White Mount in London is the final resting place commanded for Bendigeid Fran’s head and the setting of a concealment associated with the protection of Britain. The head’s burial there concludes the companions’ long journey and gives the place a significance that reaches beyond its role as a grave: while the head remains concealed, the island is said to suffer no invasion from across the sea.

The Destined Burial Place

Before his death, Bendigeid Fran directs his companions to carry his head to White Mount in London and bury it facing France. The instruction makes the site the journey’s appointed destination from the outset, though the companions are warned that a long time will pass before they arrive. The burial is therefore bound to a carefully prescribed route and timetable rather than undertaken immediately.

A Journey Delayed by Feasting

The companions first spend seven years feasting at Harlech, with the birds of Rhiannon singing to them; during that time, the head remains pleasant company. They then stay for eighty years at Gwales in Penvro, where it remains uncorrupted. Their stay there is conditional: they must not open the door facing Aber Henvelen and Cornwall. Once Heilyn opens it, the companions are overcome by awareness of their past suffering, lost friends, and other calamities, especially the fate of their lord. Unable to remain, they set out with the head for London.

Concealment and Its Consequence

At White Mount, the companions bury the head as instructed. The narrative identifies this burial as the third goodly concealment and links the head’s concealment to the absence of invasion from across the sea. It also calls the head’s later disinterment the third ill-fated disclosure. White Mount thus completes the companions’ obligation while making the security associated with the hidden head depend on the continued preservation of its resting place.