%}i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,* x 
 
 H -*i 
 
 ,Oo. 
 
 
 ■- ^ 
 
 C^ * k "> ,0' 
 
 </' \\ 
 
 
 
 oN 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 #'% 
 
 
 
 * o>' 
 
 
 
 
 
 *3> V 
 
 ", *"*<& 
 
 < 
 
 o. * 
 
 .# » c 
 
 
 O0^ 
 
 
 v 
 
 
 .0 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 ^ */■•;■ 
 
 
 ^0o. 
 
 
 # •% 
 
 «*' 
 
 c^ y 
 
 
 
 
 8 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 4< 
 
 *> 
 
 ?"* 
 
 - 
 
 . <* ' ° ♦ * * A N 
 
 <Cp .cV 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 
 HU>- 
 
 
 
 A ' C > 
 
 * a*' 
 
 
 <V 
 
 \ 
 
 S - V ° . -a A .'i V . 
 
 
 ' 
 
 * , o 
 
 
 *£_ .V 
 
 l> < 
 

 
 W 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 <X X 
 
 W 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 
^^u^^^&^QMS^^ 
 
 Skrtcfied on the sp>-t brJ.T.Barba: 
 
 .1,/ii.Mit,:/ tr IKXdtatt. 
 
 . dJwitem J^hlrre ?/ . 
 
A 
 
 T O U 
 
 THROUGHOUT 
 
 SOUTH WALES 
 
 AND 
 
 MONMOUTHSHIRE. 
 
 COMPREHENDING 
 
 A GENERAL SURVEY 
 
 OP THE 
 
 PICTURESCtUE SCENERY, REMAINS OF ANTIQUITY, HISTORICAL 
 
 EVENTS, PECULIAR MANNERS, AND COMMERCIAL SITUATIONS, 
 
 ©F THAT INTERESTING PORTION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 By J. T. BARBER, F.S.A. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED "WITH A MAP AND TWENTY VIEWS, ENGRAVE© 
 FROM DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY J, NICHOLS AND SON, RED LION PASSAGE, 
 FLEET STREET^ 
 
 FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVJES, STRAND. 
 
 1803* 
 
.• - • • • 
 
 •ox 
 
( Si ) 
 
 To RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, Esq. M.P. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 HIGHLY admiring thai " transcendant 
 genius and ability which renders you conspi- 
 cuous among the foremost characters of the 
 age ; nor less venerating that manly inde- 
 pendence which has dignified your political 
 career, even under circumstances the most 
 trying; it must be my regret, in dedicating 
 this Work to you, that it is not more suitable to 
 the rank of merit to which it is inscribed. 
 
 I am., SIR, 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant 9 
 
 f T\ BARBER. 
 
 Sputhum pton-slreet . Strand, 
 London, Feb. 15, 1S03, 
 
 /3 
 
( v ) 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT, 
 
 THE intention of this Work is, to point 
 out and describe such objects as command 
 general interest throughout the country. — 
 The usual plan of Tours only comprising 
 a particular route, unless that precise line 
 be retraced, a Tourist is obliged to encum- 
 ber himself with several books, to enable 
 him to gain all the information that he 
 requires. The Author has felt this in- 
 convenience in several excursions through 
 Great Britain ; and has therefore selected 
 from the best authorities an account of those 
 few parts which he had not an opportunity of 
 visiting; in order that this Work may ex- 
 hibit a general survey of Southern Cambria. 
 
 a 3 
 
( vii ) 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 General Observations— A Sketch of Welch History — 
 Ancient. Buildings - 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Voyage from Bristol to Swansea— -Swansea Castle- 
 Manufactories — Welch Bathing — Ostermouth — Pen- 
 rice; and Pennarth Castles — Seat of Mr. Talbot — 
 Arthur's Stone, a large Cromlech - 14 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Loughor — Llanelly — Pembree-hill — Kidwelly, and its 
 Castle - - - - 31 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Caermarthen — Female Labourers — Llanstephan Castle— 
 A Ford — Laugharne Castle — Fine Marine Views — 
 New Inn — Tenby - - - 36 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Manorbeer Castle — An Adventure — A Dilemma — Ca- 
 rew Castle — Lawrenny — Pembroke — Its Castle — 
 Lamphey Court — Stackpole Court — Bosherston 
 Meer • ... „ - 48 
 
 a 4 CHAP. 
 
vlli CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Little England beyond Wales — Milford-haven— Welch 
 Beauties — Haverfordwest Fair— The Town, Castle, 
 and Priory — Picton Castle — Hubberston — Milford 68 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Journey over the Precelly Mountain to Cardigan — Ex- 
 tensive Prospect — Cardigan — St. Dogmael's Priory 
 — Another Route from Haverfordwest to Cardigan, 
 by St. David's — The Cathedral of St. David's — 
 Grand Ruins of its Palace— A Loggan, or Rocking 
 Stone — Ramsay Island — Fishguard — Newport — 
 Kilgarran Castle— Salmon Leap — Newcastle 81 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Llanarth — Aberaeron — Llansansfried — Llanrhystid— 
 An Enquiry into a strange asserted Custom relating 
 to the Mode of Courtship in Wales — Llanbadarn-vawr 
 ** Aberistwyth, and its Castle - "97 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Barrier of North and South Wales — The Devil's Bridge 
 —Grand Cataract of the Mynach — Cwra Ystwith 
 Hills — Hafod — Ancient Encampments — Starflour 
 Abbey — Tregarron— -Roman Antiquities at Llan- 
 dewi Brevi — Lampeter — Llansawel — Edwin's Ford 
 — Llandilo - - - - -lie 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Charming Vale of Towey— Dinevawr Castle—Golden 
 Grove — Grongar Hill— Middleton Hall — Careg- . 
 
 cannon 
 
CO NTENTS, ix 
 
 Page 
 cannon Castle— Reflections at a Ford — Glenheir Wa- 
 terfall — An Accident— Pont ar Dulas — Return to 
 Swansea - - - j- * 128 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Neath Abbey, Town, and Castle— The Knoll— Briton 
 Ferry— Funereal Rites — Aberavon — Margam — Ab- 
 bey Ruin — Pile - * - 145 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Ogmore Castle — Ewenny Priory— Dunraven House — 
 St. Donatt's Castle — Llanbithian Castle — Cow- 
 bridge — Penline Castle — Coity Castle — Llantrissent 
 — Benighted Ramble to Pont-y-Pridd — Water-falls 158 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Scenery of the TafTe — Stupendous Ruins of Caerphilly 
 Castle — The Leaning Tower — Fine View from 
 Thornhill — Cardiff Castle — Ecclesiastical Decay of 
 Landaff— The Cathedral - ~ - fjz 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Entrance of Monmouthshire — Ancient Encampments — 
 Castleton — Tredegar Park — Newport — Church and 
 Castle — Excursion to JVIachen Place — Picturesque 
 View from Christ Church— Gold Cliff— Caerleon's 
 Antiquities — Encampments— Lord Herbert of Cher- 
 bury — Lantarnam — Langibby Castle - 185 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Usk— Castle and Church — Excursion to Raglan — Ele- 
 gant Ruins of Raglan Castle— Views from the De- 
 vaudon — Roman Antiquities at Caerwent — Tesse- 
 lated Pavement - 208 
 
 CHAP. 
 
s CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Wentwood Forest—Excursion to the Castles of Din- 
 ham -j Lanvair ; Striguil ; Pencoed ; and Penhow — 
 comprising extensive Views from the Pencamawr, 
 &c.— Caldecot Castle — A Tale of other Times— New 
 Passage — Sudbrook Encampment — and Chapel — St. 
 Pierre — Mathern Palace — Moinscourt - - 227 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Chepstow — Fine Scenery of its Vicinage—The Castle — 
 Church, and Bridge — Piercefield — Character of the 
 late Mr. Morris - - 246 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Tmtern Abbey — Iron Works — Scenery of the Wye to 
 Monmouth — Old Tintern — Brook's Weir — Landago 
 — Redbrook - - 26$ 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Monmouth — Church. Priory, and Castle — The Kymin 
 — Wonastow House — Treowen — Troy House — Tre- 
 lech — Perthir — Newcastle — Scren frith Castle — 
 Grossmont Castle — John of Kent - - 279 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Abbey of Grace- dieu — Sir David Gam — White Castle — 
 Abergavenny Hills — The Town, Castle, and Church 300 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 Werndee— Family Pride— Lanthony Abbey— Old Castle 312 
 
 CHAP. XXT. 
 
 Re -entrance of South Wales — Crickhowell — Tretower 
 — Brecon Castle.and Priory— Road to Llandovery — • 
 Trecastle — Pass of Cwm-dur — Llandovery Castle — . 
 
 Road 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 Page 
 Road from Brecon to Hereford — Brunlyss Castle — 
 Female Vengeance — Hay— -Clifford Castle $2$ 
 
 C H A P. XXII. 
 
 !Bualt — Prince Llewelyn — Rhayder-gowy — Caractacus's 
 Camp — Offa's Dyke — Knighton — Presteign — Old and. 
 New Radnor — Llandrindod Wells - - $55 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 Goodrich Castle and Priory— Wilton Castle — Scenery of 
 the Wye from Ross to Monmouth— Ross — Glou- 
 cester - - - 347 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Tag& 66j for Lamphey Castle., read Lamphey Court* 
 68 and 80, for Habberston, read Hubberston, 
 98, after horizon, read the sea. 
 iji, zb the note, for Drushvyn, read Gruslwyn, 
 
( xiii ) 
 
 DIRECTIONS for the PLATES. 
 
 Tintern Abbey to face the Title Page. 
 
 »■ The Map - before the Introduction. 
 
 Kidwelly Castle - to face page 34 
 
 Llanstephan Castle - - - 41 
 
 Manorbeer Castle 48 
 
 Carew Castle - - - 61 
 
 Pembroke Castle - 65 
 
 St. Dogmael's Priory - - 86 
 
 Kilgarran Castle - - '93 
 
 The Devil's Bridge - - - 111 
 
 Falls of the Mynach - - 114 
 
 Dinevawr Castle - - - 128 
 
 Careg-cannon Castle - - - 138 
 
 Margam Abbey - - - 153 
 
 Caerphilly Castle - - - 174 
 
 Raglan Castle - - - - 213 
 
 Chepstow Castle - 247 
 
 View from Piercerield - - 260 
 
 . View on the Wye - - - 277 
 
 Lanthony Abbey ... 315 
 
 Goodrich Castle - - - 348 
 
 b 
 
it'ccU f--u'[p. S>rcm2. 
 
A TOUR 
 
 OF 
 
 South wales and Monmouthshire, 
 
 INTRODUCTION* 
 
 (JENERAL OBSERVATIONS A SKETCH OP 
 
 WELCH HISTORY ANCIENT BUILDINGS, 
 
 SECT. I* 
 
 IN making the Tour of South Wales and 
 Monmouthshire, the Admirer of picturesque 
 beauty dwells with peculiar pleasure on a 
 tract of country comprising the greater part 
 of Monmouthshire, and bordering the Severn 
 and Bristol channel, to the western limits of 
 Pembrokeshire. In this enchanting district, 
 a succession of bold hills, clothed with wild 
 forests, or ornamental plantations and delight- 
 ful valleys, present themselves in constant va- 
 
 b riety: 
 
12 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 riety : many line estuaries and rivers, jpio 
 turesque towns, and princely ruins, also 
 adorn the scene, whose charms are incon- 
 ceivably heightened by the contiguity of the 
 Bristol channel, which washes the coast ; in 
 some places receding into capacious bays ; in 
 others, advancing into rocky promontories of 
 the most imposing grandeur. 
 
 The Statistical Enquirer finds equal subject 
 of gratification, in the uncommon fertility of 
 several valleys, and the woody treasures of 
 numerous hills, bearing myriads of oaks, and 
 other first-rate timber-trees. The mineral 
 wealth of the country, and its convenient 
 coast for traffic, are likewise subjects of high 
 consideration; and, while the statist applauds- 
 the late rapid strides of manufactures and 
 commerce in this district., he may discover 
 sources hitherto latent for their increase. 
 
 Thellistorian-cannot foil of being interested 
 while treading on the ground where Britons 
 made their latest and most vigorous efforts for> 
 independence, against successive invaders; 
 nor the Antiquary, while traversing a coun- 
 try replete with Monuments of the Druidical 
 ages; military works of the Romans, Britons, 
 
 Saxons, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 Saxons, and Normans ; and the venerable 
 relics of numerous religious foundations. 
 
 Beyond this stripe of country, from ten to 
 twenty miles in width, forming the southern 
 extremity of Wales, and an intermixture of 
 rich scenery (particularly in the neighbour- 
 hood of Brecon), with prevailing dreariness 
 on the eastern frontier, South-Wales exhibits 
 a tedious extent of hills without majesty, 
 valleys over-run with peat bogs, and unpro- 
 fitable moors. Beside the superb ruins of St. 
 David's, the course of the Tivy near Cardi- 
 gan,, and the scenery about the Devil's 
 Bridge, it has little to entice the attention of 
 the tourist : the towns, for the most part, are 
 miserably poor, and travelling accommoda- 
 tions very uncertain ; the roads, too, are 
 wretched beyond any thing that a mere 
 English traveller ever witnessed. It is, there- 
 fore, a subject of no small gratification, that 
 the chief beauties of South- Wales are found 
 in a compact route ; abounding with good 
 towns, respectable accommodations, and very 
 fair roads. This part of the country may be 
 explored in a close carriage, though the bet- 
 ter mode of travelling is, certainly, on horse- 
 back. The pedestrian may claim peculiar 
 £ 2 advantages 
 
4 INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 advantages in his way of getting on ; but i 
 do not conceive, that a man enduring the fa- 
 tigue of trudging day after day through miry 
 roads, can maintain an exhilaration of spirits 
 congenial with the beauties that surround 
 him. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 The geographical situation and present li- 
 mits of Wales are unnecessary to be here de- 
 scribed. Of its history, the first certain ac- 
 counts that we collect are on the invasion of 
 the Romans, when Yv r ales appears to have 
 been divided into three principalities : the 
 Silures, the Ordovices, and the Dimitae. The 
 Silures possessed all that tract of country 
 bounded by the Severn, the Tame, and the 
 Towey ; which, comprehending the counties 
 of Monmouth, Glamorgan, Brecknock, Rad- 
 nor, Hereford, and part of Gloucester Wor- 
 cester, and Cacrmarthen shires, comprised the 
 greater part of South-Wares. The Dimita? 
 inhabited that part of South- Wales westward 
 of the Towey; and the Ordovices, North- 
 Wales, including Auglesea. 
 
 The Romans having subdued Britannia 
 'Prima, i, e. the Southern part of England, 
 
 advanced 
 
INTRODUCTION. Z> 
 
 advanced to the conquest of 'Wales, by them 
 denominated Britannia Secunda ; in this, 
 jhowever, they met with an unlooked-for op- 
 position ; the inhabitants were vigorous and 
 brave ; and the country, wildly piled toge- 
 ther with mountains, forest?, and morasses, 
 presented an aggregation of difficulties, that 
 would have discouraged a people less ardent 
 in their enterprizes : nor did they succeed, 
 until after a long warfare and a severe loss. 
 The Silures and Dimitae fell under the yoke 
 in the reign of Vespasian, when they were 
 vanquished by Julius Frontinus. The Ordo- 
 vices were not finally subdued until the time 
 of his successor, Agricola y who, according to 
 Tacitus, exterminated the whole nation. 
 
 The Romans retained possession of this 
 country until A. D. 408, when they with- 
 drew their legions, and the most warlike of 
 the British youth, for the defence of their 
 central dominions. The inroads of the Scots 
 and Pict?, which immediately followed, do 
 not appear to have materially affected the 
 Welch ; nor did the Saxons, though at con- 
 stant war with them for several centuries, ac- 
 quire any- settled dominion in the country: 
 yet they more than once partially overran 
 b 3 Wales, 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Wales, obliging it to pay tribute ; and in the 
 veign of Edward the confessor, Harold, at the 
 head of a great army, entering Wales, de- 
 feated Prince Griffith, sovereign of North- 
 Wales, and, establishing himself in Gwent* 
 (Monmouthshire), began a Palace at Ports- 
 wit, which was, however, destroyed by Grif- 
 fith before its completion. 
 
 From the departure of the Romans in 408, 
 to the inroads of the Anglo-Norman chief- 
 tains in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, 
 Wales was divided into numerous petty so- 
 vereignties or lordships, of varying name and 
 extent, but tributary to an imperial Prince ; 
 though sometimes that dignity was split into 
 two or three branches. These chiefs were 
 usually at war with each other, or with their 
 Princes, who seldom obtained tribute when 
 their means of enforcing it was questionable. 
 
 The Anglo-Norman dominion in Wales was 
 brought about in a manner wholly different 
 from former conquests. William the First 
 and his successors, finding sufficient employ- 
 ment in securing their English possessions, 
 invited their chiefs, holding lands in the 
 
 * The Saxons at this period are supposed to have occupied 
 Monmouth, Chepstow, Caerwent, and Caerleon. 
 
 neighbourhood 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 neighbourhood of Wales, to make incursions 
 
 i » j 
 
 against the Welch lords, upon their separate 
 interests. The Norman leaders thereupon, 
 by creating feuds among the native powers, 
 siding with one or the other party, and 
 breaking with them on convenient oppor- 
 tunities, contrived to fix themselves in various 
 parts of Wales ; whence their conquests ex- 
 tending, by degrees, overspread the greater 
 part of the country. The lands thus obtained 
 became the property of the conquerors, who, 
 under the title of lords marchers, were al- 
 lowed to exercise an uncontrolled jurisdiction 
 within their demesnes: but power acquired 
 on such principles could only be retained by 
 force ; every petty despot secured himself in 
 a fortress, and hence arose the extraordinary 
 number of castles with which Wales is 
 crowded, amounting, according to a native 
 author*, to 143. The Welch princes still 
 held a considerable tract of country, fre- 
 quently overthrew the intruders, and even 
 carried their arms into England ; but in the 
 defeat of the brave Llewelyn, by Edward the 
 First, Wales lost every remnant of its indepen- 
 
 * Mr. Pennant. 
 
 £ 4* dence, 
 
S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dence, and became definitively united to the 
 crown of England. 
 
 In the reign of Henry the Eighth Wales 
 was divided into twelve shires, and Monr 
 mouthshire w r as included among the English 
 counties ; the feudal despotism of the lords?, 
 marchers was then abolished; and Wales, 
 participating in the equal shelter of English 
 jurisprudence, has proved itself as zealous in 
 defending the common interests of the em- 
 pire, as it was formerly conspicuous in Strugs 
 gling for its particular freedom, 
 
 SECT, III, 
 
 Among the numerous memorials of history 
 and antiquity which distinguish Wales, 
 castles and religious buildings possess the 
 chief claim to attention ; and, as Wales is an 
 admirable field for the study of the civil and 
 military architecture that prevailed in the 
 middle ages, I shall give a slight sketch of 
 the progress of those arts, so far as it seems, 
 applicable to the present purpose. 
 
 On the overthrow of the Romans by the 
 Goths and Vandals, the arts vanished before 
 the scourge of war ; and the standard mode 
 of architecture which adorned the Greek and 
 
 Roma*} 
 
INTRODUCTION. S 
 
 Stoman' empires could no longer be exe- 
 cuted in its original : perfection. The ge- 
 neral forms, indeed, were imitated, but with- 
 out an observance of symmetry : the execu- 
 tion was rough and clumsy ; the pillars were 
 excessively thick, and the arches heavy; 
 and where ornament was attempted the 
 performance was very uncouth. Such was 
 the state of architecture (a mere corruption of 
 the Roman) that succeeded the devastations 
 of the Goths, and has been called Saxon and 
 Norman : the term Gothic, however, would 
 certainly be more appropriate. 
 
 At the beginning of the twelfth century, 
 a new style of architecture made its appear- 
 ance, distinguished by pointed arches and, 
 flustered columns *. Though at first coldly 
 
 received, 
 
 * The common appellation of this mode, Gothic, is equally 
 improper with the preceding, as the reign of the Goths was 
 at an end long before its introduction : indeed its origin is 
 wrapped in obscurity. Sir Christopher Wren, and after him 
 many architects and antiquaries, have attributed it to the Sa- 
 racens, and hence called it Saracenic ; but. their grounds are 
 very questionable. Perhaps the homely conjecture, that it 
 arose from the pointed form in the intersecting Saxon arches, 
 may be as near the truth as one derived from more laborious 
 researches ; indeed, from the specimens of early Gothic 
 which I have seen, I am of opinion, that cogent reasorjs may 
 
 be 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 received, and but sparingly introduced among* 
 the rounded arches and massive columns 
 called Saxon, it soon gained an undisputed 
 footing. 
 
 About the latter end of the reign of Henry 
 the Third, we find it acquire a more orna- 
 mental and distinct character. The pillars, 
 which before were round, and encircled with 
 slender detached shafts, were then formed in 
 entire reeded columns ; the arched roofs also, 
 which only exhibited the main springers, 
 then became intersected with numerous ra- 
 mifications and transomes. The decorations 
 continued to increase until toward the close 
 of Henry the Eighth's reign, when the light 
 of science again dawned over Europe, and 
 the relics of Greece and Rome were rightly 
 considered as models of genuine taste ; the 
 classic elegance of the five Orders then ap- 
 peared, intermixed with the Gothic; it soon 
 became universal, and is now adopted in all 
 superior buildings throughout Europe. Fur- 
 ther characteristics of style might be pointed 
 
 be adduced, to prove it rather to be of natural growth from 
 the Saxon modes, and formed in its characteristics by gra- 
 dual alteration, than a new system of remote and detached 
 
 out, 
 
INTRODUCTION. II 
 
 &ut, and lesser variations defined : but I do 
 not presume to inform the antiquary; and the 
 distinctions already drawn will be sufficient 
 for the cursory tourist. 
 
 Castles appear of no generally chosen figure, 
 except such as were founded by the Romans, 
 who preferred that of an oblong square, un- 
 less there were special reasons to the contrary. 
 Small castles consisted of a single court, or 
 ward, whose sides were usually flanked by 
 towers. The great hall, chapel, and domestic 
 apartments, built from the outer wall into 
 the court, occupied one or more sides. The 
 citadel, called also the Keep and Dungeon, 
 was a tower of eminent strength, wherein the 
 Garrison made their last stand, and where 
 prisoners were sometimes confined : the ci- 
 tadel was often detached from the walls, and 
 built on an artificial mound encircled with a 
 ditch. The barracks for the soldiers in gar- 
 rison was generally a range of building near 
 the gatehouse, or principal entrance. The 
 latter building contained apartments for the 
 Officers of the castle, and the portal was fur- 
 nished with one, two, or three portcullisses*. 
 
 * An iron grate, with spikes at the bottom, which was 
 hi down after the gate was forced. 
 
 A wet 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A wet or dry moat surrounded the whale j 
 and, advanced before the drawbridge that 
 crossed it, there was often an outwork called 
 a barbican. Large castles were only a repe- 
 tition of these courts upon somewhat of a 
 larger scale, connected with each other 
 (Chepstow castle consists of four). In- for- 
 tresses of the first class, an extensive embattled 
 wall sometimes encircled the mass of fortifi- 
 cation already described, at some distance, 
 inclosing a considerable tract of ground, as at 
 Caerphilly in Glamorganshire*. Castle walk 
 .appear in some instances built of solid ma- 
 sonry ; but their general construction is of 
 grout work. For this purpose, two slight 
 walls were built parallel, from six to twelve 
 feet asunder; the interval was then filled 
 up with loose stones and rubbish, and the 
 
 * Several years ago, -when I first set about castle-hunting, 
 I endeavoured in vain to discover a relation between what I 
 saw, and the description with a figure of an ancient castle, 
 laid down in Grose's Antiquities, and copied by others. I 
 nave since seen the greater part of the principal ruins in 
 8outh-Britain j and the only castles that occur to me as ap- 
 proaching to that gentleman's plan, are those of Dover and 
 London. I mention this, because persons building a theory 
 on the authorities above-mentioned, might, among ruins, be 
 puzzled, to nopurposej for a practical illustration. 
 
 whole 
 
IKTHODUCTIO^ 13 
 
 whole cemented together with a great quan- 
 tity of fluid (according to some authors 
 boiling) mortar : the mass soon acquired a 
 sufficient firmness, and in the present day 
 it possesses the adhesion of solid rock. This 
 method was used by the Romans, and adopt- 
 ed by succeeding ages ; but the arches were 
 turned, and the angles coigned with hewn 
 stones, which, after the Conquest, were 
 brought from Caen in Normandy* 
 
 CHAP, 
 
L M 3 
 
 C H A P. 'I. 
 
 Voyage from Bristol to Swansea— 
 swansea castle—- -manufactories- 
 welch bathing — ostermouth, pen- 
 rice, and pennarth castles — -seat 
 
 of mr. talbot arthur's stone, a 
 
 large cromlech. 
 
 IN company with a brother artist, I en- 
 tered Bristol with an intention of com- 
 mencing my Cambrian tour in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Chepstow ; but an un thought- 
 of attraction induced us to relinquish this 
 project. 
 
 Returning from a ramble through the town, 
 by the quay,, we were agreeably amused 
 with a fleet of vessels that was about to quit 
 the river with the ebbing tide ; some of them 
 were already in full sail floating down the 
 stream, and others getting under weigh * 
 The spirited exertions of the seamen, and the 
 anxious movements of numerous spectators, 
 
 devoting 
 
CHAP. I. ST. VINCENT S ROCKS. Ii> 
 
 devoting their attention to friends or freight* 
 gave animation to the scene, which was ren- 
 dered particularly cheerful by the delightful 
 state of the morning. On a sudden we were 
 saluted with a duet of French-horns from a 
 small sloop in the river ; a very indifferent 
 performance to be sure, yet it was pleasing, 
 This sloop was bound to Swansea ; and w r e 
 learned that the wind was so directly favour- 
 able, that the voyage would in all probability 
 be completed the same afternoon. We were 
 now strongly disposed for an aquatic excur- 
 sion ; nor did the laughing broad faces of 
 about a dozen Welch girls, passengers, alarm 
 us from our purpose : so by an exertion we 
 collected our portmanteaus and some refresh- 
 ments in due time, and engaged in the 
 voyage. 
 
 Leaving Bristol, and its romantic but ruined 
 suburb Clifton, we entered upon the re- 
 markable scenery of St. Vincent's Rocks, 
 A bolder pass than is here formed I scarcely 
 remember to haye seen, even in the most 
 mountainous parts of Great Britain : on one 
 side, a huge rock rises in naked majesty per- 
 pendicularly from the river, to the height of 
 some hundred feet ; the immense surface is 
 
 tinted 
 
Ifr KING'S WESTON HILL. CHAP, f) 
 
 tinted with the various hues of grey, red, and 
 yellow, and diversified by a few patches of 
 shrubs, moss, and creeping lichens. A range 
 of rocks equal in magnitude, but of less pre- 
 cipitous ascent, clothed with dark wild forest 
 trees and underwood, forms the opposite 
 boundary of. the river ; attempering the me- 
 nacing aspect of impendent cliffs, with the 
 softer features of sylvan hills. 
 
 The grandeur of the river's banks dimi- 
 nishes until, near the Avon's junction with 
 the Severn ; when the commanding height 
 of Kings wcston-hill, adorned with the groves,- 
 lawns, and plantations of Lord Clifford's parky 
 rises conspicuously eminent, and engages a 
 parting interest. We soon entered the Se-* 
 vern, here an expansive estuary, and so far a 
 noble object; but deriving little importance 
 from its shores, which, except in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Aust, arc a mere undulation of 
 corn-fields and pastures. The display of cul* 
 tivation, though gratifying, is certainly infe- 
 rior in picturesque merit to the grand features 
 of. cliffs and mountains which distinguish the 
 si i ores of Pe m b r o k e s h i r f , and the western 
 coast of Wales* . 
 i For 
 
CHAP. I. VOYAGE TO SWANSEA, 17 
 
 For some time we were well entertained 
 with our voyage ; when satisfied with ex- 
 ternal objects, we found amusement in the 
 cooped-up circle of our companions, and en- 
 tered upon a general meal, without the as- 
 sistance of knives or plates, with much good 
 humour : nor was there a lack of wit, if we 
 might judge from the continued bursts of 
 laughter that sallied on the occasion. But the 
 scene presently changed : the wind, at first 
 so favourable, shifted to the opposite point, 
 increasing from a pleasant breeze to a fresh 
 gale; the 1 sun no longer played on the sur- 
 face of the water ; the sky became overcast ; 
 and " the waves curled darkly against the 
 vessel. " From the seamen, with looks of 
 disappointment, we learned, that the prospect 
 of a short voyage was at an end; and that, if 
 the wind continued as it was, we might be 
 kept at sea for several days : the badness of 
 the weather increased towards evening, when 
 a deluging rain came down, and continued 
 the whole night. This calamity was further 
 aggravated by a noisy bid woman on board, 
 who grated our ears with a horrible scream 
 whenever a wave broke over the vessel, or a 
 flash of lightning illuminated the scenery of 
 c the 
 
IS VOYAGE TO SWANSEA* CHAP. I, 
 
 the storm ; filling up the intervals with the 
 cheering narrative of ships that were lost in 
 the very track of our voyage. It was to no 
 purpose that we endeavoured to joke away 
 lier fears, or to make them less eloquent ; 
 but Time, that great resolver of difficulties, 
 transferring the disorder of her imagination to 
 her stomach, quieted her alarm. At length 
 the increasing rain forced every one for shelter 
 towards the cabin : this was a hole about two 
 yards by one and a half; not quite the latter 
 dimension in height, and filthy to a degree 
 that I shall not attempt to describe : into this 
 place as many were squeezed as it could pos- 
 sibly contain. 
 
 Among our female companions were two 
 genteel young Welch-women of considerable 
 personal attractions, whose vivacity and good- 
 nature had essentially contributed to the en- 
 tertainment of the day : one of these was pe- 
 culiarly bewitching ; her's was 
 
 the faultless form 
 
 Shap'd by the hand of harmony ; the cheek 
 Where the live crimson , through the native white 
 Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 
 And ev'ry -nameless grace ; the parted lip, 
 kike the red rose-bud moist with morning dew, 
 
 Breathing 
 
CHAP. I. VOYAGE TO SWANSEA. 19 
 
 Breathing delight ; and, under flowing jet, 
 
 The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast j 
 
 The look resistless, piercing to the soul. 
 
 These damsels preferring the certainty of 
 a wetting upon deck to the chance of suffo- 
 cation in the cabin, we made it our business 
 to defend them as much as possible from 
 " the pelting of the pitiless storm." Our 
 travelling coats were fashionably large; so 
 that each of us was able completely to shelter 
 one, without exposing ourselves; a bottle of 
 brandy too, that we had fortunately provided, 
 helped to counteract the inclemency of the 
 weather, and we were for some time tho- 
 roughly comfortable. The rain at length, 
 penetrating our coverings, obliged us to seek 
 a fresh resource ; but to discover one was no 
 easy matter; for the cabin had not a chink 
 unoccupied, and there was not a dry sail on 
 board to make use of. In this predicament 
 it fortunately occurred to one of the ladies, 
 that before the hatchway was closed she ob- 
 served sufficient room in the hold for three or 
 four persons who were not very bulky to lie 
 down : to this place we gained admittance ; 
 and, although the angles of chests and pack- 
 ages formed a very inappropriate couch for 
 c 2 the 
 
20 VOYAGE TO SWANSEA. CHAP. I. 
 
 the tender limbs of our friends, yet the re- 
 treat proved highly gratifying ; and, after a 
 short time spent in pleasing conversation, we 
 enjoyed a refreshing sleep. — Unhallowed 
 thoughts, be silent ! voluptuous imaginations, 
 conjure not up, from this pressure of circum- 
 stances, motives or actions that are unholy ! 
 It is true, the girls had charms that might 
 warm an anchorite, and were filled with the 
 glowing sensations of youthful passion ; yet 
 they were virtuous ; nor had the tourists, al- 
 though encountering temptation, a wish to 
 endanger the possessors of qualities so lovely 
 for a transitory enjoyment. 
 
 When we issued from our burrow the next 
 morning, therain continued; but the wind had 
 abated., and become more favourable. The 
 oilier passengers remained in the cabin, and 
 nothing can be imagined more distressing than 
 their situation. No less than ten women had 
 squeezed themselves into the hole, where 
 they lay all of a heap, like fish in a basket. 
 The heat and confinement had rendered the 
 sickness general: I shall forbear to describe 
 the evidence of its effects; but briefly remark, 
 that, overcome by pain and fatigue, they ap- 
 peared all in a sound sleep, half released 
 
 from 
 
CHAP. I. SWANSEA BAY. 21 
 
 from their clothes, and with such an inter- 
 mixture of heads, bodies, and limbs, that it 
 required some ingenuity to trace the relation 
 of the several parts. The two old French- 
 horn players were lying at the door soaking 
 in the rain, but also asleep. From such a 
 scene we gladly withdrew, and in a few 
 hours found ourselves at the entrance of 
 Swansea Bay, finely encircled with high 
 varied hills; on our left were the two insu- 
 lated rocks called the Mumbles, at a small 
 distance from the main land, where the 
 whitened town of Ostermouth* appeared 
 issuing from the water, beneath a lofty dark 
 hill. At the bottom of the bay, the superior 
 extent of Swansea lined the shore, backed by 
 an atmosphere of cloudy vapours produced 
 from the numerous furnaces in its neighbour- 
 hood. At length I trod on Cambrian ground, 
 and paid my half crown, with a willing en- 
 gagement to forfeit a hundred times the sum, 
 
 * The practice of whitening their dwellings, in Wales, is 
 very general, and of long standing. David ap Gwillim, a 
 bard of the 14th century, thus notices it in his invocation to 
 Summer : " With sun-shine morn gladden thou the place, 
 and greet the whitened houses." 
 
 c 3 if 
 
22 SWANSEA CASTLE. CHAP. I. 
 
 if ever I should be again caught on board of a 
 Swansea Hoy *. 
 
 Swansea is a tolerably neat town, although 
 irregularly built. It has long been a winter 
 residence of the neighbouring gentry, and a 
 favourite resort in summer for bathing; but 
 its increasing opulence arises principally from 
 the prosperity of its manufactures and com- 
 merce. 
 
 In company with Major Jones, a worthy 
 magistrate of the town, to whose polite at- 
 tention I stand indebted for much local in- 
 formation, I obtained a complete survey of 
 Swansea Castle, (situated in the middle 
 of the town), which, although much con- 
 tracted from its former grand dimensions, 
 is still of considerable extent. The principal 
 feature of the building is, a massive quadran- 
 gular tower, remarkable for a range of light 
 circular arches, encircling the top, and sup- 
 
 * Of the numerous vessels that sail from Bristol to Swan- 
 sea, not one is fitted for passengers, and it was our misfor- 
 tune to enter the worst in the service : we afterwards learned, 
 that two superior vessels, Dimond and Hawkins masters, 
 afford very tolerable accommodation. The sailing of these 
 might be learned from a correspondence at Bristol, and a 
 pleasant conveyance obtained,— at least for men. 
 
 porting 
 
CHAP. I. SWANSEA CASTLE. 23 
 
 porting a parapet, which forms a connexion 
 with turrets at each angle. This parapet af- 
 fords a pleasing bird's-eye view of the town 
 and surrounding country. The tenantable 
 parts of the castle comprise the town-hall ; a 
 poor-house ; a jail ; a new market-house ; 
 numerous store-cellars ; a blacksmith's and 
 other shops and habitations ; a Roman Ca- 
 tholic chapel ; and a pigeon-house. The 
 Gothic structure has been so far metamor- 
 phosed in its application to these purposes, 
 that it is almost impossible to trace the origi- 
 nal plan of the building ; but the large apart- 
 ment used for Romish worship has been ei- 
 ther the baronial hall or the chapel : I think, 
 the former. 
 
 During my stay in Swansea, an intoxicated 
 man fell asleep on the parapet of the castle, 
 and, rolling off, fell to the ground at the 
 depth of near 80 feet. The poor fellow was 
 a servant in the castle : and, missing his 
 room in winding up the turreted stair-case, 
 unconsciously extended his journey to the 
 summit of the castle. Nothing broke his fall 
 (unless the roof of a low shed reared against 
 the wall, and which he went clearly through, 
 c 4 may 
 
24 TOWN OF SWANSEA. CHAP. I. 
 
 may be considered as a favourable impedi- 
 ment), and yet, incredible as it may seem ! 
 the only effect produced on the man, was a 
 slight broken head, and a restoration of his 
 faculties. He bound up his head himself, 
 made the best of his way to a public-house, 
 took a little more ale, and then went soberly 
 to bed. I should scarcely have believed this 
 miraculous escape, had I not seen the broken 
 tiles and rafters through which he fell, and 
 heard the attestations of numerous witnesses 
 of the accident. 
 
 Swansea Castle was built A. D. 1113, by 
 Henry Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, a Norman 
 leader who conquered Gowerland, a tract of 
 country bounded by the Neath and Loughor 
 rivers, from the Welch ; but it was soon after 
 besieged by Griffith ap Rhys ap Theodore, a 
 native chief, and a great part of the out- 
 buildings destroyed, It is now the property 
 of the Duke of Beaufort, Lord paramount of 
 Gower. 
 
 A large tract of country northward of 
 Swansea is covered with coal, copper, and 
 iron- works, the operations of which are much 
 facilitated by a canal passing among them. 
 The dismal gloom of the manufactories, 
 
 hanging 
 
CHAP. I. MORRISTOWN. 25 
 
 hanging over the river Tawe, is pleasingly 
 contrasted by the whitened walls of their ap- 
 pendant villages, springing from the dark 
 sides of the hills that rise above the river. 
 Conspicuous above the other resorts of the 
 manufacturers is Morristown, a neat newly- 
 created village ; and on the summit of a steep 
 hill Morristown castle, a quadrangular build* 
 ing, which is the habitation of upwards of 
 thirty families; these buildings owe their 
 origin to Mr. Morris, a gentleman, who, in 
 partnership with Mr. Lockwood, conducts 
 one of the leading works. The introduction 
 of Major Jones obtained me a view of Messrs. 
 Freeman's copper manufactory : we took 
 care to be there at noon, when the furnaces 
 are tapped and all the interesting processes 
 gone through. The effect in passing through 
 these dismal buildings, contrasted by the vivid 
 glare of the furnaces, and the liquid fire of 
 the pouring metal, is to a stranger very 
 striking. I was much surprized at the quan- 
 tity of condensed sulphureous vapour that 
 yellowed the roof of the building. Sulphur 
 often forms the greatest bulk of the ore ; yet 
 *fio means are employed to collect the vapour, 
 
 which 
 
c 26 COPPER-WOKKS. CHAP. I. 
 
 which might easily be managed, and could 
 not fail of turning to a source of profit : at 
 the same time, it would save the health of 
 the workmen, and spare the vegetation, 
 which appears stinted for a considerable dis- 
 stance by the noxious effluvia. 
 
 We left these sulphureous chambers to en- 
 joy a purer air on the sea-shore, where ano- 
 ther curiosity awaited us. As we were stroll- 
 ing on the sands, about a mile above the 
 town, we remarked a group of figures, iri 
 birth-day attire, gamboling in the water : 
 not suspecting that they were women, we 
 passed carelessly on ; but how great was our 
 surprize, on approaching them, to find that 
 the fact did not admit 'of a doubt. We had 
 not paused a minute, before they all came 
 running toward us, with a menacing tone 
 and countenance, that would seem to order 
 us away. Though we did not understand 
 their British sentences, we obeyed, and very 
 hastily too, on finding a volley of stones 
 rattling about our ears. This hostile demon- 
 stration, we afterwards found, arose from a 
 suspicion that we were going to remove their 
 clothes, a piece of waggery often practised by 
 the visitants of Swansea, to enjoy their 
 
 running 
 
CHAP. I. OSTERMOUTH CASTLE. 27 
 
 running; nudiores ovo. The girls knew that 
 we were not their countrymen, or we should 
 have passed unconcerned ; unless, indeed, 
 acquaintances, who would have made their 
 usual salutation, and perhaps joined in the 
 party's amusement. In our subsequent ram- 
 bles on the beach these liberal exhibitions of 
 Cambrian beauty afforded us many pleasing 
 studies of unsophisticated nature : 
 
 11 Graceful, cleanly, smooth and round; 
 " All in Venus' girdle bound." 
 
 From Swansea we made an excursion across 
 the sands to Ostermouth castle, about four 
 miles distant, situated on an eminence near 
 the coast. The principal walls of this ruin 
 are little injured by time, and most of the 
 apartments may be readily distinguished ; the 
 general figure is polygonal, and the ramparts 
 are conspicuously lofty, but unflanked by 
 towers, except at the entrance : a profusion 
 of ivy overspreading the ruin rather conceals 
 than adorns it. This building is supposed to 
 have been erected by the Norman conqueror 
 of Gowerland, and has almost ever since re- 
 mained the property of that Lordship. 
 
 From 
 
28 PENRICE. CHAP. I. 
 
 From some high hills behind Ostermouth, 
 an extensive view is obtained over the penin- 
 sula of Gower, and the two noble bays of 
 Swansea and Caermarthen, which its pro- 
 jection divides : the general aspect of the 
 peninsula is wild and dreary. Not far distant, 
 near the little bay of Oxwich, are the ruins 
 of Pennarth castle, a fortress built soon after 
 the Beaumonts conquered Gowerland ; and 
 on the opposite side of the bay stands the 
 more picturesque ruin of Pen rice castle ; so 
 called after the Penrice's, a Norman family 
 that settled there in the reign of Edward the 
 First. This castle is comprised in an ex- 
 tensive domain belonging to Mr. Talbot, 
 which occupies a great part of the peninsula ; 
 and here Mr. Talbot has erected an elegant 
 villa, with all the appendant beauties of wood 
 and lawn, lake, and promenade. But, unless 
 with a view to improve the estate, one can 
 scarcely imagine what motive could induce 
 this gentleman to desert his former residence 
 at Margam, possessing all the allurements of 
 favoured nature, and situated in the midst of 
 an agreeable neighbourhood, to force exotic 
 elegance upon a bleak unfrequented coast, 
 
 and 
 
CHAP. I. ARTHUR'S STONE. & 
 
 and fix his abode far from the usual haunts 
 of society. 
 
 About three miles northward of Penrice, 
 upon a mountain called Cum Bryn, near 
 Llanridian, is a table-like monument or 
 cromlech*, called Arthur's stone: it con- 
 sists of a huge flat stone, supposed to weigh 
 near twenty tons, supported upon six or 
 seven others about five feet in height ; the 
 smaller stones are placed in a circle. — A few 
 miles farther, near the mouth of the Loughor, 
 is Webley castle, which was described to 
 me as a place of considerable antique strength, 
 and as being still entire and partially inha-. 
 bited. The difficulty of access to this castle, 
 and its out-of-the-way situation, prevented our 
 visiting it ; similar reasons also prevented our 
 seeing a curiosity at Wormshead point, a bold 
 promontory jutting far into the sea, and di- 
 vided from the main land at high-water by the 
 sea's overflowing its low isthmus. Near the 
 
 * The cromlech Is certainly a relic of the Druidical ag<% 
 It is variously contended to have been a place of worship, a 
 sepulchral monument, and an altar for sacrifice. The latter 
 opinion appears to me best supported ; nor can I look on a 
 cromlech without adverting to those horrid rites wherein 
 human victims were immolated by Druid-craft to excite the 
 terrors of superstition. 
 
 extremity 
 
30 WORMSHEAD POINT. CHAP. I. 
 
 extremity of the point is a cleft in the ground, 
 in which if dust or sand be thrown, it will 
 be returned back into the air ; and a person 
 applying his ear to the crevice will hear a 
 deep noise, like the blowing of a large pair 
 of bellows : this effect is reasonably attributed 
 to the concussions of the waves of the sea in 
 the cavernous hollows of the cliff. An old 
 author, I think Giraldus Cambrensis, speaks 
 of a similar phenomenon in Barry island, 
 near the coast between Cardiff and Cow- 
 bridge ; but at present no such effect is pro- 
 duced at that place. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 31 ] 
 
 CHAR II, 
 
 LOUGHOR LLANELLY PEMBREE-HILL — 
 
 KIDWELLY, AND ITS CASTLE. 
 
 HAVING satisfied ourselves with the pe- 
 ninsula of Gower, we entered upon a zig- 
 zag excursion round the coast of South- 
 Wales, to its northern boundary, purposing to 
 return to Swansea by a midland route. My 
 friend had bought an excellent travelling 
 horse, though aged, and a little foundered, 
 for twelve pounds. I was not so fortunate ; 
 the few others that we met with for sale, 
 were miserable poneys, and at a price double 
 their value in London : I was, therefore, con- 
 strained to engage a poor little, hack, at two 
 guineas for a fortnight's use ; and thus 
 mounted we set forward over a high romantic 
 district to Loughor, the Leucarium of Anto- 
 ninus, now a poor village ; but still exhibiting 
 the ruined keep of its castle, on a raised 
 mount surrounded by a moat, From this 
 
 place, 
 
32 LLANELLY. CHAP. IT, 
 
 place, soiled with the filth of neighbouring 
 collieries, we had a river to ford to the oppo- 
 site shore. This task is by no means envia- 
 ble ; for, in addition to fording a rapid cur- 
 rent over a rough stoney bottom, large hol- 
 lows are formed by vessels at low water, 
 which, not appearing, sometimes entrap the 
 unsuspecting traveller, who may think him- 
 self well off if he escape with only a duck- 
 ing : we thanked our stars when we got 
 across ; and, wading through a miserable 
 road, and a region of collieries, arrived at 
 Ll A nelly (pronounced Llanithly). About 
 halfway between the ford and this town, we 
 observed Capel Ddewy, a small ruin, pic- 
 turesquely accompanied by a yew-tree ; and 
 near it the remains of some deserted fur- 
 naces. 
 
 In this ride we proceeded at an uncer- 
 tainty, till we were fortunately assisted by 
 an agreeable matron, who was churning at 
 the door of her cottage. Now, as the noise 
 of her employment prevented our hearing 
 each other, she was obliged to leave off; 
 but, that the interval of a few moments from 
 labour might not pass unproductively, she 
 caught up her knitting needles at the same 
 
 instant, 
 
CHAP. II. LLANELLY, 33 
 
 instant, and advanced the fabric of a stocking 
 while she gave us our directions. Such in- 
 stances of persevering industry were frequent 
 throughout the principality ; but more parti- 
 cularly so from hence westward, where not 
 a female was to be seen unemployed in 
 knitting, however she might be otherwise at 
 work, in carrying loads or driving cattle. 
 
 Llanelly is a small irregular town, and con- 
 tains an old seat of Sir John Stepney's, which, 
 though deserted by the family, afforded 
 habitation to numerous tenants, till the mis- 
 chievous operation of the window-tax, in 
 driving them out, left it to moulder in decay. 
 The high square embattled tower of its 
 church is remarkable, in being much wider 
 at the base than upwards, forming a sort of 
 cone. This town, however, offering no ob- 
 jects to detain us, we proceeded without 
 halting, and in a few miles ride gained the 
 summit of Pembree hill. 
 
 Here a marine view of great extent burst 
 upon us; the grand sweep of Caermarthen 
 bay appeared beneath, terminated on one 
 side by Yvormshead point, and on the other 
 by the insulated rock of Caldy in Pembroke- 
 shire ; the opposite shores of Somerset and 
 
 d Devon 
 
34 KIDWELLY. CHAP. IX. 
 
 Devon formed the distance, faintly skirting 
 the horizon beyond a vast expanse of sea, 
 studded with numerous vessels. Looking in- 
 ternally, the country exhibited a strong un- 
 dulatory surface, variously chequered with 
 wild heaths and rich cultivation. Descending 
 the hill, we approached the neat regular- 
 built town of new Kidwelly, situated in a 
 narrow well-wooded valley. 
 
 The castle forms a noble object, adjoining 
 the ruins of old Kidwelly on the opposite 
 bank of the river. Leland says, Si the old 
 town is prettily waullid, and hath hard by the 
 the waul a Castel ; the old tqwn is nearly 
 al desolated but the castel is meatcly well 
 kept up." This description applies very well 
 to the present appearance of the place ; for, 
 though the castle is uninhabited, it continues 
 tolerably entire. This fortress was built soon 
 after the Conquest, by Maurice de Londrcs, 
 one of the twelve Norrnan knights who con- 
 quered Glamorganshire ; and, after under- 
 going the usual vicissitudes of sieges, partial 
 demolition, and different masters, fell to the 
 crown of England. We were disappointed 
 of an internal examination of this fine ruin, 
 as the key of the entrance could not readily 
 
 be 
 
?§ 
 
CHAP. II. KIDWELLY CASTLE. 35 
 
 be obtained, and we were pressed for time to 
 reach Caermarthen before dark. The con- 
 tinuance of our route led us on a steep woody 
 bank, above the romantic course of Kid- 
 welly river ; but it soon deviated to the su- 
 perior attractions of the Towey; following 
 whose expansive water and verdant accompa- 
 niments/ and crossing a long antique bridge 3 
 we reached Caermarthen. 
 
 d 2 CHAR 
 
C 30 ] 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 CAERMARTHEN FEMALE LABOURERS — 
 
 LLANSTEPHAN CASTLE A FORD 
 
 JLAUGHARNE CASTLE -FINE MARINE 
 
 VIEWS NEW INN TENBY. 
 
 1 HE situation of Caermarthen, one of the 
 most wealthy and polite towns in Wales, can 
 scarcely be enough admired ; rising above a 
 noble river, and commanding a full view of 
 one of the most beautiful vales in the king- 
 dom. Internally, there is less to commend ; 
 as most of the streets are very steep, and irre- 
 gularly built ; yet there are many good pri- 
 vate houses, belonging to the neighbouring 
 gentry that resort here in the winter months; 
 and a handsome town-hall and some other 
 buildings do credit to the public spirit of the 
 town, though a solitary church may reflect 
 but little on its sanctity. Very small remains 
 of the castle, now built up into a gaol, ap- 
 pear ; or of the walls that formerly encom- 
 passed 
 
CHAP. Ill* CAERMARTHEN - . 37 
 
 passed the town. The trade of the place is 
 much facilitated by its fine river, which con- 
 veys ships of a good size up to the bridge. 
 
 Caermarthen is the Kaervyrdhin of the 
 Britons, the Maridunum of Ptolemy, and the 
 Muridunum of Antoninus. The ancient 
 Britons reckoned it the capital of all Wales ; 
 here they held their Parliaments, or Assem- 
 blies of wise men, and here fixed their Chan- 
 cery and Exchequer. When the Normans 
 overran Wales, this town severely felt the 
 miseries of war, being often besieged, and 
 twice burnt by the Welch princes ; Gilbert 
 Earl of Clare, however, at length fixed his 
 power at Caermarthen beyond the reach of 
 their attempts. This place gave birth to the 
 famous Merlin in the year 480 : he appears 
 to have been a man of extraordinary wisdom 
 and learning, which, no doubt, occasioned 
 him to be looked upon as a magician in that 
 dark age, and transmitted as such to poste- 
 rity by Monkish writers, who always looked 
 with an evil eye upon knowledge possessed 
 out of their craft. Here also was born Lewis 
 Bayly, chaplain to James the First, after- 
 wards Bishop of Bangor, and author of the 
 celebrated M Practice of Piety/' 
 
 d 3 From 
 
S8 FEMALE LABOURERS. CHAP. Ill; 
 
 . From our comfortable quarters at the Greeri 
 Dragon, we set out early in the morning ; and, 
 G'^ leaving the town, were more interested 
 r ' an pJeased, in noticing several fine young 
 u ii o were acting as scavengers, while 
 t>ne. p ] -o e elegance of form defied even her 
 ,id habit to conceal it, was bending 
 Jbeneath the fatigue of wheeling away the 
 iilth in a barrow; In the same point of view, 
 seated behind a counter, a brawny-fisted fel- 
 low was folding up ribbons and laces. How 
 odioqs is the employ of men-milliners ! How 
 shameful, that men, who might gain a pros- 
 perous livelihood in a thousand ways, should 
 interfere with almost the only eligible mean's 
 which the limited powers and habits of women 
 capacitate them to adopt for a maintenance ! 
 Driven from their natural employ, they must 
 either have recourse to a cruel drudgery which 
 they were not formed, and are generally un- 
 able, to 1 eiidure ; or wander after subsistence 
 in the paths of shame and misery, at once a 
 disgrace, a burthen, and a terror to society. 
 But does our censure more properly- fall on 
 these men, for entering into the pretty dal- 
 liance of women's affairs* in preference to 
 masculine pursuits requiring intellectual and 
 
 bodily 
 
CHAP. III. ROAD TO LLANSTEPHAN. 30 
 
 bodily exertion ? or on the ladies, who en- 
 courage men, rather than their own sex, in 
 the fiddle-faddle arrangement of their caps 
 and tuckers ? 
 
 Passing this group, we soon left the high, 
 road, and struck off into a narrow imbowered 
 lane, up a laborious ascent, toward Lianste- 
 phan Castle. On arriving at the top of the 
 hill, we were amply repaid for our toil by a 
 most enchanting view over the Vale of the 
 Towey : a stripe of the richest verdure, inter- 
 sected with numerous hedge-rows and orna- 
 mental plantations; arose on each side of the 
 river ; above which; a parallel range of high- 
 wooded and cultivated hills formed the boun- 
 dary of the valley. The extensive town of 
 Caermarthen ; the lofty spire of its church * 
 the ruined castle, and the long old bridge, 
 with several barks lying near it; were con- 
 spicuous objects at a short distance in the 
 picture ; which was considerably enlivened by 
 several gentlemen's seats, and their appendant 
 decorations. The town of Abergwilly, on 
 the banks of the river, with the bishop of St. 
 David's palace, an ordinary building, would 
 also have appeared in the distance ; but the 
 termination of the valley was denied us, by 
 
 » 4 ths 
 
40 A FARMING PARTY. CHAP. III. 
 
 the morning mist not having cleared away. 
 Pursuing our route, we took every opportunity 
 that intervals in the hedge afforded, of renew- 
 ing our treat, and discovered new beauties at 
 each succeeding station. 
 
