Y Meddyg Esgyrn


Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy parish church*
Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy parish church

Two boys, found on a deserted island off the coast of Anglesey, provide an enduring mystery. They could speak neither Welsh nor English and no one ever knew how they came to be marooned on that island. One soon died but the other grew up to have a remarkable talent for setting bones.

This was the start of a dynasty of bone setters who between them revolutionised medicine: traction for broken bones was one of their inventions, the Thomas Splint, which reduced casualties from broken legs from 80% to 8% is another, while a third descendant more or less invented the branch of medicine known as orthopaedic surgery.

The original bone setter is buried in the little churchyard depicted above.