Below the car park at St Govan's Head a flight of worn stone steps drops down a gully in the limestone cliff to a tiny stone chapel, jammed into the rock just above the sea. It is one of the most atmospheric places on the Pembrokeshire coast, and it is full of legend.
Govan, the stories say, was a holy man of the fifth or sixth century. Pursued along this coast by pirates, he found a crack in the cliff, and the rock opened to take him in and closed round him until the danger had passed. Visitors are shown the marks his ribs pressed into the stone. Grateful, he stayed, living in the cleft, fishing, and drinking from a spring nearby. He had a silver bell with which to warn people when raiders came. Pirates stole it, but a storm wrecked their ship before they could get away, and angels carried the bell back and sealed it inside a rock on the shore. The Bell Rock, it is said, rings a thousand times louder than any bell when struck.
Two more traditions go with the place. The steps down to the chapel will never give the same count going down as coming up. And a wish made while standing in the cleft where Govan hid will come true, as long as you do not change your mind before you turn round. A local paranormal website adds lights and screams seen and heard on the cliffs, and the figures of children in the cave, but those are recent anecdotes; the older legends are the heart of the place.
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