In the belief of 18th century Monmouthshire, the Cŵn Wybir, the dogs of the sky, or Cŵn Annwn, the hounds of the otherworld, were heard at night crying through the air. Their voices were small when near and louder as they went away. They were a warning of death, and it was said that they ran along the road a funeral would later take.
Thomas Phillips of Trellech heard them. According to Wirt Sikes, who drew the story from Edmund Jones, he could make out among the smaller voices the deep voice of a great dog, the leader of the pack. What puzzled him was the route: the hounds were following a course that no funeral from Trellech would ever take. He had always heard that they went the way of the corpse, and this seemed to disprove it.
The answer came soon. A woman from a neighbouring parish died while she was at Trellech, and when she was carried back to be buried in her own parish church, the bearers took exactly the path the hounds had run.
The Great British Ghost Tour adds a second road ghost to the parish: a phantom coach and horses on the lane down from Trellech to the Wye at Bigsweir. No date or detail is given for it.
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