Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Forest of the Magic Yew
Sikes records a tradition of Ffridd yr Ywen in Mathavarn, within Llanwrin parish. A magical yew is said to stand exactly at the forest’s middle, giving the wood a named supernatural centre. Below that tree lies a fairy circle called the Dancing Place of the Goblin. Several circles exist in the forest, but the central one is distinguished by the tale of the farm-servants Twm and Iago.
Also known as Ffridd yr Ywen
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalSikes records a tradition of Ffridd yr Ywen in Mathavarn, within Llanwrin parish. A magical yew is said to stand exactly at the forest’s middle, giving the wood a named supernatural centre.
Further detail
TraditionalBelow that tree lies a fairy circle called the Dancing Place of the Goblin. Several circles exist in the forest, but the central one is distinguished by the tale of the farm-servants Twm and Iago.
Context & interpretation
The entry follows Sikes’s introduction to the magical-yew tradition. It identifies the story’s named wood without claiming to locate a surviving magical tree, and it does not equate every fairy circle in the forest.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
grows exactly in the middle of the forestOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 88
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-P0088
- Original scan leaf
- 89
- Recorded leaf number
- 89
- Current Reader position
- 87
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
The Dancing Place of the GoblinOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 88
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-P0088
- Original scan leaf
- 89
- Recorded leaf number
- 89
- Current Reader position
- 87
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
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A fairy stronghold and, in another legend, the hidden resting place of Arthur’s warriors.
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A lake whose submerged town becomes the foundation of fairy palaces.
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Circles in the grass remembered as dance grounds with a perilous boundary.