HEALING STONES.
There is at the present day preserved at Gilfachwen, Llandyssul, by D. J. Lloyd, Esq., a small white stone, not quite the size of an egg. The stone is comparatively soft, and was supposed to possess healing power to cure people bitten by mad dogs. A little substance of the stone was scraped off, and mixed with milk and given as a dose to the patients. In years gone by—though not now—people believed so much in this stone that some travelled long distances to Gilfachwen; but how many of them were cured I have not been able to discover. The stone is called Llaethfaen, and when I visited Gilfachwen about five years ago, Mr. Lloyd showed me the interesting relic, and a few weeks afterwards I received from the same gentleman, the following communication by post, with an enclosed copy of his late brother’s MS. concerning the stone:—
Gilfachwen,
Llandyssul,
Cardiganshire,
Feb. 20th, 1905.
Sir,—
I send you, as promised, a copy of all my late brother knew about the Llaethfaen. He died in 1889, but the paper was written many years before his death. There is no record of where the stone was found, or how it came to the Rev. D. Bowen’s hands.
I remain,
Yours truly,
D. J. LLOYD.
The following is a copy of the paper written by the late Mr. John Lloyd:—