve n the passage of thousands of y e ars would comple te ly oblite rate the story . The author assure s the re ade r that such a story doe s e xist.

THE IBERIAN TEMPLE AND THE CELTIC TALE

The cry of " let us now praise famous men " ha� echoed through the mists of time, and in those ages before writing existed in Britain professional story tellers kept the ancestral heroes alive in their tales. In the pre-Chrstian era colleges trained bards and story tellers in the oral tradition and before qualifying it was necessary for instance for an Irish ollamh or story teller to prove he knew by heart 350 stories, the accumulation of trad ition of many centuries.

The earliest method of oral learning consisted of continuous repetition of simple rhythmical verse and also alliterative prose forms. A hyp­notic state would be induced and a very large amount of material could be absorbed. The important nature of the stories was impressed on the students for high magical penalties were threatened on those departing from the true text. Even so if such a story which the Author thought should exist actually did so it would be inevitable that changes of text would have occurred in a pagan tale of r600 B. C. when it came to be written down in the Christian Era of 900 A.D.

It has been established that the people in these Islands at that time were early agriculturalists and Iberians and were of Mediterranean origin (IOOO years before the Celts). In fact this ex­pedition took place before the time of Moses.

The earliest ancient stories in Britain are sup­posedly Celtic in origin and therefore it is auto­matically discounted that any stories could relate in any way to the Iberians. However, one must remember that the legend of Hercules is Mediter­ranean in origin and although commonly ascribed to the Greeks it is nevertheless more ancient than the Greeks.

The oldest folk lore tales in Britain are con­tained in the Welsh Book " The Mabinogion " first written down in about 900 A.D. and trans­lated from the Welsh in r 849 by Lady Charlotte Guest and in r 949 by Professors Gwyn J ones and Thomas Jones/Everyman.

The oldest story in the collection of the Mabin­ogion is that of "Culhwch and Olwen, " and des­pite the age of Stonehenge and its blue stones, despite the over running of the Iberians by the

9

Figure 4. Bluestone Period.

Sunrise at the Winter Solstice.

12

Figure 5. T rilithon Period. Sunset at the Winter Solstice.

From the foregoing hyp oth esis it will be ap­preciated that the nature of the temple and the ceremonies were essential ly sexual in character and the tale ofCulhwch and Olwen ifit rel at ed to it would also be of the same nature. It is a moo t point whether such a tale would have s urvived in the early christian era had the sc rib es who wo uld have been monks understoo d its true co ntent.

The survival of the story is du e to its imagery which made it a goo d tale witho ut disclosin g its

fundamental basis. An d modern Cel t ic scholars are, perhaps, a little prim.

Before giving a syn opsis of the tale itself it is useful to give the main characters and int er pret their meanings, as all are representational, and all have an essential bearing on the thesis. C ul hw ch the hero, Olwen the bride, Ysbaddaden the villain ( father of O lwen) , T wrc h Tr wy th the wild boar.

CULHWCH has been translated as " Pig run " or " like a· sow" which. are most unlikely names

for a hero. The author believes that Cui of Culhwch is derived fro m the ancient Mediter-

14

rane an roo t Cleis and means key, s wor d, weapon o r rod. Compare the vVelsh wo rd Cala me ani ng phallus o r weapon. The other half of the name is Hwch which in modern Welsh means sow.

The Welsh word for plou gh is s wc h, a very similar word to hwch.

The co mmon action of the pi g or sow is to roo t up the ground with its snout so that hwch could mean earth, or soil, or furrowe r. Theref ore

CULH WCH wo uld mean Earth Rod, Soil Rod or F u rrowing Rod o r Phallus of t he Earth. This tr ans lation is supported in the story by the character of Culhwch, for he rode to the camp

of Arthur on a charger and dem anded admission an d when admitted refused to dism ount and rode on horseback into Arthur's hall. This is a

Freudian concept of male viril ity. OLWEN or OL WEN in Welsh, literally trans­

lated into English means fair or beautiful 01 ( or 0).

Olwen is only seen on ce in the story an d is t hen described as being clad in a flame red rob e wi th pearls an d rubies, with a red go ld torque around

her neck and w ith hair yellow er than the flow er of the broom. This is a poetic picture of the sun.

Compare the Welsh w or d for w heel w hich is Olwyn. The Welsh w or d for sun is Haul. The mouth is the same shape w hen saying haul and 01.

