Snowdon

Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx

• attestation: 'In the Snowdon district of Gwyneil the call is drwi, drwi, dr£i-i bach, while in North Cardiganshire it is trwi, trwi, trw-efach, also pronounced sometimes with u surd r, produced by making the breat (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter I: Undine's Kymric Sisters)

  "'In the Snowdon district of Gwyneil the call is drwi, drwi, dr£i-i bach, while in North Cardiganshire it is trwi, trwi, trw-efach, also pronounced sometimes with u surd r, produced by making the breath cause both lips to vibrate — tR'wi, tR'wi, which can hardly be distinguished from pR'wi, pR'wi."

• attribution: This is the substance of it:— An old woman, called Sian ^ Dafyd, lived at Helfa Fawr, in the dingle called Cwm Brwynog, along the left side of which you ascend as you go to the top of Snowdon, from th (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter I: Undine's Kymric Sisters)

  "This is the substance of it:— An old woman, called Sian ^ Dafyd, lived at Helfa Fawr, in the dingle called Cwm Brwynog, along the left side of which you ascend as you go to the top of Snowdon, from the village of lower ILanberis, or Coed y Dol, as it is there called."

• attribution: Here I may as well explain that the ILanberis side of the steep, near the top of Snowdon, is called Clogwyn du'r Ardu, or the Black Cliff of the Ardu, at the bottom of which lies the tarn alluded to a (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter I: Undine's Kymric Sisters)

  "Here I may as well explain that the ILanberis side of the steep, near the top of Snowdon, is called Clogwyn du'r Ardu, or the Black Cliff of the Ardu, at the bottom of which lies the tarn alluded to as the Black Lake of the Ardu, and near it stands a huge boulder, called Maen du'r Ardu, all of which names are curious, as involving the word du, black."

• attestation: y Fedw, on the west side of Snowdon, to do the shepherding, and there he was wont to come across a lass on the mountain, so that as the result of frequently meeting one another, he and she became grea (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter I: Undine's Kymric Sisters)

  "y Fedw, on the west side of Snowdon, to do the shepherding, and there he was wont to come across a lass on the mountain, so that as the result of frequently meeting one another, he and she became great friends."

• relationship: Owing, also, to the skill and good qualities of the woman, as a shrewd and virtuous wife, they became very rich — richer, indeed, than anybody else in the country around; for, besides the husband's ow (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter I: Undine's Kymric Sisters)

  "Owing, also, to the skill and good qualities of the woman, as a shrewd and virtuous wife, they became very rich — richer, indeed, than anybody else in the country around; for, besides the husband's own inheritance of Ystrad, he held all the northern part of Nant y Bettws, and all from there to the top of Snowdon, together with Cwm BrwynOg in the parish of ILanberis."

• attribution: Davies kindly called my attention to a volume, entitled Observations on the Snowdon Mountains, by Mr (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter I: Undine's Kymric Sisters)

  "Davies kindly called my attention to a volume, entitled Observations on the Snowdon Mountains, by Mr."

• attestation: 37, 40: — 'A race of people inhabiting the districts about the foot of Snowdon, were formerly distinguished and known by the nickname of Fellings, which is not yet extinct (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter I: Undine's Kymric Sisters)

  "Davies' informant, but the author makes the following remarks with regard to it, pp. 37, 40: — 'A race of people inhabiting the districts about the foot of Snowdon, were formerly distinguished and known by the nickname of Fellings, which is not yet extinct."

• attestation: Her yellow and curly hair hung down in ringed locks, and her eyes were as blue as the clear sky, while her forehead was as white as the wavy face of a snowdrift that has nestled on the side of Snowdon (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter II: The Fairies' Revenge)

  "Her yellow and curly hair hung down in ringed locks, and her eyes were as blue as the clear sky, while her forehead was as white as the wavy face of a snowdrift that has nestled on the side of Snowdon only a single night."

