KINGMAKER
KINGMAKER
SACRED and Ancient Celtic SITES
Built in a cleft between the limestone cliffs, this remarkable chapel
measures only 18 feet by 12 feet. It is said to be impossible to count the
flight of steps leading down to the chapel for one never gets the same total
twice. A niche on the left side of the altar is a hiding place. It must have
been a tight fit, for a man who once hid there left his rib marks on a stone.
The stone has the power to make wishes come true. A bell is supposed to be hidden in a rock nearby. It was stolen from the
chapel by pirates. Sea nymphs rescued it and put it inside the rock for safety.
When the rock is struck the bell is supposed to ring. Gosse wrote: 'I found that
this ringing power was possessed by a good many of the boulders in the
wilderness of stones over which I had to clamber my way down.' The well just below the chapel once had the reputation of having miraculous
healing powers, particularly for eye complaints. It could also heal cripples: in
1812 Richard Fenton recorded in his Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire that
he saw crutches left behind by people who had been healed.
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Robin Hood
- Fact or fiction?Sherwood forest was the greenwood home of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood.
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Robin would have been active in the late 1190's during Richard the Lionheart's reign. Evidence suggests that tales about him were popular by 1261. Early accounts of Robin's exploits appeared in print in ballads and poems, such as The Geste of Robyn Hood from the late 1400's, by then an established and popular part of English folklore.
Documentary evidence of Robin Hood, or variations on the name, have been found in early medieval court proceedings and Royal documents . The names Robert Hod and the surname Robinhood have both been found.
The Decline of Sherwood
Whilst Sherwood's fame still lives on, the real Sherwood Forest is a shadow
of it's former self. A scatter of woodland and heathland and fragments still
survive; the last refuge of ancient, gnarled and decaying oaks.
Once a prized hunting ground for the kings and queens of England, the great `Shire Wood' covered much of the county of Nottinghamshire, stretching 20 miles from Nottingham north to Worksop and up to 8 miles wide.
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Swallow Falls (Rhaeadr Wennol)
Situated about 2 ½ miles from
From here a winding path takes you down to a viewpoint at the bottom of the
falls which are magnificent, particularly following heavy rain or flood. Here
the river Llugwy is broken up into 3 large falls, each subdivided again and
again by rocks and crags.
Tradition has it that the soul of Sir John Wynne of Gwydir was doomed to remain
trapped in the depths of the deep pool at the bottom of the falls, where it
would be purified forever.
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