Hud Afon Arth
by Philip Huckin, Cyril Jones and David Austin
(Gwasg Gwynfil £26.50)

IN SPITE of the title ­­— it means the Magic of the River Arth — this unusual and sumptuous publication is completely Welsh and English bilingual.

In it, an artist, poet and an archaeologist examine this relatively short river which flows into Cardigan Bay by the village of Aberarth, near to Aberaeron.

Cyril Jones, the distinguished Welsh-language poet and critic, was born and grew up in a village nearby and the narrow valley of the river Arth was his childhood adventure playground, a place of magic, mystery and danger. He moved away and became a lecturer in creative writing at the University of South Wales in Pontypridd.

Englishman Philip Huckin is an artist who was drawn back to the Aberystwyth area where he went to university.

He bought the house where Jones grew up in the village of Pennant and set up his studio. Wishing to collaborate on a project with a poet, he was introduced to Jones who took him along the now overgrown paths of his childhood along the river Arth.

The pair’s explorations take them to the mysterious bridge known in Welsh as the “bridge of the brothers,” a spectacular waterfall and a lane known locally as Lon Lacs — lax is Icelandic for salmon — believed to be part of the route from the coast to the great medieval abbey of Strata Florida.

There is also a fish trap and the ruins of Berllan Bitar, a cottage believed to be haunted by the 19th-century witch who once lived there and whose life and the spells she cast are well documented thanks to early recordings of the memories of people who knew her.

Also involved in the project is archaeologist Professor David Austin from the University of Wales in Lampeter who brings another angle to the story — the legacy of the picturesque in the European Romantic movement.

From Jones’s obsession with the Sestina of the Troubadours and introduction to the Welsh cynghanedd to Austin’s love of the picturesque via Hunkin’s exquisite drawings, these pages provide an exciting journey in time, cultures and languages.

Images from the book can be viewed at: philip-huckin.com

Review by Gwyn Griffiths