Llangorse Lake ( cy, Llyn Syfaddon, variant: ) is the largest natural

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in Mid and

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, and is situated in the

Brecon Beacons National Park The Brecon Beacons National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) is one of three national parks in Wales, and is centred on the Brecon Beacons range of hills in southern Wales. It includes the Black Mountain ( cy, Y Mynydd Du) i ...

, near the town of

Brecon Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the c ...

and the village of

Llangors Llangors (also known as Llangorse) is a small village, community and electoral ward in southern Powys, in the historic county of Brecknockshire, within the Brecon Beacons National Park. Description Llangors lies a few miles east of Brecon, betwe ...

. The lake is famous for its

coarse fishing In Britain and Ireland, coarse fishing (, ) refers to angling for rough fish, which are fish species traditionally considered undesirable as a food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids — most particularly salmon, trout and ...

(particularly pike),

watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

, the (a monster nicknamed 'Gorsey') and has the only example of a

crannog A crannog (; ga, crannóg ; gd, crannag ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes and estuarine waters of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were bu ...

in Wales. Llangorse Lake is also one of the most mentioned sites in

Welsh folklore Welsh folklore is the collective term for the folklore of the Welsh people. It encompasses topics related to Welsh mythology, but also include the nation's folk tales, customs, and oral tradition. Welsh folklore is related to Irish folklore and Sc ...

. It is a site of international conservation importance. Due to the lake's long history of human activity, it has been known by several different names during its history, both in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

and in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

: other names include the lake's original Welsh name, , and '' Mere''. The name ''Llangorse Lake'' is comparatively recent.

Geography

Llangorse Lake is a

eutrophic Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplan ...

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10, ...

with a perimeter covering an area of . The lake is long, is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

and has a maximum depth of . It occupies a glacially scoured rock basin partly enhanced by

morainic A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice she ...

debris within the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the

River Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of the border between England and Wales ...

but close to that of the

River Usk The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it ...

to the south. The Afon Llynfi provides the main input of water into the lake and continues as the lake overflow stream.

Natural history

The lake is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) and has long been regarded as a place where fish and birds are found in unusually high numbers.

Gerald of Wales Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taugh ...

(Giraldus Cambrensis) mentioned the abundance of waterfowl in his topographical work, '' The Description of Wales'' in the 12th century. It is a Special Area of Conservation (under the EU Habitats Directive) as an example of a natural nutrient-rich lake with pondweeds. The supposed largest pike caught by rod in the UK was caught in Llangorse Lake in 1846 by O. Owen and supposedly weighed , but this is unsubstantiated. If true, it would have been the largest pike in the world. The largest pike in the UK was actually caught from Llandegfedd Reservoir near

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd r ...

and weighed . More recently the skull of a pike of unknown weight, though undoubtedly large (35–40+ lb), was found on the shores of the lake in 2004; it was taken away by the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...

for age testing. The Llangasty Nature Reserve forms an important protected area around the lake's boundary. The lake is a habitat of the scarce blue-tailed damselfly (''Ishnura pumilio''). In May 2011 hundreds of water voles were released near Llangorse Lake in an ongoing programme to try to restore their numbers.

History

Crannog

The

is a small artificial island about from the north shore. It is constructed of massive planks of oak behind which was built a dwelling platform formed from layers of stone, soil and brushwood. It was investigated by archaeologists from the

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

between 1989 and 1993. Finds included a high quality

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

and a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

hinge from an 8th–9th century

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fer ...

decorated in a style similar to that seen in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. The 1993 dig was joined by the TV series ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' and featured in series one, episode four in 1994. In 2005, works were carried out to protect the island from

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

Dugout boat

In 1925, archaeologists discovered a virtually complete dugout boat.

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...

indicates that it originated from the 9th century.

Fort

In 916,

Æthelflæd Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians ( 870 – 12 June 918) ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith. Æthe ...

, Lady of the

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , y ...

ns, sent an army into

Brycheiniog Brycheiniog was an independent kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Norman ...

to avenge the murder of the Mercian abbot Ecbryht and his companions. The Mercian army seized and burnt the royal fort on Llangorse Lake, and took the Queen of Brycheiniog and thirty-three others captive.

