What is it with the people of Llandrillo – why do they hate camels so much?
Because if you’re a camel and you’re thinking of touring north Wales, this village, between Bala and Corwen, is one place you should try to stay well clear of.
If you don’t, you could find yourself the latest victim of the Llandrillo camel ripper – hacked to bits and thrown into a ditch. This is what appears to have happened to one camel in 1872.
This is from a court record held by the Gwynedd Archive which states:
On 30 August 1872, at the Justice Room, Corwen, John Day was convicted of cutting up and depositing the body of a camel in an exposed situation near the turnpike road between Corwen and Bala, in the parish of Llandrillo-yn-Edeirnion. He was ordered to pay a fine of five shillings and one pound nineteen shillings costs, and was imprisoned at Dolgellau gaol for fourteen days with hard labour.
Weird. What was a camel doing in Llandrillo in 1872? Was it a mistranslation with most locals speaking Welsh and court proceedings being in English? Was it a visiting circus?
Whatever; one thing’s for sure – the people of Llandrillo hate camels.
