1 00:00:07,190 --> 00:00:13,960 KATE MARTIN: Hello and welcome to the National Trust podcast. 2 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,959 When I was in Beddgelert a couple of weeks back, I went on 3 00:00:16,969 --> 00:00:19,180 a beautiful walk with the National Trust Countryside 4 00:00:19,190 --> 00:00:20,680 Manager there, Rhys Thomas. 5 00:00:20,719 --> 00:00:23,729 And while we were walking on one of the trust new accessible 6 00:00:23,739 --> 00:00:27,020 paths, he told me the curious tale of two dragons. 7 00:00:36,619 --> 00:00:39,049 Now Rhys, I've got a bit of a thing about Welsh dragons. I 8 00:00:39,060 --> 00:00:41,919 started collecting Welsh dragons when I was a child and I now 9 00:00:41,930 --> 00:00:44,779 have a house full of them much to my husband's horror. 10 00:00:45,779 --> 00:00:51,180 But this area is very famous for its dragon myths. The beautiful 11 00:00:51,209 --> 00:00:55,880 Llyn Dinas lake is just to our right. It has a little bit more 12 00:00:55,889 --> 00:00:58,020 than fish lurking in its depths, I believe. 13 00:01:00,369 --> 00:01:03,840 RHYS THOMAS: Yeah, that's how the story goes. So just just 14 00:01:03,849 --> 00:01:07,269 above in the background over there, you can see Dinas Emrys 15 00:01:08,129 --> 00:01:13,349 and the story of Dinas Emrys was that Vortigern was the Celtic 16 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:13,730 king. 17 00:01:13,730 --> 00:01:18,949 King of the Britons and he was sort of retreating from the 18 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:23,669 Saxon invasion and they built a fort on, on Dinas Emrys to 19 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:25,150 defend Snowdonia. 20 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:29,470 The story goes that they were building the castle up at the 21 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:34,970 top. Every night, there'd be huge rumbles and everything that 22 00:01:34,980 --> 00:01:37,519 they built during that day would be lost. They would just all 23 00:01:37,529 --> 00:01:40,400 crumbled to the floor and all the tools that they'd use during 24 00:01:40,410 --> 00:01:41,760 the day would just disappear. 25 00:01:42,279 --> 00:01:48,029 So, the king's advisor suggested that he needed to sacrifice a 26 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:53,209 young boy and that would sort of ease the gods. But when they 27 00:01:53,220 --> 00:01:58,110 found a young boy, they brought him up and he persuaded 28 00:01:58,150 --> 00:02:01,510 Vortigern that it wasn't the case, but it was actually two 29 00:02:01,519 --> 00:02:07,739 dragons fighting beneath the hillock in a cave above a pool 30 00:02:07,750 --> 00:02:08,419 or a lake. 31 00:02:16,679 --> 00:02:22,039 And it turned out this young boy was Merlin from the King Arthur 32 00:02:22,050 --> 00:02:23,759 myths and legends. 33 00:02:31,029 --> 00:02:36,279 Basically, he persuaded Vortigern to dig down and find 34 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,460 what was beneath and lo and behold, there were two dragons. 35 00:02:43,460 --> 00:02:47,690 One was the Red Dragon of Wales. And the second was the the white 36 00:02:47,699 --> 00:02:53,220 dragon representing the Saxons. So they had a, a mighty battle. 37 00:03:00,399 --> 00:03:05,740 The Red Dragon of Wales banished the, the white dragon of the 38 00:03:05,750 --> 00:03:09,760 Saxons into Llyn Dinas. Never to be seen again. 39 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:16,339 It's symbolic of the Welsh sort of not being suppressed by the 40 00:03:16,350 --> 00:03:17,309 Saxons back then. 41 00:03:22,119 --> 00:03:26,339 They did an archaeological dig in the fifties. They actually 42 00:03:26,350 --> 00:03:29,830 found the remains of a medieval structure believed to be 43 00:03:29,839 --> 00:03:36,369 Vortigern's castle. It's a fantastic story really. And you 44 00:03:36,380 --> 00:03:40,619 know, it dates back so many years and I you know, you like 45 00:03:40,630 --> 00:03:43,190 to think there's an element of, of truth to it really! 46 00:04:06,729 --> 00:04:08,179 KATE MARTIN: Thanks for listening to this week's 47 00:04:08,190 --> 00:04:13,809 National Trust mini episode. 48 00:04:13,809 --> 00:04:16,959 In next week's full episode. I'll be walking on my home turf 49 00:04:16,970 --> 00:04:23,778 in Formby, until then from me, Kate Martin. Goodbye.