 At length we parted with this agreeable 
 scenery ; and soon after, on a sudden turn of 
 the lane, came within view of the picturesque 
 ruin of Llanstephan castle. A farming party 
 also appeared at this instant, proceeding with 
 goods for Caermarthen market. This group 
 was opened by a robust young fellow driving 
 a couple of cows ; he wore the general dress 
 of the country, a short blue coarse cloth coat, 
 and breeches of the same open at the knees ; 
 but he also possessed the luxury of shoes and 
 stockings. A sledge loaded with sacks of 
 grain followed ; drawn by a horse, on which 
 a lusty wench sat astride, as the peasant girls 
 generally do in Wales ; cloathed in a brown 
 jirkin and petticoat, but with her lower ex- 
 tremities uncovered. She urged on the horse 
 by kicking him with her bare heels, while 
 her hands were busied in knitting. Two 
 other buxom bare-legged girls followed on 
 foot, with their fingers similarly employed, 
 and with large baskets of eggs and poultry on 
 
 their 
 
CHAP. III. LLANSTEPHAN CASTLE. 41 
 
 their heads. But a word on the sledge, the 
 common farming carriage in Wales. — This is 
 a most simple contrivance, consisting of two 
 rude poles, between which the horse is placed; 
 their ends trail on the ground, toward which 
 extremity there are two or three cross bars ; 
 a few upright sticks from these complete the 
 carriage. A comely dame, seated on horse- 
 back, and accommodated with a sort of side- 
 saddle made with cross rails, was probably the 
 mistress; she closed the rear ; and her supe- 
 rior condition was evident, in her dark blue 
 worsted stockings, ponderous shoes, and small 
 brass buckles. 
 
 Llanstephan castle crowns the sum- 
 mit of a bold hill, whose precipitous base is 
 washed by the sea. Its broken walls inclose 
 a large area ; and, furnished with several 
 encircling earthen ramparts, appear to have 
 possessed considerable antique strength. From 
 numerous stations it offers a truly picturesque 
 appearance ; and in the approach charmingly 
 combines with the surrounding landscape; 
 which, ever varying, is sometimes coniined to 
 the woody character; at others, exhibits the 
 wide estuary, the rocky promontory forming 
 its opposite shore, and the boundless sea. 
 
 this 
 
42 'llanstephan. chap, iih 
 
 This castle is said to have been built by the' 
 sons of Uchtred, prince of Merionethshire,' 
 anno Domini 1138; but soon after fell into 
 the hands of the Normans and Flemings ; in 
 1145 it was taken from them by Cadelh, son 
 of Rhys Prince of South Wales ; and so vigor- 
 ously maintained, that the utmost force which 
 the foreigners could raise was unable to retake 
 it. However, by the year 1 189 it must have 
 been in the possession of the English, as Ca- 
 radoc informs us that it was then taken front 
 them by Prince" Rhys. 
 
 The village, a neat humble place, is snugly 
 situated beneath the " Castle-cap'd hill" in a 
 woody hollow ; whence we traversed a lofty 
 ridge, commanding extensive views, to a 
 neighbouring estuary, formed by the Tave 
 near its junction with the sea. As the tide 
 was out, we could not avail ourselves of the 
 ferry, but had ample directions where the 
 water might be crossed ; yet, unfortunately; 
 on arriving at the sands, the description of cir- 
 cumstances received for our guidance proved 
 so general, that we were unable to select the 
 route intended ; and the broad current ran 
 with such threatening rapidity into the sea, 
 only half a mile distant, that it would have 
 
 been 
 
CHAP. lit. FORD TO LAUGHAHNE. 43 
 
 been highly dangerous to have ventured in 
 upon hazard. Ignorant how to proceed, and 
 unwilling to return three or four miles for 
 fresh directions, we gladly observed a couple 
 of young women trudging on the sands in a 
 direction toward us. The proper place for 
 fording was now pointed out, where, it was 
 said, the water would scarcely cover our horses* 
 knees; we deemed it most prudent, how- 
 ever, to let the natives go first, and they ac- 
 cordingly entered the river, using the pre- 
 caution -of raising their drapery. Vie fol- 
 lowed close; but the lasses had considerably 
 underrated the depth of the water, for it took 
 both them and cur horses above their middles; 
 yet so carefully were their clothes held up, 
 that not a thread was wetted.- On reaching 
 the opposite shore, their petticoats were suf- 
 fered to descend : my friend and I then 
 .looked at each other, passed an observation, 
 returned our thanks to the damsels, wished 
 .them a good morrow; and under an over- 
 hanging rock of red granite, crowned with the 
 ■-mantled remains of Laugh as ne castle, 
 reached the town, an irregularly built little 
 e, seated on a low bank of the estuary. 
 
 Laugharne 
 
44 LAUGHARNE CASTLE. CHAP. HI, 
 
 Laugharne castle, though not very ex- 
 tensive, and not generally striking for pic- 
 turesque disposition, lias a noble aspect to- 
 ward the town. The foundation of this 
 Castle is not transmitted to us in the Welch 
 annals, but is, doubtless, of high antiquity ; 
 it was occupied, and probably built, by the 
 Normans and Flemings on their conquest of 
 these parts; afterwards, in the year 1215, it 
 was besieged and taken by Llewelyn : Le- 
 land says, " it longid some time to the Earl 
 of Northumberland." An interesting ride, 
 upon a high boundary of the sea, brought us into 
 Pembrokeshire, at a place called New Inn. 
 
 In this progress, extensive views ranging 
 over the Bristol channel were continual ; but 
 one coup d'ceil, 
 
 High from the 'summit of a craggy cliff 
 Hung o'er the deep 
 
 was eminently striking ! magnificently beauti- 
 ful ! The whole sweep of Caermarthen bay, 
 with its several estuaries, high - cliffs, and swel- 
 ling shores, appeared beneath us, extending in 
 one direction to the extreme point of Gower, 
 and in the other to the isle of Caldy in Pem- 
 brokeshire ; at the latter termination, the pic- 
 turesque whitened town of Tenby, romanti- 
 cally 
 
CHAP. III. MARINE VIEW. 45 
 
 c?lly built on a tongue of rock projecting 
 into the sea, seemed issuing from the waves. 
 From the grand amphitheatre of this bay, 
 the eye roamed, over a vast tract of sea, to 
 the shores of Somerset and Devon, near fifty 
 miles distant, faintly penciled on the horizon, 
 and terminated by the advancing swell of 
 Lundy Island. Further westward, the setting 
 sun appeared in conjunction with the sea, 
 there widening into the Atlantic Ocean ; its 
 golden effulgence glittered in reflexion from 
 the waves, and diffused itself over the whole 
 scenery : numerous barks in the bay, sailing 
 on different tacks, caught partial gleams of il- 
 lumination ; and a large fleet of ships, en- 
 tering the channel at a remote distance, 
 seemed little more than dusky spots on the 
 glistening expanse : the tout ensemble formed 
 one of the most pleasing marine pictures that 
 I ever saw.- — The sea, viewed under its or- 
 dinary circumstances, from a lo:v situation, 
 engages little interest ; the angle of vision is 
 then intersected by the aqueous segment at 
 the distance of four or live miles; and, with 
 little more breadth of water than one meets 
 with in a river or lake, the prospect finishes 
 in a mere hard line. The case is far other- 
 wise 
 
45 TENBY. CHAP. III.. 
 
 wise when it is viewed from a high moun- 
 tain, particularly if that mountain be a bold 
 ••tor}% and the view bursts upon the, 
 spectator on a sudden : a, world of waters then. 
 
 ..ets Ins astonished sight ; the immense ob- 
 ject presses on his mind an inconceivable 
 emotion ; and an image is at once stamped 
 ef the genuine sublime. Filled with the vast 
 idea, he contemplates with awe and venera- 
 tion the magnitude of his Creator's works, and 
 sinks into a proper estimate the puny atchieve- 
 ments of man.. 
 
 From New Inn, a small collection of cot- 
 tages on the beach, with a large old mansion 
 iately modernized, but seemingly of the 
 foundation of Elizabeth's time, and where (it 
 is to be observed) there is no house of public 
 entertainment, as the name would imply, 
 we passed, among numerous collieries be- 
 longing to Lord Mil ford, towards Tenby. 
 This town is curiously situated on the ridge of 
 a narrow rock projecting into the sea : a sandy 
 tract connects it with the main land ; which, 
 being sometimes overflowed, the town be- 
 comes insulated. The streets of Tenby are 
 inconveniently steep ; yet its romantic situa- 
 tion, and commodious ^and^ for bathing, have 
 
 latelv 
 
CHAP. III. TENBY. 47 
 
 lately rendered it a place of fashionable re- 
 sort. It has a number of good lodging- 
 houses, with a respectable hotel ; and, when 
 we were there, boasted an overflow of genteel 
 company. The quay was well lined with 
 vessels, and the whole carried with it an air of 
 opulence. Here w r as formerly an important 
 fishery, but that concern is now much dimi- 
 nished ; yet the exportation of coals has 
 greatly increased, and that article has be- 
 come the staple commodity of the place. 
 The remains of Tenby castle (a Norman 
 structure) are very inconsiderable: the broken 
 walls appear toward the extremity of the 
 cliff; and below them, I understand, thera 
 are some large natural caverns. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 4S } 
 
 
 C H A P. 1\\ 
 
 MANORBEER CASTLE AN ADVENTURE — - 
 
 A, DILEMMA CAREW CASTLE LAW- 
 KENNY PEMBROKE ITS CASTLE 
 
 LAMPHEY COURT STACKPOLE COURT 
 
 • BOSHERSTON MEER. 
 
 CJ N a tempestuous day, a day fraught with 
 trouble and alarm, we left Tenby, and took 
 the Pembroke road traced on a ridge of hills, 
 which command extensive views over almost 
 the whole of Pembrokeshire, and a great part 
 of the Bristol channel ; but a heavy atmo- 
 sphere frowned on the scenery, and threat- 
 ened a violent storm. Leaving the high road, 
 we descended toward the sea coast in search 
 of the gloomy remains of Manorbeer cas- 
 tle, and found the ruin wildly situated as 
 described by Leland, " between two little 
 hillettes, ,> whose rocky bases repelled the 
 fury of an angry sea. This fortress appears 
 to have been of Norman erection ; it fell to 
 
 the 
 
^ 
 
 1 
 
CHAP. IV. MANORBEER CASTLE. 49 
 
 the Crown in the reign of Henry the First ; 
 a grant from James the First presented it to 
 the Bowens of Trelosrne ; from them it de- 
 scended by marriage into the family of Picton 
 Castle,.and in the year 1740 was the property 
 of Sir Erasmus Philips, Bart. The ponderous 
 towers and massive fragments of this castle 
 denote its original strength and importance 
 to have been considerable; yet now, de- 
 prived of " the pride* pomp, and circum- 
 stance of glorious war*" it exhibits a scene so 
 wild and desolate* as might disclaim all inter- 
 course with man : rank grass clothes every 
 projection ; " the thistle shakes its lonely 
 head" from the windows, the sea-bird screams 
 through the hall, and adders creep where 
 many a warrior stalked. From our reverie 
 over this gloomy relic of feudal despotism, 
 we were alarmed by a vivid flash of lightning; 
 a loud clap of thunder succeeded, which, 
 reverberating through the ruin, had a most 
 impressive effect : the storm became violent* 
 and seemed to shake the mouldering battle- 
 ments of the ruin ; " from their hills the 
 " groaning oaks came down, the sea darkly 
 " tumbled beneath the blast, and the rearing 
 " waves were climbing against our rocks." 
 e A de- 
 
50 MANORBEER CASTLE. CHAP. IV. 
 
 A deluging rain now poured down, and 
 drove us in search of a shelter ; the frag*' 
 ments of a spiral staircase offered a descent to 
 a subterraneous part of the castle, and we en- 
 tered the dark recess of a dungeon,, whose 
 mysterious gloom and earthy exhalations 
 might stir up fancy to create things worse 
 
 c( Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear Coiiddv'd.** 
 
 I thought I heard a voice ; my friend thought 
 so too ; we listened, but soon smiled at the 
 conjecture ; it was probably the hoarse roar 
 of the^ea or " eddying winds :" but the 
 damp air of the dungeon threw a chill over 
 us, that was even worse than an exposure to 
 the rain ; and we were returning, when a 
 repetition of the noise that we heard before 
 stopped us: we listened, and distinctly heard 
 more than one human voice ; the words were 
 undistinguishable, but the tone severe and 
 menacing ; all was again silent. My friend 
 and I looked at each other, but neither ven- 
 tured to impart his thoughts. Conjecture, how- 
 ever, did not remain idle. Was this a horde of 
 those barbarous men that we had heafd of as 
 inhabiting these coasts, who, by settkig up 
 false lights, betray the unsuspecting mariners 
 
 on 
 
Chap. iv. manorbeer castle. 5t 
 
 on rocks and shoals, and then plunder the 
 Wreck, often murdering the crew who may 
 attempt to defend their property ? Or was it a 
 gang of smugglers ? for such men were known 
 to conceal their stores in unfrequented ruins, 
 and other wild seclusions. We were inclined 
 to favour this latter opinion ; but derived little 
 satisfaction from it, on considering that they 
 were scarcely inferior to the former in fero^ 
 city ; and that if they discovered us, every 
 thing was to be apprehended from a brutal 
 policy, to preserve the secret of their hiding- 
 place. 
 
 Our reflections were broken off by a further 
 noise, and we plainly heard a hoarse caution- 
 ing voice utter, " Only you mind, and we 
 shall have 'em both." We again appealed to 
 each other's countenances, but no confidence 
 appeared in either ; in silence, I threw out 
 the tuck of my stick ; my friend drew a 
 sword from his ; for we were so far armed 
 against attack. Again all was hushed ; and 
 we ventured to raise ourselves from the dun-* 
 geon, in order to catch a glimpse of the peo- 
 ple with whom we had to deal ; when a 
 strong flash of lightning illuminated the whole 
 ruin ; and from an aperture near its base, we 
 e 2 saw 
 
5 C 2 MANORBEER CASTLE. CHAP. IV. 
 
 saw two men emerge ; the one armed with a 
 gun, the other with a spade: — 1 thought I 
 had never seen two such murderous-looking 
 fellows : we shrunk to our concealment in- 
 stinctively ; yet not without an apprehension 
 that we had been seen. But our sensations 
 may be easier imagined than described, when 
 within a few yards one of them was heard to 
 say, " Why did you not bring your gun ? I 
 shouldn't wonder if one got away :" which 
 was answered by, " Only you make sure of 
 one, and I'll engage to knock the other's 
 brains out." 
 
 Now knowing the worst, we determined 
 on sallying out ; if possible, to reach a little- 
 village that we had observed at no great dis- 
 tance ; or, if discovered, to endeavour upon 
 closing in with the gunsman before he could 
 take aim. We sprang forward together, and 
 had nearly reached the great entrance when? 
 the gun went off; and in the same moment 
 I saw my friend extended among the frag- 
 ments of the ruin :— without stopping, I 
 rushed on toward the ruffian, hoping to use 
 my stick with good effect before the piece 
 could be re-loaded ; when, passing under the 
 portal, down the crevice where formerly the 
 
 portcullis 
 
CHAP; IV.- MANORBEER CASTLE-. 53 
 
 portcullis was suspended, a large fox darted 
 and passed before me. A loud voice now 
 exclaimed, " Dang it you've missed hur ;" 
 and with no less joy than astonishment I be- 
 held my friend brandishing his sword behind 
 me ; we said nothing, but pushed on toge- 
 ther, and, suddenly turning an angle, met 
 the villains face to face. Again joy and 
 astonishment struggled for pre-eminence ; — 
 they recoiled from us, and, dropping their 
 weapons, with a loud yell darted out of 
 sight ! 
 
 Such dastardly conduct may appear irre- 
 concilable with the ferocious design of which 
 we suspected them; but cowardice is no 
 stranger to cruelty ; and the direct tenor of 
 their expressions forbade a rising suggestion 
 that thev intended us no harm. Gathering 
 up the gun and spade as trophies of our vic- 
 tory, and remounting our horses, which re- 
 mained as they were le[t 9 tied up in a nook, 
 we proceeded to the neighbouring village, or 
 rath.er two or three cottages. By the way I 
 learned, that upon the report of the gun, 
 my friend fell in conseouence of turning short 
 upon the slippery fragments of the ruin. On 
 our approaching the village, a number of 
 e 3 men 
 
54- MANQRBEER CASTLE. CHAP. IV, 
 
 men* women, and children, appeared crowd-* 
 ing together with great eagerness ; and we 
 were no sooner perceived, than an evident 
 ■alarm pervaded the cluster, in which was 
 included the two ruffians, However, the 
 peaceable demeanour of the tourists, and the 
 superiority of numbers on the side of the na- 
 tives, united in procuring a parley ; when it 
 evidently appeared that a double miscon- 
 ception had taken place : the men in whose 
 countenances we had read the prognostics of 
 homicide, turned out to be two honest young 
 farmers, who had traced a couple of notorious 
 robbers that had long infested the neighbour- 
 hood (a brace of foxes) to their retreat in the 
 castle ruins. This account brought with it a 
 new application of the sentences that we had 
 heard, and we were ashamed of our mis- 
 construction ; but the men were not behind-, 
 hand with us; for, as they frankly declared, 
 from our sudden appearance, they took us 
 either for ghosts or devils. The gun and 
 spade were now returned ; and, instead ©f a 
 deadly encounter, an exchange of good 
 wishes took place, on our leaving the vita 
 Jagers in the pursuit of our journey. 
 
 By 
 
CHAP. IV. RIDE TO CAHEW. 55 
 
 By the time we had reascended to the 
 turnpike, the evening was closing apace; 
 and this circumstance, with the uncomfort- 
 able state of the weather, made it a great 
 object with us to take up our night's quarters 
 as soon as possible. Pembroke was eight 
 miles distant, Carew (called Carey) only two 
 or three, as we w r ere informed by some 
 country-people ; we therefore struck off into 
 a bridle-road for the latter place, under their 
 direction ; but soon found ourselves at a loss 
 which to choose of three roads that presented 
 themselves ; yet, seeing no one of whom we 
 could enquire, we were obliged to advance 
 at hazard ; and, after a long ride through 
 mire and loose stones, on meeting with a 
 cottager, were directed to return all the way 
 back, and take a different route. This vex- 
 atious task performed, we found ourselves 
 again at a loss, and again took a false route. 
 We were now completely enveloped in the 
 darkness of night ; the weather continued 
 stormy ; and our craggy road hardly wore 
 the distinctness of a track. In this forlorn 
 condition we slowly paced on, not exclaim- 
 ing like Ossian's chief, u Let clouds rest on 
 ** the hills, spirits fly, and travellers fear; 
 f 4- " lei 
 
56 RIDE TO CAREW, CHAP. IV. 
 
 " let the winds of the woods arise, the sound-: 
 *f ing storms descend ; roar streams, and 
 " windows flap, and green-winged meteors 
 i( fly ; rise the pale moon from behind her 
 " hills, or inclose her head in clpuds, night 
 4e is alike to me, blue, stormy, or gloomy 
 ^ the sky." Alas ! it made a sensible dif- 
 ference to us ; but at length a distant glim- 
 mering of light appeared between the trees,, 
 which we gladly traced to a lonely cottage. 
 Here, on our calling out, a tail raw-boned 
 man opened the door, and discovered three 
 others who were regaling round a blazing 
 hearth : these were all miners in a neigh- 
 bouring coal-work. The uniform black ap- 
 pearance of this group, their long matted 
 hair half hiding their faces, which caught a 
 ferocious turn from the strong partial light of 
 the fire, was not calculated to inspire pre- 
 possession in their favour ; but, though in the 
 exterior repulsive as their cheerless occupa- 
 tion, their hearts were not estranged from 
 sensations of benevolence ; and yet, so little 
 had they of refinement, as to offer no com-. 
 plimentary condolence on hearing of our 
 difficulties; even yet more unfashionably* 
 \j actyal services they relieved them. " Mas- 
 
 V tersh 
 
CHAP. IV. RIDE TO CAREW, 57 
 
 '■ ters," said one of the men, " if you '11 but 
 " step in a minute while I finish my mess of 
 " porridge, I'll put you into the right road ; 
 ■■ it can't be darker than it is ; do sit down, 
 " and let me put your horses in the cow- 
 " house ; I suppose you wou'd n't like our 
 " fare (it was a mess of barley and greens 
 *? stewed with a bit of meat or bacon) ; but 
 " mother can give you a drop of good mead, 
 " and some riecentish bread and butter." This 
 invitation, with the manner in which it was 
 conveyed, offered a relief that neither of us 
 was inclined to reject ; for, indeed, we had 
 tasted nothing since breakfast, and besides 
 found that some barley might be had for our 
 horses. So seating ourselves in the chimney 
 comer, we partook of the refreshments brouglit 
 us by an old withered matron, who finished a 
 scene forming a lively counterpart to that of 
 the cavern in Gil Bias. Our dame soon took 
 a leading part in conversation ; she gratefully 
 expatiated on the bounty of Providence in. 
 sending us a plentiful year, and lamented the 
 misery that prevailed last winter, when, she 
 declared, they were all starving, and many of 
 her neighbours died outright of hunger. 
 This statement I found general throughout 
 
 the 
 
5$ CAREW. CHAP. IV, 
 
 the country. We left this humble but hos- 
 pitable roof with regret ; nor was it without 
 much difficulty that we could prevail on our 
 hostess to accept of a trifling acknowledge- 
 ment for her favours. 
 
 We again set forward through mire and dark- 
 ness, conducted by one of the men, who be- 
 guiled the time with stories of ghosts that had 
 been seen at Manorbeer castle. At length it 
 became somewhat lighter, and we parted with 
 our friendly guide upon his shewing us the 
 strait road to Carew. " Cold and comfort- 
 '* less," we knocked at the inn door (for inn 
 is the name of every alehouse in Wales) ; 
 when, to put a finishing stroke to the troubles 
 of this eventful day, we learned that they 
 had neither beds for us nor stabling for our 
 horses ; but we had previously heard, that 
 the village boasted two inns, and accordingly 
 went to the other: a similar information, 
 however, awaited us here ; with the addi- 
 tional intelligence, that there was not a stable 
 in the village, and only one spare bed, which 
 was at the other alehouse ; there was no al- 
 ternative ; we were constrained to turn our 
 tired and hungry horses into a field, and go 
 back to the first house. 
 
 Here 
 
CHAP. IV. CAREW. 59 
 
 Here our apartment served not only " for 
 *' parlour and kitchen and hall,? but like- 
 wise for bed-room : every thing was in uni- 
 son, the discoloured state of the walls and 
 furniture ; the care-worn looks of our host 
 and hostess ; our scanty fare, consisting of 
 hard barley bread and salt butter ; with nau- 
 seating ale, that even our keen appetites re- 
 jected ; all betokened poverty and wretched- 
 ness : while in the bed, which extended 
 from one side of the room to the other, two 
 children were sending forth the most discor- 
 dant yells ; the one suffering a violent tooth- 
 ache,, and the other crying because its brother 
 cried. After enduring this scene of pur- 
 gatory upwards of an hour, we were shewn 
 to our bed : it was a recess built in an ad- 
 joining room, and furnished with a bag of 
 straw, which was kept in its place by a 
 couple of boards crossing the niche. In the 
 same room was another bed, where two more 
 pledges of our landlord's tender passion con- 
 tinued to torment us. Vexed with accumu- 
 lating plagues, we threw ourselves half uih 
 dressed on the bed ; but our evil destiny had 
 yet more troubles in store ; — the sheets were 
 wringing wet : so that we had reason to ex- 
 pect 
 
60 CAREV/. CHAP. IV. 
 
 peet that on the morrow we should be laid 
 up with colds or fevers ; but this apprehen- 
 sion was soon superseded ; for a legion of 
 fleas attacked us at all points with such per- 
 severing ferocity, that we were kept in mo- 
 tion the whole night ; a number of rats also, 
 by gamboling "among our straw, while others 
 were busy in grating a sally port through the 
 partition, held us in the fidgets ; and thus 
 the danger of obstructed circulation was 
 avoided. We had just left oft' cursing rustic 
 accommodation, and the itch for travelling 
 which had led us to these sufferings, when 
 the door opened ; no light appeared, but the 
 sound of footsteps, softly treading, passed 
 near us. Suspecting foul play, we instantly 
 sprang up, and caught hold of a poor ragged 
 girl, who acted as maid of the inn, and was 
 going to sleep with the children in the other 
 bed. 
 
 This kind of rural accommodation may 
 appear very diverting in a narrative ; but 
 to those accustomed to better fare, it will be 
 found a very serious evil. Indeed, from this 
 specimen we afterwards made it a rule to 
 finish our day's journey at a good town ; in 
 consequence of which salutary resolution, 
 
 except 
 
CHAP, IV. CAREW CASTLE. 61 
 
 except in one or two instances, we were 
 never without a comfortable lodging. This 
 caution is very practicable in South Wales, 
 as the most interesting part of the country is 
 well furnished with accommodation. 
 
 On issuing from our house of mortification, 
 we were regaled with a fine view of Carew 
 castle, situated on a gentle swell above an 
 arm of Miiford-haven. Its extensive remains 
 shew it to have been rather a splendid palace, 
 than a mere fortress ; and it evidently appears 
 the work of different ages. The North front, 
 a portion looking over the river, is scarcely 
 castellated, but exhibits the mode of building 
 in use about the time .of Henrv the Eighth. 
 From the level of this front, the windows, 
 square and of grand dimensions, project in 
 large bows : internally, this part is highly 
 ornamented ; and a chimney-piece with Co- 
 rinthian columns appears anicng the latest 
 decorations of the structure. The great hali, 
 built in the ornamented Gothic style, though 
 much dilapidated, is still a noble relic of 
 antique grandeur. Other parts of the build- 
 ing are of more remote date, and most of 
 the walls are remarkably thick and of solid 
 masonry : a peculiarity to be noticed ; as the 
 
 Welch 
 
62 CAREW CASTLE!. CttAP. IV* 
 
 Welch castles are chiefly constructed of grout* 
 work *. The subterraneous dungeons are 
 remarkably extensive, and assimilate with 
 the grandeur of the general design. This 
 castle was anciently a residence of the Welch 
 princes, and given by one of them (Rhys ap 
 Theodore), with extensive lands, as a mar- 
 riage portion with his daughter, to Gerald de 
 Cario, an Anglo-Norman chieftain, and ancestor 
 of the last proprietor of the castle ; who, ac- 
 cording to the tradition of the neighbourhood, 
 died a hundred and seventy years ago ; since 
 
 which time the castle has been left to decav. 
 
 j 
 
 Here many a lofty tower of once menacing 
 aspect lies hid in a leafy umbrage. The 
 spacious hall, that in feudal ages glittered in 
 baronial splendor, is now engrafted with ivy, 
 or in mouldering fragments lies an undis- 
 tinguished heap with the common earth i 
 where once was attuned the sweet song of 
 minstrelsy, is now heard the hoarse note of 
 the raven ; no more the high-wrought arras 
 shakes mysteriously from the walls, but an 
 unaffected profusion of ivy mantles the for- 
 saken apartments ; beasts graze where dark- 
 
 * See the Introduction,. Section 3. 
 
 plumed 
 
CHAP. IV. CAREW CASTLE. 6$ 
 
 plumed barons sat arrayed ; and the hal- 
 lowed chamber of " my lady bright" is be- 
 come the resort of bats and screech-owls* 
 
 Here the enthusiast, while scanning Gothic 
 halls and " cloud-cap'd towers," may feel his 
 mind transported to the ages of chivalry, and 
 image all the pageantry of feudal shews ! Or, 
 in more humble mood, may look upon their 
 faded grandeur, and venerate a silent monitor 
 of human ostentation. 
 
 As we admired the picturesque beauty of 
 this scene, or indulged in the moral reflec- 
 tions to which it gave rise, we forgot our in- 
 conveniences and fatisrue, and cheerfully re- 
 turned to the inn. Our horses were in wait- 
 ing : poor animals ! they had no intellec- 
 tual set-oft to the solid ill fare that they met 
 with ; but, unrid of the previous day's mire, 
 proceeded with us on the road ro Pembroke. 
 On leaving the village, we observed a Gothic 
 cross on the side of the road, about twelve or 
 fourteen feet high, and apparently formed of 
 a single stone : it was carved all over with 
 knots and scrolls, but we did not stop to ex- 
 amine it minutely. On ascending a hill, we 
 had a grand view of the castle : indeed, it is 
 from the south and south-west alone that its 
 
 important 
 
fii LAWRENNY. CHAP. IV. 
 
 important dimensions fully appear : hen eel 
 also we saw the elevated mansion of Law- 
 renny, seated on a lofty bank of an arm of 
 Milford-haven, and beautifully accompanied 
 with wood and lawn. This place, particu- 
 larly excelling in natural beauties, is con- 
 sidered as one of the first seats in Pembroke- 
 shire ; and w r e understood that it had received 
 much improvement from the taste and libe- 
 rality of Mr. Barlow, the present proprietor, 
 A ride on an elevated ridge, which but for 
 the morning mists would have commanded 
 extensive views, brought us to Pembroke. 
 
 The town of Pembroke principally con- 
 sists of one wide street built along the ridge of 
 a hill (washed by an arm of Milford-haven)* 
 and terminated at one extremity by its castle. 
 Although of late declining in commercial 
 importance, the aspect of the town is neat 
 and genteel. Leland says of this town in his 
 time, " it is welle wauled and hath iii gates, 
 " est, west, and north ; of the wich the est 
 " gate is fairest and strongest, having afore hit 
 "a compasid tour, not rofid ; in the entering 
 " where of is a Portcalys, ex solido Jbro." 
 Of these erections there are now but very 
 imperfect remains ; we observed, however, 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. IV, PEMBROKE CASTLE. 65 
 
 that the north gate was still in tolerable re- 
 pair. 
 
 Pembroke castle is a noble ruin, seated 
 on a cliff above the river. Caradoc of Llan- 
 caroon says, that it was founded by Arnulph, 
 son to the Earl of Shrewsbury) anno 1094; 
 but Giralclus Cambrensis fixes the time of its 
 erection in the reign of Henry the First, and 
 the rounded arches that occur in the building 
 determine its foundation not to have been 
 later than that prince's reign. The most re- 
 markable features of this ruin are> the grand 
 entrance, which is still entire ; and the Juliet, 
 or high round tower* the antient citadel, 
 which has still the " Rofe of stone almost in 
 " conum ; the top whereof is covered with a 
 " flat mille stone ;" as described by Leland. 
 The walls of this tower are fourteen feet in 
 thickness; its diameter within is twenty-five 
 feet, and its height to the top of the dome 
 seventy-five feet : from mortices in the walls, 
 this tower appears to have been divided into 
 four floors. The ruined chapel also is a conspi- 
 cuous object viewed externally ; — and imme- 
 diately underneath it, in the body of the rock, 
 is the Wogan, a grand cavern deemed natural : 
 if it be so, however, Nature has taken more 
 
 f paras 
 
66 LAMPHEY CASTLE. CHAP. IV* 
 
 pains in turning it correctly circular, and raising 
 its elevated roof, than she generally is found to 
 have done in works of this kind. Its diameter 
 is fifty-three feet ; and just within the en- 
 trance we observed a spiral staircase which leet 
 through the rock to the chapel within the 
 castle. From the foundations of an outwork,, 
 which we traced among shrubs and brambles 
 on the margin of the. river, opposite the 
 cavern's mouth, it appears to have been less 
 a place of concealment than an avowed sally- 
 port, or regular entrance from the river. 
 The castle is remarkable in history for having 
 been the birth-place of Henry the Seventh ;. 
 and also for the gallant defence that it made 
 for Charles the First. 
 
 About two miles from Pembroke,, near the 
 road to Tenby,, is Lamphey court, an epis- 
 copal palace belonging to the see of St. 
 David's ;; and^ after the alienation,, a residence 
 of Lord Essex's, the favourite of Elizabeth. 
 This dilapidated structure is chiefly remark* 
 able for a light parapet, raised on arches en- 
 circling the building, similar to the one 
 noticed at Swansea. From Pembroke, a road 
 extends southward through an uninteresting, 
 district to Stackpoole court, the seat of 
 
 Lord. 
 
CHAP. IV. STACKPOOLE COURT. 61 
 
 Lord Cawdor, situated in a deep romantic 
 valley near the sea-coast. The mansion is 
 worthy of its noble owner ; and the finely- 
 Wooded park and grounds exhibit a more 
 luxuriant verdure than might be expected so 
 near a sea-beat promontory. A short distance 
 westward, upon the coast, is St. Govin's 
 chapel ; and near it, a well of the same name, 
 thought by the country people to be mira- 
 culous in the cure of several disorders. We 
 have since regretted our not visiting the sea- 
 fcliffs in this neighbourhood, which we are 
 told assume a very grand and romantic ap- 
 pearance. In the same neighbourhood we 
 find described Bosherston-meer, " a pool 
 X( of water so deep that it could never be 
 " sounded ; yet before a storm it is said to 
 *' bubble* foam, and make a noise so loud 
 t( as to be heard at several miles distance, 
 " The banks are of no great circumference at 
 " the top, but broader downwards, and at a 
 " considerable depth is a great breach towards 
 " the sea, which is about a furlong distant* 
 u and is supposed to have a subterraneous 
 u communication with it *." 
 
 * A Description of England and Wales, Vol. VII. 
 
 f 2 CHAP. 
 
t *B J 
 
 C H A P. V. 
 
 LITTLE ENGLAND BEYOND WALES — ML- 
 FORD-HAVEN WELCH BEAUTIES HA- 
 VERFORDWEST FAIR- — THE TOWN, CAS- 
 TLE, AND PRIORY PICTON CASTLE 
 
 HABBERSTON MILFORD. 
 
 iN the reign of Heriry the First, a colony 
 of Flemings, driven from their country by 
 an inundation, were permitted to settle In the 
 western neighbourhood of Milford-haven. 
 These were often attacked by the Welch, but 
 unsuccessfully : they soon extended their ter- 
 ritory over a great part of the county, and, 
 in conjunction with the Normans, carried 
 their arms as far as Llanstephan. Camden 
 calls this district, " Little England be- 
 " yond Wales ;" and the difference of ap- 
 pearance, customs, and language, between 
 the inhabitants of southern Pembrokeshire 
 and their neighbours, is strikingly obvious at 
 the present day. The tourist in Caermarthen- 
 ' - - shire 
 
CHAP V GILFORD- HAVEN." 6$ 
 
 shire will scarcely meet a peasant who speaks 
 a word of English ; but in an hour's ride, to- 
 wards Pembroke, lj,e will find it universally 
 spoken. I remarked this to mine host at 
 Carew ; who exultingly assured me, that 
 Pembrokeshire was out of Wales ; that he 
 (a native of the place) was an Englishman ; 
 and that for his part he did not understand 
 any thing of the Yv r elch gibberish. 
 
 The men, tall and well made, evidently 
 incline more to the English character than the 
 "Welch ; yet they possess some personal traits 
 distinct from either : I imagined, indeed, 
 in many of the peasantry a resemblance to the 
 present inhabitants of Flanders. Although 
 this corner of the principality is the most re- 
 mote from England, it is the most civilized. 
 This rnav be accounted for, from the com- 
 mercial habits brought over by the Flemings 
 (which still continue) introducing the manners 
 of other nations ; an advantage denied to the 
 generalitv of the Welch, whose ancient (per- 
 haps wholesome) prejudices disinclined them 
 tp extensive commerce. 
 
 We took our final departure from Pem- 
 broke, on the road to Haverfordwest, not 
 
 f 3 without 
 
70 MILFORD-HAVEN. CHAP. V # 
 
 without often looking back on the princely 
 relics of its castle, towering above the river : 
 but, crossing a ridgy eminence, our attention 
 was diverted by the appearance of Milfqrdt 
 haven. 
 
 This noble harbour, immortalized by the 
 strains of our great dramatic poet, is of an 
 oblong figure ; about ten miles in length, 
 and from one to two in width. It is justly 
 considered as the best and safest in Great 
 Britain, and inferior to none in Europe; 
 abounding with the best anchorage, and 
 having five bays, ten creeks, and thirteen 
 roads. Two forts that were erected in the 
 time of Elizabeth on the opposite points of 
 the entrance, called Nangle and Dale block- 
 houses, are now neglected. 
 
 As a picturesque object, Milford-haven is 
 chiefly interesting for its noble sheet of water : 
 its peaceable shores, rising in gentle hills, 
 may please from their flowing outline ; but, 
 uncloathed with wood, and unbroken into 
 crags or precipices, their sameness fails to 
 interest an eye habituated to bolder scenery. 
 The mouth of the haven, turning suddenly 
 southward, gives it from most points of view 
 the appearance of a lake. It very strongly 
 
 reminded 
 
CHAP. V. MIL'FORD-HAVEN. 7.1 
 
 ■reminded me of several of the lakes in Cum- 
 berland ; but, although its surface is greater, 
 the lakes far transcend it in the accompany- 
 merits of rock and wood, and a sedgy mar- 
 gin that mixes its verdure with the water: 
 whereas the haven is surrounded by a broad 
 stripe of mud, except at high tide: this de- 
 fect, however, is constituent to all estuaries and 
 tide rivers, i More richly decorative in their 
 -scenery are the three branches of Milford- 
 haven, which diverge at the extremity of the 
 great bason, and distribute fertility and beauty 
 over the principal part of Pembrokeshire *. 
 It was our intention to have crossed these 
 branches at Lawrenny and Landshipping, 
 and to have taken Picton castle and Slebatch 
 in our way to Haverfordwest ; but, not having 
 -a whole day before us, considering the time 
 due to the several objects, and learning that 
 the ferries were uncertain, we recollected our 
 sufferings at Carew, and by taking the direqt 
 
 * The shores of Mil ford -haven abound with lime-stone ; 
 which, affording a rich manure (with coals and culm), is con- 
 veyed by water over a great portion of the county. In the 
 shores of the haven also, near its junction with the operf 
 sea, are many veins of copper ore, some of which are con- 
 jectured to be veiy rich j but none have been explored with 
 perseverance. 
 
 f 4 road 
 
72 WELCH BEAUTIES. GflAP. V-» 
 
 road to Haverford avoided the risk of being 
 again benighted *. 
 
 We were detained at tire ferry near an 
 hour ; for the embarkation and passage of 
 three carriages and their horses from the o[> 
 posite side occupied all the boats during that 
 time. But, although restless enough our* 
 selves, we were not the most anxious part of 
 a company that was waiting for a passage ; 
 several young men and near twenty young 
 women, all dressed in their holiday-clothes, 
 were panting for the amusements of Haver- 
 fordwest fair : perhaps a description of these 
 lasses may convey some idea of Pembrokeau 
 beauty. 
 
 Health, contentment, and cheerfulness, 
 combined, formed their predominant expres- 
 sion : yet it might be truly said, in the words 
 of Gra) r , 
 
 <c O'er their •warm cheeks and rising bosoms move 
 
 f* The bloom of young Desire, and purple light of j/ove," 
 
 A roundish oval circumscribed their faces; 
 their eyes, not over large, of a dark blue, 
 
 * J>ord Kensington described tome a very picturesque ruin 
 called Benton castle, situated upon the borders qf Milford-* 
 baven near the arm of Lawreuny. This ruin I had not an 
 opportunity of seeing, nor do I remember having read of it n\ 
 any of the descriptions of Wales, 
 
 unstrained 
 
CKAP. V. WELCH BEAUTIES, Yo 
 
 -unstrained by the wakeful vigils of fashion-, 
 able revelry, displayed all the native bril- 
 liancy of those interesting organs ; their noses,: 
 though of the snub kind, were well formed ;• 
 and pretty pouting lips were ever ready to 
 distend into a smile, on which occasion rows 
 of ivory appeared, such as could hardly be 
 matched out of Pembrokeshire *. The ten- 
 dency to embonpoint, so characteristic of the 
 Welch woman, was by no means displeasing 
 in these young «nd elastic subjects ; whatever 
 was lost in ekgancc, was compensated in 
 another point of view ; their necks, of the 
 most luxuriant prominence, 
 
 *' With youth wild-throbbing"' — 
 
 were modestly handkerchlefed to their throats; 
 yet did the thin gauze covering, closely em- 
 bracing the proud distensions of nature, only 
 the more bewitch in gly manifest the beauties 
 which it was appointed to conceal. Their 
 other proportions were in unison, and, as a 
 jockey, who was also going to the fair, coarsely, 
 
 # I a*ted one of tfrefse i oung women , with the utmost 
 seriousness ami civility, at least with nil that I was master of, 
 yhat they made use of to render their teeth so uncommonly 
 vhite; when the arch hussy waggishly replied, " Ouly a 
 '<■ little nice white sand, and a scrubbing-brush, Sir," 
 
 but 
 
74 WELCH BEAUTIES. CHAP. V, 
 
 but clearly, observed, " full of hard meat/" 
 In truth, among them, it were no difficult 
 matter to find what Homer would call — 
 SaAs^y Ts-ot^otKotTiv, The dress of the Welch 
 women, however, is not calculated to set off 
 their persons : a close mob cap has little grace* 
 especially when surmounted with a round felt 
 hat; and their very long waists, and brown 
 or plaid cloth jackets and petticoats, but render 
 the rotundity of their foundations more un- 
 picturesque. It cannot at present be said, that 
 
 c{ their tender limbs 
 
 ie Float in the loose simplicity of dress y\ 
 
 yet, as the smart girls begin to imitate our 
 English modes, in the course of a few years 
 every contour of nature may be as free to 
 public inspection in Wales, as it is at present 
 in the polite circles of the metropolis. 
 
 Crossing the ferry, we left this interesting, 
 group ; and, in proceeding up a high bank 
 of the haven, enjoyed a fine view of its ex- 
 pansive surface, and grand undulating shores. 
 About half-way to Haverfordwest a new scene 
 burst upon us, consisting of a wide luxuriant 
 valley, watered by a large arm of Milford- 
 haven. We were denied a distinct view of 
 this scene by a hazy atmosphere ; but are in-' 
 
 formed, 
 
£HAP. V. HAVERFORDWEST FAIR. 75 
 
 formed, that it is uncommonly rich and ex* 
 tensive in clear weather. On approaching 
 the town of Haverfordwest up a laborious 
 ascent, we passed through the fair, which is 
 held just without the town. Black cattle and 
 jhorses were the chief objects of the meeting, 
 which had scarcely any diversions; no shews; 
 nor any jugglers, except a recruiting party, 
 and tw r o or three cattle jobbers, or middle 
 men, who agreed upon the price of the 
 market, while the actual buyers and sellers 
 stood gaping at each other, in amazement 
 how such prices could be obtained ! Perhaps 
 they had to learn, that for an indispensable 
 commodity, exclusively held by a set of men 
 whose interests are common, any price may 
 be obtained ! But we had some rural sports; 
 a party of rustics were dancing on the green, 
 to the notes of a miserable scraper ; yet of 
 him it could not be said, 
 
 <l Old Orpheus play'd so well, he mov'd old Nick j 
 " But thou mov'st nothing but thy fiddle-stick ;" 
 
 for the reeking brows of his company very 
 plainly evinced the laborious agitation that he 
 had excited. Close by, agame at see-saw seemed 
 to create much diversion among the bye- 
 standers. We joined in the throng, and were 
 
 entertained 
 
16 HAVERFORDWEST FAIR. CHAP. V. 
 
 entertained with a good-natured dispute be- 
 tween a comely lad and as blythe a lass as 
 any the fair could boast : they were in the 
 midst of their acquaintance ; and we learned 
 from one of them, that on the following 
 Sunday they were to be married : he wished 
 her to ride with him at see-saw, and she per- 
 sisted in refusing ; he hauled her to no pur- 
 pose, until a sharp-looking little girl said, that 
 if she were in his place she would put off the 
 wedding for a fortnight, to be revenged ; a 
 loud laugh succeeded this, at the expence of 
 the bride-elect ; but the allusion to matrimony 
 forced no downcast confusion on the lass ; 
 perhaps her rosy dimples were painted with a 
 deeper hue ; yet the suffusion arose rather 
 from a glowing idea, than a sensation of uiir 
 necessary shame : wherefore should she be 
 ashamed of the approaching fulfilment of her 
 long-cherished wishes ? — I do not know whe* 
 ther she feared that her lover might adopt the 
 advice of her mischievous friend, or whether 
 it was the natural compliance of the sex dis- 
 qualifying them for stout denial, that acted 
 upon her ; but she at length yielded. Alas, 
 poor damsel ! she was not yet an adept at 
 seesaw ; and a verification of Buxoma's 
 
 mischance 
 
C&AI*. V. HAVERFORDWEST. 77 
 
 mischance was witnessed by the whole com- 
 pany : 
 
 ** Cuddy.— Across the fallen oak the plank I laid, 
 
 " And myself pois'd against the tott'ring maid, 
 " High leap'd the plank, adown Buxoma fell : 
 " I spy'd — but faithful sweethearts never tell." 
 
 The town of Haverfordwest irregular!)? 
 bulk on the steep bank of the river Hia, 
 may now be considered as the capital of 
 Pembrokeshire ; as well on account of its 
 superior extent and opulence, as from its 
 having lately become the place of the grand 
 session. But the streets are narrow and dirty* 
 and so steep as to be seriously dangerous, A 
 few £ood houses, among: which is a residence 
 of the dowager lady Kensington, start up 
 here and there ; but in such situations, as to 
 convey no look of importance to the place. 
 However commerce may have diffused wealth 
 through this town, and proclaimed it the 
 successful rival of Pembroke ; yet, compared 
 with the clean, placid, and respectable mien 
 of the latter, it ensures no pre-eminence of 
 esteem from the tourist: it may, indeed, present 
 to him the idea of a purse-proud shop-keeper, 
 strutting before a decayed gentleman. 
 
 The 
 
7S Haverfordwest castle. chap. V{ 
 
 The castle, seated on a cliff adjoining the 
 town, is said to have been built by Gilbert Earl 
 of Clare, in the reign of King Stephen, and was 
 occupied by the Flemings. Though still pos- 
 sessing considerable portions of its former im- 
 portance, yet, engrafted with modern addi- 
 tions to fit it for the county jail, it has little 
 picturesque attraction. A wall connected with 
 the castle, which once surrounded the town, 
 is still in part standing : a good quay, a cus- 
 tom house, a free school, a charity school, 
 and an alms house, are among the public 
 concerns of this town. Of three churches 
 that it boasts, that of St. Mary is a neat build- 
 ing ; and its spire, covered with shingles and 
 warped from the perpendicular, has a curious 
 effect. A short distance southward of the 
 town, near the river, are some remains of a 
 priory of Black canons, founded by John de 
 Haverford. 
 
 An excursion of three or four miles led us 
 to Picton castle, the noble seat of lord 
 Milford, whose extensive domains cover a 
 great part of the surrounding country. This 
 may be considered as one of the most antique 
 residences in the kingdom, having been built 
 
 by 
 
CKAP. V. FICTON castle; 7& 
 
 by William dePicton, a Norman knight, in the 
 reign. of William Rufus. Upon his line's be- 
 coming extinct, it descended to the Wogans, 
 then to the Dones, and afterwards to the Phi- 
 lipses of Kylsant ; and during the Civil Wars, 
 Sir Richard Philips made a long and vigorous 
 defence in it for King Charles. It is one of 
 the very few castles that escaped the dilapi- 
 dations of Cromwell, and is also remarkable 
 for having been always inhabited ; yet the 
 alterations and additions of successive occu- 
 piers have not deprived it of its embattled 
 figure. The extensive and delightful plan- 
 tations of this seat unite with those of Sle- 
 batch, a handsome house built by the late 
 Mr. Barlow, and now in the possession of Mr. 
 Philips. 
 
 In another excursion from Haverfordwest^ 
 passing Johnston, an old seat of Lord Ken- 
 sington's, to the obliging communications of 
 which nobieman I feel myself greatly in- 
 debted, we reached Hubberston Haikin, 
 a fishing town in Milford-haven, whence the 
 Waterford packets depart from Britain. This 
 is a poor place, and ill-supplied with accom- 
 modation for travellers ; but at the still smaller 
 
 town 
 
8Q MILFORD. CHAP. V. 
 
 town of MiLFORD, on the opposite side of 
 the river, we were informed, a good inn is 
 established. Near Habberston are the smail 
 remains of a priory, consisting chiefly of the 
 gate-house ; but of what foundation or order 
 no legend informs us. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
[ « ■] 
 
 C H A P. VI. 
 
 JOURNEY OVER THE PRECELLY MOUNTAIN 
 TO CARDIGAN EXTENSIVE PROSPECT- 
 CARDIGAN ST. dogmael's PRIOHY 
 
 ANOTHER ROUTE FROM HAVERFORDWEST 
 TO CARDIGAN, BY ST. DAVID'S THE CA- 
 THEDRAL OF ST. DAVID'S GRAND RUINS 
 
 OF ITS PALACE A LOGGAN, OR ROCKING 
 
 STONE RAMSAY ISLAND FISHGUARD 
 
 NEWPORT KILGARRAN CASTLE 
 
 SALMON LEAP — NEWCASTLE. 
 
 1 H E choice of our journey from Haverford- 
 west * to Cardigan was a matter of some dif- 
 ficulty ; we were desirous of traversing the 
 
 Precelly 
 
 * From Haverfordwest, a turnpike road extends to Caer- 
 marthen, 33 miles distant. About nine miles from Haverford, 
 and one to the left of the road, is Lawhaden castle^ pic- 
 turesquely seated on a bold eminence, overlooking an exten- 
 sive country. This ca6tle was the principal seat of the Bishops 
 
 g of 
 
82 TROGAN ROCKS. CHAP. VI. 
 
 Precelly Mountain, but could not think of 
 leaving the ruins of St. David's unexamined. 
 At last we hit upon the expedient of each 
 taking a different road : my companion, 
 having the better horse, took the circuitous 
 route by St. David's ; and I, the direct road 
 over the mountains. 
 
 Proceeding upon this arrangement two or 
 three miles, I halted to take a retrospective 
 view of the country. Haverfordwest now* 
 wore a singular appearance, with its houses 
 piled on each other ; but, accompanied by a 
 fine river well furnished with vessels, and by 
 its bridge and massive castle, it presented an 
 agreeable picture. At some distance west- 
 ward, the lofty tower of Roche castle was 
 conspicuous ; and partly in the same direc- 
 tion, the Trogan rocks, rising from the ver- 
 dure in abrupt crags, so as to be generally 
 mistaken for stupendous ruins. Turning to 
 the east, within a short distance appeared an 
 
 of St. David's ; but in the year 1616 Bishop Milborne obtained 
 leave to dismantle it, the lead and other expensive materials 
 having been purloined by his holy predecessors. Narbeth, a 
 small irregular town built on a hill about 11 miles on the road, 
 has some inconsiderable ruins of a castle erected by Sir An- 
 drew Perrot, whose ancestor came over at the Conquest. The 
 road, passing through St. Clare, a pleasing village, continues 
 onward without any particular attraction. 
 
 ancient 
 
iCHAP. VI. PRECELLY MOUNTAIN. 83 
 
 ancient encampment called St. Leonard's 
 rathe, crowning a bold eminence ; this 
 work is circular, and, from the height of its 
 vallum and depth of its ditch, may be attri- 
 buted to the Saxons. 
 
 As I advanced from this spot I parted with 
 the beauties of the country : no objects of 
 interest occurred ; the unadorned views be- 
 came compressed in narrow limits, until at 
 length they were shut up in mountainous 
 hollows. In this dreary track stands a poor 
 solitary house called New inn, half way be- 
 tween Haverford and Cardigan : however, I 
 here obtained part of a goose for my dinner, 
 and then proceeded up the Precelly Moun- 
 tain. 
 
 This mountain, reckoned the highest in 
 South Wales, is part of a great ridge crossing 
 Pembrokeshire in a direction East and West. 
 On gaining the summit, a prodigious extent 
 of prospect burst upon me. In front, <t wild 
 hilly tract, yet not undiversified with patches 
 of cultivation, stretched nearly to the northern 
 confines of South Y/ales, where the pale sum- 
 mit of Plinlimmon, in Montgomeryshire, might 
 be just distinguished from the atmospheric 
 blue : more westward, beyond a vast expanse 
 g 2 of 
 
84 CARDIGAN. 'CHAP. t¥/ 
 
 of sea, like a doubtful mist rising from it, 
 appeared Bardsey island, and the neighbour- 
 ing shores in Caernarvonshire ; and looking 
 across the miserable country about Fishguard 
 and St. David's", my guide assured me, that 
 " on a very clear day a very good eye might 
 " discover the mountains of Ireland ;" but, 
 I confess, it was not my good fortune to dis- 
 cover any such appearance. On looking 
 backward, the whole of the interesting coun- 
 try that I had travelled in the neighbourhood 
 of Milford-haven appeared in one compre- 
 hensive though distant display. From dwel- 
 ling a considerable time on these extensive 
 scenes, I traversed an uninteresting country 
 made up of lumpy hills, and left Pembroke- 
 shire in crossing the handsome old bridge of 
 Carefiganv 
 
 Cardigan (in Welch chronicles Abertivy^} 
 is a neat respectable town, though many of 
 its streets are narrow and steep, seated on the 
 north bank of the river Tivy, near its junction 
 with the sea : the river is navigable for ships 
 of small burthen up to the quay, which 
 enables the inhabitants to cany on a pretty 
 
 * Aber, in Welch, signifies- the month of a river : hence 
 ^.hertivy, Aberystwith, &c. 
 
 brisk 
 
CHAP VI. CARDIGAN CASTLE. 85 
 
 brisk trade with Ireland. This town, though 
 small, is governed by a mayor, thirteen al- 
 dermen, and as many common councilmen. 
 The ruins of its castle, appearing on a low 
 cliff at the foot of the bridge, are very incon- 
 siderable, scarcely showing more than the 
 fragments of two circular bastions overgrown 
 with ivy; yet it was once a large and im- 
 portant fortress. Its foundation is ascribed to 
 Gilbert de Clare, about the year 1160 ; but 
 it was soon after taken, and in part destroyed, 
 by Rhys ap Gryffith * 
 
 Here are also the remains of a priory of 
 Black monks, which was dedicated to St. 
 Mary, and was subordinate to the abbey of 
 Chertsey in Surrey. 
 