The head of the Phoenician gods was the Sun God EL, similar to OL, w hile the Greek God of the sun was Apollo ( w ho originated fr om Asia Minor and w as adopted by the Greeks. It will be remembered that at Troy, Athene helped the

Greeks but Apollo helped the Tr ojans). The w ord Apollo has not been translated but no im ag ination is needed if the prefix Ap is aug u­mentive for then Apollo w ould be the Great Ollo.

Of course El and Ollo are male gods but to match our hypothesis the Sun must be a g oddess. The head of the Cretan gods was the Sun Goddess whose name is unknown. The author later in

this paper w ill put forward a s ugg estion w hy there is difficulty in finding an exact eq u9-tion in name of t he Sun goddess Olwen in the Mediter ­

ranean ar ea from w hence she or ig inated . The villain of the piece, Ysbaddaden (pro-

nounced Usbathaden) Chief Giant, the author believes, refers to the Pr eselau Mountain from w hence the blue stones came. It will be remem­bered in the hypothesis that these sto nes for med the horseshoe or phallus at Stonehenge.

This is important for the name Ysbaddaden can be divided into Ysbaddi and Aden. Ysbaddi means castrated or em asculated and Aden means

''''ing. As the blue stones were taken from the Subsidiary mountain of Preselau Top, Ysbaddi appears to be a ver y exact description of what took place. A pr ofile ( ill ustrati on) taken from O. S. map shows the relation of the position of the subsidiary mountain to the Pr eselau Top.

If further support for the theory is needed, on the final page of the tale, Y sbaddaden Chief Giant is shaved "of his bear d, and flesh down to the bone and his two ear s outr ight" and his head cut off, w hich could be a Freudian concept of emascula­tion and then death.

TWRCH TRWYTH the w ild boar d had to be energ etically pursued so that he would give up the treasur es which wer e between his two ears.

Twrch means a mole or badg er, or burrow er, or burrowing thruster. Trw yth means I nf user.

So that Twrch Trwyth is the Burrow ing Thrusting Infuser or Inseminator.

As the pursuit of the w ild boar in the story w as

car ried on from Pembr okeshir e in a fluctua ting ma nner to the mouth of the Sever n and i.nto the country of Cornw all ( Wiltshire) , if the story

relates to the expedition, then it w as cond ucted in a rhythmical tid al manner and the treasure

Aden ChieF Gianr Ysboddoden Wing

M�n�dd Cosl-leby rhe 1131'

16

Goer� Mounrain

Foe Icwmgerw�n 17.50'

Carnbica

Cos rro red. Wi ng

Foeldr�9arn 1200'

S �ones came r rom here � __ �A ___ �

Figure 6. Skyline of the Preselau Mountains viewed from the South East.

was forced from Twrch Trwyth in Cornwall ( Stonehenge). It would appear obvious that all the characters are closely knit together and describe the carriage of the male patt of the earth Culhwch to Olwen the Sun resulting in the con­summation of the marriage with Olwen at Stone­henge and the giving up of the treasure which would be the insemination.

In the ·story it will be found that Culhwch demanded admission on the 1st January, the Winter Solstice, and he threatened that failure to be admitted would produce barrenness in the land.

These are the major characters of representa­tional meaning and all are a ccurately applicable to the hypothesis.

17

pursuit of the wild boar Twrch Trwyth. Arthu r was told he was in Ireland and sent Menw (Merlin) to seek him out. To do this Menw transformed himself into the likeness of a bird and sought to snatch one of the treasures from the head of Twrch Trwyth but failed and was poisoned in the attempt and was never the same man again (see the Corpus Christi, Cambridge versi on of the building of Stonehenge.)

Then Arthur gathered together the warriors in the Island of Britain and its three adjacent island s and from France, Britanny and Normand y and the Summer Country and they pursued Twrch

Trwy th from Ireland and the n by sea to Wales and land ed at Porth Cleis, Pembrokeshire then to

Deu Cled d yf (E ast and West Cleddau River) to Preselau, Aber Ty wi, Llychwr and so to the mouth of the Severn. Cacamwri, Arthur's ser­vant was d ragged into the d epths by two q uern stones and Oslabig Knife was also dragged d own into the d epths when his sheath filled with water at the mouth of the Severn.