• attestation: He impressed me as an enthusiast for Welsh antiquities: he was born and bred, I believe, in the neighbourhood of Snowdon, and his death took place about ten years ago (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter II: The Fairies' Revenge)

  "He impressed me as an enthusiast for Welsh antiquities: he was born and bred, I believe, in the neighbourhood of Snowdon, and his death took place about ten years ago."

• attestation: Let me now return to the fresh-water fairies of Snowdon and give a reference to Pennant's Tours in Wales: in the edition pubhshed at Carnarvon in 1883 we are told, ii (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter II: The Fairies' Revenge)

  "Let me now return to the fresh-water fairies of Snowdon and give a reference to Pennant's Tours in Wales: in the edition pubhshed at Carnarvon in 1883 we are told, ii. 326, how Mr."

• attribution: Pennant learned 'that, in fairy days, those diminutive gentry kept their revels ' on the margins of the Snowdon lake, called ILyn Coch (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter II: The Fairies' Revenge)

  "Pennant learned 'that, in fairy days, those diminutive gentry kept their revels ' on the margins of the Snowdon lake, called ILyn Coch."

• attestation: Some mention that, as some great man was hunting in the Snowdon district (Eryri), a stag, to avoid the hounds when they were pressing on him, and as is the habit of stags to defend themselves, made hi (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter II: The Fairies' Revenge)

  "Some mention that, as some great man was hunting in the Snowdon district (Eryri), a stag, to avoid the hounds when they were pressing on him, and as is the habit of stags to defend themselves, made his escape into this lake: the hunters had hardly time to turn round before they saw the stag's antlers (mwnglws) coming to the surface, but nothing more have they ever seen...."

• attestation: One may compare it at a distance with Myrdin's arrangement that the treasure buried by him at Dinas Emiys should only be found by a youth with yellow hair and blue eyes, and with the belief that the c (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter II: The Fairies' Revenge)

  "One may compare it at a distance with Myrdin's arrangement that the treasure buried by him at Dinas Emiys should only be found by a youth with yellow hair and blue eyes, and with the belief that the cave treasures of the Snowdon district belong to the Gwy^l or Goidels, and that Goidels will eventually find them: see chapter viii."

• attribution: We shall find, however, that a Goidel, or Pict, buried in a cairn on Snowdon, is known as Rhita Gawr, ' Rhita the Giant '; and it is possible that in the Keiri of Tre'r Ceiri we have no other race tha (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume I > Chapter III: Fairy Ways and Words)

  "We shall find, however, that a Goidel, or Pict, buried in a cairn on Snowdon, is known as Rhita Gawr, ' Rhita the Giant '; and it is possible that in the Keiri of Tre'r Ceiri we have no other race than that of mixed Goidels and Picts whom the encroaching Brythons"

• attestation: But with infinite toil and labour he is dragged beyond the Conwy watershed into one of the highest tarns on Snowdon; for there is here no question of killing him, but only of removing him where he can (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VII: Triumphs of the Water-world)

  "But with infinite toil and labour he is dragged beyond the Conwy watershed into one of the highest tarns on Snowdon; for there is here no question of killing him, but only of removing him where he cannot harm the people of the Conwy Valley."

• attestation: The next story to be mentioned belongs to the same Snowdonian neighbourhood, and brings us back to rthur and his Men (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "The next story to be mentioned belongs to the same Snowdonian neighbourhood, and brings us back to rthur and his Men."

• attestation: Frooi this it is clear that Rh)-s Goch meant that the caim on the top of Snowdon covered the remains of the ^ant whose name has been v'ariously written RJcca, Ritta, and Rhita (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "Frooi this it is clear that Rh)-s Goch meant that the caim on the top of Snowdon covered the remains of the ^ant whose name has been v'ariously written RJcca, Ritta, and Rhita."

• attestation: So I was impelled to ascertain from Glasl}!! whether I had correctly understood his lines, and he has been good enough to help me out of some of my difficulties, as I do not know Snowdon by heart, esp (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "So I was impelled to ascertain from Glasl}!! whether I had correctly understood his lines, and he has been good enough to help me out of some of my difficulties, as I do not know Snowdon by heart, especially the Nanhw3main and Bedgelert side of the mountain: — The caim on the summit of Snowdon was the Giant's before it was demolished and made into a sort of tower which existed before the hotel was made."

