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Collections Historical and Archaeological Montgomeryshire is in Prehistory.
Books, Prehistory, Collections Historical and Archaeological Montgomeryshire Volume 1868 
Legends connected with the neighbourhood of Corndon.
Extract from a Paper by Thomas Wright, Esq., P.B.S., &C, &C
On high ground at the foot of the mountain of Corndon, and in view of Shelve Hill, the site of the Roman lead mines, there is an interesting monument of the class which are commonly, though without any reason, called druidical circles, which is popularly named Mitchell's fold [Map], and sometimes Madge's fold. The peasantry of the neighbourhood tell us that this district, without being more fertile, was once more populous that it is at present, and that the population were kept from starvation by a benevolent being that came nightly, in the shape of a white cow, and abundantly supplied the inhabitants with milk. A condition, however, was attached to the comparative happiness of this people; and this was, that if the cow was milked dry, which, it appears, could not happen so long as each person took only a pailful at a time, she would disappear for ever, and the people would be reduced to extreme misery.
Now, there lived at the same time a malevolent old witch, who was envious of the flourishing condition of the people of this neighbourhood, and meditated continually on the means of overthrowing it. Her name was Mitchell. One night she went with the others, apparently one of the peasantry of the neighbourhood, but carried a pail with a sieve for the bottom. T he milk, of course, passed through this, and the cow, who always allowed herself to be milked by each person till the pail was full, let Mitchell go on milking till at last she became dry. The condition was immediately fulfilled, and the population of this now solitary district, died miserably for the want of their usual food; but divine vengeance fell upon the wicked hag, who was turned to a stone on this lofty hill, and the circle of stones was raised to imprison her. Hence it is called Mitchell's fold. I asked a woman of the locality, who had just given me a rather imperfect version of the legend, if she knew what ultimately became of the cow? and she replied, '• Why, yes, sir; I have heard that it was turned into a dun cow, and that it went away a great distance from henee to the Earl of Warwick." So that here, in this retired dis¬ trict, we find a legend in which allusion is made to the popular mediaeval romance of Guy of Warwick and the dun cow of Dunsmore. The cow, it may be remarked, acts a considerable part in the mythology of different races and peoples.
In an adjoining parish, that of Hyssington, a bull appears as the hero of a very extraordinary legend which is connected with the Church. It must be remarked that breaches, or cracks, appear at some period to have been made in the walls of Hyssington Church. The origin of the bull is told differently. According to some, the animal wasa calf, which went on growing larger and larger until its owner was obliged to abandon it, beauss he had neither food enough to satisfy its hunger nor a stablo large enough to hold it. According to another account, and this, I believe, is the one generally received, the bull was a wicked squire who lived at Bagley, and who treated his people very tyranically, keeping them to work over hours, swearing violently at them, and giving them nothing to drink. At length one of them in a fit of anger wished his master were turned into a bull, and a bull he immediately became; but the change was by no means beneficial to the neighbourhood, for the animal, having soon attained to un enormous magnitude, did more mischief among the people than a hundred wicked squires. Now, all this happened before there were churches or parsons in this part of the country, so that it was left entirely at the marcy of the monstrous bull; until after some time a church was built at Hyssinglow, and the people thought that if they could get the parson to talk to the bull, the Iatter, perhaps, might be rendered harmless. Accordingly, they assembled all round him for miles, and drew closer and closer till they brought him up towards the church, the parson all the while reading texts to him; and as the bull heard them he shrank and shrank and be came smaller and smaller. In this manner towards evening lie became so small and tame that they drove him into the church, and the parson went into the pulpit and began reading his sermon, and as he read on, the beast became smaller and smaller. But, now, night approached, and, unfortunately, only a small bit of candle eould be found, and, although the parson read as fast as he could, it was burnt out before he could get to the end of the sermon. No sooner was the parson thus obliged to stop reading than the bull, which had been by this time reduced to the size of a dog, began to grow again so rapidly that in a very short time he was bigger than ever, so much so indeed that the church would not hold him without the walls cracking, and that was the cause of all the cracks which are still visible in the walls of Hyssington Church. As the bull, however, could not now escape by the door, he stuck fast in the church, and remained there all night. But, next morning, the parson came again, and went through the same process ef reading with the same effect, and, as the people had taken care by this time to procure candles enough, the bull had no chance of escape; but towards midnight he had become small enough to so safely stowed away, and as there was some diflicuity in finding a receptacle for him, one of the bystanders was obliged to give up his boot, in which the terrible bull was bound up, and buried deep under the doorstone, where he lies to this day; and there are people who still believe that if anyone were to loosen the stone the monster would come forth bigger and fiercer than ever, and that he could never be laid again, Ridiculous as this story may appear in its present for, it is very probable that it represents some ancient mythic legend of our primwval forefathers, in whose popular mythology the incident of a small and apparently contemptible animal growing with great rapidity into an enormous and destructive monster is not of unfrequent occurrence. We hear an instance of it in the "Laidly Worm" of Lambton.
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Books, Prehistory, Collections Historical and Archaeological MontgomeryshireVolume 34 1907
Mitchell's Fold Stone Circle [Map]
Mitchell's Fold is a stone circle, about 30 yards from side to side, on a lonely part of Middleton Hill (an off-shoot of Corndon); it is barely half-a-mile from the Churchstoke boundary. At present there are 18 stones there: the biggest is over 7 feet in height. Several of these stones appear to have been disturbed and broken; and, doubtless, in the days of old, other stones were there, as there are evidences of their removal. This circle is, unquestionably, of Druidical origin; and, if Tacitus is right, its frequenters must have witnessed the flow of human blood over its central stone and heard the dying groans of its victims. But, for hundreds of years beyond recall, its chief local interest has been the well-known legend of the Fairy Cow. The story goes that in a time of very great famine a good Fairy brought a white cow for the relief of the people of this hilly district. Every morning and evening the cow yielded a supply of milk to all who milked her, and the vessels used for milking purposes were always filled. After a time, however, an old Witch-—Mitchell by name—took a riddle1 as a milking pail, and the cow left the district in disgust. As a punishment the Witch was turned (by the Fairies, I suppose), into a pillar of stone. And there she will for ever remain, imprisoned and surrounded by the "sentinel" stones.
Note 1. A "riddle"; a large coarse sieve.
