The Legend of Ellesmere

Ellesmere lake. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

If you have ever travelled along the A495 between Whitchurch and Oswestry as I have many times when visiting family in Wales, the chances are that you have driven past this lake and not realised that there is a legend attached to it.

It is said that where the lake is situated there once was pasture land and prosperous farms but these were submerged due the the selfishness of one of the inhabitants who brought divine judgement down on them. According to Charlotte Burne who recorded many folklore stories throughout Shropshire in the 19th century an old woman named Mrs Ellis had a water pump on her property and she refused to sell or allow her neighbours any use of this pump, thus creating great hardship. One night it is said the well overflowed and the following morning no sign of the pump or the old woman could be found, all that could be seen was the huge lake named after her Elles-mere.

Another variation of this story concerns a farmer who  acquired a farm with a field where the mere is situated and that there was a well on this land which the locals used to use for free. The Farmer put a stop to this and then proceeded to charge people a halfpenny for each bucketful they filled, divine judgement caused the well to overflow one night creating the mere which can still be seen to this day.

One factor which may have helped to create this story amongst locals was that a paved causeway could be seen running out into the depths of the lake at one time, unfortunately it can no longer be seen but it does support the fact that there was dry land here at one time. Apparently back in the 1830s people could remember seeing this causeway and I wonder whether it has anything to do with an artificial island that was created in 1812 when soil was excavated from nearby Ellesmere House when the gardens were being made there, the soil was transported to the mere and an island was created named Moscow Island as Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Moscow in that year.

As with many lakes and Meres that can be found throughout North and Western England this was said to be inhabited by a creature known as Jenny Greenteeth who was said to catch young children with her long arms who strayed to close to the waters edge, she would then drag them underwater and eat them with her sharp green teeth, this legend was thought to have been created by parents who would tell their children about the story in the hope that they would stay away from the lakes and meres and thus avoid drowning.

Another view of Elle’s-mere. Photo by Gary Tacagni.