5th or 6th century. According to tradition, Saint Derfel was a great
Welsh
soldier who fought at the Battle of Camlan (537), where King Arthur was
killed. He may have been a monk and abbot at Bardsey and later a
solitary at Llanderfel, Merionethshire, Wales, thus becoming its founder
and patron. A wooden statue of him mounted on a horse and holding a
staff was greatly venerated in the church at Llanderfel until it was
used for firewood in the burning of John Forest, Queen Catherine of
Aragon's confessor, at Smithfield, England. The remains of Derfel's
staff and horse can be seen in Llanderfel
(
Attwater2,
Benedictines,
Delaney,
Farmer).