A Horseshoe and a Wishing Well

A rare sunny Sunday this winter saw us heading out for what proved to be a stunning walk to 'The Holy Well' also known as Ffynnon Angaeron, situated in a beautiful hidden, wooded valley on the lower slopes of Mynydd Garn Wen. Mynydd Garn Wen is on the South Eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park and at 1,394 feet at the OS trig point on the ridge,  is one of the highest ridges in Monmouthshire.

The walk starts from a way marked sign and stile opposite The Horsehoe Inn at Mamhilad which provides good food and drink before or after your walk. If you use the pub you can park in their car park. Walking boots are recommended.

This is a good walk for dogs, but you will need to keep them under close control on a lead in the fields, where there are sheep and possibly other animals grazing. Once you reach the woods they can run free.

Looking from the stile, ahead and to the right, the walk route you will follow runs in a diagonal line down the bank to the stream, through the gate and  between the trees at the bottom and continues the same line across the fields  to where the conifer trees run down to join the other woodland.

Heading down the bank from The Horseshoe, you will come to a stream and a tree with some large stones in front of it - pass these and go through the gate.  

After going through the gate, continue walking in a diagonal line up the  bank and across the fields through two more way marked gates/ stiles, towards the tree line in the distance.

As you walk you will also have a view of The Folly  in the distance up on the Garn Wen ridge to your far left - but due to the bright sunlight from that direction at the time I was unable to photograph it. As we walked we heard and saw buzzards circling overhead.

Looking back towards The Horseshoe in the distance across the fields

Continuing in a diagonal  line across the field, you will eventually reach a mountain stream, which on the day of our walk, was in full flow due to heavy rainfall and could be heard roaring long before we reached it. Turn left when you reach the stream and follow its course until you come to a fence line across the edge of the wood.

When you reach the edge of the wood turn right and ford the stream to the opposite bank where there will be a way marked stile on your left to take you up a small path into the wood.

In January, wellies, although not as comfortable, or as good for walking in as boots, were an advantage for dealing with the very muddy gateways and water soaked fields and also for fording the fast flowing stream - in summer the water level and speed is far less.

When you cross the stile,  follow the path straight up the hillside through the wood keeping the stream on your left. It is safe to let dogs run free once you are up in the wood, but keep in mind that there are sheep in the surrounding fields so you must keep them under control.

Even in winter the thickly wooded valley has a 'wild', 'magical' almost 'jungle' feel to it with a lot of beautiful mosses, ferns and huge trees. An advantage of visiting after prolonged rainfall is the stream is pretty spectacular as it tumbles down the hillside through the wood.

After a fairly short climb passing some magnificent ancient beech trees and moss covered evidence of ruined dwellings and quarrying, which indicate there may have been a small village here many years ago,  you will eventually reach a stile marked 'Holy Well'.

Jez stops for a rest with Dewi and Molly

Climb the stile and continue  straight ahead, for just a few more yards up the path until you get to the well which will be on your left adjacent to the stream.

The stream was running very fast down the hill past the well

'The Holy Well' - Ffynnon Angaeron looks a bit like an old, dilapidated stone fireplace on the edge of the stream. The opening into the well faces the stream. Alongside is a huge stone which you can sit on.

Ffynnon Angaeron - The Holy Well

There are references to Ffynnon Angaeron dating back to the 14th Century when it was called the Ffynnon Rhufeinig meaning ' Roman Well' and Ffynnon Ofuned  meaning 'Wishing Well'. Frances Jones describes the well as a 'pin well'. In Roman times bent pins and brooches were used as votive offerings and thrown into such wells and a secret wish would be made, often with regard to curing an ailment, bringing good luck, marriage, fertility or to ward off evil spirits. When the well was cleaned out in 1890 many bent pins and a brooch were found in it. Aside from its use as a holy or wishing well, Ffynnon Angaeron would also have provided a valuable source of clean drinking water for local people who would have walked to the well daily to collect fresh water. In 1873 there was a major local dispute over rights of access to the well when the land owner Rev Thomas in a fit of pique that some local children were not attending the school he ran, denied access to the families concerned and filled the well in. 

