“This is a story that sounds almost impossible – a legend passed down, documented in Vatican records, and rooted right here on this hillside. Whether you believe in miracles or not, what happened to William Cragh is one of the most extraordinary tales in Swansea’s history.”

The year was 1290. Swansea was a frontier town – ruled by Norman lords, watched over by its mighty castle, and surrounded by tension between English power and Welsh resistance.

Among the rebels was a young Welshman named William Cragh, sometimes called William ap Rhys, or “Scabby William” in the old records. He was only about twenty years old. Poor. Landless. Angry. He joined a revolt against the English lords, taking part in attacks on castles and towns, including here in Swansea.

He was captured, along with a fellow rebel, and sentenced to death by hanging on North Hill, not far from where you’re standing.

He was hanged once. Then the gallows beam snapped, dropping him to the ground. They hanged him again.

His body was taken down, limp and lifeless.

But then… something strange happened.

Lady Mary de Braose, wife of the ruling lord, asked for William’s body. Not out of romance, they didn’t even speak the same language, but perhaps out of pity. She took his body to the chapel that once stood on this very site: St John-juxta-Swansea.

What happened next is drawn from nine eyewitness accounts, collected by the Vatican in 1307 during the canonisation process for St Thomas de Cantilupe, a bishop they believed had performed a miracle through prayer.

According to these records, William’s body was placed on a wheel and carried through the streets to the chapel. He was so limp and damaged that even a healthy man, it was said, would have died from the journey. But Lady Mary and her household prayed, urgently, tearfully, invoking the name of Saint Thomas.

And then… William began to stir. His limbs twitched. His eyes opened. He gasped for breath. Within hours, he was fully awake. Within days, he was walking.

One witness claimed he sat up during his own burial and spoke. Others say he revived inside a nearby house. But either way, he lived.

William Cragh was later taken before the lord who had ordered his execution. And instead of being punished again, he was pardoned, because, the lord said, “God has clearly restored him. I won’t undo that.”

William went on to walk to Hereford to pray at the tomb of St Thomas. His recovery became one of 38 documented miracles used to confirm Thomas’s sainthood in 1322.

This story, half-miracle, half-mystery, happened right here, in this graveyard, in this community.

Historians still debate the details. Was he really dead? Was it divine intervention, or a medical anomaly? We may never know for sure.

But what we do know is this:

In a time of violence and vengeance, someone chose mercy.

In a time of death, someone chose prayer.

In a time of division, someone chose grace.

And somehow, a man believed to be beyond saving, lived again.

That’s the kind of story we carry in Greenhill. A story of second chances. Of bodies broken and restored. Of life where death was expected.

So whatever you believe about miracles… maybe this one is worth carrying with you, as a symbol of the hope that still lingers in this place.