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Ogof Owain Glyndwr, Moel yr Ogof, Beddgelert

View of Moel Hebog from the trial asbestos mine

Date

 4 September 2010
Location

 Moel yr Ogof, Beddgelert

 SH 55955 47810 53.00815°N, 4.14831°W

Ogof Owain Glyndwr (Owain Glyndwr's Cave)


Looking towards Snowdon. The trial asbestos mine is at the bottom left.

11 thoughts on “Ogof Owain Glyndwr, Moel yr Ogof, Beddgelert”

  2. Pingback: North Wales Links

  4. Pingback: Trial Asbestos Mine, Moel yr Ogof « GeoTopoi

  5. This is not Ogof Owain Glyndwr it is Ogof Elen, hence the name of this mountain. It is not a mine it is a geological feature – look at the fault line in the side of this mountain and read up on the spring which issues from this cave and has over millennia frozen and thawed, fragmenting rock from the fault, which has caused the cave in the first place. Several 100 tons of this mountain lie just east of it in the form of a massive boulder which was detached from the rest of the mountain by the aforementioned action of the spring water, leaving a profound green dent in the face of the mountain.

    Another popular misconception is that the linear dent running across the brow of Moel Ogof Elen is Owen’s Cave. Wrong again I am afraid, this is an overhang and goes back about 1 metre, I spoke to a man who had squeezed into it. Please don’t attempt this – or any mountaineering – unless you are a qualified mountaineer.

    This whole range appears to have been extensively explored for mineral mining potential in the modern period but the place names are ancient and pre-date activity of the industrial age, and the place name Ogof Elen predates Ogof Owain Glyndwr which was probably made up for tourism in the fairly recent past just like Gelert’s monument which seems to have been constructed by a local inn keeper and was, and is, very good for trade I hear.

    The truth often hurts and is seldom neither neat nor tidy but truth will out and the actual story of Bedd Gelert and Ogof Elen are probably much more interesting than the subsequent fiction which has been woven around them and popularly perpetuated without being researched.

    Owain Glyndwr very probably did hide out in these mountains, there are many caves, and the English never found him and it looks like they never will do.

    Iawn.

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  7. Hello, I am Ellen from the U.S. I have been to Wales twice and would love to return. I learned about Elen of the Ways from Caitlin Matthews many years ago, and it was in part her heritage that took to Wales. I was named by my Grandfather for Ellen in Sir Walter Scott’s book, LADY OF THE LAKE, so have always had that mystical connection with Celtic lore (and I’m mostly Irish, Welsh and Scots) and Celtic legends. The picture of Elen’s cave took my breath away–unfortunately when I drove the coastal route from Harlech to Caernarfon I didn’t know about Moel yr Elen…. Now it feels imperative I return! Thank you for the stunning photo, and thank you, Ric for the clarifying comments.

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    • Ellen, thanks, it is a modest ascent but dangerous none-the-less, the scree is razor sharp and there is a sheer drop on one side of the route I took up to the cave mouth. If you visit the cave I would go in company or with a group who know the area. I don’t know if you can contact me through wordpress but if you can I will tell you what I know.

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  8. Hi, myself and a pal found what is described in these blogs as the ‘trial asbestos mine’ on the western flanks of the large buttress leading up to summit of moel yr ogof. Is it this that is (mythologically or not) considered to be Owain Glyndwrs cave? There seems to be some contradition between this cave and the much bigger, almost horizontal slit towards the top of the buttress (which we named Darth Vadars helmet!).
    Would appreciate a definitive opinion..great place regardless.Mike

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