Fishguard's Ancient Landscape - History & Folklore of Wales

In this video we’ll explore four neolithic sites in north Pembrokeshire, Starting off at St Gwyndafs church. We’ll walk to Garn Wnda, the Cromlech at Fferm Penrhiw, and the trio at Garn Wen... before jumping back in the car to revisit a personal favourite Ffyst samson.
Just a couple of miles from Abergwaun or Fishguard, is the village of Llanwnda. In the community of Pen Caer, often referred to as the "Pen Caer Peninsula" or "Strumble Head Peninsula". Before we delve into the areas neolithic past, we will take a quick look at a local event from the late 18th century, known as "The Battle of Fishguard"....
VIDEO CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:23 Llanwnda & The Battle of Fishguard
2:06 St Gwyndaf Church
3:27 Holy Well
3:55 Garnwnda Monument
5:26 Richard Fenton's Observations
6:53 John Fenton’s Observations
9:28 Fferm Penrhiw Cromlech
10:45 Garn Wen ‘Cemetery’
12:50 Dolmen = Tomb?
15:22 Mermaids Advice
16:35 Ffyst Samson Outro
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Great map resource - www.oldmapsonline.org/
Google Earth Studio
Great book resources -
archive.org/
www.gutenberg.org/
books.google.co.uk/
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References and Further Reading:
George Nash Encoding a Neolithic Landscape The Linearity of Burial Monuments along Strumble Head, South-west Wales:
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
A reassessment of the neolithic tombs of South West Wales 1989:
theses.gla.ac.uk/78041/1/1100...
Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol 3 (1848) p283-285 John Fenton:
www.proquest.com/openview/62e...
John Fenton. July 24th, 1848:
archive.org/details/archaeolo...
Archaeology.co.uk article discussing dolmens:
archaeology.co.uk/articles/fe...
Battle of Fishguard:
www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK...
Mermaid’s advice - (Pembrokeshire Folk Tales, Christine Wilson)

[@coraljackz]

Thanks for watching! Let us know if there are any other sites you think we should visit. Please subscribe to our channel to help us keep making these videos 💚 If you'd like to see what we get up to between videos, check out our Patreon page.. We upload free content regularly! www.patreon.com/CoralJackz You can also find us on Facebook facebook.com/CoralJackz/

[@JohnPowell-om1im]

Great video. I have visited these sites and wondered myself about the stone circle. Good to have an explanation. Thanks again

[@coraljackz]

You are very welcome, thanks for the lovely feedback!

[@user-kg5hf7ye2s]

The stone circle was made by a local builder that owns the land it is on, probably about 15 years ago. The capstone at park cromlech was replaced on its supports in the early seventies by the owners of the farm. If it was ever covered by earth then I think it was eroded by animals and the weather rather than careless ploughing. I imagine that the landscape would have been quite different 4-5000 years ago, the field enclosures wouldn’t have been as developed and the whole area could well have been wooded when park cromlech was erected. Just a thought. Interesting and thorough video

[@coraljackz]

Thanks! A previous reply to a Facebook post about the circle claimed it was built around 2020. Perhaps that was just when they noticed. The comment we made about "careless ploughing" was a quote rather than our own opinion, we keep an open mind about if these monuments were all covered. Your point about trees is as interesting as it is complex. We've found a few references to very old, possibly managed, woodland around neolithic sites in Pembrokeshire, but also it estimated that not many large trees would have been native in neolithic times. We are looking for more information before including it in a video 😁

[@heatherread5314]

Interesting video thank you

[@coraljackz]

So nice of you, thanks for commenting 😁

[@1catocat]

Good coverage of the area. Re "Hen Galan" - in Welsh words the emphasis is always on the first syllable so Hen GALan is the correct pronounciation.

[@JackyCoralz]

Thanks! ...for the compliment and the feedback 😊 We're just into our second year on youtube and learn a bit more with every upload 😅 There were a few other Welsh names that were new to me in this video, did I do a passable job on those? 🤔🫣

[@simoncoll3204]

They were built for tithing,and were built by the mighty men of old , giants.

[@user-vh7mf9bo4e]

Thank you that was so interesting.

[@coraljackz]

Very welcome, glad you think so!

[@COJAZ]

❤❤

[@juliabestall1986]

Brilliant vid.

[@JackyCoralz]

Thank you! It was a fun one to make 😁

[@ellisctaylor74]

The pile of stones over the stream, that you show, is not Llanwnda holy well. The sacred spot is a few yards further up stream, and is now fenced off. Someone, who didn't understand (I hope) what they were doing, has only in recent years blocked off the true sacred healing spot and built this folly.

[@coraljackz]

It's not listed on the OS map we've got, so will have a look at some historic maps online... where have you seen it's 'original' location listed? But yes, we've been to a few 'holy wells' that are either fenced off or not existent anymore...