 Near Cardigan, in the year 1136, the 
 English army, commanded by Ranolph earl 
 
 * Powell, in his History of Wales, fays, that it was rebuilt 
 before the year 1176; when Rhys, Prince of South Wales, 
 made therein a great entertainment at Christmas, at which 
 were present many hundreds of the English, Norman, and 
 Irish nobility. Among other things for their entertainment, 
 he caused all the bards throughout Wales to come thither 5 
 and seating them round the hall, they had to contend with 
 each other in rhyme : such as excelled, were promised great 
 rewards and rich presents, The North Wales bards were 
 acknowledged victors in poetry, and Prince Rhys's own ser- 
 vants the ablest musicians. 
 
 G 3 of 
 
86 st. dogmael's priory. chap, rr, 
 
 of Chester, was shamefully worsted, and the 
 two barons Robert Fitz Roger and Pain Fitz 
 John, with 3000 others, slain on the spot, 
 besides a great number drowned by the fall 
 of a bridge. In this battle the English soldiers 
 appeared to be planet-struck, surrendering 
 themselves prisoners to mere old women ; 
 and the general with a few men made their 
 escape not without great difficulty. 
 
 Early in the morning after my reaching 
 Cardigan, I made an excursion in search of 
 St. Dogmael's Priory, about a mile and a 
 half distant. This fragment of antiquity is 
 very much dilapidated, and boasts scarcely 
 any picturesque appearance ; the few parts 
 standing are converted into barns, sheds, and 
 habitations ; but enough remains to shew the 
 original extent of the church ; which was 
 cruciform, of no considerable dimensions, and 
 of the early Qothic style ; in the cemetery 
 adjoining the ruin, and the village church, 
 
 (C a church -yard yew, 
 
 <e Decay'd and worn with age," 
 
 has a pleasing characteristic effect : and here 
 the scene, finely interspersed with wood, and 
 overlooking the Tivy, is undoubtedly pic- 
 turesque. This priory was founded for Bene- 
 dictine 
 
^ 
 
 1 
 
CHAP. VI. ST. DOGMAEL'S PRIORY. 87 
 
 dictine monks by Martin de Turribus, a Nor- 
 man chieftain, who first conquered the sur- 
 rounding territory called Karnes or Kemishj 
 and deluged it with the blood of its natives. 
 This was a common trick for cheating the 
 devil, practised by the organized plunderers 
 of that day. After pillaging a country, and 
 enslaving or massacreing the legitimate pro* 
 prietors, they hoped to expiate their crime, 
 and quell the rising qualms of conscience) 
 by appropriating a part of their booty to a 
 monkish foundation — to a set of idle jug* 
 glers, scarcely less inimical to the rights of 
 society, though less ferocious, than them- 
 selves. 
 
 Returning to the inn, I rejoined my fellow* 
 tourist, who had just completed his circuit 
 of between forty and fifty miles round the 
 coast : of this route I learn the following par- 
 ticulars : 
 
 From Haverfordwest the road passes near 
 the elevated ruin of Roche castle ; thence 
 extends through a wild dreary country, near 
 St. Bride's dangerous bay, and crosses the 
 romantic creek of Solva to the once flourish- 
 ing city of St. David's, now in appearance 
 an inconsiderable village. This deserted place 
 
 g 4 occupies 
 
£§ st. david's, * chap, to 
 
 occupies a gentle eminence on that projects 
 ing rocky cape called St. David's head. In 
 a sheltered hollow beneath the town, are the 
 noble ruins of the Metropolitan episcopacy of 
 Wales ; yet the Cathedral of St. David's, 
 though long a mouldering pile, having lately 
 undergone a thorough repair, with a just at* 
 tention to the antique style of architecture, 
 now appears in renewed magnificence, This 
 venerable structure is cruciform, of large 
 dimensions, and of the early Gothic archw 
 lecture, though not without much of the 
 high-wrought fretwork additions of later ages, 
 The nave alone wears all the simplicity of 
 its original construction ; the tower, highly 
 ornamented, rises from the middle of the 
 church to the height of 127 feet; Bishop 
 Vaughan's chapel behind the choir, and the 
 dilapidated one of St. Mary's, exhibit all the 
 elegant tracery of the ornamented Gothic ; as 
 does also the chapter-house, and St. Mary's 
 hall, now a ruin. Among the numerous 
 ancient monuments that are to he met with in 
 the church and its chapels, those of Owen 
 Tudor, and Edward Earl of Richmond, father 
 of Henry the Vlfth, both situated near the 
 inidclle of the choir., are worthy of notice. 
 
 The 
 
CHAP. VI, ST ? DAVIDS. 89 
 
 The episcopal palace is a superb ruin, sur- 
 mounted with a light parapet raised upon 
 arches, in the style of Swansea castle and Lam^ 
 phey court. M The area of the great court is 
 ** 120 feet square ; on the east side of which 
 " is the Bishop's hall, 5 8 feet in length, and 
 4( 23 in breadth ; the King's hall, on the 
 " south side, is 88 feet by 80. This grand 
 * saloon is said to have been built expressly 
 " for the reception of King John, on his re- 
 " turn from Ireland in 1211." But we are 
 informed by Godwin, that the palace itself 
 was not erected until about the year 1335 ; 
 which must be an anachronism, unless the 
 Story of King John be unfounded. The first 
 hall is a grand room ; but the latter has been 
 particularly splendid. Over the fine arched 
 entrance are the statues of King John and his 
 queen ; and at the east end is a curious circu- 
 lar window with bars divenn-nff from the cen- 
 tre, still in a perfect condition. The chapel 
 containing the remains of a font, and kitchen 
 amply furnished with four chimneys, are also 
 entire : nor are the forsaken apartments de- 
 ficient in proofs of the regal splendor assumed 
 by the Romish pastors of Christian humility. 
 
 Many 
 
90 st." david's. chap. vr. 
 
 Many ruinous buildings, once habitations 
 of ecclesiastical functionaries, surround the 
 cathedral ; yet sufficient are kept in repair 
 for the diminished number of officers now 
 appointed : the cathedral service is, neverthe-* 
 less, performed with an attention that would 
 do credit to more eminent establishments; 
 The whole of these buildings are inclosed by 
 a wall eleven hundred yards in circum- 
 ference. 
 
 St. David's is supposed to have been a 
 Roman, station, the Octapitarum of Ptolemy ; 
 and here St. Patrick is said to have founded a 
 monastery to the honour of St. Andrew in the 
 year 470 : to this place St. David translated 
 the archbishopric of Wales, from Caerleon, 
 about the year 577, and founded the cathe- 
 dral, which was afterwards dedicated to him ; 
 but the primacy was withdrawn, and annexed 
 to that of Canterbury, in the reign of Henry 
 the First. Here also a college was founded 
 for a master and seven priests by John Duke 
 of Lancaster, in conjunction with his wife and 
 the Bishop of the diocese, in the year 1569. 
 
 At the extremity of St. David's promontory 
 is a disjointed craig ; so large, that it is sup- 
 posed a hundred oxen could not drag it away ; 
 
 but 
 
CHAP. VI. FISHGUARD. 91 
 
 but so placed on smaller stones, as to have 
 been easily rocked by the pressure of a man's 
 hand *. 
 
 In. druidical ages, this formed the grand 
 ordeal : if a man was to appear guilty, the 
 priests managed that he should apply his pres- 
 sure near the axis, and the stone remained 
 immoveable ; but if his peace or priest offer- 
 ings were deemed commensurate to his sins, 
 he, was instructed to lean near the extremity, 
 and it easily gave way. Near this head-land 
 is Ramsay island, a fruitful little spot, and 
 once particularly so in holiness, if we may 
 credit ancient histories, which state that no less 
 than twenty thousand saints lie interred in it. 
 The dangerous rocks called the Bishop and 
 his Clerks, near this island, are covered with 
 wild fowl in the breeding season. 
 
 The road continues on a barren tempestu- 
 ous waste to Fishguard, a miserable fishing 
 town, only remarkable for the late descent of 
 1400 French invaders, who, after a few days 
 possession of the neighbourhood, surrendered 
 to the Welch peasantry, headed by Lord 
 Cawdor. Newport, a few miles farther, is 
 
 * The equilibrium is now destroyed. 
 
 another 
 
92 NEVERN. CHAP. VI, 
 
 another poor fishing town, at the bottom of a 
 small bay : the ruined castle, seated on a 
 Iiill above the town, was built by the Anglo- 
 norman settlers in 1215, but afterwards nearly 
 destroyed by Llewellyn. In Nevern church- 
 yard, near Newport, is the shaft of a stone 
 cross about thirteen feet high, curiously 
 carved all over with scrolls and knots, At 
 Pentere Evau, in Nevern parish, is a circle of 
 rude stones, 1 SQ feet in circumference; in 
 the midst whereof is a cromlech * of great 
 dimensions : in the same parish is another 
 altar monument, called Llectay-rdrybedh, 
 having a furrow in the fiat stone, which 
 might be to carry off the blood of the victims. 
 In Grose's Antiquities, five stone altars are 
 stated to be in this neighbourhood, and also 
 four barrows ; one of which, on being opened, 
 was found to contain five urns full of burnt 
 bones. Nothing worthy of particular notice 
 occurs from this spot to Cardigan. 
 
 We projected an aquatic excursion, to ex- 
 plore the scenery of the Tivy ; but, the tide 
 not answering, we were obliged to desert the 
 river for two or three miles, and proceed by 
 
 * See p. 29. 
 
 land 
 
chap. vr. kilgarran Castle. 9$ 
 
 land to Kilgarran. The Tivy above Cardigan 
 becomes environed by high hills, whose ar> 
 proaching bases contract the bed of the river, 
 changing its character from a broad and 
 majestic, to an impetuous eddying stream : 
 the sides of these hills rise from the water in 
 almost perpendicular steepness, yet clothed 
 with trees from the river's brink to their ridgy 
 summits. In the tnidst of this imbowered 
 glen, a naked rock, crowned with the truly 
 picturesque remains of Kilgarran castle* 
 proudly advances, and forms a striking con- 
 trast to the dark rich verdure that prevails in 
 the other accompany ments of the river. 
 
 The position of Kilgarran castle is nearly 
 on all sides self-defended ; but on the isthmus 
 that connects the projecting rock with the 
 main land, two ponderous round towers seem 
 to have formerly defied the assault of war, as 
 they now do that of pilfering dilapidation. 
 The broken walls, watch-towers, and apart- 
 ments that compose the minor parts of this 
 fortress, bespeak it to have been of no great 
 original extent, or highly ornamented ; yet 
 the scattered relics, variously interwoven with 
 ivy, offer an appearance from most points of 
 view highly imposing and grand. 
 
 The 
 
94* KILGARRAN CASTLE. CHAP. VU 
 
 The foundation of the castle is uncertain, 
 and the styles of different ages appear through- 
 out the building. According to Carradoc, 
 this fortress was erected about the year 1222, 
 when Marshall Earl of Striquil (Chepstow) 
 vanquished the Welch under their Prince 
 Gruftydth, and gained an undisputed footing 
 in these parts. The town of Kilgarran is 
 diminished into one street, thinly inhabited 
 bv labouring farmers and fishermen. 
 
 In a romantic hollow, a mile or two higher 
 up, the Tivy, throwing itself over a ledge of 
 rock in one bold sheet, though not more 
 than six feet in depth, forms a salmon leap 
 generally esteemed the most remarkable in 
 Wales. The salmon, in its course up the 
 river, meeting with the fall, coils itself into 
 a circle, and by a sudden distension springs 
 up the precipice, and cleaves the torrent with 
 astonishing vigour * ; yet it is frequently 
 baffled, and greatly amuses the spectator with 
 its repeated attempts to overleap the cataract. 
 We were not entertained with this display of 
 strength and agility on our visit, but were 
 much interested by the curious means em- 
 
 * Camden says, it often holds its tail between its teeth, to 
 render its spring more immediate. 
 
 ployed 
 
CHAP. VI. SALMON LEAP. §5 
 
 ployed in catching the fish. The fisherman 
 is seated in a sort of canoe, called a coracle, 
 formed of open basket-work of thin laths, 
 covered with a horse's hide, or a well-pitched 
 piece of sail-cloth : the vessel is of a figure 
 nearly oval, about four feet and a half long 
 and three wide, yet so light as to be carried 
 with ease on the man's shoulder from his 
 home to the river : in this he whirls among 
 the eddies of the river ; with a paddle in one 
 hand, he alters or accelerates his course with 
 surprizing dexterity; while with the other 
 he manages the net, the line being held be- 
 tween his teeth. In this way the fishing in 
 most of the rivers of Wales -is pursued. Cora- 
 cles have been peculiar to British rivers from 
 time immemorial. Lucan very clearly de- 
 scribes them ; and in latter times, Sir Walter 
 Raleigh relates, that " the Britons had boats 
 " made of willow twigs covered on the out- 
 *' side with hides." 
 
 Near the water-fall is a manufacture of iron 
 and tinned plates, belonging to Sir Benjamin 
 Hammet. Two or three miles higher up the 
 river is Newcastle, a small irregular town 
 situated upon its banks, and graced with the 
 venerable ruins of a castle, but of no great 
 7 antiquity. 
 
9G LECttRYD BRIDGE. CHAP; Vli 
 
 antiquity. Thence a road of twenty mile? 
 extends through a dreary uninteresting coun- 
 try to Caermarthem 
 
 A more romantic and sequestered pads 
 than is traced beside " the hollow stream 
 " that roars between the hills" from Lechryd 
 bridge to Llangoedmor on the north mar-* 
 gin of the river, can scarcely be ima- 
 gined ; continuing upwards of two miles, 
 beneath the umbrage of its high and well- 
 wooded banks, and commanding delightful 
 landscapes of the sombre kind at every turn. 
 In the parish of Llangoedmor, we learned* 
 there were several monuments of the druidical 
 ages ; one is a remarkably large cromlech ; 
 the flat stone being eight or nine yards in 
 circumference, with one edge resting on the 
 ground : there is a smaller monument of the 
 same kind near it ; also a circle of rude stones 
 about twelve yards round ; and five beds of 
 loose stones, each about six feet over. Llechly 
 gowress (the stone of a giantess) in the pa-* 
 rish of Neuodh, also near Cardigan, is ano- 
 ther very large cromlech ; and near it is 
 a parcel of large hewn stones nineteen in 
 number ; which, it is said by the vulgar, can* 
 fcot be counted. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 91 ] 
 
 CHAP. VlL 
 
 LLANARTH ABEEAERON LLANSAN- 
 
 FRIED — LLANRHYSTID AN ENQUI- 
 RY INTO A STRANGE ASSERTED CUS- 
 TOM RELATING TO THE MODE OF COURT- 
 SHIP IN WALES LLANBADARN- 
 
 VAWR — ABERISTWYTH, AND ITS CAS- 
 TLE. 
 
 W E left Cardigan oh the road to Aberist- 
 wyth, and soon entered upon the same 
 dreary kind of country that we noticed in the 
 north and north-west of Pembrokeshire. At 
 the poor village of Blaneporth, on the left of 
 the road, is a large circular area encompassed 
 by a mo&t, which is most probably the re- 
 mains of a British fortification. Castel-Yn- 
 dalig, a mile or two further, is a similar 
 work, but much larger and less distinct* 
 
 h Thence 
 
08 CARDIGAN BAY. CHAP. VII. 
 
 Thence we began to ascend a tract of lofty 
 hills (leaving Penrhyn church on our left 
 near the sea- shore *), and, gaining a conside- 
 rable eminence, enjoyed an uninterrupted 
 view over the whole sweep of Cardigan's ex- 
 tensive bay. This bay, from its southern li- 
 mit, Strumblehead near Fishguard, stretch- 
 ing northward, extends a vast gulph into 
 North Y^alcs, and is at length terminated by 
 Bardsey island in Caernarvonshire : it often 
 proves a shelter to ships in the Irish trade, and 
 contains several good harbours. The effect of 
 this extensive display from the great elevations 
 that we traversed was extremely striking ; 
 stretching from beneath us to a remote 
 horizon, exhibited a silvery surface of im- 
 mense magnitude ; while the shores pre- 
 sented an endless variety of bold advancing 
 promontories, overhanging cliffs, and high 
 swelling mountains wild and desolate ; yet 
 
 * Near Penrhyn a British gold coin was found, of about 
 equal weight with a guinea, a little hollowed on one side, 
 and different from any of the coinage-of the Romans, or their 
 successors : whence, and from other instances, it is inferred, 
 that the Britons had gold and silver coin before the arrival of 
 the Romans. In the church-yard is a large rough-hewn. 
 stone, bearing an inscription that has not yet been inter- 
 preted. 
 
 here 
 
CHAP. VII. LLANARTH. 99 
 
 here and there a stripe of green meadow ap- 
 peared on a favoured slope, and a few woody- 
 plantations disclosed themselves through pic- 
 turesque hollows. In the distant boundary of 
 Caernarvonshire, the projecting and receding 
 hills about Pulhelly bay were conspicuous ; 
 opposed to these, the superior magnitude of 
 Cader-Idris arrested the attention, towering 
 among the craggy summits of the Merioneth- 
 shire mountains. From the bay our view 
 roamed over a dreary uninteresting tract of 
 country, to a ridge of mountains, whose 
 broken outline mixing with the clouds de- 
 fined the entrance of NpitH- Wales; where, 
 proudly rising above competition, the confe- 
 derated mountains, forming the pile of 
 " Mighty Plinlimmon/' appear in all their 
 majesty. 
 
 The consideration of these distant objects, 
 and the attention demanded by a stumbling 
 horse, were my chief employments from 
 Cardigan to Abcristwyth : yet the general te- 
 diousness of our ride, upon a rocky track 
 here called a turnpike, had some relief as we 
 passed through Llanartii, a market-town, 
 consisting of half a dozen huts seated in a 
 romantic hollow; and Aberaeron, about 
 h 2 four 
 
 L. oi ^ 
 
100 ABERAERON. CHAP. Vll^ 
 
 four miles further, a neat village near the sea- 
 shore, pleasingly situated at the entrance of 
 an abrupt well-wooded valley. Near its pic- 
 turesque bridge there is a more comfortable 
 inn than might be expected in so retired a si- 
 tuation ; and, as it afterwards appeared, the 
 only tolerable one between Cardigan and 
 Aberistwyth. From this place the road, bor- 
 dering the sea-shore, became more level ; 
 and we soon came within view of the frag- 
 ments of a castle on the beach, the greater 
 part of which appears to have been washed 
 away by the action of the sea. This fort was 
 probably erected by the Normans to cover 
 their landing or retreat, when, in the reign of 
 William Rufus, they fitted out a fleet, and, 
 descending on the coast of Cardiganshire, 
 conquered or ravaged the maritime country 
 to a considerable distance. Most of the prin- 
 cipal towns then fell into their hands, upon 
 which they affected the government ; but, 
 as a measure of no less necessity than policy, 
 assigned their power to Kadugan ap Bledin, 
 a British chief of high authority, who strictly 
 adhered to their interest. His son Owen 
 however, rashly attacking the Normans and 
 Flemings who had lately settled in the neigh- 
 bouring 
 
CHAP. VII. LLANSANSFRIED. 101 
 
 bouring territory southward, was, with his 
 father, obliged to fly into Ireland. Henry 
 the First then entrusted the country to Gil- 
 bert Clare, who raised many fortifications 
 within the district. Kadugan and his son 
 Owen were nevertheless soon after restored to 
 their lands ; but the son, committing fresh 
 incursions, was slain by Gerald of Pembroke, 
 whose wife Nestra he had carried away. Old 
 Kadugan became a prisoner in England for a 
 length of time, but was in the end restored to 
 his estates ; when he was suddenly stabbed 
 by his nephew Madok. Henry the Second 
 afterwards gave this tract of country to Roger 
 de Clare ; whose son Richard earl of Clare 
 being slain in a contest with the Welch, 
 Rhys, prince of South-Wales, attacked and 
 vanquished the Anglo-Normans with great 
 slaughter, and reduced them under his do- 
 minion. But by degrees Cardigan returned 
 to the hands of the English until the final 
 conquest of the country by Edward the 
 First. 
 
 We soon after passed through the dreary 
 village of Llansansfried, where a mo* 
 nastery is conjectured to have existed ; and 
 about two miles further entered Llan- 
 
 h 3 RHYSTID, 
 
102 LLANRHYSTID, CHAP. VII. 
 
 rhystid, which place is assigned to be the 
 site of another. 
 
 As we entered the latter village, " the 
 dark mists of night" fell over us. We there- 
 fore finished our day's journey at the Red 
 Lion inn, a tolerably decent ale-house, where 
 we were presently joined by a man in a la- 
 bourer's habit, whom we had observed on 
 the road in very gallant intercourse with a 
 peasant girl, and had rallied on the occasion ; 
 yet were we not a little surprized at finding 
 him not only a man of extensive information, 
 but a classical scholar and a well-bred gentle- 
 man. On his leaving the room, we had an 
 opportunity of enquiring who this character 
 was, and learned from our landlord that he 
 was a native 'squire, who lived about ten 
 miles distant, who till lately had been in 
 orders and officiated in London ; but on the 
 death of his father had thrown off the gown 
 and become a man of pleasure. " Though he 
 is so shabbily dressed," said our host, " it is 
 only a frolic, for he is a very able man," 
 Now, as the term able in Wales is synony- 
 mous with rich in other places, we enquired 
 the amount of his income, and found it to be 
 near a hundred a year. 
 
 This 
 
CHAP. VII. WELCH COURTSHIP. 103 
 
 This gentleman proved a most agreeable 
 and useful companion during the evening ; 
 but we were sorry to observe in him a pro- 
 fessed Epicurean ; the gratification of his 
 appetites he declared to be his great object, 
 and defended his practice on what he termed 
 the fundamental principles of nature ; nor 
 was he in want of an ingenious sophism 
 against every point of attack. We concluded 
 that this gentleman's habits would qualify 
 him with due knowledge on a singular custom 
 that is said to prevail in Wales, relating to 
 their mode of courtship ; which is declared 
 to be carried on in bed ; and, what is more 
 extraordinary, it is averred, that the moving 
 tale of love is agitated in that situation without 
 endangering a breach in the preliminaries. 
 Mr. Pratt, in his " Gleanings," thus affirms 
 himself an eye-witness of the process : "The 
 14 servant-maid of the family I visited in Caer- 
 " narvonshire happened to be the object of 
 44 a young peasant, who walked eleven long 
 44 miles every Sunday morning to favour his 
 44 suit; he usually arrived in time for morn- 
 44 ing's service, which he constantly attended; 
 44 after which he escorted his dulcinea home 
 44 to the house of her master, by whose per- 
 H 4 " mission 
 
104 WELCH COURTSHIP. CHAP. VII, 
 
 " mission they as constantly passed the sue-* 
 -f ceeding hours in bed, according to the 
 " custom of the country. This tender inter- 
 " course continued without any interruption 
 *' near two years, when the treaty of alliance 
 " was solemn rzed." Our companion, like 
 every one else that we spoke with in Wales 
 on the subject, at once denied the existence 
 of this custom : that maids in many instances 
 admitted male bed-fellows, he did not doubt; 
 but that the procedure was sanctioned by to- 
 lerated custom he considered a gross misre- 
 presentation. Yet in Anglesea and some parts 
 of North Wales, where the original simplicity 
 of manners and high sense of chastity of the 
 natives is retained, he admitted something of 
 the kind might appear. In those thinly in- 
 habited districts, a peasant often has several 
 miles to walk after the hours of labour, to 
 visit his mistress ; those who have recipro- 
 cally entertained the belle passion will easily 
 imagine, that before the lovers grow tired of 
 each other's company the night will be far 
 enough advanced ; nor is it surprizing, that 
 a tender-hearted damsel should be disinclined 
 to turn her lover out over bogs and moun- 
 tains until the dawn of day. The fact is, 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. VII. DRUIDICAL RELICS. 105 
 
 that under such circumstances she admits a 
 consors lecti, but not in nudatum corpus. In 
 a lowly Welch hut, this bedding has not the 
 alarm of ceremony : from sitting or perhaps 
 lying on the hearth, they have only to shift 
 their quarters to a heap of straw or fern co- 
 vered with two or three blankets in a neigh- 
 bouring corner. The practice only takes 
 place with this view of accommodation. 
 
 At an early hour in the morning we left 
 our " flinty couch" at Llanrhystid ; though 
 rendered, by a day of healthful fatigue, " a 
 thrice-driven bed of down ;" and, skirting 
 the sea, resumed the views of the preceding 
 day. Advancing about two miles, we re- 
 marked, on a gentle eminence in a field to 
 the left of the road, several rough-hewn 
 stones patched over with the " moss of cen- 
 turies :" two of these, remaining upright, are 
 massive paralellopipeds, from eight to ten 
 feet high, standing within a yard or two of 
 each other; among the other stones lying 
 about in different directions, I could trace 
 no indication of a circle ; it has, however, 
 been supposed to be a Druidical temple ; 
 although the two upright stones might rather 
 -eem to mark the "narrow house" of some de- 
 parted 
 
106 LLANBADARN-VAWR. CHAP. VII. 
 
 parted warrior. We soon after descended 
 into the abrupt vale of Ystwith, and crossed 
 its river over a picturesque bridge, venerably 
 mantled with ivy *. Our route continued 
 over the high ridgy hills that divide the pa- 
 rallel vales of Ystwith and Rhydol, the latter 
 of which presented an agreeable contrast to 
 the dreary country through which we had 
 travelled from within a few miles of Haver- 
 fordwest. — Here, among extensive meadows 
 of the richest verdure, the meandering Rhy- 
 dol wantons its fantastic course. On a gentle 
 eminence near its banks, in the midst of the 
 valley, appears the embowered town of 
 Llanbadarn-vawr, a picturesque though 
 deserted spot, yet once a Roman city, and af- 
 terwards the seat of an Episcopacy and Mo- 
 nastery established by St. Paternus in the be- 
 ginning of the sixth century. The church is 
 yet a handsome building. Between this 
 town and the sea-coast is a small ancient for- 
 tification, consisting of a square area sur- 
 rounded by a wail with a tower at one of the 
 
 * At Lhanar, a small village two or three miles distant, 
 en the riglit bank of the river, there was a Cistercian nun- 
 nery, a cell to Starnower Abbey, or which I understand some 
 imperfect vestiges remain. 
 
 angles. 
 
CHAP. VII. ABERISTWYTH. 107 
 
 angles. A range of wild hills, backed by the 
 stupendous Plinlimmon, forms the opposite 
 boundary of this valley ; and at its termina- 
 tion in the sea-coast, the town of Aberistwyth 
 appears in a very picturesque light en the 
 brink of the sea, with its ruined castle on a 
 gentle rise to the left. 
 
 Aberistwyth is a less agreeable town on 
 entering it, than as a distant object. Most 
 of the streets are narrow and ill-paved ; and 
 the stone used being of a black colour, gives 
 the whole rather a dirty appearance ; but 
 this remark is not applicable to some houses 
 that have lately sprung up for the genteel 
 company which resorts to it in the bathing- 
 season. Nor must I mention the bathing at 
 Aberistwyth, without observing, that it is con- 
 ducted with more propriety than at any 
 other watering-place that I have seen in Eng- 
 land or Wales. The ladies' and gentlemen's 
 machines are placed nearly a quarter of a 
 mile asunder; and the indecency of promis- 
 cuous dipping, so disgusting at more fashion- 
 able resorts, is in consequence avoided : the 
 bathing too is excellent, with a good sandy 
 bottom at all hours of the tide. 
 
 The 
 
108 ABERTSTWYTH CASTLE." CHAP. VII, 
 
 The castle, seated on a craggy eminence 
 projecting into the sea, westward of the 
 town, is so much dilapidated, as scarcely to 
 present a characterizing form : bat there is 
 an agreeable public walk traced through the 
 ruin, which commands a view of the sea and 
 the neighbouring coast; with the little port 
 (common to the Rhydol and Ystwith rivers) 
 well filled with fishing vessels just below the 
 cliff. This spot is also enlivened by a taste- 
 ful residence of Lady Juliana Penn's, lately 
 erected near the ruin, with much appropriate, 
 effect, in the form of a gatehouse. Aberist- 
 wyth castle was founded by Qilbert de Strong- 
 bow, son of Richard de Clare, in the reign 
 of Henry the First ; but soon after its erection 
 it fell into the hands of the Welch princes* 
 and was destroyed in their intestine quarrels. 
 Powell says, that the present castle was built 
 by Edward the First, anno 1277, a short 
 time before the complete conquest of Wales. 
 It appears to have been a strong place, as a 
 garrison of King Charles maintained it for 
 some time after his death. 
 
 Among the mountains in the neighbour- 
 hood of Aberistwyth, a number of lead and 
 
 silver 
 
CHAP. VII. MINES. lC9 
 
 silver mines were discovered about three 
 centuries back ; and in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth a company of Germans reaped a great 
 fortune in the enterprize of working them. 
 Sir Hugh Middleton, after them, was equally 
 successful, netting 2000/. a month out of 
 one silver mine. He was succeeded by a 
 Mr. Bushel, who also gained immense profit 
 from the works ; insomuch that in the civil 
 wars he made King Charles a present of a 
 regiment of horse, and clothed his whole 
 army. The company of mine-adventurers 
 worked these mines also with success, until 
 they fell out among themselves, to their own 
 injury, and that of the mining interest through- 
 out the country; and I believe that these 
 Works have been deserted ever since,. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ no ] 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 barrier of north and south wales — - 
 the devil's bridge grand cata- 
 ract of the mynach cwm ystwith 
 
 hills hafod ancient encamp- 
 ments starflower abbey tre- 
 
 garron roman antiquities at 
 
 llandewi brevi lampeter llan- 
 
 sawel edwin's ford — llandilo. 
 
 W E were detained at Aberistwyth by the 
 continuance of a violent rain which had 
 deluged the neighbourhood for several days. 
 At length a cessation of the storm allowed us 
 to resume our journey, though not to per- 
 form a projected excursion to the summit of 
 Plinlimmon, which is only free from clouds 
 in very fair weather. Returning up the hilly 
 confines of the valley, we again admired the 
 meandering Rhydol, and its gentle accom- 
 panyment ; but following its course, as we 
 
 advanced 
 
JT Barber deUn. 
 
 JJ~eaJccs sad. 
 
 ^/z^-J/wtte 'vru6ze>. 
 
CHAP. VIII. DEVIL'S BRIDGE* 111 
 
 advanced through a wild romantic district, 
 the character of the valley soon changed ; 
 dark wooded hills, aspiring to the dignity of 
 mountains, advanced their shagged sides to- 
 ward the stream, and, gradually closing to 
 an impervious glen, shut up the river in their 
 recess. Beyond these hills rose the broken 
 line of mountains forming the termination of 
 South Wales, where mighty Piinlimmon, 
 lord of the boundary, raised his stupendous 
 head in majestic desolation, though half con- 
 cealed by eddying clouds : the whole scene 
 exhibited unfettered nature in her wildest 
 mood. A pouring rain that now fell over us 
 circumscribed our desert prospects, while we 
 proceeded over uncultivated hills, with 
 scarcely a token of society, to the Devil's 
 Bridge. 
 
 The cataract that is here formed by the 
 falls of the Mynach saluted us with its thun- 
 dering roar, long ere we approached it ; but, 
 as we drew near, the strong verberation, re- 
 bellowed by surrounding cavernous rocks, 
 seemed to convulse tire atmosphere ! We 
 hastily put up our horses at the Ilafod arms, 
 a solitary inn ; and in a few paces found our- 
 selves on the bridge, suspended over a gulph 
 
 at 
 
112 bEVll/s BRIDGE. CHAP. Villi 
 
 at which even recollection shudders. This 
 bridge bestrides a lane of almost perpendicular 
 rocks, patched with Wood, whose summits 
 are here scarcely five yards asunder. At a 
 terrific depth in the glen rages unseen the 
 impetuous Mynach, engulphed beneath pro- 
 truding craigs and pendant foliage : but on 
 looking over the parapet, the half-recoiling 
 sight discovers the phrenzied torrent, in 
 one volume of foam, bursting into light, 
 and threatening, as it breaks against the 
 opposing rocks, to tear the mountains from 
 their strong foundations ; then* instantly dart- 
 ing into the black abyss beneath, it leaves the 
 imagination free to all the terrors of concealed 
 danger. With emotions of awe, nor without 
 those of fear, we climbed down the side of* 
 the rock assisted by steps that were cut in it, 
 and with some peril reached the level of the 
 darkened torrent ; where, standing on a pro- 
 jecting craig against which the river bounded/ 
 immersed in its spray and deafened by its 
 roar, we involuntarily clung to the rock. 
 The impression of terror subsiding, left us at 
 liberty to examine the features of the scene/ 
 Nearly over our heads appeared the bridge at- 
 tributed to the handy-works of the Devil; 
 
 but 
 
CHAP. .VIII. FALLS OF THE MYNACH. 113. 
 
 but a less cunning workman miedit have 
 thrown an arch across a fissure of a few feet 
 span; arid indeed the native mason who, 
 about 50 years since, built the bridge now 
 used, standing perpendicularly over the old 
 one, has constructed the best arch of the 
 two. The original bridge was built by. the 
 Monks of Starflowcr Abbey near 700 years 
 since. Nor is the singular appearance of these 
 arches devoid of picturesque effect ; being 
 tastefully besprinkled with verdure, and re- 
 lieved by the intervention of numerous 
 branchy trees: while the naked black op- 
 posing cliffs, worn out into curious hollows 
 by the torrents, exhibit as bold a rocky chasm 
 as ever was traced by the pencil of Salvator. 
 
 On climbing from this hollow, we pro- 
 ceeded two or three hundred yards to the 
 left of the bridge, and again descended a fear- 
 ful track, to witness the grand falls of the 
 Mynach. Under the direction of a guide, 
 we reached the ordinary station with little dif- 
 ficulty, where the view of the cataract dis- 
 closed itself with considerable effect, in four se- 
 parate cascades; though, from the great fall's 
 being divided by the intervention of a project- 
 ing rock, they appeared too much alike : the 
 
 i eve 
 
11* FALLS OF THE MYNACH. CHAP. Vlll. 
 
 eye, accustomed to picturesque- disposition > 
 in vain sought to fix itself on a pre-eminent 
 feature. I wished to get lower, but it seemed 
 impracticable : emboldened, however, by 
 the example of our guide, I clambered upon 
 the edge of an immense perpendicular strata 
 of rock, to nearly the lower channel of the 
 torrent; when the cataract appeared in the 
 most perfect disposition imaginable : the great 
 fall displayed itself in uninterrupted supe- 
 riority, and the lesser ones retired as subor- 
 dinate parts. The perpendicular descent of 
 this cataract is not less than two hundred and 
 ten feet ; the first fall is not more than twenty 
 feet ; the next increases to sixty ; the third 
 diminishes to about tw r enty ; then, after ar 
 momentary pause, the torrent bounds over a 
 shelving rock in one tremendous fall of one 
 hundred and ten feet, and soon unites with 
 the Rhydol, here a similar mountain torrent. 
 This grand cataract receives no inconside- 
 rable augmentation of terrific appearance 
 from the black stratified rocks forming the 
 glen down which it thunders ; nor can the 
 beholder, however firm his mind, divest 
 himself of terror, while, near the bottom of 
 an abyss for ever, denied a ray of sun; he 
 
 views 
 
J.TBarbcr ddin. 
 
 ^%/b cpMe/^Umaais 
 
CtfAP. VIII. FALLS OF THE MYNACH. 115 
 
 views the menacing torrent bursting before 
 him ; or contemplates its foaming course 
 tearing at his feet among craigs that its fury 
 has disjoined. If he ventures to look up the 
 acclivitous rock, more real danger threatens his 
 return, when a devious balance or false step 
 would ensure his certain destruction. Yet from 
 the horrorsof this gloomy chasm some favoured 
 projections relieve the imagination, orna- 
 mented by the light and tasteful penciling of 
 the mountain ash, intermixed with vigorous 
 sapling oaks ; while here and there a tree of 
 riper years, unable to derive support from 
 the scanty sdil, falls in premature decay a 
 prostrate ruin . — I have seen water-falls more 
 picturesquely grand than the cataract of the 
 Mynach, but none more awfully so, not 
 even excepting the celebrated falls of Low- 
 dore and Scaleforce in Cumberland^ 
 
 Climbing from this scene of terrors, I- re- 
 joined my companion, and at the Hafod 
 Arms obtained a change of clothes ; a com- 
 fort which, although wet to the skin for 
 several hours,, I should still longer have de 
 nied myself, had not the approach of night 
 forced me from the Mynach's interesting 
 scenery. Our active hostess quickly 'pro- 
 
 i 2 vided 
 
11(5 . FALLS OF THE MYNACH. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 vided a tolerable dinner of mutton chops ; 
 and, cheered by a good peat-fire and a bottle 
 of wine, we listened to the torrent's roar 
 without dismay. On the following morning 
 we did not neglect to revisit the romantic 
 glen. The weather was fine; and, the ef- 
 fect of the late rains having subsided, the 
 bulk of the torrent had much diminished ; 
 yet did the scene gain in beauty what it lost 
 in terrific grandeur; for the intermingling 
 foliage, darting from opposite sides of the 
 glen, and reflecting various tints and degrees 
 of light, softened the asperitous black rocks, 
 and spread a lively net-work over the gloom. 
 Upon our preparing for the renewal of our 
 journey, a material difficulty occurred ; my 
 poney was so completely knocked up, that 
 he had not, as the jockeys phrase it, " a leg 
 " to stand on." The alternative in this case 
 was to buy another ; and upon enquiry I 
 found that my landlord had one to dispose of, 
 which was forthwith produced. This was 
 a good-sized poney, with plenty of bone, 
 but ill-made ; he had, however, an excel- 
 lent character: his knees too were sadly 
 broken; but a circumstantial tale shewed that 
 to be the effect of accident, and not. habitual 
 
 awkward- 
 
CHAP. VIII. CWM YSTWITH HILL. 117: 
 
 awkwardness: upon the whole, he did not 
 seem clear at the price demanded, which was 
 only five guineas : a bargain was therefore 
 struck, the saddle transferred from the in- 
 valid to the back of my new purchase ; and 
 after given directions for the return of the 
 former, which by the way incurred an ex- 
 pence more than his value, we set forward 
 for the celebrated grounds of Hafod, about 
 two miles distant. 
 
 Our road lay on the steep bank of the 
 Mynach, commanding a full view of the 
 glen, and its romantic bridge. Then ascend- 
 ing the Cwm Ystwith hill, through a current 
 of clouds, we gained from its summit an un- 
 interrupted view of the whole range of North 
 Walean mountains, stretching from the English 
 counties to the great bay of Cardigan : the 
 intervening hollows were concealed by fields 
 of mist; so that the uncultivated heights ex- 
 hibited a scene as rugged as when 
 
 Nature first xnade man, 
 
 (C Ere the base laws of servitude began, 
 
 f * And wild in woods the noble savage ran." 
 
 We now took a farewel view of the 
 Mynach's glen, and quitted its interesting 
 scenery with such sensations as one feels in 
 
 i 3 losing 
 
11:3 HAFOD. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 losing a friend whose intercourse lias afforded 
 both pleasure and improvement. We then 
 descended to the vale of Ystwith, but un- 
 enlivened by its scenery, for a morning mist 
 floated through the valley and spread a veil 
 over its charms. A handsome park gate an- 
 nounced the ^entrance of Hafod, and the 
 thundering of an unseen waterfall formed a 
 grand, symphony to the spectacle that we 
 were soon to witness. — Almost immediately 
 the cloud of mist disappeared, rising like a 
 huge curtain before us, and discovered such 
 an assemblage of .beauties* of cheerful walks 
 ana! silent glens, of woody precipices, shadowy 
 glades, garden thickets and waterfalls, that, 
 considered with the barren wilds of the sur- 
 rounding country, it seemed a second Para- 
 dise rising from a newly-subsided chaos. 
 This charming place, occupying a deep 
 narrow valley, watered by the Ystwith, is 
 the creation of Col. Johnes, whose perse- 
 vering genius has forced a mantle -of wood 
 upon rocky precipices where nature seemed 
 to deny the access of verdure, and who in 
 his elegant and useful projects of further im- 
 provement gives employment to the country 
 around. Upon a spot judiciously chosen, 
 
 where 
 
OJiAP. VIII, * ■- HAFOJTX 119 
 
 where the banks of the valley gently incline, 
 and the coverture of lofty woods afford a shel- 
 ter from the north-eastern winds, stands the 
 mansion, with a sloping lawn in front, com- 
 manding a comprehensive view of the en- 
 chanting valley ; which if Dryden could but 
 see, he w r ould wish to recall the line, 
 
 '* God never made his works for man to mend." 
 
 "On putting ourselves under the direction of 
 the gardener, w r e were first led to the kitchen-, 
 garden, furnished with extensive forcing- 
 houses, and replete with every necessary ap- 
 pendage. The flower-garden also displayed, 
 its appropriate charms; but from these ar- 
 chie vements of art we turned, without regret* 
 to where the bold hand of nature reared the 
 scene iri stupendous majesty ; 
 
 " There along the dale, 
 i( With, woods o'erhung, and shagg'd with mossy rocks^ 
 " Where on each hand the gushing waters play, 
 f* And down the rough cascade white dashing fall," 
 
 we passed, enamoured with the incessant 
 though congen ial variety o£ our subject. After 
 visiting the cold bath, a small sequestered 
 building, a mazy walk romantically traced by 
 the side of a brawling torrent, and amidst 
 
 i 4 tangled 
 
120 HAFOD. CHAP. VII?. 
 
 tansrlcd shrubberies, led to a small cas- 
 cade; and soon after a superior waterfall en- 
 gaged our attention, where the whole vo- 
 lume of the Ystwith burst over a ledge of 
 rocks in a composition truly grand and pic- 
 turesque. But a scene of awful sublimity 
 disclosed itself on exploring a dark cavernous 
 passage in a rock and reaching its extremity, 
 where a lofty cascade of transcendent beauty, 
 throwing itself over a strata of black rocks, 
 bounded close to the opening of the cave, and 
 shrouded the aperture with its spray, as it be- 
 came engulphed in a dark chasm beneath. 
 
 The towering mountains clothed with my- 
 riads of oaks, which environ this remark- 
 able valley, afford a diversity of walks and 
 combinations of view, to describe which 
 words would be inadequate, and prove at 
 best but tedious. A walk of twelve mijes 
 scarcely comprises a complete survey of the 
 grounds, as we are told ; but, being pressed 
 for time, our perambulation was confined to 
 a much smaller space ; yet enough was seen 
 to convince us that this is one of the most de- 
 lightful rural retreats in the kingdom. 
 
 The mansion is a handsome modern edi- 
 fice ; . in the Gothic style of architecture ; 
 
 which 
 
CHAP. VIII. HAFOD. 121 
 
 which idea is perfectly consonant with the 
 romantic cast of the scenery ; and the general 
 outline of the building is certainly pleasing : 
 but w r e were sorry that Col. Johnes had 
 not been better advised in tl>e execution of 
 this design, which though we had read of, in 
 one place, as built " in the most correct 
 taste" and in another as " a mansion in the 
 Italian style," we found to be a heterogeneous 
 jumble ; wherein a bastard sort of Greek 
 and Saxon architecture was blended with the 
 prevailing Gothic. The house internally we 
 understood to be richly fitted up, and fur- 
 nished with an excellent library, but did not 
 visit it ; for, though the demand of five 
 shillings for the gardener's attendance was 
 willingly paid, yet the same sum, w r hich we 
 found would be required by the housekeeper, 
 appeared to us more than the show of any 
 Welch house was worth,. 
 
 There always appears to me something 
 very unworthy in great men allowing their 
 servants to exact the sums that they do from 
 the spectators of their grandeur ; but, such 
 emoluments are taken into the account of a 
 servant's hire, and in some measure con- 
 tribute to the support of the great man's es- 
 tablishment : 
 
122 STARFLOWER ABBEY. CHAP. VliX,, 
 
 tablishment : as far as they do this, they in- 
 directly form part of his revenue; and in 
 that view I consider the Grandee as somewhat 
 of a mercenary showman, however mag~ 
 nifique : . ' 
 
 A ride of nearly a mile extent, among de- 
 lightful plantations, led us out of Hafod ; 
 when, crossing the Ystwith over a good stone 
 bridge, we soon passed through a little ro- 
 mantic village on the road to Tregarron, from 
 whence the country continued wild, without 
 grandeur or interest, a succession of 
 
 *' Barren heaths,, and rushy meers," 
 
 until the approach to Llandilo. In this mid- 
 land route the hills were much less conti- 
 nuous than round the coast, and the valleys 
 frequently extensive ; but, overrun with peat- 
 bogs, they neither displayed fertility nor 
 beauty. About half way to Tregarron, a few 
 hundred yards to the right of the road, were 
 two considerable hills, each crowned with a 
 large ancient encampment : we did not stop 
 to examine them, but quickly turned off the 
 road, over moorlands on our left, in search of the 
 remains of Starflower or Strata Florida 
 Abbey. We had no track to direct us; nor 
 ' ' ; ' did 
 
CHAP. VIII, XREGARRON, 123 
 
 did a human creature appear for many miles : 
 after a fruitless wandering, therefore, we 
 gave up the object, with this consolation* 
 that almost the only relic remaining is an or- 
 namented circularly-arched .. gateway. Yet 
 was this place, now lost, in a trackless desert, 
 once of high importance. Strata Florida 
 Abbey (in British, Miinachlog Ystrad flur) 
 was founded anno 1 1 64< for Cistertian Monks* 
 by Rhesus Prince of South-Wales. In it 
 many of the Welch Princes were buried; and 
 tlieir acts kept and recorded : it suffered con- 
 siderably when Edward the First overran 
 Wales, but was soon after repaired. 
 
 A sloppy ride brought us to Tregarron; 
 a poor straggling ill-built town, situated in an 
 abrupt hollow watered by&n arm of the Tivy; 
 yet, plentifully interspersed with trees, it 
 forms a pleasing relief to the surrounding 
 dreariness. Its church is a respectable old 
 building, and it boasts the dignity of a mayor. 
 Our inn here afforded us a capacious dish of 
 eggs and bacon for dinner ; but, though it was 
 not more than ordinarily strong and greasy for 
 the wilds of Wales, we grew delicate, and, 
 
 * According to Tanner, Leland/ and Dugdale. Camden 
 says it was for Cluniacs, 
 
 leaving 
 
124* LANDEWI-BREVI. CHAP- VIII. 
 
 leaving our meal almost untasted, pursued 
 our journey on the turnpike road to Lam- 
 peter. About three miles from Tregarron, 
 immediately on the left of the road, we ob- 
 served a large mound encircled by a moat ; 
 but could not determine whether it was the 
 site of an antient citadel, or monumental of 
 a deceased chieftain. In the same neigh- 
 bourhood is the church of Landewi-Brevi, 
 where in 522, at a Holy Synod, St. David 
 opposed the opinions of the Pelagians. A 
 prodigious petrified horn which is shewn at 
 the church is said to have remained there 
 from that time ; and in the year 1187 Bishop 
 Beck founded a college on the spot. Several 
 Roman inscribed stones appear in and about; 
 die church ; but at a place some distance 
 southward of it, called Kaer Kestilh (the 
 field of the castles), a great number have at 
 various times been discovered, as also coins 
 and Roman bricks. Dr. Gibson considers 
 tliis to be the Lovantinum of Ptolemy, in 
 which opinion he is followed by Mr. Plorsley: 
 Yet is this spot, the site of a Roman town,. 
 and once occupied by its legions, now with 
 difficulty traced among barren fields remote 
 from habitation : 
 
CHAP. VIII, LAMPETER. 1 2i? 
 
 <4 No busy steps the grass-grown foot-way taead, 
 " But all the bloomy flush of life is fled." 
 
 From a fatiguing day's journey we gladly 
 reposed at a better inn than might be expected 
 in so poor a town as Lampeter ; and the 
 following morning sallied forth to visit a large 
 old seat of Sir Robert Lloyd's ; which, we 
 learned, " exhibited a striking appearance 
 V with its four great towers crowned with 
 * c domes in the midst of well-planted inclosures, 
 *' but now scarcely inhabited." A thick mist 
 denied us this view ; so, crossing the long 
 old bridge of Lampeter, we entered Caer- 
 marthenshire on our way to Llandilo. No- 
 thing can be imagined more dreary than the 
 first half of this ride ; lying over an extensive 
 range of lumpy hills, as remote from any 
 thing picturesque as profitable. No tree, not 
 a bush could be seen ; and as we mournfully 
 looked round, where, except the miserable 
 road on which we travelled, no trace of 
 society appeared, our disgusted sight would 
 have even rested with pleasure on a furze bush* 
 From such a region of sterility we gladly 
 caught a gleam of cultivation, in some dis- 
 tant hills bordering on Brecknockshire ; but 
 more gladly still, on a sudden turn, we 
 
 looked 
 
126 EDWIN'S-FORD. CHAP. Villi 
 
 looked down on the pleasing' little valley 
 LlansAwel, watered by a crystaline branch 
 of the Cothy. The sun had now dispersed 
 the mists through which we set out, and 
 shone direct on the vale : from its verdant 
 level high hills, enjoying different degrees of 
 cultivation, rose on every side ; and under 
 one of them, at the further end of the valley, 
 the well- whitened village sparkled through 
 the intervening foliage. 
 
 This valley was immediately succeeded by 
 another called Edwin' s-ford, a delightful 
 spot, whose high encircling hills are clothed 
 with extensive plantations to their very summits, 
 111 the bottom, is a large old manor house 
 belonging to Colonel Williams, beautified 
 " above, below, around, " with leaden mer- 
 curies, shepherdesses, and sportsmen. Yet 
 is this place, remaining in the genuine style 
 of King William's reign, with all its absurdi- 
 ties, more interesting, as shewing us a speci- 
 men of that time, than if it were patched up 
 with modern improvements ; or a new villa> 
 of the packing-case mode of building that now 
 prevails. We rode through the long avenues 
 of trees that extend from the house; and, 
 quitting the valley, descended to another, 
 
 pleasingly 
 
fcHAP. VIII. LLANDILO. 12? 
 
 pleasingly decorated with wood, and the 
 ruin of Talley church. A cheerful road, 
 lined with 
 
 " Hedge-row elms and coppice green/' 
 
 now led us through a succession of swells and 
 hollows, adorned with numerous plantations, 
 particularly those of Lord Robert Seymour 
 Conway's, to Llandilo, a pretty market 
 town, seated on a descent to the justly-famed 
 vale of Towey. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
[ 128 ] 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 CHARMING VALE OF TOWEY DINEVAWR 
 
 CASTLE ■ GOLDEN GROVE GRONGAR 
 
 HILL— MIDDLETON HALL CAREG-CAN- 
 
 NON CASTLE REFLECTIONS AT A FORD 
 
 GLENHEIR WATERFALL ■*— AN ACCI- 
 DENT PONT AR DULAS RETURN TO 
 
 SWANSEA. 
 
 AT Landilo we hastily put up our horses, 
 anxious to feast on the beauties that disclosed 
 themselves as we approached the spot ; and, 
 learning that Newton Park, the delightful 
 seat of Lord Dinevawr, afforded the most 
 extensive and picturesque views of the vale, 
 we engaged the keeper's attendance, and 
 proceeded among waving lawns and woody 
 gnolls to a bold hill, where, 
 
 " Bosom'd high in tufted trees/' 
 
 appeared the picturesque remains of Dine- 
 vawr castle. A winding path, cut through 
 
 the 
 
^ 
 
CHAP. IX. VALE OF TOWEY. 129 
 
 the leafy honours of this hill, conveyed us 
 beneath their dark umbrage to the top. We 
 here climbed a massy fragment of the ruin, 
 and entered a falling apartment, which, ac- 
 cording to our guide's information, was once 
 the lady's dressing-room ; where, reaching a 
 Gothic window overhung with ivy, a pros- 
 pect burst upon us, teeming with the most 
 fascinating circumstances of verdant nature ; 
 a galaxy of picturesque beauty, at which re- 
 membrance becomes entranced, and descrip- 
 tion faulters ! Immediately beneath, the ex- 
 pansive vale of Towey appears in the fullest 
 display of its charms; a hue of the richest 
 green marks the luxuriance of the soil through 
 the course of the valley, which, continually 
 intersected with dusky hedge-rows, boasts all 
 the elegance of garden parterres. The trans- 
 lucid Towey here wantons in perpetual variety 
 among gay meadows and embowering plan- 
 tations, where the eye with pleasure traces 
 its fantastic meanders until they disappear be- 
 hind projecting groves. The rich wood that 
 surrounds the castellated hill clothes a precipi- 
 tous descent to the water's edge, and, with 
 other sylyan decorations of Newton park, 
 forms the nearmost boundary of the vale. 
 
 k On 
 
130 GRONGAR HILL. CHAP. IX. 
 
 On the opposite side, a huge wild mountain 
 rears its head in desolation to the clouds ; and 
 beneath it Golden Grove *, despoiled of its 
 leafy grandeur, now appears in diminished 
 beauty. Several smaller seats and whitened 
 hamlets start up in the valley, and, glistening 
 through their appendant groves, give life to 
 the scene. A little westward, Grongar hill, 
 immortalized by the muse of Dyer, and now 
 the property of one of his descendants, ad- 
 vances on the vale and partly turns its course ; 
 but at some distance further, a rugged hill, 
 bearing the mouldering fragments of Grus- 
 lwyn castle, proudly bestrides the plain and 
 terminates the picture. Our view of this scene 
 was favoured by the departing sun, which, 
 just setting behind Gruslwyn ruin, threw 
 a glowing tint over the landscape ; its golden 
 effulgence shone strongly on the varied hills, 
 and gleamed on the lofty groves that adorned 
 
 f The mansion of Mr. Vaughan, the greatest landholder in 
 Caermarthenshire. We did not visit this seat, or Middleton 
 hall, also southward of the valley a few miles nearer Caer- 
 marthen, but without commanding any of its beauties. The- 
 latter place, built a few years since by Mr. Paxton, formerly 
 a banker at Bengal, I understand to be the most splendid 
 • specimen of modern architecture in Wales > but, unfortunate, 
 in its situation, it is already neglected. 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. IX. DINEVAWR CASTLE. 131 
 
 the vale ; though the greater part of it was 
 obscured in grandly-projected shadows *. 
 
