Anglesey

[Jools]

But then what was the link between Druids and Anglesey? It may be that there is none but that it just happened to be the last place the Druids were driven to by the Romans' inexorable advance, Anglesey being opposite Dover and all. Or it may be, as the Megalithic Empire points out, that Anglesey is a handy centre for Britain and Ireland.

Druids were certainly drawn to islands -- or at any rate land/water interfaces -- so Anglesey might make for a goodish capital anyway. Certain islands (I can think of the Isle of Wight and Sheppey offhand) are unusual in having a long equidistant coastline adjacent to the mainland. Could be important in itself, could be a sign of artificial carving out.

[Iona]

Caesar's statement that Gauls went to Britain for their Druidic training suggests that "reaching Avalon" might also be a metaphor for the actual journey to Anglesey (or Stonehenge or Skara Brae or wherever these initiatory processes physically took place).

Or the journey might be a metaphor for an altered state of consciousness. To me the myths/stories suggest a quest for higher knowledge - whatever you take that to mean. The art of bronze-making perhaps.

[Boreades]

Yes, "reaching Avalon" would have both a literal and metaphysical meaning. The Druid tradition of an unwritten education that took many years to learn ensured that there were many levels of initiation, and the meaning of the verbally-learnt ritual deepens as one progresses.

Similarly, many stories we now only think of as fables and children's tales were in fact clever aide-mémoire to make it easier to learn astronomy, astronavigation, etc.

I see no reason why that should have been any different for our megalthic astronomers, scientists and engineers. There must have been an unwritten education, and there would have been the entertaining stories to amuse the children, while the adults in the know can smile and nod wisely at the hidden mysteries of nature and science.

Our idea that the Greeks invented so much of mathematics might simply be a delusion, because they were the first to break with tradition and write it down.

[Martin]

Avalon is said to mean Isle of Apples, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, whom I know is greatly mistrusted but who also undoubtedly had access to material that was genuinely a true reflection of what went on in Blighty before it was brushed under the mosaic-ed patio.

Are apples, the fruit of knowledge, connected to Apollo? Stonehenge was supposed to be the British temple of Apollo. Whether or not this is a later re-assessment, a link between Stonehenge and the god of sun, harmony, knowledge and mathematics doesn't seem too far-fetched. Greek navigators/mythologists claimed the home of the sacred apple was far to the west.

[Iona]

Anglesey featured on television recently. Looking at the map it looked distinctly odd, such a straight split or strait! What would be the advantage to, say, copper miners to be separated yet accessible from the mainland?

[Royston]

Yes, and there's also Salt Island (Ynys Halen) which is an almost-separate island, just north of Holyhead. Anglesey sea salt is booming even now.

[Royston]

Holyhead itself is on an island, Holy Island (Ynys Gybi), tho' it's no longer separate.

[jon]

Are apples, the fruit of knowledge, connected to Apollo? Stonehenge was supposed to be the British temple of Apollo. Whether or not this is a later re-assessment, a link between Stonehenge and the god of sun, harmony, knowledge and mathematics doesn't seem too far-fetched. Greek navigators/mythologists claimed the home of the sacred apple was far to the west.

Curiously, apples (though more like crab apples) were the only indigenous fruit tree in Britain during Neolithic times. I made a play on this in the novel because apples would have been a great way of describing the world. In his newest book, Professor Parker Pearson describes how they found apple seeds all over the floors of the houses built at the same time as Stonehenge was constructed:

More information on native lists and references here:
http://heavenshenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/apples-trees.html

[Jools]

Curiously, apples (though more like crab apples) were the only indigenous fruit tree in Britain during Neolithic times.

Were these Neolithic apple trees found anywhere else, such as Anglesey or the west country? The way I heard it is apples were cultivated not for eating but for drinking and cider making is particularly associated with north-west France and south-west England, areas that presumably catered for Megalithic travellers.

[Marko]

Our oldest native apple is claimed to be on Bardsey Island, cultivated by monks (which makes it a medieval rather than Neolithic product). It has a distinctive pink and cream look and is allegedly disease-resistant.

Personally I doubt this since such a unique and useful trait would surely excite horticulturalists the world over, leastways they'd be hardly likely to let this apple strain go to seed in such lonely if scenic setting. Perhaps it's the isolation of Bardsey that protected said apple.