Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Country and County: Wales

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Wells

St. Illtyd’s Well, Llanrhidian

St. Illtyd’s Well or the Butter Well as it is also known, can be found in a private garden near the Church of St Rhydian and St Illtyd in Llanrhidian.  It acquired the name Butter Well after an event in the 12th century when milk apparently flowed from it for three hours.

Ancient Sites / Wells

Sandford’s Well, Newton Nottage

The following description by Wirt Sikes of Newton Nottage’s well was published in his ‘British Goblins’ (1881).  ‘At Newton Nottage, Glamorganshire, a holy well called Sanford s is so situated that the water is regulated in the well by the ocean tides.

0

Ancient Sites / Articles / Articles / Celtic Pantheons / Early Christianity / Folklore / Pantheons

Medieval Heretics and the Green Man

There is a general acceptance that the Green Man is a representation of a pagan deity, but this is not borne out by the abundance of Green Man carvings to be found on or within Christian churches. Could this contradiction be the clue that will lead to our understanding of this archaic figure? Why do we find the Green Many associated with churches?

0

Ancient Sites / Articles / Burial Mounds / English Fairies / Fairies / Folklore / Irish Fairies / Scottish Fairies / Welsh Fairies

The Undreamed Region: Barrows In Folklore & Archaeology

Hills, mounds and burial sites. Places which have a timeless allure. Such places can be seen and regarded as mythically liminal, a place that it is not a place. A place outside of time. A place where the living freely walk with the dead. Barrows are just such places.

Hauntings

The Lake Vyrnwy Obelisk

Lake Vyrnwy Dam and the associated waterworks was constructed in the 1880s to provide drinking water for Liverpool and Merseyside. Today the area is a nature reserve and conservation area popular with the many visitors who come to enjoy the magnificent scenery.

Ancient Sites / Wells

St. Cynhafal’s Well, Llangynhafal

According Wirt Sykes in ‘British Goblins’ (1881), ‘St. Cynhafal’s well, on a hillside in Llangynhafal parish, Denbighshire, is one of those curing wells in which pins are thrown. Its specialty is warts. To exorcise your wart you stick a pin in it and then throw the pin into this well; the wart soon vanishes.

Early Christianity / Legends

Bell Of Saint Oudoceus

The 12 century Cathedral of Llandaff was built on the site of an earlier church traditionally attributed to Saint Telio, the successor of Saint Dubricius who had established a 6th century community here at a ford over the River Taff. Telio was succeeded by Saint Oudoceus (also known as Euddogwy) (Died 700AD).

Hauntings

Black Figures of Cwmorthin

The disused Cwmorthin Slate Quarry can be found on the shore of Llyn Cwmorthin above Blaenau Ffestiniog. The following description of a strange experience was e-mailed into Mysterious Britain early in 2013 and I would be very interested to hear from anybody who could add more. “Start from Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Ancient Sites / Wells

Saint Cybi’s Holy Well

Saint Cybi’s Holy Well at Llangybi in North Wales is one of those mysterious and difficult to find places which turn out to be well worth the effort. Certain places have an almost otherworldly atmosphere about them and Saint Cybi’s Well is certainly one of these.