 After a week's journey through an exten- 
 sive, tract of country, with few exceptions as 
 devoid of picturesque interest as of productive- 
 ness, to come at once upon a scene so preg- 
 nant with the bounty and beauty of nature, was 
 a feast for the feelings of philanthropy and 
 picturesque enthusiasm that I shall never for- 
 get ; nor do I imagine that the coldest mortal 
 could fail of feeling a lively interest in so de- 
 lightful a change — We 
 
 " — cast a longing lingering look behind" 
 
 on leaving this scene to examine the ruined 
 castle. The extent of the apparent remains 
 would lead one to consider it as a place of 
 small importance ; but we traced the vestiges 
 of a wall and ditch at some distance from the 
 conspicuous ruin, which indicate it to have 
 been of considerable dimensions. The most 
 
 * The ruins of Druslwyn castle occupy a bold conical hill 
 about half-way between Llandilo and Caermarthen, in the 
 vale of To wey. Nearer Caermarthen, until lately, stood the 
 venerable remains of Green castle, built by Uchtred, prince 
 of Merionethshire, in n^8j but the ruin is now reduced to 
 a few unimportant walls : both these fragments of antiquity 
 are within view of the road. 
 
 k 2 notice- 
 
132 DINEVAWR CASTLE. CHAP. IX. 
 
 noticeable parts are, the apartment already 
 mentioned; a massive round tower, the an- 
 cient keep ; and a subterraneous passage. Gi- 
 raldus saw a castle here ; but that was de- 
 stroyed in the year 1194, about six years 
 after his Itinerary ; it was, however, soon 
 rebuilt, and became the royal seat of the 
 Princes of South Wales ; but frequently 
 changed its masters, until it fell to the crown 
 of England. Henry the Vllth made a grant 
 of it to Sir Rice ap Thomas, Knight of the 
 Garter, a lineal descendant of the Welch 
 Princes, and ancestor of the present proprietor. 
 It was inhabited until within these 50 years, 
 when the combustible part of it was de- 
 stroyed by ■fire.. 
 
 The mansion, built on a level about half 
 a mile from the castle, is a large quadran- 
 gular, structure, with turrets at each corner 
 crowned with domes : it has lately been 
 modernized ; but appears to have been found- 
 ed about two centuries back. — An avenue of 
 trees extended from hence to the castle, which 
 has lately been broken into clumps, in har- 
 mony with the general laying-out of the park. 
 The hills of its strongly undulating surface are 
 profusely covered with wood, and the hol- 
 lows 
 
CHAP. IX. NEWTON PARK. 133 
 
 lows enjoy a luxuriance of pasturage that can 
 scarcely be equalled. On looking down 
 some of these knolls, there appears no poeti- 
 cal licence in Dyer's description : 
 
 " Below me trees unnumber'd rise, 
 
 " Beautiful in various dyes : 
 
 " The gloomy pines, the poplar blue, 
 
 tc The yellow beech, the sable yew, 
 
 •* The slender fir that taper grows, 
 
 " The sturdy oak with broad-spread boughs j 
 
 rt And beyond the purple grove, 
 
 " Haunt of Phyllis, Queen of Love !" 
 
 We often regretted that the picturesque ruin 
 of the castle was excluded from our view by 
 the lofty trees that surround it : the laudable 
 jealousy with which Lord Dinevawr preserves 
 the woody embellishments of his park ap- 
 peared to us as extending too far in this in- 
 stance; for were a few openings introduced, 
 so as to exhibit from various points the grand 
 dimensions of some ivied towers, a fine effect 
 might be produced, and a picturesque con- 
 trast obtained to the numerous woody swells 
 that abound in this beautiful domain. 
 
 The morning that we left Llandilo brought 
 with it a scene of affliction to the surrounding 
 country : one of those deluging rains which 
 often do so much mischief m mountainous 
 
 k 3 countries 
 
134 A ST6RM, CHAP. it. 
 
 countries fell with unparalleled violence dur- 
 ing the night ; when the vast accession of 
 water, unable to discharge itself by the or- 
 dinary channels, swept away trees, fences, 
 small buildings, cattle, and poultry in its 
 devious course. Several mills were destroyed ; 
 and many an industrious cottager, awakened 
 by the flood eddying round his bed, saw 
 himself at once dispossessed of the fruits of 
 many years hard savings : 
 
 " Fled to some eminence,, the husbandman 
 
 €< Helpless beheld the miserable wreck 
 
 ic Driving along j his drowning ox at once 
 
 " Descending, with his labours scatter'd round, 
 
 tc He saw 5 and instant o'er his shivering thought 
 
 '■* Came winter unprovided, and a train 
 
 <( Of clamant children dear." 
 
 On the storm's abating, we renewed our 
 journey, and, over a handsome stone bridge 
 crossing the swollen ToWey, which had ac- 
 quired a frightful hue from the red marie of 
 the neighbouring lands, followed its course 
 upon the road to Llaftgadock. At the first 
 turnpike We deviated to the right, up a steep 
 track rendered almost impracticable by loose 
 craigs, by the side of a romantic dingle, 
 down Whose dark hollow a small cascade 
 trickled with very good effect. In our as- 
 cent. 
 
CHAP. IX. TALIARIS PARK. 135 
 
 cent, delightful views were obtained of the 
 upper vale of Towey, stretching from Llan- 
 dilo bridge to the vicinage of Llandovery. 
 The distant groves of Taliaris and Abermarle 
 parks adorned this view, which was only in- 
 ferior to that from Dinevawr-castle. As w r e 
 advanced further, the rich prospect with- 
 drew, and we found ourselves entering upon 
 the dreary wilds of the Black Mountains ; our 
 track then became indistinct, wandering among 
 rocks, floods, and up-rooted trees, unenlivened 
 by a single habitation or human face. At 
 length a cottage appeared, and we enquired 
 our way to Careg-eannon castle ; but " Dim 
 (( Sarsnic *" was all we could gather from the 
 inhabitants. Thus constrained to proceed at 
 random, we mounted a precipitous hill over 
 a track that formed the bed of a -torrent, and 
 discovered the object of our search upon a 
 bold rock, a considerable distance on our 
 
 * cc Dim Sarsnic" (no Saxon) is a common expression, 
 groundedon their anciently confounding all foreigners with their 
 mortal enemies the Saxons ; as the lower class in England con- 
 sider every foreigner a Frenchman. This is said to be con- 
 nected with a marked dislike and incivility to strangers ; yet, 
 so far as my observations extend, a greater disposition to acts 
 of kindness is not to be met with in any part of the kingdom 
 than in South Wales. 
 
 K 4 right : 
 
136 CAREG-CANNON CASTLE, CHAP. IX. 
 
 right : a little Welch farmer was also com- 
 prized in this view, working hard to repair 
 the damages of the storm. We again en- 
 quired the best road to pursue, and again were 
 answered with " Dim Sarsnie ;" he, how- 
 ever, signified to us that he would fetch some 
 one, and accordingly ran over two or three 
 fields, and returned with his daughter, a fine 
 buxom girl who had picked up a little Eng- 
 lish at Llandilo market. Without intreaty 
 she offered to be our guide ; and, fixing in 
 the ground a spade with which she had been 
 clearing a water-course, blythely led us, 
 through mountainous wilds, within a short 
 distance of the object of our search. 
 
 As we ascended the rock, crowned with 
 the frowning ruin of Careg-cannon castle, a 
 tempestuous cloud that broke against it drenched 
 us with a plentiful shower : we sought the 
 shelter of the building, but the wind raged 
 with such violence, that we shrunk from the 
 mouldering battlements lest they should over- 
 whelm us. On crossing the ruin through its 
 " stormy halls/' we again recoiled on finding 
 ourselves upon the brink of a tremendous pre- 
 cipice, which, except on the side by which 
 we ascended, encompasses the castle in a per- 
 pendicular 
 
CHAP. IX. CAREG-CANNON CASTLE. 137 
 
 pendicular rocky cliff upwards of four hun- 
 dred feet in height. Then climbing among 
 the mossy fragments of the castle, we disco- 
 vered an aperture in the ground connected 
 with a long subterraneous gallery dug through 
 the solid rock, and lighted by windows cut 
 in the cliff, though not visible from any si- 
 tuation without. In exploring this strange 
 recess, rendered more fearful by the loud 
 shrieks of the wind, we advanced, not with- 
 out sensations of awe : it terminated in a 
 large gloomy cavern, fit scene for 
 
 (C Murders, rapes, and massacres, 
 <c Acts of black night, abominable deeds, - 
 " Complots of mischiefs, treason, villanies 
 " Ruthful to hear." 
 
 In this place we waited the passing of the 
 storm, conjecturing it to have continued for- 
 merly to some adjacent spot, so as to form a 
 sally-port or secret communication from the 
 castle. On our return we felt more at liberty 
 to examine the features of the ruin, which 
 proved of the simplest construction, totally 
 without ornament or a single Gothic form, 
 and consisting of one irregular court with 
 towers at each angle. If the Britons had any 
 castles of stone before the arrival of the Nor- 
 mans 
 
13$ A FORD. CHAT. IX. 
 
 mans (a fact doubted by some antiquaries), I 
 should imagine this to be one ; although a 
 late tourist, I know not on what authority* 
 ascribes its erection to the time of Henry the 
 First. The position must have been formerly 
 impregnable, and its rough aspect marks it to 
 have been constructed for the mere business 
 of war. By 
 
 — — - — - a lonely tower, 
 
 whose mournful chambers hold, 
 
 To night-struck Fancy dreams, the yelling Ghost, 
 
 we passed from this wild abode, and floun- 
 dered among ditch-like tracks to recover the 
 high road from Llandilo to Swansea. In a 
 romantic hollow we were stopped by a branch 
 of the Towey ; which, though in ordinary 
 times an inconsiderable rivulet, was now 
 swelled to a deep and menacing torrent. 
 Here we found a party of men and women 
 peasants on the opposite side, in doubt whe- 
 ther it might be safely crossed ; but at length, 
 one of the men stripped and waded over, 
 thus satisfying us that the ford was practicable. 
 The rest followed ; the men first getting rid 
 of the lower part of their dress ;. — a trouble 
 avoided by the females, who, unused to the 
 encumbrance of shoes and stockings, had: 
 
 only 
 
CHAP. IX. A FORD. 139 
 
 only to hold up their clothes to the highest 
 extent; and, thus prepared, the whole party 
 moved toward us. Viewing this remnant of 
 barbarity with disgust, we at the same time 
 felt uneasy for the situation of the girls : but 
 we might have spared ourselves that pain ; 
 their countenances proved them to be unem- 
 barrassed by the consciousness of shame ; 
 nor did their eyes wander from the precise 
 line in which they were going. The trans- 
 action was to them a matter of perfect in- 
 difference. 
 
 It may reasonably be supposed, that the 
 indecent customs of the Welch operate against 
 the observance of chastity : yet seeing that 
 the Welch are by no means deficient in that 
 excellence, it may be supposed that were such 
 scenes less frequent they would be so ; but, 
 as they are continually recurring, the imagi- 
 nation has no time to effervesce ; it is at once 
 saturated with naked facts, and on that prin- 
 ciple the ebullitions of passion are kept under. 
 On the one hand, those strong bulwarks de- 
 cency and delicacy are done away ; but on 
 the other, the mind, fully informed, is not 
 irritated by the conjurations of fancy ; which 
 may be a pretty fair set-off. Yet, without 
 
 doubtj 
 
140 GLEN-HEIR. WATERFALL. CHAP. IX. 
 
 doubt, their strongest safeguard exists in the 
 considerative defence ; for the moral turpi- 
 tude and political, infamy of unchastity is re- 
 cognized in Wales to an extent that can 
 hardly be conceived in circles of- modern re- 
 finement : even at this day, in districts not 
 yet drawn within the imposing vortex of 
 trade*, a golden age of innocence maybe 
 discovered, where bastardy is unknown, or 
 known but in recorded instances, in which 
 the man is properly consigned to equal dis- 
 grace with the female offender. 
 
 Our travelling continued in rocky tracks, 
 at the rate of a mile an hour, until we reco- 
 vered the Llandilo road ; from w 7 hich we 
 soon turned off, on the right, to visit Glen- 
 hci'r waterfall, in the grounds of Mr* Du- 
 
 * Along with the degeneracy of social affections, manly 
 prowess, and' other noble affections, that hang on nations 
 and places absorbed in the pursuit of trade, the dereliction of 
 chastity is greatly conspicuous. In Manchester, for ex- 
 ample, an almost promiscuous intercourse prevails in the 
 great class of the people : insomuch that the Magistrates at- 
 tempt to check the increase of bastard children by inflicting 
 stripes and imprisonment on the women who bear above a 
 certain number ! But why enumerate particular instances of 
 the debasing tendency of too much trade, when the history 
 of the world furnishes abundant proofs to establish the fact 
 as an axiom. 
 
 baison, 
 
CHAP. IX. GLEN-HEIR WATERFALL. 141 
 
 baison, about five miles south of Llandilo. 
 At this place the Loughor river pursues its 
 course between steep banks clothed with va- 
 rious trees and shrubs. On one of the de- 
 scents a walk is traced, with some ingenuity, 
 in front of a small picturesque cascade formed 
 by a tributary stream to the Loughor. This 
 might be mistaken for the object sought ; but, 
 crossing a rustic bridge, the eye on a sudden 
 encounters the whole river rushing beneath a 
 portal of trees, and throwing itself over a 
 ledge of black rock in a single fall of eighteen 
 feet. The effect of the whole, seen through 
 the gloom of pendent trees, is undoubtedly 
 striking; though, it must be confessed," the 
 sheet of water presenting the formality of an 
 unbroken square is somewhat un picturesque. 
 The person who attended us pointed out the 
 effects of the torrent at fifteen feet above its 
 surface, to which height it was swelled in the 
 morning by the late storm ; a greater rise 
 than was ever known before: the cataract 
 then exhibited a scene more tremendously 
 grand than imagination can picture, or words 
 describe ; yet some idea may be formed in 
 conceiving so vast a bulk of water, bursting 
 over the precipice, stunning with its roar, 
 
 and 
 
142 AN ACCIDENT. CHAP. IX. 
 
 and filling the atmosphere with its spray; 
 while up-rooted trees, the shattered fragments 
 of buildings, and other ruins, swept headlong 
 on by the irresistible torrent, would illustrate 
 its terrors, and complete a spectacle great 
 indeed ! Yet, alas, at how high a purchase, 
 appeared from the lamentations of the neigh- 
 bourhood ! Nor were we without a share in 
 the general calamity ; for, crossing the 
 Loughor at a ford about two miles further, 
 my poney on a sudden slipped out of his 
 depth, and we had separately to swim for our 
 lives to the opposite bank. This disagreeable 
 business was much aggravated ; for my books, 
 papers, and some other articles which I car- 
 ried in a leather-case behind the saddle, were 
 completely soaked, and several drawings ut- 
 terly spoiled. My companion, having a 
 taller horse, escaped, with only his boots full 
 of water. Here it may not be amiss to ap- 
 prize the traveller through Wales, that these 
 fords (frequently occurring) are not unat- 
 tended with danger after great falls of rain : 
 at such times, a careful enquiry should be 
 made of the people near them ; a precaution 
 that would have saved us our ducking ; for 
 it afterwards appeared, that no other travellers 
 
 had 
 
CHAP. IX. PONT-AR-DULAS. 143 
 
 •had crossed the ford during the day, but 
 avoided it by taking a circuitous route. 
 
 In this plight we jogged on upwards of 
 eight miles, with the unwelcome gloom of 
 the Black Mountains on our left, and a plea- 
 sant diversified country on our right, to the 
 village of Pont-ar-dulas, but which we did 
 not reach before evening. The comfortable 
 inn at this place afforded us a change of ap- 
 parel and good cheer, that soon dissipated the 
 inconveniences of our journey. On the fol- 
 lowing morning w T e rose early, and then 
 found the place to possess many traits of pic- 
 turesque attraction, being seated near a rapid 
 river, and agreeably interspersed with woods. 
 Thence we had a pleasant ride to Swansea; 
 where we rejoined a party of our friends at 
 breakfast, after a fortnight's excursion. 
 
 During our stay in this town, protracted 
 to several days by its agreeable society, 
 Mrs. Hatton, mistress of the bathing-house, 
 and sister of the English Melpomene, exhi- 
 bited her theatric powers on the humble 
 boards of Swansea theatre. But, labouring 
 under the misfortune of lameness, and the 
 encumbrance of more human flesh than I 
 ever before saw crowded in one female figure, 
 
 she 
 
144 RETURN TO SWANSEA. CHAP. IX, 
 
 she was obliged to go through her task, the 
 recitation of Alexander's Feast, sitting : not- 
 withstanding which weighty drawback, the 
 lady did not fail to exhibit a vivid tincture of 
 the family genius. Here too we were gra- 
 tified with the news of an event, before 
 whose solid advantages the victories of a 
 century sink, in a rational estimate, like glit- 
 tering tinsel before massive ingots. I was 
 awakened at an early hour by the loud 
 huzzas of the towns-people, and the frequent 
 discharge of cannon from vessels in the har- 
 bour. The ships displayed their gayest co- 
 lours; and the people, in dancing through 
 the streets, congratulated each other on the 
 long wished-for blessing of Peace ! The 
 chagrin of two or "three provision-monopo- 
 lizers, and a few others whose interest was 
 in opposition to the public weal, with the 
 old subterfuge that it was not the proper time 
 for peace, covering a real sentiment of end- 
 less war, passed unnoticed, nor formed a 
 perceptible speck on the brilliancy of the 
 people's joy ! 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ w ] 
 
 C II A P. X, 
 
 NEATH ABBEY, TOWN, AND CASTLE — 
 
 THE KNOLL BRITON FERRY FUNEREAL 
 
 RITES ABERAVON MARGAM ABBEY 
 
 RUIN PILE. 
 
 OUR tour now took an eastward direction. 
 Crossing Swansea river by an exceeding £ood 
 ferry, and passing a region of furnaces, we 
 traversed a considerable hill to the neigh- 
 bouring valley of Neath ; a spot that might 
 be deemed pleasing, were it not overhung 
 with the smoke of numerous manufactories, 
 and its soil blackened with coal-works and 
 rail-ways*. Neath abbey is a short distance 
 
 west 
 
 * Rail-ways are so called, from being cons! meted of iron 
 (in some places wooden) rails, placed in such a manner as to 
 receive the wheels of a sort of low cart, used in the convey- 
 ance of metal and coals. These cars, as they are called, are 
 of very ponderous structure ; their wheels, grooved round, 
 with a shoulder dipping on the inside, pass with great facility 
 over the rails; which latter, projecting an inch or two above 
 l the 
 
14(5 NEATH ABBEY. CHAP. X. 
 
 west of the town, and its remains are ex- 
 tensive. Besides the abbey church, the walls 
 of the offices and other apartments are yet 
 standing; but, undecorated with verdure, 
 and partaking of the sable hue that impinges 
 on every object around, it fails to create an 
 idea of beauty or grandeur. As we were 
 exploring the dark recesses of the ruin, a 
 number of haggard forms on a sudden darted 
 from various apertures, and eagerly pressed 
 toward us. Their wan countenances, half 
 hidden by black matted hair, bore the strongest 
 expression of misery ; which was further 
 heightened by a scanty ragged apparel, that 
 scarcely covered their meagre limbs : upon 
 their whole appearance one might have asked 
 with Ban quo, — 
 
 " What are these, 
 £€ So withered, and so wild in their attire, 
 ° That look not like th' inhabitants o the earth, 
 iC And yet are on't ?~You should be women ; 
 " And yet your beards forbid me to interpret 
 " That you are so."— 
 
 the ground, are kept in their places by a sunken frame of 
 wood. The advantages of these roads are very considerable 
 for the purposes to which they are applied ; insomuch that 
 many persons have suggested their usefulness for public ways j 
 bvt perhaps without considering the numerous practical ob- 
 jections that would encounter the project. 
 
 The 
 
CHAP. X. NEATH ABBEtf. 147 
 
 The poor creatures were the wives of miners, 
 and women that worked in the manufactories, 
 who burrowed and brought up their families 
 in the cells of the ruin. Unceasing drudgery, 
 however, was unable to obtain them the ne- 
 cessaries of life; much less a taste of those 
 comforts, to which the exertion of useful la- 
 bour might seem to have a just claim. An 
 old woman, bent nearly double with years, 
 
 '' Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless," 
 
 gave us her account of the ruin. She shewed 
 us the nuns' dining-room, the roof of which 
 is still entire, supported by Saxon, or rather 
 early Norman pillars and arches. From the 
 refectory we passed to what was once the 
 dormitory, and were shewn a nauseous dun- 
 ii, ill which, as the legend of the ruin 
 relates, offending nuns were wont to be con- 
 lined. This abbey was built by Richard de 
 Granville and Constance his wife, in the 
 reign of Henry the First, for Cistertian monks, 
 and dedicated to the Holy Trinity : at the- 
 olution of monasteries its revenues were 
 valued at 150/. per a?mum. The abbey- 
 use, about a century and a half since, 
 neo 1 an admired seat of tire Hobby's fa- 
 mily, 
 
 l 2 Neath, 
 
148 NEATH. CHAP. X. 
 
 Neath, the Nidum of Antoninus, was for- 
 merly of greater extent and importance than 
 at present ; for, notwithstanding its flourish- 
 ing manufactories, it now makes but a poor 
 dirty appearance. The Castle, now an in 
 considerable ruin, was built by Richard de 
 Granville, one of Fitzhammon's knights, 
 upon the site of a British fortress of very an- 
 tient foundation ; and was taken and in part 
 burnt by Prince Llewelyn A. D. 1231. The 
 Neath river limits that tract of country called 
 Gower; it also formed the western boundary 
 of the Lordship of Glamorgan, which an- 
 ciently extended eastward to the river Usk. 
 The latter district fell under the dominion of 
 the Normans in the following manner. 
 
 In the year 1090, Jestyn, lord of Glamor- 
 gan, having a difference with Rees, King of 
 Wales, had recourse to arms, and solicited 
 the assistance of Fitzhammon, an Anglo- 
 Norman chieftain, to support his cause. The 
 confederates were successful ; but, as it ge- 
 nerally happens when foreign aid is required 
 in domestic disputes, the remedy proved 
 worse than the disease; for, on the plea that 
 the conditions of their compact had not been 
 fulfilled, Fiizhammon collected his forces, 
 
 attacked 
 
CHAP. X. THE KNOLL. - 14-9 
 
 attacked Jestyn, and deprived him of his 
 life and territory. Fitzhammon shared the 
 spoil with twelve knights who accompanied 
 him, rewarding each with a manor. Now, 
 as a dominion thus acquired must he sup- 
 ported by the iron arm of coercion, we find 
 the first attention of the conquerors directed 
 to rearing fortresses on their domains ; and 
 shortly afterwards an appendant creation of 
 religious houses makes its appearance, as a 
 salvo for the slaughter and injustice that pur- 
 chased their greatness. To this foundation 
 most of the picturesque ruins that we are about 
 to examine in Glamorganshire, and part of 
 Monmouthshire, may be traced : it will, 
 therefore, be necessary not to lose sight of 
 this point of history. 
 
 AVe did not fail to admire the Knoll, a 
 castellated seat of Sir Herbert Mack worth's, 
 occupying the summit of a hill at the termi- 
 nation of a noble lawn. The fine views 
 which its elevation commands, encompassed 
 by. hanging woods and extensive plantations, 
 its shady walks and picturesque cascades, 
 render it a place deservedly attractive. Be- 
 neath the tufted hiHs of this estate, we passed 
 l 3 from 
 
150 BRITON FERRY. CHAP. X. 
 
 from Neath in our way to Briton ferry ; and 
 soon remarked a single stone monument*, 
 a massive paralellopiped, on a height to our 
 left : another immediately afterwards appear- 
 ed in a field elose to the road on the right; 
 
 From these monuments of other times, how- 
 ever, the rich hanging woods and open groves of 
 Briton ferry attracted our interest, clothing 
 that charming domain of Lord Vernon's. 
 
 The extensive plantations spread over se- 
 veral bold hills westward of the Neath rivfer, 
 Whose broad translucid stream here emerges 
 in a fine sweep between high woody banks, 
 partly broken into naked cliffs, and soon 
 unites with the sea. From a delightful shady 
 walk impendent over the stream, we branched 
 off into an " alley green" that led us up a 
 steep hill covered with large trees and tangled 
 underwood : the ascent was judiciously traced 
 where several bare craigs projecting from the 
 soil formed an apposite contrast to the luxu- 
 riant verdure that prevailed around. On 
 
 * Single stones may be considered among the remotest mo- 
 numents of antiquity : we read of such in the Oid Testa- 
 ment, raised in commemoration of signal victories, and as 
 noted sepulchres. Jacob erected one at Lug; and placed 
 another over the grave of RachaeL 
 
 gaining 
 
CHAP. X. BRITON FERRY. 151 
 
 gaining the summit the charms of Briton 
 terry disclosed themselves in 
 
 c f An ample theatre of Sylvan grace" 
 
 of more than common beauty; beyond which 
 the Bristol channel, bounded by the aerial 
 tint of its opposite coast, formed the distance. 
 But from a roaming prospect the eye gladly 
 returned to repose on the. local beauties of the 
 scene ; the tufted knoll, the dark glade, and 
 the majestic river. In returning, we passed 
 the mansion, a very ordinary building ; but 
 paused on the neat simplicity of the village- 
 church adjoining, and its well-ordered ce- 
 metery. 
 
 The custom of planting ever-greens over 
 the graves of departed friends, and bedeck- 
 in cr them with flowers at certain seasons of 
 the year, is here attended to with peculiar 
 care ; and to this pleasing tribute of affection, 
 characteristic of Wales, David ap-Gwillim, a 
 Welch bard who flourished about the middle 
 of the fourteenth century, thus sweetly al- 
 ludes in one of his odes ; 
 
 " O whilst thy season of flowers, and thy 
 
 " tender sprays thick of leaves remain ; I 
 
 " will pluck the roses from the brakes ; the 
 
 L 4 " floweret! 
 
152 ABERAVON. CHAP. X. 
 
 " flowerets of the meads, and gems of the 
 "woods; the vivid trefoils, beauties of the 
 " ground, and the gaily smiling bloom of the 
 " verdant herbs, to be offered to the memory 
 " of a chief of fairest fame : Humbly will 
 " I lay them on the grave of Ivor !" 
 
 Shakspeare also, with exquisite tender- 
 ness : 
 
 " With fairest flowers while summer lasts 
 
 " 1 11 sweeten thy sad grave : thou shalt not lack 
 
 iC The flower that 's like thy face, pale Primrose j nor 
 
 " The azur'd Harebell, like thy veins j no, nor 
 
 <f The leaf of Eglantine, whom not to slander 
 
 " Outsweeten'd not thy breath." 
 
 Highly pleased with Briton ferry, we pro- 
 ceeded along the coast, and passed through 
 the little town of Aberavon. Its copper 
 and tin works added no charms to the ver- 
 dant fertility of this part of the country, 
 which appeared ornamented with several 
 gentlemen's seats, and well planted hills; 
 but, grandly rising above comparison, " the 
 mighty hill of Margam," a steep mountain 
 entirely shaded with oaks from the base to its 
 " cloud-cap't" summit, arrested our chief 
 attention . 
 
 Margam park, belonging to Mr. Talbot, 
 •s chiefly to be noticed for its orangery ; 
 
 a mag- 
 
CHAP. X. MARGAM. 153 
 
 a magnificent pavilion of the Doric order, 
 327 feet in length, wherein the orange-trees 
 are arranged in unfavourable weaiher : but 
 on our visit, these trees, to the amount of 
 a hundred and fifty, from six to ten feet 
 high, and all in full bearing, were agree- 
 ably disposed in a sequestered part of the 
 garden *. Margam abbey was until within 
 these few years the mansion of the estate ; 
 but it is now pulled down ; some low 
 ruins, however, remain, and the walls of its 
 elegant but neglected chapter-house. This 
 structure is thus described by Mr. Wyndham, 
 who visited the spot about thirty years since : 
 ff It is an elegant Gothic building, of a date 
 " subsequent to that of the church. Its 
 " vaulted roof is perfect, and supported by a 
 " clustered column rising from the centre of 
 4( the room. The plan of this chapter-!; ouse 
 ft is an exact circle, fifty feet in diameter. 
 " The just proportion of the windows, and 
 " the delicate ribs of the arches, which all 
 " rise from the centre column and the walls, 
 " gradually diverging to their respective points 
 " above, must please the eye of every spec- 
 
 * They were wrecked on the Margam estate upwards of a 
 .cuitury since* 
 
 " tator; 
 
154? MARGAM. CHAP. X, 
 
 " tator ; and, what is uncommon in light 
 * f Gothic edifices, the external elevation is 
 ** as simple and uniform as- its internal, there 
 *' being, no projecting buttresses to disturb or 
 tc obstruct its beauty." — " The preservation 
 ** of this building led me to conclude, that 
 m niueh attention had been given to the lead 
 " that originally covered it; but, to my asto- 
 ^ nishrnent, I heard that the lead had long 
 €i cilice been removed, and that the only se~ 
 * etirity of the roof against the weather was a 
 ** thick oiled paper \ which by no means pre* 
 "vented the rain from penetrating and fli- 
 ttering through the wrfurkvtj Mr. Wyndhani 
 concludes by trusting, that, as- the present 
 proprietor is a lover of antiquities, the defi- 
 ciency would be corrected. But, unfortu- 
 nately,: the edifice was left to its fate, and 
 the roof soon fell in : thus one of the finest 
 specimens of Gothic architecture in this or 
 any other country is lost to the eye of taste 
 and science. 
 
 Just perceptible from the turf we traced 
 the foundation of the Abbey Church, and the 
 bases of four clustering pillars that most pro- 
 bably supported the tower; the steps of the 
 altar were also visible, besprinkled with grass; 
 
 and, 
 
CHAP. X. MARGAM. 
 
 and, turning over some fragment -, we picked 
 up part of the chalice for containing holy 
 water, and several of those coloured glazed 
 tiles winch were used in the early Norman age 
 for paving principal buildings, but com- 
 monly called Roman tiles. We were in- 
 formed by Mr. Snook, the intelligent gar- 
 dener of the place, who was present at the 
 dilapidation of the abbey, that the pavement 
 formed with these tiles was the lowermost of 
 three which were then removed; and that 
 on digging deeper they came to an immeme 
 heap of human bones. This pavement is still 
 in many places remaining, though nearly 
 concealed by a covering of moss. Many 
 curious sculptured stones of high antiquity 
 are to be met with in the park, and in the 
 village adjoining; the church of which pre- 
 sents, in its elevation, a more pleasing svm- 
 irretry and composition than any Norman work 
 that I remember to have seen *. A shady 
 walk, carried beneath the leafy mantle of 
 Margam's hill, passes a ruined chapel, and 
 a loggan or rocking-stone, in its way to the 
 
 . * This is called part of the Abbey church in Grose's An- 
 tiquities 5 but, as the foundation of that edifice is demon- 
 strable near the chapter-bouse, it appears to be an error. 
 
 summit, 
 
156 PYLE. CHAP. X. 
 
 summit, where a prospect of uncommon ex- 
 tent greets the beholder. Eglis Nunne, about 
 two miles south of Margam, now a farm- 
 house, was formerly a nunnery subject to 
 that abbey. 
 
 Renewing our journey, we left Ken fig on 
 our right, where some vestiges of a castle 
 built by one of Fitzhammon's knights are 
 said to appear, and proceeded to Pyle. The 
 inn here, built by Mr. Talbot, and which 
 might be mistaken for a nobleman's seat, af- 
 fords excellent accommodation for travellers, 
 who are frequently induced to make it their 
 head-quarters while visiting the several ob- 
 jects in the neighbourhood. — Leaving Pyle, 
 we soon found ourselves on Newton Down, 
 and from its height discovered the -.range of 
 hills forming the opposite boundary of the 
 vale of Cowbridge, in which a bold hill 
 crowned with Penline Castle was eminently 
 conspicuous. On looking back, we were 
 pleased with a comprehensive view, of the 
 country that we had lately traversed: be- 
 yond the wide bay of Swansea, the whitened 
 habitations of Ostermouth caught our eye ; 
 the sulphureous elbuds revolving from the 
 works of Swansea and Neath were only di- 
 vided 
 
CHAP. X. NEWTON-DOWN. 157 
 
 vided by the projection of Kilway hill ; and 
 the picturesque knolls of Briton ferry ap- 
 peared sunk into comparative littleness be- 
 neath the towering dimensions of Margam's 
 shady mountain. — Our tour now became 
 thickly interspersed with baronial castles and 
 other monuments of feudal times, interesting 
 either by their historical events or picturesque 
 decav. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
158 ] 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 OGMOR'E CASTLE EWENNY PRIORY 
 
 DUNRAVEN-HOUSE ST. DONATES CAS- 
 TLE LLANBITHIAN CASTLE COW- 
 BRIDGE PENLINE CASTLE COITY 
 
 CASTLE LLANTRISSENT BENIGHTED 
 
 RAMBLE TO PONT-Y-PRIDD WATER- 
 FALLS. 
 
 OGMORE CASTLE is situated on the east- 
 ern bank of the river -Ogmore, near the road 
 to Cowbridge ; its remains, however, are 
 very inconsiderable, consisting merely of the 
 keep and some outer walls. Caradoc, in his 
 History of Wales, says, that the manor and 
 castle of Ogmore were bestowed by Fitzham- 
 mon on William de Londres, one of his 
 knights ; from which its foundation may be 
 dated prior to the Norman conquest. The 
 manor courts are still held in a thatched hovel 
 near it, which appears like an overgrown 
 
CHAP. XI. EWENNY PRIORY. 159 
 
 pig-stye. Here, according to the custom of 
 the times, a religious institution followed the 
 acquisition of power. William de Lor-dres^ 
 or his descendant John, built Ewenny Pri- 
 ory, at the distance of a mile from the 
 castle, and also near the road to Cowbridge : 
 but in this the proprietor seems not to have 
 lost sight of his worldly interest ; for the 
 strong embattled walls and towers that appear 
 among the ruins of this building would lead 
 one to consider it as intended not less for the 
 purposes of war than of priestcraft ; and its 
 situation on the bank of the Wenny was ad- 
 mirably adapted for the defence of that part 
 of his domain. In the hall of the house, a 
 gloomy building, are several racks, which 
 appear to have been used for the lodging of 
 arms. The church is a venerable mas- 
 sive structure, wherein unornamented heavy 
 arches repose on short bulky columns of 
 the rudest workmanship : it contains a mo- 
 nument of Paganus de Turbeville, supposed 
 to be the grandson of Fitzhammon's knight of 
 that name. The thick columns, plain capi^ 
 ■tal, and circular arches of this edifice, de- 
 note it to be of the earliest Norman archi- 
 tecture ; and might lead one to suppose it to 
 
 . .be 
 
160 DUNRAVEN-HOUSE. CHAP. Xr. 
 
 be of Saxon origin, did not historical facts in- 
 validate the conjecture. Leland says that it 
 was founded for Benedictine monks; but 
 neither he, Dugdale, nor Tanner, gives us 
 the date of its foundation. A. D. 1141 itwas 
 made a cell of St. Peter's of Gloucester. 
 
 Not far from Ewenny, on the sea-coast, is 
 Dunraven-house, of castle, as it is called 
 by Caradoc ; a mis-shapen dismal building, 
 only to be admired for its situation on a lofty 
 sea promontory, commanding extensive pros- 
 pects. William de Londres, Lord of Og- 
 more (says Caradoc) won the lordships of 
 Kydwelhy and Carnewihion in Carmarthen- 
 shire from the Welchmen ; and gave to Sir 
 Arnold Butler, his servant, the castle and 
 manor of Dunravcn. It continued a long 
 time in the possession of his descendants ; 
 but at length fell to the Vaughans, the last 
 of whom, as tradition relates, was such an 
 unprincipled wretch, that he set up lights, 
 and used other devices to mislead seamen, in 
 order that they might be wrecked on his 
 manor. But his crimes did not escape pu- 
 nishment ; for it is said that three of his sons 
 were drowned in one day by the following 
 accidents. Within sight of the house is a 
 
 large 
 
CHAP. XI. DU\NRAVEN*HOUSE* 161 
 
 large rock called the Swancar, dry only at 
 low water ; to which two of his sons wenjt 
 in a boat to divert themselves : but not taking 
 care to fasten their vessel, on the rising of 
 the tide it was washed away, and they left 
 to the horrors of their fate ; which was ine- 
 vitable, as the family had no other boat, nor 
 was there any other in the neighbourhood. 
 Their distress was seen from the house ; and 
 in the confusion their infant brother, being 
 left alone, fell into a vessel of whey, and was 
 drowned almost at the same instant with the 
 other two. This was universally looked upon 
 as a judgement for the iniquities above- 
 mentioned ; and Mr. Vaughan was so struck 
 with the transaction, that lie immediately 
 sold the house to Mr. W yndham, ancestor of 
 the present proprietor. — Two extraordinary 
 caverns, about a mile westward of the house, 
 we neglected to visit : the one called the Cave 
 is described to be a passage worn through a 
 projecting stack of racks, running parallel 
 with the sea-shore, and forming a kind of 
 rude piazza, with an entrance to the south, 
 of very grand effect. The other, called tine 
 Windhole, is a deep cavern, a little to the 
 east of the Cave : its depth from the entrance 
 
 m measures 
 
162 ST. donatt's castle, chap. xs. 
 
 measures seventy-seven yards. There are 
 two or three small fissures through the roof of 
 the cavern to the land above, a considerable 
 distance from the edge of the cliff; over 
 which if a hat be laid, it will be blown back 
 into the air with considerable violence ; but 
 this only happens when the wind blows fresh 
 from the South-east. 
 
 St. Donatt's Castle, a few miles fur- 
 ther on the coast, and about five south-west 
 of Cowbridge, is an extensive structure, oi' 
 much antique beauty, and is still partially 
 inhabited. Its garden, descending in terraces 
 from the south wall, w 7 as formerly, much ad- 
 mired, but now 
 
 ce Sunk are the bowers in shapeless ruin alT, 
 * " And the long grass o'ertops tlie mould'ring wall. 
 
 Although loftily situated, the castle is so sur- 
 rounded with high groves, as only to be seen 
 with advantage from some heights in the ad- 
 joining park : on one of them is a watch- 
 tower, which affords a prospect truly grand and 
 extensive. This castle is of very remote 
 foundation, although the greater part of the 
 building indicates the work of latter ages. 
 We learn from Powell's translation of Caradoc, 
 
 that 
 
CHAP. XI. LLANBITHIAN CASTLE. 103 
 
 that the castle and manor of St. Denewit, 
 or St. Donatt, was apportioned to Sir William 
 le Esterlong, alias Stradling, on the conquest 
 of Glamorgan. The Stradlings, outliving the. 
 descendants of all the other twelve Knights, 
 held it for 684 years ; but they becoming 
 extinct^ the estate fell to Busy Mansell, 
 Esq. * 
 
 Between St. Dohatt's and Cowbridge is 
 Lantwit, a poor village, but once a large bo- 
 rough town* On the north side of its church 
 are some old British relics, consisting of high 
 carved stones ; but whether sepulchral or 
 otherwise is not determined. LLAnbithian, 
 or St. Quintin's Castle, is situated about 
 half a mile south of Cowbridge. The leading 
 feature of this ruin is a massive gateway, now 
 converted into a barn ; which, as well as the 
 other parts, denotes considerable original 
 strength, and is said to have been built prior 
 to the arrival of Fitzhammon. The castle 
 and manor fell to the share of Sir Robert St. 
 Quintin on the division of Glamorgan ; but 
 it passed from his descendants in the reign of 
 
 * In this neighbourhood several Roman coins have been 
 dug up, among which were some very scarce ones of iEmi- 
 lianus andMarius. 
 
 m 2 Henry 
 
164> PENLfNE CASTLE. CHAP. Xl. 
 
 Henry the Third, and is now the property of 
 Lord Windsor. Cowbridge is a neat little 
 town seated on the banks of a small river *. 
 
 Penline Castle, loftily seated on a bold 
 hill, and commanding a prospect of uncom- 
 mon diversity and extent, is about a mile 
 distant from Cowbridge. From the lines of 
 Edward Williams, a native poet, it may ap- 
 pear that it serves as a barometer for the 
 neighbourhood : 
 
 " When the hoarse waves of Severn are screaming aloud, 
 
 10 And Penline's lofty castle's involv'd in a cloud 5 
 
 " If true the old proverb, a shower of rain 
 
 " Is brooding above and will soon drench the plain." 
 
 
 This structure is of very ancient date: in 
 some parts of the building the stones are laid 
 in the herring-bone fashion ; a mode observed 
 in the oldest parts of Guildford, Corfe, and 
 others of the most ancient castles. The man- 
 sion near to the ruin was built by Mr. Ser- 
 geant Sey, and is now possessed by Miss 
 Gwinit, by a bequest of the late Lady 
 Vernon's. 
 
 * Llancarvan, about three miles from Cowbridge, is said 
 to be the site of a Monastery built by St. Cadocus in the year 
 500. — Boverton, a village a short distance from Cowbridge 
 in the road to Cardiff, is thought to be the Bovium of the 
 
 Komans. 
 
 Are- 
 
CHAP. XI. BRIDGEND. 1(*5 
 
 A retrograde movement, hastily performed 
 in a shower of rain, brought us to Bridgend, 
 a straggling little town, built on the opposing 
 banks of the river Ogmore. From this place 
 a road passes to the village of Coity and its 
 dismantled castle. This ruin stands on a 
 plain ground, and is prettily interspersed 
 with various trees and underwood : its foun- 
 dation is generally attributed to Paganus de 
 Turbeville, one of Fitzhammon's knights. — - 
 The continuance of our ride to Llantrissent 
 boasted little interest ; until, making a curve 
 near the seven-mile stone, when the wide un- 
 dulating vale of Cowbridge exhibited a most 
 extensive tract of beautiful fertility : among the 
 high hills circumscribing the vale, that sus- 
 taining Penline castle rose with superior im- 
 portance. The whole laid out in rich pas- 
 tures and meadows, continually intersected 
 with tufted inclosures, and enlivened with 
 embowered hamlets and detached whitened 
 buildings, formed a coup d'ceil of considerable 
 interest. 
 
 The old town of Llantrissent appeared 
 within a small distance of us, long before 
 we arrived at it : for, perched upon the sum- 
 mit of a high hill of remarkable steepness, it 
 
 M 3 was 
 
166 LLANTRISSENT. CHAP. XI, 
 
 was only by a circuitous road, then of suf* 
 ficiently fatiguing ascent, that it could be ap* 
 proached. This place, comprised nearly iq 
 one narrow irregular street, and made up of 
 poor Gothic habitations, has so little of mo- 
 dern appearance engrafted on it, that it may 
 be interesting as a specimen of ancient times, 
 but scarcely in any other respect. The castle 
 is nearly all destroyed ; the fragment of a 
 lofty round tower, and the vestiges of its out-? 
 w r orks, nearly concealed by tangled shrubs, 
 being all the remains of it. The church is 
 a large Norman edifice, and from the ce* 
 metery a wonderful prospect is obtained 
 of the surrounding country : although a 
 hazy state of the atmosphere denied us the 
 whole of its extent, enough remained to as- 
 sure us that it must be considerable. 
 
 Pont-y-pridd, or New Bridge, was our 
 next destination. My companion went foiv 
 ward to secure accommodation at the Bridge^ 
 water Arms, a comfortable inn about half a 
 mile beyond it, while I was engaged in 
 sketching some subjects about Llantrissent ; 
 at which task J incautiously protracted my 
 stfiy 
 
 J*, until 
 
CHAP. XI. LLANTRISSFNT. 167 
 
 " until th' approach of night, 
 
 " The skies warm blushing with departing light j 
 " When falling dews with spangles deck'd the glade, 
 " And the low sun had lengthen' d ev'ry shade." 
 
 As I proceeded from Llantrissent, cultivation 
 diminished ; and from that fertile and popu- 
 lous district, bordering the Severn, I found 
 myself entering upon the unfrequented wilds 
 of the interior country. It soon became so 
 dark, that I could but just distinguish the 
 broken road that I was travelling ; which, 
 although a Welch turnpike, a modern far- 
 mer in England would be ashamed to own 
 for his cartway. Not a human face or habi- 
 tation presented itself, nor any relief from 
 silence, except the uncheering note of the 
 screech owl. At length, however, the dis- 
 tant murmur of a waterfall saluted me ; 
 which, growing louder as I advanced, pre- 
 sently accumulated to a hoarse roar ; and, 
 by the direction of the sound, it appeared 
 that I was travelling on a precipice above the 
 torrent. A plentiful shower falling at this 
 instant did not add to the comforts of my si- 
 tuation ; and I found by the motion of the 
 horse, that I was on a steep descent ; while 
 his frequent slides and stumbles proved that 
 m 4 lie 
 
1(58 BENIGHTED RAMBLE. CHAP, XI, 
 
 lie was on very rugged ground, and probably 
 out of any track. In this dilemma imagina- 
 tion, ever active in magnifying concealed 
 danger, pictured my situation as tottering on 
 the brink of some such chasm as that of the 
 Devil's bridge. Here I might have exclaimed 
 with Ossian's Colma; "It is night ; I am 
 alone, forlorn on the hill of storms. The wind 
 is heard on the Mountains; the torrent shrieks 
 down the rock. No hut receives me from the 
 rain ; forlorn on the hill of winds/' But 
 to remain under such apprehensions were 
 worse than to encounter danger, and I slowly 
 moved on in almost total darkness ; until, 
 making a sudden turn, I beheld the tops of 
 the neighbouring hills illumined in a strange 
 manner. In 3, few moments a gleam of 
 light, transmitted by reflection through an 
 opening in some trees, shone on my track, 
 and discovered a dark huge figure standing at 
 my horse's head, I was scarcely collected 
 from my surprize when my bric|le was forci- 
 bly arrested, and a loud but unintelligible 
 voice seemed to demand that I should stop. 
 Already was I conceiving how to repel the 
 attack, when the man, observing that I did 
 not understand Welch, civilly accosted me 
 
 m 
 
CHAP. XI. PONT-Y-PRIDD. 169 
 
 in imperfect English, and assured me that I 
 was on the edge of a precipice. Nor did he 
 leave me with this service, but kindly led 
 my horse to the little village of Font-y-pridd ? 
 then within a short distance. Here, while re- 
 galing over a mug of ale, my conductor ac- 
 counted for the light that surprized me : it 
 proceeded from an immense bonfire of a party 
 of colliers in some distant mountains, rejoicing 
 at the blessing of peace. At this place I de- 
 termined to fix my quarters ; nor could the 
 offer of a guide and lanthorn, to conduct me 
 to the superior accommodation of the Bridge- 
 water arms, induce me to tempt again the 
 dangers of the night, or quit the coarse barley 
 bread, salt butter, and miserable beer of the 
 village alehouse. 
 
 Early in the morning my companion re- 
 joined me, when we visited Pont-y-pridd, 
 the celebrated bridge of Glamorganshire. 
 This, extraordinary piece of masonry consist$ 
 of a single arch, whose chord is 147 feet, 
 thrown across the Taffe. William Edward, 
 an ingenious mason of this country, who 
 built it, failed in two preceding attempts, 
 which would have proved his ruin ; but the 
 gentry in the neighbourhood laudably sup- 
 ported 
 
170 PONT-Y-PRIDD. CHAP. XI. 
 
 ported his ingenuity, although at first unsuc- 
 cessfully exerted, and enabled him to com- 
 plete the present structure. The great beauty 
 of tills arch arises from the simplicity of its 
 construction, and indeed from its very de- 
 fect as a roadway ; for the passage over the 
 bridge is not sloped away into the adjoining 
 roads, as it might be ; but precipitately de- 
 scends on each side, following the line of 
 the arch. This circumstance, and its being 
 defended with only a very low parapet, gives 
 the bridge a remarkably light appearance. 
 Situated in a romantic hollow, and abruptly 
 jetting from the bold woody banks of the 
 river, it looks a magic bow thrown across by 
 the hands of fairies. 
 
 Two waterfalls in this neighbourhood de- 
 serve notice. One occurs about half a mile 
 above the bridge. We proceeded to it through 
 a delightful sylvan path on the bank of 
 the river, and under the beetling brow of 
 Craig-er-esk. The river is seen for a consi- 
 derable distance struggling through a region 
 of rocks, which in some places rise in large 
 masses above its surface, and in others ap- 
 pear through the transparency of the stream 
 shelving to a considerable depth; wearing, 
 
 throughout 
 
CHAP. XI. WATERFALLS. 17 i 
 
 throughout the odd appearance of a vast assem- 
 blage of cubes, variously heaped, but with 
 one face constantly horizontal : at length the 
 river breaks over a compact strata ; yet only 
 in a fall of eight or ten feet, which is di- 
 vided into several streams. The white foam 
 of the river, and the light grey tint of the 
 rocks, afford a strong contrast to the mixed 
 verdure and dark shadows of its banks ; but 
 upon the whole the subject is rather to be no- 
 ticed for its singularity than for any leading 
 points of picturesque beauty. More agreea- 
 bly composed appeared to us the other cas- 
 cade of the tributary river Rhayder, about 
 two miles distant from the bridge. The dark 
 rocks that occasion the fall ; the surrounding 
 craigs; the light and pendant foliage that 
 adorns them, and the vigorous trees that 
 emerge from the banks, are all disposed with 
 the utmost symmetry, and form a highly^- 
 pleasing picture, though of inconsiderable 
 dirnensions. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 172 ] 
 
 CHAR XII. 
 
 SCENERY OF THE TAFFE STUPENDOUS 
 
 RUINS OF CAERPHILLY CASTLE THE 
 
 LEANING TOWER FINE VIEW FROM 
 
 THORNHILL CARDIFF CASTLE EC- 
 CLESIASTICAL DECAY OF LANDAFF — 
 THE CATHEDRAL, 
 
 JT ROM Pont-y-pridd we made another 
 excursion toward Merthyr-tidvill ; less to wit- 
 ness the lately-acquired importance of the 
 town in consequence of the great iron-works 
 established in its neighbourhood, than to 
 trace the beauties of the TafFe through its ro* 
 mantic valley. At one time, a towering hill 
 completely mantled with wood lifted its 
 shaggy su mini t to the clouds; in succession, 
 naked rocks perpendicularly descended to 
 the water; or, through favoured hollows, a 
 stripe of green meadow would gently slope 
 ^nd mix its verdure with the stream. As we 
 
 advanced, 
 
CHAP. XII. CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 175 
 
 advanced, the narrow valley still further con- 
 tracted, and the river, confined by the ap- 
 proaching bases of the mountains, assumed 
 the character of a torrent. Our road conti- 
 nued on one margin of the river, and a canal, 
 singularly abounding with locks, kept pace 
 with us on the other ; to the Cyclopean re- 
 gion of Merthyr-tidvill *. We did not enter 
 the town, but re-measured our steps to Pont- 
 v-pridd ; and about four miles below it bade 
 adieu to the romantic course of the Tafte, in 
 deviating up a steep confine of its valley to- 
 wards the town and castle of Caerphilly. 
 
 The celebrated ruin of Caerphilly Cas- 
 tle soon appeared at some distance beneath 
 us, occupying the centre of a small plain, 
 which, with its surrounding amphitheatre of 
 hills, presented a display of regular fences 
 and cultivation that strikingly contrasted with 
 the district that we had just left. The idea 
 formed on a first view of this stupendous pile 
 is rather that of a ruined town than a castle : 
 
 * From this place a turnpike-road extends through the 
 mountains to Brecon, a district so wild as not to present a 
 village, and scarcely a habitation in an extent of eighteen 
 miles. — In the neighbourhood of Merthyr-tydvill I find 
 described Morlashe castle., a ruin. 
 
 it 
 
174 CAEfePHILLY CASTLE. CHAF. Xtt< 
 
 it is by much the largest ruin in Britain, aL* 
 though its dimensions are somewhat inferior 
 to those of Windsor castle. The high outer 
 rampart, with its massive abutments and fre- 
 quent towers, still in a great measure entire, 
 conveys at once a clear impression of the 
 great extent of the fortress* In entering upon 
 an examination of the; ruin we passed the 
 barbican *, now built up into habitations ; 
 and, proceeding between two dilapidated 
 towers, entered the great area of the castle :— *- 
 a range of building, beneath the rampart on 
 our right, once formed the barracks of the 
 garrison. We then advanced to that pile of 
 superior building, i. e. of citadel, hall, cha- 
 pel, state and other apartments, which is ge- 
 nerally considered as the castle, in distinction 
 from the encircling area and its wall : clam- 
 bering over the fragments of another draw- 
 bridge and its defending towers, we entered 
 the first court, which appears to have com- 
 prised the citadel : thence we passed through 
 a large gateway, with several grooves for 
 portcullises, to the principal court of the 
 castle. The area of this court is seventy yards 
 
 * An outwork that defended the drawbridge. 
 
 by 
 

CHAP. XII. CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 175 
 
 by forty : on the south side is that princely 
 apartment, by some considered the hall, and 
 by others the chapel : but, whichever it may 
 have been, vestiges of much original beauty 
 appear in the elegant outline of its four large 
 windows; the grand proportions of the chim- 
 ney-piece, and the light triplet pillars, with 
 arches that go round the room. The appear- 
 ance of mortice holes in the walls for the ends 
 of beams, at the height of about the middle 
 of the windows, led Camden to suppose that 
 the cieling was projected from thence, and that 
 an apartment above was lighted by the upper 
 portion of the windows ; but surely at a time 
 when symmetry in building was so well cul- 
 tivated, and where it appears to have been so 
 successfully applied, such a ridiculous con- 
 trivance could not have taken place : more 
 probably, as I conceive, from those mortices 
 a support was derived for a lofty arched roof, or 
 a gallery *. Eastward of the hall, is the cu- 
 riosity of a leaning tower, a bulky fragment 
 of the ruin between seventy and eighty feet 
 
 * The external staircase entrance to the hall spoken of by 
 Garaden, " the roof whereof is vaulted and supported by- 
 twenty arches/' is now rendered nearly impassable by 
 rubbish. 
 
 in 
 
176 CAERPHILLY CASTLE, CHAP. Kit, 
 
 in height, whose walls are of a prodigious 
 thickness : it hangs nearly eleven feet out of 
 the perpendicular, and is only held together 
 by the strength of its cement. How of When 
 this phenomenon happened no legend informs 
 us; but it has remained in this state many 
 centuries. As the adjoining towers, and all 
 the standing parts of the ruin, remain per- 
 pendicular, the cause must have arisen from 
 a local failure of the foundation : hence I am 
 of opinion, that a solution of the phenomenon 
 may be found in the effects of a mine, and 
 which probably took place during the long 
 siege which Hugh le Despenser sustained in 
 this castle in the time of Edward the Second. 
 Near this part of the ruin a place is shewn as 
 the mint, with two furnaces for melting metal. 
 From this chamber we ascended a spiral stair- 
 case to the corridor, still in very good preserva- 
 tion, which, lighted by small windows, and 
 passing round the principal court, formed a 
 communication with the different apartments. 
 The external view of the western entrance of 
 the ruin, with its ponderous circular towers 
 venerably shaded with ivy, is remarkably 
 striking ; and, with the remains of its draw- 
 bridge and defending outwork, may be con- 
 sidered 
 
CttAP. XII. CAEftPHILLY CASTLE. 177 
 
 sidered as the most entire part of the ruin. 
 An artificial mound some distance off", but 
 within the works of the castle, was most likely 
 used for exploratory purposes. 
 
