of Dinas Bran, because he knew that inaccessible fortress could not be
forced from him, and that it would not be safe to have an avowed enemy,
with so strong a refuge for his disaffected subjects, in the rear of his
operations; otherwise Gryffydd Ap Madog had merited banishment as much as
his namesake of Powisland: nay, Gryffydd, Lord of Dinas Bran, married an
English lady, {101} Emma, daughter of Lord Audley, whose father did much
mischief and hurt to the Welch, by bringing from Germany a body of
horsemen, who, by the uncommon size of their horses, and their unusual
manner of fighting, terrified and easily defeated the Welchmen at the
first; but when they had become more familiarized with their mode, they
took their revenge upon them, even on Lord Audley’s own land. {102a}
All the nobility of Wales had solemnly sworn to defend their country till
death against the invasion of the English, and not to relinquish or
forsake one another; and the return of Gryffydd Ap Madog to his
allegiance diffused through every breast the hope of better days. {102b}
From this time to the day of his death, I do not find that he again
deserted his Prince, but attached himself to the fortunes of his country,
although fears of the resentment of his countrymen for his former conduct
made him keep close to his Castle of Dinas Bran, where he died in 1270,
{103a} and was buried by the side of his father in the Abbey Church of
Valle Crucis; leaving his country in the enjoyment of freedom and peace;
the Welch having, by innate bravery and constancy, aided by the
fastnesses of their country, and the good policy of their Prince, freed
themselves for a time from the thraldom of their potent enemy.
Mr. Pennant gives a different account of his end. {103b} He says that
“his wife, Emma, having alienated his affection from his own country,
made him an instrument of its subjection, and of the destruction of his
own family; for, as he took part with Henry III. and Edward I. against
his natural Prince, the resentment of his countrymen was excited against
him, and he was obliged to shelter himself from their rage in his Castle
of Dinas Bran, where probably shame and grief put an end to his life.”
Be that as it may, Gryffydd Ap Madog, by his wife Emma, daughter of John,
Lord Audley, left issue four sons, viz. Madog, Llewellyn, Gryffydd, and
Owen. {104} Madog, the eldest, became Lord of Dinas Bran &c. He died,
it is supposed, not long after his father, leaving two sons to inherit
his property. {105a} The eldest, called Madog, had, by his father’s
will, Bromfeild and Yale, the Castell Dinas Bran, &c.; the second son,
Llewellyn, the Lordship of Chirk, &c. It should seem these children were
not of age when their father died; for Edward I. King of England, took on
him to appoint guardians to them both, and committed Madog, the elder, to
the care of John, Earl of Warren, one of his favorites; and Llewellyn he
intrusted to Roger Mortimer, son of Lord Mortimer, of Wigmore. {105b}
These men well understood the nature of the appointment; and it is
probable that Edward had maturely weighed in his mind the potency of
their enmity, who could be such powerful friends, and having then but
recently subjugated the country, he might wish out of his way two scions
of a stock which had proved so stubborn and so valiant. It was well
known that Warren and Mortimer had rid themselves of their respective
charges, and had possessed themselves of their estates, which they were
suffered to enjoy without an inquiry being instituted respecting them, or
about the disappearance of their wards; but the manner of the murder of
these two unfortunate children has but lately been discovered, in a
manuscript in the Bodleian Library. {106} The guardian of the two boys
caused them to be drowned under Holt Bridge; and no doubt from hence
arose the origin of a fable which was long current in the country, of two
fairies having been drowned in that place.
From the Earls of Warren the Castell Dinas Bran passed to the Arundel
{107} and other families. In 1390, Myfanuy Fechan, a descendant of the
house of Tudor, resided there, and was celebrated for her beauty in a
long ode by Howel Ap Einion Lygliw, a celebrated bard of that time. The
Castle was probably then held under the Earls of Arundel. It is now the
property of Mrs. Myddelton Biddulph, of Chirk Castle. The period of its
destruction is as completely unknown as the time of its foundation.
Eagles and hawks in abundance used to breed, as some now do, in the
neighbouring rocky ridge of the Eglwyseg, and
“Along the narrow valley you might see
The wild deer sporting on the meadow ground,
And here and there a solitary tree,
Or mossy stone, or rock with woodbine crown’d.
Oft did the cliffs reverberate the sound
Of parted fragments tumbling from on high,
And from the summit of that craggy mound
The perching eagle oft was heard to cry,
Or on resounding wing to shoot athwart the sky.”
