Pyllau afon Dwyfor
gan Edgar Owen
(o'r llyfr "O Botsiar I Gipar" - diolch i Carreg Gwalch)
Bu Llew Osmond yn gyfrifol am roi enwau ar rai o'r pyllau, neu'r llynnoedd, o gwmpas Pensarn. I lawr yng nghoed Trefan (neu'r Bregill fel y byddem yn galw'r lle) mae yna garreg fawr a thwll mawr oddi tani. Mushroom Rock y galwai Llew hi. Ychydig yn nes i fyny mae Llyn Dyfrgi. Mae carreg go fawr yma eto, ac yn aml iawn byddai dyfrgi i'w weld arni. Mi welais bedwar ohonynt yno gyda'i gilydd un bore.
Wedyn, mae Pwll Rees, a gafodd yr enw am fod D.J.Rees y trydanwr wedi bachu sgodyn go fawr ynddo un prynhawn. Wrth geisio ei lanio mi bwdodd y sgodyn ac aeth i orwedd ar wely'r afon. Gwelais rai eraill yn gwneud felly sawl tro. Os yw sgodyn yn gwneud hyn, mae'n anodd eithriadol ei symud ac fe fu'r hen Rees yno am tua dwyawr neu ragor yn disgwl i rywun ddod heibio. Nid wyf yn siwr p'run ai 'nhad ynteu Emrys fy mrawd a ddaeth gan lwyddo i roi pwniad i'r sgodyn. Yna, ar ôl ychydig, llwyddodd Rees i'w gael i'r lan. Felly, bedyddiodd Llew y pwll, yn Bwll Rees. Mae yna hefyd lyn o'r enw Llyn Dan Bont Llew. Un tro, adeiladodd Llew bont dros yr afon o Bensarn i Dynannau yn y fan yma; dwy "weiar rôp" rhyw lathen oddi wrth ei gilydd ar draws yr afon ac yna gosod polion oddi tanynt gyda weiren lefn. Bu'r bont yno am tua thair blynedd cyn i li mawr ei sgubo i ffwrdd oddi yno. Lawer gwaith y bu imi groesi'r bont â'm traed yn y dwr pan oedd lli uchel yn yr afon. Wrth edrych'nôl, yr oedd yn beth ffôl i'w wneud, ond roeddwn yn ifanc ac yn meddwl dim am perygl ar y pryd.
Yr ochr uchaf o dipyn i bont y ffordd fawr, Pont Rhydybenllig, roedd yna lyn nad oedd neb wedi llwyddo i'w sgota ers blynyddoedd. Gan fod tair coeden go fawr wedi disgyn i'r dwr yr oedd yn anodd ei sgota, a'r unig obaith o fedru gwneud hynny oedd ar li gyda phry genwair, reit wrth y lan ger y Felin. Aeth fy nhad yno un diwrnod efo llif draws ac ar ôl treulio oriau lawer yn llifio a chlirio roedd y llyn yn glir am y tro cyntaf ers blynyddoedd, ac fe fedyddiodd Llew y llyn yn Llyn Guto Dafis. Rhyw flwyddyn yn ddiweddarach, daliodd y diweddar Ifor Williams (Ifor Post) sgodyn deg pwys yn y llyn, a hwnnw, medda fo, oedd y sgodyn mywaf iddo ei ddal erioed.
Bydd enwau'r llynnoedd yn parhau o genhedlaeth i genhedlaeth, neu tra bydd sgota ar afon Dwyfor a thra bydd y sgotwyr hynny'n dal i siarad Cymraeg. Ond pwy, tybed, fydd yn gwybod am y gwr a roddodd enwau i'r llynnoedd a pham y rhoddwyd yr enwau hynny arnynt. Gallaf weld, yn llygad fy meddwl, ddau sgotwr ar lan Pwll Rees, un yn dweud wrth y llall, "Pwll Rees ydi hwn". A'r llall yn gofyn, "Pam Pwll Rees?" A'r cyntaf yn ateb, "Wn i Ddim. Mae'n sîwr mai fan yma yr oedd rhywun o'r enw Rees yn sgota ers talwm". Ac mae'n sîwr mai rhywbeth tebyg a ddywedant am Guto Dafis. Ond beth fydd yr eglurhad am Lyn Dan Bont Llew tybed? Efallai y gwnânt rhyw stori am lew yn croesi'r afon ac y daw stori'r llew yn gymaint rhan o afon Dwyfor ag y mar stori Gelert ar lan y Glaslyn ym Meddgelert. Efallai fy mod yn siariad drwy fy het, ond sawl tro fydd ar stori mewn can mlynedd?
