Gronw’s pierced stone slab

Gronw’s pierced stone slab is the marked stone on the bank of the Cynvael River where Gronw Pebyr met Llew Llaw Gyffes in a mutually exchanged position and was killed by Llew’s dart. Gronw placed the slab between himself and the blow, but the weapon passed through it and through his back; the stone remained as a material trace of the killing and was known as Llech Gronw.

Location and Setting

The slab stood on the bank of the Cynvael River in Ardudwy. It enters the narrative not as a portable object or a weapon, but as a feature of the landscape that Gronw could seize when the two men returned to the places each had occupied during the earlier attack. Its precise setting ties the later reckoning to the site of the original wound.

Role in the Encounter

After Llew refused compensation in land, domain, gold, or silver, he named a single condition: Gronw must stand where Llew had stood when struck, while Llew took the position from which Gronw had attacked him. Gronw accepted the meeting after his warriors and household refused to take the blow in his place. At the river, he asked to put the slab between himself and Llew’s dart, invoking the fact that a woman’s wiles had enabled his attack. Llew granted the request, so the stone became the agreed protection between the men rather than an obstacle imposed on the encounter.

Mark and Narrative Significance

The protection proved insufficient: Llew’s dart pierced the slab and continued through Gronw’s back, killing him. The narrative then points to the stone still lying on the riverbank, with the hole through it, and gives it the name Llech Gronw. Its enduring mark makes the outcome legible in the landscape: the slab records both Gronw’s attempted defense and the force that overcame it. After Gronw’s death, Llew took possession of the land again and prosperously ruled it, later becoming lord over Gwynedd.