Finally Twrch Trwyth the Burrowing Thrusting

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Inseminator was d riven into the country of Corn­wall ( Wiltshire) where his treasures between his two ears were finally won from him, and Arthur went to bathe himself and rid hi m of his weariness.

In this great labour with Twrch Trwyth Arthur lost many many men and among those ki lled was

Gwlyddin the Craftsman, Arthur's Chi ef Builder (Gwlyddin, Glewlwyddin, " the ma n foremost in grey stones" -the Author's translation.)

When finally Culhwch asks Ysbadda den " And is thy daughter mine now," he repli es, "Thine and thou needst not thank me for that but thank Arthur who has secured her for thee. "

That is a brief precis of the story. There i s much illumination in other characters.

Dealing with the problem of findi ng Mabon son of Modron who was taken from his Mother when he was three nights old, the author con­sid ers that this ref ers to the loss of the original

"blue stone" which was replaced by the so called Altar Stone from Beggars Reach near the village of Llangwm f or the following reason.

One must imagine how the stones were taken.

(Fig. 7, 8, 9, IO). Having dragged the stones from the vicinity of Foel Trigarn, Carn Meini and Cil Maen Llwyd, they would be taken to the nearest or most easily reached point for launching. This would be, not with certainty, but probably, con­sidering that the land of the South Wales Coast area has sunk in the intervening time (See Dr. North" The Evolution of the Bristol Channel ") in the vicinity of Slebech on the Eastern Cleddau. Date and time would probably be in mid-summer at full moon or two days before high tide or possibly two days later on the high tide.

The stones having been placed on their car­riages-rafts, skin boats or dug out canoes and lashed on board some 80 or 100 in number would wait until flood water. It would be impossible to move before high water (Doubters should try). At the first sign of ebb the whole convoy would move down the estuary together with a

. very slow current, gradually increasing in speed. Because of the character of the estuary where the Eastern Cleddau and Western Cleddau meet, the waters spread out in a great expanse, and

although the current would be strong a great deal would be diffused in this area. Half a mile lower down, opposite Knap Wood the estuary narrows and the current becomes very fierce and by this time the convoy would be in the middle of the tide and the current fastest. This point would be reached about two hours after the start. On reaching the position of the present village of

Llangwm the convoy would have to navigate a

narrow channel with a long reef jutting into the river from the left, at that time the reef was probably called Beg (Beak) a Raz, and having rounded it, would have to turn smartly to the East into Beggars Reach with high rocks in front on the South shore.

The weight of the stones and the fast current would give the craft considerable momentum and make them difficult to manoeuvre, and with the large numbers in the convoy confusion could occur. The author suggests that an accident happened at this point leading to the loss of onc of the stones and its replacement by other of the same shape and size as the one lost " (The Altar

21

Stone) ". If the above explanation is correct the accident would occur about three hours after commencement of the voyage. There would be great lamentations and this refers to Mabon in the tale who was taken from his mother when three nights old.

Figure 7. Map showing probable route taken by bluestones in 1700 B.C.

The Salmon of Llyn Llew said " I go up along th e river with every tide till I come to the wall of Caer Loyw and there I found such distress that I never found its equal." Mabon (the Altar­Stone) was rescued from his prison by Arthur's

22

warriors assaulting the wall while Cei carried him off on his back. At the west end of Beggars Reach there is a little inlet called Port Lion. Beggars Reach is an anglicized version of Beg a Raz and refers to the reef, and the Reach itself was probably called Lion Lake, or Llyn Llew, or

Ke�1' ,) land above BOO fee r

If. Casfleb�rhe If. Foeler�1 4. Foel-cwmgen"�n lA Foel.dc'jch hA Carnbica

This area is showlI en/arsed in ft.e mop above

Figure 8. Map of Pembrokeshire relating the Preselau Hills to the estuary.

Lyonnesse. An identical name Beg a Raz occurs on the Coast of Britanny not very far from Carnac.

A second stone was lost lower down the river and replaced by a stone from Mill Bay.

+- Haverfordwesl- Cold Blow S/ebech

Figure 9. Present day appearance of the Upper Cleddau Estuary.

....JS�gesfeJ �barcQtion pOint of bluesto",,}.

=

N o�e' priodo pos� -9'acial (.oas�ql submergence in South Wales (of Neolith,,, dale) �he es�uar';/ would have been consid.rabl� narrower than at the p,'esent do';! -Fi9ure 7

Figure 10. Suggested appearance of the estuary in 1700 B.C.

