Ffynnon Dderfel, Llandderfel

A large mossy boulder with water issuing from beneath it

Dedication: Saint Derfel Gadarn

Location: Llandderfel

Coordinates: 52.92316N, -3.5212W

Grid reference: SH978372

Heritage designation: none

The 6th century St Derfel, like several of his contemporaries, is reputed to have been associated with the famous King Arthur. According to tradition, Derfel was originally one of Arthur's warriors (hence the addition of "Gadarn", a mutation of "cadarn", meaning "strong" or "mighty", to his name), and he is said to have been an excellent fighter. Notably, Derfel was supposedly one of the few survivors of the Battle of Camlan, at which King Arthur was apparently either killed or fatally wounded; whilst his companions, such as St Pedrog and St Cedwyn, are said to have been preserved through luck alone, Derfel reportedly survived because of his admirable strength. In fact, although Derfel's links to King Arthur may initially appear to be completely legendary, there is a high chance that the saint was actually one of Arthur's associates, if not one of his best warriors. Interestingly, Derfel is believed to have been one of the many sons of King Hywel of Brittany, who himself is rumoured to have been a Knight of the Round Table. It is surely no coincidence, then, that one of Hywel's other sons (and thus Derfel's brother), St Arthfael, is a very strong candidate for the identity of the historical King Arthur.

It is said that Camlan was Derfel's final battle, and he is alleged to have entered the religious life shortly afterwards. Although some sources claim that he led something of a hermitic lifestyle, the fact that his name is scattered across Wales, with churches bearing his dedication in Penrhys, on Mynydd Maen in Llantarnam, and in Llandderfel itself, suggest that he may have been more of a missionary than a hermit. In fact, towards the end of his life, Derfel succeeded his cousin St Cadfan as Abbot of Bardsey Island; of course, the fact that he was chosen for this role was almost certainly influenced, at least in part, by his family connections. Nonetheless, Derfel's cult was very obviously centred around his shrine at Llandderfel, which became one of the most popular medieval pilgrimage destinations in Wales, although its fame does not appear to have spread to England, and the vast majority - if not all - of the pilgrims visiting Llandderfel seem to have been Welsh. Intriguingly, the most important part of Derfel's cult was not his relics, but his image, which took the form of a very large, brightly painted wooden carving of St Derfel, standing next to either a stag or a horse; like the infamous Rood of Boxley, in Kent, the eyes of both the saint and the stag were able to move.

The image of St Derfel appears to have been the only of its kind in Wales, and, as such, attracted a lot of attention during the Reformation. It was in 1538 that Thomas Cromwell was first informed of its existence by Ellis Price, his commissioner for North Wales, who visited Llandderfel on the 6th of April (the day after Derfel's feast day), and wrote to Cromwell for further advice:

Righte Honorable and my syngular goode Lorde and Mayster, all circumstaunces and thankes sett aside, pleasithe yt your good Lordeship to be advertisid, that where I was constitute and made, by your honorable desire and commaundmente, Commissarie generall of the dyosese of Saynte Assaph, I haue done my dylygens and dutie for the expulsinge and takynge away of certen abusions, supersticions, and ipocryses, used within the said diosece of Saynte Assaph, accordinge to the Kynges honorable actes and injunctions therin made.

That notwithstondinge there ys an image of Darvelgadarn within the saide diosece, in whome the people have so greate confidence, hope, and truste, that they cumme dayly a pilgrimage unto hym, somme with kyne, other with oxen or horsis, and the reste withe money: in so muche that there was fyve or syxe hundrethe pilgrames, to a mans estimacion, that offered to the saide Image the fifte daie of this presente monethe of Aprill. The innocente people hathe ben sore alured and entisid to worshipe the saide Image, in so muche that there is a commyn sayinge as yet amongist them, that who so ever will offer anie thinge to the saide Image of Darvellgadarn, he hathe power to fatche hym or them that so offers oute of Hell when they be dampned. Therfore, for the reformacion and amendmente of the premisses, I wolde gladlie knowe by this berer your honorable pleasure and will: as knowithe God, who ever preserve youre Lordeshipe longe in welthe and honor. Writen in Northe Wales the vj. daye of this presente Aprill.

