Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Crumlyn Lake
The Crumlyn tradition imagines a town swallowed beneath the lake near Briton Ferry. The lake women use its walls as the structure of their own palaces, transforming ruin into another community’s dwelling. Accounts describe castle towers beneath the dark water and bells sounding from them. Another story explains the inhabitants through St Patrick’s punishment of people who insult him, turning some into fishes and some into fairies.
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalThe Crumlyn tradition imagines a town swallowed beneath the lake near Briton Ferry. The lake women use its walls as the structure of their own palaces, transforming ruin into another community’s dwelling.
Further detail
TraditionalAccounts describe castle towers beneath the dark water and bells sounding from them. Another story explains the inhabitants through St Patrick’s punishment of people who insult him, turning some into fishes and some into fairies.
Context & interpretation
The entry concerns the Crumlyn lake legends in British Goblins. The submerged town and transformation story are traditional accounts; they do not establish the archaeology of the lake or identify a verified underwater settlement.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
a large town lies swallowed up thereOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 50
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-P0050
- Original scan leaf
- 51
- Recorded leaf number
- 51
- Current Reader position
- 49
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
fairy bells are at times heard ringing from these towersOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 50
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-P0050
- Original scan leaf
- 51
- Recorded leaf number
- 51
- Current Reader position
- 49
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
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