Cerrigydrudion
(also known as Cerrig-y-Drudion) is to be found on the high 
moorlands
in the county of Conwy, North Wales. The village is clustered around
the crossroads that lead to London in one direction and Holyhead via
Betws y Coed and the Snowdonia
National Park in the other. Another road leads across the Hiraethog
moorlands to the Vale of Clwyd and the market towns of Denbigh and Ruthin,
and yet another leads south to Bala and
Penllyn.
Close by are the reservoirs of Llyn
Brenig and Llyn Alwen. The
Brenig reservoir was built in the 1970's and is used to regulate the
water in the River Dee. Today it is one of the most important tourist
attractions in the area and provides for a number of watersports, including
sailing, fishing, and canoeing. For those who prefer to keep to dry land
there is the "round the lake mountain bike trail" and also
a number of archaeological trails around the lake leading to Bronze Age
Burial Mounds. The visitor centre close to the lake offers refreshments
and toilet facilities and displays archaeological information about the
area.
Llyn Brenig is just a short drive, 4 miles, from Cerrig, while Bala
Lake and the White Water Rafting Centre is but 7 miles or so from the
village. The inland holiday resorts of Llangollen, 19 miles, and Betws
y Coed, 12 miles, are also within an easy driving distance from Cerrigydrudion.
In the 19th century Cerrig
was a staging post on Thomas Telford's great achievement the A5 London
to 
Holyhead road. Which would explain why
such a small village once had three Public Houses. The A5 may
bypass the village today but two of the three Public Houses, the White
Lion and the Saracens, still remain to slake the thirst of the
farm workers who inhabit the catchment area of Cerrig-y-Drudion.
The spiritual needs of
the parish have long been taken care of by the church of St
Mary Magdalene and the non conformist chapels of Jerusalem and Moriah. Indeed St Mary
Magdalene's is believed to have been founded as early as AD 440, and
was mentioned in the Norwich Taxation of 1254. It was repaired and enlarged
in 1503, and, as with many Welsh churches, restored by the Victorians.
Some of the surviving masonry may be of 16th Century and a foundation
course from an earlier, possibly medieval structure, is apparent. There
is a re-used 14th Century window and inside the roof is late
medieval, perhaps of 1503. There is a
chest of 1730, a few wall memorials and a benefaction board of 1737.
The Legend of Llyn y ddau ychain, the Devil, Snow White, and Cerrigydrudion
Church
Cerrigydrudion
Church once became
possessed of the Devil. His hideous face could be seen grinning out of the windows, even in broad daylight, and the people became too frightened
to walk past the church,let alone worship there. The simple villagers
were at a loss for what to do to get rid of the spirit, but at last
they consulted a Wise Man from Cefn Cyfarwydd a settlement above the
Conwy Valley. He told them that no one could dislodge their enemy but
the Dau ychain Banawg. Two giant oxen. They knew of the two long-horned
cattle which fed on Waen Banawg. There, therefore, they went, and brought
the powerful yoke to the church.
The Wise Man said they would need special chains to bind the Devil.
This was done by soaking the chains in the holy water of Llanelian. He
told the villagers of the magic charms needed to trick the Devil. A
fair maiden called Eira Wyn (Snow White), a child of seven brothers and
sisters, was brought the way from Llangwm, a village close enough to
offer aid but distant enough for the maiden to know no fear of this Devil.
Come the
Sunday night the bravest of the villagers gathered close to the church.
Many hid behind the church yard walls and waited, trembling. Brave Eira
Wyn skipped into the churchyard and lay flowers upon the graves. The
Evil One broke off from his satanic rituals within the church and glared
out of the window, not believing what he was seeing. In a rage he stormed
out of the church breathing fire and brimstone. The maiden held her ground
and threw the last of her flowers into his face.
This was too much for him to bear and the Devil reached out to grab
Eira Wyn. But the villagers leapt upon the evil being from all sides
and wrapped the magic chains around his limbs and tightly pulled.
What now? laughed the devil, believing he was safe from mere mortals.
Quickly the villagers brought forward both a sledge and
the massive oxen the Dau ychain Banawg. The Devil, now struggling to
get free, was dragged along by the powerful oxen towards a lake on Hiraethog
Mountain, but so ponderous was their load and so fearful was the spirit’s
contentions that the sledge ploughed the land between the church and
the lake as they went along, leaving in the course that they took deep
furrows, and when they came to the hill so terrible were the struggles
of the oxen to get along that the marks of their hoofs were left in the
rocks where they may still be seen. When at last they reached the lake
the spirit would not yield, and therefore oxen, sledge, and spirit were
driven into the lake, and thus was the country rid of the evil one, and
hence the name of the lake—the
Lake of the Two Oxen—for the oxen likewise perished in the lake.
