Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Country and County: Gwent

Haunted Pubs / Hauntings / Orbs / Poltergiests

The Hanbury Arms, Pontypool

The following two newspaper reports concerning strange experiences at The Hanbury Arms, Clarence Street, Pontypool were printed on 4 September 2012. The first, entitled ‘Ghostly goings on at Pontypool pub’ is by Natalie Crockett and appeared in the Gwent News.

0

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.

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Legends

Ysgyryd Fawr

The Ysgyryd Fawr is a hill 486 metres in height, found ten miles from the English border. It is the most easterly of the Black Mountains, and is situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The name Ysgyryd Fawr pertains to the shape of the hill, indicating that it has been ‘shattered’ and it has often been anglicised from the Welsh to ‘The Skirrid’ in English.

Apparitions / Haunted Pubs / Hauntings

The Skirrid ‘Mountain’ Inn

The village of Llanfihangel Crucorney, just off the A465 to the north of Abergavenny, might possess the oldest and most ‘haunted’ inn in the principality of Wales. At one point, the inn doubled as a courtroom and the earliest record for the Skirrid Mountain Inn is said to date back to 1110AD when a man named John Crowther was awarded the death sentence for stealing sheep.

Devil / Devil Bridge / Legends

River Monnow Bridge, Kentchurch

In ‘The Folk-Lore of Herefordshire’ (1912), Ella Mary Leather gave the following account of a bridge associated with the Devil. This bridge crosses the River Monnow which separates Gwent from Herefordshire.