Mochdref was a village located in a valley in Wales. By the early 20th century, the village was very small, having around twenty houses, a jail and a local inn, The Purple Dragon.
History[]
According to a local folk legend, the mythical figure Taliesin went to the valley after the fall of Camelot. He would often take the form of an eagle and observe the knights disporting themselves during which he occasionally gazed upon Sir Perceval and the Holy Grail in his hermitage.
During an excursion to Wales in the summer of 1920, Henry Jones, Sr. stumbled upon Mochdref while researching the Grail. To entice Celtic legends about the Grail out of the locals, Jones socialized with them, quoting Taliesin's verses and engaging in drinking contests. Indeed, a shepherd and a folklorist sung him some Welsh verses and Jones noted down those describing the Grail. Eventually Jones found himself drunk, standing on the bar singing Yale college songs to a dozen attendants, got arrested and woke the next morning in jail. On his way to pay Jones's fee, Marcus Brody got lost and it took him most of the next morning to find the jail.
Behind the scenes[]
The name of the village seems to mean "pig-town" (moch + tref) in Welsh.