I repaired to drink that spring,
Waters which cure diseases of the soul
As well as body! And which always prove
The only remedy for want of sense.

Two white spar stones is all thou dost expect
As a free offering both for sense and health.

Tis thou, and thou alone, that I invoke
To lead my pen.

The Sacred Well of Gwenfaen, Rhoscolyn
Llewelyn Ddu o Môn - Lewis Morris
1701-1765

The words above and the place they describe inspired our creative journey with the children of Ysgol Santes Gwenfaen Rhoscolyn as we continued our Public Map Platform adventure across Anglesey. We started with Fynon Santes Gwenfaen, which can be found up on the Rhoscolyn headland in the West, on the smaller island of Holyhead.

Local folklore has taken root at the sacred well, which tells its pilgrims that they will be cured of maladies of the mind if they throw two white stones into its waters. Now, part of my interest on this research project is to look at the effects of extending the classroom outdoors – and what effect that might have on a child’s connection to or concern for their place. What better way to do that but to hike up to the site and enact the folklore as we’ve heard it. We closed our eyes, we took our white stones, and, as a group, we hurled them into the waters and waited… as we slowly opened our eyes, waiting for the magic to work, a few of the children asked “Can you feel the power?” Of course, we talked about our walk in a wide-open space and the endorphins rushing around our bodies from the exercise. We reflected on what we could see, hear & smell, the beautiful views of the Irish Sea, the ruined light house and look out, ‘George’ the sheep, the call of sea birds and the smell of the salty earth. Even Richard, a friendly marine watchman working with the RNLI, who spoke with us while we sat to rest, made us smile. The power was definitely somewhere among us – though I left it with the children as to whether it was in the ritual stone throwing, as the Llewelyn Ddu o Môn writes, or, all around us in our open space.

After playing games to send oxytocin to our brains, we created and recorded poetry back at school. One of the children penned the lovely title for the collaborative work, she called it ‘The Lovely Rock, Y Carreg Hyfryd.’

I sat there and I saw Distant beams of light,
Endless wonders filled the sky.
Y haul, y tir, a’r môr lliwgar…
(The sun, the land, the sea so colourful)

You can hear more in the video below.

For many of us, our minds were indeed lifted. We used a weather metaphor to say exactly how. “I feel sunny,” “dwi’n teimlo fel enfys,” (I feel like a rainbow) “I’m sunny with a little cloud”, cloudy because of the fatigue from walking, but the conversations we had and the steps we took up to our fresh, elevated blue and green classroom, revealed much about the children’s access to these places. On starting our hike back down to the mini bus, one child kept repeating the same question, “Gill, can we stay?” I mentioned that he could come back, now that he knows where the well is, only to discover that his family don’t have access to a car most of the time. I’ve since investigated public transport. A bus service, that takes an hour from Holyhead town centre, could get him within 20 mins of Santes Gwenfaen’s church, where we set off on our hike. Not quite as easy as popping there in the car, especially with very young siblings. Holyhead is about 12 mins from the church, as the crow flies or the car drives, but not, it seems, as the bus goes.

The children have gone on to talk about their own important places. The beach at Treaddur Bay, because Mum & Dad were married there, Rhosneigr, because of precious memories of a lost pet, a terraced house in Holyhead town centre, because that’s where one child learns to play drums and feel his passion. One child even mapped the Angel of the North at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, because that’s where Grandma & Grandad lives. Miles away it seems but what happens to him if the bridges to the mainland are closed for maintenance or even closed because of bad weather. There can be an ocean of difference between the child of an island and the child of the mainland.

As with every group I meet on this Bardic journey of Anglesey, it was an honour to get an small insight into the creative minds of these brilliant young poets. I look forward to bringing their beautiful Art Works to be part of the Lle Lais public mapping programme over the coming summer break, where families can be part of the Creative Mapping process together. You can discover more here https://publicmap.org/en/events

The Sea Serpent's Locker

Can You Feel the Power?

Oh May my Heart's Truth Still be Sung... in a Year's Turning

The Spectres of Porth Dafarch Road & the Young Storytellers of Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi

Tea at the Museum - The Sea Serpent of Holyhead & Other Surprises

An Island of Stories