23

Th e auth or suggests that th e stor y of the bitch Ry mhi and th e two wh elps r efer s to th e stones th at wer e lost-th e Altar Stone and the Mill Bay stone for the sh e wolf and the wh elps w ere in Aber

Deu Gleddy f, Deu Gleddy f and in a cave in Aber Cleddyf and wh en e ventually caug ht" the whelps were tr ansformed into th eir true semblance."

Th ere are peculiar oddities in the later par ts of th e story which only make s ens e w hen inter­pr ete d by th e suggested h y pothesis . Arthur lost

h is ch ief builder in the pursuit of th e w ild boar Twrch Trw y th . Cacamwri w as car ried down into the depths at th e mouth of Sever n by two q uern stones ( big cor n grinding stones) and Osla Big Knife was car r ied dow n into the depths by water r ush ing into h is sh eath ( skin boat).

Th e auth or believes th e expedition starte d at Slebech for two tumuli exist close to th e sh ore . A r ound one to th e South and a lozeng e shaped one to th e north with th e axes of both in line.

So Culhwch is outside th e circle at the beginning of th e voy age at Slebech and inside th e circle at

Stoneh eng e. On the west side of th ese two

tumuli th ere is an inlet wh ich could h ave been man made and might h ave been a dock for th e launch ing of th e stones.

Alth ough the stones fr om Pembrokesh ire ar e called th e blue stones th e auth or th inks th ese w ere known to th e people of that time as th e Grey stones " Maen Llw y d" so that the name of Arthur 's Chief Builder wh o w as killed wh ile. transporting the stones fr om Pembrokesh ire to Stoneh enge and wh o was called Gw lyddin could be translated into E nglish as " Hero, for emost

E xpert man of th e Grey stones." The Salmon Lly n Lliw or Llew could be th e

Salmon of Lion Lake. Th e beginning of Begg ar s Reach going down th is r iver is called Port Lion, or Lion Gate for th e tidal water s must have r oar ed in th e nar rows at th at time. The rock of

wh ich th e Altar Stone consists is Micaceous Sand­stone and wh en fr esh ly cut- sparkles-CC Caer

Loyw " is Spar kling Wall. Th e Iber ians wer e Agr icultur alists and accur ate

obser vation of the tur n of th e y ear was impor tant for th em to know. Th e new temple w ould

function for them in this matter. It would also be spectacular for in order to produce the verisi­militude of the sun, fires would be lit around the ·circumference of the circle and these would also warm the dancers engaged in the ceremonies. Obtaining wood for these fires would also mean that considerable areas of ground would be cleared for cultivation and the ashes would be excellent potassic fertiliser.

There are stone basins or bullauns in all parts of Ireland and these are bringers of good luck if

stones in them are turned in the right direction­sunwise-The Advancement of Science Nov. I960 P.298 Prof. E. Evans.

Cei quarrelled with Arthur because Arthur said Cei was lacking in courage. As the story shows this was quite out of character and Cei was the bravest of the brave, the reason for the quarrel is therefore obscure. Thought devoted to this problem is likely to be most rewarding but why should the author hog all the good things in this wonderful story ?

ARTHUR THE GREAT

. The parag raph near the end of the story on P. 136 of the Mabinogion is rema rkab le for its succint explanation of the situation which led to

the revolution in relig ious ritu al. Bef ore 1650 B. C. a circle existed at Stonehenge w ith the heel stone outsid e the circle . .. This mu s t have b een the g erm of the new idea. Also many mounds and stand ing stones existed on high points of land and mountains throug hout the cou ntry and the author sugg ests that the rites were o ri gi nally performed at these points. The pregnancy of

Olw en or the passag e of the Sun f ro m the w inter solstice could not b e ob served accurately as the

position of the sunrises and sunsets appeared to b e stationary for many days at this period of the year. Accurat e Observation from ma ny of these points w as difficult becau se of the irregu lar horizons; for scientific reasons it w as imperative

to take sightings of th e sun on a reasonably flat horizon and from the centre of a large enou gh

circle to mark on the circumference the firs t sig ns of increase of the sun at sunrise or su nset.

