People have settled in the area surrounding Nant Gwrtheyrn since the Iron Age. Tre’r Ceiri nearby – one of Wales’ most impressive Iron Age hillforts – is testimony to this.
© R Lord
Tre'r Ceiri - Iron Age hillfort
It is believed that the first to settle in the valley, where the village now stands, was the Brythonic king Gwrtheyrn, who fled here having betrayed his fellow countrymen to the Saxons in the fifth century. A site named Castell Gwrtheyrn (Gwrtheyrn’s Castle) used to be shown on early Ordnance Survey maps.
Fishermen would have lived in the Nant in the period after Gwrtheyrn before people started to farm the area.
Tŷ Uchaf farm viewed from the road to Nant Gwrtheyrn
By the eighteenth century there were three farms in the valley – Tŷ Uchaf (Upper House), Tŷ Canol (Middle House) and Tŷ Hen (Old House). This is the period that provides a backdrop to one of Wales’ most famous and saddest love stories – the story of Rhys and Meinir.
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