• attestation: Bwlch y Saethau is a lofty shoulder of Snowdon extending in the direction of Nanhwynain, and the distance from the lop of Snowdon to it is not great; it would take you half an hour or perhaps a little (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "Bwlch y Saethau is a lofty shoulder of Snowdon extending in the direction of Nanhwynain, and the distance from the lop of Snowdon to it is not great; it would take you half an hour or perhaps a little more to walk from the one cartte^io the other."

• attestation: Some further notes on Snowdon, together with a curious account of the Cave of ILanciau Eryri, have been kindly placed at my disposal by Mr (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "Some further notes on Snowdon, together with a curious account of the Cave of ILanciau Eryri, have been kindly placed at my disposal by Mr."

• attestation: To swell the irrelevancies under which this chapter labours already, and to avoid severing cognate questions too rudely, I wish to add that Elis o'r Nant makes the name of the giant buried on the top (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "To swell the irrelevancies under which this chapter labours already, and to avoid severing cognate questions too rudely, I wish to add that Elis o'r Nant makes the name of the giant buried on the top of Snowdon into Rhitta or Rhita instead of Ricca."

• attribution: She often heard of Rhita ^ Gawr having been buried on the top of Snowdon, and of other warriors on other parts of Snowdon such as Moel Gynghorion and the Gist on that tnoeL But Elis oV Nant goes furth (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "She often heard of Rhita ^ Gawr having been buried on the top of Snowdon, and of other warriors on other parts of Snowdon such as Moel Gynghorion and the Gist on that tnoeL But Elis oV Nant goes further, and adds that from Rhita the mountain was called Wyi^a Rhita, more correctly Gwyctfa Rita, ^ Rhita's Gwydfa.'"

• attestation: However the story as to Rhita Gawr being buried on the top of Snowdon came into existence, there can be no doubt that it was current in comparatively recent times, and that the Welsh name of ^ IVy^fa, (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "However the story as to Rhita Gawr being buried on the top of Snowdon came into existence, there can be no doubt that it was current in comparatively recent times, and that the Welsh name of ^ IVy^fa, derived from it, refers to the mountain as distinguished from the district in which it is situated."

• attribution: In Welsh this latter is ErjTi, the habitat, as it were, of the eryr, 'eagle,' a bird formerly at home there as many local names go to prove, such as Carregyr Etyr"^, 'the Stone of the Eagle,' mentione (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "In Welsh this latter is ErjTi, the habitat, as it were, of the eryr, 'eagle,' a bird formerly at home there as many local names go to prove, such as Carregyr Etyr"^, 'the Stone of the Eagle,' mentioned in the boundaries of the lands on Snowdon granted to the Abbey of Aberconwy in ILewelyn's charter, where also Snowdon mountain is called Wedua vawr, ' the Great Gwydfa.'"

• attribution: Against the evidence just given, that tradition places Rhita's grave on the top of Snowdon, a passing mention by Derfel Hughes (p (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "Against the evidence just given, that tradition places Rhita's grave on the top of Snowdon, a passing mention by Derfel Hughes (p. 52) is of no avail, though to the effect that it is on the top of the neighbouring mountain called Camect Lywelyn^ * ILewelyn's Cairn/ that Rhita's Cairn was raised."

• attestation: Before leaving Snowdon I may mention a cave near a small stream not far from ILyn Gwynain, about a mile and a half above Dinas Emrys (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter VIII: Welsh Cave Legends)

  "Before leaving Snowdon I may mention a cave near a small stream not far from ILyn Gwynain, about a mile and a half above Dinas Emrys."

• attestation: Rhiw G3rferthwch is guessed to have been one of the slopes of Snowdon on the Bedgelert side; but I have failed to discover anybody who has ever heard the name used in that neighbourhood (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter IX: Place-name Stories)

  "Rhiw G3rferthwch is guessed to have been one of the slopes of Snowdon on the Bedgelert side; but I have failed to discover anybody who has ever heard the name used in that neighbourhood."

