Pabo Post Prydain (supp. fl. before 500) was a king from the Hen Ogledd or Old North of sub-Roman Britain. [1] According to tradition Pabo "the Pillar of Britain" was driven out of the North in 460 and settled in Anglesey. [2] He is said to have been buried in the area. [1] From the 14th century at least, when a stone cross was erected in the ruler's memory in the abbey's churchyard, Pabo has been identified as its founder, having retired, as many Welsh kings are said to have done, to a heremitic retreat.
The Old Welsh genealogies of British Library, Harleian MS 3859, calls him a son of Cenau son of Coel Hen. Later Welsh genealogies insert two generations by making him son of Arthwys son of Mar son of Cenau son of Coel, though this presents greater chronological problems. [1] The genealogies give him a royal line of descendants as the father of Dunod Fawr, Sawyl Penuchel and Ardun Benasgell, and a saintly one as the grandfather of Deiniol, Asaph and Tysilio. [1]
As to his period, Elis Gruffydd's Chronicle says that his daughter married Maelgwn Gwynedd [3] while an Irish genealogy says that his son "Samuel Chendisel" (the Irish equivalent of Pen-isel) married Deichter, daughter of Muiredach Muinderg, the king of Ulster. Their son Sanctan founded Kilnasantan in County Dublin after travelling to Ireland with his brother Matóc Ailithir. The Irish Liber Hymnorum confirms that Sanctan and Matóc came to Ireland from Britain. [4] Pabo must have been roughly the same age as Muiredach, whose death-date (after a reign of 24 years according to other sources) is given in the Annals of Tigernach as 489. [5]
A tradition identifies Pabo as the founder of St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo (at Llanbabo, Anglesey). The first author to record it is antiquarian Henry Rowlands (d. 1723), who writes that "Pabo, frequently called Post Prydain, i.e. the Support of Britain, for his great valour against the Picts and Scots, retired here [in Anglesey], and built his church at Llan Babo." [1] [6] A stone cross was erected in the ruler's memory in the abbey's churchyard at the same time Bangor Cathedral was being built. Welsh poet Lewis Morris reports that the memorial cross was discovered there around 1650. The monument, dated to the 14th century, bears the carved image of a king and an accompanying inscription. The inscription is in part illegible but the following reading has been suggested;
Some scholars argue, in the absence of early evidence, that the tradition is probably spurious [1] though the identity of the historical Pabo who did give his name to the church remains otherwise unknown.
Maelgwn Gwynedd was king of Gwynedd during the early 6th century. Surviving records suggest he held a pre-eminent position among the Brythonic kings in Wales and their allies in the "Old North" along the Scottish coast. Maelgwn was a generous supporter of Christianity, funding the foundation of churches throughout Wales and even far beyond the bounds of his own kingdom. Nonetheless, his principal legacy today is the scathing account of his behavior recorded in De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by Gildas, who considered Maelgwn a usurper and reprobate. The son of Cadwallon Lawhir and great-grandson of Cunedda, Maelgwn was buried on Ynys Seiriol, off the eastern tip of Anglesey, having died of the "yellow plague"; quite probably the arrival of Justinian's Plague in Britain.
Cunedda ap Edern, also called Cunedda Wledig, was an important early Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the Royal dynasty of Gwynedd, one of the very oldest of western Europe.
Iago ap Beli was King of Gwynedd. Little is known of him or his kingdom from this early era, with only a few anecdotal mentions of him in historical documents.
Sawyl Penuchel or Ben Uchel, also known as Samuil Penisel, was a British king of the sub-Roman period, who appears in old Welsh genealogies and the Welsh Triads.
Bodowyr Burial Chamber is a Neolithic burial chamber made of a few large stacked stones in a farmer's field on the north Wales island of Anglesey. It is located at Bodowyr Farm, 1.25 mi (2.0 km) east of Llangaffo, off the B4419 road.
The Bridestones is a chambered cairn, near Congleton, Cheshire, England, that was constructed in the Neolithic period about 3500–2400 BC. It was described in 1764 as being 120 yards (110 m) long and 12 yards (11 m) wide, containing three separate compartments, of which only one remains today. The remaining compartment is 6 metres (20 ft) long by 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) wide, and consists of vertical stone slabs, divided by a now-broken cross slab. The cairn originally had a stone circle surrounding it, with four portal stones; two of these portal stones still remain. The site is protected as a scheduled ancient monument.
Llanidan is a community in the south of Anglesey, Wales which includes the village of Brynsiencyn. The parish is along the Menai Strait, about 4 miles north-east of Caernarfon. The parish church of St Nidan is near the A4080 highway, a little to the east of Brynsiencyn. The ruins of an earlier parish church survive.
Muiredach Muinderg mac Forggo was a king of Ulaid from the Dál Fiatach. He was the son of Forgg mac Dalláin. His sobriquet means red-necked.
Henry Rowlands (1655–1723) was rector of Llanidan on Anglesey, and the author of Mona Antiqua Restaurata: An Archaeological Discourse on the Antiquities, Natural and Historical, of the Isle of Anglesey, the Antient Seat of the British Druids. The book includes an early description of The Bridestones.
Events from the year 1753 in Wales.
