Sunday 28 April 2013

The Devil's Tree, Eglwys Rhos, near Llandudno



'At the corner of the first turning after passing the village of Llanrhos, on the left hand side, is a withered oak tree, called by the natives of those parts the Devil's Tree, and it was thought to be haunted, and therefore the young and timide were afraid to pass it of a dark night.
Its bad reputation was greatly increased by an occurence that happened there to Cadwaladr Williams, a shoemaker, who lived at Llansantffraid Glan Conway.
This shoemaker sometimes refreshed himself too freely before starting homewards from Llandudno, and he was in the habit of turning into the public house at Llanrhos to gain courage to pass the Devil's Tree.
One Saturday night instead of quietly passing this tree on the other side, he walked fearlesslly up to it, and defied the Evil One to appear if he was there. No sooner had he uttered the defiant wordsthan something fell from the tree, and lit upon his shoulders, and grasped poor Cadwaladr's neck with  a grip of iron. He fought with the incubus savagery to get rid of it, but all his exertions were in vain, and so he was obliged to proceed on jhis journey with this fearful thing clinging to him, which became heavier every step he took. At last, thouroughly exhausted, he came to Towyn, and more dead than alive, he reached a friend's door and knocked, and oh, what pleasure, before the door was opened the weight on his back had gone, but his friend knew who it was that Cadwaladr had carried from the Devil's Tree.'

From Welsh Folklore by Rev.Elias Owen, M.A., F.S.A., 1887


2 comments:

  1. Struggling to locate the actual tree. Any advice?

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  2. afraid not, I just have the information above, if you ever locate please let me know, good luck.

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