Skirrid history and legends

What’s in a name?

The name ‘Skirrid’ is derived from the Welsh ‘Ysgyryd’, which means to shake or tremble. It’s easy to see where this name came from, with the massive landslide on the hill’s northern tip. The Skirrid is still prone to small mud flows and landslides today. The word ‘fawr’ translates as big or large. 

St Michael's Chapel

The now ruined chapel of St Michael’s perched on the top of the summit of the Skirrid was used by Roman Catholics during and after the Reformation. Services were held at the chapel until at least 1680, when John Arnold of Llanvihangel Court said he had seen ‘a hundred papists meet on top of this hill called St Michael’s Mount where there is frequent meetings, and, eight or ten times in the year, sometimes sermons are preached there’. 

The Holy Mountain

The Skirrid is known locally as ‘the Holy Mountain’. This may have come from two sources. The first is the now-ruined chapel of St Michael’s on the summit, which was used by Roman Catholics after the Reformation. 

The second is from a popular legend, which tells how the dramatic landslide on the north of the mountain was caused by an earthquake or lightning strike at the moment of the crucifixion of Jesus. 

There was a local tradition that earth from the Skirrid was holy and especially fertile, and it was taken away to be scattered on fields, on coffins, and in the foundations of churches. Pilgrimages were made to the summit, especially on Michaelmas Eve.