Llyn Cowlyd, Conwy, Wales
Llyn Cowlyd
Myths and Fables
This incredible lake is said to be the home for a water-bull with “fiery horns and hoofs with flames issuing out of its nostrils”, which the author Coxe describes in 'Haunted Britain' as a “Welsh Loch Ness Monster”.
Other tales talk of solitary walkers who have been dragged to their death, and of fairies, namely the Welsh Tylwyth Teg. According to The Mabinogion, the most ancient of Celtic literature written in the 14th century in the Red Book of Hergest, but orally dating back much further, the area was inhabited by a number of mythical beasts.
Location
Visitor Information
Llyn Cowlyd is the deepest lake in north Wales. It lies in the Snowdonia National Park at the upper end of Cwm Cowlyd on the southeastern edge of the Carneddau range of mountains, at a height of 1,164 feet above sea level.
The lake is long and narrow, measuring nearly 2 miles long and about a third of a mile wide, and covers an area of 269 acres. It has a mean depth of 109 feet and at its deepest has given soundings of 229 feet, this being some 45 ft greater than its natural depth, the water surface having been raised twice by the building of dams.
Pictured is a view looking north-east down the length of the Llyn Cowlyd courtesy of Eric Jones. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
