A new study of coastal geography finds that the lost islands mentioned in Welsh folklore and poetry are plausible. New evidence on the evolution of west Wales' coastline has shown a Welsh tradition going back to the medieval era of a landscape lost to the sea is plausible. The researchers from S
suggest how two islands came into being and subsequently vanished using geological data and a medieval map.
New research has shown that “lost islands” mentioned in Welsh folklore, could be the remnants of a low-lying landscape underlain by soft glacial deposits laid down during the last ice age. Since then, forces of erosion have worn away the land, reducing it to islands, before these too were worn away and disappeared by the sixteenth century. Credit: Prof Simon Haslett, Swansea University
They speculate that the islands are the remains of a low-lying terrain underlain by soft glacial deposits from the last ice age. Since then, erosional processes have worn away the land, reducing it to islands, before these too were worn away and disappeared by the sixteenth century. Professor Simon Haslett of Swansea University Department of Geography said: “We know that the west Wales coast has changed significantly over time. Evidence from the Roman cartographer Ptolemy suggests the coastline 2000 years ago may have been some 13 km further out to sea than it is today. The Gough Map is extraordinarily accurate considering the surveying tools they would have had at their disposal at that time, and the two islands are clearly marked.