Llangorse Lake in literature

As Lake Leucara, the lake (and surrounding area) features in the works of

Raymond Williams Raymond Henry Williams (31 August 1921 – 26 January 1988) was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contrib ...

, who wrote '' People of the Black Mountains'' detailing the lives of ordinary people in the area at intervals from 30,000 years ago through to

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

times. In his diary of the 1870s,

Francis Kilvert Robert Francis Kilvert (3 December 184023 September 1879), known as Francis or Frank, was an English clergyman whose diaries reflected rural life in the 1870s, and were published over fifty years after his death. Life Kilvert was born on 3 ...

noted several visits to Llangorse Lake, including a July 1878 outing in the company of his father, when the pair caught a brace of perch in an hour.

Gorsey, the Afanc of Llangorse Lake

The earliest known surviving literary reference to the

afanc The Afanc (, sometimes also called Addanc, ) is a lake monster from Welsh mythology. Its exact description varies; it is described variously as resembling a crocodile, beaver or dwarf-like creature, or a platypus and is sometimes said to be a dem ...

or lake monster of Llangorse is in a poem by the 15th century

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

poet or bard,

Lewys Glyn Cothi Lewys Glyn Cothi (c. 1420 – 1490), also known as Llywelyn y Glyn, was a prominent 15th century Welsh poet who composed numerous poems in the Welsh language. He is one of the most important representatives of the ''Beirdd yr Uchelwyr'' ("Poets of ...

(English translation by John Rhys): :''Yr avanc er ei ovyn'' :''Wyv yn llech ar vin y llyn''; :''O don Llyn Syfaddon vo'' :''Ni thynwyd ban aeth yno'': :''Ni'm tyn men nag ychain gwaith'', :''Oddiyma heddyw ymaith''. :The afanc am I, who, sought for, bides :In hiding on the edge of the lake; :Out of the waters of Syfaddon Mere :Was be not drawn, once he got there. :So with me: nor wain nor oxen wont to toil :Me to-day will draw from here forth. The ''afanc'' would have been well known in local folklore at the time of the composition of the poem. Oll Lewis, an ecologist and cryptozoologist at the Centre for Fortean Zoology, has been studying the Afanc of Llangorse Lake for several years, and has proposed that it may represent sightings of the abnormally large pike of the lake. Adrian Lloyd Jones of the Welsh Beaver Project believes that ''afanc'' stories in Wales are folk memories of the presence of beavers. (The modern Welsh word for beaver is ''afanc'').

The Lost City

In a version of the

Flood myth A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the prima ...

, a legend states that the lake was once the site of a city whose inhabitants suffered

divine retribution Divine retribution is supernatural punishment of a person, a group of people, or everyone by a deity in response to some action. Many cultures have a story about how a deity exacted punishment upon previous inhabitants of their land, causing t ...

for their wickedness by being completely submerged beneath the waters of the newly formed lake. The only survivor was a baby floating in a cradle who was found by the Welsh king's

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

. The child was later adopted by the king. Another deluge tale is attached to a legendary city beneath Kenfig Pool in south Wales. This catastrophe was said to be the result of a vengeful curse. A third tradition with a similar motif explains the formation of

Bala Lake Bala Lake ( cy, Llyn Tegid ) is a large freshwater glacial lake in Gwynedd, Wales. The River Dee, which has its source on the slopes of Dduallt in the mountains of Snowdonia, feeds the long by wide lake. It was the largest natural body of ...

.Trevelyan (1909), p. 13.

References

The Description of Wales by Geraldus Cambrensis at Project Gutenberg
*The Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike by Fred Buller, Hutchinson, 1979 ()

External links

S.S.S.I. listing

'The Description of Wales' by Giraldus Cambrensis at Project Gutenberg

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llangorse Lake and surrounding area
{{authority control Crannogs Archaeological sites in Powys Lakes of Powys Lakes of the Brecon Beacons National Park Former populated places in Wales