Your bedman and dayelie orator by dutie,

Elis Price.

Price evidently received clear orders from Cromwell, because it was only a few weeks later that he took down the image, and sent it off to London; he described his actions in a letter that he sent to Cromwell on the 28th of April:

To the righte honorable and his syngular good Lord and Mayster, Lorde Crumwell, and Chencelor of the Ecclesiastical power and jurisdiccon of Englande, this be delyuered.

Ryghte honorable and my syngular good Lorde and Mayster, pleasythe yt your good Lordshype that I haue repaired to the place where as the Image of Darvell gadarn stode, and haue takin the same downe accordynge to the Kynges moste honorable commaundmente and youres, whiche shalbe caried to your Lordeshype wythe all dylygens and expedycōn. The preson and the parysheners of the churche wherein the saide Ymage of Deruell stode, profered me fortie powndes [worth roughly £22,000 in today's money] that the said Ymage shulde not be convaide to London: and because that I was nothynge inclynable to theyre profers and peticōns, the saide person hymself, whythe others, are comyn to youre Lordeshype not onlie to make sute and labor in the premisses, but allso to make fayned surmyse and complaynts on me. Therefore I purpose, God wyllynge, to come and gyve attendance upon youre Lordshype wythin this fortnyghte, that I maye answere to such thyngs that they shall laye to my charge. And thus Jh'u preserve your Lordshype in welthe and honor. Wrytyn in Northe Wales, the xxviij^tie daye of Aprill.

Youre dayelye orator by duty,

Elis Price.

This was not quite the end for the image of St Derfel, however, as the image was kept, and then burned on the 22nd of May. At roughly the same time that St Derfel's image was sent to London, Friar Forest, the confessor of Catherine of Aragon, was convicted of both High Treason and heresy for refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy; for these crimes, he was condemned to execution. A well-known Welsh prophecy associated with the image of St Derfel was that it would go on to "burn a forest", and Thomas Cromwell must have been aware of this, because it is surely no coincidence that he selected this image to serve as firewood at the burning of Friar Forest at Smithfield, in London. Forest's execution was described by Edward Hall in Hall's Chronicle in 1548, only a decade after it had taken place:

In Maye there was a Freer, called freer Forest, one of the obseruaunt Freers, but he might haue bene more trulier named as after shall appere, an obstinate Freer, this obstinat Freer had secretly in confessions declared to many of the kynges subiectes that the kyng was not supreme head... wherfore iustly he was cōdēpned, & after for him was prepared in Smithfelde in Londō a Gallowes on y^e which he was hāged in chaines by the middle & armholes al quicke, & vnder y^e galowes was made a fire, & he so cōsumed & brēt to death. At his commyng to the place of execution, there was prepared a great skaffolde, on which sat the nobles of the Realme, and the kynges Maiesties moost honorable counsayle, only to haue graunted pardon to that wretched creature, if any spark of repentaunce woulde haue happened in him: ther was also prepared a Pulpit where a right reuerend father in God and a renoumed and famous Clerk the bishop of Worceter called Hugh Latimer, declared to him his errours and opēly and manifestly by the scripture of God confuted them, and with many and godly exhortacions moued him to repētaūce, but such was his frowardnes that he neither would here nor speke: And a litle before the Execuciō, a houge & great Image was brought to the Galowes, which Image was brought out of Wales, and of the Welshmen much sought and worshiped: This Image was called Daruell Gatheren, and the Welshmen had a prophesy that his Image should set a whole Forest a fyre, which prophesie now toke effect, for he set this freer Forest on fyre and consumed him to nothyng. This Freer when he sawe the fyre come, and that present death was at hand, caught hold vpon the ladder, which he would not let go, but so vnpaciently toke his death, that no man that euer put his truste in God neuer so vnquietly nor so vngodly ended his life: if men might iudge hym by his outward man, he appered to haue litle knowlege of God and his sincere truth, and lesse trust in him at his endyng.