Wedi dweud hyn, yr wyf innau, i raddau, yn yr un twll â'r ddau sgotwr dychmygol ar lan Pwll Rees. Gofynnaf i mi fy hun, pam Henbont, Noddlyn ac Allt Dyfan? Pam Cae Criw a Llyn Glas ac amryw o enwau eraill? (tudalen 14 - 16).
Afon Dwyfor's Pools by Edgar Owen (published by Carreg Gwalch - ISBN 0-86381-422-0)
Llew Osmond named a number of pools on the river Dwyfor around Pensarn. In the Trefan woods (or Bregill as we call the place) Llew called the pool with a large rock and a chamber underneath, Mushroom Rock. Just upstream from this is Otters pool. Often otters can be seen here around it's large rock and I remember one morning, seeing four together playing.
Pwll Rees (Rees's Pool) got it's name because one afternoon the electrician D.J. Rees hooked a good sized fish. When he tried to land the fish, it sulked and lay immovable on the bed of the river. I have seen this happen many times. If the fish behaves like this it becomes very difficult to shift and old Rees waited two hours or more hoping for someone to come past to help him. I am not sure whether it was my father or my brother Emrys who came by and succeeded in helping. After a while Rees succeeded in landing it. After this Llew christened the pool Pwll Rees. Nearby by there is another pool called Llyn Dan Bont Llew (the pool below Llew's Bridge). At one time Llew built a bridge across the river from Pensarn to Dynannau with two wire ropes about a yard across the river and then poles laid underneath held with taught wires. The bridge was there for about three years until a large flood washed it away. Many times I used this bridge to cross the river and when the river was high my feet were often in the water. Looking back, it was a stupid thing to do, but I was young and didn't think of the dangers at the time.
On the upper side of Rhydybenllig Bridge, there is a pool that no one had succeeded in fishing for years. It was very difficult to fish as three large trees had fallen across the river and the only way was to use a worm close to the bank when the river was in flood near the Mill. One day my father went there with a bow saw and after spending hours sawing and clearing, the pool was fishable for the first time for years,after this Llew christened it Llyn Guto Dafis. A year later, the late Ifor Williams (Ifor Post) caught a ten pound fish here, the largest fish he had ever caught.
The names of pools are passed down from one generation to the next, or as long as people fish the Dwyfor and fishermen can still speak Welsh. But who, perhaps, will know the persons who named these pools and why? I can just imagine two fishermen on the banks of Pwll Rees, one saying to the other, "This is Pwll Rees", and the other asking "Why Pwll Rees?" The first answering "I don't know. I am sure it was here that someone of the name Rees fished a long time ago". And I am sure that it will be similar explanation about Llyn Guto Dafis. What then would be the explanation for Llyn Dan Bont Llew (the pool below Llew's Bridge)? Possibly they might make a story about a lion crossing the river and this would become as much a part of the history of afon Dwyfor as the story of Gelert on the banks of the Glaslyn in Beddgelert (Gelert's grave). Perhaps I am talking nonsense, but how many versions of the real truth will there be in one hundred years time?
After saying this, I am to some extent in the same predicament as the two fishermen on the banks of Pwll Rees. I ask myself why Henbont (the old bridge), Noddlyn and Allt Dyfan? Why Cae Criw and Llyn Glas (the blue pool) and all the other names of pools on the river.