The water running  from the spring into the well  catchment  chamber is very clear and cold

After visiting the well you have the option of retracing your steps back down the hillside as we did (having a 14 year old dog walking with you restricts how far and how steep you can go unfortunately) or,  if you want a longer walk,  you can continue climbing up the path through the wood, which will eventually bring you up onto the Garn Wen ridge. It is worth the walk to the top simply for the panoramic views it offers. Once at the top you then have the choice of turning left and walking for about a mile towards the Garn Wen trig point and from there along to The Folly and after visiting The Folly, returning down the old Roman Road and on to the lane that emerges near The Star Inn and back to The Horseshoe Inn that way (see my earlier blog post for details of a walk to The Folly and The Roman Road). Turning right when you reach the ridge, would take you across to the hillside above The Goose and Cuckoo Inn which sits above the village of Llanover and from there dropping down through the lanes to return to The Horseshoe Inn from the opposite direction.

So... having given alternatives for longer routes, back to the particular walk we did. Having retraced your steps down through the wood, once you reach the bottom of the path, just before you get to the stile, turn right to cross the stream where the two streams merge into one and proceed ahead up the track into the forested area.

Before heading up the forest path drop down the bank to your left to stream level as I did to look at the waterfall emerging from under the path you have crossed. Stunning!!

Walk a few hundred yards up the forest track through the conifers,  before leaving the track and  heading left through the trees for a short distance until you find the fence line with the field.

Bear right along the fence line with the fields on your left until you reach a waymarked stile.

Climb the stile and turn right across the top of the field until you reach another stile. Then retrace your steps to 'The Horseshoe' down across the fields - the views as you emerge from the woods at this point across the Monmouthshire countryside are really wonderful!

I am sensing that doing this beautiful walk with good luck charms in the form of a 'Horseshoe' and a 'Wishing Well' at either end of it is sure to bring me good luck and being only a short distance from where I live, I'll be heading back here again very soon!

How to find The Holy Well

Ffynnon Angaeron - Map Ref: SO298051

The Horseshoe Inn at the start of the walk - directions

Reference Sources

Mysterious Wales - Chris Barber 1982

Exploring Gwent - Chris Barber 1984

The Holy Wells of Wales - Francis Jones - 1954

Sacred Wells: A Study in the History, Meaning, and Mythology of Holy Wells  Gary R. Varner 2009

Wellsprings Fellowship - Welsh Wells Society

Weatherman Walking - BBC Wales

Megalithic Portal

The Mari Lwyd

This weekend I went along to the truly fantastic Wassail Mari Lwyd event in Chepstow which provides an excellent showcase for one of Wales' oldest folk customs, 'The Mari Lwyd'.

The Mari Lwyd or Y Fari Lwyd - meaning 'Grey Mare' or 'Grey Mary' is a midwinter / New Year tradition in Wales, linked to the house to house wassailing  'good health /luck bringing' custom.

The Mari Lwyd is essentially a large puppet head, made from a mare's skull mounted on a pole, over which a white sheet is draped. Cloth ears may be sewn on to the sheet and ribbons and bells are attached as decoration to the protuding skull. Coloured glass or other shiny material is fitted into the eye sockets. The jaw is usually wired so that it can be operated to make it 'snap' at people. The skull on the pole is carried and 'operated' by a man hidden under the sheet.

The Mari Lwyd is then 'lead' by its reins or a chain in a procession from house to house. Parties accompanying the Mari Lywd, often dressed in costume or disguise with masks or blackened faces, chanting, singing or shouting insults or exchanges at each door visited, in the hope of being invited in and given food and drink. Entry is not guaranteed as the occupants of the house throw songs or insults back in a 'contest' or 'pwnc'. The insult/song contest sometimes goes on for a very long time until the Mari gets invited in. On entering the house the Mari often proceeds to wildly chase any girls present snapping at them with its jaws until a gift of food and drink (and/or money) is offered.

