The early Christians are said to have roamed the land in search of liminal places, where they would be closest to heaven. Cwm Pennant is a high valley set at the foot of a high mountain plateau in North Powys. Here in the late 6th century AD, Melangell,an Irish princess who had fled an arranged marriage, found such a liminal place and settled to a life of spiritual devotion.
Melangell & The Hare
This is her story: Out hunting one day, the Prince of Powys ,whose land this is, rides out in pursuit of the hare. The hare disappears into a thicket where it finds Melangell, deep in prayer. It runs to her, hiding in the folds of her garment. The outraged prince urges his company on but the bugle will not blow, and the dogs and horses have frozen to the spot. The prince demands that Melangell explain herself.
And so she tells him her story. Prince Brochwel calls off the hunt, and so impressed is he by Melangell that he grants her the valley as a sanctuary.
Here Melangell set up a religious order, and a church has stood here ever since. A shrine church, it is the only one in Wales, and one of only two in the UK. Melangell is the patron saint of the hare, and if you see a hare being hunted it is said that if you shout “May Melangell be with you” the hare will escape…