Ein brenin a fu, ein brenin a fydd

Legendary  Landmarks

Llanbadarn fawr

Llanbadarn Fawr is a quiet village to the east of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion.  Today it is something of a suburb of its larger neighbour although it was once the major settlement.  The church stands in the centre of the village at SN 599810 with the installation being initially displayed on the marshy ground over the railway line to the south.

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Legend

Llanbadarn, meaning the sacred enclosure of St. Padarn, was a early and important centre of the Celtic Christian church.  Founded by St. Padarn, the famously handsome saint, supposedly in the year 516 with his cousins St. Cadfan and St. Tydecho, the church here was for a time the seat of its own bishopric.  Padarn allegedly accompanied Saint David on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was consecrated as a bishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem.  His fine tunic was much sought after and perhaps imbued with magical qualities.   In ‘The Life of St. Padarn’ the author records the visit of ‘a certain tyrant named Arthur’ to the cell of the Saint in which the king took a liking to Padarn’s fine tunic and demanded he hand it over.  When the Saint refused Arthur became enraged and left cursing and stamping his feet.  Arthur later returned, took the coat by force and was making to leave the settlement when in a miraculous intervention he was swallowed up by the very ground itself right up to his neck.  Arthur was thus forced to surrender the cloak and beg Padarn’s forgiveness before he was released and could make his escape. 

It is tempting to believe that the story could contain a grain of truth, perhaps of Arthur raiding or requisitioning monastic property for his war band or the state, he would not be the last monarch to attempt such a thing.  The ground around Llanbadarn lies on the floodplain of the river Rheidol and is frequently marshy, it is distinctly possible, and would have been more so in an age of imperfect roads especially for heavily armed warriors, to take a wrong turning and end up stuck in the marsh.  Local knowledge could prove essential in order to escape, in which case certain people’s pride may well have had to be swallowed.

 There is an interesting parallel however that may account for this tale.  The genealogies of the Northern Britons state that in around 370 AD in the Kingdom of Strathclyde there ruled a man named Quintilius Clemens who gave authority over areas of modern Northumberland and Southern Scotland around Hadrian’s Wall to a commander named Paternus Pesrut (Paternus of the Red Coat )  He is known to the early Welsh tradition as Padarn Redcoat who’s coat was said to be one enchanted Thirteen Treasures of Britain.  A red coat was often the insignia of a serving Roman officer and it is possible that as some heroic deeds on the part of this northern British commander passed into legend so too did the supposedly magical qualities of his distinctive coat.  The enchanted property ascribed to this treasure of Britain was that only a noble man might wear it and that it would refuse to be wore by a churl.  This seems to be a poetic rendering of the rank that bearing such insignia (the Roman officers’ red cloak)  indicated.  The early Welsh tradition often Romanticised the Roman era, before the coming of the Saxons and it is possible that the rank inferring Roman insignia of the red coat become thus eulogised.  The confusion over two early heroes named Padarn, one with a much revered coat, may have given rise to the hagiographical account of the other Padarn’s, St. Padarn’s, coveted coat.

ARTIST:

The church that now stands on the important early Christian site of Llanbadarn Fawr.

To contact chris:

E-mail: legendarylandmarks@hotmail.co.uk

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Proposed artwork:

The legend here states King Arthur came to St. Padarn’s cell demanding of him his fine tunic and eventually taking it by force.  St. Padarn then caused him to be swallowed up by the ground on which he walked until he begged the Saint for his forgiveness and returned the fine robe.  For this installation I propose the creation of a wire frame tunic possibly embellished, embroidered or decoratively ornamented.  This would then be displayed variously in in Llanbadarn near the church the manner of a scarecrow or tailor’s dummy accompanied by an explanatory plaque detailing the artist and the legend behind the work.  The installation could also be placed in the marshy ground adjacent to the river Rheidol that runs through Llanbadarn Fawr as this seems the most likely place for any heavily armoured man to sink into the ground in the area.  The installation would also comprise a burning of the frame at a separate location in order to reference the similar legend of Arthur’s flaming mantle and when the flames cause the piece to glow red it will be photographed and the photographs displayed in Llanbadarn.

Autumn 2006

Chris Collier

The illustration to the right shows an early impression of how the Llanbadarn installation will appear.  The final work will have more detail and embellishment than is shown here but these elements are yet to be finalised and therefore can not be shown yet.  Therefore although the sketch can not really give an accurate impression of the final appearance of the work, it can however provide a suggestion of the format of the piece and the manner in which it will be presented.