No d oubt efforts to find smooth horizons w ere mad e. The author wishes to draw attention to the archeolog ical remains on Sko mer I sland off

the coa'it of Pembrokeshire. There is a stand ing grey stone leaning at an ang le very reminiscent of the Heel Stone at Stonehenge and called the Harold stone. At the eastern end of this Island there is a stone h orses hoe which appears to b e orientated in a similar direction to the b lu e stone

h orseshoe of Period 11 at Stoneheng e-in line w ith the w inter solstice sunrise. In the case of Skomer the siting of th e sun on the horizon would not be impeded by an irreg ular horizon. The earlier name of Skomer w as Scalme or Sword and

refers almost certainly to the tw o forms of phallus, th e Haroldstone and th e Horseshoe. Skomer was famous for its excellent grow ing of seed grain crops.

Figure 11. Accurate observation of the sunset or the sunrise is made difficult by the irregular skyline.

Figure 12. A more accurate observation cf the sunset or sunrise IS possible over a regular skyline.

No doubt there was considerable opposition to the building of the New Temple and to the varia­tion in ritual, for it meant a progressive change leading to the supercession of the old orthodoxy.

The paragraph on the last page of Culhwch and Olwen makes it clear that the revolutionary leader was Arthur who persuaded the people the majority (but not all) to the new form of religion.

His concession to orthodoxy was the taking of the stones from the old Ritual place Ysbaddaden (Preselau) to the new place in the country of Corn­wall (Wiltshire). The words in the paragraph which need translating in order to understand the implications are Goreu which means Best and the author thinks refers to majority, and Cadw of Prydein which means Keeper of Britain.

The paragraph is as follows: "And then Culhwch set forth, and Goreu son of Custennin with him, and everyone that wished ill to Ys­baddaden Chief Giant and those marvels with

them to his court. And Cadw of Prydein came to shave Ysbaddaden's beard, flesh and skin to the bone and his two ears outright (emasculation?)

And Culhwch said" Hast had thy shave, man?" " I have," said he, " And is thy daughter mine now ?" "Thine," said he, "And thou needst not thank me for that, but thank Arthur who has secured her for thee. Of my own free will thou shouldst never have had her. And it is high time to take away my life." And then Goreu son of Custennin caught him by the hair of his head and dragged him behind to the mound and cut off his head and set it on the bailey stake. And he took possession of his fort and his dominion.

So that the prophecy which said Ysbaddaden Chief Giant would die was fulfilled when Culhwch and Olwen were wedded, for the ceremonies no longer took place at Ysbaddaden Preselau but at

Culhwch and Olwen-Stonehenge. The story of Culhwch and Olwen finishes there

but not the story of the later developments of the annual wedding. Evidently Arthur was a great theoretician and having persuaded the tribes to

bring the phallus from the North West to the South East in the ritual rhythm of the tides, it was part of his persuasive argument to direct it,

in the circle to the Sunrise in the South East. He therefore varied Period I of Stonehenge, and created a problem of dispute about the date of the shortest day in his (Arthur's) ceremonies.

The Heel Stone or phallus was directed across the axis of the circle or sun towards the winter

solstice sunset, but when the bluestones came they were arranged in a horseshoe to impregnate the early sun at sunrise. Consultation with a pocket

diary will show the time ( not position on horizon) of sunrise as follows :

Sunrise 1960 December I I 7-55 a. m.

" 18 8-01 a. m.

" 25 8-04 a. m. 1961 January 8-05 a. m.

" 8 8-04 a. m.

Very little difference exists from December 25th sunrise to January 8th, except that the day is

getting shorta in the morning until January 1St. In Period III the direction of horseshoe was

changed and the rounded end was pointed at the Sunset. Consultation with the pocket diary again will show that

Sunset 1960 December I I

" 18 "

3-51 p. m. 3-52 p.m. 3-56 p.m.

I96I January 4-01 p.m. " 8 4-09 p. m.

The day is getting longer in the evening from Decem­ber 11th.

The lengthening of the day is ve ry marked and can be observed much more easily in the evenings. No doubt the ceremonies were carried on eac h evening unt il success was clearly evident, probably cu lmina ting in the great rejoicings of twelfth niglzl. The persistence of paganism is present in S hak es­peare " Dost think because thou art virtuous there

shall be no more cakes and ale ?" says Sir Tob y Be lch.