• attestation: The former prevalence of the eagle in the Snowdon district seems to be the explanation of its Welsh name of Eryri — as already suggested, p (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter IX: Place-name Stories)

  "The former prevalence of the eagle in the Snowdon district seems to be the explanation of its Welsh name of Eryri — as already suggested, p. 479 above — and the association of the bird with the Goidelic chieftain who had his stronghold under the shadow of Snowdon seems to follow naturally enough."

• attestation: Now it so happens that ILydaw occurs in Wales itself, to wit in the name of ILyn ILydaw, a Snowdonian lake already mentioned, p. 475 (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter IX: Place-name Stories)

  "Now it so happens that ILydaw occurs in Wales itself, to wit in the name of ILyn ILydaw, a Snowdonian lake already mentioned, p. 475."

• attestation: The tradition that the cave treasures of the Snowdon district belong by right to the Goidels, means that they were formerly supposed to have hidden them away when hard pressed by the Br3rthons: see pp (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter IX: Place-name Stories)

  "The tradition that the cave treasures of the Snowdon district belong by right to the Goidels, means that they were formerly supposed to have hidden them away when hard pressed by the Br3rthons: see pp. 471-2 above."

• attestation: They seem to point to a time when the Goidels had as yet wholly lost neither their own language nor their own institutions in North Wales: for the legends belong chiefly to Gwyned, and cluster especia (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter X: Difficulties of the Folklorist)

  "They seem to point to a time when the Goidels had as yet wholly lost neither their own language nor their own institutions in North Wales: for the legends belong chiefly to Gwyned, and cluster especially around Snowdon, where the characteristics of the Goidel as the earlier Celt may well have lingered latest, thanks to the comparatively inaccessible nature of the country."

• attribution: In an obscure passage, also in a poem in the Black Book, we read of Cai fighting in the hall of this giant, who is then called Awamach ^ Some such a f (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter X: Difficulties of the Folklorist)

  "In an obscure passage, also in a poem in the Black Book, we read of Cai fighting in the hall of this giant, who is then called Awamach ^ Some such a feat appears to have been commemorated in the place-name Gwryd Cai, ' Cai's Feat of Arms,' which occurs in ILewetyn's grant of certain lands on the Bedgelert and Pen Gwryd side of Snowdon in 1198 to the monks of Aberconwy, or rather in an inspeximus of the same: see Dugdale's Monaslicon, v. 673', where it stands printed gwryt, kei."

• relationship: She is a native of the ILanberis side of Snowdon; and she remembers going one morning, when a small child, across to the neighbourhood of Rhyd-du with a servant girl called Cadi, whose parents lived t (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter X: Difficulties of the Folklorist)

  "She is a native of the ILanberis side of Snowdon; and she remembers going one morning, when a small child, across to the neighbourhood of Rhyd-du with a servant girl called Cadi, whose parents lived there."

• attestation: Some of those elements come undoubtedly from the workshop of the imagination, as, for example, the stock notion that their food and drink are brought to the fairies by the mere force of wishing, and w (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter XII: Race in Folklore and Myth)

  "Some of those elements come undoubtedly from the workshop of the imagination, as, for example, the stock notion that their food and drink are brought to the fairies by the mere force of wishing, and without the ministration of servants; or the notion, especially prevalent in Arfon, that the fairies dwell in a country beneath the lakes of Snowdon; not to mention the more general connexion of a certain class of fairies with the world of waters, as indicated in chapter vii."

• attestation: The statement as to Carchar Cynric Rwth comes from William Williams' ObsirvatioHs on thi Snowdon Mountains (London, i8oa) (Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx > Volume II > Chapter XII: Race in Folklore and Myth)

  "The statement as to Carchar Cynric Rwth comes from William Williams' ObsirvatioHs on thi Snowdon Mountains (London, i8oa)."