 From the great plan of this castle, and 
 there being no direct evidence to the con- 
 trary, its foundation has been attributed to the 
 Romans ; and some ingenious arguments 
 have been adduced to prove, that it was their 
 Bullaum Silurum. But it sufficiently appears, 
 that no considerable part of the present for- 
 tress was built by them, as the predatory 
 armv of Rhys Tycan took and rased Caer- 
 philly castle in 1221. The best supported 
 opinion is that of the Hon. Daines Harrington, 
 who attributes the present erection to Edward 
 the First. — Caerphilly has lately increased 
 from an obscure village to a well-built littte 
 town ; and the respectable appearance of its 
 two inns may be in a great measure dated 
 from the great increase of the visitants of the 
 castle *. 
 
 We 
 
 * On a mountain near Caerphilly is a monument known 
 by the name of Y Maen hir. It is a quadrangular stone 
 pillar, rather inclining, and about eight feet high : close to 
 the base is a mound, inclosing the space of six yards ; and in 
 
 n the 
 
US THORNIIILL. CHAP. XII, 
 
 . We left Caerphilly, over its hilly boundary, 
 on the road to Cardiff; where we noticed the 
 singular appearance of some peasants digging- 
 coals from the surface of the ground. At the 
 extremity of this tract, Thornhill, a grand 
 elevation, afforded us a most extensive pro- 
 spect, which, illuminated by an evening sun, 
 formed a picture of uncommon brilliancy. 
 The wide plain of Cardiff displayed for ma- 
 ny miles, in every direction, a gratifying 
 extent of Nature's bounty, in an endless va- 
 riety of cultivation, chequered with num- 
 berless hedgerows, and enlivened by several 
 villages, whose neatly-whitened walls glis- 
 tened through their appendant foliage : the 
 rich verdure was in one part varied by the 
 russet hue of an extensive warren. At the 
 extremity of this tract appeared the expansive 
 Severn, in which the two islands of the steep 
 and flat Holmes were conspicuous ; and afar 
 off the bold hills of Somersetshire closed the 
 prospect. We slowly descended from the 
 spot commanding this range of objects, and 
 
 the midst, a square area. On the pillar is an inscription in 
 Welch, which signifies, " .May'st thou awake >" from which 
 it -is inferred to be a funereal monument. — Grose's An- 
 tiquities. 
 
 travelled 
 
£hAP. XII. CARDIFF. 179 
 
 travelled on a good road towards Cardiff*, 
 with the episcopal ruins of Landaff at a 
 small distance on our right. 
 
 On entering Cardiff, the capital of Gla- 
 morganshire, between the ivy-mantled walls 
 of its castle, and the mouldering ruin of a 
 house of White Friars, we were much pleased 
 with the aspect of the town: nor were we 
 less so on a closer examination of its neat and 
 well-paved streets ; it appearing to us one of 
 the cleanest and most agreeable towns in 
 Wales. The high tower of its church, 
 crowned with four transparent Gothic pin- 
 nacles, had long engaged our interest ; but 
 on a near view we did not find the body of 
 the church to correspond with it; it being of 
 an older date, a plain Norman structure. 
 This, I believe, was the conventual church 
 of the Franciscan Friars that are described as 
 having occupied the eastern suburb of the 
 town. The other parish church, for Cardiff 
 is divided into two parishes, was undermined 
 by the action of the river, about a century 
 and a half since, and fell down. The house 
 of the White Friars has been already noticed ; 
 and without the west gate stood a monastery 
 rf Black Friars. This town was formerly 
 n & encompassed 
 
180 CARDIFF CASTLE. CHAP. XlL 
 
 encompassed by a wall, and vestiges of its 
 four gates yet remain. Cardiff, having the 
 benefit of a good harbour, carries on a brisk 
 trade with Bristol, and other places, and has 
 of late considerably increased its commercial 
 importance: but perhaps its chief interest 
 with tourists will be derived from its castle. 
 
 Cardiff Castle,,, a seat of the Marquis of 
 Bute, (Baron Cardiff and Earl of Windsor), wa& 
 until lately a Gothic structure of considerable 
 elegance; but having undergone a repair, 
 without attention to the antique style of arch i- 
 tecture, it presents a motley combination, in 
 which the remaining Gothic but serves to 
 excite our regret for the greater portion de- 
 stroyed. The misguided direction of this 
 work is prominently conspicuous in the en- 
 largement of the building, wherein fashion- 
 able square windows appear throughout the* 
 lower apartments, while the original character 
 of the edifice is imitated in the Gothic lines 
 of the upper windows : a strange violation of* 
 common propriety,, to raise an antique super- 
 structure upon a modern foundation ! The 
 part of the castle which is kept up is a single 
 range of building ; and an elegant maehico- 
 lated tower, overlooking the whole, stil'l 
 
 frowns- 
 
CHAP. XII. CARDIFF CASTLE. 181 
 
 frowns defiance on the petty innovations be- 
 neath. The internal has been entirely new- 
 planned, and a number of portraits of the 
 present lord's progenitors are ranged in the 
 apartments, with the principal events of their 
 lives, emblazoned in letters of gold ; but 
 they are for the most part indifferently exe- 
 cuted. In front of the building is a spacious 
 lawn, from the trim surface of which rises an 
 artificial mound, bearing the mouldering 
 ruin of the ancient keep *, carefully shorn of 
 shrub and briar. In the tower, at the entrance, 
 a dark damp dungeon is described to have 
 been the prison of Robert duke of Normandy ; 
 in which lie was confined near thirty years, 
 after being deprived of his sight and inhe- 
 ritance by his younger brother Henry the 
 First. But it is more probable that he had the 
 whole range of the castle ; for, independent 
 of the improbability that any human creature 
 could live so long in such a place, we have 
 the authority of Odo Vitalis and William of 
 Malmesbury, that Henry made his imprison- 
 ment as easy as possible ; furnishing him with 
 an elegant table, and buffoons to divert him. 
 
 * This* is called the magazine, from its having been ap- 
 plied to that purpose in the civil wan of Charles \hc First. 
 
 n 3 A high 
 
182 CARDIFF CASTLE, CHAP. Xir. 
 
 A high rampart incloses the whole ; round 
 the top of which a walk is carried, affording 
 many pleasing views of the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 When Robert Fitzhammon conquered and 
 divided the lordship of Glamorgan with his 
 twelve knights, he reserved the town of Car- 
 diff, among other estates, for himself, and 
 erected this castle : here he held his courts of 
 Chancery and Exchequer; the former on the 
 first Monday in every month, when his 
 knights or their heirs were bound to attend, 
 and were then entitled to apartments in the 
 outer court of the castle ; which privilege, 
 says Sir John Price, their heirs or assigns en-*- 
 joy to this day. 
 
 This castle has frequently experienced the 
 vicissitudes of war. Soon after its erection, 
 one Ivor Black, a little resolute Welchman, 
 marched hither privately, with a troop of 
 mountaineers, and surprized the castle in the 
 night; carrying off William Earl of Glou- 
 cester (Fitzhammon's grandson), together with 
 his wife and son ; whom he detained pri- 
 soners until he obtained satisfaction for some 
 injuries that he had suffered. It was also 
 taken by Maelgon and Rhys gyre anno 1282; 
 
 and 
 
CHAP. XII. LANDAFF. 183 
 
 and again by the parliamentary forces in the 
 civil wars, after a long siege. 
 
 A pleasant walk over the fields led us to the 
 episcopal city of Landaff, now in extent 
 an inconsiderable village: this deserted spot 
 occupies a gentle eminence in the great plain 
 of Cardiff. The west front of the cathedral is 
 an admirable relic of Norman architecture, 
 with two elegant towers of extraordinary 
 h eight, profusely enriched with the best sculp- 
 ture of that age : here all the apertures are 
 circularly arched*; but the windows of part of 
 the nave, yet remaining, are Gothic. Upon 
 the chancers falling to decay some score years 
 since, a great sum was expended in raising 
 the present church upon the old stock ; but 
 surely such an absence of taste and common 
 sense w r as never before instanced: beneath 
 the solemn towers has sprung up a fantastic 
 summer-house elevation, with a Venetian 
 window, Ionic pilasters, and flower-pot jars 
 upon the parapet. The same sort of window 
 is coupled with the elegant line of the orna- 
 mented Gothic in other parts of the structure; 
 and within, a huge building upon the model 
 of a heathen temple surrounds the altar; 
 which, with two thrones, darken and fill up 
 n 4 nearly 
 
184 LANBAFF, CHAP. XII. 
 
 nearly half die church. From this mass of 
 inconsistencies we turned to the inspection of 
 several ancient monuments, which were 
 chiefly recumbent, and from several marks 
 of recent damage appeared to be much ne- 
 glected *. 
 
 The cathedral, now in ruins, was built by 
 Bishop Urban, anno H20, upon the site of 
 one founded by St. Dubritius in the com- 
 mencement of the sixth century, and dedi- 
 cated to more saints than I have room to enu- 
 merate. Urban also built a palace here, 
 which was destroyed by Owen Glendower : 
 its high outer walls aiid gateway, however* 
 remain, and form an indosure to a garden, 
 A large mansion adjoining, occupied by Mr. 
 Matthews, is, I understand, attached to the 
 bishopric f J 
 
 * There is no cross aile to this cathedral, as there is to 
 all the others in England and Wales : nor any middle steeple, 
 m there is to all the others except Bangor and Exeter. 
 
 f Castle coch, or the, Red castle, situated upon a high banlc 
 of the river Tafxe, about four miles above Landaff, is a, 
 pirsail ruin which we neglected to visit, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 185 1 
 
 CHAP. XIIL 
 
 ENTRANCE OF MONMOUTHSHIRE — AN- 
 CIENT ENCAMPMENTS CASTLETON— 
 
 TREDEGAR PARK NEWPORT; CHURCH; 
 
 AND CASTLE EXCURSION TO MACHEN 
 
 PLACE PICTURESQUE VIEW FROM 
 
 CHRIST CHURCH GOLD CLIFF — CAER- 
 
 LEON'S ANTIQUITIES ENCAMPMENTS 
 
 • — LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY- — LAN- 
 TARNAM LANGIBBY* CASTLE. 
 
 On quitting Cardiff, we soon entered Mon- 
 mouthshire* in crossing Rumney bridge. 
 The church of Rumney is a large Gothic 
 
 edifice, 
 
 * Monmouthshire has been separated from Wales by the 
 judicial arrangement of later times ; yet the character of the 
 county throughout is so entirely Cambrian, that I cannot 
 consider myself out of Wales until after having passed the 
 Wye. Indeed, this highly-varied and interesting district 
 m2y be considered as an epitome of the whole principality. 
 The mountains stretching over the north-west of Monmouth- 
 shire 
 
18<3 RUPERAH. CHAP. XIII* 
 
 edifice, with an embattled tower. Nearly 
 opposite to it, on the left of the road, crown- 
 ing a steep bank of the river, is an old en- 
 campment of an irregular figure, with a trH 
 angular outwork ; and a short distance fur- 
 ther, at Pen-y-pile, another occurs of a poly- 
 hedrous form. As we proceeded, the ele- 
 vated mansion and extensive woods of Ru- 
 perah, an elegant seat belonging to a branch 
 of the Morgan family, appeared finely situ^ 
 ated beneath the brow of some hills bordering 
 the vale of Caerphilly ; and on a gentle hill 
 below it, Keven-Mable, an ancient seat of 
 the Kemy's family* At jhe rural little 
 
 shire may vie with any in South- Wales, and even aspire to 
 the majestic wildness. of some in North -Wales ; the rich fer- 
 tility, or broken precipices accompanying the course of the 
 Severn, Wye, and Usk, with much contrastive grandeur*; 
 possess the highest pretensions to picturesque fame j and its 
 numerous ruins and other monuments of antiquity are among 
 the'most celebrated in thekingdom. — An elegant and able work, 
 in two volumes, quarto, has been lately published, descriptive 
 of Monmouthshire, and illustrated by no less than 90 excel- 
 lent plates. The researches of its author (Mr. Coxe) 
 have been so accurate and complete, as to leave little more for 
 a succeeding tourist to do than to select and transcribe. The 
 descriptions I always found highly satisfactory and just; I 
 have therefore, in the generality of instances, thought it un- 
 necessary to follow any other authority for documents in his- 
 tory and antiquities. 
 
 village 
 
.CHAP. XIII. TREDEGAR. .1 8*7 
 
 village of St. Mellons, the old and new roads 
 to Newport unite: we took the latter, which 
 is the lowermost and nearest, traced on a 
 range of gentle eminences skirting Went- 
 loog level, an extensive fertile plain won 
 from the sea. This wide flat, extending 
 from the Rumney to the Usk rivers, is re- 
 lieved by the intersections of hedges and 
 drains, and has a sprinkling of white cot- 
 tages ; among which the towers of St. Bride's, 
 Marshfield, and Peterston churches rise con- 
 spicuously. Our route passed through Cas?- 
 ileton, where there was formerly a castle ; 
 of which, however, only a small artificial 
 mount, the site of its citadel, now inclosed 
 in the garden of Mr. Phillips, and a chapel 
 converted into a barn, remain. Gwern-y- 
 cleppa park, the next object of our attention 
 pn the road, contains a ruin nearly hidden in 
 an interwoven thicket, once the mansion of 
 Ivor-hael (the generous), the pride of bardish 
 song, who flourished in the commencement' 
 of the fourteenth century. 
 
 We entered Tredegar Park in succession, 
 a very ancient seat of the Morgan family. 
 This park is laid out in the obsolete style of 
 groves and avenues ; but possesses great room 
 
 for 
 
188 TREDEGAR. CHAP. XIIT. 
 
 for modern taste, in the variety of swell and 
 hollow composing its surface, the remarkable 
 size and beauty of the oaks and Spanish ches- 
 nuts with which it is decorated, and the pic- 
 turesque course of the rapid Ebwy, whose 
 red rocky banks form a striking contrast to 
 the surrounding verdure. The turnpike road 
 passes through the park, and within a few 
 hundred yards of the mansion, a huge 
 quadrangular brick building, of the date of 
 Charles the Second's reign, with a high 
 shelving roof, in which are two or three tiers 
 of windows, similar to the weighing-house 
 at Amsterdam. Internally, the house is con- 
 venient and well arranged, with state and 
 domestic apartments, several of which are 
 preserved in their original character. The 
 most remarkable is the oak room ; the floor- 
 ing of which, forty-two feet by twenty-seven, 
 was furnished by a single oak ; and the 
 wainscoting, formed of the same material, is 
 much admired for its antique, carving. A 
 large collection of pictures, chiefly family 
 portraits, is distributed through the house; 
 but few of them are valuable as specimens of 
 art. Among the extensive offices are several 
 remains of the ancient castellated mansion, 
 
 described 
 
CHAP. XIII. NEWPORT CHURCH. IW 
 
 described by Leland as ** a very fair place 
 of stone/ ' 
 
 The Morgan family being one of the most 
 ancient and considerable in Wales, the inge- 
 nuity of the bards has been excited to trace 
 its origin : some have venally derived it from 
 Cam the second son of Noah ; but others re- 
 fute this position, and modestly carry it no 
 further than his third son. Without noticing 
 several intervening personages contended to 
 be the founders of this family, Cadivor the 
 great, lord of Dyfed, who died anno 1084, 
 appears to be the only one well supported in 
 the appointment of its great ancestor. 
 
 From Tredegar Park we immediately 
 crossed the Ebwy by a long narrow bridge, 
 and presently entered Newport, a dirty ill- 
 built town nearly comprized in one long 
 street winding down a bank of the river Usk. 
 The eminence on which its church is situated, 
 at the upper part of the town, affords a very 
 fine prospect of the surrounding country ; at 
 the extremity of the town appears its ruined 
 castle, watered by the silvery Usk : an inter- 
 mixture of wood and pasture clothes the sur- 
 rounding hills and vallevs : the wild moun- 
 tains about Pont-y-pooi are strongly .contrasted 
 
 by 
 
190 NEWPORT CHURCH. CHAP. Xtlf* 
 
 by the fertile tract of Wentloog and Caldecot 
 levels, and the noble expanse of the Bristol 
 channel backed by the cultivated hills of So- 
 mersetshire. The church exhibits the archi- 
 tecture of several ages ; its nave comprehends 
 the original church, which is of the oldest 
 mode of building, and may be considered as 
 of a date prior to the settlement of the Nor- 
 mans : the chancel and ailes are of later ar- 
 chitecture. The western doorway, connected 
 with the ancient chapel of St. Mary, now 
 converted into a burying-piace, and which 
 was formerly the grand entrance, exhibits a 
 curious specimen of Saxon carving, in a cir- 
 cular archway, with hatched and indented 
 mouldings resting on low columns with capi- 
 tals of rude foliage. The church contains 
 three ancient monuments ; but its chief orna- 
 ment is the high square embattled tower,- 
 built by Henry the Third, in gratitude for 
 the attachment of the townsmen to his cause 
 during his contest with the barons. St. 
 Wooloo, the patron of this spot, is held in 
 high veneration by the natives. He retired 
 from the pride and pageantry of kinghood, 
 to lead a life of prayer and mortification : a 
 lowly cottage was his dwelling; sackcloth 
 
 hk 
 
•CHAP. XIII. NEWPORT CASTLE. 19"! 
 
 his apparel ; he lived by tlie labour of his 
 hands ; the crystal rill afforded his only be- 
 verage, and barley bread, rendered more dis- 
 relishing by a sprinkling of ashes, his con- 
 stant food. He left this world for better fare 
 in the next about the. end of the fifth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Newport Castle is a ruin of very incon- 
 siderable dimensions : its quadrangular area 
 was only defended by a simple wall, except 
 on the side next the river, where three towers 
 still remain in a nearly mtire state. There is 
 an octagon tower at each extremity of this 
 side ; a large square one between them, with 
 turrets at each angle, appears to have beeia 
 the citadel, and contains a vaulted apartment 
 called the state-room ; at the bottom of this 
 tower a handsome Gothic arch forms a water- 
 gate, which has within it the groove of a 
 portcullis : between this and the further 
 -tower was the baronial hall, the ruins of which 
 yet remain. The pointed arches throughout 
 this building testify it to have been a work 
 posterior to the Norman sera ; though it is 
 certain, that there was a castle at Newport in 
 1 173, when Owen ap Caradoc, going to treat 
 with king Henry without arms or attendants, 
 
 was 
 
192 NEWPORT. CHAP. XIII. 
 
 was basely murdered by the soldiers of New* 
 port castle. Jowerth ap Owen, his father, 
 in revenge for this treachery, carried fire and 
 sword to the gates of Hereford and Gloucester. 
 Newport was formerly encompassed with a 
 wall ; but of this there are no remains ; nor 
 of the three gates mentioned by Leland, ex- 
 cept some small vestiges of the one next the 
 bridge. A large Gothic building near the 
 castle, with a stone coat of arms over the 
 door, now occupied as a warehouse, was for- 
 merly the murringer's * house. In place of 
 an inconvenient wooden bridge, a handsome 
 stone one of five arches has been lately exe- 
 cuted by Mr. David Edward, son of the 
 mason of Pont-y-pridd : a canal was also just 
 finished at the time of our visit, reaching from 
 Pont-y-pool, by means of which its brisk 
 and improving trade in coals and iron is 
 much facilitated. 
 
 On the banks of the river, a short distance 
 below the bridge, are the remains of a house 
 of preaching friars ; consisting of the spacious 
 refectory, part of the church, and other 
 buildings, now converted to private uses. — 
 
 * An officer who had the superintendance of the walls, 
 and collected a toll for keeping them in repair. 
 
 About 
 
CHAP. XIII; BASSALEG. 19$ 
 
 About a mile further southward, near the 
 conflux of the Usk and Ebwy, are the small 
 vestiges of Green castle, once a considerable 
 fortress belonging to the duke of Lancaster, 
 and described by Churchyard,- who flourished 
 in the reign of Elizabeth, as 
 
 " A goodly seate, a tower, a princely pyle." 
 
 AVe made an excursion on the road to Caer* 
 philly, which embraces several objects not 
 unworthy of notice. About a mile and half 
 from Newport is the Gaer^ a large encamp- 
 ment supposed to be Roman, occupying the 
 brow of an eminence near the Ebwy in Tre- 
 degar park. A short distance further is the 
 little village of Bassaleg, the approach to 
 which is very picturesque ; where the Ebwy* 
 appears struggling in its bed of red rocks, and 
 throwing its clear stream over a weir just be- 
 neath the bridge : above it rises the church, 
 with its embattled tower finely relieved by 
 intervening foliage. Here, according to 
 Tanner, was a Benedictine priory, a cell to 
 the abbey of Glastonbury ; but of this no 
 traces are evident ; unless a ruin in the deep 
 recesses of a forest about a mile westward, 
 called Coed-y-Monachty, or the wood of 
 o the 
 
194 MACHEN-PLACE. CHAP. XIII. 
 
 the monastery, are its remains. On the sun> 
 mit of a hill overgrown with coppice, about 
 a mile from Bassaleg, near the road to Llan- 
 vihangel, is a circular encampment called 
 Craeg-y-saesson. 
 
 From Bassaleg the country continues un- 
 dulating and fertile to the vale of Machen, 
 where the Rumney emerges from among 
 wild hills and overhanging forests, and sweeps 
 through the plain : a sprinkling of white 
 cottages enliven the scene, which receives 
 an additional effect from its picturesque 
 church, and the steep acclivity of Machen 
 hill, studded all over with lime-kilns. At 
 the opening of the vale is Machen-place, 
 once a respectable seat of the Morgans, but 
 now tottering in decay, and occupied as a 
 farm-house : some memorials of faded gran- 
 deur may here be traced in a circular apart- 
 ment, with a rich stuccoed cieling, called 
 the hunting-room. A pair of andirons 
 weighing two hundred weight, formerly em- 
 ployed in roasting an entire ox, and an im- 
 mense oak table, may also convey an idea 
 of the solid fare and plenty of days of yore. 
 We pursued the road no further; but, re- 
 turning 
 
CHAP. XIII. CHRIST-CHURCH. 1.95 
 
 turning through Newport*, and crossing its 
 bridge, took the road to Caerleon. 
 
 Our route soon became uninteresting, and 
 continued a confined and miry avenue; un- 
 til, arriving at Christ-church, and looking 
 over a hedge opposite to it, when a prospect burst 
 upon us with an electric suddenness, grandly 
 extensive and delightful. From the fore- 
 ground descended a succession of bold knolls 
 or gentle swells, clothed with ornamental 
 plantations, in a wide display of sylvan 
 beauty, to Caldecot level, whose uniform 
 though fruitful plain was in a great measure 
 concealed by the intervention of contrasting 
 heights. Beyond this, the majestic Severn's 
 
 fresh current flow'd 
 
 * Against the eastern ray translucent, pure, 
 c « With touch sethefeal of Heaven's fiery rod." 
 
 Numerous barks diversified its surface ; and 
 a large fleet of ships, anchored at KingVroad, 
 became a striking object. The high opposite 
 
 * We did not visit Rogeston castle, about two miles 
 north-west of Newport, a fortress of the Stradlings who came 
 ever with Fitzhammon. Part of its remains appear in the 
 foundation of the mansion built on its site, belonging to the 
 .Morgans, but tenanted by Mr. Butler of Caerleon, and em- 
 ployed as a manufactory of iron bolts and tin plates. 
 
 o 2 shore? 
 
196 GOLD CLIFF. CHAP. XIII. 
 
 shores of Somersetshire either descended in 
 fertile slopes, laid out in pastures and corn- 
 fields; or, abruptly disjoined, opposed their 
 cliffs, a naked surface of rock, to the waves. 
 Eastward, over Gloucestershire and the neigh- 
 bouring counties, such a variety of hills and 
 valleys, verdant lawns and waving woods, 
 embowered hamlets and handsome villas ap- 
 peared, that the eye was at a loss where to 
 rest for pre-eminent beauty. Light clouds 
 floated in the atmosphere ; and the sun, 
 " sparing of light;"' distributed its mys in 
 partial streaks ; but the varied illumination 
 rather heightened than diminished the charms 
 of the picture. We turned from this assem- 
 blage of nature's wealth, this delightful land- 
 scape, with regret, and descended among 
 the adjoining plantations of Sir Robert Salis- 
 bury, Messrs. Sykes, Kemeys, and Philips, 
 towards Caldecot level ; a large tract of land, 
 similar to that of Wentloog, rescued from the 
 inroads of the sea by human industry. Near 
 the western extremity of this plain rises the 
 peninsulated promontory of Gold Cliff, so 
 called from a glittering yellow mica incor- 
 porated with the rock, and which is even 
 now considered by the peasants as indicating 
 
 a gold 
 
 
CHAP-. XIII. CHRIST CHURCH. 197 
 
 a gold mine. The brow of the cliff was for- 
 merly dignified with an opulent priory, 
 founded by Robert de Chandos anno 1113 : 
 its small remains are incorporated into a barn, 
 and other buildings of a farm-house. 
 
 Returning, we took a hasty view 7 " of Christ- 
 church, an ordinary building chiefly Gothic; 
 but a Saxon arch reposing on low columns, 
 which forms the entrance, indicates that the 
 greater part of the present structure is en- 
 grafted upon an older foundation. Within,, a 
 Gothic screen of exquisite workmanship, se- 
 parating the chancel from the nave, was for- 
 merly much admired ; but it is now shame- 
 fully injured. A curious sepulchral monu- 
 ment here is deemed miraculous, on the eve 
 of the circumcision, in curing sick children. 
 Formerly the tomb was crowded with the 
 little subjects of credulity, who were bound 
 to remain in contact with the stone during 
 the night; but, the natural agency of a warm 
 bed being found more favourable to conva- 
 lescence than the miraculous interposition, 
 the fees of the sexton have of late conside- 
 rably diminished. The public house near 
 the church was the ancient manse. 
 
 o 3 A descent 
 
198 CAERLE0N. CHAP. XIII. 
 
 A descent of alarming steepness led us to* 
 ward the ancient town ofCAERLEON, through 
 its suburb, a long narrow village, still bearing 
 the classical appellation of Ultra Pontem. 
 We crossed the Usk by a narrow wooden 
 bridge with a flooring of loose planks, and 
 immediately entered the town, the Isca Si- 
 lurum of Antoninus, the station of the second 
 legion, and the principal Roman town in the 
 country of the Silures, now so far diminished 
 as scarcely to occupy one sixth of the area 
 within the Roman w r alls. It was, however, in 
 a declining state so far back as the fourteenth 
 century, as appears from the following ac- 
 count given by Giraldus : " Many remains 
 " of its former magnificence are still visible* 
 " Splendid palaces, which once emulated 
 " with their gilded roofs the grandeur of 
 ft Rome; for it was originally built by the 
 " Roman princes, and adorned with stately 
 tc edifices. A gigantic tower; numerous 
 "baths; ruins of a temple and a theatre, 
 " the walls of which are partly standing, 
 66 Here we still see, both within and without 
 it the walls, subterraneous buildings, aque- 
 ?f ducts, and vaulted caverns, and stoves so 
 
 ff excellently 
 
CHAP. XIII. CAERLE0N. 199 
 
 '^excellently contrived as to convey their 
 " heat through secret and imperceptible 
 " pores." This description has been followed 
 in a compiled Tour published not long since, 
 and, by an unfortunate mistake, given as its 
 present appearance. Alas ! it exhibits a me- 
 lancholy reverse : 
 
 The cloud- capt towers, 
 The gorge©us palaces, 
 The solemn temples, 
 
 are dissolved : the town is a poor straggling 
 place ; and vestiges of its former magnifi- 
 cence must be curiously sought after to be 
 seen at all. Statues, altars, columns, ele- 
 gant freizes, sarcophagi, coins and intaglios, 
 have been making their appearance during 
 several ages ; but they are immediately car- 
 ried away by curious persons, or more fre- 
 quently applied to domestic uses. An altar 
 with a Roman inscription had been dug up 
 just before our arrival, and we were con- 
 ducted by an obliging gentleman of the town 
 to the garden in which it was found ; where 
 we saw the venerable monument of antiquity 
 just finished slicing into half a dozen slabs 
 for paving. 
 
 o 4 The 
 
200 CAERLEON. CHAP. XIII, 
 
 The Roman fortification forms an oblong 
 square, with the corners a little rounded *, 
 and unfurnished with towers. Many frag^ 
 ments of the walls accompanied by the fosse 
 are evident ; deprived of the facing^stones, 
 they appear in great masses of grout-work ; 
 i. €. of stones, broken tiles, and bricks pro- 
 miscuously bedded in cement. The remains 
 are no where more than fourteen feet high., 
 which is much less than their original ele^ 
 vation, and ten or twelve in thickness. Their 
 circumference does nojt exceed 1 $00 yards ; 
 but the adjacent fields are continually yield- 
 ing up foundations, &c. which denote the 
 suburbs to have been very extensive: tradition, 
 indeed, reports them to have been nine miles 
 round. The castle stood between the walls 
 and the river, of which some small vestiges 
 appear at the Hanbury Arms J f. At a little 
 distance from this place, on the opposite side 
 of the road, we noticed a high artificial mound 
 about 30Q yards in circumference, which is 
 
 * In ancient military architecture ee circinatio angulo- 
 rum y a plan condemned by Vitruvius, because it rather 
 sheltered the besiegers than the besieged, (f quia hosiery 
 magis tuentur quam civem." 
 
 f A decent little inn, and the only one in the town. 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. XIII, CAERLEON, 201 
 
 the site of the citadel described by Giraldus 
 $s gigantic. The small remains of its walls 
 appear to consist of solid masonry ; but this 
 part of the fortification is, po doubt, posterior 
 to the rest, and was most likely erected by 
 the Normans. 
 
 The house of Miss Morgan, formerly a 
 Cistercian abbey, has been entirely new-faced 
 with squared stones collected from the ruins 
 of Caerleon, as have also many others in the 
 town. This lady has collected several Roman 
 coins, and has other curiosities in her pos- 
 session that we would gladly have examined, 
 and were offered an introduction for that pur- 
 pose ; but our way-worn apparel (a false 
 shame, if the reader insist upon it) was an 
 obstacle in our way of accepting it. Other 
 Roman vestiges appear in the market-house 
 of Caerleon, which is supported by four mas- 
 sive Tuscan pillars. Immediately without 
 the town, and adjoining Miss Morgan's pre- 
 mises, is the Roman amphitheatre, com- 
 monly called Arthur's round table. It is an 
 oval concavity, seventy-four yards by sixty- 
 four, and six deep ; in which are ranges of 
 stone seats, though now covered with earth 
 and verdure. The foundation of its en- 
 circling 
 
202 st. julian's. chap. xiii. 
 
 circling walls was met with on digging in the 
 year 1106, when a statue of Diana and two 
 ornamental pedestals were also discovered. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Caerleon are se- 
 veral encampments that were probably used 
 for airing the troops in summer. The most 
 remarkable are, that of the Lodge, occupy- 
 ing a hill in the park of Lantarnam, about a 
 mile north-west of Caerleon ; the one of 
 Penros, a short distance to the left of the road 
 totTsk; that atMayndee, near Christ-chufch ; 
 and a fourth in the wood of St. Julian's, to- 
 wards Newport. Near the latter spot a cha- 
 pel of high antiquity, dedicated to St. Julius, 
 is now used as a barn. But St. Julian's is 
 more remarkable for a Gothic mansion, once 
 the residence of the ingenious, valiant, and 
 vain lord Herbert of Cherbury. 
 
 Edward, first lord Herbert of Cherbury, 
 Was born anno 1581 : his infancy was re- 
 markable for mental and bodily weakness ; 
 but he soon became distinguished as a scho- 
 lar and a valiant knight. Most of the living 
 languages and every elegant accomplishment 
 engaged his study. We learn from the his-* 
 tory of his life, written by himself (in which 
 he is considered to be the most chivalrous, 
 
 learned, 
 
€HAP, XIII. LORD HERBERT. 203 
 
 learned, handsome, discerning, and wonder- 
 ful gentleman that ever figured in story), 
 that at fifteen he took to himself a wife ; and 
 being a few years afterwards presented at court, 
 his love-inspiring attractions excited the 
 rusty passions of Elizabeth, then seventy years 
 of age. — " The queen," says the noble bio^ 
 grapher, " looked attentively upon me, 
 " and swearing her ordinary oath, said, 
 P It is pity he was married so young," and 
 *' thereupon gave me her hand to kiss twice ; 
 " both times gently clapping me on the 
 " cheek." The consorts of Lewis the Thir* 
 teenth and James the First were still more 
 fascinated by this mighty conqueror of hearts, 
 who excited jealousy even in the breast of 
 royalty ! Many enamoured dames of the 
 court wearing his picture in . their bosoms 
 brought him in hourly danger of assassination 
 from their enraged husbands : yet his mira- 
 culous courage and address ensured victory in 
 every encounter. Among numerous excel- 
 lencies, that distinguished his clay from the 
 common material of mortality, the noble 
 lord declares, " it is well known to them 
 i( that wait in my chamber, that the shirts, 
 " waistcoats, and other garments I wear next 
 g "my 
 
204* LANTARNAM. CHAP. XIII. 
 
 '* my body, are sweet beyond what either 
 f* can be believed or hath been observed in 
 " any body else ; which sweetness was also 
 " found to be in my breath before I used 
 " to take tobacco. " With all this extrava- 
 gance, which may be set to the account of 
 old age, often vain and garrulous, Lord Her- 
 bert may be justly considered one of the first 
 characters of the age and country in which he 
 lived. 
 
 Lantarnam house and park, situated about 
 a mile and a half from Caerleon, near the 
 road from Newport to Pont-y-pool, occupy 
 the site of a rich Cistercian abbey. The man- 
 sion is a neglected gloomy structure, which 
 appears to have been erected about the reign 
 of Elizabeth, and chiefly out of the materials 
 of the abbey. A large Gothic gateway and 
 the monks cells, now converted into stabling, 
 are vestiges of the parent building. 
 
 The accounts that we had collected of 
 Pont-y-pool did not incline us to abandon the 
 line of our tour to visit it. The town, suffi- 
 ciently large and populous, yet blackened by 
 neighbouring coal and iron works, and situ- 
 ated in a dreary region only rich in mineral 
 treasure, would hardly prove interesting but 
 
 to 
 
CHAP. XIII. LANGIBBY. 205 
 
 to those concerned in its traffic. Its first con- 
 sequence arose from a manufacture of japan- 
 ned ware invented in the time of Charles the 
 Second, which remained a long time peculiar 
 to the town, but is now generally understood. 
 In its immediate vicinity Pont-y-pool Park, 
 the seat of Hanbury Leigh, Esq. forms a con- 
 spicuous ornament, and is described by Mr. 
 Coxe as possessing a good collection of 
 pictures. 
 
 Our road from Caerleon to Usk, leaving 
 the house and encampment of Penros on the 
 left, led up an ascent from which we had an 
 interesting view of the surrounding district. 
 A narrow valley winds round the base of the 
 eminence watered by the Usk, The oppo- 
 site boundary of the valley sustained the 
 woods of Kemey's and Berth oily; and in 
 the contrary direction the eye ranges over 
 the venerable groves of Lantarnam, and a 
 wavy intervening country to the distant 
 mountains near Abergavenny. Within two 
 miles of Usk we entered Langibby, a small 
 village, only to be noticed for an ancient 
 mansion of the Williams's family near it. 
 This structure, attributed to the erection of 
 Inigo Jones, contains no distinguishing points 
 
 of 
 
20$ LANGIBBY CASTLE. CHAP. XIII. 
 
 of architecture ; but the house and grounds 
 command delightful views, which receive no 
 inconsiderable interest from the local pos- 
 session of a majestic ruin. Langibby Cas- 
 tle rears its mouldering battlements on the 
 brow of a bold hill, completely overspread 
 with wood. We have no certain accounts 
 when this castle was built ; but the pointed 
 arches that occur throughout the ruin denote 
 its erection to have been posterior to the first 
 settlement of the Normans in these parts. It 
 formerly belonged to the Clares Earls of 
 Gloucester; but has been upwards of two 
 centuries in the family of the present pos- 
 sessor. Of this line was Sir Trevor Williams, 
 a zealous supporter of the parliamentary cause 
 in the civil wars, when Langibby castle was 
 spoken of by Cromwell as a fortress of strength 
 and importance. 
 
 Our approach to Usk was traced through 
 its vale on a bank of the river, and beneath 
 a high hill entirely shaded with wood : close 
 to our left appeared the whitened Gothic 
 church of Lanbadock : but the handsome 
 bridge of Usk, the antique town and ivy- 
 mantled castle, formed more interesting ob- 
 jects in successive distances ; while, afar off, 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. XIII, USK. 207 
 
 the varied line of the mountains near Aber- 
 gavenny, the craggy summit of the Skyridd, 
 and the abrupt cone of the Sugar-loaf, con- 
 trasting the lofty even swell of the Blorenge, 
 presented a terminating line of the most pic- 
 turesque description. This distance alone 
 was illumined by the sun ; for the evening 
 drew to a close, and all our home view was 
 wrapt in one grand shadow. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 20 * ] 
 
 C H A P. XIV. 
 
 USK CASTLE AND CHURCH' — EXCURSION" 
 TO RAGLAN ELEGANT RUINS OF RAG- 
 LAN CASTLE — -VIEWS FROM THE DE- 
 
 VAUDON ROMAN ANTIQUITIES AT 
 
 CAERWENT TESSELATED PAVEMENT. 
 
 USK, supposed to be the Burrium of the 
 Romans, occupies a flat situation on the banks 
 of its river. Though now a small place, in 
 great part untenanted and falling to ruin *, 
 it was formerly of very considerable extent 
 The form and dimensions of its ancient boun- 
 dary may be traced in an imperfect rampart 
 among the adjoining fields and orchards. 
 The figure is not oblong, as most Roman 
 works of the kind were, but irregularly recti- 
 linear. On a gentle eminence in the northern 
 
 * These ruins are attributed to the ravages of Owen Glen- 
 dower, who sacked and burnt the town. 
 
 precinct 
 
CHAP. XIV. tl&K CASTLE, Q09 
 
 precinct of the town is the castle, famous in 
 history for withstanding many a fierce as* 
 sault ; but the ruin has little picturesque at- 
 traction : such parts as are not converted to 
 the domestic purposes of a farm-yard are so 
 enveloped in ivy, as scarcely to afford a cha- 
 racterizing form externally. We entered the 
 castle through a Gothic gateway : vestiges of 
 the baronial hall appear on the east side ; and 
 some of the towers, with round arched aper- 
 tures, seem of the earliest construction : but 
 we have no certain accounts when the castle 
 was founded. 
 
 Not far from the castle is the church, still 
 a large structure, though much contracted 
 from its original extent. The tower, in which 
 circular arches are introduced, is the oldest 
 part of the edifice ; the body of the church 
 is Gothic. This church belonged to a Bene- 
 dictine priory of five nuns; and part of the 
 priory-house is now standing, a little southward 
 of the church, in the occupation of a farmer. 
 The common prison, a. Gothic building near 
 the bridge, was formerly a Roman. Catholic 
 
 chapel *. 
 
 TIi ere 
 
 * From Usk to Abergavenny, the road passes several ob- 
 jects worthy of a tourist's notice. I must here borrow from 
 
 e Mr. 
 
210 ENCAMPMENT. CHAP. XIV. 
 
 There are several ancient encampments 
 the neighbourhood of Usk. That of Craeg* 
 y-garcyd, crowning a woody precipice on 
 the west side of the river, about a mile above 
 the town, is supposed by Harris to be Roman. 
 Its figure is very irregular, and remarkable for 
 seven very large tumuli within the rampart. 
 About two miles from Usk, in our way to 
 Raglan, we passed Campwood on our left, 
 
 Mr. Coxe's survey, not having travelled on the road. The 
 church of Kemys Commander, between three and four miles 
 from Usk, to the left of the road, is a small Gothic struc- 
 ture j its cemetery is remarkable for a hollow yew-tree, 
 fifteen feet in girth, within which is inclosed an oak not less 
 than seven feet in circumference ; its branches shadow the 
 parent trunk, forming a singular combination of foliage. 
 The church of Bettus Newydd, on the right of the road in 
 the same neighbourhood, is noticeable for the entire state of 
 its ancient rood-loft. A mile and a half further the road is 
 graced with an elegant Gothic gateway, of modern execution, 
 appertaining to Clytha house, the seat of William Jones, 
 Esq. j and near it is Clytha castle, a structure erected by Mr. 
 Jones to the memory of a beloved wife. At seven miles 
 from Usk, to the right of the road, is the old mansion of . 
 Lansanfread, a residence of James Green, Esq. M. P. for 
 Arundel. Colebrook, about two miles further, and nearly 
 the same distance from Abergavenny, is a seat of Sir John 
 Hanbury Williams. The house was an irregular old pile, 
 with square towers at each angle, until about fifty years 
 since, when the present front and Doric portico were 
 erected, from a design of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, of 
 diplomatic and facetious memory. 
 
 another 
 
CHAP. XIV. RIDE TO RAGLAN. 211 
 
 another encampment, of an oval figure, en- 
 tirely covered with wood, but not remarkable 
 either in its situation or construction. 
 
 Our ride to Raglan traversed a bold undu- 
 lating country of uncommon richness, where 
 the luxuriance of the soil was alike conspicuous 
 in impervious woods or teeming orchards 
 sweeping over the hills, and verdant mea* 
 dows sweetly carpeting the vallies. 
 
 " When mora, her rosy steps in th' eastern clime 
 <( Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl," 
 
 we began our journey ; and this range of 
 fertility but disclosed itself in partial gleams 
 through the exhaling dew, as we ascended 
 a hill from Usk. Advancing, the mists dis- 
 appeared, and we quickly found ourselves in 
 a sequestered valley, whose high encircling 
 hills were variously decorated with a pro- 
 fusion of wood : the morning sun brilliantly 
 shone on the dewy verdure; and we were 
 admiring the charming scenery, while our 
 spirits partook of its cheerfulness, when a 
 huntsman's horn resounded from a neighbour- 
 ing thicket, and echoed through the hills : 
 a deep-mouthed pack, joining in full chorus, 
 announced a throw in g-off. The concert con- 
 p 2 tinucd, 
 
212 RIDE TO RAGLAN. CHAP. XIV 
 
 
 finued, though the performers remained un- 
 seen as we anxiously skirted the dale ; but 
 our road soon took an ascent, in the precise 
 direction of the hunt ; and, gaining an emi- 
 nence, a new vale and its accompanyments 
 opened to us, yet without the hunting party. 
 However, we had not long gazed in disap- 
 pointment when, from the dark umbrage of 
 a thick wood, the hounds rushed forward 
 like a wave over the meadows ; the men and 
 horses were not far behind ; but, scouring a 
 descent that would have scared a lowland 
 sportsman, pursued the game, which conti- 
 nued out of sb'ht. But at length we saw 
 Reynard skulk from a ditchy fence in a field 
 before us, and dash across the meadows : 
 the hounds and hunters were close at his 
 heels. A loud shout from the party, a supe- 
 rior yell in the clogs, and the strained exer- 
 tions of the animal, proclaimed a general view : 
 we heartily joined in the halloo ; and even 
 our sorry jades displayed unusual spirit ; for 
 .they pricked up their ears, and absolutely 
 began a gallop to join in the chase ; but a 
 gate near a yard high opposed an insur- 
 mountable obstacle" to that intention, and 
 obliged us to remain inactive spectators while 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. XIV. RAGLAN CASTLE. 213 
 
 the party veered up a woody hill and finally 
 disappeared from us. 
 
 Reluctantly parting from this animating 
 scene, we entered the little village of Rag- 
 lan ; where an old woman, knitting at the 
 door of her cottage, proffered her service to 
 take care of our horses while we walked over 
 a fallow field to the superh ruins of Raglan 
 Castle. 
 
 The approach led up a gentle eminence,; 
 but a screen of high elms and thick under- 
 wood, issuing from the moat, intervened be- 
 tween us and the castle, which remained 
 concealed, until, penetrating the thicket, a 
 display of the ruin burst upon us, elegantly 
 beautiful ! Sweetly picturesque ! No the- 
 atrical scene was ever designed in a happier 
 taste, or unfolded itself to admiring beholders 
 with a more sudden and impressive effect. 
 In this coup d y (zii, the Gothic portal and two 
 elegant embattled towers immediately ar- 
 rested the eye. Of the polygonal towers 
 that formerly defended the entrance, one is 
 completely hidden in a majestic mantle of 
 iw; which descends in a profuse festoon over 
 the gateway. The other, admirably con- 
 trasting, and iii a most perfect state of pre- 
 p 3 servation, 
 
214 RAGLAN CASTLE. CHAP. XIV. 
 
 servation, rears its beautiful machicolated sum- 
 mit with scarcely any leafy incumbrance : 
 yet a few tasteful tufts of ivy sparingly issue 
 from the windows and oillets of the tower, 
 and wave their elegant tendrils over the 
 glistening polish of the walls*. Another 
 tower of similar beauty, but superior dimen- 
 sions, appears a little further, at the eastern 
 angle of the structure. On the other side of 
 the porch, the ruins are concealed by a pro- 
 fuse pile of ivy ; but some lofty portions of 
 the ruin start from the verdure with consider 
 rable elegance; "and two windows, standing 
 cne over the other, exhibit an effect of orna- 
 mental relief in their freizes and mouldings 
 that would not discredit any age. 
 
 From this assemblage of beautiful objects 
 we fixed our attention on the massive citadel,, 
 placed rather obliquely in front of the orna- 
 mented ruins. One half of this structure was 
 blown up by order of Cromwell, upon the 
 
 *? The walls here and in many other parts ©f the rain are 
 not deprived of their facing stones, as is generally the case 
 with these remaining monuments of baronial splendour ; 
 but, constructed of a superior sort of light grey stone, they 
 still exhibit a specimen of exquisite masonry; and where 
 they have not been wilfully dilapidated appear as perfect as if 
 just finished. 
 
 taking 
 
CHAP. XIV. RAGLAN CASTLE. e 2\5 
 
 taking of the castle by Fairfax : from the re- 
 maining section it appears to have been a 
 hexagonal building of five stories, whose sides 
 were flanked by semicircular bastions cover- 
 ing each angle. The citadel is surrounded 
 by a moat and terrace, with a wall, in which 
 appear niches, once adorned with statues of 
 the Roman emperors. The rough and 
 threatening aspect of these broken walls, and 
 the ponderous bulk of disjointed fragments, 
 falling in the same point of view with the 
 gentle and decorative parts just described, 
 strongly contrast each other, and heighten the 
 varied character of the picture. 
 
 This charming .morceau was illumined by 
 a morning sun, which shone direct on the 
 marble-like surface of the towers, bringing 
 forward all the.'r elegance of form and en- 
 richment with decisive superiority. The se- 
 condary objects of the ruin, overhung with 
 ivy, and denied the direct light of the sun, 
 retired in a low tint ; but at the left extremity 
 of the picture, the craggy and advancing ci- 
 tadel caught some of the strongest lights and 
 shades, forming an admirable bit of fore- 
 ground to the piece. Although I am of opi- 
 nion, that by a morning light this subject is 
 
 p 4 . een 
 
215 RAGLAN CASTLE. CHAP. XIV* 
 
 seen by far to the greatest advantage, yet 
 treated with an afternoon effect, by the ju- 
 dicious pencil of Sir Richard Hoare, it has 
 formed a charming picture. This View the 
 engraver has ably transmitted to the publick 
 in Mr. Coxe's Survey of Monmouthshire. 
 
 Delighted with this first view, we traversed 
 the porch defended by two portcullisses, and 
 entered the principal court of the castle. 
 The interior wore the same style of magnifi- 
 cence that we so much admired without. 
 In superior grandeur projected the great win- 
 dow of the hail, majestically canopied with 
 i?y ; a variegated verdure covered the once- 
 paved area, and climbed the lofty sides of 
 the ruin. In some places the fondling ivy 
 ran through the forsaken chambers, and em- 
 bowered the apertures of the windows ; while 
 in many shadowy recesses, where the early 
 sun had not penetrated, the dewy spangles 
 of morning still decorated the dwarfy ash, or 
 tremulously bedecked the waving thistle. 
 So admirably were the different parts dis- 
 posed, so picturesquely relieved, that the 
 whole seemed rather a fairy creation, than 
 the fortuitous combination of undirected 
 nature. 
 
 After 
 
CHAP. XIV. RAGLAN CASTLE. 217 
 
 After enjoying these general effects, we 
 proceeded to examine the apartments of the 
 castle. These do not in any part seem of 
 very remote erection, but appear to have 
 been constructed at different periods between 
 the ages of Henry the Fifth and Elizabeth ; 
 yet, though a disunion of style be visible to 
 the Antiquary, no discordance of effect 
 arises in any instance. Of the first court, the 
 principal entrance, and a range of once ele> 
 gant rooms, occupy the south side ; the ba^- 
 ronial hall, and some other noble apartments, 
 fill up the western part of the court ; the. cu- 
 linary and other domestic offices, with the 
 servants habitations, appear to have occupied 
 the north and east sides : at the angle of 
 their junction, a pentagonal tower contained 
 the kitchen, and a small projection on the 
 east side was the oven. A broken flight of 
 steps afforded us the means of ascent to the 
 superior apartments, where we acjmired the 
 works of our fore-fathers in some lightly-orna- 
 mented chimney-pieces and Gothic moulds 
 ings. The baronial hall has suffered less 
 from time than from the pilfering attempts of 
 the neighbourhood : some traces of its for- 
 mer grandeur may be seen in its stately 
 
 dimensions ; 
 
21& RAGLAN CASTLE. CHAP. XIV, 
 
 dimensions; a prodigious fire-place ; and a 
 few remnants of ornament, including the 
 stone-sculptured arms of the Marquis of 
 Worcester, at one end of the hall: this 
 place, once the scene of banqueting and 
 splendour, is now used as a fives-court. Here 
 a fresh instance might be collected of the 
 fleeting state of sublunary greatness ; but so 
 many have been brought forward by the great 
 geniusses of all ages, while every little one 
 feels the truth without benefiting by the 
 knowledge, that we will not stop to enlarge 
 on so hopeless a subject ; but proceed, where 
 barons bold have often trod, through the 
 western portal of the hall to the chapel. Few 
 vestiges remain of this structure ; but some 
 of its springing arches, rising from grotesque 
 heads, are imperfectly visible ; and two 
 whole-length figures, coarsely executed, ap- 
 pear through the thick-woven ivy. From 
 this place we entered the area of the second 
 court, once adorned with a marble fountain 
 and an equestrian statue ; but now planted 
 with fruit-trees : this court is surrounded by 
 a range of secondary yet capital apartments. 
 
 The subterraneous appendages of the dastle 
 are uncommonly extensive, according with 
 
 the 
 
CHAP, XIV, RAGLAN CASTLE. 219 
 
 the great plan of the building ; eastward of 
 which is the grange and out-houses, now 
 converted into a farming habitation. — Rag- 
 lan Castle was one of the latest that held out 
 for the royal cause against Cromwell ; and 
 the intrench ments raised for its defence, and 
 against it, may be readily traced in the ad- 
 joining fields *• 
 
 Returning 
 
 * List of the household, and method of living, at Raglan 
 Castle, by the Earl of Worcester, in the reign of Charles 
 the First, 1641. 
 
 At eleven o'clock in the forenoon the castle gates were 
 shut, and the tables laid ; two in the dining-room 3 three in 
 the hall ; one in Mrs. Watson's apartment, where the chap- 
 lains eat (Sir Toby Matthews being the first) ; and two ili 
 the housekeeper's room, for the ladies' women. 
 
 The Earl entered the dining-room, attended by his gentle- 
 men. As soon as he was seated, Sir Ralph Blackstone, 
 steward of the house, retired. The comptroller, Mr. Hol- 
 land, attended with his stair, as did the sewer Mr. Black- 
 burne ; the daily waiters, Mr. Clough, Mr. Selby, Mr. 
 Scudamore ; and many gentlemen's sons, with estates from 
 two to seven hundred pounds a year, who were bred up in 
 the castle ; my lady's gentlemen of tJ-.e chamber, Mr. Mor- 
 . gan and Mr. Fox. At the first table sat the noble family, 
 and such of the nobility as came there. 
 
 At the second table, in the dining-room, sat knights and 
 honourable gentlemen attended by footmen. 
 
 In the hall, at the first table, sat Sir Ralph Blackstone, 
 Steward \ the comptroller, Mr. Holland 5 the secretary j the 
 master of the Horse, Mr. Dolowar : the master of the Fish- 
 
 ponds,, 
 
£20 RAGLAN CHURCH. CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Returning from this interesting ruin, we 
 passed Raglan church, a small Gothic build- 
 ing, containing a few mutilated monuments 
 of the Beaufort and Worcester families ; and 
 proceeded on the turnpike-road to Chepstow. 
 
 Our route soon took a long and laborious as- 
 
 ponds, Mr. Andrews ; my Lord Herbert's preceptor, Mr. 
 Adams ; with such gentlemen as came there under the de- 
 gree of a knight, attended by footmen, and plentifully served 
 with wine. 
 
 At the second table In the hall (served from my Lord^s- 
 table,, and with other hot meats)' sat the sewer, with the 
 gentlemen waiters and pages, to the number of twenty-four. 
 
 At the third table, in the hall, sat the clerk of the kitchen, 
 with the yeomen officers of the house, two grooms of the 
 chamber, &c. 
 
