Welsh C18th Mermaid

Pen-y-holt and Linney Head. Crown copyright (via Edina Digimap), 1860s map.

A Story of a Mermaid.

The following curious story is related in a lively and agreeable work, entitled "A Tour to Milford Haven in the year 1791," written in a series of letters by a lady of the name of Morgan, and published in London by John Stockdale in the year 1795. Mrs Morgan [seems] to have been a lady of an elegant and cultivated mind, and to have mingled with the best society of Pembrokeshire during her sojourn in what was then almost a terra incognita to an Englishwoman. In her forty third letter, addressed to a lady, and dated Haverfordwest, Sept. 22, Mrs. Morgan says --

"If you delight in the marvellous, I shall now present you with a tale that is truly so; and yet, from the simple and circumstantial manner in which it was told by the person who believed he saw what is here related, one would almost be tempted to think there was some thing more than imagination in it. However, I will make no comments upon the matter, but give it you exactly as I copied it from a paper lent me by a young lady who was educated under the celebrated Mrs. Moore*, and who has acquired a taste for productions of the pen, and likewise for whatever may be deemed curious. [*Hannah More, J.P.P.]

Mr. M-- inquired of the gentleman who took down the relation from the man's own mouth, a physician of the first respectability, what credit might be given to it. He said the man was that integrity of character, and of such simplicity also that it seemed difficult to believe he should be either able or willing to fabricate this wonderful tale. Farther the doctor was silent, and so am I.

"Henry Reynolds, of Pennyhold, in the parish of Castlemartin, in the county of Pembroke, a simple farmer, and esteemed by all who knew him to be a truth-telling man, declares the following most extraordinary story to be an absolute fact, and is willing, in order to satisfy such as will not take his bare word for it, to swear to the truth of the same. He says he went one morning to the cliffs that bound his own lands, and form a bay near Linny Stack.

From the eastern end of the same he saw, as he thought, a person bathing very near the western end, but appearing, from almost the middle up, above water. He, knowing the water to be deep in that place, was much surprised at it, and went along the cliffs, quite to the western end, to see what it was. As he got towards it, it appeared to him like a person sitting in a tub. At last he got within ten or twelve yards of it, and found it then to be a creature much resembling a youth of sixteen or eighteen years of age, with a very white skin, sitting in an erect posture, having from somewhat about the middle of its body quite above the water; and directly under the water there was a large brown substance, on which it seemed to float. The wind being perfectly calm and the water quite clear he could see distinctly when the creature moved, that this substance was part of it.

-- From the bottom there went down a tail much resembling that of a large Conger Eel. Its tail in deep water was straight downwards, but in shallow water it would turn on one side. The tail was continually moving in a circular manner. The form of its body and arms was entirely human, but its arms and hands seemed rather thick and short in proportion to its body. The form of the head and all the features of the face were human also, but the nose rose high between its eyes, was pretty long, and seemed to terminate very sharp. Its head was white like its body, without hair; but from its forehead there arose a brownish substance, of three or four fingers' breadth, which turned up over its head, and went down over its back, and reached quite into the water. This substance did not at all resemble hair, but was thin, compact and flat, not much unlike a ribbon. It did not adhere to the back part of its head, or neck, or back; for the creature lifted it up from its neck, and washed under it.

-- It washed frequently under its arms and about its body; it swam about the bay, and particularly round a little rock which Reynolds was within ten or twelve yards of. He staid about an hour looking at it. It was so near him, that he could perceive its motion through the water was very rapid; and that, when it moved it turned, it put one hand into the water , and moved itself round very quickly. It never dipped under the water all the time he was looking at it. It looked attentively at him and the cliffs, and seemed to take great notice of the birds flying over its head. Its looks were wild and fierce; but it made no noise, nor did it grin, or in any way distort its face. When he left it, it was about a hundred yards from him; and when he returned with some others to look at it, it was gone.

This account was taken down by Doctor George P---, of Prickerston, from the man's own mouth in presence of many people, about the latter end of December, 1782."

The physician who took down the foregoing statement from the mouth of the eyewitness was George Phillips, M.D., of Haverfordwest, a gentleman of high social position. -- Notes and Queries.


Reprinted in the Armagh Guardian, 18th May 1860.

Pen-y-Holt Stack. Image CC David Lewis

I have to say, I do like this a lot. It smacks a lot of a genuine experience because of the nature of some of the things reported ('it seemed to take great notice of the birds flying over its head..'). Also why would you want to make yourself look like a gullible idiot in front of the local Gentlemen of High Social Position? He saw something - you might or might not think it was a bona fide mermaid - but for me this is the best kind of mermaid story. Or should we say merman story.