‘Lost’ islands of folklore may have actually existed off the coast of Wales, study finds

“Look upon the fury of the sea; it has covered Maes Gwyddneu,” a 13th century Welsh poem reads.

Local legend says the islands of Maes Gwyddneu were once ruled by a king, according to Simon Haslett and David Willis who conducted a study published by Atlantic Geoscience. The islands had seawalls, holding back the waves – until a “drunken gatekeeper” made a fateful mistake. Water flooded the kingdom, the study says.

Maes Gwyddneu became a Welsh folktale – a “land the sea overran,” according to a 12th century manuscript quoted in the study.

But folklore no more, Haslett and Willis argue in their study.

The “oldest map of Great Britain” along with geological data of Cardigan Bay off the coast of Wales provide “evidence for the existence of two ‘lost’ offshore islands,” the study says.

Look across Cardigan Bay today and you’ll see only one island, researchers say. Gaze across Cardigan Bay in the Gough Map – a 13th to 14th century map of Great Britain – and you’ll see two more islands, the study says.

Haslett and Willis used this map to find the current location of the islands. They collected data on the water depths, seafloor elevations, and composition of the ground in this area. They scoured historical texts for any mention of Maes Gwyddneu or the kingdom’s other name – “Cantre’r Gwaelod,” meaning “Lowland of the Depth,” the study says.

These sources told another story.

Any islands in Cardigan Bay were likely made of loosely deposited soil, vulnerable to water erosion, the study says. Over time, the ocean waves would wear down any islands in their path, researchers say. Even today, water continues to erode the Welsh coast, Haslett and Willis say.

This continual pounding of the surf – coupled with storm surges and tsunamis mentioned in historical accounts – likely caused the two islands seen in the Gough Map to disappear, researchers say. The pair of islands does not appear on maps after the mid-16th century, the study says.

Or, in the words of a Welsh folktale, “the sea spread out when it flooded the kingdoms” of Maes Gwyddneu, the study says.

Cardigan Bay is off the western coast of Wales, about 195 miles northwest of London.

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