Protection and Healing
From folk remedies and charms to medicinal science, this display looks at how the ways we heal and protect ourselves have changed over time.
Carmarthenshire has long been known as a centre for health and well-being. Today, facilities like Pentre Awel in Llanelli offer a wide range of modern well-being amenities. However, in the Middle Ages, people would visit Myddfai in the Tywi Valley—home to a line of 'physicians' who produced herbal and folk remedies—to seek treatment. This exhibition explores how the way we care for ourselves and others in Carmarthenshire has changed over time.
You will see a mix of pharmacy jars and medicines, early scientific instruments and tools, as well as some strange and wonderful objects designed to protect people from evil or misfortune. Look out for the potato!
Openings in a house were often believed to be points where evil could enter the building. It was common practice to use concealed objects, protective charms, and 'witch marks' (a type of ancient apotropaic symbol, such as a wheel or a spiral) to lure witches away, distract them, or trap them. A vast number of charms—including shoes, nails, horseshoes, and old flat irons—can be found near the doors and chimneys of older Welsh buildings. You will see some of them on display here, too.
Trees and plants also offered protection. Black Bryony was used to break evil spells, while the vibrant red of the Rowan tree provided the best protection against magic. It was often planted to protect a house, or carried, attached to horse harnesses, or placed around doors and windows. Our Story Garden, opposite the museum entrance, will tell you more about the plants most treasured locally and their uses.
Roedd coed a phlanhigion hefyd yn rhoi amddiffyniad. Defnyddiwyd Bryony Du (Meipen Fair) i ddinistrio swynion drwg a chynigiodd coch bywiog y Mynydd Onnen (Rowan) yr amddiffyniad gorau rhag hud. Yn aml, byddai'n cael ei blannu i amddiffyn tŷ, neu'n cael ei gario, ei gysylltu â harnais ceffyl neu ei osod o amgylch drysau a ffenestri. Bydd ein Gardd Stori gyferbyn â mynedfa'r amgueddfa yn dweud mwy wrthych chi am y planhigion sy'n cael eu trysori fwyaf yn lleol a'u defnyddiau.