Hall also recorded a verse that was reportedly "set vp in great letters" upon the gallows:

Dauid Daruell Gatheren.
As saith the Welshmen
Fetched Outlawes out of Hell.

Now is he come, with spere & shilde
In harnes to burne in Smithfelde
For in wales he may not dwell

And Forest the Freer
That obstinate lyer
That willfully shalbe dead.

In his contumacie
The Gospell doth deny
The kyng to be supreme head.

The destruction of the famous image undoubtedly had a drastic effect on Llandderfel, particularly on its economic status. Part of the image did survive, however, and can still be seen today: Ellis Price only took the figure of St Derfel, but left the wooden animal behind. Although the paint was stripped from it, and it was sufficiently mutilated in the 18th century to render identification of its species impossible, it remained, and continues to remain, inside Llandderfel's church.

Ffynnon Dderfel itself, unlike the image of St Derfel, certainly did not become so famous. It would, nonetheless, definitely have been visited by pilgrims to Llandderfel church. Despite the fact that the well is undoubtedly the same age as the wooden image, if not much older, the earliest reference that I have found to its existence dates from the year 1700, when the site was briefly mentioned in Edward Lhuyd's Parochialia as "Fynnon Dhervel ar Garth y Lhan yn agos i'r Lhan", meaning "St Derfel's Well on Garth y Llan close to the church". As Lhuyd did not mention any traditions associated with the well, it can be presumed that they had already been forgotten.

Although any medieval customs had probably vanished by 1700, there is strong evidence that the well may have been used for bathing by medieval pilgrims: a piece published by R. Jennings in Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1861, entitled Llandderfel, Merionethshire: Parochialia, documented the tradition that "a kind of old chapel or priory" once stood "about fifty yards north-west by west of the church" on a piece of land called "Tycerrig", meaning "Stone House". According to Jennings, this was "converted into a barn and a farmhouse" after the Reformation, and later demolished; it was during the building's demolition that "a large reservoir" was discovered "in the parlour" of the farmhouse. A number of "earthen pipes" were later uncovered when the adjoining field was ploughed that had very obviously once conveyed water from Ffynnon Dderfel to this "reservoir". Whilst it is possible that this reservoir was nothing more than a domestic or practical water supply, the fact that the building was traditionally said to have been a sort of chapel suggests otherwise. Indeed, not only would this reservoir have been easily accessible to ill or sick pilgrims (who would definitely have struggled to reach the spring itself, which is located on a very steep hillside), it would be impossible to construct a bath, suitable for the number of pilgrims Llandderfel attracted, directly at the spring, simply because of its situation. It is interesting to note that Jennings claimed that this "priory" was kept under the ownership of "Dominican friars", which is very unlikely, given its location; nonetheless, however, it is probable that this reservoir or bath was staffed by priests of some description, just like Crochan Caffo on Anglesey, where medieval pilgrims were attended to by priests. Perhaps Tycerrig was not in fact a "priory", but instead a medieval well-chapel.

The Royal Commission, who inspected Ffynnon Dderfel on the 20th of June, 1913, were evidently not aware of the likelihood that medieval bathing facilities once existed at Llandderfel. When they visited the spring, all that remained to be seen was "a stone slab about 2 feet long" which, in conjunction with "some rude masonry", formed a "small reservoir, about 4 feet wide". They must have been alerted to some tradition of bathing in the well's water, however, as they stressed that no "adult bathing could have taken place" at the well itself, and used this as a basis to suggest that this is not "Derfel's original well". Of course, any bathing would undoubtedly have taken place at the bottom of the hill at Tycerrig.

When I visited Ffynnon Dderfel in the October of 2024, none of the stonework that the Royal Commission described was still in existence. Regardless, the spring was still trickling, albeit very weakly, from beneath a boulder, the position of which had clearly been disturbed slightly by the recent fall of a nearby tree. I travelled to Llandderfel again in April 2025, on the day after St Derfel's feast day (exactly 487 years after Ellis Price informed Cromwell of the image's existence), to see the remains of St Derfel's image. As such, the photographs of Ffynnon Dderfel are from October 2024, whilst those of the wooden image are from April 2025.