Saint Eluned (or more properly, in Welsh, Eiliwedd; also known as Almedha, Alud, Anger and Eiluned) was a 5th century female Welsh saint from Brecon.
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Eluned is believed to have been one of the twenty-four daughters of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, a sub-Roman monarch, who had embraced the new faith of Christianity. Eluned became a Christian at a young age, but was pursued by a pagan prince. She spurned his advances and, like many women of her time, she ran away to keep from being forced into the relationship. She traveled to Llanddew where she was ousted by the locals, and then to Llanfilo. Here again, she was ousted by the inhabitants, on the pretext of thievery. She then travelled to Llechfaen (now Llechen), where she was again thrown out of the community. She would not find peace until her arrival at Slwch Tump, where the local lord gave her protection. However, Eluned's pursuer found her. When she ran from him, he chased her down the hill and beheaded her. Her head rolled down the hill and hit a stone. In that spot, a spring arose.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia[1] she is "the Luned of the "Mabinogion" (Lady Guest, I, 113-14, II, 164) and the Lynette of Tennyson's "Gareth and Lynette"."
When the Normans arrived in Brecknockshire in the 11th century, the well at Slwch was associated with healing and other miracles. Like so many other such sites, Eluned's well and chapel were destroyed during the Reformation. Welsh historian, Hugh Thomas in his essay on the history of Brecknockshire (1698), speaks of the chapel, in his time, as:
Her feast day is August 1, which was also the date a pagan harvest festival was celebrated.