West Country

Another similar version has him killed within his fort in Nant Gwrtheyrn ('the valley of Vortigern'), close to Nefyn on the Lleyn peninsula. Through St. Germanus, God sent fire from Heaven to burn him, signified perhaps by a lightning storm. When the lightning struck the hall within the fortress (probably Tre'r Ceiri), Gwrtheyrn and his wives were killed. Both stories.
The source for this name of this valley, which is the only one in Wales named after Vortigern, is not known. Vortigern's legends do take him to north Wales (especially Snowdonia), but never to the Lleyn peninsula itself. But maybe the legend about his death did travel to this area, as there are many more places that are connected with Vortigern in the direct neighborhood.

At least until around the yeare 1700 a stone grave covered with a turf mound existed there, which was called Vortigern's Grave (Bedd Gwrtheyrn) by the local population. San Marte mentioned in 1854 that it was discovered 'lately' (neuerlich), so maybe it had been opened twice, the first time before the 1770s and again before the 1850s. The name of this place on the early Ordnance Survey maps was 'Castel Gwrtheyrn' (Gwrtheyrn's Castle).

Connected with Vortigern was Vortigern's Tower, known locally as 'Vortigern's Castle', which was once marked on the old nineteenth-century parish map. That site is by far too small for a hillfort, but no doubt local legend saw in the small mound the perfect place for Vortigern's Tower. A small (and much later) motte castle could very well have been the origin of the mound, which is, however, also seen as Vortigern's burial mound. A better candidate for Castel Gwrtheyrn, or Vortigern's fortress, a Hillfort in Lleyn, Gwynedd no matter the local name, is the hill-fort of Tre'r Ceiri. The close proximity to the sites in northern Gwynedd could hint that it was connected through local legend with the Merlin-legends and Dinas Emrys.
In the isolated Lleyn peninsula we can find a real ancient Iron Age hillfort connected to the Vortigern legends. Below the superb viewpoints from Yr Eifl (anglicised to ‘the Rivals’, but in Welsh ‘the Fork’) lies one of the most spectacular hillforts, Tre’r Ceiri. On a rocky heather-covered plateau below the eastern peak some 150 huts, that might have supported up tp 500 people, can still be seen clearly.

Tre’r Ceiri
Locally known as the ‘Town of the Giants’, the walls are still more than 4 metres high in places - no wonder how it received its name.The hight of the walls might very well be caused by its isolation and position 457 metres above sea level, which has prevented all too much stones being looted, as was the case for so very many similar hillforts.

Local tradition places Vortigern in Nant Gwrtheyrn (the ‘Valley of Vortigern’), a rocky valley leading down from Yr Eifl to the west coast of the Lleyn peninsula. Vortigern was supposed to have once had his headquarters there. His grave, Bedd Gwrtheyrn, is also to be found somewhere around here, as ther are several locations bearing names familiar to us, such as Carn Fadrun, or the 'fort of Modrun' (she was a granddaughter of Vortigern) further south.

The view from Yr Eifl makes a choice for this castle very understandeble: there are fantastic views towards Snowdonia and across Caernarfon Bay to the island of Anglesey and Holyhead Mountain. Across Cardigan Bay to the south you can see the outline of Mynydd Preseli, where the bluestones of Stonehenge once came from. To the west lies Ireland, where you can see the Wicklow Hills across the Irish Sea. Occupation has been attested from AD 150 right into the fifth century, so this site is a very good candidate for a 'City of Vortigern'! A complete street plan of the Roman town has been revealed under the heather, complete with terraced enclosures, probably used for cultivation. More paths lead to the triple-topped Yr Eifl and down into Nant Gwrtheyrn beyond.

Carn Fadrun has never been directly associated with Vortigern on account of his name, it is situated very close to many other sites on the Lleyn peninsula that were. The name of Carn Fadrun, however, is most likely taken from Vortigern's granddaughter Modrun. There are several different explanations for the presence of Vortigern's granddaughter in this Welsh backwater. Carn Fadryn (371m) is a mountain crowned with a large hillfort in the middle of the northern Lleyn Peninsula of Wales. It's quite barren in vegetation (bracken, heather - limestone), and therefore contrasts with the surrounding lush lowlands, as one can see from the images below. The hill itself is very similar to its neighbour Carn Bach, although without any trees.

The fort at the top seems to be from the Iron Age, and most of it indeed is, there is a small fortress on the western side, whose dry-stone walls may look far too primitive for medieval times, but turn out to have been a twelfth-century Norman castle, which was actually built on the site shortly before 1188, as Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) wrote. The rudimentary stone buildings are ringed by a low wall more reminiscent of Iron Age hillforts than the new Norman motte and bailey design. There were about ninety pre-Roman round houses, though only ten of then can be traced inside the settlement. Contrarly, many irregular houses were built inside in the late Roman period, like they were in Tre'r Ceri, a similar hillfort also connected to Vortigern. Vortigern himself could actually have built his 'city' here, for this is the only of all Caer Guorthigirn-sites that actually has a tumbled-down stone fortress on top. The many other Gwrtheyrn-names to the north surely make the presence of his granddaughter less unlikely.
Carn Fadrun has ties to a cromlech named 'Arthur's Quoit', which is found in Myllteyrn parish, Caernarvonshire. This cromlech, recognized by the name 'Coetan Arthur', is on the land of Trefgwm, in the parish of Myllteyrn; it consists of a great stone resting on three other stones. The tradition states that 'Arthur the Giant' threw this coetan from Carn Fadrun, a mountain several miles from Trefgwm, and his wife took three other stones in her apron and propped them up under the coetan.
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	Tre’r Ceiri Locally known as the ‘Town of the Giants’, the walls are still more than 4 metres high in places - no wonder how it received its name.The hight of the walls might very well be caused by its isolation and position 457 metres above sea level, which has prevented all too much stones being looted, as was the case for so very many similar hillforts.
	Local tradition places Vortigern in Nant Gwrtheyrn (the ‘Valley of Vortigern’), a rocky valley leading down from Yr Eifl to the west coast of the Lleyn peninsula. Vortigern was supposed to have once had his headquarters there. His grave, Bedd Gwrtheyrn, is also to be found somewhere around here, as ther are several locations bearing names familiar to us, such as Carn Fadrun, or the 'fort of Modrun' (she was a granddaughter of Vortigern) further south.
	The view from Yr Eifl makes a choice for this castle very understandeble: there are fantastic views towards Snowdonia and across Caernarfon Bay to the island of Anglesey and Holyhead Mountain. Across Cardigan Bay to the south you can see the outline of Mynydd Preseli, where the bluestones of Stonehenge once came from. To the west lies Ireland, where you can see the Wicklow Hills across the Irish Sea. Occupation has been attested from AD 150 right into the fifth century, so this site is a very good candidate for a 'City of Vortigern'! A complete street plan of the Roman town has been revealed under the heather, complete with terraced enclosures, probably used for cultivation. More paths lead to the triple-topped Yr Eifl and down into Nant Gwrtheyrn beyond.