Aber Alaw

Part of the country

But Alaw ( " mouth / mouth of the Alaw ") is the estuary of the river Alaw in Anglesey in Wales.

General

On the banks of the Alaw in Llanddeusant a stone called Bedd Branwen is shown which is to be the grave of Branwen. This stone was first excavated in 1800 and again in 1960 by Frances Lynch. Here some urns with human ashes were found, so it seems likely that the story of Branwen is based on an incident that took place during the period of the Bronze Age British Bedd Branwen.

Mythology

In the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen ferch Llyr ( " Branwen, the daughter Llŷrs " ), Branwen is the daughter of Penarddun and the sea god Llyr, her brothers are King Bran and Manawydan. It is with Matholwch, king of Ireland, married, but she treated badly. As therefore the Welsh make an expedition to Ireland in the course of the fighting almost all be killed. Only five pregnant Irish women survive, colonize the island and back to the Welsh side return only seven warriors with Branwen and Bran's head. When this group lands on Anglesey, where you can see both Ireland and Wales, Branwen dies of grief over the two because of their depopulated countries, and is buried on the banks of the Alaw.

" The Citadel "

In Archibald Joseph Cronin's novel " The Citadel ", the fictitious Handlungsort is called in Wales Aberalaw.