{{Short description|Shingle spit on Cardigan Bay, Wales}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox landform |name = Sarn Gynfelyn |type = Spit |location = Ceredigion, Wales, UK |pushpin_map = Wales Ceredigion |map_caption = Location in Ceredigion |image = View to Wallog - geograph.org.uk - 845410.jpg |caption = |alt = |grid_ref_UK = |coordinates = {{Coord|52.4516|-4.0819|display=inline,title}} }}
'''Sarn Gynfelyn''' is a shingle spit on the coast of Cardigan Bay, in the county of Ceredigion, Mid-Wales, in the United Kingdom. It is located at Wallog, a few kilometres north of Llangorwen, close to Clarach Bay, south of Borth and north of the town of Aberystwyth. It extends, albeit with a single break, for a distance of 11 km from the coast to a reef known as Caerwyddno.<ref>{{cite book |title=Borth (De/South), Coast path walk (leaflet) |date=2020 |publisher=Ceredigion County Council}}</ref>
Similar landform examples are found at several points along the Cardigan Bay coast, known as ''sarnau''. 'Sarn' (pluralised in Welsh as 'sarnau') is typically translated as 'causeway' or 'paved way'. These long banks which extend from the intertidal zone to the subtidal zone are thought to have originated as glacial moraines.
==In legend== thumb|left|The sarn revealed at low tide These protruding banks resemble man-made causeways and have long been part of the centuries-old legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod, a fabled sunken kingdom which was lost beneath the waters of Cardigan Bay. According to legend, Sarn Gynfelyn was one of the causeways leading to the lost land. The legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod is comparable to the deluge myth found in nearly every ancient culture, and it has been likened to the story of Atlantis{{By whom|date=November 2019}}.
{{ external media | width = 300px | float = center | video1 = [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/media/bb/coast-cantrer-gwaelod_16x9_bb.ram Sarn Gynfelyn and the submerged forest at Borth] | video2 = [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/media/bb/coast-submerged-forest_16x9_bb.ram Submerged trees in the Dyfi Estuary]<br />Clips from ''Coast'' (BBC, 2006) }} In a 2006 episode of the BBC television documentary ''Coast'', presenter Neil Oliver visited Sarn Gynfelyn to explore the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod. The programme also featured the remains of the submerged forest at Ynyslas, some {{convert|5|mi}} north of Sarn Gynfelyn, which is also associated with the legend. The vista of dead oak, pine, birch, willow and hazel tree stumps preserved by the acid anaerobic conditions in the soil is revealed at low tide and is estimated to be about 5000 years old.<ref name="coast">{{Cite episode |title=Cardigan Bay to the Dee |series=Coast |network=BBC |airdate=2005 |series-no=1 |number=4}}</ref><ref name=submerged>{{cite web|title=5. Submerged Forest|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/coast/pages/5.shtml|work=Mid Wales Coast - Ynyslas Walk|publisher=BBC|accessdate=4 January 2012}}</ref>
==See also== * Sarn Badrig *Sarn y Bwch
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[http://www.gtj.org.uk/cy/large/item/GTJ26952/ Photograph of Sarn Gynfelyn, 1999] *[http://archive.skyworks.co.uk/footage/sarn-gynfelyn-shingle-spit-jutting1.html Video clip: Sarn Gynfelyn Shingle spit jutting out to sea] (Skyworks) *{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814143524/http://machynlleth.info/histcant.htm|date=14 August 2016|title=Cantre'r Gwaelod (The Lowland Hundred) website article}}
Category:Reefs of Ceredigion Category:Cardigan Bay Category:Reefs of the Atlantic Ocean
{{Ceredigion-geo-stub}}