 Other officers of the household were, chief auditor, Mr. 
 Smith ; clerk of the accounts, George Whithorn ; purveyor 
 of the castle Mr. Salisbury; ushers of the hall, Mr. Moyle 
 and Mr. Cooke ; closet-keeper ; gentleman of the chapel, 
 Mr. D-avies ; keeper of the records ; master of the wardrobe ; 
 master of the armoury ; master grooms of the stable for 
 the war-horses, twelve; master of the hounds ; master fal- 
 coner ; porter and his man. Two butchers ; two keepers of 
 the home-park ; two keepers of the red-deer park. Foot- 
 men, grooms, and other menial servants, to the number of 
 ij:o. Some of the footmen were brewers and bakers. 
 
 Out Officers : Steward of Raglan, William Jones, Esq.; 
 the governor of Chepstow Castle, Sir Nicholas Kemys, 
 Bart. ; housekeeper of Worcester-house in London, James 
 Redman, Esq. 5 thirteen Bailiffs; two counsel for the bailiffs 
 to have recourse to 5 solicitor, Mr. John Smith. 
 
 cent* 
 
CHAP. XIV. DEVAUDON. 221 
 
 cent, from the summit of which we obtained 
 an extensive view over the middle parts of 
 Monmouthshire, an undulating tract of un- 
 common fertility and high cultivation. The 
 line of distant mountains that we admired in 
 the approach to Usk, here appeared strongly- 
 diversified and singularly picturesque, with 
 the continuous ridge of the Black moun- 
 tains to the west. Another considerable height 
 about three miles further commanded a si- 
 milar v 7 iew ; from which a short ride led us 
 to the summit of the Devaudon ; a remark- 
 able elevation, whence a prodigious view is 
 ordinarily obtained, not only over the coun- 
 try northward, but in the opposite direction, 
 over the Bristol channel and its opposing 
 shores. A severe shower, however, obliged us 
 to relinquish this view, and seek shelter beneath 
 the boughs of Chepstow park, as we branched 
 oft on the turnpike towards Caerwent. 
 
 Upon the storm abating, we wound down 
 the Devaudon, and descended into an agree-* 
 able valley, whose opposite hills were clothed 
 with wild forest-trees : the decayed town 
 of Share Newton occupied the summit of 
 a high hill bordering the vale in the di- 
 rection of our route. We passed through 
 
 thiai 
 
222 CAERWENT* CHAP. XI V% 
 
 this town (a mere collection of cottages), 
 and about half way towards the village of 
 Crick turned off the road to visit Wrunston, 
 an ecclesiastical ruin concealed in a seques- 
 tered thicket. The picturesque remnant of a 
 small chapel is the only part standing ; but 
 extensive foundations and broad causeways 
 declare the place to have been once conside- 
 rable. — From Crick, a genteel village, we 
 proceeded over an old Roman causeway * to 
 Caerwent, the Venta Silurum of the Romans. 
 Caerwent occupies a gently-inclining 
 plane in a low situation. A few small dwell- 
 ings mark the site of the ancient town ; the 
 fortifications of which form an oblong pa- 
 ralellogram, whose width is equal to two- 
 ninths of its length, with the corners a little, 
 rounded ; a frequent figure in Roman mili- 
 tary works, called Terriata castra. The cor- 
 
 * The Romans constructed their roads with large masses of 
 stone closely layed together : each piece was often six or seven 
 feet long and carefully squared. The road to Caerwent, 
 formed on such a foundation, though passing through a low 
 swampy country, is observed to be uncommonly compact 
 and dry. Thus the utility of that once great people's work 
 is transmitted through the constant wear of fifteen centuries; 
 and excites the admiration of even our own enlightened 
 age. 
 
 ners 
 
CHAP. XIV. CAERWENT* $23 
 
 neis of the walls nearly correspond with the 
 four cardinal points. On the south-west side 
 are three pentagonal bastions; from which 
 circumstance some authors have conjectured 
 the erection of the town to have taken place 
 under the lower empire, as flanking pro- 
 jections were not in use before that period ; 
 but it is justly supposed to be equally proba- 
 ble, that they were added after the general 
 embattlement. The circuit of the rampart, 
 near a mile in extent, may still be traced, in 
 most places surrounded by a deep moat ; the 
 wall is constructed of grout-work faced with 
 squared lime-stone; but the facings have 
 been for the most part removed for private 
 uses. From the present ruinous state of the 
 walls, we cannot speak with certainty of their 
 former height ; but it appears to have varied 
 considerably ; perhaps eighteen feet may be 
 a good medium : they are about twelve feet 
 in thickness at their base, and nine at top. 
 A fragment of the wall, nearly twenty feet 
 in length and twelve high, has fallen near the 
 southern angle; and, although the ponderous 
 ruin revolved in its fall, the mass remains un- 
 shattered and impenetrable. Such is the 
 boundary of a spot once crowded with palaces 
 
 and 
 
22£ CAERWENT. CHAP. Xlt. 
 
 and temples : at present, the church and 
 parsonage, a farm-house, a public-house, 
 and a few scattered cottages, chiefly built 
 with squared stones of the Roman town, are 
 the only buildings on the area, which is ge- 
 nerally laid out in fields and orchards. But 
 ancient foundations, projecting above the 
 level, and concealed under green hillocks, 
 rise in many places; and- elegant columns, 
 tesselated pavements, and coins, are continu- 
 ally met with in ploughing and digging. 
 
 We saw a tesselated or mosaic pavement, 
 that was formerly much admired, in an or- 
 chard behind the farm-house ; which is thus 
 described by Mr. Wyndham in his tour, per- 
 formed between thirty and forty years since : 
 " The pavement is in length twenty-one feet 
 " six inches, and in breadth eighteen feet, 
 " A border, edged with the Greek scroll and 
 "fret, surrounds the whole; but on the 
 " north side, the border, being upwards of 
 " three feet, is much broader than the other 
 " side. This was designed in order to reduce 
 " the circles within a square. These circles 
 " are about three feet in diameter, and are 
 " encircled with a variety of elegant orna- 
 " ments, and separated from each other by 
 1 " regular 
 
CHAP. XIV. CAERWENT. 225 
 
 " regular and equal distances* I think there 
 M are thirteen of these circles. The pieces 
 M of which the pavement is composed ape 
 " nearly sq&aixs, the breadth of them being 
 " about the size of a common die* These, 
 " are of various colours, blue, white, yel* 
 *' low, and red ; the first and second are of 
 " stone, and the yellow and red are of terra 
 " cotta. By a judicious mixture of these 
 " coiours, the whole pattern is as strongly 
 -' described as it would have been in oil co* 
 " lours. The original level is perfectly pre- 4 
 " served ; and the wliolc composition is so 
 " elegant and well executed, that I think it 
 " lias not been surpassed by any mosaic 
 " pavement that has been discovered on this, 
 11 or even on the other side of the Alps* In 
 " my opinion, it is equal to those beautiful 
 " pavements which are preserved in the pa* 
 " lace of the king of Naples at Portice. I 
 " am strongly inclined to think that it is of 
 " the same age of Agricola." On this pave- 
 ment being discovered, a building was erected 
 to shelter it from the weather, by order of 
 the proprietor, Mr. Lewis, of St. Pierre ; but 
 the brewhouse wanted a roof, and this, being 
 found of similar dimensions, was transferred 
 
 Q to 
 
226* CAERWENT. CHAP. XIV, 
 
 to the brewhouse ; the farmer holding his ale 
 in much greater veneration than relics of an- 
 tiquity. In consequence of neglect, this cu- 
 riosity is no longer an object of beauty ; ex- 
 posed to the weather, the surface became 
 broken up ; every one being allowed to take 
 away as many of the tessera as he pleased ; 
 but a small portion remains ; and that is so 
 overgrown with grass as to be with difficulty 
 distinguished. In this orchard, and near the 
 southern extremity of the wall, is a mound, 
 which is most probably the site of the explo- 
 ratory, or watch-tower. 
 
 C II A P. 
 
I 227 ] 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 \ventwood forest excursion to the 
 
 castles of dinham j lanvair ; 
 striguil; pencoed; and penhow — * 
 comprising extensive views from 
 
 the pencamawr, &c. caldecot 
 
 castle — a tale of other times- 
 new passage sudbrook encamp- 
 
 ment — -and chapel — - st. pierre — < 
 mathern palace moinscoi/rt, 
 
 HAVING satisfied ourselves with the an- 
 tiquities of Caerwent, we planned an excur- 
 sion, to comprise the six castles mentioned 
 by the author of " Secret Memoirs of Mon- 
 mouthshire" as surrounding the forest of 
 We nt wood. These were erected soon after 
 the Normans established themselves in Mon- 
 mouthshire, in order to keep the natives in 
 check, who were wont to sally from their 
 Q 2 impe- 
 
228 LANVAIR CASTLE. CHAP. XV. 
 
 impenetrable fastnesses in the woods, and 
 take a severe revenge on their conquerors 
 and oppressors. Great part of this forest still 
 exists in its original wildness, although it has 
 been considerably curtailed by late enclosures. 
 The castles enumerated are, Din ham, Pen- 
 how, Pencoed, Lanvasches, Lanvair, and 
 Castrogy or StriguiL On a bridle-road, ex- 
 tending to Share Newton, we proceeded to 
 the village of Dinham, a poor place con- 
 sisting of a few farm-houses and cottages : we 
 had some difficulty in discovering the ruins 
 of its castle, which consist of some low walls 
 obscured by trees ; merely pointing out its 
 site on a gentle eminence near the borders of 
 the forest. The ruin is called in the neigh- 
 bourhood the old chapel. There being no- 
 thing here to fix our attention, we made the 
 best of our way to Lanvair Castle, si- 
 tuated on a small rise about two miles from 
 Caerwent, near the' road to Usk. In our ap- 
 proach to the ruin, an effect caught through 
 intervening trees was pleasing and pic- 
 turesque ; but the ruin aspires not to gran- 
 deur, and is in a great degree concealed by 
 embowering verdure : a nearer inspection of 
 the castle increased our opinion of its former 
 5 extent 
 
CHAP. XV. PENCAMAWR. 229 
 
 extent and prowess ; large foundations are 
 evident ; and the walls are nowhere less than 
 seven feet in thickness: a square and two 
 round towers are the most conspicuous fea- 
 tures of the ruin, which is in part moulded 
 into a farm-house : the area of the principal 
 court is employed as a kitchen-garden. Be- 
 neath the castellated eminence is the village- 
 church, a simple rustic building ; passing 
 which, and proceeding on the road to Usk, 
 we quickly entered the forest of Wentwood. 
 In this tmct a dreary ride among dark woods, 
 and russet heaths, laboriously ascending, 
 brought us to the Pencamawr summit ; a 
 remarkable eminence in the loiiq; ridge of hills 
 crossing the midland parts of Monmouthshire, 
 from the vicinity of Caerlcon to the banks of 
 the Wye near Lanidagp. 
 
 Here a prospect greatly extensive opened 
 to us. Beyond the wild region prevailing 
 about our eminence, broken into a rapid suc- 
 cession of high hills and deep valleys, the 
 winding Usk, with its emeraldic valley, ac- 
 companied with numerous villas and rich 
 hanging woods, appeared in ail its beauty. 
 The bold character of the foreground, soon 
 melting into a gentle undulation, displayed a 
 
 Q 3 scene 
 
230 STRIGUIL CASTLE. CHAP. XV ? 
 
 scene of cultivation and productiveness of 
 great extent; while/ afar off, the line of 
 distant mountains about Abergavenny, which 
 we had before admired, again presented it^- 
 self; somewhat varied, but not diminished 
 in excellence. Nor was the view southward 
 less extensive, comprehending a great part of 
 the Bristol channel, with its receding coast. 
 
 Slowly proceeding down a steep decli- 
 vity, and admiring the prospect before us, 
 we soon reached Striguil, or Troggy 
 Castle, as it is generally called, standing 
 in a marshy field at the bottom of the hill. 
 The small remains of this fortress are so pro-? 
 fusely overspread with ivy, and the pendent 
 foliage of wide-branching trees, that an ac- 
 curate judgement can scarcely be formed of 
 its architecture : but where the structure can 
 be seen, pointed arches with neat facings ap- 
 pear throughout ; from which circumstance 
 the accuracy of Leland and Camden may be 
 questioned, who date the erection of this 
 castle prior to the Conquest : certainly the 
 parts now standing were not constructed 
 within a century subsequent to that event. 
 An octagon tower and some broken walls are 
 the only standing parts of the ruin ;. but the 
 
 form 
 
CHAP. XV. « BERTHOLLY. £31 
 
 form of its area may be traced, which is 
 oblong, with towers defending each angle, 
 and a broad moat surrounding the whole. 
 
 Reascending the Pencamawr, a ride of 
 four or five miles, upon the site of a British 
 way that led from Cardiff to Monmouth, 
 brought us into the turnpike-road between 
 Newport and Caerwent. In this interesting 
 progress, on the ridgy summit of the high 
 hills bordering the Usk, our prospects were 
 delightful. Occasionally excluded by the 
 close thickets of the forest, and reappearing 
 under different circumstances, new scenes 
 were continually creating ; and that satiety in 
 consequence avoided which would possibly 
 have resulted from the long possession of one 
 species of scene, however excellent. Not far 
 distant from the Pencamawr, appear the anti- 
 quated mansion, the . hanging groves, and 
 dark mantling woods of Bertholly, impen- 
 dent near the limpid Usk, which here makes 
 one of its boldest curves, forming nearly a 
 complete circle in its romantic meander. 
 About two miles further, in a field on the 
 right of the road, is a building called Kemys 
 Folly ; from the summit of which, a range of 
 prospect is obtained, scarcely to be equalled 
 Q 4 for 
 
230 J'ENCOED CASTLE. CPIAP. XV, 
 
 for extent and diversity. The views described 
 from the Fencamawr here appear, with all 
 the added charms of the scenery of the Usk, 
 in this part eminently beautiful i from this 
 spot also the Bristol channel displays its silvery 
 surface with uncommon effect; while the 
 distant shores of Somerset and Devon follow 
 its course in bay and promontory, until the re- 
 ceding confine, too remote for the distinction of 
 sight, appears dissolved in the blue ethereal, 
 
 From these charming scenes we descended, 
 &nd in a short time left the British way, in 
 joining the Newport turnpike near a public- 
 house called Cat's Ash, 1 his road is for the 
 ihcst part constructed on the Julia strata of the 
 Romans. Where it leaves the absolute site 
 of the ancient road it closely follows its course, 
 and the foundation of the causeway may be 
 traced in the adjoining fields; particularly in 
 a meadow near the spot, where a lane from 
 Linvair to Caldecot level crosses the turnpike. 
 Proceeding on this road somewhat more than 
 a mile, we turned off into a bridle-road on 
 our right, to inspect the remains of Pekcoed 
 castle afcd manor-house. These ruins are 
 situated on the extreme boundary of that 
 hilly tract bordering Caldecot level, over 
 
 which 
 
Chap. xy. penhow castle. 233 
 
 whicli and the Bristol channel it commands 
 -a comprehensive view. Of the castle very 
 tncc ie vestiges appear, in a gateway 
 
 ocular arch and two small pentagonal 
 (turrets* a round embattled tower, and some 
 dilapidated walls ; yet, decorated with a pro* 
 fusion of verdure, the ruin, though small, is 
 picturesque and pleasing. The architecture 
 of these fragments is of a more distant date 
 than ro^st of the small castles in Monmouth-- 
 shire, and maybe considered coeval with tha 
 first establishment of the Normans in Gwent, 
 i. e. Monmouthshire. The mansion, occu- 
 pying the site of the baronial fortress, built 
 with its materials and engrafted on its foun- 
 dation, is of an architectural date between 
 Henry the Eighth's reign and that of Eliza* 
 beth. This neglected edifice is now partly 
 occupied as a farm-house ; but indications of 
 its former importance appear in the grand di- 
 mensions of the apartments, and the great 
 general extent of the building. 
 
 Upon regaining the high road, we soon 
 approached Penhow Castle, seated on an 
 eminence, and commanding the pass of a 
 wild hollow beneath : a square embattled 
 toover is the leading feature of this ruin, 
 
 which 
 
234* CALDECOT CASTLE. CHAP. XV. 
 
 Which is very inconsiderable, and chiefly 
 converted into a small farming habitation : 
 
 tf There in the ruin, heedless of the dead, 
 <c The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed ; 
 " And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile, 
 £C Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile. 
 
 Thus having surveyed five out of the six 
 castles that formerly surrounded the forest of 
 Wentwood, and learning that no traces re- 
 mained of the fortress at Lanvasches, we re- 
 turned to Caerwent from a circuit of about 
 twenty miles. 
 
 At an early hour in the morning we set out 
 from our lowly quarters at Caerwent, and tra- 
 versed a fruitful country, pleasingly varied 
 with wood and pastures, in our way to Gal- 
 decot Castle. The situation of this ruin 
 in an undiversified swampy plain, is not calcu- 
 lated to- set off its importance: viewed from 
 a superior elevation in the approach, the 
 towers and citadel, in themselves sufficiently 
 high, appear sunk, and undistinguished from 
 the curtain wall of the fortification ; but on a 
 •nearer inspection the ruin rises in consequence; 
 and the aspect of its chief entrance, a large 
 Gothic gateway guarded by two massive pro- 
 jecting towers, is truly noble. The light grey 
 
 masonry 
 
CHAP. XV. CALDECOT CASTLE. 9.35 
 
 masonry of this entrance is agreeably relieved 
 by a profusion of ivy, overspreading nearly 
 the whole of one tower, and throwing the 
 broad shadow of its pendent foliage upon part 
 of the other. Within the portal the grooves 
 of two portcullisses are apparent ; and a fur- 
 ther means of defence is visible in holes 
 through the arch, down which boiling lead 
 might be poured on the heads of the be- 
 siegers. On entering the court some remains 
 of the baronial hall, and the foundations of 
 other buildings, appear within the area of 
 the walls. A small artificial mount at the 
 north-east angle of the ruin sustains the ci- 
 tadel, a lofty round tower ; to which dernier 
 resort of the garrison a ready communication 
 seems to have been conducted on the walls, 
 from the different towers and other parts of 
 the fortress ; the whole of which is surrounded 
 by a broad and deep moat. 
 
 The early history of this castle is uncer- 
 tain : some have conjectured that part of it 
 was built by Harold ; and indeed a round 
 tower on the south-west side of the castle, 
 with a circularly arched entrance, has a 
 Saxon character ; but the general^rchitecture 
 <■: the building is Gothic. Caldecot castle. 
 3 ' in 
 
'236 'PORTSWIT. CHAP. XV. 
 
 iu the different accounts of Monmouthshire, 
 lias been attached to the lord high consta- 
 bleship of England, upon the authority of 
 Camden * ; but it appears very satisfactorily, 
 from Mr. Coxe's illustration, that it was the 
 private property of the great Bohun family 
 possessing the earldom of Hereford, who 
 were hereditary constables of England. Cal- 
 cfecot church is an extensive and highly-oi> 
 namented Gothic structure, which may appear 
 somewhat disproportioned to the scanty flock 
 that it has to fold. 
 
 Leaving the little village of Caldecot, we 
 passed the Nevern brook, and soon after the 
 small hamlet of Portswit, formerly washed by 
 the sea, though it has since receded upwards 
 of a mile. This place brought to our recol- 
 lection a tale of outrage and cruelty that 
 strongly characterizes the state of societv at 
 the lijne, and may serve as a buoy to mark 
 the lawless violence of military dominion. It 
 is related in Powell's translation of Caracloc's 
 history, that Harold, after wresting part of 
 Prince Gry filth's possessions from him, built a 
 magnificent palace at Portascyth (Portswit) 
 
 * Qifiitielrs J Bj'if^lihiS, p. 714, cd 1722. 
 
 in 
 
CHA?. XV. fORTSWlT. t$t 
 
 in Monmouthshire; *' and, stowing it with 
 
 * a great quantity of provision, splendidly en~ 
 r tertained the king, who honoured him 
 
 * with a visit. This was by no means 
 
 * pleasing to Tosty, to see his younger bro- 
 ' ther in greater esteem and favour with the 
 ' king than himself; and, having concealed 
 ' his displeasure for a time, he could not 
 1 forbear at length but discover his grievance; 
 
 * for one day at Windsor, while Harold 
 
 * reached the cup to King Edward, Tosty* 
 ' ready to burst with envy that his brother 
 1 was so much respected beyond himself, 
 ' could not refrain to run furiously upon 
 ' him, and, pulling him by the hair, 
 1 dragged him to the ground ; for which 
 ' unmannerly action the king forbade him 
 ( the court. But he, with continued ran- 
 
 * cour and malice, rides to Hereford, where 
 ■ Harold had many servants preparing an en- 
 
 * tertainment for tire king; and, setting upon 
 1 them with his followers, lopped or! the 
 ' hands and legs of some, the arms and 
 ' heads of others, and then threw them into 
 ' the butts of wine and other liquors which 
 
 * were put in for the king's drinking ; and 
 \ at his departure charged the servants to ac- 
 
 " quaint 
 
5E38 NEW PASSAGE. CHAP. XVV 
 
 " quaint him, ' that of other fresh meat he 
 " might carry with him what he pleased ; 
 " but for sauce he should find plenty pro-f 
 " vided for him.' For which barbarous of-. 
 £( fence the king pronounced perpetual ba- 
 ".nishment upon him. But Caradoc ap 
 •' Gryffydth gave a finishing stroke to Ha-. 
 '•' rold's house, and the king's entertainment 
 " at Portascyth ; for, coming thither shortly 
 " after Tostv's departure, to be revenged 
 " upon Harold, he killed all the workmen 
 " and labourers, with all the servants he 
 " could find ; and, utterly defacing- the 
 " building, carried away all the costly ma- 
 " terials, which, with great charges and ex? 
 " pence, had been brought thither to beau- 
 " tify and adorn the structure/' 
 
 Proceeding through an agreeable undur 
 lating tract towards the sea-shore, we soon 
 arrived at the New Passage, the principal 
 entrance into Monmouthshire from the south? 
 western counties*. The breadth of water 
 from this place to the Bristol coast is three miles 
 
 * About half a mile from the shore is a rocky islet called' 
 Charston rock, much esteemed for the durability of its 
 stone : it has lately been employed in the lower part of the 
 piers of Newport-bridge. 
 
 and 
 
CHAP. XV. NEW PASSAGE. 939 
 
 and a half, while the ferry of Aust, or the 
 Old passage, four or five miles higher up the 
 Severn, is only two miles across; but this 
 advantage is considered to be overbalanced 
 bv the more commodious landing at the for- 
 rner. Both these concerns, being mono- 
 polies, are, like all other monopolies, hostile to 
 the interest of the publick ; for there being no 
 competition for preference between the boat- 
 men, they are extremely rude in their man* 
 ners, indifferent to the accommodation of the 
 publick, and by no means unpractised in va- 
 rious arts of extortion. But these exclusive 
 privileges have existed from time immemo- 
 rial. The title of the New Passage arose 
 from its renewal in the year 1718, after an 
 abolition in consequence of the following re- 
 markable incident. 
 
 Charles the First, being pursued by a strong 
 party of his enemies through Share Newton, 
 got into a boat at the Black rock (the New 
 passage), and was ferried to the opposite shore. 
 His pursuers, to the number of sixty, with drawn 
 swords compelled other boatmen belonging to 
 the passage to ferry them after him ; but these, 
 being in the king's interest, landed them on 
 a reef .of rocks in the Severn ..called the 
 
 English 
 
240 SUDBROOK. CHAP. X'Y. 
 
 English stones, near the Gloucestershire coast, 
 to which they were instructed to ford : in- 
 deed, the strait was fordable at low water; 
 but, the tide flowing in very rapidly, they 
 were all drowned in the attempt, and the 
 king for that time escaped. Cromwell, in- 
 formed of the transaction, abolished the 
 ferry; nor was it renewed, until after a long 
 chancery-suit between an ancestor of the pre- 
 sent proprietor, Mr. Lewis, of St. Pierre, and 
 the guardians of his Grace the Duke of Beau- 
 fort, proprietor of Aust ferry. 
 
 A walk of a mile, on the shore westward 
 *@f New Passage inn, led us to Sudbrogs 
 encampment, crowning the brow of an 
 emioei-ice which rises in an abrupt cliff from 
 Caldecot level. This work, consisting of 
 three ramparts and two ditches, forms a semi- 
 circle, whose chord is the sea cliff; but it is 
 evident, that part oi^ the eminence has moul- 
 dered away ; and most probable, that the 
 figure of the fortification was once circular. 
 Harris conjectures it to be of Roman origin, 
 and intended for the defence of the port of 
 Yenta Silurum (Caervvent). Eastward of the 
 encampment is Sudbro ok Chapel, a small 
 Gothic ruin, which was formerly attached 
 
 to 
 
r /HAP. XV. ST. PIERRE. 241 
 
 to a mansion of Norman foundation. No 
 traces appear even of the site of this structure* 
 which has in all likelihood been swept away 
 by the encroachment of the sea : but several 
 piles of hewn stones near the ramparts are 
 probably its relics. 
 
 We had another pleasant walk of about a 
 mile from the New passage across the fields to. 
 St. Pierre, an ancient residence of the 
 Lewis family, descended from Cadivor the 
 great. This mansion exhibits rather an in- 
 congruous mixture, in which the modem 
 refinements of sash-windows, Sec. are forced 
 upon a Gothic structure upwards of four hun- 
 dred years old : an embattled gateway, 
 flanked with pentagonal towers, is still more 
 ancient, and is recorded as having belonged 
 to the feudal castle that occupied the site of 
 the present building. 
 
 Nearly opposite this spot, the great estuary 
 of the Bristol channel, contracting in width, 
 takes the name of the Severn. The appel- 
 lation of this river arises from the story of a 
 British princess. GeorTry of Monmouth re- 
 lates, that she was the daughter of Locrine 
 king of Britain, by Elstridis, one of the three 
 virgins of matchless charms whom he took 
 
 r after. 
 
242 S'EVERN. C*TAP. XVY 
 
 after he had defeated Humber king of the 
 Huns, to whom they belonged. Locrine 
 had divorced his former queen Guendolin in 
 her favour. On his death, Guendolin as- 
 sumed the government, pursued Elstridis and 
 her daughter Sabra with unrelenting cruelty, 
 and caused them to be drowned in the river, 
 which with some alteration took the name 
 of this innocent victim. Our poets have 
 made a beautiful use of this story: Milton^ 
 in his description of rivers, speaks of 
 
 t{ The Severn swift, guilty of maiden blood ; 
 
 but in the Mask of Comus he enters fully 
 into her sad story : 
 
 <f . There is a gentle Dymph not far from hence, 
 " That with moist curb sways the smooth- Severn stream : 
 " Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure ; 
 (( Whilome she was the daughter of Loerine, • 
 " That had the scepter from his father Brute. 
 (C She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit 
 " Of her enraged stepdame Guendolin, 
 ** Commended her fair innocence to the flood, 
 " That stay'd her flight with his cross-flowing course. 
 fi The water-nymphs that in the bottom play'd 
 " Held up their pearled wrists and took her in, 
 * Bearing her strait to aged Nereus' hall ; 
 iC Who, piteous of her woes,- rear'd her lank head;, 
 , " And gave her to his daughters to imbathe 
 11 In nectar* d lavers strow'd with aspbodil, 
 " And through the porch and inlet of each sense 
 
 " Dropt 
 
CHAP. XV. MATHER N PALACE. 24-3 
 
 " Dropt in ambrosial oils till she reviv'd, 
 " And underwent a quick immortal change, 
 "■ Made Goddess of the river.'" 
 
 Crossing tlie grounds of St. Pierre, and' 
 passing Pool Meyrick, a brook falling into 
 the Severn, we turned to the right in search 
 of Mather n Palace, formerly a seat of the 
 bishops of Landaff. This building, situated 
 in a gentle hilly country pleasingly diversified 
 with wood and pasturage, in its present ap- 
 pearance conveys but a very faint idea of 
 the splendour and good cheer that no doubt 
 reigned there when it was the seat of the 
 episcopacy. The structure surrounds a qua- 
 drangular court, and was raised by different 
 bishops ; the north and north-east parts, com- 
 prising the tower, porch, &c. are supposed 
 to have been erected by John de la Zouch, 
 who was consecrated anno 1408. Miles 
 Salley, who came to the see in 1504, built 
 the chapel, hall, and other apartments. Some 
 specimens of dilapidated grandeur appear in 
 the east window; and until lately the en- 
 trance was through a lofty ornamented porch; 
 but this is now destroyed, and the building 
 only occupied as a farm-house. In the north 
 side of the chancel of Mathern church, a 
 r 2 Gothic 
 
244 MOINSCOURT, GHAP. XV, 
 
 Gothic structure, but of British origin, is the 
 following epitaph written by bishop Godwin ; 
 the substance of which accounts fox the ma- 
 nor of Mathern's becoming ecclesiastical : 
 
 Here lyeth entombed the body of 
 
 Theodorick, king of Morganuck, or 
 
 Glamorgan, commonly called 
 
 St. Thewdrick, and accounted a martyr. 
 
 because lie was slain in a battle against 
 
 the Saxons, being then Pagans, and in 
 
 defence of the Christian religion. The 
 
 battle was fought at Tintern, where he 
 
 obtained a great victory. He died here, 
 
 being in his way homeward, three 
 
 days after the battle, having taken 
 
 order with Maurice his son, who sue* 
 
 ceeded him in the Kingdom, that in the 
 
 same place he should happen to decease 3 . 
 
 church should be built, and his body buried 
 
 in the same ; which was accordingly performed 
 
 in the year 600." * 
 
 Within a short distance of Mathern h 
 Moinscourt, anpther deserted ecclesiastical 
 mansion, attributed to the erection of Bishop 
 Godwin, and also occupied as a farm-house. 
 This exhibits a handsome Gothic porch 
 
 * The stone coffin, containing the remains of St. Theo- 
 doric, was discovered some time since: upon removing the 
 lid, the skeleton appeared perfectly entire, except a large 
 fracture on the skull, which probably occasioned the death 
 of |he hero, 
 
 defended 
 
fcHAP. XV. MOINSCOUIIT* 245 
 
 defended by two lofty turrets: within the 
 fcourt-yard are the two Roman inscribed stones 
 mentioned by Gibson in the supplement to 
 Camden* and said to hate been brought from 
 Caerlcon : one of these appears to have been 
 a votive altar ; the other records the repairing 
 or rebuilding of the temple of Diana by 
 T, H* Posth urn ius Varus, 
 
 nJ CHAR 
 
[ 246 ] 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 CHEPSTOW FINE SCENERY OF ITS VICI- 
 NAGE THE CASTLE CHURCH, AND 
 
 BRIDGE PIERCEFIELD CHARACTER 
 
 OF THE LATE MR. MORRIS. 
 
 L/ PON meeting our horses at the village of 
 St. Pierre, we proceeded towards Chepstow, 
 and in a few minutes were surprized with a 
 range of naked cliffs, rising in appearance 
 from the tract of verdure before us ; a vene- 
 rable wood shadowed the brow of the rocks, 
 in front of which rose a forest of masts with 
 waving pennants. This singular combina- 
 tion resulted from the position of Chepstow 
 and its port, in an abrupt hollow, inclosed 
 by considerable heights in every direction. 
 The whole unfolded itself like a map be- 
 neath us, as we descended to the town ; an 
 irregular-built trading place, but where the 
 
 well- 
 
CHAP. XVI. CHEPSTOW. 247 
 
 well-furnished houses and opulent establish- 
 ments of many of the inhabitants engaged in 
 business prove the success of their commercial 
 . enterprize : yet the town, having no manu- 
 factories, depends altogether on the carrying 
 trade. 
 
 We hastened from an excellent repast at 
 the Beaufort Arms, to enjoy the scenery in 
 the vicinity of Chepstow-bridge ; where an 
 assemblage of objects was disclosed, highly 
 interesting, imposing, and beautiful. Be- 
 low the bridge, and on the opposite side of 
 the deep and rapid Wye, enlivened by nu- 
 merous shipping, a series of cliffs appeared 
 issuing from the water, whose rocky surface, 
 warmly tinted with various hues of red and" 
 yellow, was pleasingly diversified with the 
 vivid green of aspiring ivy, while the lofty 
 summits were fringed with impendent oaks. 
 This trait was highly agreeable; but direct- 
 ing our attention up the river, the princely 
 ruin of Chepstow Casiie, stretching along a 
 grand perpendicular cliff, which proudly 
 emerges from the stream ; and the steep hills 
 of Piercefield rearing their varied plantations, 
 in leafy majesty, from the river to the clouds; 
 were features too nobly impressive not to 
 r 4 stamp 
 
248 CHEPSTOW CASTLE. CHAt*. XVh 
 
 stamp an interest in the coldest observer. A 
 transient gaze did hot satisfy us : we paused 
 a long time over the rails of the bridge ; ad- 
 vanced to the opposite shores ; compared the 
 varying effect at different distances and ele- 
 vations ; and* as we changed our points of 
 view, discovered fresh gleams of picturesque 
 beauty at every movement* Nor were the 
 leading objects of this scene less gratifying 
 when examined in detail, than the striking 
 coup-ctceil of their general composition. 
 
 As we advanced tovvard the massive battle- 
 ments and lofty turrets of Chepstow's an- 
 cient castle, the grand entrance, a Norman 
 arch flanked by circular towers, figured all 
 the repulsive gloom of feudal reserve arid 
 violence ; even the very knocker was em- 
 blematical of hostility ; for we thundered at 
 the portal for admission with a cannon-ball 
 suspended by a chain. The warder of the 
 castle did not wind his horn in reply, nor, 
 raising himself on the ramparts, did he de- 
 mand our quality and business; but a pretty 
 smiling damsel, conjuring up all her rosy 
 dimples, bade the gate, or rather made it, 
 revolve oti its creaking hinges, and welcomed 
 us into the castle. 
 
 Upon 
 
CHAP. XVI. CHEPSTOW CASTLE. 249 
 
 Upon entering the court, our attention was 
 somewhat divided, between the remains of 
 the baronial hall, numerous apartments, and 
 the kitchen, which surrounded the area; and 
 the well-turned arm that pointed to the se- 
 veral objects. A number of rooms in this 
 court are kept in repair, and form a commo- 
 dious residence, which is tenanted by Mr. 
 Williams under a lease from the Duke of 
 Beaufort. From this we passed to the second 
 court, now laid out as a kitchen-garden. 
 The third court contained the chapel, a fine 
 remnant of antiquity, possessing a greater de- 
 gree of decoration than any other part of the 
 castle : a range of niches appear within the 
 walls of this structure, at some distance from 
 the floor, which is said to have been filled with 
 Statues ; and the mortices of beams seem to 
 indicate, that a gallery was conducted round 
 the room. The style of the windows and 
 enrichments is Gothic ; but the original part 
 of the building is Norman. Indeed, a unity 
 of design and architecture appears through- 
 out the fundamental parts of the castle; al- 
 though, as may be expected, the continual 
 alterations and additions of successive propri- 
 etors have left us several specimens of the 
 
 intermediate 
 
250 CHEPSTOW CASTLE. CHAP. XVI. 
 
 intermediate modes of building between the 
 Norman foundation and the present age. 
 Among the undecorative additions of the 
 latter period, are the deserted works of a 
 glass-house, and a dog-kennel. Beyond the 
 chapel we ascended a flight of steps to the 
 battlements, shadowed by wide branching 
 trees of various descriptions, issuing from the 
 moat beneath. Opposite to us, beyond the 
 moat, appeared the low embowered ruins of 
 the fourth and last court, separated from the 
 principal mass of building by a drawbridge. 
 
 Returning, our fair guide conducted us to 
 a subterraneous chamber with an engroined 
 roof, excavated in the rock, beneath the 
 ruin, and opening to the overhanging brow 
 of the cliff. Here several old ivys darted 
 from stony fissures that seemed to forbid ve- 
 getation, binding the mouldering summit of 
 the cliff in their sinewy embrace ; and, 
 shedding their light tendrils round the ca- 
 vern, embowered its aperture as they aspired 
 in frequent volutions to the loftiest turrets of 
 the pile. Here, and from several points in 
 our perambulation of the ruin, we timidly 
 looked down on the rapid Wye, rolling its 
 swelling tide at an immense depth perpendi- 
 cularly 
 
CKAP. XVI. CHEPSTOW CASTLE. 251 
 
 cularly beneath us ; and at other times the 
 green waving hills of Piercefield rose in all 
 their peculiar grandeur to our view, darken- 
 ing the river with their widely projected 
 shadows. 
 
 Before we left this baronial fortress, we did 
 not fail to explore a large round tower in the 
 first court, that was the ancient citadel ; but 
 is more noticed for having been the prison of 
 Harry Martin the regicide. We entered a 
 Gothic doorway, and, following the taper 
 heels of our gentle conductress up a spiral 
 staircase, visited each apartment in the tower; 
 all of which proved spacious and commo- 
 dious'*. Here InQ parliamentary colonel 
 was confined near thirty years ; but not in the 
 " durance vile" which his sympathizing bio- 
 grapher represents -f : his family lived with 
 him, and he had offices for his servants ; 
 he had the free range of the castle in the 
 day-time ; and, with a guard, was allowed 
 
 * Owing to a neglect of the roof, the upper stories of the 
 building were swimming with water, and perishing very fast. 
 It is to be hoped, that before this the Cuke of Beaufort's 
 agents have looked to their charge, and adopted proper 
 means to prevent the entire loss of a useful habitation, and 
 an interesting remnant of antiquity. 
 
 f Southey's Poems, p. 37S, 
 
 to 
 
252 CHEPSTOW CASf LS. CHAP, fcvfc 
 
 to visit the neighbouring gentry. Even in 
 the tottering state of royalty, on Charles the 
 Second's restoration, this sort of confinement 
 was found sufficient to answer the ends of 
 justice, and security to the ruling powers; 
 although the republican leader, the turbulent 
 a;nd enterprising Marry Martin; was the pri- 
 soner; ever glorying in his principles, and 
 declaring, that were the treason of which he 
 had been legally convicted to be repeated, 
 lie should enter on his part without re- 
 luctance. 
 
 The building of Chepstow (or Estrighoel) 
 Castle, although carried by some antiquaries 
 to the xni of Julius Caesar *; appears to have 
 taken place in the eleventh century, when 
 William Fitzosborn, Earl of Hereford,, built 
 the castle to defend the ample possessions 
 granted him in this quarter by William the 
 
 * Several of the glazed figured tiles used by the Normans/ 
 commonly called Roman tiles, patched up in different parts 
 o[ the ruin, and a few Roman bricks built in the heteroge- 
 neous mass that composes the grout-work of the Walls, have 
 occasioned many persons to consider the castle as- of Romait 
 foundation. But these circumstances, standing alone, afford' 
 very inconclusive grounds. On the Normans building the 
 castle, the Roman fragment's were most probaMy brought 
 from the then decaying town ©f Caerwent, and with other 
 robbish applied to the work. 
 
 Conqueror, 
 
CHAP. XVI. CHEPSTOW CHURCH. 253 
 
 Conqueror, his relation. His son and suc« 
 cessor, Roger de Britolio, taking up arms 
 against his sovereign, was deprived of Ills 
 vast inheritance; and Chepstow castle be- 
 came soon after transferred to the noble fa- 
 mily of Clare. This fortress is remarkable in 
 history for the gallant defence that it made, 
 with a slender garrison, against a considera- 
 ble force headed by Oliver Cromwell ; but 
 after a long siege it was taken by an assault, 
 in which nearly all its defenders were sa- 
 crificed. 
 
 The church of Chepstow, situated at the 
 extremity of the town, below the bridge, 
 exhibits a curious specimen of Norman archi- . 
 lecture, in the massive arches resting on piers 
 within, and the richly ornamented mould- 
 ings of the western entrance. The tower was 
 erected during the last century. This church 
 formed the nave of a much larger structure 
 which belonged to a priory of Benedictine 
 monks, founded by the builder of the 
 castle. Some remains of the priory walls 
 may be traced near the church, and of se- 
 veral other religious buildings in different 
 parts of the town, 
 
 Chepstow 
 
254 CHEPSTOW BRIDGE. CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Chepstow Bridge is a singular structure : 
 it was formerly entirely built with timber; 
 but the piers of the Monmouthshire half are 
 now constructed of stone. The flooring of 
 this bridge, like that of many others in the 
 county, is formed of thick planks, which are 
 kept firm in their places by tenons, or rather 
 wedges of wood. It is usually said, that this 
 flooring is loose, and calculated to rise with 
 the torrents, which sometimes swelling above 
 the bridge would otherwise carry it away ; 
 but the fact is, that the planks are not loose : 
 as. I was informed by a workman repairing 
 the floor, they are fastened- in the manner 
 related, in preference to nailing, that they 
 may be more easily replaced when worn out. 
 The tide here is reckoned to rise higher than 
 in any other part of the world; accumu- 
 lating to the height of seventy feet at parti- 
 cular periods ; but a late examination has 
 proved fifty-six feet to be the highest point 
 that it has risen to during the present gene- 
 ration ; which, though a very great rise, is 
 not superior to what happens in some other 
 places. The cause of this extraordinary swell 
 proceeds from the rocks of Eeachly and 
 Aust ; which, protruding far into the Severn 
 
 near 
 
CHAP. XVI. PIERCEFIELD. 255 
 
 near the mouth of the Wye, obstruct the 
 flow of the tide, and oblige it to turn with 
 increased rapidity into the latter river. I am 
 informed, that the ruined chapel on a rock, 
 near the mouth of the Wye, in the Severn, 
 is an excellent subject for the pencil, in com* 
 position with the cliffs of Beachly and the. 
 adjacent scenery *. 
 
 On quitting Chepstow, and proceeding 
 about a mile and half on the road to Mon? 
 mouth, a capital lodge with iron gates and 
 palisadoes announced the entrance of Fierce- 
 field. Eager to view this enchanting do- 
 main, the favourite resort and theme of 
 tourists, nor less the pride of Monmouthshire, 
 we applied at the gate for admission ; when, 
 a well-grown lad made his appearance, who 
 stared at us through the rails, with more than 
 the usual stupidity of boys brought up at a 
 distance from towns. Again and again, with . 
 entreaties and threats, we stated our business; 
 but nothing could excite the gaping vacuity 
 of his countenance, or induce him to open 
 the gate. Rightly concluding that he was 
 
 * In the garden of a house in Bridge-street is the pheno- 
 menon of a well of soft water that ebbs and flows regularly 
 in an exact opposition to the tide. 
 
 an 
 
%56 PIERCEFIELD. CHAP. XVI. 
 
 an idiot, we were returning towards the 
 town for instructions how to act, when a ve- 
 nerable pate with " silver crown ed" appeared 
 at the window of the lodge, and by dint of 
 Iiallooingand patience, in waiting upwards of 
 a quarter of an hour, we had the old man at 
 the gate. He was the boy's grand-father ; 
 and, if intellect were hereditary, the boy 
 might presume on his lineage with more 
 chance of correctness than many of higher 
 birth. Tise old man, after obliging us to 
 hear a tedious incomprehensible narrative to 
 account for his hobbling attendance, at length 
 concluded by telling us, that we could not 
 upon any account seethe grounds, as they 
 were only shewn on Tuesdays and Fridays. 
 This w^is on a Saturday ; but to wait until the s 
 following Tuesday would be a tax indeed ; 
 and to proceed without seeing Piercefield a 
 sad flaw in our tour ; so we essayed with suc- 
 cess a means which, it may be remarked, 
 when applied in a due proportion to its ob- 
 ject, is scarcely ever known to fail. 
 
 We rode up an embowered lane to the vil- 
 lage of St. Arvans, and, leaving our horses 
 at the blacksmith's, entered Piercefield. 
 Grounds at a back gate. Here commencing 
 
 a walk 
 
feHAP. XVI. PtERCEFIELDo &}f 
 
 a walk of three miles in length, we passed 
 through agreeable plantations of oak, ash, 
 and elm, to the edge of a perpendicular; 
 bliff, called the Lover's Leap, overlooking 
 an abyss-like hollow, whose fearful depth is 
 softened by a tract of forest extending over 
 the surrounding rocks. High above compe- 
 tition at the northern extremity of the scene 
 rises Wynd cliff: a dark wood fringes its 
 lofty summit* and shelves down its sides to 
 the river Wye> which urges its sinuous course 
 at the bottom of the glen„ In one place, the 
 river, gently curving; appears in all the 
 breadth of its channel ; in another, project- 
 ing rocks and intervening foliage conceal its 
 course, dr sparingly exhibit its darkened sur- 
 face. Following the bend of the river on its 
 marginal height, a range of naked perpendi- 
 cular cliffs (the Bahagor rocks) appear abovd 
 the wooded hills that prevail through the 
 scenery ; of so regular a figure, that one can 
 scarcely help imagining it the fortification of a 
 town, with curtains, bastions, and demi- 
 bastions. But a very leading feature is, the 
 peninsula of Llanicut : the hills of Pierce* 
 field, here receding into a semicircular bend, 
 watered by the river immediately beneath, 
 
 s are 
 
258 PIERCEFIELD* CHAP. XVI. 
 
 are opposed by a similar concavity in the 
 Banagor rocks : the whole forming a grand 
 amphitheatre of lofty woods and precipices. 
 From the opposite side descends a fertile ex- 
 panse, or tongue of land, filling up the area 
 of the circle. This singular valley is laid out 
 in a compact ornamented farm ; the richly 
 verdant meadows are intersected by flourishing 
 • hedge-rows; while numerous trees diversify 
 the tract, and imbower the. farm-house : a row 
 of elms shadows the margin of the river, 
 which, skirting the base of the hills, nearly 
 surrounds the valley. 
 
 These subjects disclose themselves in dif- 
 ferent combinations through intervals in the 
 shrubbery which encloses the walk; and 
 which, although selected from the nicest 
 .observations, are managed with so just an 
 attention to the simplicity of nature, as to 
 appear the work of her plastic hand. 
 
 The Giant's Cave, a little further, is a 
 passage cut through a rock. Over one of the 
 entrances is a mutilated colossal figure, which 
 once sustained the fragment of a rock in his 
 .uplifted arms, threatening to overwhelm who- 
 ever dared enter his retreat ; but some time 
 
 since 
 
CHAP. XVI. PIERCEFIELD. 259 
 
 since the stone fell, carrying the Giant's arms 
 along with it ; yet he continues to grin hor- 
 ribly, although deprived of his terrors. From 
 this place a path, traced under the woods, 
 descends to the bath, a commodious building 
 concealed from outward view by impendent 
 foliage. 
 
 Deserting for a while the course of the 
 river, we ascend a superior eminence called 
 the Double View, whence the different 
 scenes that have presented themselves in de- 
 tail appear in one comprehensive range. 
 Here too a new field of prospect discloses it- 
 self, much more extensive than the former, 
 and beautifully picturesque. The mazy Wye, 
 with all its interesting accompaniments, passes 
 from beneath us, through a richly var legated 
 country, to its junction with the Severn, be- 
 yond whose silvery expanse the grand swell- 
 ing shores of Somersetshire form the distance. 
 A curious deceptio visits occurring here must 
 not be passed over : it arises from a coinci- 
 dence in the angle of vision between the em- 
 battled rocks already mentioned, and a part 
 of the Severn; which appears to wash their 
 summit, although in reality it is many miles 
 distant. But the subject of the prospect 
 s 2 from 
 
260 MERCEFIELEh &&&V.i XYf* 
 
 from this spot is seen much more picturesquely 
 combined as we continue our walk on a gentle 
 descent, and catch the varying scene through 
 apertures in the foliage i yet there is some- 
 thing that one would wish to add or remove, 
 until we reach die grotto, when a picture 
 is exhibited in the happiest taste of com- 
 position. 
 
 In this charming view from the grotto, a 
 diversified plantation occupies the fore-ground, 
 and descends through a grand hollow to the 
 river, which passes in a long reach under the 
 elevated ruin of Chepstow Castle, the town 
 and bridge, towards the Severn. Rocks ancf 
 precipices, dark shelving forests, groves, and 
 lawns, hang on its course ; and, with a va- 
 riety of sailing-vessels, are reflected from the 
 liquid mirror, with an effect that I cannot 
 attempt to describe, and at which the magic 
 pencil of a Claude would falter. The dis- 
 tant Severn and its remote shores form an ex- 
 cellent termination) and complete the picture. 
 
 On our visit, the rich extent of varie- 
 gated, woods that mantles this charming do- 
 main received an additional diversity in the 
 endless gradations of autumnal tints that 
 chequered their surface ; while in a few 
 
 places 
 
^ 
 
 fc> 
 
 • s 
 
CHAP. XVI. PIERCEFIELD. 261 
 
 places the still uniform sombre hue of the 
 pine and larch was admirably relieved by the 
 silvered verdure of the lightly-branching 
 ground-ash and witch-hazel. 
 
 Highly gratified with this delightful sce- 
 nery, we returned by another track through 
 tangled shrubberies, open .groves, and waving 
 lawns, to the mansion. This edifice is con- 
 structed of free-stone, and has had two hand-* 
 some wings lately added to it by Colonel 
 Wood, the present proprietor of the estate. 
 Although not very extensive, it has never-* 
 theless an elegant external appearance ; and, 
 as we were informed, is fitted up internally 
 with a taste and splendour little inferior to 
 any of our first-rate houses in England *, 
 
 Remounting onr horses at, the village of 
 St. Arvans,' a steep ascent led over some 
 outgrounds of Piercefield to the summit of 
 Wyndcliff, where a prodigious extent of 
 prospect burst upon us ; comprehending at 
 one view, not only the different scenes in the 
 neighbourhood of Chepstow, which appeared 
 sunk into the lines of a map, but a wonder* 
 ful range over nine counties, 
 
 * Col. Wood is about to dispose of this estate, 
 
 s 3 Tho 
 
262 VALENTINE MORRIS. CHAP. XVI. 
 
 The charms of Piercefield were created by 
 Valentine Morris, Esq. about fifty years 
 since ; to say unfolded, may be more cor- 
 rect ; for the masterly hand of nature mo- 
 delled every feature ; the taste of Mr. Morris 
 discovered them in an unnoticed forest, « and 
 disclosed them to the world : he engrafted 
 the blandishments of art upon the majestic 
 wildness of the scene without distorting its 
 original character. 
 
 Philanthropic, hospitable, and magnifi- 
 cent, his house was promiscuously open ta 
 the numerous visitors whom curiosity led to 
 his improvements ; but alas ! by his splen- 
 did liberality, his unbounded benevolence, 
 and unforeseen contingencies, his fortune be- 
 came involved ; he was obliged to part with 
 his estate, and take refuge in the West Indies. 
 Before he left his country, he took a farewel 
 view of Piercefield, and with manly resign 
 nation parted with that idol of his fancy. 
 The industrious poor around, whose happi- 
 ness he had promoted by his exertions and 
 bounty, crowded towards him, and on their 
 knees implored the interposition of Providence 
 for the preservation of their benefactor : tears 
 and prayers were all they had to offer ; nor 
 
 could 
 
CHAP. XVI. VALENTINE MORRIS. 263 
 
 could they be suspected of insincerity ; for 
 in lamenting their protector's misfortunes they 
 but mourned their own. In this trial he saw 
 unmoved (at least in appearance) the widows' 
 and orphans' anguish, though he was wont 
 to melt at the bare mention of their sorrows. 
 His firmness did not forsake him in quitting 
 this affecting group, as his chaise drove off 
 towards London ; but having crossed Chep- 
 stow-bridge, the bells, muffled, as is usual 
 on occasions of great public calamity; rang 
 a mournful peal. Unprepared for this mark 
 of affection and respect, he could no longer 
 control his feelings, and burst into tears. 
 
 In leaving England he did not shake off 
 his evil destiny. Being appointed governor 
 of St. Vincent's, he expended the residue of 
 his fortune in advancing the cultivation of the 
 colony, and raising works for its defence, 
 when the island fell into the hands of the 
 French. Government failing to reimburse 
 his expences during his life, upon his return 
 to England he was thrown into the King's- 
 bench prison by his creditors. Here he ex- 
 perienced all the rigour of penury and im- 
 prisonment for seven years. Of the nu- 
 merous sharers of his prosperity, only his 
 s 4 amiable 
 
£ 264f VALENTINE MORRIS. CHAP. XVI. 
 
 amiable wife* and a single friend devotect 
 themselves to participate Jiis misery and al- 
 leviate his distress. Even the clothes and 
 trinkets of his lady were sold to purchase 
 breajd ; and? that nothing might be wanting 
 to. fill up his cup of bitterness, the. faithful 
 partner of his cares, unable to bear up against 
 continued and accumulating misery, became 
 insane. 
 
 At length he recovered his liberty ; and 
 fortune, tired of this long persecution, seemed 
 to abate somewhat of her rigour ; when death 
 put an end to his chequered career at the 
 house of his brother-in-law, Mr. Wilmot, in, 
 Bloomsbury-square, in 1789. — The neigh- 
 bourhood still sounds the praises of this wor- 
 thy gentleman. Old men, in recounting his 
 good actions and unmerited misfortunes, seen^ 
 warmed with the enthusiasm of youth ; and 
 little children sigh while they lisp the suf* 
 ferings of Good Mr. Morris, 
 
 * She was a niece of Lord Peterborough, 
 
 CHAP, 
 
L 265 ] 
 
 CHAP, XVIL 
 
 ^INTERN ABBEY IRON-WORKS SCENERY 
 
 OF THE WYE TO MONMOUTH OLD 
 
 TINTERN BROOK'S WEIR LANDAGO 
 
 — -REDBRQOK. 
 
 JtiOW teeming with objects of curiosity 
 and beauty is Monmouthshire.! Within two 
 or three miles of Piercefield we reached the 
 justly-famed ruin of Tintern Abbey : its 
 dark mouldering walls, solemnly rising above 
 surrounding trees, appeared to us, in turn- 
 ing from a deep-wooded hollow, with a most 
 impressive effect % At the village adjoining 
 
 we 
 
 * This part of our journey, in wading through a right 
 Welch road, brought to my mind an anecdote of Mr. 
 Morris. When a bill was before the House of Commons for 
 the improvement of the roads in Monmouthshire, many gen- 
 tlemen of the county, willing to plod through the same 
 mire that had bedaubed their ancestors, gave it a strong op- 
 position. 
 
