Llyn Y Dywarchen – Enigmatic Lake Shrouded In Myth And Legend

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – The world is full of wonderful, beautiful, and mysterious places. One of them is a lake called Llyn Y Dywarchen. Located in Gwynedd,  at the top of a valley in Snowdonia, Northern Wales, the lake is shrouded in myth and legend.

Riddle Of The Floating Island

It has long been said that Llyn Y Dywarchen,’ the lake of the Turf Island’, is home to a floating island.

Llyn y Dywarchen above Rhyd Ddu in Snowdonia – Credit: Richard Outram – CC BY 2.0

The first mention of the puzzling floating island comes from  Giraldus Cambrensis (1146 -1223), a writer and historian of the early Middle Ages. While journeying through Wales, Cambrensis reached Llyn Y Dywarchen, where he was surprised to see a floating island on the beautiful lake. In 1188, he described the lake as “having a floating island in it which is driven from one side to the other by the force of the wind’. Cambrensis suggested the island was probably made of turf. He also speculated that the landmass had detached itself from the lake’s bottom and gasses, such as methane, kept it floating.

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