The view from the Castle is not so extensive as might be expected from
its elevation, being bounded, except towards the east, by more lofty
mountains; yet the scenery is most truly grand and magnificent.
According to the plan laid down in the beginning of this work, I leave my
readers to their own observations; only informing them that the house
which makes a distinguished figure to the westward is Dinbrin Hall, the
residence of Richard Jones, Esq.
Descending on the west side of the hill, and proceeding on the old way to
the Abbey Crucis, stands a neat house, called the Twr, i.e. Tower, which
I conjecture, for I can obtain no written document on the subject, to
have been a look-out or watch-tower belonging to the Castle; especially
as it is placed on the side most easy of access. Some additions have
been made to the Tower, and it is now a comfortable farm-house, inhabited
by a very respectable lady, of the name of Price. It has been a square
building, built of hewn stone, as evinced by the massive walls which now
surround the old part converted into a parlour, and by an old spiral
stone stair at the back of the room.
The old way from the Castle to the Abbey has been much intersected and
crossed, especially by the branch of the Ellesmere Canal, and by roads
made to recently erected retreats and farms; among which I must not,
however, reckon the road to
Llantysilio,
Which is a place of great antiquity. It belonged of old time to the
ancient family of the Cuppers of the North, {110} so called even in the
time of King Henry II.; and by the marriage of a daughter of that family
with a Mr. Jones, of Llanbothian, in Montgomeryshire, it became the
heritage of the late possessor of that name, and is now inhabited by
Major Harrison, who resides in the Hall, a large brick building, bearing
a strong affinity to Trevor Hall in antiquity of erection. It is
situated in a pleasant valley, watered by the river Dee, over which it
enjoys a fine prospect.
The Church of Llantysilio is dedicated to a Welch saint, from whom the
township takes its name. He was Prince of Powis, and was called St.
Tysilio. It is a neat little edifice, with a very pleasant church-yard,
and contains nothing very ancient in the monumental way; but there are
around it many very venerable yew trees, with their wide spreading sombre
foliage. I had the curiosity to measure one, and found it above twenty
feet in girth. The inside of the Church is, like its neighbour at
Llangollen, indebted for some of its decorations to the Abbey Crucis,
which seems after its dissolution to have been considered as lawful
plunder; and this circumstance in some measure accounts for its so speedy
dilapidation. English service is performed in the Church of Llantysilio
on the third Sunday in every month.
Vale Crucis
ABBEY.
“How many hearts have here grown cold,
That sleep these mouldering stones among!
How many beads have here been told!
How many matins here been sung!
But here no more soft music floats,
No holy anthems chanted now;
All hush’d, except the ring-dove’s notes,
Low murmuring from yon beachen bough.”
THE Abbey of Llan Egwest, or Valle Crucis, so called from a very ancient
inscribed pillar or cross, the mutilated remains of which stand in an
adjacent field, and will next come under consideration, was built and
founded by Madog Ap Gryffydd Maelor, Lord of Dinas Bran, as before
related under the head of Dinas Bran.
This Abbey was built in the year of our Lord 1200, was dedicated to the
Virgin Mary, and belonged to a community of Cistercian Monks, an order
founded in France in the year 1098. The remains of the Abbey Church are
the most picturesque and entire part. It was built in the form of a
cross, which was contrary to the form in common use before the twelfth
century. {114}
This proves that Madog availed himself of the aid of skilful workmen, and
it is probable that the fraternity called Free Masons were employed, as
they were incorporated about this time, and were the chief undertakers of
such works. Their government was regular, and they were wont to make an
encampment of huts. A surveyor governed in chief; every tenth man being
called a warden, and overlooking nine. They ranged from one country to
another, as they found churches to be built. {115}
The Church is built in different styles of architecture. The east end
seems the most ancient, and the three lancet-like arched windows have a
very peculiar effect. It is situated at the foot of a lofty hill, called
Fron Fawr, and a little stream runs at the back of the Abbey, skirting
its gardens, and turning a corn-mill in its passage to the Dee. The view
from the high bank beyond the rivulet (which is crossed by a rustic plank
bridge) of the east end of the Church and Abbey, is particularly
beautiful.
