On this splendid Cadw photo (designed top show the Iron Age defensive fortifications in all their glory) we can also see in great detail the up-glacier side of the mountain. This is on the right of the photo. The photo is taken looking due south, so the area highlighted in the foreground is at the northern tip of the upland -- ie the area most dramatically affected by ice coming in from the north. The last time this happened was around the LGM, about 20,000 years ago.
As I have mentioned before, I think Carningli was overridden by ice at the peak of the last glaciation, but that for part of the glacial episode it was a nunatak, with a windscoop on its south-west facing flank. In this windscoop there was a massive accumulation of scree, which still survives. (The scree area is in the shadow, to the left of the craggy summits.)
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Aside from Carningli's glaciated features, you have lived there for over 40 years: what is your opinion of the beliefs that a Celtic saint had visions there, and that modern people have reported physiological and mental effects?
Ah, now we are talking mythology! Maybe we should call it the Carningli Mythos.......... of course, I have played my part in promoting it, with my 8 novels about Martha Morgan in which the mountain plays a mystical or spiritual leading role. We all enjoy myths -- the problem comes when they are used in supposedly scientific research, and transformed into "the truth". In self-defence, as a fiction writer, I plead that I have never pretended that the events associated with the mountain and narrated in the novels actually happened!! Mind you, I suppose I am guilty of causing confusion. One rather fierce elderly lady who lives not far away was overheard to say "You know them books by that fellow Brian John? Don't believe a word of it! It's lies -- all lies!"
All we know about the mountain is that St Brynach was reputed to have gone up to the summit for periods of prayer and contemplation. The myth developed that when he was there he "communed with the angels" -- hence the naming of the mountain as "Mount of Angels". That association with angels is of course widely known, and has been a part of local mythology since 500 AD. And yes, because of that many people still feel that the summit is a special and spiritual place. The power of suggestion is a wonderful thing.....
Ah, well, it so happens I have very recently been re - reading Paul Devereux's "Symbolic Landscapes", and, to my surprise, I found it very thorough, analytical and he certainly has travelled the world over in his investigations. I know you may dismiss him, especially because of his associations with Messrs Deverill, Ixer and Wainwright in the so - called SPACES project in Pembrokeshire and Strumble etc! And, yes he does admit to having taken hallucinatory substances, and consequently to considering what happens to these world - wide Shamen (or, indeed, Sha - women) with apparent out - of - body experiences. Also, it seems intriguing that you were suddenly able, quite late in life, to have the realisation that you should, and could, creatively write your Angel Mountain series of novels... whence did cometh the inspiration?
I haven't spent much time looking into Devereux's work, but am not much impressed by all that "ringing rocks" stuff. As for my novels, they came into my head one night in Gran Canaria, when I was in a somewhat delirious state, following an encounter with toxic cabin air on the flight from the UK. Very strange, it was -- but I'm not sure what it tells us about Stonehenge and its fantasies!!
Many people associate Preseli with spiritual experiences. It cannot be entirely coincidental. My own grandfather took his son to the top of Frenni Fawr hoping that the little people would intervene to cure his whooping cough and what do you know, he recovered.
So you could say you were "away with the Gran Canarias", rather than "away with the fairies"? Anyway, you suddenly became tremendously creative. Good for you.
Oh, I'm sure they have fairies in the Canaries and that they worked their magic on me.........
And of course people often associate high places with spirituality -- we all respond to being in places with vast vistas, where the air is clean and the only sounds are from occasional birds and the wind buffeting the rocks. And we cannot be unaware of the legends -- we read about them and hear about them from others -- and that predisposes us to see places like Carningli as "special" and "spiritual" or "close to heaven"........ it's probably all to do with suggestion and the attractions of the mystical.
I don't think "it's probably all to do with suggestion and the attractions of the mystical".Isaiah spoke about it in the Old Testament long ago: "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles". And not EVERY occurrence is a 'legend'.
My mother was a very good example of 'renewing her strength' in that fashion - she even called our house, close to Peak District, "Highlands". Later on, she did love Sound of Music and its song "Climb Every Mountain". When we holidayed in the Scottish Highlands, she was drawn to visit Iona, not once, but twice within a few days.
Here is a little parable. I was coming down from one of my many walks on the mountain some years ago, and met William John Jenkins, my neighbour, leaning on the gate and watching the world go by.
"Been up the mountain again?"
"Yes, I like it up there. It's very peaceful, and I love the views."
"You must be mad. Horrible place -- all rocks and bracken, and the sheep get lost up there, and it's always blowing a gale or gets lost in the cloud. I would't mind it a bit if the bloody place didn't exist......."
So there we are then. And in case you wonder, William John (sadly dead now) was a faithful Baptist who attended chapel faithfully every Sunday, come rain or shine.........
Well Brian, I don't know at all what to make of your so - called "parable". That all seemed singularly negative to me.Your former neighbour sounds as though he had a very blinkered approach to Angel Mountain in particular and to life in general. Not my idea of a Welsh Baptist who had come to know the Lord and experienced feeling born again before and after full baptist immersion. Perhaps he had a dry sense of humour and maybe didn't take kindly to all the fuss and footfall traffic you created by writing your local historical fiction series?
Has me in mind of a rather grim version of thespian John Laurie!
No, my old friend William John was not at all negative or blinkered -- he was just a small farmer whose priority in life was to manage his small flock of sheep as efficiently as possible in quite a challenging terrain......
Oh, right, I see, good for him. My brother was a forester for quite a while before he found his vocation in lecturing in photography, but he's always really been absorbed in nature and wildlife, which he learnt from a very early age via his Gran, a farmer's daughter.
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