On the road south out of Cwm, on the edge of the woods that have taken the name of the village, is the curiously little known Ffynnon Cilhaul. Set back from the road a little, and hidden away somewhat within its overhanging canopy of trees, one would need to know of its presence aforehand, or walk the road oft-times to know it was there - local then. Ffynnon Cilhaul serves as a reminder that for all their often holy associations, important as these may be, wells served an essential role in the life of its village - a source of ever fresh water. And in this, Ffynnon Cilhaul was exceptional, known, at least locally, for its especially cold water.
The name of the well serves beautifully to illustrate the location of the well, hidden from the sun, tucked away beneath the jealous trees that lean out above the now bricked up fissure of the rock from which the waters once vented. Cilhaul can be translated as referencing the absence of sunlight - shade, eclipse even. But the well is known by another name, likely much older than its present name - Ffynnon Leucu, or Leiki. Edward Lhuyd gives both names, making plain that by the end of the 17th century, it was known as Leiki and Kilhayl, and that its present name was as a result of its shaded location.
‘Ffynnon Leiki als ff Kilhayl lhe ni thwnnodh hayl erioed.’(1)
E. Lhuyd, Parochialia, Archaeologia Cambrensis Part 1, p. 64
Francis Jones, asserts its name as Leucu, while acknowledging the new name of Cilhaul, and thus designates the well as Class A, associating it with a saint. This obviously begs the question - who was Leucu? As is often the case, the answer is something of a puzzle, lost in the whispering mists of local lore and tale. But, it is thought that Leucu is the Welsh name for Lucia, who was believed to have been one of the virgin martyrs (along with anything from 10 to 11000 fellow virgins, depending on who you ask) accompanying the Romano-British princess, St Ursula on a pilgrimage to Rome (or possibly a betrothal, or possibly both) , and murdered by the Huns at Cologne in the 5th century. Lucia, or Leiki was a saint better known elsewhere in Wales, where she is remembered at Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire as Leiki. Why then she should make an appearance in North East Wales is completely unknown.
It might be that Leucu, or Leiki has been associated as a matter of ease with St Lucia, mentioned as she is in the Hystoria Gweryddon Yr Almaen, as Lucia Vorwyn, a copy of which is contained in an early 16th century manuscript of Sir Hugh Pennant’s, containing amongst other things, the Bucheddau Mihangel ac Wrsula. Given that we have absolutely no information as to her identity, it might be that this association sufficed. It might be that Leucu, or Leiki was not Lucia Vorwyn at all, but rather a local saint, the memory of whom has been lost to us completely in all but the well here that bears her name, and the chapels elsewhere. Certainly, the Roman Catholic Church has washed its hands of the tale of Ursula, and thus by association Lucia Vorwyn, feeling as they do, that there is so little actual truth to the story as to make it practically transparent.
'Where the sun never shines' - Ffynnon Cilhaul, guarded by a jealous canopy of trees.
While recognising that Ffynnon Leucu was its older, more distant name, it is hard not to feel that its more recent designation, Ffynnon Cilhaul, resting as it does on the pragmatic and the real, is more worthy, more grounded in the people that relied on its waters. This, of course, could be a response to our more secular and modern thinking. There is no known tradition of its waters being especially, miraculously healing - which is not to say, of course, that they were never considered so. But it's hard not to see Ffynnon Cilhaul as being remembered chiefly for its practical usefulness to a community, rather than an object of religious veneration. How you view that, rather depends on your viewpoint of the merits of the secular and holy.
Cymdeithas Ffynhonnau Cymru has within its pages a remembrance of one Erlys Jones of Cellifor, Ruthin, who recollects a Mrs Denson, ‘pan oedd yn byw yn y Bwlch’,(2) venturing down the hill to Ffynnon Leucu’ to collect very cold water, in order to wash the butter on churning days.(3) One ventures an educated guess as this being somewhere in the middle of the 20th century. A memory of a well at the centre of its community. Interestingly, Erlys also remembers the well as having wooden doors and the waters seemingly accessible. Today those doors are of iron and the well itself securely locked away, the fissure bricked up. When this happened is not known, but when the Royal Commission visited in 1910, it noted that the well waters were being used by Bodrhyddan Hall on the outskirts of Dyserth. Clearly, however, the waters were still available to those living nearby for some decades subsequent to their visit, so it would seem the iron door and the brick work were of a considerably later date.
If there was water enough for Mrs Denson to wash her butter in the middle of the 20th century, there is nothing now for those visiting today. The well basin before the iron door is damp with rainfall and water sweated from the surrounding rocks - but nothing of the well water remains to be seen. One might suppose then, that Ffynnon Cilhaul would be entirely forgotten. But one would be mistaken. On visiting, it was clear that a rudimentary overhang had been built as a sort of roof to the well - a collection of plastic sheeting and wood. Someone had made something of an effort here. And as I wandered up the hill, I saw others approaching. They stopped me and asked me if I knew where they might find Ffynnon Cilhaul. Not then entirely forgotten. I was overjoyed.(4)
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Footnotes
1) 'Ffynnon Leiki also Ffynnon Kilhayl where the sun never shines.’
2) ‘When she lived in the Bwlch’
3) Very cold water was used to better wash the residual buttermilk from the cake in order to ensure the butter could be better preserved.
4) Overjoyed. Is this not one of the most wonderful of adjectives? To be overjoyed. How utterly wonderful that is.
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Further Reading
S. Baring-Gould & J. Fisher, The Lives of the British Saints Vol. III, London, (1911)
F. Jones, The Holy Wells of Wales, Cardiff, (1954)
E. Lhwyd, Parochialia, Archaeologia Cambrensis Supplement Part 1, ed. R. H. Morris, (1909)
RCAHM, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire: Flint, London, (1912)
Cymdeithas Ffynhonnau Cymru, Marian Cwm ger Dyserth
Llyfr Syr Hugh Pennant, Peniarth MS 182
Well Hopper, Ffynnon Cilhaul, January 2012
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