{"id":629,"date":"2022-09-22T15:52:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T15:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triskelepublishing.com\/weirdstonewalk\/?page_id=629"},"modified":"2022-09-22T15:52:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T15:52:55","slug":"llyn-dhu-lindow-common","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/triskelepublishing.com\/weirdstonewalk\/llyn-dhu-lindow-common\/","title":{"rendered":"Llyn-dhu (Lindow Common)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Header Image Credit: Lindow Common SSSI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximate Location<\/strong>
OS Grid Reference: SJ 83434 81104
Latitude \/ Longitude: 53.326590N , -2.2501829W<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The underwater lair of Grimnir and the place where he retreated to after taking Firefrost from Susan in Weirdstone Chapter 6 – A Ring of Stones<\/em>. Fenodyree reported this to the children, based on information given to him by the kestrel Windhover, in the following chapter: “A mist crossed the plain a while since, as fast as a horse can gallop, and sank into Llyn-dhu<\/em>.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several weeks later, Colin and Susan met Cadellin at Castle Rock<\/a> and saw that the lake was still shrouded in fog (Weirdstone, Chapter 8 – Mist Over Llyn-dhu<\/em>). They then took their bikes over to Lindow Common<\/a>, near Wilmslow, to look more closely at the dreary scene:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…an expanse of damp ground, covered with scrub, heather and puddles… And in the middle of the common was a long lake of black peat-stained water. The children stood on the slimy shore. The air was dank and the scenery depressing. The common was encircled by a broken rash of houses, such as may be seen, like a ring of pink scum, on the outskirts of most of our towns and villages today<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garner, A., 1960 (1989 edition),\u00a0The Weirdstone of Brisingamen<\/em>. William Collins \/ Lions. London. p80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan Garner<\/a> revealed, in the introductory essay to the 50th anniversary edition of Weirdstone<\/em>, that as a child he used to float makeshift rafts on the Black Lake. However, he always found the site “gloomy and frightening<\/em>“. He went on to say that his interest in archaeology led him to suspect the potential for the survival of prehistoric bog bodies in the waterlogged peat. Although Weirdstone<\/em> was published in 1960, he considers that the discovery of the body of Lindow Man<\/a> in 1984 was Grimnir himself! Latterly, Thin Amren was a bog-dwelling character in his Booker-nominated novel of 2021 – Treacle Walker<\/a> – which was set at Blackden<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindow Common and its Black Lake (Llyn-dhu is the Welsh version of the place-name) is now a much different landscape to the one described by Garner in the 1950s. It is now maintained as a vibrant and diverse heathland nature reserve by the local authority ranger service. More information can be found here<\/a> (opens as a PDF). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Locations<\/a><\/blockquote>