Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Ancient Sites

Early Christianity / Folklore / Folktales / King Arthur / Legends / Welsh Folktales

St. Tydecho Stone

In the village of Llanymawddwy, there is an ancient church dedicated to St. Tydecho, thought to be the son of Anna Pendragon, King Arthur’s sister. Wirt Sykes in British Goblins (1881) gives the following tale of St. Tydecho and a blue stone. ‘There was a stone in the valley of Mowddwy, which did good service for the church. A certain St.

Ancient Sites / Apparitions / Celtic Pantheons / Dragons / Hauntings / Legends / Pantheons / Road Ghosts

Here Be Dragons And Ghosts…The Coiled Serpent And Otherworld Hoodies

Drakelow in Worcestershire derives its name from a mythological creature – the dragon. The word for dragon in Germanic mythology and its descendants is worm (Old English: wyrm, Old High German: wurm, Old Norse: ormr), meaning snake or serpent. In Old English wyrm means "serpent", draca means "dragon" (Skeat).

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Folklore / Folktales / Merlin / Welsh Folktales

Llech Lafar, St Davids

Llech Lafar, a speaking slab of marble by the River Alun is referred to by Wirt Sykes in his ‘British Goblins’ (1881). ‘The Talking Stone Llechlafar, or stone of loquacity, served as a bridge over the river Alyn, bounding the churchyard of St. David s in Pembrokeshire, on the northern side.

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Wells

St. Illtyd’s Well, Llanrhidian

St. Illtyd’s Well or the Butter Well as it is also known, can be found in a private garden near the Church of St Rhydian and St Illtyd in Llanrhidian.  It acquired the name Butter Well after an event in the 12th century when milk apparently flowed from it for three hours.

Ancient Sites / Wells

Sandford’s Well, Newton Nottage

The following description by Wirt Sikes of Newton Nottage’s well was published in his ‘British Goblins’ (1881).  ‘At Newton Nottage, Glamorganshire, a holy well called Sanford s is so situated that the water is regulated in the well by the ocean tides.

Ancient Sites / Articles / Articles / Hauntings / Road Ghosts

Roads To The Otherworld: Contemporary Haunted Roads And A Sacred Landscape

Oldnall Road, a seemingly unremarkable two-mile rural stretch of B-road between the towns of Halesowen and Stourbridge in the West Midlands, hit the international headlines a few months ago (1) following reports of a series of sightings of an apparition. Reports of ‘road ghosts’ are nothing unusual, they form an important part of ‘ghost lore’ throughout the world (2).

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Ancient Sites / Articles / Articles / Celtic Pantheons / Early Christianity / Folklore / Pantheons

Medieval Heretics and the Green Man

There is a general acceptance that the Green Man is a representation of a pagan deity, but this is not borne out by the abundance of Green Man carvings to be found on or within Christian churches. Could this contradiction be the clue that will lead to our understanding of this archaic figure? Why do we find the Green Many associated with churches?

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Ancient Sites / Articles / Burial Mounds / English Fairies / Fairies / Folklore / Irish Fairies / Scottish Fairies / Welsh Fairies

The Undreamed Region: Barrows In Folklore & Archaeology

Hills, mounds and burial sites. Places which have a timeless allure. Such places can be seen and regarded as mythically liminal, a place that it is not a place. A place outside of time. A place where the living freely walk with the dead. Barrows are just such places.

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Ancient Sites / Book Review / Other Mysteries / Review / Sacred Geometry / Wells

Spirit of Portland: Revelations of a Sacred Isle by Gary Biltcliffe

Intrigued by The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons? Gary Biltcliffe has been studying the Isle of Portland in Dorset for many years and reveals some ground-breaking discoveries in this book, including a secret Masonic code found in Portland’s churches left as clues by 19th-century Freemasons.