Local History

I have almost recovered from my early morning trauma, to share some local history. The horrors of this morning are diminishing and can be described as the complete devastation of part of my newly planted vegetable garden and potted sunflowers.

The culprits? An army of slugs and snails! They have without mercy, chomped and munched their way through the big luscious leaves of my runner beans, peas and said sunflowers. [Revenge is mine!]

So, on to my short piece about local history. A couple of weeks ago we took a short trip up to the Church at Mynyddislwyn, St Tudor's, it's just a couple of miles from where I live and has great views of the valley below and surrounding area.

St Tudor's dates from 1820 but it was built on a structure dating from many hundreds of years before. Historians say that prior to Christianity the area was used as a site for pagan ceremonies and rituals.

There is a local legend that tells of the building of the original church:

The foundation stones had been laid and the builders had retired for the night. When they returned next day, the stones had been displaced and now lay some distance away from the intended site. Perplexed, they relocated the stones but the following morning found the stones had again moved during the night. The foundations were once more restored to their original position but this time the builders decided to keep watch throughout the night.

As they kept their vigil, a celestial voice was heard to say: " Mynd is y lwyn " meaning " Go below the bush " They realised that they were attempting to erect the church on what was unhallowed ground and were being directed to resite the structure. Plans were revised and the church was constructed in its present location.

The heavenly direction " Mynd is y lwyn " is said to have corrupted into "Mynyddislwyn" and hence given the area its name.