Yr Eifl.
THE WONDERS OF ST. GOVAN’S CHAPEL.
In a ravine that cuts into the rugged cliffs by St. Govan’s Head on the south coast of Pembrokeshire, is a little chapel, once the hermitage of the saint whose name the headland bears. St. Govan was a disciple of St. David, and he had an adventurous life in this lonely part of Wales many hundreds of years ago.
The district was harried by pirates from the sea, and savage pagan tribesmen from the interior, and the very rocks and stones of his sea-girt dwelling place had often to come to the rescue of the holy man. But though he has been dead these fifteen hundred years the rocks, they say, still work wonders for the visitor who goes to the little chapel with a believing mind.
It is a tiny little place, twenty feet by twelve, with a stone tower up which runs a staircase of over fifty steps. Exactly how many there are you must try to count for yourself, for it is said that they vary, and never number the same going up as they do coming down. Once fierce pirates landed here and stole a silver bell that hung in the chapel.
Poor St. Govan was forced to hide from these wretches on many occasions. A friendly rock would then come to his aid—you may see it to-day to the left of the altar in the chapel. This rock would open, when the saint was pursued and disclose a hollow within just big enough to enclose his form. Then it would shut and hold the holy man in security until the danger was passed.
After St. Govan died, the rock remained part open as it is now, and they say that it will adapt itself to the size of anybody, who really believes in its powers, who wishes to enter it. And if, when you are in St. Govan’s hiding place, you make a wish, and do not change your mind before you have turned round to come out again, you will surely obtain your desires.