The old pagan beliefs were very strong for they persist even today in the magic circl e and wedding rings and the lucky horseshoe, emblems of fertili ty

at weddings. Irish bullauns, Witches on broom­sticks, Nursery rhy mes, especially" R id e a cock­horse" are all vestigial remai ns of Iberian paganism. The estuary in Wales down which

the blue stones were carried is called the Cled dau, which is commonly translated as the Sword River but should obviously be the Rod River ( Cu lhwch

River). Arthur and the Knights should be Arthur and

the Warriors, the Round table should be the Round Temple, Arthur and the Sword is surely the Rod Ex Cal ibur lost in the Cleddau at Beggars

Reach or should it be Llyn Llew, Lion Lake or Lyonness?

It would appear logical in Barrow burials that the men should be buried in the bell barrows ( Culhwch) and the women in the Disc barrows (Olwen). P.34 of " Stonehenge and Avebury " shows that this is so.

Some points which might be considered if the present thesis is accepted is the earliest written reference to Stonehenge which is in the Corpus

Christi library at Cambrid ge. It says " The Giants Dance (Stonehenge) was brought from Ireland by Merlin, not by force but by Art." Secondly the reference in the Mabinogion Story which says Twrch Trwyth was in Ireland and

Arthur sent l\;fenw (Merlin) to get the treasure from between his two ears. It says also that Menw failed and was injured in the attempt to get one of the treasures. Did Menw attempt to set up a Temple in the Isle of Man (Menw) or the Isle of Anglesey (Mon) while bringing stones from Ireland ( Ulster) ?

The legendary hero in Northern Ireland is Cu Chulainn-Culhwch. The tidal flow is not of the same proportion in the Irish Sea as it is in the

Bristol Channel and Arthur, in ord er to persuad e the eld ers to change their ritual, might have used the fact of the giant rhy thmical flow of the tides

which would be a ritual ad vantage as lead ing to a place where he knew an ancient large circle existed .

These ancient Mediterranean people were undoubtedly interested in geometrical figures for at the entrance to the Piraeus three ruins of ancient pre Greek temples exist which form the points of an isosceles triangle and which some people think was used as a means of navigation in that area.

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Arthur was an innovator not only was the phallus placed in the circle but directed at the sunnse. The horseshoe although made of up-

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right stones was depicted as lying on the ground something completely new.

OLWEN THE SKY GODDESS

In the Mabinogion story of Culhwch and Olwen is d escribed the battle between Gwyn and

Gwythyr. "A short while before this Creid dylad daughter of Llud d Silver Hand (King Lear) went with Gwythyr son of Greid awl; and before he had slept with her there came Gwyn son of Nudd and carried her off by force. Gwythyr son of Greid awl gathered a host and he came to fight with Gwyn son of Nud d . And Gwyn prevailed and he took prisoner Greid son of Eiri, Glunnau son of Taran and Gwrgwr the Half Naked and Dyfnarth his son. And he took prisoner Pen son of Nethawg and Nwython and Celed yr the Wild his son and he slew Nwython and took out his heart and com­pelled Celed yr to eat his father's heart; and be­cause of this Celed yr went mad . Arthur heard tell of this and came into the North and sum­

moned to him Gwyn son of Nud d and set free his noblemen from his prison, and peace was mad e between Gwyn son of Nud d and Gwy thyr son of

Greid awl. This is the peace that was mad e: the maiden should remain in her father's house unmolested by either sid e and there should be a battle between Gwyn and Gwy thyr each May­

calend for ever and ever, from that d ay till dooms­day ; and the one of them that should be victor on doo msd ay let him have the maid en: the author belie ves this refers to the sowing of the seed , the

ge rmination ( the eating of the heart of the father by the son) and the sprouting of the new plant through the ground which is repeated each year

" for ever and ever " . The resemblance of this story to the s,tory of the

house of Pelops as told by Homer, Aeschylus and Sophocles is so remarkable that it could be pos­sible that both have a common Pre-hellenic

origin (Pre-2, 000 B. C. approx. ) (Fall of Troy 1 184 B. C. Iliad , Od yssey 900-500 B. C. ). The Homeric tales themselves are told in a patriarchal period but have echoes of a matriarchal system-