On its front or west side rise the Berwyn Mountains; on the east, the
Fron Fawr; and the whole is so enveloped in beautiful foliage that it is
perhaps one of the most enchantingly secluded places in the kingdom. The
west front of the Church affords some admirable specimens of ancient
gothic architecture. The grand entrance has been through the ornamented
pointed arch gateway at the west end; over which is a fine gothic window,
consisting of three lancet-shaped arches, surmounted by a circular or
rose window, of eight divisions; but it is too lofty to admit of close
inspection, as is also the following mutilated inscription, which is
above it:—
AD . . . ADAM . . . DMS fecit hoc opus. Pace beata quiescat. Amen.
MD . . .
The rest of the last line is obliterated. The following translation may
not be unacceptable:—
AD . . . ADAM . . . DMS built (or rebuilt) this work. May he rest in
happy peace. Amen.
MD . . .
The letters MD seem to have been meant as part of the date marking the
time when the Church was repaired, and go far to prove the little
veneration shown to this once elegant structure by the neighbouring
people, and that its dilapidation was unusually rapid. Now, we will
suppose that the inscription MD means 1500, and allow that it was then in
complete repair, and that it was one of the first Abbeys dissolved, say
in 1538; for I do not read that Henry VIII. began his reformation among
the religious houses before that time; I find in Camden’s Britannia,
speaking of this place, the following passage:—“Save onely a little
Abbay, now _wholly decaied_, but standing most richly and pleasantly in a
vale, which among the woody hils cutteth itself overthwart in manner of a
crosse, whereupon it was called in Latin Vallis Crucis, that is, the Vale
of the Crosse, and in British, Lhane Gwest.” {118a}
Camden’s great work, Britannia, was published in 1586; and from these
facts I draw my conclusion that it was ransacked and destroyed soon after
its dissolution, as I suppose it was—
In complete repair, A.D. 1500;
Dissolved by order of Henry VIII. A.D. 1538; {118b}
Wholly decayed, as by Camden, 1586. {119}
Of the magnificence of this ancient Monastery no adequate description can
now be given, and scarcely an idea formed of what it has been. The body
and nave of the Church are disfigured, and nearly choked up with masses
of ruins, and large and luxuriant forest trees, among which the ash and
sycamore are most predominant. The length of the Church is about one
hundred and eighty feet; the width I can only guess at, as the north side
is wholly gone. An author before me says the nave was thirty-one feet
broad, and the side aisle thirteen feet.
In the north transept are the remains of a chapel, said by some to have
contained the tomb of the founder. In a wall in the cloister stands a
double benetoir, or vessel for holy water. The cloister is small and
gloomy, whose
“Storied windows, richly dight,
Have shed a dim religions light.”
The solemnity of the place, and the stillness that reigns, aided by the
subdued light of the moon, and by a vivid fancy, may conjure up strange
ideas, and
“Still may imagination’s ardent eye
In the tall grove the sage’s form espy;
See him intent with sacred zeal to plan
Some moral lesson for ungrateful man.”
The part of the Abbey now remaining is inhabited by a farmer, who will
show the premises on proper application. There, is a Saxon or
semicircular arched gateway in the farm-yard, adjoining a very curious
gothic window, well worthy attention. The dormitory or sleeping cells
were formerly entered by stone stairs from the outside, which have been
removed within the last two years. The floor of the dormitory is
supported by low massive pillars; and the arches which spring from their
capitals form vaulted rooms, in which the family reside. There are many
beautiful features in this interesting ruin, to amply repay the attention
of the curious, and the research of the antiquarian. The front seems to
have been extensive, and before it gurgles up a very pure spring of
water. The Abbot’s apartments were contiguous to the church, and there
opened from one of them a small space, where he might stand, and hear the
holy services performed below.
The venerable ruin is lessened by every succeeding tenant, and some of
the recently erected buildings exhibit stones with mutilated devices and
inscriptions worked up in the walls. In one of the farmer’s bedchambers
a stone forms part of a chimney-piece, which is carved with running
foliage, and contains this imperfect inscription:—
“Hic jacet Arvrvet.”
This is the only remain of any tomb discovered. In digging a few months
ago in the farm-yard, to make a drain, at a short distance from the
surface were dug up the remains of eleven men, in a very small compass of
ground, which goes far to prove that this was the common cemetery of the
Abbey; and also a wedge-like stone, having carved on its front a hand,
holding a vine or olive branch, bearing fruit. The stone is now at Plas
Newydd.
I have in my account of Castell Dinas Bran recorded that Madog Ap
Gryffydd Maelor was buried in this Abbey, A.D. 1236; and his son,
Gryffydd Ap Madog Maelor, Lord of Dinas Bran, A.D. 1270.
