Bala Lake

Gerald of Wales records the lake in his 12th century Itinerarium Cambriae under the name Penmelesmere.[4] In his 1804 translation of Gerald's work, Sir Richard Colt Hoare states that the lake was also referred to as Pymplwy meer deriving from "pum plwyf" (five parishes). This name refers to the parishes of Llandderfel, Llanfawr, Llanycil, Llanuwchllyn and Llangywer.[5] This name was also recorded by other English writers as "Pimble-mere" (in the 1813 Cambrian Travellers' Guide) and "Pemble Mere".[6][7]

The Modern Welsh name "Llyn Tegid" first appears in the Cronica Walliae, published in 1568.[8] The name is translated by George Borrow as "Lake of Beauty", where the name "Tegid" derives from teg, a common Welsh place name element meaning "fair" (as in pleasant or fine scenery).

The lake's name is often given as "Bala Lake" in English, after the nearby town of Bala. However, the word "bala" means "outlet of a lake", giving Bala Lake an impossible meaning. The usage of the English name in preference to the Welsh name is considered controversial by many.[9][10]

The mythological figure Tegid Foel (English: Bald Tegid) is associated with the lake. He was the husband of the goddess or witch Ceridwen and the place where his court stood is now beneath the waters of the lake. According to Taliesin, the 6th century CE early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin, Tegid Foel's entire court was drowned in one night. Although in legend, its lights and the little town around it can still be seen on moonlit nights.[16][17][18]

The drowning of the court of Tegid Foel also survives in a variant folktale. Near the lake was a walled spring that had to be secured and locked every night with a lid so that the spring water would not be corrupted by supernatural influences. For whatever reason, the man responsible for this task neglected his duty, though some say the Devil had found a way to open it. In any event, the water burst forth from the spring and completely drowned a nearby town, and this is how the lake was formed.[15]

Many of Wales' largest lakes feature in Welsh mythology, often associated with lake monsters, called afancod. The legend of such a creature in this lake was recorded in 1909, when the folklorist Marie Trevelyan collated a number of local legends including the story of a coiled dragon-like creature living in the lake some centuries earlier.[19]

Modern reports of sightings have been recorded since the 1920s. These include strange disruptions of the water's surface, disturbance of watercraft and the increase in local belief that a beast was living below the lake's surface. Of these sightings, the most notable was reported by the lake's manager Dowie Bowen in the 1970s. Bowen described seeing a crocodile-like creature, about eight feet (2.4 m) in length emerge from the water. Bowen's report was soon followed by another sighting in 1979, when a fisherman visiting the lake also described seeing a large hump-backed beast at the water's surface. By the 1990s the various sightings had attracted film crews and investigators. One Japanese crew spent three days investigating and filming the lake using specialist diving equipment and a submarine. However, no substantial evidence for the creature's existence has been found.[20][21]

The lake is already known to be home to a unique and extant species, the gwyniad. The survival of the gwyniad has led to discussions as to whether the lake could support a larger predator, and whether such a creature could survive in its isolated environment into modern times. Supporters for the potential existence of an afanc creature suggest that both the lake's size (40 metres deep and almost 6 km long) and the abundance of potential prey within it (pike, perch, brown trout and eels) would be able to support a single large predator or even a breeding population.[22]