Tucked on the hillside on the Gwernaffield road from Mold, stands The Allelulia Monument. As a child, I’d always wonder what it was as it is so visible from the road and looks quite out of place. I happened to mention my curiosity to my dad, and he regaled to me the following tale.

Some time in the 5th century, a small Christian village was being harassed by the pagan Picts and Saxons. It was around this time that the Roman Empire was running into problems and could no longer defend Britain from ever increasing attacks, and so the Picts and Saxons took this prime opportunity to begin their offensive.  

Sometime after Easter, the small village learned of an impending plot to slaughter them all. They called upon Germanus for help, a visiting bishop who was visiting Britain to steer the country away from a growing form of christianity called Pelagianism. Germanus was a highly educated man who had studied civil law in Rome, and before adopting church life had occupied senior positions in government.  Germanus thought quickly and gathered the village together to take the higher ground, knowing this would give them an advantage. The valley he took them to was renowned for having a peculiar echo, and as the enemy rode into the valley the village erupted in cries of “Hallelujah!”  “Hallelujah!” “Hallelujah!”. The sound echoed across the valley, and the visiting enemy fled in fear that they were about to be slaughtered by the largest army in the land. On that day, the Britons were victorious and thus the monument stands as a testament to that victory.

But is this where the events really took place? 

The monument itself was erected by Nehemiah Griffiths of Rhual in 1736, and is Grade II listed. Many people over the years have questioned whether this is the specific site of the events of the Alleluia victory, or whether it was an early attempt at tourism. So much of our history has been lost from historical records that it exists only in local knowledge, passed down from generation to generation and so you may wish to visit the monument itself to see if you can hear the echoes of the cries of “Hallelujah!”.