Having thus given the best account I can of the present state of this
once noble Abbey, I now proceed to state what I can collect from
authentic sources of its Abbots and its endowments.
Reyner, Bishop of St. Asaph, who died in 1224, bestowed on this Abbey
half the tithes of Wrexham. Abraham, his brother, succeeded him in the
Bishoprick in 1227, and gave the remaining half. {124a}
Howel Ap Ednyfed, successor to Abraham, gave to it the Church of
Llangollen. {124b} The monks also obtained, besides these endowments,
the patronage of several other livings, as Wrexham, Ruabon, Chirk,
Llansanfraid, and Llandegla.
The freemen of Llangollen made a grant in part of the river near their
town of a fishery to the monks of Valle Crucis; and, for want of a seal
of their own, affixed the seal of the founder of the Abbey to the grant.
{124c}
The landed endowments were, in the year 1291, near the Abbey, a grange,
with three ploughlands, {125} a mill, and other conveniences, probably
the donations of the founder Madog; the granges of Bodhange, Tregam,
Rudryn, and Baketon. I have no means of ascertaining who were the donors
of the farms, but I find they had also the dairy farm of Nante; the
grange of Nostroyz, Convenet, and Grennychamt; also the grange of
Wyrcessam, consisting of one ploughland and some pasture, with thirty
cows, valued in those days at only thirty shillings.
All these estates were vested in the Abbot for the time being, and formed
no inconsiderable revenue; but the title of the monks to several of the
livings was disputed by a succeeding Bishop of St. Asaph, called Y Brawd
Du O Nannau, or the Black Brother of Nanny, who obtained a decision in
his favour. The third of the tithes of Bryn Eglwys, or Egwestl, was,
however, allotted to them, in lieu of the patronage of Llandegla.
The monks had also a dispute with the freemen of Llangollen respecting
the fishery, the former having erected works on the river, whereby they
caught more fish than the Llangollen folks thought came to their share,
or than abstemious monks could require. However, the affair was referred
to the Prince of Wales, and the fishery was confirmed to the Abbey in
1234.
I will now lay before my readers a short account of some of the Abbots.
Dafydd Ap Ivan Jorwerth is highly celebrated by a bard in the year 1480,
who says of him, and of his successor, Ivan, or John, that they lived in
great splendour, that they had four courses every day served on bright
silver dishes, and they drank claret, &c. He also commends the piety of
the house, and says that he was so happy as to be blessed by Abbot John,
who had three of his fingers covered with rings. The last Abbot was John
Herne, who received an annuity of 23_l._ per annum on his surrender. In
1553 this annuity, and others to some of the surviving monks, to the
amount of 10_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ were the whole of the remaining charges.
{127}
This is said to be the first Abbey that was dissolved in Wales, and it
remained in the crown until the ninth of James I. who then granted it to
Edward Wotton, created Lord Wotton. In 1654, Margaret Wotton was in
possession. She was a recusant, and Cromwell then put it under
sequestration to Edward Davies, the Cneifwr Glâs of Eglwyseg.
The last possessor, Mrs. Thomas, of Trevor Hall, built a kind of
summer-house at the back of the Abbey, adjoining to a pond abounding with
trout. Here was a charming field for the display of taste; but, as in
the hut at the top of Dinas Bran, the opportunity has been lost.
Leaving the Abbey, let us now proceed through the adjoining meadow to the
Pillar of Eliseg, from which the valley takes its name.
La Crucis;
OR
THE PILLAR OF ELISEG.
—“The time draws on
When not a single spot of burial earth,
Whether on land, or in the spacious sea,
But must give back its long committed dust
Inviolate.”
THE Pillar of Eliseg is supposed to be one of the oldest inscribed
British columns now existing, and is erected in a field about three
furlongs from the Abbey, standing in a delightful valley, to which it
gives the name of Valle Crucis, or the Vale of the Cross. The spot on
which it stands is a gentle elevation, and is called Llwyn y Groes, i.e.
the Grove of the Cross. The pillar was twelve feet high, and inscribed
all round with letters. It stood in its place until some of Cromwell’s
fanatical soldiers overthrew and broke it.
