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THE long-running row over the site of the court of the last Welsh prince at Aber has taken a new twist. In a report published this month, the exact site of the royal court of Prince Llywelyn has been pin pointed at the ancient mound of Pen y Mwd in the village away from Pen-y-Bryn manor. But manor house owners, Brian and Kathryn Gibson are furious with the report in a top British archaeology magazine, as it fly’s in the face of their long struggle to have Pen y Bryn recognised as Llywelyn's home. "Only a complete excavation of the two sites will reveal the truth," said the Gibson’s this week. The new report, based on the work of the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, pin points the foundations of a large winged hall by the Pen-y-Mwd mound about 200 yards away from the current manor, "In what may rank among the most important secular discoveries yet made from pre-conquest Wales, the complete ground-plan of the hall has been found of one court," states the report. But what is described as the hall of Llywelyn's court, the Gibson’s claim is a "hostel that stood outside the palace grounds in the 13th century Aber was a crossroads for travelers then, a very busy place, and people passing through the area used to stay outside the royal court in the hospice," said Mrs. Gibson. Mrs. Gibson names the hostel as Cegin Llywlyn or Llywelyn's Kitchen and says it was one of dozens of building at the court, "There is no tradition of the court being by the Mwd, while Pen y Bryn has all the features you might expect to find of a court," she said. There is evidence of a double-ditched defensive enclosure and a gatehouse at Pen-y-Bryn, which looks down onto the Mwd. "Pen y Bryn overlooks the other site, it's the natural defendable place for a court," added Mrs. Gibson. Mr. David Longley, head of the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust says he stands by the report. "On the basis of the evidence we've collected, I feel that the area around the mound is likely to have been the nucleus of the royal court," said Mr. Longley. "Of course we would be willing to modify that view if new evidence" comes to light. 'I am only interested in establishing where the court was, and the focus of the evidence suggests in our opinion that we should be looking to the Mwd."
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