Just before the outbreak of foot and mouth disease closed down rural Britain in 2001 I took these photographs on the shores of Llyn y Fan Fawr. Perched precariously on  edge of South Wales’ Black Mountain the lake lies half in and half out of the shade of the steep ridge, Fan Brycheinog. With its quiet blue surface indistinguishable from the sky that it reflects, the lake is suspended between the twenty-first century and a magical other world in an ethereal silence at the edge of the void. In happier times it is a popular destination for walkers and sheep alike.

 Beautiful though mysterious Llyn y Fan Fawr is, it is her smaller sister Llyn y Fan Fach, to the north-west and now dammed, that plays the more prominent role in Welsh folk lore. Here in the twelfth century a mysterious lady appeared on the surface and captured the heart of a local farmer.

 Following much complicated wooing she eventually consented to become his bride “until he should strike her three causeless blows.” As a dowry her father granted her as many sheep cattle, goats and horses as she could count in one breath. Naturally, she being a fairy princess and her beloved being a farmer, she counted in fives.

The couple set up home in Esgair Llaethdy, a farm on the outskirts of nearby Myddfai, had three sons and looked set to live happily ever after. Unfortunately the farmer did strike her “three causeless blows” and thus broke their marriage contract. The lady returned, with all her animals, to the lake and the distraught farmer was left to grieve for his departed love in a countryside deserted of livestock.*

 The legend develops in a positive vein. As Rhiwallon, the couple’s eldest son, wandered the hills his missing mother appeared to him at Llidiad y Meddygon, the Physicians Gate. Telling him that his destiny was to become a healer who could relieve the pain and misery of mankind, she taught her sons secrets that would make their family the most skilful physicians in the country for generations.

 The Physicians of Myddfai, who traced their ancestry back to Rhiwallon, practised in the area until 1743. A manuscript recording their knowledge of healing and remedies is currently held in the British Museum while a display commemorating their work can be viewed at the National Botanic Garden of Wales at Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire. Tel 01558 668 768.       

* Not long after I made these images the countryside was again cleared of much of its livestock as the UK government spent £millions on measures to bring the foot and mouth epidemic under control. Thousands of animals and at least one slaughterman died before the spread of the disease was halted. Although it seems to have escaped the attention of the public, the cull may also have helped to rid the national herd of the last remnants of BSE. Could it possibly be that this was the reason the killing was so extensive? I think we should be told.

Whether or not I am right on this one I certainly find I am much happier eating steak these days.

© Patrick Ellis