Pennant Melangell, Powys -
Andy McGeeney

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An isolated Welsh Christian shrine

The chapel of Pennant Melangell, a well and a few cottages can only be reached by travelling a long way up the valley from Llangynog but the effort is worth the journey. Once the yew trees have been seen there is a magnificent waterfall cascading from the head of the valley two miles further on.

In the C12 a new chapel was built to protect the shrine to Saint Melangell in the centre of a circular churchyard bordered by old yew trees. The shrine was dumped in a ditch in the C16 and has only recently been restored and recognised as one of the finest in Britain. The C15 rood screen depicts the legend of Melangell in carved oak.

There are four old yews of which the oldest is thought to be 2,000 years old.

The legend of the Irish princess and the hare

“The valley has been called a thin place because heaven and earth appear very close in this place.”

Brychwel Ysgithrog was the prince of Powys (the Eastern Kingdom of Wales) in the seventh century and he had a reputation for generosity towards the new Christian church. One day he went out with his men to hunt the wild animals in Pennant. His dogs started a hare and they gave chase until the creature ran into a thicket of brambles which was large and thorny. In the thicket they found a beautiful young woman praying, and beneath her skirts sat the hare with its head poking out and looking at the hounds.

Immediately the prince urged the dogs on, “Get it, hounds, get it!” but the more he shouted the more the dogs retreated, howling in fear. The prince eventually calmed down and asked the woman how long she had lived in such a lonely spot. The woman replied that she had not seen another human face in fifteen years. He then asked her where she came from and what was her place of birth. “I am the daughter of King Jowchel of Ireland and because my father wished me to be the wife of a fine Irishman I fled and under the guidance of God came to this place to serve him.” The prince asked her name and she replied Melangell.

Brychwel was impressed by her simplicity of life, her spiritual strength and the protection she gave to the wild hare. In recognition of this he offered the lands around to the service of God and as a sanctuary for all the wild animals including the hares, and as a refuge for respectful people. His sons reaffirmed the protection for generations afterwards.

Melangell remained there for 37 years and not only developed a community of women in retreat, but enjoyed the company of hares that behaved like tame creatures in her presence.


Whilst there is no reason to doubt that Melangell or Monacella founded a community here in the C7 there are similar tales from other parts of Wales relating to female Christian saints.

Symbols of rejuvenation

The hare is an ancient symbol of fertility and is associated with the moon and women’s menstrual cycles. It also represents rebirth, rejuvenation, and resurrection, from its association with Eostre an Anglo Saxon goddess who gave us Easter. For Christians it came to represent fecundity and erotic power. In paintings a white hare under the foot of the Virgin Mary symbolised her triumph over lust. The defencelessness of the hare also represented those who put their trust in Christ.

A cancer cure from the yew

Next to the church is the Cancer Help Centre where women who are recuperating from cancer are encouraged to gain inspiration from the old trees. Most of the women take the drug taxol to improve their condition; this is an extract from the yew that has become, in recent years, the drug of first choice for uterine, breast and lung cancer.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in America stated, after an intensive screening for plants with anti-cancer properties, that “Taxol is one of the most promising of more than 120,000 plant compounds tested for anti-cancer properties.” Only a few of the tested plants contained substances that inhibit cell growth and may give some hope in the fight against cancer.
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