Swansea

28 Aug

Here we are then, I finally got around to visiting a Gorsedd stone circle in my home city! I have lived in Swansea for the last 6 years and feel I have explored Singleton Park (where our stone circle for today is a resident) as well as any local has. However, I had always wondered what this stone circle was and what it was for, with many of my friends and I conjecturing that perhaps it was used for human sacrifice as it has a large, flat, stone in the center. This is interesting as, knowing the purpose Iolo Morganwg had for the Gorsedd stone circle (to distance the bards and Druidic orders from savagery and ideas about barbaric human sacrifice) that perhaps he has failed somewhat, or at least with English students who have never been to an Eisteddfod before! However, a few years later I was walking through the park with a friend and there was a Gorsedd taking place! I remember not knowing what was going on at the time but now I think back I recall seeing men and women dressed in robes of varying colors (mostly white) and speaking in Welsh, moving around the stone circle. It looked very odd at the time but now I know what it was all about I wish I had paid a bit more attention. The stone circle in Singleton Park is not particularly remarkable in any way from the other sites, but as it is in my home town and I have personal experiences with it, I find it a very satisfying site to visit.

Singleton Park itself is a very beautiful place, and after living on campus in my first year I became enamoured with the rolling hills and fields, as well as the botanical gardens. I made sure to explore as much of it as I could, and I am lucky that I lived so close to the entrances pretty much every year I have lived in Swansea and so everytime I need a break from something I will take a walk around the stunning park.

I know there are other Gorsedd stone circles around the outskirts of Swansea and I will be aiming to visit them as soon as possible.