Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Country and County: Gwynedd

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Welsh Fairies / Welsh Folktales

Fetching a Halter

The following folk tale entitled ‘Fetching a Halter’ appeared in ‘The Welsh Fairy Book’ (1908) by W. Jenkyn Thomas ‘A VERY large company came together to hold a merry evening at Bwlch Mwrchan, a farmhouse close by Lake Gwynan, in Snowdonia. It was a stormy night. The wind whistled and howled in the woods, tearing the trees like matchsticks.

Ancient Sites

Ty Mawr hut group (a.k.a. Cytau’r Gwyddelod, or Irish Huts)

These Iron Age remains of circular buildings can be found on Holy Island, near South Stack on Anglesey. The site consists of ten large circular stone rings (the remains of Iron Age huts) on the hillside with nine smaller rectangular structures (probably workshops for metal working) scattered among them, covering an area of up to twenty acres.

Ancient Sites / Roman

Caer-y-Twr

Caer-y-Twr is the remains of an Iron Age hill fort on the summit of Holyhead mountain (Mynydd Twr) 220 metres in height. Due to its position, it did not need much additional defence, but it had a stone rampart on the northern and eastern sides enclosing an area of roughly seven hectares. The site of the hill fort now contains mostly rubble, but the walls can still be identified.

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Fairies / Folklore / Welsh Fairies

Ellyllon

According to ‘British Goblins’ (1881) by Wirt Sykes; ‘The Ellyllon are the pigmy elves who haunt the groves and valleys, and correspond pretty closely with the English elves.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Welsh Fairies / Welsh Folktales

Mynydd y Fedw

In ‘Celtic Folklore Welsh And Manx’ (1901), John Rhys recounted the following folktale originally passed down Siân Dafydd of Helfa Fawr, and Mari Domos Siôn of Tyn Gadlas, Llanberis who would probably have been born around 1770.

Apparitions / Haunted Hotels / Haunted Pubs / Hauntings

The Castle Hotel, Conwy

The Castle Hotel on High Street is an old coaching inn that was originally made up of two hostelries, the King’s Head and The Castle, which was the larger of the two. They were combined to create The Castle Hotel in the 1880’s.

Ancient Sites

Pen-y-Gaer Hill Fort

A Bronze Age hill fort can be found on the summit of Pen-y-Gaer, close to the village of Llanbedr-y-Cennin to the south of Conwy. The fort had quite complex defences, including three ramparts in places, and some short standing stones (a sort of chevaux de frise) to act as obstacles to both cavalry and infantry.

Ancient Sites

Garn Fadryn Hill Fort

Garn Fadryn (371 metres in height), has on its summit a Middle Iron Age hillfort covering an area of approximately twenty-six acres in total. The hill fort construction seems to have been done in stages, the first stage taking place in around 300BC enclosing about twelve acres.

Ancient Sites

Garn Boduan Hill Fort

Garn Boduan (279 metres in height) is an Iron Age hill fort situated on a steep isolated volcanic hill to the south of Nefyn. The site was surveyed during the 1950’s, when the remains of more than one hundred and seventy round houses, (of which the remains of about one hundred are identifiable whilst on the ground) were discovered.

Legends

Swallow Falls (Rhaeadr Ewynnol)

Found on the A5, to the north west of Betws-y-Coed, this much photographed cascade of water is where the Afon Llugwy drops over ancient worn rocks on its journey eastwards. It is the highest continuous waterfall in Wales and one of the most visited beauty spots in the area due to its accessibility.