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Ring Cairn
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When you're at the stones, you're on the slope of Bernard's Well Mountain. The actual 'Bernard's Well' is on the opposite side of road to the Dyffryn Stones.
It's Saint Bernard to you, and no, he wasn't a dog. A little tale concerning his spring is mentioned in Giraldus Cambrensis' Itinary through Wales (chapter 2):..during the reign of king Henry I., a rich man, who had a residence on the northern side of the Preseleu mountain, was warned for three successive nights, by dreams, that if he put his hand under a stone which hung over the spring of a neighbouring well, called the fountain of St. Bernacus, he would find there a golden torques [sic]. Obeying the admonition on the third day, he received, from a viper, a deadly wound in his finger;
but as it appears that many treasures have been discovered through dreams, it seem to me probable that, with respect to rumours, in the same manner as to dreams, some ought, and some ought not, to be believed. What's this saying - that rich people shouldn't be greedy? If so it was a bit unfair taunting him with the dream in the first place.
Coflein says on the well: "A possibly natural water-filled hollow, protected by a modern masonary hood. Close by are traces of a medieval chapel dedicated to the saint," and then tantalisingly: "a possible inscribed monolith was formerly noted."
An alternative name is 'St Brynach's Well', which does seem a bit more persuasive, given his connections with local spots like Carn Ingli.
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Posted by Rhiannon
6th October 2007ce
Edited 6th October 2007ce
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