According to legend, the lost kingdom of Centre's Gwaelod in Wales was flooded with water. But now, apparently, scientists have figured out exactly where it is.
For centuries, rumors have been circulating about the ancient kingdom of Centre's Gwaelod, which once existed in Cardigan Bay, Wales, before being engulfed by sea waves. This is what gave birth to the legends of the legendary "Welsh Atlantis".
The tales of Centre's Gwaelod have evolved over the years. So, in some legends, it is told about a girl who forgot to close a well, and water began to pour out of it, flooding the surrounding lands. In later stories, a drunken porter is blamed for not guarding the dam, and legend has it that the church bells of the sunken kingdom still ring on quiet evenings.
Two scientists, based on the analysis of medieval maps, folklore texts, field, and geological research, have presented new evidence that two islands did once exist in Cardigan Bay. The article, led by a retired professor of physical geography Simon Haslett of Swansea University in Wales and published in the journal Atlantic Geoscience, states: "The existence of" lost "islands can be considered quite probable, giving us a likely view of the postglacial evolution of the Cardigan Bay coast."
This research paper, along with geological and deep-sea data, analyzed historical sources, proposed a model to describe the postglacial evolution of the coast, and explains the reasons for the 'disappearance' of the islands, laying the foundations for future research. There is a link between Cardigan Bay and the lost lowlands of Centre's Gwelod, as evidenced by literary evidence and folk tales. "
The study cited here is the first scientific work to comprehensively investigate the two enigmatic islands depicted on the Gough Map, which is believed to date from the 13th or 14th century, making it the oldest surviving map of the British Isles.
It is believed to be the earliest surviving complete map of the British Isles. It shows circular masses of land a few miles off the coast of Wales, with the south covering an area of seven square miles and the north about twice as large, although Haslett and Willis warn that it is not easy to make accurate estimates from the source material. Apparently, the Roman cartographer Ptolemy, who lived some two thousand years ago, placed this stretch of the Welsh coast about eight miles further out to sea than it is today. This leads us to conclude that intense coastal erosion may have occurred in the centuries that followed.
Based on their assumptions, Haslett and Willis analyzed the changes that had occurred in the area under the influence of the ice age during the last ice age. As these ice structures retreated over the past ten thousand years, they have left behind a low-lying landscape of unconsolidated rock and material deposits carried by rivers and other geological factors. Interestingly, the location of the mysterious islands on the Gough Map coincides with the so-called underwater "deer", i.e. piles of boulders and gravel formed under the influence of the processes described above. Here we find a clue as to the possible cause of these islands as well as their death in sea waters as a result of sea level rise or - possibly - some catastrophic flood such as a tsunami or storm surge.
As shown by underwater research, the location of the two islands shown on the Gough Map roughly coincides with the location of the Sarn-Sinfelin spit, which lies between the mouths of the Eastwyth and Daifi rivers. The erosion of these two islands seems to have ended in the mid-16th century, as later maps, such as Thomas Butler's 1547-1554 map of England, no longer appear.
The history of Centre's Gwaelod may indicate that the lowland, or at least a separate part of it, was inhabited until the 5th-6th centuries AD. Many authors believe that the legend of Centre's Gwaelod is a geological event that is kept in common memory - a gradual collapse of the region that occurred as a result of rising sea levels over the millennia after the last Ice Age.
Overall, based on the conclusions drawn, we get an interesting explanation of those strange islands depicted on the Gough Map that may witness the existence of ancient Welsh Atlantis, perhaps these islands may even be the key to continuing the search for other underwater land masses. Legends of lowland coastal landscapes that have so far "disappeared" are of particular geomorphological importance, not only in Cardigan Bay, but also in areas adjacent to Cornwall and Brittany, and elsewhere.
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