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There is a local legend in North Wales about a lost kingdom - or more precisely a principality that once occupied much of north Wales, but no longer exists. The legend tells this story:
Once, way back in the sixth century, there was a Prince named "Helig Ap Glannwg" (Helig son of Glannwg). His son became famous for founding many churches in the North Wales region. Prince Helig owned large tracts of land lying between the Menai Strait, off the north coast of Gwynedd and the Great Ormes Head, near Llandudno in North Wales. His palace was known as Llys Helig (Court of Helig)
Was this once the site of the Fabled Llys Helig?
Prince Helig's daughter was in love with a young man. Unfortunately, he was not a nobleman, and as a commoner had no right to marry her. The girl had a number of other suitors, but this young man was the only one she was interested in. Prince Helig, realizing that his daughter would never be happy with anyone else, took the young man to one side and told him that if he were to leave and return with a golden torque (the symbol of a nobleman) around his neck, then he would allow him to marry his daughter.
The young man went off to seek his fortune. However, he was under pressure. He realized that the longer he was gone, the more likely it was that the girl would find someone else to marry, so he reasoned that he needed to acquire his golden torque as soon as possible.
Before very long, the young man came across a nobleman riding through the forest. At this juncture, the legend becomes a bit vague, and it is unclear whether the Nobleman was a rival suitor and a duel followed, or whether the young man saw an easy chance to acquire a torque by force. In any case, the result was the same. The nobleman lay dead and the young man rode back to Helig wearing golden torque, to claim his bride.
The Mark of a Nobleman - A Golden Torque
Everything went well. Prince Helig accepted the young man as a nobleman, agreed to the marriage and a date was fixed. But when the young man confessed to Helig's daughter, about how he had managed to become the owner of a torque in such a short time, she insisted that he went back to get rid of the corpse, so that no one would suspect what he had done. He returned to the scene and began to bury the body beneath some shrubbery. According to the legend, as he dug, he could hear the ghostly sound of a Welsh voice saying "Dial a Ddaw - Dial a Ddaw" (Revenge will come - revenge will come).
When the act was done, the young man returned to Helig's daughter and told her about the ghostly voice, she basically reasuured him, telling him it was all nonsense. They married and lived happily for many years. One night, decades later,they were holding a big celebration at Llys Helig, when the sea suddenly rolled in, submerging the palace and drowning almost all the inhabitants thereof. According to the legend, the only ones who escaped were a serving girl who gave the alarm when she saw the sea bursting into the basement of the palace, and her lover, the court fool.
The Lost Kingdom - Surely a Legend?
But are these stories just legends, or are they something that may have really happened long ago in the mists of time? What proof is there - if any?
It is clear that forests once flourished along many parts of the coast of Wales which are now covered by sea . At low tide , the stumps of ancient trees are visible from the coast of Borth, in West Wales, to as far east as Splash Point in Rhyl, North Wales.
The remains of ancient submerged forests can be seen at low tide at Borth in West Wales
But of course, this story of a lost kingdom... it is a legend ... Isn't it?
Well ... The interesting thing about the legend of the drowned Kingdom of Llys Helig is that this is not the only lost kingdom, which had vanished by drowning off the coast of Wales. There are others, such as "Cantre'r Gwaelod (the Lowland Hundreds), which was described as a large region of fertile land lying between the island and Bardsay and Ramsay Island beneath what is now Cardigan Bay, west Wales.
Cardigan bay once the land of Cantre'r Gwaelod?
A number of expeditions were created in the past to try to figure out the exact location (if any) of the legendary lost kingdom of Llys Helig. In 1864, The two Reverends Richard Parry and Charlton Hall drafted an article for the Liverpool Geological Society. In the company of a geologist and two local boatmen, they explored the shallows off the coast of Penmaenmawr, North Wales.
The report indicates that although the area was completely covered by the large areas of seaweed, it was obvious to them that beneath all the vegetation lay the remains of walls that ran in perfectly straight and regular lines. They took some rough measurements of what they thought were the walls and developed a plan for a building of at least 100 meters long - This, they concluded, might well have been the fabled Helig's Palace
One last interesting point concerns the Church of St. Michael, situated in the peaceful market town of Abergele on the north coast of Wales. St. Michael's church was built on the site of an even earlier church, which is said to date from pre-medieval times. Hidden away in the north wall of the cemetery is a very special tombstone.
The present tombstone is a substitute for the original which had become badly eroded. The legend written on the stone is recorded in both the Welsh and English languages, and says: "Here Lyeth in St. Michael's Churchyard, a man who had his dwelling three miles to the north". If you find a map and measure three miles north of the cemetary you will find that you are, in fact - two and a half miles out to sea!
Link: The Legend of the Welsh Werewolf
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