Merlin’s Prophecy at Fishguard

When a French force landed at Pencaer near Fishguard on 22 February 1797, many wonderful stories grew up about it, and Chambers quotes some from the Tales and Traditions of Tenby. A tall, strong woman named Jemima Nicholas was said to have marched out with a pitchfork and brought twelve Frenchmen back to the guardhouse. It was also said that Merlin had foretold that when the French landed there they would drink of the waters of Finon Crib and cut down a hazel and a whitethorn growing by Finon Well, which they did. And a man named Enoch Lake was said to have dreamed of the landing thirty years before, and to have got up and seen the French troops come ashore and heard their brass drums.