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the me n are away warTIng i n T roy for TO yea rs and yea rs mo re re turnin g. T he women ru le at home- some tince s i n i nfidel ity l ike Cl yt aemnes tra and some ti me s in fi del ity l ike Penelo pe b ut acco rdi ng to the pa tr iarc hal Ho m e r-always

l acki ng i n the streng th of the m a l e . T he Iberi ans w ere the ear l ies t agr icu ltural is ts

a nd a st ud y of the w ay peo ple l i ved i n t his s yste m mi ght answer some q u esti o n s which come to min d. It i s bel i ev ed t hat w o m e n of the tri bes used to colle ct he rb s and s eeds w h i l e the men w ere away hunti ng. T he wom en discovered that b y pl anti ng seed s, the see d after a t i me and i n s ui table con­di ti ons ge rmi nate d, g rew a new p lant wi th see ds mul ti plie d i n numb er o n the stal ks. Whe n the wome n cul ti vate d the ground to sow the see ds the y di d so on a smal l scal e i n the s t yle of a garde n ( as oppose d to mass produ c tion in fiel ds) and the y di d so some ti me s by burning woodland o r thi cke ts

a nd sowi ng the see ds i n the a shes- as de scri be d by Y sbaddade n in the M ab inogi o n. T hi s appare ntl y simple ope ration an d kno w how, le d to dominati on of the t ribes by t he wo men for

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s ever al re asons. It made for a se ttle d l ife i n one p lace a nd e asie r for the bi rth of c hil dren. T he w ome n congre gate d toge the r i n the co urs e of t he ir work while the me n we re scat te re d doing the ir

work of hunting, the wome n harve s te d t he corn w hie h was val uable be cause it gave a meas ure of se cur it y i n wi nte r and spring b y pro vid i ng food

w he n animal s we re diffi cul t to come b y and the w om e n had char ge of the grain. Ano the r p owe r hel d b y t he wome n b y virtue of p ossession of t he grain w as t he abili ty to fe rme nt liq uor f rom the

g rai n, and so mak� al chohol . T he wome n hel d t he safety of the tribe , the storable food and the al chohol and the y be came t he dominant f orce in the trib al li fe and so brought into b e ing the matri archal socie ty . T he re ade r ma y sa y s o

w hat? If such a syste m e xisted today, o n go i ng t o church we shoul d he ar the i nj unction " Go d is t he mot he r of u s all " . All the sk y g ods of t hi s ancie nt time and syste m we re g odde s se s, a nd all the e arth gods bei ng sli ghtl y subse rvi e nt wo ul d be me n. T he the me of pre gnancy a nd f e rtil it y and it s as sociated al chohol ic fe st ivitie s was a primary

an d an essential part of the matriarchal system and it proba bly persisted longer and cer tai nly in its purity longer in Britain than else-where be­

cause the climate was less warm and wetter and more temperate than in the M ed iterranean, or because communications between Brita in and the

Continent were becom ing more di fficult. Britain was joined to E urope 5 ,000 years ag o. Af ter the break through of the Atlanti c to the North Sea and the d eepening of the ocean the channel grew

g rad ua lly wid er with powerf ul tid al currents sweeping the E nglish Ch annel eff ectively cutting

B ritain off from the mainland of E urope. It is a

fact that " Our M am" is still a refuge and strength, and women from ancient times h ave been recognised and accepted as q ueens III

B ritain. Assuming th at a matriarch al system d id exist

at the ti me of build ing Stonehenge and that Olwen was the godd ess, one might ask if Olwen d oes refer to a sk y g odd ess or iginating fy om the M editerranean region, wh y there is not a similar A ncient M editerr an ean sky g odd ess with wh om

sh e could b e eq uat ed . R eference has al read y been m ad e to the Sun g od E l of the Phoenicians, the sun g odd ess E lat of the Sid onians and E llil of the S umerians, Apollo- the Great OH o of th e

G re eks. I t i s g e ner a lly acc ept ed that matr iar chal sy st em

d id exi st in the M id dle E ast at a t ime wh en th e economic d evelopment was the same as in Br itain (The c hr ono logical ti me was not necessarily the sam e for both regions. In Br itai n it would be later. ) , b ut i t is al so g ener ally assum ed th at the change f rom t he matriarchal system to the pa tri archal system wa s smooth and easy.

The author b elieves the r everse to be true. In the Mid dle E ast t he ch ang e fr om th e matriarchal syste m to the patriarchal system was exceed ingly violent and m anif ested itself par ticular ly in the

Religious practice. Th e male sky god s b ecam e pre- eminent and t he name of the female sky godd ess became forbidd en and so becam e a gre at secret, b eing kno wn only to the ini tiated and pr ono unced on ly in e xceptional circumstances.

