The Maid of Cefn Ydfa - a Welsh folktale
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Mythology
The old mansion of Cefn Ydfa, near Maesteg in South Wales, now lies in ruins. It was here that Ann Thomas was born in 1704. Her sad and romantic story has become part of Welsh folklore. Ann’s one true love was Wil Hopcyn, a slater and plasterer, and a gifted poet. Sweethearts from their teens, the couple were utterly devoted to each other. But Ann was forced by her parents against her will to marry a wealthy solicitor, Anthony Maddocks. Inconsolable. Wil left the district vowing never to return. Return he did, however, in response to Ann’s earnest pleading, when she fell seriously ill. She died, broken-hearted, in Wil’s arms at twenty-three years of age. One can scarcely imagined Wil’s grief. Ann Thomas was buried in Llangynwyd churchyard, and there too lies the body of Wil Hopcyn, who died a bachelor in 1741 at the age of forty-seven. Don’t you just love a happy ending?
The old mansion of Cefn Ydfa, near Maesteg in South Wales, now lies in ruins. It was here that Ann Thomas was born in 1704. Her sad and romantic story has become part of Welsh folklore. Ann’s one true love was Wil Hopcyn, a slater and plasterer, and a gifted poet. Sweethearts from their teens, the couple were utterly devoted to each other. But Ann was forced by her parents against her will to marry a wealthy solicitor, Anthony Maddocks. Inconsolable. Wil left the district vowing never to return. Return he did, however, in response to Ann’s earnest pleading, when she fell seriously ill. She died, broken-hearted, in Wil’s arms at twenty-three years of age. One can scarcely imagined Wil’s grief. Ann Thomas was buried in Llangynwyd churchyard, and there too lies the body of Wil Hopcyn, who died a bachelor in 1741 at the age of forty-seven. Don’t you just love a happy ending?
