A Discussion of Bryn Myrddin's Arthurian Connections
By David Nash Ford

B R Y N
M Y R D D I N
Merlin entombed in Carmarthenshire

Bryn Myrddin or "Merlin's Hill" stands alongside the A40, two and half miles up the Tywi Valley from Carmarthen in South Wales.

This is one of the supposed scenes of the imprisonment of King Arthur's great advisor, Merlin the Magician, by his lover, the Lady of the Lake. Having taught the lady everything he knew about the mystic arts, poor Merlin had served his purpose and wicked water-nymph turned on him. She used her new-found powers to magically enclose him in a cave beneath the hillside. He lives there still, and if you can find the place where the cave-wall is thinnest, you will hear his subterranean groans.

Adjoining the hill is Merlin's Wood and, across the road, is Cerrig Fyrddin or "Merlin's Stone". This was said to mark where Merlin had hidden his vast store of treasure. Hence there have been many treasure hunters. The stone once fell on one and crushed him to death. Thus fulfilling an old prophesy that a raven would drink a man's blood off the Merlin's Stone.