The pillar remained cast down many years, until Trevor Lloyd, Esq. of
Trevor Hall, reared its mutilated remains again into its base, which had
not been removed, and placed upon it this Latin inscription:—
QUOD HUJUS VETERIS MONUMENTI
SUPEREST
DIU EX OCULIS REMOTUM
ET NEGLECTUM
TANDEM RESTITUIT
T. LLOYD
TREVOR HALL
MDCCLXXIX.
Translated as follows:—
“T. LLOYD, of Trevor Hall, at length, in the year 1779, restored what
remains of this ancient Monument, which had been a long time removed
from sight, and neglected.”
The Cross, or Pillar, for it seems never to have had the form of a Cross,
is now little more than eight feet high. The old inscription, which time
has rendered illegible, has been carefully copied by that great
antiquarian, Mr. Edward Llwyd, {131a} and informs us nearly of the time
of its erection, as under:—
“Concenn filius Cateli . . Cateli {131b} filius Brochmail Brochmail
filius Eliseg . . Eliseg filius Cnoillaine Concenn itaque pronepos
Eliseg edificavit hunc Lapidem proavo suo Eliseg.”
Of which the following seems to be an exact translation:—
“Concenn, the son of Cateli; Cateli the son of Brochmail; Brochmail,
the son of Eliseg; Eliseg, the son of Cnoillaine; Concenn, therefore
the great-grandson of Eliseg, erected this stone to his
great-grandfather Eliseg.”
The characters resemble one of the alphabets in use about the sixth
century, at which time this sepulchral pillar was erected. Concenn and
Eliseg probably resided at Castell Dinas Bran; and a township adjacent
bears the name of Eglwyseg, as well as the stupendous and picturesque
mass of rocks that range along the vale, called the Eglwyseg Rocks, from
Eliseg. Brochmail, another of the persons mentioned, deserted the
protection of the Monks of Bangor at the battle of West Chester, when
twelve hundred of those unfortunate unarmed religious were cut to pieces
by the forces of Athelfrid or Edilfred, King of Northumberland, A.D. 607.
{132}
Brochmail, whom I suppose to be the same the Latins called Brochmailus,
was a great prince in that part of Britain called Powisland, which was
then very extensive, stretching from the Severn to the Dee in a right
line, from the end of Broxon Hills to Salop, and comprehending all the
country between the Wye and Severn. He resided at Pengwern Powis, now
Shrewsbury, {133a} in a house situated where the College of St. Chad now
stands. He was a great friend and favourer of the Monks of Bangor, and
took part with them against the Saxons, instigated by Augustine the Monk
to prosecute them with fire and sword, because they would not agree to
the forms and ceremonies of the Church of Rome, and forsake their own
established customs. {133b}
I was so fortunate as to meet with two persons who assisted in opening
the tumulus before the pillar was re-erected; and they gave me the
following account:—On digging below the flat pedestal in which the base
of the Pillar had been inserted, they came to a layer of pebble stones;
and after having removed them, to a large flat slab, on which it seems
the body had been laid, as they now found the remains of it, guarded
round with large flat blue stones, and covered at top with the same; the
whole forming a sort of stone box or coffin. The bones were entire, and
of very large dimensions. The skull and teeth, which were very white and
perfect, were particularly sound. My informants said they believed the
skull was sent to Trevor Hall, but it was returned, and again deposited,
with the rest of the bones, in its former sepulchre. By this it should
seem that Eliseg was not an old man when he was buried here, and it is
wonderful that greater decomposition had not taken place in twelve
hundred years.
One of the persons who assisted at the exhumation is now a very old man,
and was huntsman to Mr. Lloyd when the tumulus was opened. He says there
was a large piece of silver coin found in the coffin, which was kept; but
that the skull was gilded to preserve it, and was then again deposited
with its kindred bones. I asked if the bones were sound; and he answered
(I give his own words), “O, no, sir; they broke like gingerbread.”
I have now reached the limits I prescribed for myself on the north side
of the Dee, and trust I have noticed every thing most worthy of
attention. I purpose next to give a short account of the river, and
passing Llangollen Bridge, continue my route to Glyndyfrdwy and Sycharth,
once the residence of Owen Glyndwr.
The River Dee
“On scenes like these the eye delights to dwell,
Here loud cascades, and there the silent dell;
The lofty mountains, bleak and barren, rise,
And spread their ample bosoms to the skies;
While still the rushing river rolls along,
The theme of many a humble shepherd’s song,
And as it rolls, the trout, in speckled pride,
Springs playful in the smooth translucent tide.”