, Nant Gwrtheyrn, Gwynedd, Wales

Map of The Tale of Nant Gwrtheyrn location

Just like the story of St Dwynwen, the tale of Nant Gwrtheyrn is one of Wales’s most famous and loved stories. Yet it has tainted the village of Nant Gwrtheyrn in Gwynedd, north Wales, and moreover one of the oak trees which grows there. | In the cousins lived two cousins, Rhys and Meinir. They played together as children and when they grew up, they fell in love and became engaged. Everyone was pleased by the news of the wedding and Ifan y Cilie was sent around Nantgwrtheyrn and the neighbouring villages to tell of the wedding details. On the eve of the wedding, Rhys carved a heart into an oak tree which he and Meinir often sat under, with ‘Rhys + Meinir’ scratched into the centre of the heart. Although Meinir warned him it was bad luck before they were married, Rhys said there could be no bad luck between the two of them. The next morning when Rhys’s friends went to Meinir’s home to collect her to take her to the church, Meinir ran away from them, as was the tradition. The friends began searching for her and when they realised she hadn’t already gone to the church, the entire village joined in the search, worrying that something had happened to Meinir. When everyone else eventually gave up, Rhys continued the search, gradually growing mad over the years without Meinir. One night he visited the oak tree ........

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