Welsh Journals

^rcfcaeologia &mnbvtmi&. No. XV.—JULY, 1849. CANTRE 'R GWAELOD; OR, THE LOWLAND HUNDRED. (Read at Caernarvon.) There is a tradition in the surrounding country, that the sea at some distant period came in and overwhelmed an extensive territory called " Cantre 'r Gwaelod," or the Low¬ land Hundred, upon the western coast of Wales. And this tradition is corroborated by the testimony of several ancient records, both in prose and poetry, still preserved in the Welsh language. The Lowland Hundred, it is said, occupied a great part of the bay which is now called Cardigan Bay; and a straight line drawn from Bardsey Island, on the coast of Caernarvonshire, to Ramsey, in Pembrokeshire, would probably show the extent of land lost when this calamity took place. The time assigned to the event is differently stated in different records; for, according to some accounts, it happened as early as a.m. 3591, but, according to others, it took place in the fifth century. But all the documents on the subject coincide in proving the event, though they differ as to the date and extent of the inundation. This circumstance, however, may, in some degree, be overlooked, when we consider that the event is alluded to by historians, bards, and antiquaries, who have written at different periods. The person men¬ tioned as the main cause of the disaster was Seithenyn, son of Seithyn Seidi, prince of Dyfed, or Dimetia, a part of South Wales. He, it is said, had the care of the flood¬ gates which prevented the sea from coming in at high water. The land being low, a sort of embankment, or ARCH^OL. CAMB. VOL. IV.] X