The old Post Office at Llanover has an unusal painting
  over the door of the  Mari Lwyd commissioned
by Lady Llanover in 1860

Fred Hando's 1951 drawing of  the painting on
 Llanover Post Office, depicting a visit by the Mari Llwyd

Celtic Goddess Rhiannon

The tradition of the Mari Lwyd is pre-Christian. It has been linked with the horse goddess Epona (her name meaning'Great Mare'), who features in Gaulish,Celtic and Roman inscriptions and also with the Celtic goddess Rhiannon, who has a strong association with horses. An interesting aside to this, is that the famous Fleetwood Mac song 'Rhiannon' is based on the Mabinogion legend of Rhiannon who, in the story of her pursuit by Prince Pwyll before she marries him, is featured riding a pure white horse with magical qualities. Another story is that the Mari Lwyd represents the horse turned out of the stable in Bethlehem to allow the Virgin Mary a place to give birth to Jesus. The horse has since roamed the countryside looking for alternative shelter. This story is perhaps reflected in the alternative translation of the Mari Lwyd as 'Grey Mary', rather than 'Grey Mare'. Abergavenny writer, Chris Barber, refers to this story and feels that what started as a pagan custom, may have been taken over by the early Christian church to form a 'cult' linked to the Virgin Mary which died out during the Reformation.

In folklore the horse features as a symbol of strength and fertilty. White or grey horses, real and mythylogical (such as pegasus and unicorns), and other animals such as white hart (deer) or white hares, were seen as having 'special', 'sacred' powers and the ability to cross to, or communicate with the 'underworld'.  Such animals have been revered in folk stories, songs and art for thousands of years.The most striking examples of white horse symbolism, can be seen as giant figures carved  into chalk hillsides around the UK. The oldest of these 'chalk horses' is the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire, which is 3,000 years old. However, most of the other chalk horses that are still visible have been created in the last 300 years. The use of an animated, dead horse's skull in the Mari Lwyd ritual, is symbolic with death and rebirth - and its use in a mid-winter wassailing custom, synonymous with the 're-awakening' of the countryside's fertility after winter.

Customs involving  horse skulls, horse worship or horse sacrifices have featured in many cultures around the world. In the UK our aversion to eating horse meat may well be linked to old customs like the Mari Lwyd which feature the horse as a 'special, 'sacred' animal. Other areas of the UK have traditions at different times of the year using symbolic horses heads which include 'The Hooden Horse of Kent', 'The Padstow Obby Oss','The Poor Owd Oss of Nottinghamshire' and 'Soul Caking' in North Wales and Cheshire.

A Mari Lwyd group at Llangynwyd, Maesteg in 1919

The Mari Lwyd was most common in the South Eastern parts of Wales, in Gwent and Glamorgan. A letter printed in the "Monmouthshire Merlin" newspaper, gives the following account in a letter printed on Saturday, December 29th, 1838:

"With regard to the pastime of the horse's head mentioned in your last paper, I am happy to say it continues to delight young and old every winter, in the parts of Gwent about Pontypool, Govilon, Abergavenny and the mountainous district generally. The parties going about with the horse's head are denominated Merry Lhwyd, who sing Welsh songs and dance, the great amusement consisting in the spectre horse's antics, he being well skilled in frightening the maidens, who, peeping through the half opened door are put to flight by his gambols these most interesting relics of past ages, are so little prized that they are scarcely known to exist by the higher classes of Wales."

The custom lost favour somewhat, due to the growth of the Welsh Methodist Churches and Temperance movement during the Industrial Revolution, when customs associated with revelry and drunkeness were frowned upon. Christmas Carolling became far more common and Mari Lwyd practices faded away to all but a few villages during the early part of the 20th century.Writing in 1951, Fred Hando in 'Journeys in Gwent', discusses the Mari Lwyd in Caerleon with some old residents of the village, who refer fondly to the tradition that had not taken place for 20 years.

