Clear, still and peaceful on a summer's day, this pool has a sinister reputation.
According to legend, strange beings live beneath its waters.
One early winter's morning in 1852, a farm labourer is said to have suffered a fatal encounter with one of these beings.
John Roberts had just stepped out of his cottage door to begin his day's work when he found his path blocked by an unfamiliar youth. He spoke to the boy but, on receiving no response, he tried to brush past him. The youth grabbed Roberts and in an instant the terrified man found himself hurtling through the air.
In just a few seconds they reached the shore of Pwll-yr-Wrach and his unearthly captor forced Roberts's face to a few inches above the surface of the water and held him there in an iron grip.
Struggling, Roberts heard a cock crow from a nearby farm and suddenly found himself released. The boy stood above him, eyeing him passively.
"When the cuckoo sings its first note on Flint Mountain I shall come again to fetch you," said the boy, and then he vanished.
John Roberts died the following May. He had been carrying out some building repairs at Penyglyn on the Mountain when a wall fell and crushed him. A young woman who had witnessed the accident said that it happened just as she noted a cuckoo come to rest on a nearby tree.
She added that when the body was being carried away to Roberts's home, the cuckoo had followed, singing from tree to tree all the way to his front door... 
Further reading: The Supernatural in Welsh Place Names, Melville Richards, 1969
your comments
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We try to publish as many comments as we can but unfortunately, due to the volume of comments we receive every day, we cannot guarantee that all comments submitted will be published
Daz Price
Once again I visit this site to put paid to all the myths that surround "pwll y wrach" or witches pool. I know that the legend states that poor old Mr Roberts died a terrible death supposedly from an encounter of a sinister kind. But I beg of you all this... Does anybody or has anybody ever seen or witnessed any strange going-ons there since? I believe not and challenge anyone to convince me otherwise.
Wed Jun 11 09:06:56 2008
Sue Flint
When we were younger my friend and I used to walk a lot in the Flint Mountain area - she told a tale of the Witches Pool - she said it was known as Maggie the Pool, to do with a connection with a cottage nearby - does anybody know anything about this?
Fri Apr 18 07:21:10 2008
Tony Sorrentino, formerly of Flint.
It is said that suspected witches were hanged from an oak tree that grew over the pool, and that it is they who haunt the area around the pool. People tend to leave rubbish in and around the pool. Also, flowers and boughs are often left at the edge of the pool, and next to the oak tree.
Mon Mar 26 09:52:51 2007
Dan Christopher, Bryn-y-Garreg, Flint Mountain
I have lived about 100m away from the Witches Pool for about the last 20 years, and know all about the stories and myths, but do not believe any of them except one. The pool is apparently bottemless. A couple of years ago a digger was used to clean up the area around the pool a little, the digger's arm was pushed about 20 feet down into the mud of the pool, but hit nothing solid, just mud! As for the pool being eerie, this is nothing more than people's imagination. Or is it?
Mon Mar 26 09:39:35 2007
Davies
I am the person who leaves the flowers in my wife's memory. She lived at 2 Bryn - y - Garreg for 22 years, and was very fond of the area. She knew all of the residents, her name was Barbara Bateman sadly she passed away in April 2005, and since then I leave a flower every week, in rememberance. My grandson and I have noticed the change to the pond through the seasons. It is full of wildlife and beautiful, especially in the summer. We would regard the pond as being "enchanted" rather than haunted and stagnant.
Tue Mar 6 08:28:34 2007
Danny from Flint
Me and my mates were walkin along the lanes of Flint Mountain in the summer when we came across the witches pool. I told them I'd heard a ghost story about it when I was younger and we all felt a bit eerie round there like we were being watched. As we were passing we saw some flowers nailed to a tree showin that somebody had obviously died there recently. Does anybody know of anybody who died there?
Thu Mar 1 08:26:34 2007
Phill McCracken
I live next to the site where the wall collapsed. I visited the pool once when I was younger with a gang of lads. We were throwing rocks at the iced-over pool, mocking the stories, when we heard a growl-like sound. It was probably just a plane or something but around 10 of us just ran away as quickly as we could. I did a paper round that took me past the pool and the farm where the incident took place, and it is quite a strange and eerie feeling - it feels like you are being watched. In recent years the pool has risen significantly and is no longer such a spooky marsh.
Tue Sep 12 14:51:04 2006
Williams
I lived in Flint Mountain for over twenty years, all the kids at that time believed the witch's pool was haunted, the tale we heard was that Henry VII once hunted in the area, (a fact since proven) and one of his soldiers drowned an old woman in the pond believing she was a witch.
Mon Jun 19 10:14:24 2006
Kaite Rule
These stories are rubbish! I have lived in Flint Mountain all my life just like a min away from the witches! I ride my horse up past the pond and nothing has ever happened to me or anybody I know! I also know the man who owns the little cottage a little way up past the pond and he has neva seen anything! And by the way Andy Hughes there are no fish in the pond as it dries out every summer, so it would be pretty impossible really!
Thu May 11 13:22:30 2006
griffiths
Great story. I have to visit it. My great/great/great grandparents lived there but never passed the story down. They liked a good spook story. Any griffiths still living up there?
Mon Apr 10 11:32:24 2006
Jim Davies off Flint
I grew up close to the castle in Flint and two ghost stories constantly cropped up. One was the "white dog" which was supposed to have been a wolfhound belonging to an ex resident of the castle. This was given some substance by footprints aledgedly found in nearby castle works although later this was dismissed as a practical joke I think. The other involved a drummer boy who was said to walk the walls. I never saw either of these but one morning in the late seventies whilst getting ready for an early morning fishing session at Deeside mill pond, I looked out of the kitchen window in LLoyd Street, and saw a bloke dressed in a black cloak standing in the opening at the top of the Donjon. My mum who had got up early to get me some breakfast (bless her) commented with a hint of sarcasm that it was a mate of mine who was interested in the occult. I still wonder who that figure was.
Tue Mar 21 13:12:20 2006
Andy Hughes, Flint Mountain
If you want to see it, it is just before the mill (three storey house in the dip) it is on the left on the corner as you come from flint mountain.
I know there are some fish in there. Perch and roach.
Tue Mar 14 18:13:31 2006
Mark, Flint Mountain
Witch's pool is a delightful location not far from where I live. I often go up there with my dog. Sometimes the pool is low, especially during dry summer spells, but it fills up again in winter. Whether it's haunted or not is open to personal interpretation: however, at no time has the dog ever shown any signs of distress here, and people do say that animals are more sensitive to these phenomena than humans.
Incidentally, someone places a pair of red roses in the trees every year, to commemorate a loved one who clearly had a particular affection for the place.
Thu Mar 2 14:39:19 2006
Daz Price formerly of Bryn y Garreg
I lived in Flint Mountain for 27 years of my life, now at the age of 33 I have been a resident of Flint since marriage. "The witch's pool" is a very odd sort of small pool shadowed by a very old and large oak tree. I could walk from my old family home to this pool within minutes. It certainly does strike you as a calm and and also somewhat eerie kind of pool depending on the light. I remember my grandmother, Doris, formerly of the old mill, telling us stories of the pool years ago when we were young. Spinetinglers at that you can be assured. But however having said that I must have passed the old pool more times than I could ever even try and remember and none I can assure you were ever met with ghosts nor ghouls, probably only those which you imagine.
Thu Jan 12 21:34:08 2006
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