The Wizard of Werndew

Having collected up as much information as possible about Joseph Harries (1830-1890), the Wizard of Werndew, I have now published it as a short article on the Peoples Collection Wales web site:

https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/2062701

I have added 13 stories about Joseph that seem to be authentic -- but you never can tell when it comes to folk tales.........

Once upon a time I acted the role of Joseph Harries in a dramatic production in Newport called "The Enchanted Land".  That was fun........

The Joseph Harries as he is revealed in historical snippets is very different indeed from the character I invented for the purposes of the Angel Mountain saga:

Joseph Harries the Wizard

(Spoiler alert: the following gives information which new readers may prefer not to know.....)

Joseph Harries of Werndew is one of the key characters in the story.  He was born in 1761 and died in 1826 at the age of 65.  In Martha’s time, wizards (or “knowing men”) were greatly respected.  Joseph Harries really did exist -- there are a number of folk tales about him. In reality, it seems that he might not have been a very nice fellow! And he did live at Werndew, just above the village of Dinas on the north side of the mountain ridge. The cottage was, and still is, within walking distance of Carningli and Plas Ingli.

But in my mind, and in the stories, Joseph is a herbalist, mystic, apothecary, surgeon, psychiatrist, sleuth, diplomat, counsellor and master of the arts of observation and deduction. He is a scientist, as well as being a man of culture. He knows several foreign languages and is familiar with many of the esoteric books on which the world’s great religions are based. On occasion he retreats into his cottage before emerging, exhausted, with answers to very complicated questions; but there is always the possibility that he is a “charlatan” with a superior intellect and an ability to observe things and make deductions in the manner of a prototype Sherlock Holmes. Whether or not he is familiar with the denizens of the spirit world, he certainly does have a vast range of abilities, acquired during years of careful study under a variety of great teachers, whom he mentions every now and then. We cannot doubt that in some way he is the inheritor of the wisdom of the Druids, who were reputed to be active in this area at the time of the Roman invasion and who might have had a grove in Tycanol Wood.

Joseph is a stout and loyal friend to Martha, and a friend to many others as well. Sometimes he charges for his services, or over-charges in certain cases, on the basis that his services provided to the poor are generally free. So as well as being a Sherlock Holmes, he is also a Robin Hood figure, loved by the poor and hated by at least some of the rich. He is also Martha’s knight in shining armour, who rides to her defence from his place across the mountain whenever he senses that she is in distress or in danger.

But while Joseph is always good humoured, eccentric, witty and supportive of others, he is also a tragic figure. As the stories unfold he reveals very little about himself and his family background, for as he explains to Martha, it is in his own interests to maintain an air of mystery about who he is, where he has come from, and where he will go to when his task on earth is done. But in one sensitive moment he admits to Martha that he was once married and that he lost his wife and child in childbirth. He dies after a horrible accident, gored by a bull during the course of a routine visit requested by one of the estates. There is irony as well as tragedy in that, since Joseph says many times that he enjoys working with animals.

He loves Martha from the the very beginning of the stories. This might be suspected by the reader, but Martha never realizes it until Joseph confesses it to her when he is on his death-bed. Even then he can try to make light of it, and when he has gone to his grave Martha finds the situation very difficult to bear, blaming him for his foolishness in allowing his emotions to get the better of him, and blaming herself for her blindness as to the reality of the situation.

Joseph knows, from the beginning of their relationship, that his love for Martha will never be requited, because she is a member of the gentry and he is a disreputable wizard with nothing but a small cottage and a pretty garden to his name. In any case, he is almost old enough to be her father. So he loves and worships her from a distance, gaining comfort from their close and easy relationship, and some physical pleasure from their frequent embraces.

He is quite a mysterious figure, and by all accounts he has a little fan club all of his own!

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Did the real Joseph Harries have a "Big Book" or grimoire?  If so, were there incantations like those found in the papers of Dr John Harries of Cwrt y Cadno?

One of the incantations recorded by Dr John Harries, Cwrt y Cadno

The only first hand documentary material we know about is that which was recovered from a waste skip (yes, really!) by Dr Hywel Bowen-Perkins.  It consists of many pages from Dr Harries's case books, dealing with patients, symptoms, remedies and results.  Some patients died, but most seem to have recovered!   The local doctors clearly did not approve of Dr Harries and his dealings with patients across a wide area -- but Hywel says that the remedies prescribed and issued by Dr Harries were sensible and quite advanced, with no indications of "quackery".  In fact, Hywel thinks that his remedies were potentially far more effective than those prescribed by Dr Owen and other medical men in North Pembs.  There is evidence of good knowledge of herbal remedies and pharmaceutical practices, and not a trace of the occult.......

This is a typical page -- difficult to read but full of meticulously recorded detail:

Hywel is editing and annotating this treasure trove of material, and he hopes to publish it in some form in due course.  It also needs to be archived somewhere safe, as it is full of fascinating information relating to medical practices in the late 1800's.

On one page, in 1887, Joseph describes the ailments and treatment of "my dear brother David Harries" -- so maybe in later life they did get on well together, having gone through a rough patch earlier on......  That's family life for you!