The Legend of Savaddan LakeSource: Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Dec. 30, 1908), pp. 459-463Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1254240 .

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Collectanea. 459

built a mansion on the site of the domestic buildings, but the

Priory Church (now commonly called the Abbey), which

occupied the north side of the quadrangle, remained and still remains the parish church of the little hamlet. On its northern or outward side are five large windows, the middle one of which is shorter than the others to allow of a door underneath (Plate XII.). This door has long been walled up and no trace of it is visible outside, but tradition (as preserved in the Wren family, the owners from 1713 to I861), called it the "Devil's Door" and declared that it was opened only at Baptisms and

Exorcisms, to allow of the exit of the Devil who might other- wise meet and enter into some one coming in by the usual entrance nearer the north-west angle of the building.

Mr. H. W. Poole (Barnet) informs me through Mr. Milne that the custom of leaving open the north door of the church at a Baptism-or at any rate the idea that it ought to be so left open-for the use of the Devil, is constant in Gloucester- shire. And Brand has many notes of the custom of reserving the north side of the churchyard for the burial of unbaptized persons and suicides (Ellis's Brand, ii. 292).

CHARLOTTE S. BURNE.

THE LEGEND OF SAVADDAN LAKE.

NOT far from the foot of the Black Mountains of Brecon, in a low lovely fertile valley, under the shadow of Mount Troedd, lies Savaddan Lake (the Llangorse Lake of our maps). The following tradition is told regarding it:

Many years ago, when all the surrounding country was under Prince Tewdryg, the bed of the lake was occupied by Savaddan, a town identified with the Roman Loventium. It was, at the time of our story, ruled by a maiden, the beautiful and high- spirited Gwenonwy, who was under Tewdryg's suzerainty. From far and wide came suitors for her hand and throne, but none found such favour as the noble Gruffydd, youngest son of a

2G

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460 Colleclanea.

neighbouring prince named Meigyr. He was all that her heart could desire, yet the maiden Princess dared not wed him, for her father on his deathbed had demanded, and received her

promise, never to become the bride of one who was not her

equal both in birth and fortune. She was a rich and powerful Princess, while he, though of

good birth, was poor. After long delays Gruffydd determined to bring matters to a crisis, and went one night to the Princess's bower and urged her to forget her oath and wed him, regardless of her promise.

"Never," replied the Princess, "shall it be said that the

daughter of the noble Ieuan broke her word. I love you, Gruffydd; but my honour is dearer to me than even your love.

You, too, are a Prince, and of a noble family. Use your good arm and sword as your fathers have done, and gain wealth as

they did, and come to me a year hence my equal as well in fortune as in rank. For a year and a day I will wait and pray for you; return to me within that time a bridegroom worthy of Gwenonwy's hand, or return no more."

The Prince then left Savaddan and his love, and went to the court of Tewdryg, and for ten months fought under his banner

against Madoc, the rebel lord of Skenpeth, gaining much honour but little wealth. At last the war ended, and Gruffydd resolved to make a final appeal to the love of Gwenonwy. Leaving Tewdryg's capital, he arrived on the third day of his journey at Bryn-yr-Allt, a monastery on the mountain side overlooking Savaddan. Here he asked and obtained shelter for the night. He had not slept long when he was awakened by the sound of voices in the refectory, which was separated from his room

only by a thin wooden partition. He overheard a conversation between Owen the Sub-Prior

and another monk, Father Aeddan, from which he learnt that the Prior was expected to return next day, bringing with him mules laden with precious stones and jewelled robes, bequeathed to the monastery by Howell, Prince of Cwmdu, whom he had attended on his deathbed. Gruffydd determined, on hearing this, to waylay and rob the Prior. He went to a spring, named Codvan's Well, by which the Prior must pass, attacked him and

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Collectanea. 461 I

left him for dead, and carried off his mules with their loads to Savaddan. He told Gwenonwy his story, and was received

by her with favour. Meanwhile the monks who had gone out to meet the Prior found him lying insensible, but he recovered

sufficiently to tell them who the murderer was before he died. That night an order arrived from Princess Gwenonwy that a monk from the monastery should attend that night at the Palace to unite her to Gruffydd, Prince of Bronllys. In the evening a vast assembly thronged the royal chapel to witness the marriage. Father Owen performed the ceremony, and as the young pair knelt before him for the final benediction, the priest stepped forward, and in a loud authoritative tone exclaimed:

"Rise, Gruffydd of Bronllys, thou murderer; and thou, too, lady accomplice in his crime, inasmuch as thou hast not avenged it. Wedded, yet unblest, hear God's decree. Thou, Prince, hast shed sacred blood, and thou, Princess, rejoicest in the un- holy deed. Therefore God shall visit you with a great and terrible punishment. In His mercy He will bear with you for a time, but in the fourth generation the blow will fall not only on yourselves, but on all your unblest seed. It shall be; God hath spoken it."

