An oak tree known as Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyl, Nannau Park in which Owain Glyndwr was supposed to have hidden the body of his cousin Hywel Sele, 8th Lord of Nannau after he had killed him in 1404.
Category
Art / Prints
Date
Unknown
Materials
Paper, wood, paint and glass
Measurements
470 mm (H); 330 mm (W)
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1149879
Summary
Print, etching, An oak tree known as Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyl, Nannau Park in which Owain Glyndwr was supposed to have hidden the body of his cousin Hywel Sele, 8th Lord of Nannau after he had killed him in single combat in 1404. According to a popular ballad of the time Madoc a friend and companion of Glyndwr is supposed to have hidden the body: 'I marked a broad and blasted oak, Scorched by the lightning's livid glare; Hollow its stem from branch to root, And all its shrivelled arms were bare. Be this, I cried, his proper grave (The thought in me was deadly sin); Aloft we raised the helpless chief, And dropped his bleeding corpse within. And to this day the peasant still, With cautious fear, avoids the ground: In each wild branch a spectre sees, And trembles at each rising sound.'
Provenance
Given by Phillip Yorke III (1905-1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973.