Watch a BBC video of The Mari Lwyd in Llangynwyd 1966

Another short BBC Wales video about the history of the Mari Lwyd custom can be viewed here

In more recent times a re-surgent interest in folk traditions has seen the revival of the Mari Lwyd in some parts of Wales. An initiative by Trac - Folk Development Wales has provided funding to educate children and communities about the Mari Lywd to preserve the tradition. Watch a video about this initiative (worth watching to see some really great moves by the 'mare' in this). Examples of Mari Lwyd groups operating in South East Wales include Cowbridge, Llantrisant (near Maesteg), Llanvihangel Tor Y Mynydd and also at St Fagans (National Museum of Wales). Chepstow's Wassail Mari Lwyd event has for the last few years, combined several midwinter customs such as Wassailing, Mumming and The Mari Lwyd, into a January festival day featuring these old traditions albeit in a rather less 'traditional' but high profile way, this is helping to preserve the tradition of the Mari Lwyd.

Watch a video of the Chepstow Wassail and Mari Lwyd 2013 (my photos from the 2014 event below).

Video by Stewart Charters 

The Chepstow Wassail Mari Lwyd January 2014 

An incredible eight Mari Lwyd's in one place!

The Chepstow Mari 

Cardiff Mari beautifully decorated

Swansea Mari - a smaller Mari made from
a  Gower Pony skull

Mari from Carmarthen  getting a cheeky
drink off  Louise  from Chepstow - this Mari is
 from the Trac project - see above

Gloucestershire version

This  big, handsome Mari had travelled all the way from
Lands End in Cornwall - it proved to be a very talented
mover and dancer

Mari from Pembrokeshire

Another Monmouthshire Mari  from Llanfihangel Tor y Mynydd

The 'Poor Owd Oss' from Nottinghamshire

The Gloucestershire 'Broad' or Bull traditionally accompanies the Gloucestershire Waysailers (the local word for wassailing)!

Wassailing the apple tree in the garden at the Chepstow Castle Inn

The Wassail Master directs proceedings

Putting the wassail toast in the tree

'The Gloucestershire Waysailers' (the local word for wassailers) with their 'Broad'  

The 'Green Man' played by Rob Hickman gets a tune from a 'Pig Horn'

Some of the 'Widders' dancers with the Green Man

Some very colourful and energetic dancing in the streets of Chepstow - The Widders Border Morris

The Mari's gather near the Wye Bridge - some of them dance to entertain the crowd

A new annual Mid-Winter 'custom' linked to the Wassail Mari Lwyd festival has begun in Chepstow. A large crowd gather to follow the Mari's across the River Wye for a meeting between the Welsh and English, at the centre of the old Wye Bridge,  - the two sides challenge each other - there is much 'roaring' and noise, it could be war but thankfully peace reigns - the toast of  'WASSAIL!' is shouted on both sides and everyone shakes hands, kisses and makes friends!!

Dancing on the centre of the Wye Bridge

Then it's back across the bridge to Chepstow with our new friends from England!

The Mari's group for the 'Pwnc' at the entrance to Chepstow Museum - songs are sung, verses are chanted on both sides of the door and eventually the Mari's are granted entry - plenty of mulled cider awaits them!

Mari Lywd Verses (dated 1893 by Fred Hando)

Music making in The Chepstow Castle Inn

From inside the house

What, ho! Morganwg's happy land
Is full of corn and barley
What, ho! is your request - demand?
Answer! We grant short parley

From the Mari Lwyd party outside

Honest men are we, who sue
Favours many, money due
To the Mari Llwyd from you!

From inside the house to end the contest

Come in, come in, and sit at ease
Ye merry sons of Cymru
Here's sweet metheglin, here's cream cheese
With milk, cream cakes and flummery!


Reference Sources


The Customs and Traditions of Wales - Trefor M. Owen 1991

Journeys in Gwent - Fred J. Hando 1951

Llanover Country - Chris Barber 2004

The Mabinogion - Lady Charlotte Guest 1877

Folk Wales

The Widders Border Morris

The National Museum of Wales

The National Library of Wales - Welsh Journals online

The Mari Lwyd on Flickr

The Mares Tale - Art

Mark Tyler with his banjo on the Wye Bridge

'The Widders' have fantastic costumes

Kelly and Laura  from 'The Widders' enjoy a chat

Mick 'Widder' (Lewis) -  founder of The Widders Border Morris group
and main organiser of the  wonderful Chepstow Wassail Mari Lwyd event 
Well done Mick!

WASSAIL!!!!!!!!!