266 TINTERN ABBEY. CHAP. XVII. 
 
 we put up at the Beaufort Arms, the-knd- 
 lord of which, Mr. Gething, holds the key 
 of the ruin, and who, extraordinary as it 
 may seem, unites unaffected civility and 
 kindness with upwards of forty years ini- 
 tiation into the business of an inn-keeper, 
 and, as the neighbours say, a well-lined 
 purse. Passing the works of an iron-foundry, 
 and a train of miserable cottages engrafted on 
 the offices of the abbey, we found ourselves 
 under the west front of the ruin. This con- 
 fined approach, incumbered by mean build- 
 ings, is not calculated to inspire one with a- 
 very high estimation of its consequence : 
 but, on the door's being thrown open, an 
 effect bursts on the spectator, of so majestic 
 and singular a description, that words can 
 neither do justice to its merit, nor convey ah 
 adequate idea of the scene. It is neither a 
 mere creation of art nor an exhibition of na- 
 ture's charms ; but a grand spectacle, in which 
 
 position. Mr. Morris, who had a mind above vulgar pre- 
 judices, and who was a warm promoter of every useful im- 
 provement, being examined at the bar of the House and 
 questioned, " What roads have you in Monmouthshire ?" 
 replied, " None." — " How do you travel then ?" — « In 
 pitches," was his reply. 
 
 both 
 
CHAP. XVII. TINTERN ABBEY. 267^ 
 
 both seem to have blended their powers in, 
 producing something beautiful and sublime ! 
 
 Through long ranges of Gothic pillars and 
 arches, some displaying all the exquisite 
 workmanship of their clustered shafts, while 
 others are hung with shadowy festoons of ivy, 
 or lightly decorated with its waving tendrils, 
 the eye passes ; and, for a moment arrested 
 by the lofty arches rising in the middle of the 
 structure that formerly supported the tower, 
 it glides to the grand window at the termi- 
 nation of the ruin. Beyond this aperture, 
 distinguished by a shaft of uncommon light- 
 ness springing up the middle, some wild 
 wooded hills on the opposite side of the Wye 
 rear their dusky summits, and close the scene 
 with much congenial grandeur. The ruin is 
 generally in a high state of preservation ; the 
 outer walls are perfect; and the elegant 
 tracery of the west window above the en- 
 trance has not suffered in one of its members. 
 A singular circumstance of this ruin, and to 
 which may be ascribed its superior effect, is, 
 that the fallen roof and all the other rubbish 
 have been removed to the original level of 
 the pavement by order of the Duke of Beau- 
 fort, and a greensward smooth as a bowling- 
 green 
 
368 TINTERN ABBEY. CHAP. XVII* 
 
 green extended throughout. Hence all the 
 parts rise in their original and clue proportion, 
 ;and with an undisturbed effect. At the same 
 time, the uniformity of a lawn-like surface 
 is diversified with several clumps; consisting 
 of broken columns, cornices, and the muti- 
 lated effigies of monks and heroes *, whose 
 ashes repose within the walls : Light branch- 
 ing trees start from their interstices, and 
 throw a doubtful shadow over the sculptured 
 fragments. 
 
 Tintern Abbey is cruciform ; The length 
 of the nave and choir is two hundred and 
 thirty feet ; their width, thirty^hree ; and it 
 is a hundred and sixty feet to the extremes of 
 the transept. It was founded for Cistercian 
 monks by Walter de Clare, anno 1131 ; and 
 in- 1268, according to William of Worcester, 
 the abbot and monks entered the choir, and 
 celebrated the first mass at the high altar. It 
 is probable, that only that part of the build- 
 ing was then completed, as the other parts 
 
 * A rough carved figure of a man in a coat of mail is shewn 
 as the effigy of Richard Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, the 
 founder of the abbey. This account, however, is altoge- 
 ther erroneous: Pvichard was only great nephew of the 
 founder, and he was buried in the chapter-house of Glou- 
 cester. 
 
 of 
 
 
tHAP. XVII. TINTERN ABBEYS 269 
 
 of the church are of a later style of archi- 
 tecture ; and it was no uncommon thing for 
 the choir to be built and consecrated before 
 the rest of the structure was finished. 
 
 On entering the abbey, it was determined 
 that we should proceed no further that day : 
 getting rid, therefore, of my companion and 
 landlord, who retired in a consultation about 
 dinner, I locked myself in, and employed 
 several hours without interruption in sketch- 
 ing the interesting features of the ruin. At 
 an early hour the following morning we sal- 
 lied from our inn, and, crossing the Wye, 
 were greeted with a new effect of the abbey* 
 Majestically towering above encircling trees, 
 the external elevation arose in nearly its ori- 
 ginal grandeur. The walls, though clad 
 with moss and tender lichens, appeared no- 
 where dismantled ; yet might an eye, anx- 
 ious after picturesque forms, he offended with 
 the uniform angles and strait lines of the 
 gable ends and parapets. We walked along 
 the banks of the sinuous river about half a 
 mile from the ferry, when the ruin presented 
 itself in a very agreeable point of view. Look- 
 ing full through the grand aperture of the 
 eastern window, the rows of columns and 
 
 arches, 
 
270 TINTERN" ABBEYV CHAP. XVIf* 
 
 arches, overhung with clustering ivy, wore 
 the appearance of a delightful grove ; and at 
 the end of the perspective, the elegant tracery 
 of the opposite window, besprinkled with 
 verdure, was well defined ; and in its distant 
 tint had an admirable effect. These views 
 of the mouldering abbey, combined with the 
 wild scenery of the Wye, and the kindred 
 gloom of a lowering atmosphere, were truly 
 impressive and grand ; yet they scarcely ex- 
 cited such sensations of awful sublimity as 
 we felt on our first visit to the interior of the 
 ruin. 
 
 In our different walks between the inn and 
 the abbey, we were regularly beset with im- 
 portunities for alms : the labouring man 
 abandoned his employment and the house- 
 wife her family at the sight of a stranger, to 
 obtain a few pence by debasing clamour. 
 This system of begging we found to arise 
 from the late distresses, particularly that of 
 the preceding year, which, bearing on the 
 great class of the people with an almost an- 
 nihilating pressure, entitled them to the sym- 
 pathy and assistance of those whom fortune 
 had blessed with prosperity : they had strained 
 their aching sinews to meet the exigence, 
 
 yet 
 
CHAP. XVII. IRON-WORKS. 271 
 
 yet their utmost exertions proved inadequate 
 to the means of support. Thus situated, 
 alms or outrage formed their alternate re- 
 sources; but, happily, in the benevolence 
 of the affluent they found an asylum. This 
 pressure was fast withdrawing, but its effects 
 remained ; they had tasted the sweets of in- 
 dolence, of support without exertion ; they 
 no longer felt the dignity of independance 
 (for the odium of begging was withdrawn by 
 invincible necessity) ; and they continued 
 the unworthy trade without remorse. Ex- 
 cepting a few significant curtsies in the ma- 
 nufactories of Neath, this was the first in- 
 stance of the sort that we met with during 
 our tour. In other places, industry was 
 urged to its highest exertion ; here, by an 
 increased weight of necessity, it sunk be- 
 neath the pressure. 
 
 The iron-works of Tintern I believe to be 
 almost the only concern in the neighbour- 
 hood of Wales where the old method of 
 fusing the ore by charcoal furnaces continues 
 to be practised. The manufacture is pur- 
 sued to the forming of fine wire and plates. 
 
 The mineral wealth of this district was not 
 unknown to the ancients ; for large quantities 
 
 of 
 
Wftt IRON-WORKS, CHAP. XVlfi 
 
 of scoria imperfectly separated from the 
 metal, which are evidently the refuse of 
 Roman bldomeries, and many furnaces whose 
 origin no tradition reaches, appear in several 
 parts of the country. These Roman cinders 
 have been in many places reworked, ac- 
 cording to modern improvements in metal- 
 lurgy, and made to yield a considerable por- 
 tion of metal. The decline of the ancient 
 works is justly attributed to their exhausting 
 the forests which formerly overspread Wales, 
 for charcoal, until they were at length en- 
 tirely stopped for want of fuel. But within 
 this half century, coke made from pit-coal,- 
 which possesses the essential principles of 
 charcoal, has been applied with success to 
 the fusing of ore i in consequence, very nu- 
 merous iron-mines have been opened ; and, 
 aided by an inexhaustible supply of coals, 
 their produce has exceeded even the sanguine 
 hopes of the projectors. It must, howeveiv 
 be remarked, that iron made with pit-coal 
 is of inferior tenacity and ductility to that 
 manufactured by means of charcoal. Stfh©* 
 ther this arises from a radical defect in the 
 material used, from a too prodigal use of 
 calcareous earth to facilitate the flux of 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. XVII. ABBEY TINTERN. 273 
 
 the metal, or any other cause, remains yet 
 to be determined . 
 
 I cannot take leave of Tintern without 
 mentioning a circumstance for the benefit of 
 those tourists who may have an obstinate 
 beard, or a too pliant skin. Having dis- 
 patched an attendant for a barber on my ar- 
 riving at the inn, a blacksmith was forthwith 
 introduced, who proved to be the only shaver 
 in the village. The appearance of this man, 
 exhibiting, with all the sootiness of his em- 
 ployment, his brawny black arms bare to the 
 shoulders, did not flatter me with hopes of a 
 very mild operation ; nor were they increased 
 upon his producing a razor that for massive- 
 ness might have served a Polypheme. I sat 
 down, however, and was plentifully be- 
 smeared with suds ; after which he endea- 
 voured to supply the deficiency of an edge, 
 by exerting his ponderous strength in three or 
 four such scrapes as, without exciting my 
 finer feelings, drew more tears into my eyes, 
 than might have sufficed for a modern co- 
 medy. I waited for no more ; but, re- 
 leasing myself from his gripe, determined to 
 pa^s for a Jew Rabbi, rather than undergo 
 file penance of any more shaving a£ Tintern. 
 t We 
 
274 brook's weir. CHAP. XVII. 
 
 We crossed the Wye from Tintern, that 
 we might follow the beauties of the river in 
 our way to Monmouth ; then ascending a 
 precipitous wild-wooded hill, we took a 
 farevvel view of our much-loved abbey, and 
 soon looked down on the old village of Tin- 
 tern, delightfully placed on the opposite 
 bank of the Wye, and dignified with the 
 ruin of the Abbot's mansion *. Upon com- 
 pleting our descent in traversing the hill, we 
 entered the irregular village of Brook's Weir, 
 off which a number of sloops of from 80 to 
 1.00 tons were at anchor : these vessels were 
 waiting for their cargoes from Hereford and 
 Monmouth, which are brought hither in 
 flat-bottomed barges, as the tide flows no 
 higher than this place. We had now a de- 
 lightful ride for several miles over meadows 
 and pastures that skirted the Wye ; whose ma- 
 jestic stream, almost filling the narrow valley, 
 reflected the inclosing hills from its surface 
 in a style of inimitable beauty ; while the 
 rich ascending woods on either side threw a 
 softened light on the translucent river and 
 
 * The neighbourhood that has risen round the abbey is 
 called Abbey Tin tern, to distinguish it from this village, 
 which is aiiojit a mile distant. 
 
 ks 
 
CHAP. XVII. LANDAGO. 275 
 
 its verdant margin ; so sweetly in harmony 
 with the pleasing solitude of the scene, as 
 might dispose even revehy itself to fall in 
 love with retirement : 
 
 " O blest retirement, friend to life's decline., 
 " Retreat from care, that never must be mine : 
 {( How blest is he., -who crowns, in shades like these* 
 " A youth of labour with an age of ease !" 
 
 Ahout four , miles above Tin tern the rural 
 little village of Landago saluted us with its 
 white church and cottages, glistening through 
 encircling trees, as it skirted the river and 
 climbed the siJe of a lofty hill. We then 
 followed a gentle curvature of the Wye to 
 Bigg's Weir, a ridge of rocks which cross the 
 river, leaving only a small interval for the 
 current. A string of barges was unravelling 
 its course in this strait as we were passing ; 
 which ta^k seemed to en2,aee all the vigilance 
 and activity of the watermen. Near this spot 
 the house (an ordinary mansion) and grounds 
 of General Rooke, member Jgr the county 
 of Monmouth, occupying part of the river's 
 bank, obliged us to make a short deviation ; 
 but, soon returning to our limpid stream, we 
 caught a glimpse of the church and castle of 
 St. Bviavel, crowning an eminence in the 
 t 2 forest 
 
27$ THE WYE. CHAP. XVII. 
 
 forest of Dean just behind us; and in front, 
 a short distance beyond the opposite bank, 
 appeared the decaying importance of Pilson- 
 house. 
 
 The narrow stripe of meadow-land that ac- 
 companies the Wye from Brook's Weir to 
 Monmouth, and in which our road lay, 
 now became frequently shut up from public 
 convenience by fences crossing the tract, and 
 styles, in the place of open gates, which the 
 farmers had lately erected. We were there- 
 fore obliged to climb up the forest-clothed 
 hills, of almost inaccessible steepness, driving 
 our horses before us, and scrambling through 
 bush and briar; and only regained the mea- 
 dows to encounter a succeeding difficulty of 
 the same kind. But our last was the greatest ; 
 for, pursuing a track broken through a 
 closely-woven thicket that led over the hills, 
 we neglected a doubtful opening in the bram- 
 bles that indicated our road, and only guessed 
 that we were wrong from the tedious height 
 we were climbing. We had, however, gone 
 too far to retreat ; and therefore hoped, in 
 
 if 
 
 the true spirit of error, as we had certainly 
 missed tiie right path, that by proceeding 
 boldly on we might extricate ourselves by 
 
 another. 
 
CHAP. XVII. THE WYE. 277 
 
 another. At length we reached the top of 
 the hill, and with no small disappointment 
 beheld our track terminate at a lonely farm- 
 house ; where no one appeared to give us 
 information ; nor was any road whatever vi- 
 able for the pursuit of our journey. Yet the 
 view that this eminence commanded over 
 the sinuous Wye, sweeping among sloping 
 meadows, woods, and precipices, in some 
 sort repaid our fatigue. Obliged to return, 
 we forced a passage through tangled under- 
 wood to the margin of the river, which, here 
 forming an extensive reach between deep 
 shelving banks, was thrown into one grand 
 shadow. The evening was drawing to a 
 close ; and the retiring sun, no longer wan- 
 toning on the wavy current, sparingly glit- 
 tered on the woody treasures of its marginal 
 heights, but glared in full splendour on the 
 distant hills; nor was a brilliant sky wanting 
 to contrast the sombre solemnity of our vale: 
 
 " The evening clouds, 
 " Lucid or dusk with flamy purple edg'd, 
 " Float in gay pomp the blue horizon round - t 
 (C Amnsive, changeful, shifting into shapes 
 " Of visionary beauty ; antique towers 
 " With shadowy domes and pinnacles adorn'd ,• 
 <c Or hills of white extent, that rise, and sink 
 < ( As sportive fancy lists." 
 
 t 3 In 
 
278 REDBROOK. CHAP. XVII. 
 
 In this shady silent retreat we passed about 
 a mile, and emerged on the village of Red- 
 brook, where several groupes employed in 
 some iron and tin works, and in plying a 
 ferry, gave animation to the scene. From 
 this place, following a bold curve of the 
 river, and skirting the base of the lofty 
 Kymin, we soon came within view of Mon- 
 mouth ; the remarkably high spire of its 
 church ; and the large old Mansion of Troy, 
 in a low situation, a small distance to the left, 
 near the junction of the Trothy with the 
 Wye. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ - 19 3 
 
 C H A P. XVIII, 
 
 MONMOUTH CHURCH, PRIORY, AND 
 
 CASTLE THE KYMIN WONAS'TOW- 
 
 HOUSE TREOWEN TROY-HOUSE 
 
 TRELECH PERTHIR NEWCASTLE — 
 
 SCENFRITH CASTLE GROSSMONT CAS- 
 TLE JOHN OF KENT. 
 
 MONMOUTH is delightfully situated in 
 a gently undulating valley, chiefly in a high 
 state of cultivation, surrounded by high hills: 
 it occupies a sort of peninsula formed by the 
 conflux of the Wye and the Monnow ; so 
 that it is nearly incircled by the two rivers. 
 The town is extensive, and contains many 
 good houses ; particularly in a principal broad 
 street, which extends from the market-place 
 to an old British or Saxon bridge and gateway 
 over the Monnow. The market-place, with 
 T 4 the 
 
280 MONMOUTH CHURCH. CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 the town-hall over it, is a handsome build- 
 ing; but sadly disfigured by an awkward 
 statue of Henry the Fifth, which, no doubt, 
 was intended to ornament it. From this part 
 a narrow street leads to St. Mary's church, 
 which is also a handsome modern edifice, 
 chiefly remarkable for its grand lofty spire 
 rising 200 feet from the foundation ; the 
 tower of which affords an interesting view 
 of the surrounding districts. This structure 
 is engrafted upon a Gothic church that be- 
 longed to an Alien Benedictine priory of 
 Black Monks, which was founded in the 
 reign of Henry the First, and dedicated to 
 the Holy Virgin. The priory-house forms a 
 large family residence belonging to Adam 
 Williams, Esq; and contains an apartment 
 which the legend of the place declares to 
 have been the library of the celebrated 
 Geoffery of Monmouth ; but the style of the 
 building is by no means so ancient as the time 
 of Geoffery, who, we find, was consecrated 
 bishop of St. Asaph in 1 152. 
 
 e( The chronicle of Briton's kings 
 tc From Brute to Arthur's rayne," 
 
 written by Geoffery, has long excited the 
 attention and controversy of the learned : by 
 
 some 
 
CHAP. XVIII. MONMOUTH CASTLE. 2#t 
 
 some it is implicitly believed ; and rejected, 
 as altogether fabulous, by others. The mo- 
 derate opinion here, as in most other cases, 
 is the best : this views it as founded on au- 
 thentic documents, although distorted by 
 monkish superstition and tricks, and a taste 
 for the marvellous. 
 
 Monmouth Castle, situated on the 
 banks of the Monnow in the northern part 
 of the town, exhibits few memorials of its 
 former extent and magnificence in its present 
 very dilapidated state ; and the remaining 
 fragments lose much of their characteristic 
 dignity from the brick y appearance given by 
 the red grit stone of which they are con- 
 structed. Among these broken walls are 
 shewn, with no small degree of exultation, 
 traces of the chamber in which Henry the 
 Fifth, the glory of Monmouth, was born, 
 Adjoining to this is the ruin of a large apart- 
 ment, sixty-three feet long by forty-six wide, 
 which was probably the baronial hall, and in 
 latter times formed the court of the Assizes. 
 Other vestiges of the castle are evident among 
 stables and out-houses : some vaults under the 
 house of Mr. Cecil, of the DyfTrin, are of 
 
 the 
 

 282 MONMOUTH CASTLE. CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 the oldest character, and may be attributed 
 to Saxon if not to Roman workmanship. 
 
 The general building of this castle (though 
 of very remote foundation) may be consi- 
 dered as posterior to the Civil wars in the 
 third Henry's reign ; when, we learn, the 
 castle of Monmouth was taken and rased to the 
 ground by Simon Montford, Earl of Leicester. 
 A large mansion on the site of the castle, 
 built with its materials, and engrafted on its 
 ruins, is now occupied as a ladies' boarding- 
 school. Soon after the erection of this house, 
 a Marchioness of Worcester went thither to 
 lie-in of her first child, at the instance of her 
 grandfather, Henry, first Duke of Beaufort, 
 who was anxious that his descendant should 
 draw his first breath " near the same spot of 
 ground and space of air, where ;our great 
 hero Henry the Fifth was born." 
 
 Near the extremity of the town, by the 
 side of the Monnow, is the county gaol ; a 
 new massive stone building, which in its 
 plan, regulations, and superintendance, does 
 high credit to the public spirit of the county. 
 Without the town, at the foot of the Mon- 
 now-briclge, is St. Thomas's church, a cu- 
 rious 
 
CHAP. XVIII. MONMOUTlt. 283 
 
 rious old structure which is supposed to have 
 been built by the Saxons. 
 
 Monmouth is supposed by Mr. Horsley to 
 have been a Roman station, the Blestium of 
 Antoninus. It is a borough and corporate town, 
 governed by a mayor, and contains about 
 six hundred houses, and two thousand six 
 hundred inhabitants. Woollen caps were the 
 staple manufacture of Monmouth when that 
 article was in general use ; and Shakspeare's 
 Fluellen alludes to this fashion : " If your 
 " Majesty is remembered of it, the Welch- 
 " men did goot service in a garden where 
 " leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their 
 " Monmouth caps." But the town has now 
 no manufacture, although there are some 
 iron and tin works in the neighbourhood : 
 its commerce depends on the navigation of 
 the Wye, in the distribution of goods between 
 Bristol, Hereford, and adjoining districts. 
 Yet no small part of its thriving appearance 
 may be attributed to the numerous gentry 
 that are induced to fix their residence here 
 from the pleasantness of the situation. 
 
 Chippenham meadow, an agreeable plain, 
 inclosed by the town, the Wye, and the 
 Monnow, is the general rendezvous of G wen- 
 ton ian 
 
$81 THE KYMIN. CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 tonian beauty on summer (and particularly 
 on Sunday) evenings. We had the good for- 
 tune to be in Monmouth on a Sunday, and 
 of course did not neglect to join the prome- 
 nade ; where many a squire of little manors 
 eyed us with much more inquiry than cor- 
 diality. Their dulcineas, 
 
 " Healthful and strong, full as the summer rose 
 " Blown by prevailing, suns/' 
 
 displayed the vigour of youth and Wales, 
 and possessed decided points of feminine at- 
 traction. But who would leave London to 
 describe female beauty? 
 
 In the vicinity of Monmouth is a remark- 
 ably high hill, called the Kymin, which 
 rises from the banks of the Wye, on the 
 Gloucestershire side of the river. A pleasant 
 walk is traced to its summit, from which a 
 wonderful range of prospect extends to a cir- 
 cumference of near three hundred miles. 
 It would be tedious to enumerate the mul- 
 tifarious objects that present themselves in 
 this great prospect : if any one be eminently 
 beautiful, it is the diversified undulating vale 
 of Monmouth, enlivened by its picturesque 
 town and spire, and watered by the Wye, 
 
 the 
 
CHAP. XVIII. WONASTOW-HOUSE. 285 
 
 the Monnow, and the Troth y, limpidly me- 
 andering through fertile hollows, and at 
 length uniting, in the course of the former 
 river, at the foot of the hill. At the top of 
 the Kymin, a handsome pavilion has been 
 lately erected for the accommodation of 
 parties ; its summit is also adorned with a rich 
 wood called Beau lieu grove, which, descend- 
 ing over part of its . precipitous sides, forms its 
 proudest ornament. Several walks cut through 
 the wood terminate at the brow of steep de- 
 clivities, commanding great and enchanting 
 views; and which in the spring, as I am 
 told, from the universality of apple orchards 
 in this district, are as singular as they arc 
 beautiful. 
 
 There are several antique mansions in the 
 neighbourhood of Monmouth that deserve 
 notice. About a mile from the town, on 
 the left of the road to Raglan, is Wonastqw- 
 house, formerly a residence of a branch of 
 the Herbert family *, which is conjectured 
 to have been built about the reign of Henry 
 the Sixth . Its situation, on a gentle emi- 
 
 * The Herberts came over soon after the Conquest, and 
 settled at Worn dee, near Abergavenfjy, 
 
 nencs 
 
236 TREOWEtf. CHAP. XVTII. 
 
 nence commanding many extensive views, 
 is extremely pleasant ; and the surrounding 
 farm-lands still bear traces' of ■ its park in se- 
 veral groves of ancient oaks and elms. The 
 edifice, though much diminished in extent 
 and divided into two distinct habitations, is 
 still a venerable relic of the times, and con- 
 tains several original family portraits. The 
 old chapel belonging to the mansion is now 
 applied to domestic use. 
 
 Treowen, situated about a mile further 
 westward, to the north of the road to Raglan, 
 was once a splendid mansion, built by Inigo 
 Jones, and which belonged to another scion 
 from the Herbert stock. The position of the 
 house and grounds, now laid out in a farm, 
 is very delightful, watered by the meander- 
 ing Trothy, and still exhibiting a profusion 
 of rich woods. Though occupied as a farm- 
 house, and much reduced in dimensions, 
 the mansion continues to shew many marks 
 of its ancient grandeur, in the spacious and 
 decorative style of the apartments, a noble 
 staircase of oak, and its ornamented porch. 
 
 Troy-house, standing within a mile 
 south-east of Monmouth, near the road to 
 Chepstow, was a residence of a further rami- 
 fication 
 
CHAP. XVIII. TROY-HOUSE. 1287 
 
 -fication of the prolific Herbert race *. Part 
 of the ancient residence is visible in a Gothic 
 gateway ; but the house is of a later date, its 
 erection being, as well as the preceding, at- 
 tributed to Inigo Jones. Neither the house, 
 though extensive, nor its situation, in a 
 hollow near the river Troth y, possess any 
 claim to admiration. Throughout the apart- 
 ments a large collection of family pictures is 
 arranged, which contains the portraits of 
 many distinguished characters, but very few 
 specimens of fine painting. In the house- 
 keeper's room is a curious oak chimney-piece, 
 
 * The manor of Troy deviated from the Herbert line to 
 that of the earls -of Worcester about the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century. In the Apophthegms of the Marquis of 
 Worcester is related a punning jeu d esprit upon the word 
 Troy, between the old Marquis and his royal guest Charles 
 the First. Sir Thomas Somerset, the Marquis's brother, 
 residing at Troy-house, possessed a greater art in forcing 
 plants than was at that time generally understood in England ; 
 which enabled him to send a present of fruit to the Marquis 
 that was entirely out of the natural season. The old Peer, 
 highly pleased, carried them to the King, and said, " Here 
 " I present you, Sire, with that which came not from Lin- 
 li coin that was, nor London that is, nor York that is to be, 
 " but from Troy." Whereupon the King smiled, and an- 
 swered the Marquis, ". Truly, my Lord, I have heard that 
 " corn grows where Troy town stood ; but I never thought 
 {t that there had grown any apricots before." 
 
 brought 
 
238 TRELECII. CHAP. XVIII, 
 
 brought from Raglan Castle, carved with 
 scriptural subjects; and in a room on the 
 third floor is another ancient chimney-piece 
 inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and curiously or- 
 namented with devices of Love and Plenty. 
 
 About three miles further on the road to 
 Chepstow is the village of Trelech, which 
 is supposed to have derived its name from 
 fhree druidical stones standing in a held ad- 
 joining the road, near the church. They 
 are placed upright, or rather inclining; of 
 different heights, varying between ten and 
 fifteen feet ; and the exterior stones are the 
 one fourteen, and the other twenty feet 
 distant from the middle pillar : their sub- 
 stance is a concretion of silicious pebbles in a 
 calcareous bed, commonly called pudding- 
 stone, and of which some neighbouring rocks 
 consist. This monument of antiquity is con- 
 sidered to liave been the supporting part of a 
 cromlech; but the stones being so far asun- 
 der invalidates the conjecture. Various large 
 masses of the same sort of stone in the vi- 
 cinity of Trelech seem to indicate the re- 
 mains of other works of the same kind. 
 
 In the village, inclosed by a garden, is an 
 earthen mound four hundred and fifty feet 
 
 in 
 
CHAP. XVIII. TRELECH. 289 
 
 in diameter, encircled by a moat, and con- 
 nected with extensive entrenchments ; which 
 is imagined to have been a Roman work, 
 and afterwards to have been the site of a 
 castle belonging to the Earls of Clare. The 
 village is also remarkable for a chalybeate 
 well that was formerly much attended. Near 
 the church, which deserves to be noticed 
 for the agreeable proportions of its Gothic 
 members and its handsome spire, is a pedestal 
 with a sun-dial, supposed to be of high anti- 
 quity : it bears a Latin inscription, com- 
 memoratino; Harold's victory over the Britons. 
 Large quantities of iron scoria, scattered over 
 the fields near the village, are generally al- 
 lowed to indicate that a Roman bioomeiy 
 was established near the spot. 
 
 From this place the road soon ascends the 
 Devaudon height, traverses a tract of forest 
 called Chepstow Park, and in the course of 
 its progress embraces several superb and ex- 
 tensive views ; in which the varieties of the 
 Wye, of hanging woods, wild heathy moun- 
 tains, and rich inclosures, rise in succession. 
 
 We made an excursion from Monmouth, 
 on the road to Hereford, as far as Grosrnont. 
 Proceeding through a charming country about 
 
 h three 
 
290 FERTHlR. CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 three miles, we struck off on the right to 
 visit Perth i r, a very ancient seat of the 
 Herbert family. Of the castellated mansion, 
 surrounded by a moat and two drawbridges, 
 few vestiges appear in the present diminished 
 and patched-up building ; yet some marks of 
 former magnificence meet tlie observer, in a 
 long vaulted hall, with a music gallery at the 
 end, a lar<re Gothic window with stone com- 
 partments, and the massive oak beams of a 
 long passage. The extensive manors that 
 were attached to Perth ir, and which, as tra- 
 dition relates, extended from thence to Ross, 
 now exhibit but a sorry remnant of past opu- 
 lence. 
 
 Mr. Lorimer, the present possessor of the 
 estate, and a descendant of the Herberts' by 
 the female line, merrily relates an anecdote 
 rising out of a contest for precedence be- 
 tween the houses of Perthir and Werndee ; 
 and which, it has been remarked, was car- 
 ried on with as much inveteracy as that be- 
 tween the houses of York and Lancaster, and 
 was only perhaps less bloody, as they had 
 not the power of sacrificing the lives of thou- 
 sands in their foolish quarrel. Mr* Proger. 
 of Werndee, in company with a friend, 
 
 returning 
 

 CHAP. XVIII PERTHIR. 191 
 
 returning from Monmouth to his home* was 
 suddenly overtaken by a violent storm ; and, 
 unable to proceed; groped his way for re- 
 fuge to his cousin Powell's, at Perthir. The 
 family was retired to rest ; but the loud calls 
 of the tern nest-beaten travellers soon brought 
 Mr. Powell to a window; and k few words 
 informed him of his relation's predicament, 
 requesting a night's lodging; ''What! is 
 M it you, cousin Progcr ? you and your friend 
 " shall be instantly admitted ;— but upon one 
 " condition, that you will never dispute with 
 " me hereafter upon my being the head of 
 f* the family. " — << Jjb| sir;" returned Mr. 
 Proger> " were it to rain swords and daggers, 
 M I would drive this night to Werndee, rather 
 u than lower the consequence of my family." 
 Here a string of arguments was brought for- 
 ward on each side ; which* however in- 
 teresting to the parties* would prove very 
 trifling in relation, arid which, Kite all other 
 contests grounded in prejudice and proceeded 
 in with petulance; but served to fix both 
 parties more firmly in their errors. They 
 parted in the bitterest enmity; and the stran- 
 ger; who had silently waited the issue of 
 the contest in vain solicited a shelter from 
 v % the 
 
292 SCRENFRITH CASTLE. CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 the storm; for he was a friend of cousin 
 Proger's ! 
 
 Leaving Perth ir, we soon passed through 
 the little village of Newcastle, which derives 
 its name from a castle that may still be traced 
 in an earthen mound 300 feet in circum- 
 ference, and some intrenchments, but whose 
 history no tradition reaches. This barrow, 
 and an ancient oak of extraordinary size, are 
 considered by the superstitious neighbourhood 
 to be under the immediate protection of spirits 
 and fairies, and to form the scene of their 
 nocturnal revels. A spring near the village 
 is deemed miraculous in the cure of rheu- 
 matic and other disorders. 
 
 Within a mile from this place we struck off 
 the turnpike towards Screnfrith Castle, 
 situated on the banks of the Monnow, in a 
 sequestered spot environed by high hills. 
 This fortress is of the simplest construction ; 
 its area, . of a trapezium form, is merely sur- 
 rounded bv a curtain wall with circular 
 towers covering each angle, and a demi- 
 turret projecting from the middle of one side. 
 Near the centre of the area is a Juliet, or high 
 round tower, upon a mound, which formed 
 the keep, . the door and window apertures of 
 
 which 
 
CHAP. XVIII. SCRRNFRITH CASTLE. 293 
 
 which are circularly arched ; but the exte- 
 rior walls of the castle appear to have been 
 originally only furnished with oilets or chinks 
 for shooting arrows through. Encumbered 
 by the lowly habitations of a poor village, it 
 has little claim to picturesque merit from 
 most points of view ; but on the opposite side 
 of the Monnow, combined with a Gothic 
 bridge of two arches crossing the stream, it 
 forms a pleasing picture, Screnfrith Castle 
 is allowed to be the oldest in Monmouthshire; 
 it is certainly of British erection, and is 
 probably of as remote antiquity as any in 
 Wales. 
 
 Screnfrith, Grpsmont, and White Castles, 
 formerly defended the lordship of Overwent; 
 which, extending from the Wye to the Usk, 
 nearly comprised the whole northern portion 
 of Monmouthshire. This tract of country, 
 with its castles, fell into the hands of Brian 
 Fitz Count, Earl of Hereford, who came 
 over with the Conqueror; but soon deviated 
 from his family, and was afterwards seized 
 by Henry the Third, and conferred on his 
 favourite Hubert de Burgh. Upon the dis- 
 grace of that virtuous and able minister, the 
 capricious monarch granted the three castles 
 v 3 to 
 
Q94* GROSMONT. * CHAP. XVIIIo 
 
 to his son the Earl of Lancaster; and, with 
 Caldecot castle, they still remain annexed to 
 the dutchy. 
 
 The continuance of our journey to Gross- 
 mont, wandering in an irriguous valley 
 among bye-lanes that were scarcely passable, 
 although it proved very tedious in travelling, 
 afforded us a succession of the most pleasing 
 retired scenes imaginable. On our right a 
 diversity of swells and hollows, variously 
 clad in wild woods or cultivation, extended 
 throughout our ride, where the lively and 
 transparent Monnow, illumined by 
 
 " The noon-tide beams 
 " Which sparkling dances on the trembling stream/' 
 
 serpentized its current in endless variety. Im- 
 mediately on our left, the Graig, a huge so- 
 litary mountain, reared its towering sides 
 from the low lands in uncontended majesty,, 
 and accompanied our road to the pleasing 
 little village of Grosmont. 
 
 This place stands at the north-eastern limit 
 of Monmouthshire, in an agreeable undu- 
 lating valley, diversified with wood and pas- 
 ture, and beautifully accompanied by the 
 meandering Monnow, here wantoning its 
 
 most 
 
CHAP. XVIII. GROSMONT CASTLE. 295 
 
 most fantastic course. On an eminence near 
 the village, and swelling above the river, is 
 the picturesque ruin of its castle ; a pile of 
 no great extent, but well disposed, and pro- 
 fusely decorated with shrubs and ivy. The 
 form of the structure is irregular : large cir- 
 cular towers cover the angles of the ramparts; 
 within which are traces of the baronial hall 5 
 and other apartments, and beyond the mount 
 are some remains of the barbican, or redoubt, 
 and several entrenchments. All the door 
 and window arches are pointed Gothic, and 
 of the proportion in use about the thirteenth 
 century ; but the foundation of the castle is 
 supposed to be coeval with that of Scren- 
 frith's. — Grosmont church is a large Gothic 
 structure, built in the form of a Roman cross; 
 and, with its octagon tower, and high tapering 
 spire, is a conspicuous ornament to the 
 village . 
 
 Though now an insignificant cluster of ha- 
 bitations, Grosmont was formerly a town of 
 some note. Many exterior traces of build- 
 ings, and raised causeways, constructed like 
 Roman roads with large blocks of stone, di- 
 verging from it, prove its antique extent and 
 Irriportance to have been considerable : nor 
 v 4 is 
 
'296 JOHN OF KENT. CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 is the legend of the place deficient in assert- 
 ing its quondam consequence. 
 
 But with still higher interest, with more volu- 
 ble earnestness, the natives recount the exploits 
 of their reputed necromancer, John of Kent. 
 Among a thousand other instances of his 
 magical skill, they confidently assure you, 
 that when he was a hoy, being ordered to 
 protect some corn from the birds, he con- 
 jured all the crows in the neighbourhood 
 into a barn without a roof, and by force of 
 his incantations obliged them to remain there 
 while he visited Grosmont fair. ■* A greater 
 service that he performed for the country- 
 was, his building the bridge over the Mon- 
 now in one night by the agency of one of 
 his familiars. Long did his strange actions 
 frighten men out of their wits ; and at 
 length, dying, he outwitted the devil ; for, 
 in consideration of services while living, he 
 agreed to surrender himself to his satanic 
 majesty after his death, whether he was bu- 
 ried in or out of church ; but, by ordering 
 his body to be interred under the church 
 wall, he contrived to slip out of the contract. 
 A stone in the church-yard, near the chan- 
 cel, 
 
CHAP. XVIII. JOHN OF KENT, 297 
 
 eel, is said to mark the spot of this inter- 
 ment. 
 
 Higher tradition relates, that this extraor- 
 dinary personage was a monk, who, pos- 
 sessing a greater knowledge in natural philo- 
 sophy than could at that time be generally 
 comprehended, was reputed a sorcerer. The 
 family of the Scudamores, at Kentchurch- 
 house, about a mile from Grosmont, where 
 he became domesticated, had a Latin trans- 
 lation of the Bible written by him on vellum, 
 but which is now lost. An ancient painting 
 of him upon wood is, however, preserved in 
 the mansion ; and a cellar in the house is 
 described to have been the stable of his 
 horses; steeds of no vulgar pedigree, which 
 carried him through the air with more than 
 the speed of witches. 
 
 From a collation of different legends and 
 circumstances, several respectable enquirers 
 are inclined to believe, that this necromancer 
 was no other than the famous Owen Glen- 
 dower ; who, after his defeat, and the dis- 
 persion of his army, concealed himself in 
 the disguise of a bard, or wizard. A strong 
 circumstance which favours this conjecture is, 
 
 that 
 
29S JOHN OF KENT. CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 that the daughter of Glendower married a 
 Scudarnorc, who at the time occupied Kcnt- 
 church-house. It may also be remarked, 
 that neither the time of the chief's death, nor 
 the place of his sepulture, were ever posi- 
 tively ascertained. 
 
 Upon our return to Monmouth from this 
 excursion, we had the good fortune to fall 
 into the .company of Mr. Wathen of Here- 
 ford, the benefit of whose local information 
 apd obliging assiduities has been felt by nu- 
 merous tourists, as well as ourselves. This 
 gentleman pointed out the most striking 
 beauties of the Wye toward Ross ; and 
 of his directions we gladly availed ourselves 
 the following morning, when we bade 
 adieu to Wales and Monmouthshire. But, 
 as it is my object to effect a general deli- 
 neation of that tract of country, I shall not 
 hesitate to break the thread of my tour, and 
 suspend a description of the Wye's scenery 
 and some further continuance of our route, 
 while I traverse the north-western part of 
 Monmouthshire, and the eastern frontier of 
 South-Wales, which yet remains unexplored. 
 In this part of my work, I must describe 
 
 things 
 
CHAP. XVIII, TOUR, 299 
 
 things as they appeared to me six years 
 since, when I visited this portion of coun- 
 try in my return from a tour through the 
 North of England and Wales, assisted by 
 the best documents and observations that I 
 have since been able to procure, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 3oo ] 
 
 C H A P. XIX, 
 
 ABBEY OF GRACE-DIEU SIR DAVID GAM 
 
 WHITE CASTLE ABERGAVENNY HILLS 
 
 — THE TOWNj CASTLE, AND CHURCH. 
 
 WlTHIN a short distance southward of 
 the road from Monmouth to Abergavenny, 
 and about three miles from the first-men- 
 tioned town, are the small remains of the 
 abbey of Grace-dieu, chiefly formed into 
 a bam, situated on a sequestered bank of the 
 Troth y. A farm on the opposite side of the 
 river was the park belonging to the abbey ; 
 and hence it is called Parc-gras-dieu farm; 
 the house of which is built on the ruins of the 
 ancient lodge. 
 
 LlandiloCresseney, the seat of Richard 
 Lewis, Esq; pleasingly situated in a rich un- 
 dulating country to the south of the road, 
 about halfway to Abergavenny, is a modern 
 
 house 
 
CHAP. XIX. WHITE CASTLE. 301 
 
 house built on the site of an ancient mansion 
 of the Powells. The position commands an 
 interesting prospect of the neighbouring coun- 
 try; and in the home vievv the church of 
 Llandilo, with its high spire, forms a pic- 
 turesque and leading object. In an adjoin- 
 ing field, belonging to a farm that was for- 
 merly the red-deer park of Raglan castle, is 
 the site of Old Court, once the residence of 
 the celebrated Sir David Gam, not less known 
 for his courageous report upon having recon- 
 noitred the enemy before the battle of Agin- 
 court (" An't please you, my liege, there 
 " are enough to be killed, enough to run 
 " away, and enough to be taken prisoners") 
 than for his valorous achievements and pre- 
 servation of the kings life in the encounter, 
 though at the expence of his own. The 
 dukes of Beaufort and the earls of Pembroke 
 are descended from Gladys, one of his nu- 
 merous progeny, which tradition has by no 
 means curtailed ; for it is asserted, that his 
 children formed a line reaching from his 
 house to the church. 
 
 The ruins of White Castle are very con- 
 siderable, crowning the summit of a ridgy 
 eminence a mile and a half to the north of 
 
 Llandilo, 
 
502 WHITE CASTLE. CHAP. XXX; 
 
 Llandilo. Their figure is irregular ; flanked 
 by six circular towers, Which, with the ram- 
 parts, are pierced with oilets. Two ad- 
 vancing massive towers guard the entrance, 
 which was provided with a portcullis and 
 drawbridge, and rendered still more formi- 
 dable by an uncommonly large outwork be- 
 yond the moat, which is remarkably deep. 
 This ruin is from every point of view im- 
 posing and grand ; but its ponderous unorna- 
 mented towers, and its lofty battlements, 
 whose dark colour is rendered still more 
 dismal by the broad shadows of impendent 
 foliage, rather conspire to raise an image of 
 baronical haughtiness and oppression, than of 
 its show and hospitality ; yet, in the time of 
 Elizabeth, Churchyard describes it to be 
 
 te A statelie seate, a loftie p'riftcelie place, 
 
 et Whose beautie gives the simple soyle some grace." 
 
 From the architecture of this castle I should 
 suppose its antiquity to be at least coeval with 
 the first settlement of the Normans in Gwcnu 
 if not even more remote. Its history is com- 
 mon with that of Screnfrith and Grosmont; 
 but over both these it holds a decided supe- 
 riority in extent, and massiveness of con- 
 struction. 
 
 On 
 
CHAP. XIX, ABERGAVENNY HILLS. 303 
 
 On approaching Abergavenny, the 
 tourist's attention is involuntarily arrested by 
 the singular beauty and variety of interest 
 which the spot embraces, particularly in its 
 encircling hills. The road skirting the Little 
 Sky ri eld, a well-formed hill richly kid out 
 in wood and pasture, opens to a fine display 
 of the vale of Usk beneath ; on the opposite 
 side of which the continuous ridge of the 
 wild Pontvpool hills, which form the west- 
 ern boundary of the county, terminate in 
 the heathy high-swelling Blorenge : a tract 
 of wood sweeps along its base, and mixes 
 with the sylvan knoll of Lanfoist, decorating 
 its northern extremity. Further to the right, 
 the elegant smooth cone of the Sugar-loaf, 
 the highest of the Monmouthshire mountains, 
 presents itself, issuing from among the four 
 tributary eminences of the Pen-y-vale hills. 
 Eastward of this mountain is the Great Sky- 
 ridd, an object of considerable interest ; its 
 bipartite and truly Alpine summit, without 
 being a forced opposition, strikingly con- 
 trasts the general undulating line of the 
 neighbouring hills, and rears a distinct and 
 noble character on the scene. The views 
 from this mountain are scarcely inferior to 
 
 those 
 
304 ABERGAVENNY HILLS. CHAP. XIX. 
 
 those from the Sugar-loaf; while its craggy 
 form, its asperitous summit, jagged into an 
 immense fissure, and shelving to a ridge apex 
 of fearful narrowness, impress a mixed emo- 
 tion of awe and admiration on the adven- 
 turous climber of the height, that more than 
 compensates for a small inferiority of altitude. 
 There was formerly, at the top of this moun- 
 tain, a Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to 
 St Michael, of which no vestiges remain ; 
 but a remembrance of the site is preserved in 
 a hollow place formed by the superstitious, 
 who, resorting here on Michaelmas eve, 
 carry away the earth to strew over the sepul- 
 chres of their friends. According to the ba- 
 rometrical measurement of General Roy, the 
 height of the Sugar-loaf mountain is 1852 
 feet perpendicular above the Gavenny ri- 
 vulet, near its junction with the Usk. The 
 Blorenge is 1720, and the Great Skyridd 
 1498 feet from the same level. 
 
 The expansive bases of these mountains, 
 nearly approximating, descend to a finely- 
 wooded fertile valley ; through which the 
 river Usk, rushing from a majestic portal of 
 wood, winds in a bright translucid stream, 
 with all the impetuosity of its mountain 
 
 character. 
 
CHAP. XIX. ABERGAVENNY. 305 
 
 character. At the foot of one of the confe- 
 derated hills sustaining the towering cone of 
 the Sugar-loaf, which gently inclines to the 
 river, Abergavenny is situated; a straggling 
 irregular town, pleasingly interspersed with 
 trees, but deriving its highest attraction from 
 the charms of its position. 
 
 Upon an eminence above the river, near 
 the southern extremity of the town, is the 
 ruined castle, which in its present state ex- 
 hibits very few memorials of former mag- 
 nificence. The gate-house, or principal 
 entrance, is tolerably entire, and vestiges 
 of two courts may be traced among the 
 broken ! walls • but of the citadel no traces 
 remain, although an intrenched rnoui^ close 
 to the ruins evidently marks its site. The 
 town was also fortified, and many portions of 
 the work remain, particularly Tudor's gate, 
 the western entrance, furnished with two 
 portcullisses, and remarkable for the beauti- 
 fully composed landscape seen through it. 
 This castle is said to have been built by a 
 giant named Agros : without contending for 
 the accuracy of this tradition, however, it is 
 certain, that the principal part was erected 
 
 x by 
 
306 ABERGAVENNY CASTLE. CHAP. XIX, 
 
 by the Normans upon the site of a British 
 fortress. 
 
 In the twelfth century some native forces, 
 headed by Sitfylt ap Dyfnwald, a Welch 
 prince, assailed this castle, and took pri- 
 soners the Anglo-Norman garrison, with their 
 chief, William-de-Braose, lord of Brecon. 
 William being, upon an adjustment of dif- 
 ferences, reinstated in his possessions, invited 
 Sitfylt, his son Geoffery, and other chieftains of 
 Gwent, to a great feast at Abergavenny Castle, 
 where they were all treacherously murdered : 
 he then surprised Sitfylt's house, and slew his 
 other son, Cadwallader, in the presence of 
 his mother. This barbarity did not escape 
 punishment. William, flying his country, 
 died a wretched wanderer at Paris ; and his 
 wife and son were famished in Windsor 
 Castle. The fate of his grandson, Reginald, 
 may also be considered in the light of a retri- 
 bution : Llewelyn prince of Wales, suspect- 
 ing him, as Dugdale relates, " of over much 
 familiarity with his wife," subtilly invited 
 him to an eastern feast; and towards the 
 close of the banquet, charging him with the 
 act, threw him into prison, where he suf- 
 fered 
 
CHAP. XIX. ABERGAVENNY CHURCH. 307 
 
 fered a violent death, together with the 
 adultress. In 1273, we find the country of 
 Overwent, including the castle of Aber- 
 gavenny^ in the possession of John de 
 Hastings, a very pink of chivalry. A suc- 
 cession of valorous knights inherited this do* 
 main ; but Richard Earl of Warwick, who 
 became lord of Abergavenny in the com- 
 mencement of tlie fifteenth century, sur- 
 passed them all, and even John himself, in 
 military. fame, and manners debonnair: he 
 signalized himself in tournaments at most of 
 the courts in Europe, and obtained the ho- 
 nourable appellation of " the father of 
 courtesy.' ' 
 
 The church is a large Gothic structure, 
 and appears to have been built in the form of 
 a Roman cross, but is now curtailed of its 
 transepts ; at the juncture of one of them, 
 a circular arch, now filled up, wears a Nor- 
 man character, and seems to have been part 
 of the original building. Three arches, cu- 
 riously dissimilar, . separate the north aile 
 from the nave. The choir remains in its an- 
 tique state, with stalls for a prior and his 
 monks, formed of oak, and rudely carved ; 
 and the ailes on either side are furnished 
 x 2 with 
 
SOS ABERGAVENNY CHURCH. CHAP. XIX. 
 
 with the monuments of several illustrious per- 
 sonages. 
 
 On the north of the choir is the figure of a 
 man in a coat of mail, with a bull at his 
 feet ; supposed to be the monument of Sir 
 Edward Nevill, which is thus explained by 
 Churchyard : 
 
 " His force was much \ for he by strength 
 
 <e With bull did struggle so, 
 " He broke cleane off his horns at length, 
 
 " And therewith let him go." 
 
 On the opposite side is the recumbent effigy 
 of an armed knight, his legs across*, and 
 his feet resting on a greyhound. Of this the 
 sexton's legend relates, that the knight, re- 
 turning home, saw his infant son lying on 
 the floor covered with blood, with his cradle 
 overturned at his side, and the hound stand- 
 ing by, with his mouth besmeared with gore. 
 Conceiving that the dog had attacked the 
 child, he instantly killed it ; but soon disco- 
 vered, that the blood issued from a large ser- 
 
 * This cross-legged position of sepulchral effigies does not 
 denote that the person represented was a Knight Templar, 
 as is generally supposed , but that he had visited the Holy 
 Land : indeed, his having entered into vows that he would 
 perform the journey., entitled him to this distinction. 
 
 pent 
 
CHAP. XIX. ABERGAVENNY CHURCH. 30$ 
 
 pent that had writhed about the child, and 
 which this faithful animal had destroyed. 
 
 In the middle of the south aile of the 
 choir, generally called the Herberts' chapel, 
 is the effigy of Sir William ap Thomas, and 
 his wife Gladys, daughter of the celebrated 
 Sir David Gam. Beneath a handsome ala- 
 baster monument, at the further end of the 
 chapel, repose the ashes of Sir Richard Her- 
 bert, of Cold brook, and his wife. This Sir 
 Richard, a younger son of the just men- 
 tioned Sir William ap Thomas, was a man of 
 gigantic stature and uncommon strength. In 
 the contest between the houses of York and 
 Lancaster, he with his brother the Earl of 
 Pembroke supported the White rose at the 
 battle of Banbury, where he was at length 
 taken prisoner, and finally executed by the 
 successful faction; but not until he had 
 passed and repassed twice through the adverse 
 army, killing with a pole-ax no less than 
 140 men; which, his illustrious descendant 
 and biographer, lord Herbert of Cberbury, 
 remarks, is more than is famed of Amadis de 
 Gaul, or the Knight of the Sun. The richest 
 monument in the church is that of Sir 
 Richard Herbert of Ewias, " his nephew, 
 x 3 which 
 
310 ABERGAVENNY. CHAP. XIX. 
 
 which occupies a recess in the south wall of 
 the chapel. 
 
 Before the dissolution of religious houses, 
 this church belonged to a priory of Bener 
 dictine monks, which was founded by 
 Hamelin Baladun *, who is also said to have 
 built the castle. The priory house, adjoining 
 the nave of the church, is converted into a 
 commodious dwelling, which was lately te-? 
 nanted by the Gunter and Milbome family. 
 The free-school in the town was founded by 
 Henry the Eighth, and amply endowed with 
 the revenues of forfeited monasteries, &c. 
 
 Abergavenny was a Roman town, the Go- 
 bannium of Antoninus. Leland describes it 
 to be f - a faire waulled town, meately well 
 inhabited ;" and an account of Monmouth- 
 shire written in 1602 represents it as " a fine 
 town - wealthy and thriving, and the very 
 
 * One of his posterity, William de Braose, in the reign 
 of King John, says Dugdal'e, " gave the tithes of his castle, 
 <c viz. of bread, wine, beer, cyder, all manner of flesh, fish,, 
 f salt, honey, wax, tallow, and in general whatsoever 
 (: should be brought thither and spent there, upon con- 
 c{ dition that the Abbot and Convent of St. Vincent's in 
 " Mans, to which the priory was a cell, should daily pray 
 f ( for the soul of King Henry the First; as also for the soul 
 lf of him the said William and the soul of Maud his wife." - 
 
 best 
 
CHAP. XIX. ABERGAVENNY. 311 
 
 best in the shire." But during the last cen- 
 tury it was in a very declining state until the 
 establishment of some great iron-works, which 
 have lately sprung up in the adjacent moun- 
 tains. When full-bottomed flaxen wigs were 
 the rage, the town enjoyed a temporary pros- 
 perity from a method peculiar to its inhabi- 
 tants of "bleaching hair ; but, perriwigs being 
 no longer the rage, the place was hastening 
 to decay : just at this juncture the faculty- 
 proclaimed that goats-whey was a specific in 
 consumptive eases; and crowds of invalids, 
 under the fiat of death, immediately en- 
 livened the town. But the fashions of doc- 
 tors are no more stationary than those of 
 beaux.; the ton for goats-whey soon dimi- 
 nished ; and, deprived of patients as well as 
 perriwigs, the place was relapsing into po- 
 verty and desertion, when the fortunate dis- 
 covery of the Blaenavon iron mines (a grand 
 concern in the recesses of the Blorenge moun^ 
 tain well worth the tourist's attention) gave a 
 •new face to the town, and still daily ei> 
 creases its population . 
 
 x 4 CHAP, 
 
[ 312 ] 
 
 CHAP. XX, 
 
 WERNDEE — FAMILY PRIDE LANTHONY 
 
 ABBEY OLD CASTLE, 
 
 ABOUT two miles from Abergavenny is 
 Werndee, a poor patched-up house : though 
 once a mansion of no less magnificence than 
 antiquity, it is now only interesting as being 
 considered to have been the spot where the 
 prolific Herbert race was first implanted in 
 Britain. Henry de Herbert, chamberlain to 
 king Henry the First, is supposed to have 
 been their great ancestor. Of the vast pos- 
 sessions that formerly supported the grandeur 
 of the Herberts, the inheritance of Mr. 
 Proger, the last lineal descendant from the 
 elder branch of this family, who died about 
 twenty years since, had dwindled to less than 
 two hundred a year. Mr. Coxe relates an 
 anecdote of this gentleman's pride of an- 
 cestry, 
 
CHAP. XX, WERNDEE, 313 
 
 cestry, which may be compared with the 
 remarks on Perthir*; at the same time, it 
 conveys a brief outline of the family's ge- 
 nealogy. 
 
