On Sunday 8th May 2022 I stood by Tinkinswood burial chamber in the Vale of Glamorgan and spoke about its history and folklore to a group of walkers. My appearance was part of the Vale Trails – 10 Days in May event. This was a series of guided walks exploring the Vale, led by Welsh TV presenter Chris Jones and organised by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. I was part of the ‘Haunted Field Walk‘ and there is a downloadable guide if you want to follow the walk yourself.
So why was I speaking? The short version is that a friend asked me to do it! The long version is that for the past year I have been undertaking research into the folklore of burial chambers in Wales. I started off with a much wider remit – the folklore of ancient sites across the UK, this swiftly got narrowed to just Wales, and finally to just burial chambers in Wales. This was because I was finding out so much I wanted to write about than I just had to become more focussed. I had also become increasingly frustrated with basic books and websites that relate a folklore story for a particular site but give no context or references, or even acknowledge where they got the information from. Perhaps it doesn’t matter to most people but I always want to know more.
The first sites I began looking at in detail were Tinkinswood and St Lythans, they are situated within about a mile of each other, near to Dyffryn House & Gardens and about a half hour drive from where I live. My friend knew I had been undertaking this research and originally asked if I could share some information as she was due to give a talk at Tinkinswood. I happily shared my draft chapter and told her I’d be happy to help. A few weeks before the talk she asked if it was possible for me to do the whole thing myself as she needed to be elsewhere that weekend. With a large ‘gulp’ I said yes!
I was excited to get the chance to do this although I also became very nervous. I’ve given papers at a range of academic conferences over the years, and I always get nervous even though they usually turn out completely fine. There have been times when IT problems (out of my control) have interrupted proceedings and messed up my presentation, although the audience are usually forgiving and full of sympathy. In this case there would be no IT, all my visual props would be the chamber itself, so unless it poured with rain (and it didn’t) all would be fine. Just the small point of not relying on written notes and having to learn my spiel inside and out. Some people are great at talking off the cuff, but not me. I might know my subject really well, but explaining it in a coherent and entertaining way doesn’t always come naturally.
Enough of my self-doubt – it went well on the day, and lots of questions were asked. I was cut a little bit short as they were only at the beginning of their walk and had lots more to fit in that day, and in retrospect if I was ever asked to do it again I would make some changes – not everyone is as fascinated by the “1849 cromlech question” as I am, and if I dropped that I could squeeze a bit more folklore in. But it was a great experience and I’m really glad I got chance to do it. I covered archaeology and history, the Cotswold Severn barrows and the cromlech question, the druid revival and the ghostly druids reputed to haunt the monument, women turned to stone and stones going down to water to drink and bathe, sadly I didn’t manage to fit in the antics of the local ceffyl dŵr.
Meanwhile I need to get back to writing that book all about the folklore of burial chambers in Wales so I can share these stories with a wider audience.
Photographs of the talk and of myself were taken by Ken Humphreys aka Pictures Without Film.
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