St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo is a medieval church in Llanbabo, in Anglesey, North Wales. Much of the church dates to the 12th century, and it is regarded as a good example of a church of its period that has retained many aspects of its original fabric. The church houses a tombstone slab from the 14th century, depicting a king with crown and sceptre, bearing the name of Pabo Post Prydain, the reputed founder of the church. However, there is no evidence that Pabo, a 5th-century prince, lived in the area and the tradition that he founded the church has little supporting basis.
St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn is a medieval church in Llaniestyn, Anglesey, in Wales. A church is said to have been founded here by St Iestyn in the 7th century, with the earliest parts of the present building dating from the 12th century. The church was extended in the 14th century, with further changes over the coming years. It contains a 12th-century font and a 14th-century memorial stone to Iestyn, from the same workshop as the stone to St Pabo at St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo.
St Deiniol's Church, Llanddaniel Fab, is a small 19th-century parish church in the centre of Llanddaniel Fab, a village in Anglesey, north Wales. The first church in this location is said to have been established by St Deiniol Fab in 616. He was the son of St Deiniol, the first Bishop of Bangor. The current building, which is in Early English style, incorporates some material and fittings from an earlier church on the site, including the font and an 18th-century memorial in the porch. The vestry door has medieval jambs and the keystone of its arch, which is also medieval, is a carved human face. Some parts of the nave walls may also come from a previous building here.
The Old Church of St Nidan, Llanidan is a medieval church in the community of Llanidan, in Anglesey, North Wales, close to the Menai Strait. The first church on the site was established in the 7th century by St Nidan, the confessor of the monastery at Penmon, Anglesey, but the oldest parts of the present structure, are now closed and partly ruined, date from the 14th century. In about 1500 the church was enlarged by the addition of a second nave on the north side, separated from the earlier nave by an arcade of six arches. During 1839 till 1843 a new church was built nearby to serve the local community, partly due to the cost of repairing the old church. Much of the building was subsequently demolished, leaving only part of the western end and the central arcade. The decision was condemned at the time by Harry Longueville Jones, a clergyman and antiquarian, who lamented the "melancholy fate" of what he called "one of the largest and most important [churches] in the island of Anglesey". Other appreciative comments have been made about the church both before and after its partial demolition.
St Edern's Church, Bodedern is a medieval parish church in the village of Bodedern, in Anglesey, north Wales. Although St Edern established a church in the area in the 6th century, the oldest parts of the present building date from the 14th century. Subsequent alterations include the addition of some windows in the 15th century, and a chancel, transept and porch in the 19th century, when the nave walls were largely rebuilt. Stained glass was also inserted into the windows of the chancel and transept.
St Mary's Church, Llanfair-yn-y-Cwmwd is a small medieval parish church near the village of Dwyran, in Anglesey, north Wales. The building probably dates from the 15th century, with some alterations. It contains a 12th-century carved stone font and a 13th-century decorated coffin lid. The bell is inscribed with the year of its casting, 1582. The historian Henry Rowlands was vicar of St Mary's in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Maurice Wilks, who invented the Land Rover, is buried in the churchyard.
St Edwen's Church, Llanedwen is a 19th-century parish church near the Menai Strait, in Anglesey, north Wales. The first church was founded here by St. Edwen in 640, but the present structure dates from 1856 and was designed by Henry Kennedy, the architect of the Diocese of Bangor. It contains some memorials from the 17th and 18th centuries and a reading desk that reuses panel work from the 14th and 17th centuries. The 18th-century historian Henry Rowlands was vicar here, and is buried in the churchyard. The church is on land that forms part of the Plas Newydd estate, home of the family of the Marquess of Anglesey since 1812 and owned by the National Trust. Some of the Marquesses of Anglesey, and some of their employees, are also buried in the churchyard.
Ímar mac Arailt was an eleventh-century ruler of the Kingdom of Dublin and perhaps the Kingdom of the Isles. He was the son of a man named Aralt, and appears to have been a grandson of Amlaíb Cuarán, King of Northumbria and Dublin. Such a relationship would have meant that Ímar was a member of the Uí Ímair, and that he was a nephew of Amlaíb Cuarán's son, Sitriuc mac Amlaíb, King of Dublin, a man driven from Dublin by Echmarcach mac Ragnaill in 1036.
St Enghenedl's Church, Llanynghenedl, is a former parish church in Anglesey, north Wales, dedicated to the son of a 6th-century King of Powys. According to the 19th-century antiquarian Angharad Llwyd, the first church in Llanynghenedl was erected in about 620. A new church was erected in 1862, replacing a building that the 19th-century clergyman and antiquarian Harry Longueville Jones noted as dating in part from the late 13th or early 14th century, based on the decorations on the south doorway. The church later fell into disuse as a result of the growth of the nearby village of Valley and the church there. In 1988, St Enghenedl's was dismantled and re-erected as an extension to St Mihangel's, Llanfihangel yn Nhowyn, so that St Mihangel's could serve as the church for RAF Valley. The former churchyard of St Enghenedl's is still visible but is now overgrown.(The churchyard is being cared for and no longer overgrown 2020 update)
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1723 to Wales and its people.