 Mr. Proger accidentally met a stranger near 
 his house, who made various enquiries re- 
 specting the prospects and local objects of the 
 situation ; and at length demanded, " Pray, 
 *' whose is this antique mansion before us ?" — 
 46 That, Sir, is "Werndee : a very ancient 
 u house ; for out of it came the earls of Pem- 
 " broke of the first line, and the earls of Pem- 
 " broke of the second line ; the lords Her- 
 " bert of Cherbury, the Herberts of Cold- 
 " brook, Rumney, Cardiff, and York ; the 
 u Morgans of Acton ; the earl of Hunsdon ; 
 " the Jones's of Treowen and Lanarth, and 
 " all the Powells. Out of this house also., 
 " by the female line, came the dukes of 
 " Beaufort." — " And pray, Sir, who lives 
 " there now F" — " I do, Sir." — Then pardon 
 " me, Sir — do not lose sight of all these 
 M prudent examples; but come out of it 
 " yourself, or 'twill tumble and crush you." 
 
 A principal excursion from Abergavenny 
 is that which leads northward to Lanthony 
 
 * See Page 290. 
 
 abbey, 
 
314 LLANVIHANGEL CRICKHORNELL. 
 
 abbey, a majestic ruin seated in a deep recess 
 of the Black mountains, at the very extre- 
 mity of the county. The first, part of the 
 route lies through a romantic pass between 
 the Skyridd and Sugar-loaf mountains, upon 
 the Hereford turnpike. Proceeding about 
 two miles, the church of Landeilo Bertholly 
 appears on the right ; and not far from it an 
 antique mansion called the White-house, a 
 residence of the Floyers. Another ancient 
 house occurs at the village of Llanvihangel 
 Crickhornell, seen through groves of firs, 
 lately a seat of the Arnolds, but now occu- 
 pied as a farm-house. From this spot a ditch- 
 like road, almost impracticable for carriages-, 
 strikes off among the mountains, 
 
 iS Through tangled forests, and through dang'rous ways/* 
 
 carried upon precipices impendent over the 
 brawling torrent of the Hondy. Sometimes 
 the road opens to scenes of the most romantic 
 description, where, at an immense depth 
 beneath, the torrent is seen raging in a bed 
 of rocks, and mountains of the most imposing 
 aspect rise from the valley, — 
 
 " The nodding horrors of whose shady brows 
 ' Threat the forlorn and wand'ring traveller." 
 
 Immediately 
 
CHAP. XX. LANTHONY ABBEY. 315 
 
 Immediately to the .left of the road rises the 
 Gaer, a huge rocky hill crowned with an 
 ancient encampment. On the opposite side 
 of the river, fearfully hanging on a steep 
 cliff, and beneath a menacing hill bristled 
 with innumerable craigs, is the romantic 
 village of Cwmjoy. Landscapes of the bold- 
 est composition would be continual, but that 
 the road, formed into a deep hollow, and 
 overtopped by hedge-row elms, excludes the 
 traveller from almost every view but that of 
 his embowered track. The pedestrian, how- 
 ever, is at liberty, while ranging among 
 heaths and fields above the road, to enjoy the 
 wild grandeur of the country, which will 
 hardly fail to repay him for his additional toil. 
 
 In the deep gloomy vale of Ewias, en- 
 circled by the barren summits of the Black 
 mountains, but enjoying some degree of local 
 cultivation, and enlivened by the crystalline 
 Hondy, is situated the ruin of Lanthony 
 Abbey. 
 
 Venerable and grand, but wholly devoid 
 of ornament, it partakes of the character of 
 the surrounding scenery. Not a single ten- 
 dril of ivy decorates the massive walls of the 
 structure, and but a. sprinkling of shrubs and 
 
 light 
 
516 JLANTHONY ABBEY. CHAP. XX, 
 
 light branchy trees fringe the high parapets, 
 or shade the broken fragments beneath. 
 
 <( Where rev'rend shrines in Gothic grandeur stood, 
 ee The nettle or the noxious night-shade spreads ; 
 
 f And ashlings, wafted from the neighbouring wood, 
 
 "" Through the worn turrets wave their trembling heads.'* 
 
 The area of the church is not very extensive ; 
 the length is 212 feet; the breadth 50; and 
 it measures 100 across the transepts. The 
 roof has long since fallen in, and a great 
 part of the south wall is now a prostrate ruin ; 
 but the view afforded of the interior, in con- 
 sequence, is extremely grand and pictu- 
 resque. A double row of pointed arches, 
 reposing on massive piers, separate the side 
 ailes from the nave ; above which, divided 
 from the Gothic form by a strait band or 
 fascia, is a series of small circular arches : 
 an intermixture and arrangement of the two 
 forms that characterize the earliest use of 
 Gothic architecture. Two lofty arches, rising 
 from the middle of the church, still sustain a 
 massive portion of the tower, whose doubt- 
 fully poised and ponderous bulk seriously 
 menaces the adventurous explorer of the 
 ruin. The grandeur of the western front 
 cannot be passed unnoticed ; nor, looking 
 over the fragments of the choir, the fine view 
 
 of 
 
GHA?. XX. L ANTHONY ABBEY. Si* 
 
 of the inside ruin, seen through the great east- 
 ern arch of the tower ; neither is a small 
 chapel adjoining the south transept, with a well- 
 formed engroined roof, to be neglected: the 
 transept is remarkable for a large Norman arch- 
 way that led into the south aile of the choir. 
 
 Many portions of building appear in de- 
 tached heaps near the abbey church, parti- 
 cularly a bold arch in a neighbouring barn, 
 which seems to have formed the principal 
 entrance to the abbey. Among these the 
 natives point out a low subterraneous passage, 
 faced with hewn stone, which they suppose 
 to have had a connexion with Old Castle* 
 about three miles distant. 
 
 St. David, the uncle of king Arthur (say 
 ancient legends), was so struck with this se- 
 questered recess, then almost unconscious of 
 a human footstep, that he built a chapel on 
 the spot, and passed many years in it as a 
 hermit. William, a retainer of the earl of 
 Hereford's in die reign of William Rufus, 
 being led into the valley in pursuit of a deer, 
 espied the hermitage. The deep solitude 01 
 the place, and the mysterious appearance of 
 the building, conspired to fill him with reli- 
 gious enthusiasm ; and he instantly disclaimed 
 
 all 
 
318 L ANTHONY ABBEY. CHAF. X-X, 
 
 all worldly enjoyments for a life of prayer and 
 mortification* 
 
 In a curious account of the abbey, written* 
 by one of its monks, which is preserved in 
 Dugdale's Monasticon, and translated into 
 English by Atkyns, in his History of Glou- 
 cestershire, it is recorded, that f He laid 
 " aside his belt and girded himself with $ 
 16 rope ; instead of fine linen, he covered 
 " himself with hair-cloth ; and instead of his 
 " soldier's robe, he loaded himself with 
 " weighty irons. The suit of armour, which 
 " before defended him from the darts of his 
 " enemies, he still wore as a garment to 
 " harden him against the soft temptations of 
 " his old enemy Satan ; that, as the outward 
 " man was afflicted by austerity, the inner- 
 " man might be secured for the service of 
 " God. That his zeal might not cool, he 
 " thus crucified himself, and continued thi> 
 " hard armour on his body until it was worn 
 " out with rust and age/' 
 
 His austerity of life, and sanctity, not only 
 drew to him a colleague (Ernesi, chaplain to 
 Maud wife of Henry the First), but excited 
 the reverence of many high characters, and 
 
 induced 
 
CHAP. XX. L ANTHONY ABBEY* Sl§. 
 
 induced Hugh de Laci, earl of Hereford, to 
 found a priory of regular canons of the order 
 of St. Austin on the site of the Hermitage. 
 The institution adopted William's mortifying 
 system, and its reputation occasioned nu- 
 merous donations to be offered ; but they 
 were constantly refused, and the acquisition 
 of wealth deprecated as a dreadful misfortune. 
 William was determined f* to dwell poor in 
 " the house of God." The monk of Lan- 
 thony comically relates, that " Queen Maud, 
 " not sufficiently acquainted with the sanctity 
 " and disinterestedness of William, once de- 
 " sired permission to put her hand into his 
 *' bosom ; and when he with great modesty 
 " submitted to her importunity, she con- 
 " veyed a large purse of gold between his 
 (< coarse shirt and iron boddice ; and thus by 
 <e a pleasant and innocent subtlety admi- 
 " nistered some comfortable relief to him. 
 " But oh the wonderful contempt of the world ! 
 " He displayed a rare example, that the truest" 
 M happiness consists in possessing little or no- 
 tf thing ! He complied, indeed, but unwill- 
 ** ingly, and only with a view that the queen 
 " might employ her devout liberality in adorn- 
 " fng the church," His scruples thus over- 
 come, 
 
S20 tANTHoNY ABBEY. CHAP* XX. 
 
 come, a new church on a more magnificent 
 plan was erected (that which now appears) ; 
 it soon displayed the usual pomp of the craft, 
 and in less than thirty years the monks came 
 to one opinion, that " the outward man" 
 deserved consideration ; that the " place was 
 " unfit for a reasonable creature, much less 
 u for religious persons :" nay some said, that 
 11 they wished every stone of the foundation 
 ** a stout hare ';" others, still more wicked, 
 " that every stone was at the bottom of the 
 *' sea." Hence, in the year 1136", we find 
 a new Lanthony abbey built and consecrated 
 near Gloucester* which, although at first 
 only a cell to our abbey, soon assumed a pri- 
 ority over the parent foundation. The trea- 
 sures, library, rich vestments, and even bells, 
 were removed to the new house : the old 
 Lanthony then came to be considered as a 
 prison by the fat monks of the Severn, who 
 sent thither only " their old and useless 
 members." 
 
 In doleful mood the monk complains, 
 " We are made the scum and outcast of the 
 "brethren." — "They permitted the mo- 
 Cf nastery to be reduced to such poverty, 
 i( that the friars were without surplices, and 
 
 " compelled 
 
CHAP. XX. OLDCASTLE. 321 
 
 " compelled to perform the duties of the 
 " church against the customs and rules of the 
 " order. Sometimes thev had no breeches, 
 " and could not attend divine service." 
 Thus it appears, that eventually the condition 
 of the monks, though sore against their wills, 
 reverted to the intention of their founder. 
 The monastery continued in this unthriving 
 state till the dissolution of those concerns ; 
 when, according to Dugdale, the abbey near 
 Gloucester was valued at 648/. 19s. lid. and 
 this in Monmouthshire at 71/. 3s. c 2d. 
 
 Oldcastle, a little village on the eastern 
 slope of the Black mountains which skirt the 
 vale of Ewias on the right, is supposed by 
 Gale and Stukeley to have been the ancient 
 Blestium, but upon grounds that are very in- 
 conclusive : true it is, however, that several 
 encampments near the spot wear a Roman 
 character, and they were in the habit of 
 raising such camps near their station. But 
 the place is more noticed as having been the. 
 residence of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cob- 
 ham, the companion of Henry the Fifth, 
 and afterwards chief of the Lollards, and 
 martyr to their religious views. His ancient 
 mansion, called the court-house, was taken 
 
 y down 
 
322 OLDCASTLE. CHAP. XX. 
 
 down about thirty years ago ; so that nothing 
 now remains to satisfy the antiquary. 
 
 But the picturesque traveller will hardly 
 fail of a lively interest,* while, traversing the 
 superior heights of the neighbouring moun- 
 tains, he views the grand extent of the Mon- 
 mouthshire wilds, and traces the different 
 combinations of its majestic hills, which in 
 some parts range into the most sinuous forms, 
 in others extend for many miles into direct 
 longitudinal ridges ; oi\> when, withdrawing 
 from the sterile dignity of the high lands, his 
 eye gratefully reposes on the gentle vallies 
 that sweep beneath their brows, enlivened 
 by glistening streams, and rich in all th^ 
 luxuriance of high cultivation* 
 
 C H A P. 
 
[ 323 ] 
 
 CH A P. XXI. 
 
 HE-ENTRANCE OF SOUTH WALES CRICK- 
 
 HOWELL TRETOWER BRECON CASTLE 
 
 AND PRIORY ROAD TO LLANDOVERY — • 
 
 TRECASTLE PASS OF CWM-DUR- — LLAN- 
 DOVERY CASTLE ROAD FROM BRECON 
 
 TO HEREFORD BRUNLYSS CASTLE 
 
 FEMALE VENGEANCE HAY CLIFFORD 
 
 CASTLE. 
 
 1 HE road from Abergavenny to Brecon, 
 bordering die clear and lively Usk in a ro- 
 mantic valley, soon leaves the charming 
 county of Monmouth ; but is attended with 
 such a continuance of agreeable scenery as 
 may diminish in a considerable degree the 
 regret of the tourist. Among the verdant 
 accompaniments of the serpentizing river, 
 the rich groves and smiling lawns of Pany 
 
 y 2 Park 
 
324 CRICKHOWELL. CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Park are conspicuous, swelling above a fertile 
 vale, and backed by a range of wild moun- 
 tains. Nearly opposite this, in a field to the 
 right of the road and the fifteen mile-stone 
 from Brecon, is a single upright stone, about 
 fourteen feet high, conjectured to be a mo- 
 nument of the druidical ages. 
 
 Crickhowell, about two miles farther, 
 is an old mean-built town ; but, hanging on 
 the steep declivities of a fine hill, and digni- 
 fied with the picturesque ruin of a castle, it 
 is an interesting object in the approach. 
 The extent of this fragment of antiquity (of 
 obscure origin), sometimes called Alashby 
 Castle, is by no means considerable; the 
 foundation of the keep, seated on a high ar- 
 tificial mound, denotes much original strength, 
 and all the standing walls shew a very remote 
 erection ; although a few enrichments of 
 later times may be perceived beneath the 
 thickly-woven ivy. A narrow Gothic bridge 
 crosses the Usk here to the pleasing village of 
 Langottoc, the neighbourhood of which k 
 enlivened with several handsome seats ; but 
 no one is more remarkable for the excellence 
 of its position and the singularity of its de- 
 sign 
 
CHAP. XXI. TRETOWER. 325 
 
 sign than a lately-erected residence of Ad- 
 miral GelFs. 
 
 The road continues scenic and entertaining 
 to the small village of Tretower, only to 
 be noticed for a few picturesque fragments of 
 its castle, once the residence of Mynarch 
 lord of Brecon. Then winding round a co- 
 nical eminence, the road ascends a mighty 
 hill called the Bwlch, which term signifies a 
 rent in a mountain : during which ascent, a 
 farewel view of the vale of the Usk, with a 
 small tributary valley, and its appendant stream 
 descending from some gloomy mountains to 
 the north, and joining it near the castle of 
 Tretower, is truly interesting and grand. But 
 from these wide-ranging views, and all ex- 
 ternal scenery, the tourist becomes shut up 
 on entering the pass of the mountains, a 
 sterile hollow, from which he emerges on a 
 subject of an entirely opposite and very sin- 
 gular description. Surrounded by dark 
 mountains, melancholy and waste, appears 
 an extensive lake called Langor's Pool, 
 upwards of six miles in circumference; which, 
 as the natives assure you, is the site of a large 
 city swallowed up by an earthquake, and is 
 y 3 so 
 
326 BLAEN-LLEVENY CASTLE. CHAP. XXI^ 
 
 so well furnished with perch, tench, and eels, 
 as to be one-third fish to two-thirds water. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of the lake north- 
 eastward, and near the head of the Lleveny 
 brook, which empties itself into the pool, I 
 find described the ruins of Blaen-Lleveny 
 Castle. It was fortified by Peter Fitz- 
 Herbert, descended of Bernard deNewmarch, 
 lord of Brecon, according to the opinion of 
 some antiquaries, upon the site of the Roman 
 Loventium. 
 
 The road soon descends to the fine vale of 
 Brecon, grandly accompanied by a semicir- 
 cular range of mountains ; where, proudly 
 rising in superior majesty, the Van rears its 
 furrowed and bipartite summit high above 
 the clouds. Advancing, cultivation takes 
 a more extensive sweep, and picturesque dis^ 
 position becomes frequent. TheUsk flowing 
 round the foot of the Bwlch, cloathed with 
 the extensive plantations of Bucklaod-house, 
 salutes the beholder with renewed attractions ; 
 and farther up the vale laves the charming 
 woody eminence of Peterstone in its sinuous 
 career. 
 
 On the left of the road, about five miles 
 from Brecon, is a stone pillar, six feet in 
 
 height, 
 
CHAP. XXI. BRECON. S27 
 
 height, and nearly cylindrical ; on which 
 
 is an inscription that Camden read, N 
 
 FILIUS VICTORINI, but which is now al- 
 most obliterated. He supposes it a monu- 
 ment of later ages than the Romans, although 
 inscribed with their characters, and wearing 
 the general appearance of a Roman cippus-. 
 In the parish of Llahn Hamwalch, standing 
 on the summit of a hill near the church, 
 (which is to the left of the road a little be- 
 yond the former monument) I find described 
 St. Iltut's hermitage, composed of four large 
 flat stones ; three of which, standing upright, 
 are surmounted by the fourth, so as to form a 
 sort of hut, eight feet long, four wide, and 
 nearly the same in height. This kind of 
 monument is called a Kist-vaen, a variety of 
 the Cromlech order, and supposed to have 
 been applied to the same purposes. 
 
 Brecon is delightfully situated upon a 
 gentle swell above the Usk, overlooking a fer- 
 tile highly-cultivated valley enlivened with 
 numerous seats, and enriched with several 
 sylvan knolls. On one side of the town, be- 
 neath the majestic hanging groves of the 
 priory, the impetuous Hondy loudly tmm 
 y 4 murs 
 
328 BRECON CASTLE. CHAP. XXI. 
 
 murs, and unites with the Usk a small 
 distance beyond its handsome bridge. Though 
 the town boasts many capital residences, yet, 
 encumbered by a number of mean hovels 
 even in its principal situations, and deficient 
 in regulations of cleanliness, it fails to create 
 any idea of importance. Its once magnifi- 
 cent castle is now curtailed to a very insigni- 
 ficant ruin ; and that little is so choaked up 
 with miserable habitations, as to exhibit no 
 token of antique grandeur: some broken 
 walls and a solitary tower compose its re- 
 mains. 
 
 Brecon Castle was founded by Bernard 
 de Newmarch in the reign of William Ruffls. 
 Llewelyn prince of Wales besieged it when 
 asserting the rights of his ancestry and friends, 
 but without success. Passing through the 
 hands of the Braoses and Bohuns, it fell to 
 the king-making Buckingham, when it be- 
 came the seat of chivalric splendour. To his 
 care Dr. Morton, bishop of Ely, was com- 
 mitted by Richard the Third ; and the re- 
 maining turret is still called Ely tower by the 
 natives, and described to have been his 
 prison. Buckingham, fired with resentment 
 
 by 
 
CHAP. XXI. BRECON. $29 
 
 by the ingratitude of Richard, whom he had 
 raised to power, contrived, with his prisoner 
 in this place, the means of his overthrow. 
 The plot succeeded, but the duke was be- 
 trayed and taken before its completion, and 
 lost his head : the more wary priest retired 
 in secresy during its operation, and preserved 
 his to wear the metropolitan mitre in the en- 
 suing reign. Bernard also founded a Bene- 
 dictine priory for six monks westward of the 
 town ; it was dedicated to St. John, subor- 
 dinate to Battle abbey in Sussex, and became 
 collegiate under Henry the Eighth. The 
 church is a grand cruciform building, 200 
 feet in length by 60 in width, and has an 
 embattled tower 90 feet high rising from the 
 centre of the building. A cloister extends 
 from the church to the priory-house ; where 
 the tourist, as he paces the refectory, or 
 great dining-room, may speculate on monkish 
 carousals, where blue-eyed nuns were jo- 
 vially toasted, and secret confessions anti- 
 cipated. 
 
 But the most fascinating attraction of the 
 town is its two delightful walks : the one 
 traced on the margin of the noble Usk ; the 
 other, called the priory walk, a luxuriant 
 
 grove 
 
530 BRECON. CHAP. XXI, 
 
 grove impendent over the brawling Hondy, 
 once assigned to the meditations of monkish 
 fraud, bat now more happily applied to the 
 use of the townspeople, and enlivened on 
 fine evenings by a brilliant promenade of 
 Cambrian beauties. 
 
 This town, built on the site of a Roman 
 station *, was originally called Aber-Hondy. 
 After the departure of the Romans, the lord- 
 ship of Brecon remained in the hands of the 
 Britons till the reign of William Rufus ; when 
 Bernard de Newmarch, a Norman baron of 
 great skill and prowess, having assembled a 
 large body of troops, made a successful inroad 
 into the country, killed the British chief 
 Bledhyn ap Maenyrch, and retained his son 
 prisoner in Brecon castle during his life ; 
 though he, at the same time, allowed him a 
 nominal share of his father's territories. He 
 fliefl fortified the town with a castle, and an 
 encircling wall, having three gates ; and fur- 
 
 * There is an oblong camp in the neighbourhood of the 
 town called Y Gaer ; where Roman bricks, bearing the in- 
 scription LEG. II. AUG. are frequently ploughed up. Near 
 this camp is a rude pillar, about six feet high, called the 
 ten stone ; on one side of which are the figures of a man 
 and woman coarsely carved in relief. 
 
 ther 
 
CHAP. XXI. TRECASTLE. 331 
 
 ther strengthened his cause by taking to 
 wife Nesta, grand-daughter of Gruffyth prince 
 of Wales. 
 
 A road passing from Brecon through Llan- 
 dovery to Llandilo, in Caermarthenshire, 
 we did not travel ; but find it described as 
 highly picturesque, and otherwise interesting. 
 For several miles it traverses an undulating 
 district enlivened by the Usk ; which now, 
 approaching its source in the Trecastle hills, 
 assumes all the impetuosity of a mountain 
 torrent. The spacious lawns, long avenues 
 of trees, and extensive plantations of Penbont, 
 grace the borders of the stream about three 
 miles from Brecon ; and on the left of the 
 road, a small distance further, appear the 
 trifling remains of Davenock castle. Tre- 
 castle, ten miles from Brecon, a small 
 village but possessing a good inn, is deprived 
 of every vestige of its ancient fortification. 
 From this place the road winds for nine miles 
 to Llandovery, in a deep valley, between 
 the mountains, called Cwm-Dwr, a romantic 
 pass watered by a lively stream, and dotted 
 with numerous cottages, whose fertile hollow 
 is beautifully contrasted by the wild aspect of 
 
 the 
 
332 LLANDOVERY. CHAP. XXI. 
 
 the impendent heights. Llandovery is a 
 small irregular town, nearly encompassed by 
 rivulets, and only to be noticed by the pic- 
 turesque traveller for the small ruins of its 
 ivy-mantled castle. The road then continues 
 to Llandilo on a high terrace, ornamented on 
 the right by the groves of Taliaris and Aber- 
 marle parks, and overlooking the upper vale 
 of Towey, rich in cultivation and the beauty 
 of its stream. 
 
 On the road to Hereford from Brecon, 
 about seven miles, is Brunlyss Castle ; 
 the principal and almost only feature of which 
 is a high round tower on an artificial mount. 
 Its foundation is uncertain, but cannot be 
 later than the first settlement of the Normans 
 in the county. There is a curious circum- 
 stance connected with an incident in the 
 history of this castle, which I think very pro- 
 bably suggested the character of Faulcon- 
 bridge in Shakespeare's play of King John. 
 The acknowledged son and heir of Bernard 
 de Newmarch and his wife Nesta was Mahel, 
 a dauntless youth, who, after the death of 
 Bernard, having affronted a paramour of his 
 mother's, and upbraided the matron herself, 
 
 became 
 
CHAP. XXI. HAY. 335 
 
 became in a most extraordinary manner de- 
 prived of his inheritance. Nesta, enraged 
 at the interference of her son in her tender 
 arrangements, presented herself before Henry 
 the Second, and solemnly made oath that 
 lie was not the son of Bernard lord of Brecon, 
 but was begotten by a Cambrian warrior, 
 thereby proclaiming her son a bastard, and 
 satisfying her revenge, though at the expence 
 of every maternal tie and of the strongest 
 sentiments of female worth. Bernard's estates, 
 in consequence, fell to his daughter Sibyl 
 wife of Milo earl of Hereford ; and Mahel, 
 ejected from his patrimony, became a law- 
 less desperado. Once, as he was on a pre- 
 datory excursion over the domains of David 
 Fitzgerald, bishop of St. David's, he was en- 
 tertained by Walter de Clifford in Brunlyss 
 Castle for one night ; when the building 
 took fire, and he, in endeavouring to es- 
 cape, was crushed to death by the falling of 
 a stone. 
 
 Hay, a small populous town on this road, 
 at the extremity of the principality, occupies 
 an eminence near the banks of &e Wye, 
 and was formerly graced with a fine castle, 
 
 which 
 
334* CLIFFORD CASTLE. CHAP. XXI. 
 
 which is now reduced to a few broken walls : 
 but Clifford, a mile or two further, on 
 the upper road to Hereford, still exhibits the 
 majestic remains of its castle, crowning a bold 
 hill which towers above the river, and has 
 been long renowned as having been the 
 birth-place of the lovely, but frail fair Ro- 
 samond, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ M5 ] 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 BUALT —PRINCE LLEWELYN RHAYDER- 
 
 GOWY — CARACTACUS's CAMP — OFFA's 
 
 DYKE KNIGHTON — - PRE3TEXGN- — OLD 
 
 AND NEW RADNOR — LLANDRINDOD 
 WELLS. 
 
 PROCEEDING northward from Brecon, 
 the road passes over an abrupt succession of 
 hills and hollows near the impatient Honcly, 
 which is seen to extend for several miles 
 through a wild romantic valley. On leaving 
 the lively rivulet's devious course, the road 
 traverses an extensive hilly tract, from whose 
 summits a grand expansive valley, dignified 
 with the sinuous Wye, bursts upon the view 
 in a long continuance of varied scenery. 
 The town of Bualt occupies a spot on the 
 near most side of the vale, overhanging the 
 pride of Welch rivers ; and beyond its op- 
 posite 
 
t>36 BUALT. CHAP. XXII. 
 
 posite hilly boundary, a majestic outline of 
 distant mountains defines the horizon. A 
 picturesque cascade, rushing through a por- 
 tal of rocks and woods to the left of the road, 
 must not be passed unnoticed ; it occurs 
 within a mile of Bualt; and after crossing 
 the road beneath its bridge, the stream unites 
 with the Wye. 
 
 Bualt is a small market-town comprised 
 in two streets rising one over the other, upon 
 the high shelving bank of the river. Al- 
 though anciently and irregularly built, it is 
 much resorted to by the neighbouring gentry, 
 not less for the beauty of its position, than 
 for the famed salubrity of its air. Camden 
 supposes it to be the Bullacum Silurum of 
 Ptolemy, and the Burrium of Antoninus. 
 Horseley, on the other hand, fixes upon 
 Usk in Monmouthshire as the site of that 
 Roman station ; while other antiquaries con- 
 tend in favour of Caerphilly. However this 
 may have been, the only vestige of high an- 
 tiquity that now marks the place is a mound, 
 the site of the keep of its castle, which was 
 burnt down in 1690. 
 
 It was in the neighbourhood of Bualt, be- 
 tween the Wye and its tributary stream the 
 
 Irvon, 
 
CHAP. XXII. PRINCE LLEWELYN. S37 
 
 Trvon, that the Cambrian warriors made their 
 last stand for independence* The brave 
 Llewelyn ^ 
 
 *' Great patriot hero, ill-requited chief/' 
 
 after a transient victory at the foot of Snow- 
 don, led his troops to this position, where 
 they were unexpectedly attacked and defeated 
 by the English forces, while Llewelyn, un- 
 armed, was employed in a conference with 
 some chieftains in a valley not far distant. The 
 prince was informed of the event by the cries 
 of his flying army ; and all that prompt in- 
 trepidity could effect he exerted to rejoin his 
 men ; but in vain ; the spear of his enemy 
 pierced his side, and happily spared him the 
 anguish of witnessing the irretrievable ruin of 
 his country's liberties. 
 
 Edward's conduct to the body of this 
 prince, royal like himself, of a lineage still 
 more ancient and noble, and who boldly fell 
 asserting the fights of his country and inheri- 
 tance, has affixed a blot on his memory, which 
 not all his well-regulated ambition, not all the 
 splendour of his victories, can gloss over, or 
 efface from the page of history. The prince's 
 head was received in London with such de- 
 z monstrations 
 
338 THE WYE. CHAP. XXIF* 
 
 monstrations of joy by the citizens, as might 
 have suited a conquest over a predatory in- 
 vader ; it was carried on the point of a 
 lance through Cheapside ; and, after having 
 been fixed in the pillory, was placed on the 
 highest part of the tower of London, to glut 
 the eyes of the multitude. So easy is it to 
 impose on the natural feelings of a people 
 once cajoled into an approval of military 
 despotism and cruelty. 
 
 On leaving Bualt, and crossing its bridge^ 
 the tourist enters. Radnorshire, where the 
 road, traced upon heights impendent over 
 the Wye, commands one of the most beau- 
 tifully romantic vallies in the principality. 
 The river, which we have before seen ma- 
 jestically flowing, rapid but unopposed, 
 among flowery lawns, here, approaching, 
 its native source in the bosom of Plinlimmon,, 
 appears eddying, foaming, and roaring in a 
 narrow channel, amid shelving rocks and 
 disjointed craigs,. a, mere mountain torrent.. 
 With the accompaniments of towering pre- 
 cipices, naked rocks, and impendent cliffs* 
 finely softened by overhanging branchy trees, 
 or partially concealed by deep shadowy 
 Woods, and frequently enlivened by a stripe 
 
 of 
 
CHAP. XXII. THE WYE. 339 
 
 of verdant meadow, the river presents a suc- 
 cession of picturesque morgeaus, the most 
 striking imaginable ; and fully compensates 
 the bad state of the road in this part. A 
 considerable range of prospect also presents 
 itself on the right, from some favoured emi- 
 nences, where a long series of moorish lumpy 
 hills extend over the greater part of Radnor- 
 shire, which shews but an indifferent mixture 
 of cultivation with numerous heaths and 
 forests. 
 
 An extensive mountainous dreary region, 
 
 " Where woods, and wilds, and thorny ways appear," 
 
 occupies part of the counties of Brecon, 
 Cardigan, and Radnor, westward of the 
 Wye. Among these deep solitudes, Camdeii 
 informs us, king Vortigern sought a refuge 
 from the persecutions that his crimes and 
 follies raised against him, His ultimate fate 
 is wrapped in uncertainty ; but his vileness 
 needed not a more agonizing torture than his 
 wounded conscience, whether recurring to 
 his incestuous intercourse with his own off- 
 spring, or to his miserable policy in resting 
 the defence of Britain upon the assistance of 
 foreign troops. 
 
 z 2 Rhayder- 
 
340 RHAYDER-GOWY. CHAP. XXII* 
 
 Rhayder-gowy, wildly situated at the 
 foot of the mountainous barrier between 
 South and North Wales, consists of two 
 streets of neatly whitened houses, and is 
 graced with the vicinity of two churches. A 
 castle a!so added to the consequence of the 
 town in the time of the Welch princes ; but 
 none of its remains now appear, except a 
 deep trench cut in the rock of the town, and 
 three or four barrows, which are, no doubt, 
 connected with its history. The market- 
 house is a neat little building, though of rough 
 stones; and the Red Lion inn is no less re- 
 markable for its neatness and accommodation, 
 Useful though unimposing, than for the 
 obliging assiduities of its landlord. 
 
 The scenery of the Wye, close to this 
 town, acquires an uncommon degree of 
 grandeur. Raging in its rocky bed, the 
 river is seen through the light foliage of im- 
 pendent trees, and almost beneath a bold 
 arch which bestrides the river, bounding over 
 a ledge of rock in a fall of some depth ; 
 whence it tears its way among protruding 
 craigs in a sheet of glistening foam, but is 
 almost immediately concealed by the em- 
 bowering ornaments of its bank?, 
 
 > Above 
 
CHAP. XXII. RHAYDER-GOWY. 34«1 
 
 Above the town of Rhayder, a bold hilly 
 region, overspread with treacherous bogs, or 
 broken into precipices of fearful depth, mixes 
 with the magnificent forms of the North 
 Wales mountains, Here nature wears her 
 wildest garb ; no stripe of cultivation con- 
 trols the dreary majesty of the scene ; the 
 mountain sheep browse on the dizzy heights 
 unmindful of danger ; the hardy ponies 
 here sport away their early years, uncon- 
 scious of restraint \ and, no less free, the 
 bold mountaineer looks round his stormy 
 world, nor hapless mourns 'the gaj^er spheres 
 below : 
 
 *' But calm, an 1 bred in ignorance and toil, 
 " Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil. 
 i( Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose, 
 " Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes 5 
 '' At night returning, every labour sped, 
 l< He sits him down the monarch of a shed ; 
 ■•' Smiles by his cheerful lire, and round surveys 
 " His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze 3 
 " While his lov'd partner, boastful of her hoards 
 ({ Displays her cleanly platter on the board :" 
 
 " Such are the charms to barren states assign'd, 
 i' Their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd/' 
 
 This district is, however, rich in mineral 
 
 treasure; and several lead-mines, and one or 
 
 z 3 two 
 
342 ABBEY CWM HIR. CHAP. XXII. 
 
 two copper-mines, are worked with conside- 
 rable spirit. 
 
 Here my observations upon South-Wales 
 draw to a close : they have been very brief 
 upon Radnorshire; and yet the excursion on 
 the banks of the Wye describes almost its 
 only attraction. Indeed, this county is re-? 
 markably barren in subjects of picturesque 
 beauty, memorials of antique grandeur, and 
 remarkable towns and villas. I find but one 
 religious house in this shire described in 
 Dugdale's Monasticon, or Tanner's Notitia 
 Monastica, which is Abbey Cwm Hir, situ- 
 ated about six miles east of Rhayder ; but I 
 understand that no part of the building re- 
 mains. It was founded for Cistercian monks 
 by Cadwathelan ap Madoc in the year 
 1143 7 and must have been a very incon- 
 siderable foundation, as its revenues at the 
 suppression of monasteries were only valued at 
 
 The castles that occur in this county are 
 neither remarkable in their history nor ve- 
 nerable in decay. Yet frequent and memo- 
 rable are the earthen works that characterize 
 almost every hill in the county, which 
 
 either 
 
CHAP. XHlI. CARACTACT/S. 343 
 
 either wear the* marks of cairns * or ancient 
 encampments. . •> . • ... 
 
 fS 'Twas on these downs, by "Roman hosts annoy'd, 
 " Fought our bold fathers, rustic, unrefm'd ! 
 
 <( Freedoms fair sons, in martial cares emplo.y'd, 
 
 fc They ting'd :h: ? r 'bodies but unmask'd their mind." 
 
 On a hill near Knighton, at the eastern 
 Jimit of the county ^ is still shewn the Camp 
 of Caractacus ; and an encampment on 
 another hill separated from tlie first by a deep 
 valley, is said to be that of the Roman ge- 
 neral Ostorius. The Britons waited the at- 
 tack of the enemy's legions in their advan- 
 tageous position, and fought like men who 
 valued life no longer than as it was connected 
 with freedom ; but their courage availed no- 
 thing before the skill and discipline of the 
 Roman army ; after an immense slaughter 
 they gave way, and Caractacus^ wife, daugh- 
 ter, and brothers* w T ere taken prisoners. The 
 king escaped, but was soon after betrayed 
 
 * Cairns, or barrows, in the druidical ages, were large 
 heaps of stones raised over the bodies of deceased heroes. 
 After the introduction of Christianity, similar piles were 
 placed on malefactors, to give a sort of counteraction to the 
 old custom j and it soon became the bitterest wish a man 
 could give his enemy, " that a cairn might be his monu- 
 ment." • . ,- • : 
 
 z 4 into 
 
344 PRESTEIGN, CHAP. XOCII* 
 
 into the bands of his enemies. His noble 
 speech and deportment when brought before 
 the Roman emperor, as transmitted to us by 
 the pen of Tacitus, must ever excite admh 
 ration, and evince the immutable dignity 
 of manly virtue, however bereft of the 
 factitious splendour of power. 
 
 OFFA y s Dyke also passes near Knighton ; 
 the boundary established by Offa king of the 
 Mercians between his dominions and Wales, 
 after a decisive victory over the Britons. It 
 formerly extended from the Dee to the 
 mouth of the Wye; and it was enacted, that 
 any Welch man found in arms on the English 
 side of the boundary should have his right 
 hand cut off. Knighton itself I find de- 
 scribed to be an ordinary town, built on a 
 steep bank of the Teme. Seven miles south- 
 ward of it is Presteign, a better built and 
 paved town than the former, and graced 
 with a beautiful little eminence (the site of its 
 castle), laid out in public walks. This town 
 is considered as the modern capital of the 
 county : in it are held the assizes ; and,, 
 having the jail, it is farther distinguished with 
 all the apprehended rogues in Radnorshire. 
 Old Radnor, three or four miles farther 
 
 sputhward, 
 
CHAP-. XXII. I*LANDRINDOD WELLS. §45 
 
 southward, Camden supposes to have been 
 the Magoth of Antoninus, garrisoned by the 
 Paciensian regiment in the reign of Theodo-? 
 sius the younger : but, whatever it may have 
 been formerly, it now appears an insignificant 
 village. New Radnor, though nominally 
 the capita! of the shire, is little better ; yet a 
 few vestiges of an encompassing wall and a 
 castle give it more unequivocal marks of for- 
 mer importance than the parent town. Its 
 oiciine is dated from the rebellion of Gwetj 
 Glendower, who destroyed the castle and 
 Ravaged all the surrounding district. In a 
 rocky glen, in the vicinity of this town, is a 
 fine cascade, though of inconsiderable vo- 
 lume, called Water breaks its Neck, 
 
 Crossing Radnor forest, an extensive tract 
 of sheep down and coppice, about twelve 
 miles from New Radnor, and seven from 
 Bualr, is Llandrindod Wells. This 
 place, consisting only of one house of public 
 entertainment and a few cottages, appears tc 
 be just!} 7 distinguished for the efficacy of its 
 springs^ which are chalybeate, sulphureous, 
 and cathartic. But though the medicinal 
 virtues of these waters be undoubted, and 
 considered even more potent than those of 
 
 Ilarrpwgate ; 
 
346 LLA-NDRINDOD WELLS. CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Harrowgate ; yet the place, being dreary,- 
 remote, and void of elegant accommodation, 
 is only visited by a very few real invalids ; 
 lione of that gay tribe is here to be met with 
 which forms the principal company at wa- 
 tering-places in general. 
 
 Having thus executed my design of a ge- 
 neral description of South-Wales and Mon- 
 mouthshire, I shall return to the narrative of 
 my tour. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 347 ] 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 ^GOODRICH CASTLE AND PRIORY WILTON 
 
 CASTLE SCENERY OF THE WYE FROM 
 
 ROSS TO MONMOUTH ROSS GLOU- 
 CESTER. 
 
 We took our farewel leave of Monmouth 
 on a hazy morning, that concealed the sur- 
 rounding scenery in the earliest part of our 
 ride to Gloucester. But the mist gradually 
 withdrawing allowed us a gleam of the ma- 
 jestic Wye, about two miles from Mon- 
 mouth ; which, soon deserting the course of 
 the road, winds beneath the bare rocky cliffs of 
 the little Doward, and becomes lost among 
 high w r ooded hills. Near the seven-miles 
 stone from Monmouth we struck off the 
 turnpike into an embowered lane in search 
 of Goodrich Castle, a very picturesque 
 ruin, which rises among tufted trees on a 
 
 bold 
 
iM8 GOODRICH CASTLE. CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 bold eminence above the Wye. The view 
 of the castellated hill, combined with a grand 
 fertile valley, which extends for many miles 
 in a richly-variegated undulation, enlivened 
 with the elegant though simple spire of Ross 
 church, and with peculiar graces, watered 
 by the copious river, was uncommonly 
 striking : while to the right we caught a 
 glimpse of the grand features about Symonds^ 
 gate and the Caldwell rocks, backed by a range 
 of heathy hills that forms the boundary of 
 the forest of Dean. 
 
 The remains of this castle shew it to have 
 been, of considerable strength, though not 
 very extensive. Its figure is nearly square, 
 measuring fifty-rtwo yards by forty- eight, with 
 a large round tower at each angle. A deep 
 trench, twenty yards wide, is cut in the 
 rock round the walls, leaving a narrow ridge 
 which crosses the moat to the grand entrance. 
 On entering .the gateway, a small apartment 
 to the left, with an ornamented Gothic win-? 
 dow, and a stone chalice for holding holy- 
 water, appears to have been the chapel ; 
 or, considering its small eke, rather an ora-. 
 tory. A curious octagon column rising from 
 a mass of nuns opposite has belonged to a 
 
 ' principal 
 
C5JAP. XXIII. GOODRICH CASTLE. §4$ 
 
 principal apartment, and most probably the 
 baronial hall. A large square tower was the 
 keep, which is said to have been built by an 
 Irish chieftain named Mackbeth, as a ran- 
 som for himself and his son, who were held 
 prisoners in the castle ; and until lately two 
 ponderous helmets were shewn as belonging 
 to them, one of which held half a bushel. 
 
 There is no doubt but that this was a 
 frontier post held by the Saxons ; and many 
 parts of the ruin still bear a Saxon or early 
 Norman character *. During the reign of 
 king John, and in several succeeding ages, 
 it was in the hands of the earls of Pembroke, 
 but afterwards deviated from that line. In 
 Jacob's Peerage, under the article of the earls 
 of Shrewsbury, it is related, that the Hugh 
 le Despencers forcibly seized Elizabeth Co- 
 myns at Kennington in Surry, and detained 
 her in confinement above a year ; concealing 
 her in their different castles, until she was, 
 by menaces of death, constrained to pass 
 " her manor of Painswick in the county of 
 Gloucester to the said earl, the elder Dc- 
 
 * In Dugdales Mon&sticon, the signature Godricus Diixi 
 
 occurs twice among the witnesses to two charters granted by 
 king Canute. 
 
 spencer, 
 
350 GOODRICH PRIORY. CHAP. XXIII, 
 
 spencer, and the castle of Goodrich to Hugh 
 the younger ; to them and their heirs." — 
 Thus it was in feudal ages, when every po- 
 tent baron dared violate the strongest bands 
 of society ; when the property and freedom 
 of humble individuals, and the honour of 
 females, were subjected to the will of con- 
 tiguous power; and suffering innocence 
 could only plead the wrongs that she suffered 
 at the tribunal of the oppressor. But, alas ! it 
 is a principle of our being, it is a fact which 
 ought to be treasured in the minds of Britons, 
 that where power is without controul it sel- 
 dom fails to act unjustly. 
 
 In the civil wars of Charles the First this 
 castle was in the hands of both parties suc- 
 cessively ; and upon the parliamentary cause 
 proving triumphant, it was ordered to be dis- 
 mantled : but a sufficient compensation was 
 allowed to the countess of Kent, to whom it 
 belonged. The farm-house appertaining t® 
 the meadows and corn-fields about the castle 
 is situated a few hundred yards from the 
 castle, to the right, and occupies the site of 
 Goodrich Priory: the chapel, converted 
 into a barn, and some other Gothic remains, 
 are still visible. 
 
 In 
 
CHAP. XXIII. WILTON CASTLE. 3d! 
 
 In our way from Goodrich to Ross, for 
 the first two miles traced in a bridle road 
 that might with equal propriety be called 
 a ditch, we had frequent views of the proud 
 ruin towering above its incircling groves ; 
 which, variously combining with the sur- 
 rounding landscape at each succeeding station, 
 proved a new and delightful object. We 
 crossed the Wye at Wilton bridge ; a short 
 distance above which, on the low western 
 bank of the river, appear the mouldering 
 towers of Wilton Castle, a Norman struc- 
 ture, once the baronial residence of the 
 Greys. Several pleasure-boats with awnings* 
 handsomely fitted up for the reception of 
 company that would navigate the Wye, are 
 moored by the bridge *. 
 
 I earnestly advise every traveller of taste 
 and leisure, proceeding by the way of Ross 
 to Monmouth, not to neglect the beautiful 
 scenery of this river: he may take one of 
 the boats ; or, if he prefer riding or walking, 
 
 * The distance from Ross to Chepstow, in a straight line, 
 is not more than sixteen miles and a half; but owing to the 
 sinuosity of the river the voyage by water is near thirty-eight 
 miles. The boats descend with the current, and are towed 
 ail the way back by men : this laborious task may account for 
 the expensive hire of a boat, which I understand to be three 
 guineas. 
 
 he 
 
352 THE WYE. CI:a?. XXtll* 
 
 lie may enjoy its principal charms by re- 
 versing my journey from Goodrich ; whence 
 crossing Hensham ferry, he will proceed 
 among pleasant meadows on the margin of 
 the stream in front of the sublime grandeur 
 of the Caldwell rocks ; then ascending the 
 isthmus of an immense peninsulated rock 
 called Symond's gate, at the height of 2000 
 feet above the surface of the river, he will 
 enjoy a superlative prospect of its mazy ex- 
 tent and the grand scenery around. From 
 the vicinity of Goodrich the Wye urges its 
 course through a narrow valley inclosed by 
 towering woody mountains, or struggles in 
 more limited confines, where protruding 
 rocks plunge their naked perpendicular sides 
 into the body of the stream. Descending 
 from the lofty neck of the peninsula, which 
 is but six hundred yards across in a direct 
 line, although the circuit of the river round 
 the rock is upwards of four miles, lie will 
 fux! himself in a deep valley of astonishing 
 grandeur, formed on one side by the ith 
 inantic precipices of the peninsula, and on 
 the other by the great Doward, a huge stra- 
 tified limestone mountain, studded with lime- 
 kilns and cottages. At the Kew-wier he 
 5 will 
 
CHAP. XXIII. ROSS. 353 
 
 will re-cross the river, and soon join the turn- 
 pike to Monmouth. 
 
 The old town of Ross, situated on a gently- 
 inclining bank of the Wye near Wilton 
 bridge, afforded us no subject of admiration 
 or interest, except in the recollection which 
 it excited of Mr. John Kyrle, whose public 
 spirit and philanthropy inspired the verses of 
 Pope. We baited our horses at an inn which 
 was formerly his house, and now bears the 
 sign of " The Man of Ross." The views 
 from the cemetery of Ross church are among 
 the most beautiful that imagination can pic- 
 ture, looking over a lovely vale, adorned 
 with the majestic meanders of the Wye, en- 
 riched with numerous groves and woods, and 
 finished by a distance of Welch mountains : 
 to detail its several charming features would 
 be as tedious, as it would prove a vain attempt 
 to realize a just idea of the landscape. 
 
 We now traversed a well-cultivated district, 
 whose numerous though gentle hills were 
 frequently clothed with apple-orchards, and 
 in about six miles ride, upon a wretched 
 road, gained a heathy eminence, when the 
 great plain of Gloucester appeared before us, 
 stretching to an immense distance in every 
 a A direction. 
 
35* GLOUCESTER. CHAP. XXIW, 
 
 direction. At the extremity of the plain, at 
 least in appearance, rose the towers and spires 
 of Gloucester, faintly relieving from the 
 Cotteswold hills, whose high continuous sum- 
 mits were strongly contrasted by the broken 
 form of the Malvern hills afar off on the 
 left. 
 
 The Severn, near Gloucester, separates 
 into two channels; which, soon re-uniting, 
 inclose a tract of land called the Isle of 
 Alney ; so that we approached the city over 
 two bridges connected together by a high 
 causeway near a mile in length, which tra- 
 verses the islet. An assemblage of ships, 
 houses, and numerous spires, greeted us with 
 a look of more public importance than we 
 had been used to for several weeks, as we 
 drew near the city. It would require a vo- 
 lume to give an adequate description of this 
 place : all that my limits will allow me to say 
 is, that it is one of the fairest cities in England, 
 regularly composed of four principal wide 
 well-built streets, meeting at right angles in 
 the middle of the . town ; abounding with 
 Gothic churches and other public structures, 
 and a new-built gaol, which is .one of the 
 best in the kingdom. But its chief orna- 
 ment 
 
CH-AP. XXIII. GLOUCESTER. 355 
 
 merit is its truly grand cathedral, remarkable 
 for its elegant tower, surmounted with four 
 transparent pUmacles of the most exquisite 
 workmanship, and for having the largest 
 Gothic window in Britain : nor is it less to be 
 noticed for the curious ramifications and 
 transomes of its fretted roof, and the high 
 state of enrichment throughout the struc- 
 ture *. AVe ascended to the summit of the 
 tower, where 
 
 f< The bursting prospect spreads immense around : 
 <f And, snatch" d o'er hill and dale, and wood and lawn, 
 " And verdant fields, and dark ning heath between, 
 " And villages embosom'd soft in trees, 
 (c And spiry towns by surging column's mark'd 
 c< Of household make, your eye excursive roams 
 /' To where the broken landscape, by degrees 
 l( Ascending, roughens into rigiif hills 5 
 " O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds 
 " That skirt the blue horizon, dusky rise.'.' 
 
 A tributary sigh escaped as we caught the 
 last gleam of our much-loved principality ; 
 
 * We did not neglect to visit the remains of Lanthony 
 Abbey near Gloucester, the successful rival of the foundation 
 in Monmouthshire. The rains are situated about a mile 
 southward of the town : they are by no means picturesque, 
 consisting of a series of buildings which surround a .large 
 square area ; the dilapidated walls of the chapel are standing 
 without encumbrance j but the other parts are made' up into 
 farming habitations,, with numerous out-houses and sheds. 
 
 a a 2 nor 
 
356 WELCH CHARACTER. CHAP. XXIII* 
 
 nor can I conclude my subject without trans* 
 mitting that view of the Welch individual 
 character and state of society (particularly al- 
 luding to the southern district), which im- 
 pressed me during my tour, and which I 
 have since believed to be just. 
 
 Wales may be considered as exhibiting al- 
 most the sole remnant of " the good old: 
 tii®3es*f existing in Britain. Separated from 
 those causes of extrinsic splendour which do- 
 mineer over other parts of our island, the 
 opulent landholders freely dispense the 
 wealth of their inheritance with unosten- 
 tatious liberality. Indifferent to outward 
 shew, their first cares evince a parental re* 
 gard to the poor on their domains, and the 
 maintenance of their forefathers* good cheer. 
 An interchange of good offices is alike con- 
 spicuous between them and the commonalty; 
 and it is no less pleasing to see the friendly soli- 
 citude of the one, than the unaffected re- 
 spect and attachment of the other. 
 
 The Welch arc justly described to be the 
 most robust and hardy inhabitants of this 
 kingdom ; for, un enervated by those seden- 
 tary employments foisted on less happy re- 
 gions 
 
CHAP. XXIII. WELCH CHARACTER.' 357 
 
 gions by luxury and avaricious policy, they 
 boast the vigorous frames of aboriginal Brn 
 tons. Although not generally tall, they pos« 
 sess a more unequivocal criterion of strength* 
 in a fine breadth of chest ; and hence it has 
 been remarked, that a Cambrian regiment 
 drawn up in line covers more ground than 
 any other. By healthful toil and simplicity 
 of diet invigorated, they are at once potent^ 
 courageous, animated > and generous. 
 
 It has been asserted* that the Welch arc 
 averse from strangers ; — but by whom ? By 
 those who have provoked that aversion ; who, 
 carrying with them a vulgar estimation of 
 superior show at the tables of England, have 
 not known how to approve a regular board 
 of hospitality, when contrasted by the splen- 
 did profusion of fashionable entertainments ; 
 who, representing the more gay appoint- 
 ments of other resorts, have pitied the Welch- 
 man's old-fashioned furniture, and wondered 
 how any gentlemanly being could exist in 
 his gloomy Gothic habitation. Such as can 
 conceive no other travelling enjoyments than 
 superior inns, sumptuous dinners, and bowl- 
 ing-green roads, may quarrel with our prin- 
 cipality* 
 
358 WELCH CHARACTER. CHAP. XXlfl. 
 
 cipality. But it is for those who travel with 
 more enlarged views, and proper intro- 
 ductions, to declare the ingenuous welcome' 
 that they have experienced : the eager so- 
 licitude that was every where manifested 
 to afford them information ; and the liberal 
 fare set before tlrem, which not even the 
 greatly-increased' expence of family esta- 
 blishments could effectually suppress. 
 
 As every virtue has its concomitant shade/ 
 we have to lament that the Welchman's ar- 
 dent spirit sometimes inclines him to be 
 quarrelsome; yet v as there' is generosity at 
 the . bottom, his passion seldom becomes 
 vindictive. ' M disposition for social enjoy- 
 ment has led him from conviviality to "h a b its 
 of 'Intemperance ; and an improvident hos- 
 pitality, to the ruin of his; family's fortune. 
 J\ta error more harmless in its operation 
 arises from his. admiration of illustrious an- 
 cestry ; which often resolves itself into ail 
 association of personal importance, that un- 
 biassed individuals are not inclined to allow. 
 These asperities are wearing away, under 
 the attrition- of a more extended and en- 
 lightened intercourse. But it is. the heartfelt 
 
 wish 
 
CHAP. XXIII. WELCH CHARACTER. 359 
 
 wish of an earnest admirer of their present 
 state of society, equal to every essential duty 
 of a manly people, that the chilling apathy 
 of morbid refinement may never paralize 
 their spirit of independence, that spring 
 of energetic action which forms the noblest 
 attribute of Man. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 NiCHOtS WSoNf, Trinfeti, 
 Red~Uon-PaJ[age, Eut+Sttetf. 
 

 J 
 
 
 P«^ 
 
 O0 X 
 
 %%* - 
 
 ^ v* 
 
 
 
 
 / . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '++ v 
 

 
 
 
 
 v>% 
 
 
 
 .A 
 
 .**