Llangollen—Wyn Ab Nudd—The Dee—Dinas Bran.
The northern side of the vale of Llangollen is formed by certain enormous
rocks, called the Eglwysig rocks, which extend from east to west, a
distance of about two miles. The southern side is formed by the Berwyn
hills. The valley is intersected by the River Dee, the origin of which
is a deep lake near Bala, about twenty miles to the west. Between the
Dee and the Eglwysig rises a lofty hill, on the top of which are the
ruins of Dinas Bran, which bear no slight resemblance to a crown. The
upper part of the hill is bare with the exception of what is covered by
the ruins; on the lower part there are inclosures and trees, with, here
and there, a grove or farm-house. On the other side of the valley, to
the east of Llangollen, is a hill called Pen y Coed, beautifully covered
with trees of various kinds; it stands between the river and the Berwyn,
even as the hill of Dinas Bran stands between the river and the Eglwysig
rocks—it does not, however, confront Dinas Bran, which stands more to the
west.
Llangollen is a small town or large village of white houses with slate
roofs, it contains about two thousand inhabitants, and is situated
principally on the southern side of the Dee. At its western end it has
an ancient bridge and a modest unpretending church nearly in its centre,
in the chancel of which rest the mortal remains of an old bard called
Gryffydd Hiraethog. From some of the houses on the southern side there
is a noble view—Dinas Bran and its mighty hill forming the principal
objects. The view from the northern part of the town, which is indeed
little more than a suburb, is not quite so grand, but is nevertheless
highly interesting. The eastern entrance of the vale of Llangollen is
much wider than the western, which is overhung by bulky hills. There are
many pleasant villas on both sides of the river, some of which stand a
considerable way up the hill; of the villas the most noted is Plas Newydd
at the foot of the Berwyn, built by two Irish ladies of high rank, who
resided in it for nearly half-a-century, and were celebrated throughout
Europe by the name of the Ladies of Llangollen.
The view of the hill of Dinas Bran, from the southern side of Llangollen,
would be much more complete were it not for a bulky excrescence, towards
its base, which prevents the gazer from obtaining a complete view. The
name of Llangollen signifies the church of Collen, and the vale and
village take their name from the church, which was originally dedicated
to Saint Collen, though some, especially the neighbouring peasantry,
suppose that Llangollen is a compound of Llan a church and Collen a
hazel-wood, and that the church was called the church of the hazel-wood
from the number of hazels in the neighbourhood. Collen, according to a
legendary life, which exists of him in Welsh, was a Briton by birth, and
of illustrious ancestry. He served for some time abroad as a soldier
against Julian the Apostate, and slew a Pagan champion who challenged the
best man amongst the Christians. Returning to his own country, he
devoted himself to religion, and became Abbot of Glastonbury, but
subsequently retired to a cave on the side of a mountain, where he lived
a life of great austerity. Once as he was lying in his cell he heard two
men out abroad discoursing about Wyn Ab Nudd, and saying that he was king
of the Tylwyth Teg or Fairies, and lord of Unknown, whereupon Collen
thrusting his head out of his cave told them to hold their tongues, for
that Wyn Ab Nudd and his host were merely devils. At dead of night he
heard a knocking at the door, and on his asking who was there, a voice
said: “I am a messenger from Wyn Ab Nudd, king of Unknown, and I am come
to summon thee to appear before my master to-morrow, at midday, on the
top of the hill.”
Collen did not go. The next night there was the same knocking and the
same message. Still Collen did not go. The third night the messenger
came again and repeated his summons, adding that if he did not go it
would be the worse for him. The next day Collen made some holy water,
put it into a pitcher and repaired to the top of the hill, where he saw a
wonderfully fine castle, attendants in magnificent liveries, youths and
damsels dancing with nimble feet, and a man of honourable presence before
the gate, who told him that the king was expecting him to dinner. Collen
followed the man into the castle, and beheld the king on a throne of
gold, and a table magnificently spread before him. The king welcomed
Collen, and begged him to taste of the dainties on the table, adding that
he hoped that in future he would reside with him. “I will not eat of the
leaves of the forest,” said Collen.
“Did you ever see men better dressed?” said the king, “than my attendants
here in red and blue?”
“Their dress is good enough,” said Collen, “considering what kind of
dress it is.”
“What kind of dress is it?” said the king.
Collen replied: “The red on the one side denotes burning, and the blue on
the other side denotes freezing.” Then drawing forth his sprinkler, he
flung the holy water in the faces of the king and his people, whereupon
the whole vision disappeared, so that there was neither castle nor
attendants, nor youth nor damsel, nor musician with his music, nor
banquet, nor anything to be seen save the green bushes.
The valley of the Dee, of which the Llangollen district forms part, is
called in the British tongue Glyndyfrdwy—that is, the valley of the Dwy
or Dee. The celebrated Welsh chieftain, generally known as Owen
Glendower, was surnamed after the valley, the whole of which belonged to
him, and in which he had two or three places of strength, though his
general abode was a castle in Sycharth, a valley to the south-east of the
Berwyn, and distant about twelve miles from Llangollen.
Connected with the Dee there is a wonderful Druidical legend to the
following effect. The Dee springs from two fountains, high up in
Merionethshire, called Dwy Fawr and Dwy Fach, or the great and little
Dwy, whose waters pass through those of the lake of Bala without mingling
with them, and come out at its northern extremity. These fountains had
their names from two individuals, Dwy Fawr and Dwy Fach, who escaped from
the Deluge, when all the rest of the human race were drowned, and the
passing of the waters of the two fountains through the lake, without
being confounded with its flood, is emblematic of the salvation of the
two individuals from the Deluge, of which the lake is a type.
Dinas Bran, which crowns the top of the mighty hill on the northern side
of the valley, is a ruined stronghold of unknown antiquity. The name is
generally supposed to signify Crow Castle, bran being the British word
for crow, and flocks of crows being frequently seen hovering over it. It
may, however, mean the castle of Bran or Brennus, or the castle above the
Bran, a brook which flows at its foot.
Dinas Bran was a place quite impregnable in the old time, and served as a
retreat to Gruffydd, son of Madawg, from the rage of his countrymen, who
were incensed against him because, having married Emma, the daughter of
James Lord Audley, he had, at the instigation of his wife and
father-in-law, sided with Edward the First against his own native
sovereign. But though it could shield him from his foes, it could not
preserve him from remorse and the stings of conscience, of which he
speedily died.
At present the place consists only of a few ruined walls, and probably
consisted of little more two or three hundred years ago: Roger Cyffyn, a
Welsh bard who flourished at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
wrote an englyn upon it, of which the following is a translation:—
“Gone, gone are thy gates, Dinas Bran on the height!
Thy warders are blood-crows and ravens, I trow;
Now no one will wend from the field of the fight
To the fortress on high, save the raven and crow.”