Curses and Blessings at the Holy Wells of Anglesey | Bendith a Melltith wrth Ffynhonnau Sanctaidd Môn
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The veneration of saints and their holy wells has a long tradition across Wales. The wells around Holyhead are no different. Their former use and importance reflects centuries old traditions and changes in attitudes towards life and folk beliefs.
Lying just to the west below Holyhead Mountain are the ruins of Capel Lochwydd, labelled ‘Capel Yloughwid’ on John Speed’s map of Anglesey from 1610. Having been ruined now for well over a century, not much more than the wall foundations can still be seen here. Dedicated to an unknown saint, its well used to flow from a cleft in the rocks nearby, but has since dried up. According to local legend, the well was popular with visitors who wanted to divine their future spouse. Taking a mouthful of water from the well and with gravel in each hand, the devotee would walk back to the church and deposit all on the altar stone of the little church without spilling anything. If successful, they were to marry their intended within a year.
According to folk belief, wells that overflowed to the south carried cursing powers. At nearby village Penrhos, locals visited a well that was supposed to have restorative as well as cursing powers. It was said that the water was able to cure cancer if the patient bathed in the water. Alternatively, by uttering curses and dropping pins around the well, visitors could afflict their enemies with cancer. By the mid-nineteenth century, the well was in such great demand that repeated damage to the surrounding property caused the farmer on whose land it was situated to destroy the well by draining it.
Further east near Llaneilian, Anglesey, Ffynnon Elian also served as a cursing well. The person seeking revenge would deposit silver pennies in the nail-studded alms chest (cyff Elian) located in the nearby church. Excavations of the well in 1925 discovered a small slate to which a wax effigy had been pinned. As was common with small cursing tablets, various letters had been scratched into the surface of the slate, wishing misfortune on ‘RF’.
In Wales, the practise of visiting wells for their restorative, healing powers had been in place for centuries. Using wells to cast curses only developed in the second half of the eighteenth century and only lasted for about one hundred years.
Mae yna draddodiad hir ledled Cymru o barchu’r saint a'u ffynhonnau sanctaidd. Ac mae hyn yn cynnwys y ffynhonnau o amgylch Caergybi. Mae eu hen ddefnydd a'u pwysigrwydd yn adlewyrchu arfer y canrifoedd a newidiadau mewn agweddau tuag at fywyd ac yng nghredoau’r werin.
Ychydig i’r gorllewin islaw Mynydd Twr mae adfeilion Capel Lochwydd, sydd wedi'i labelu fel 'Capel Yloughwid' ar fap John Speed o Ynys Môn ym 1610. Gan ei fod yn adfail ers ymhell dros ganrif, does dim modd gweld llawer mwy na sylfeini'r waliau erbyn hyn. Roedd y ffynnon, sydd wedi'i chysegru i sant anhysbys, yn arfer llifo o hollt yn y creigiau gerllaw, ond mae wedi sychu bellach. Yn ôl y chwedl leol, roedd y ffynnon yn boblogaidd ymysg ymwelwyr a oedd am ganfod pwy fyddai eu gŵr neu eu gwraig yn y dyfodol. Wedi cymryd llond ceg o ddŵr o'r ffynnon a chodi graean ym mhob llaw, byddai'r credinwyr yn cerdded yn ôl i'r eglwys ac yn gosod y cyfan ar allor garreg yr eglwys fach heb ollwng dim. Pe baen nhw’n llwyddiannus, fe fydden nhw’n priodi eu darpar briod o fewn blwyddyn.
Yn ôl coel gwlad, roedd gan ffynhonnau a oedd yn gorlifo tua’r de y pŵer i felltithio. Ym mhentref cyfagos Penrhos, ymwelai’r bobl leol â ffynnon a oedd i fod â phwerau i iacháu yn ogystal â melltithio. Dywedid bod y dŵr yn gallu iacháu canser pe bai'r claf yn ymdrochi ynddo. Fel arall, drwy lefaru melltithion a gollwng pinnau o amgylch y ffynnon, gallai ymwelwyr wneud i’w gelynion ddioddef canser. Erbyn canol y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, roedd cymaint o alw am y ffynnon nes bod y difrod mynych i'r eiddo cyfagos wedi achosi i'r ffermwr oedd biau’r tir lle roedd y ffynnon fynd ati i ddinistrio'r ffynnon drwy ei draenio.
Ymhellach i'r dwyrain ger Llaneilian, roedd Ffynnon Eilian hefyd yn iacháu. Byddai'r sawl a oedd yn ceisio talu’r pwyth yn gosod ceiniogau arian mewn cist elusennol arbennig (cyff Eilian) yn yr eglwys gyfagos. Wrth gloddio'r ffynnon ym 1925, daethpwyd o hyd i lechen fach a delw gwyr fach wedi’i phinio iddi. Fel roedd yn gyffredin gyda thabledi melltithio bach, roedd llythrennau wedi'u crafu ar wyneb y llechen, gan ddymuno anffawd i 'RF'.
Yng Nghymru, roedd pobl wedi bod yn ymweld â ffynhonnau yn sgil eu pwerau i iacháu ers canrifoedd. Dim ond yn ail hanner y ddeunawfed ganrif y dechreuwyd defnyddio ffynhonnau i fwrw melltith, a dim ond am ryw hanner can mlynedd y parhaodd yr arfer.