Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Coblynau
Coblynau inhabit mines, quarries and underground places. Their distinctive knocking or rapping points miners towards ore, making the spirits helpers within the hidden landscape of working shafts. They wear miniature versions of miners’ clothing and carry little picks, hammers and lamps. Although they imitate mining with great activity, Sikes says they accomplish no actual work; disrespect can provoke harmless stone-throwing.
Also known as Coblyn · Mine fairies · Knockers
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalCoblynau inhabit mines, quarries and underground places. Their distinctive knocking or rapping points miners towards ore, making the spirits helpers within the hidden landscape of working shafts.
Further detail
TraditionalThey wear miniature versions of miners’ clothing and carry little picks, hammers and lamps. Although they imitate mining with great activity, Sikes says they accomplish no actual work; disrespect can provoke harmless stone-throwing.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows Sikes’s Welsh mine-fairy description. His comparisons with continental mine spirits are distinct from the Welsh account; the knocking is presented as folklore rather than a method for locating real deposits.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
point out, by a peculiar knocking or rapping, rich veins of oreOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 39
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0039
- Original scan leaf
- 40
- Recorded leaf number
- 40
- Current Reader position
- 38
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
they carry tiny hammers, picks and lampsOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 39
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0039
- Original scan leaf
- 40
- Recorded leaf number
- 40
- Current Reader position
- 38
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
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