Ffynnon Frynach, Brynberian

Dedication: Saint Brynach

Location: Brynberian

Coordinates: 51.98678N, -4.78057W

Grid reference: SN091356

Heritage designation: none

Saint Brynach, or, as he is known in Welsh, Brynach Gwyddel (Brynach [the] Irishman), was a 6th century saint whose cult was centred around this area of Pembrokeshire. His name suggests that he came from Ireland, just like the famous King Brychan, whose daughter Brynach is said to have married. Brynach founded several churches in Pembrokeshire, including one at Henry's Moat, on the other side of the Preseli Hills, where his more famous holy well is located; however, the heart of his cult seems to have been the parish of Nevern, where he founded a monastery. Local legend has it that Brynach became something of a hermit, reputedly "dividing his time", according to Nooks and Corners of Pembrokeshire (1895), between Buarth Brynach, near Carnedd Meibion Owen, and Carn Englyn, "the Angel's Peak", located on the mountainside above Newport. Interestingly, Buarth Brynach, or "Brynach's Fold", is the location of Ffynnon Frynach; this establishes a direct link between the saint's medieval cult and this holy well. In fact, it is thought that Ffynnon Frynach was located on the main route across the mountains to Nevern parish church, which indicates that it may have been visited by medieval pilgrims to Brynach's monastery.

In the latter half of the 12th century, Giraldus Cambrensis, a Welsh historian from Pembrokeshire, recorded the details of a very peculiar event that he claimed had occurred at "Sancti Bernaci fons", in or near the Preseli Hills, in his Itinerarium Kambria. It is not certain whether he was referring to Brynach's other holy well at Henry's Moat, on the southern side of the mountains, or to this holy well, and opinion has been divided for centuries. Giraldus' account of the event is as follows:

In eadem provincia, tempore regis Henrici primi, contigit ut vir quidam locuples, a boreali montium de Presseleu latere mansionem habens, tribus noctibus continue in somnis moneretur, quantinus in fonte proximo, qui Sancti Bernaci fons dicebatur, lapidi qui scaturigini fontis supereminebat manum submittens, aureum inde torquem extraheret. Qui die tertio monitis obtemperans, vipereo ibidem morsu letalem in digito laesionem suscepit.

Translation: In the same province, in the time of King Henry I, it happened that a certain wealthy man, having a mansion on the northern side of the Preseli Mountains, was told in his dreams for three nights continuously, that at a nearby spring, which was called the spring of Saint Bernac, he should put his hand down to the stone that lay over the spring's source and extract a golden necklace from it. On the third day, heeding the warnings [and putting his hand to the stone], he received a fatal injury to his finger from the bite of a viper there.

It is more likely that Giraldus was referring to this Ffynnon Frynach than to any of the saint's other wells, particularly as he notes that the man had a mansion on the northern side of the hills, which is where this well is located. Indeed, George Owen, the famous Welsh antiquarian, was of the opinion that this Ffynnon Frynach, not the one at Henry's Moat, is the one mentioned by Giraldus, as can be seen in his notes, which date from in or around the year 1600:

Ffynnon Brynach, the well of Brynach whereof Giraldus maketh mention, standeth in this quarter above Carnedd Meibion Owain in the mountain by the highway's side, a pretty fine well compassed about with a curtilage of stone wall which they call Buarth Brynach, Brynach's Fold, the wall being of five or six foot thick...

Irrespective of whether Giraldus mentioned the spring in the 12th century, Ffynnon Frynach was once rather famous. The spring was reportedly believed to possess healing powers of some description (of these I have unfortunately been unable to find any further details), and I think that it is quite possible that there was once a small chapel or oratory located next to the well in medieval times.

Buarth Brynach itself may have been of equal importance, it seems, to medieval pilgrims. All of the 19th century authors who referenced the Buarth Brynach, including Richard Fenton in his Historical Tour Through Pembrokeshire (1811) and George Nicholson in his Cambrian Traveller's Guide (1840), described the "enclosure" as being "five or six feet thick". Unfortunately, this is evidently taken directly from George Owen's description, and it is clear that none of the authors visited the site themselves, so it is not certain what state this enclosure was in by the 19th century. When the Royal Commission travelled to the well in 1914, they reported that "no traces of a stone wall exist to-day"; the wall had definitely deteriorated greatly since 1600.

Rather strangely, both Canmore and the Archwilio database assert that Ffynnon Frynach has been destroyed; of course, both databases are rarely trustworthy. According to Archwilio, it was found that the "spring had been diverted, with only a wet hollow indicating the site" on a field visit in 1966, and, by 2002, according to Coflein, "it was not visible". Clearly Dyfed Archaeological Trust were either not looking in the right place, or did not conduct a thorough enough search, as happened nearby at Ffynnon Dogfael, Felindre Farchog.

When I visited the site in the April of 2025, the spring was producing a good quantity of water. There was no evidence of stonework around the spring itself, but the large and clearly very old stone wall directly next to it, now covered in grass, could be a remnant of the wall that George Owen described.