Without the blessing of the Church upon her union, the kneel- ing Princess rose in a rage, and, turning to her guards, she said:

"This presumptuous man has dared to offer an insult to a Princess of Savaddan within her own palace walls. Hence with him to the guard tower. Let him there await the fulfilment of his prophecy. Should he still live at the fourth generation, and his words prove vain, he shall die. It shall be; I have spoken it."

Many long and weary years the good father spent in a lonely cell at Savaddan, while the town and Court were given up to debauchery and vice.

Meanwhile Gruffydd and Gwenonwy, now growing old, saw springing up around them a goodly family of children and grand- children. Soon Myvig, their eldest grandson, married, and in due course a child was born. This was the long-dreaded advent of the fourth generation; still there was no evidence of the predicted punishment.

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462 Colleclanea.

On the fortieth day from the birth of Myvig's son, the Princess, persuading herself that Owen's curse was merely an idle threat, summoned all her family and friends to a great banquet in honour of the young prince's birth. On the appointed day the

great hall of the palace was full. The feast was at its height, and wine was flowing freely, when four guards entered, leading the venerable Sub-Prior.

The Prince taunted him with the non-fulfilment of his

prophecy, but he only repeated that vengeance was at hand unless the guilty ones repented. The Prince ordered that he be shut up in the topmost room of the watch-tower, which should then be burnt to the ground. And this was done.

Father Aeddan, now Prior, heard of what had happened, and from the monastery above watched the town and flames of the

burning tower shoot up towards the sky. After the tower had

fallen, a mist came down upon the valley and hid the town. While the Prior prayed the mist gradually rose, and the valley was seen entirely filled with a vast lake. No trace of the lost town ever appeared save a cradle containing a sleeping child, the infant son of Myvig, the last of the princes of Savaddan.

Lifting the child from its cradle, Father Aeddan bore it to the monastery. Naming it Gastayn, he taught it all that the

good monks could teach. Gastayn afterwards expressed a desire to embrace the ascetic life, and built a hut on the lake's edge in a sheltered spot. There he spent a life of great piety and

rigour, in continual prayer for the souls of his wicked progenitors. His holiness and learning was so famed that one of the royal

princes of South Wales entrusted his sons to Gastayn's care.

Following in the footsteps of their pious tutor, they became

renowned for the purity and sanctity of their lives, some of them,

indeed, even obtaining the glorious crown of martyrdom.

Gastayn, at his death, was buried in his hermitage, where in

after years a church was built which to this day bears the name

of the " Church of St. Gastayn." Such is the legend told by the country folk in the neighbour-

hood, who still gravely tell you that on a calm summer's day it is possible to see the church tower through the waters of

the lake, and even to hear the bells ring!

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Collectanea. 463

[This version of the legend of the origin of the lake of Savaddan (Llyn Syfaddon), commonly known as Llangorse Lake in Brecknockshire, has been received from Mr. Isaac C. Hughes, of Treharris, Glamorganshire, who states that it is given as told to him by an old resident.

It is an interesting variant of the version given in Rhys's Celtic Folklore, i. 73, which is taken from the Brython for 1863, pp. I 14, I I5, and purports to be derived from a MS. of Hugh Thomas in the British Museum. The following are the principal points of difference:

(I) The names of the Princess and the murderer, her lover, are here given as Gwenonwy and Gruffydd, son of Prince Meigyr.

(2) The murdered man is described as the Prior of Bryn-yr- Allt, on a height overlooking the lake.

(3) The curse is given by the Sub-Prior of the monastery when called in to perform the marriage, and not by certain mysterious voices heard by the murderer when he went out to "'lay the ghost."

(4) It is to have effect in the fourth, and not the ninth generation.

(5) Its fulfilment immediately follows on the martyrdom of the Sub-Prior who had originally pronounced it.

(6) The name of the child of the fourth generation who escaped, his cradle being found floating on the lake, is Gastayn, who afterwards became a saintly hermit. This connects the legend with the Church of Llangasty, on the shores of the lake.

Sir J. Rhys also alludes to the quite different story given by Walter Mapes, which, it may be noted, refers to a prince named Gwestin of Gwestiniog (Wastinus Wastiniauc). He also holds that there are signs of Goidelic influence in this neighbourhood. Perhaps some support may be lent to this opinion by the name Aeddan, that of the Prior of Bryn-yr-Allt, who witnessed the catastrophe.-ED.]

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