This r evolu tion t oo k place at a time whe n agr i­culture d eveloped on a larger sca le with field s

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being cultivat ed ( as opposed to g ardens ) , w ith the man ufacture of bronze w ea pon s and the

d omestic ation of cattle f or d ai.ry ing ( in E urope 1 ,000 B. C. ) . Althoug h the sky goddesses wer e d emoted and replaced b y gods and the earth semi god s wer e replaced by eart h sem i g odd esses

m en could not exist w ith ou t the wom en a n d vice versa. In some pla ces the w om en res isted

v iole ntly and se t up m an less s t a t e s , f or example the Amazons, bu t of cou rse t hey could not d o

w ithout m en complete ly . When the men t rium­phed in the ir pa tr iarch a l system their men gods

in the sky had to represent com plet e male su pre­macy. Therefore , Z c us had <I ttribu ted to him

the feat of having given bi rt h to A thene through his head and also the othe l a chie vement of having give n birth to Dionys us from his th igh. In

anoth er Bo ok Eve is m ad e ri' om Ad am 's rib . In Crete the sky godd ess ( name unknown) was

r eplaced by Creta n Ze us. The m a le Ea rth semi god in the matriarchal syste m had been H ercules

whom the author eq ua tes vv it h C ulhwch and therefore connected with the eart h furrowing sow .

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Because of H ercules' association with the mat­r iarchal system it w as not possible to promote h im to pre-eminence in the sky but his very male­ness related him to Z eus, and the Cretan leg en d therefore d escribed Z eus as having b een b orn from a sow.

This connection of Hercules with p ig s is illus­trated b y the myth of his visit to the underwor ld.

He could not make his journey until he had b een initiated into the Eleusian mysteries. Demeter

a rranged a special short cour se w hich involved bathing in the sea with pigs. Demetc r in the Patriarchal system was the godde ss of ag ricultur e

a nd she is supposed to have taught men how to plough and gave to the tow n of Eleusis the privi­lege of sow ing grain.

Although the patriarcha l system tr iumphed, the women did not lightly g ive up the ir f orme r religious practices and und er cover of newl y named gods and goddesses they ce lebr ated their ancient fertility r ites. Tw o of t hese r ites are w ell known and persisted for many ce nturie s-the

Ele us ian my steries, and the Dionys ian myst eries.

B oth of these rites were carr ied on by and wer e l argely reserv ed to women.

In the Dionysian mysteries of Orc homenos, the c elebrants are all women ex cept the priest. He c hases them with a sword or rod and can kill ( push t he sword into her) or v iolate her if he can catch o ne. The celebrants are known as the Oleio i ( the Olwens ? ).

The fourth labour of Herc ule s was to captur e aliv e the E ry manthian Boar. He became in­

v olv ed with the Centaurs, and he killed some and c hased o thers to E leusis. Acc ord ing to Robert Grav es (The Gr eek My ths) the p resence of the c entaur s at E leusis suggests that when the initiate into the mysteries celebrated a s ac red marriage with the goddess, hobby horse d anc ers took part in the proceedings.

In praise of Dionysu s in Greec e t he re is a

hymn " Blessed ar e they that lead pure liv es and h ave learned by Gods gr ace my st eries, sanc tifie d

an d made clean joined in a holy ba nd w hic h r oam s on the hills with fleet f oot fi lled with the br eath of

B acc hus . . . . . with wand s high in the air all h eads c ov ered with iv y, they ad ore him D ionysus. " This hy mn could well hav e ap plied to cer emonies in anc ie nt Britain when mounds and upright

s tones wer e on hill tops and h ill sides b efore t he building o f Stonehen ge.

T he mo st f amous moun tain in Greece of c ourse is Mount Olympus. This name was used f or ma ny mo untains mo stly o f co ns iderabl e height

a nd convey ed a " reaching up to t he sky" eff ect. The word Oly mpus is produced from two words Olos ( whole, full) and L ampr os ( shining, fu ll of light, impos ing, glittering) the j oining of the two wOJ ds p roduced Ololampr os which late r became

Ol ymp us . The auth or with respec t suggests the answe r

to the riddle of Olwen is a ns wer ed at Olympus.

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