Bomere Pool
Bomere Pool is situated in the English county of Shropshire about 4.7 miles (7.5 km) south of Shrewsbury between Condover and Bayston Hill. The pool has several legends attached to it and presented here is a version of a tale that tells how a monster fish acquired the sword of Wild Eadric, an Anglo-Saxon war leader who had fought against the Norman Conquest of Britain.
The Fish and the Sword
The story tells how the squire of Condover was out with his friends in a boat on Bomere Pool enjoying a day of fishing. One of them hooked an enormous fish and it took the help of all of the party to pull it into the boat. The squire and his friends were astounded by the sheer size of the fish and a heated discussion arose concerning the girth of the monster. A wager was then placed betting that the fish was bigger around the waist than the squire. In a bid to compare the diameter of the fish to himself the squire took off his belt and with a lot of squeezing managed to fasten it around the girth of the fish.
This caused the huge creature some discomfort and it began to flap about and struggle and managed to flip itself out of the boat and back into the water still wearing the squire’s belt and sword and swam away. Those who fish the pool say that if the giant fish was ever hooked it would draw the sword and cut itself free before it could be netted. Legend says that it was once netted but drew the sword and cut the net to pieces and escaped.
A net was made of iron links and the fish was caught and after a struggle brought to the land. However, once on land, the fish drew the sword and cut itself free slipping back into the pool. This frightened the fishermen so much no other attempts were made at catching it. Every now and then it was hooked but it quickly drew the sword and cut itself free. Sometimes it was seen lurking in the shallows near the banks with the sword and belt still firmly attached to it.
Wild Eadric
Legend tells that there will come a day when the fish will willingly give the sword up but only to the true heir of Condover Hall. The sword is said to be none other than the sword of Wild Eadric who fought against King William the Conqueror for many years. He was said to have been born at Condover Hall and was the true heir to the hall and its land and only he, or his descendant, could claim the sword. The story tells that he was defrauded out of his inheritance and ever since the hall had been unlucky to its owners. The monster fish was waiting dutifully for the return of the true heir to return the sword to its rightful owner.
© 05/10/2016 zteve t evans
References, Attributions and Further Reading
Copyright October 5th, 2016 zteve t evans
- Eadric the Wild – Wikipedia
- Condover Hall From Wikipedia
- Bomere Pool – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Bomere Pool | Mysterious Britain & Ireland
- The Monster Fish of Bomere Pool – Scribd
- Sacred Texts – English Fairy and Other Folk Tales – by Edwin Sidney Hartland – [1890] – Bohmere Pool
- Pixabay – Clker-Free-Vector-Images – CC0 Public Domain
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