Helig Ap Glanawg

Helig ap Glanawg (standard modern Welsh orthography: Helig ap Glannog) is a figure described in various accounts as a 6th-century prince who lived in North Wales.

It is said that the river Conwy once reached the sea by the Great Orme, Llandudno, and to the west lay the great cantref of Gwaelod which stretched all the way to Puffin Island, off Anglesey.

Helig ap Glanawg was said to have lived here and according to legend in the 6th century all his land was inundated by the sea, this forming the Lavan Sands which lie between the Great Orme's Head and the Menai Strait off the north coast of Gwynedd. This has given rise to the legend of the drowned kingdom. The legend states the remains of Llys Helig, said to be his palace but in fact a the remnants of a glacial moraine, can be seen at exceptionally low tides, this being near the Conwy channel, about a mile or so off the coast at Penmaenmawr. The earliest known use of the name Llys Helig for this rock formation is the Halliwell Manuscript which is believed to date to around the beginning of the 15th century, nine centuries later.


After the disaster both Helig and his numerous sons embraced a religious life. These sons, according to various sources, were -

Celynin, who has a church dedicated to him at Llangelynin in the Conwy valley, and there is another at Llangelynin near Llwyngwril, a few miles south of Llanaber.
Rhychwyn, the saint associated with Llanrhychwyn church.
Bodfan, to whom the church at Aber, in Gwynedd, is dedicated.
Brothen, who founded the Church at Llanfrothen
Peris, who founded the churches at Llanberis and Nant Peris.
Boda and Gwynin, who founded the church at Dwygyfylchi, near Penmaenmawr.