DENBIGH
The colonisation of Denbigh from the north--Denbigh Castle--Sir
John o’ the two thumbs--Henry de Lacy--Projected transfer of
cathedral to Denbigh--The Goblin Tower--Thomas Plantagenet--Robert
Dudley--The bowling green--The Duke of Sussex and his
breeches--Sir Hugh Myddelton--Sir Thomas Myddelton--Mrs.
Jordan--Her last song--Llanrhaiadr--Anne Parry’s body--“The
Three Sisters”--Ruthin--Contest with Owen Glyndwr--Reginald de
Grey--Oppressive laws--Dean Gabriel Goodman--The Huail stone--The
church--Moel Fenlli--Story of Benlli--Llandegla--Oblations of cocks
and hens.
THE county of Denbigh, together with that of Flint, was at one time all
but permanently lost to the Celtic race.
The Angles of Mercia had advanced steadily and irresistibly along the
broad level land from Chester, planting their stockaded forts where
later would arise the stone-walled castles of the Normans, following
the banks of the great estuary of the Dee, and supported by their
fleets. They reached the mouth of the Clwyd, and began to spread up its
fertile basin, driving back the Welsh before them. They had planted a
large colony at Conway, and Deganwy, the old palace of the kings of
Gwynedd, was in their hands.
Anarawd, son of Rhodri the Great, was king in North Wales, paying
to the king of Wessex a reluctant tribute of gold and silver, and
the fleetest of Welsh hounds; but he could not roll back the tide of
Teutonic invasion, and he was forced to lurk in Snowdon and Anglesey,
and look down from the rocky heights and heather-flushed mountains on
the smoke of English farms that rose above the ruins of many a burned
_hendre_ of his people.
Then an appeal came to him from the Britons of Strathclyde, in North
Lancashire and Cumberland, exhausted by the ravages of Danes and
Saxons, asking for help. Anarawd could not assist them with armed
hand, but he pointed to Flint and the vale of the Clwyd, and invited
them to turn out the English there settling themselves, and “not yet
warm in their seats.” They rose to the order, migrated in a mass, and
dislodged the Angle colonists. But sorely misdoubting their ability
to make good their hold, they entreated Anarawd to stand by them. He
did so, mustering all the strength of Gwynedd; he joined forces with
the Strathclyde immigrants, met the Mercian forces near Conway, and
in a pitched battle (878) drove them back to the Dee, with immense
slaughter, never to return. And thenceforth Flint and Denbighshire have
remained Welsh.
Denbigh stands on a limestone height crowned by a castle, Din-bach,
the Little Fortress or Castle. But that is not the popular derivation
of the name. A monster, the _Bych_, occupied a cave in the face of the
rock, now almost choked up. Thence it issued to ravage the country, but
was killed by Syr Sion y Bodiau, the double-thumbed son of Catherine
of Berain. But as Sir John Salusbury lived in the reign of Elizabeth,
it is clear that some ancient myth has attached itself to him which
belonged originally to a primeval hero. The first certain account of
the castle is at the time of the final conquest of the Principality.
King Henry III. granted the custody of it to Dafydd ab Gruffydd, that
treacherous and unprincipled prince who was the brother of Llewelyn,
the last Prince of Wales of the native stock. After the execution of
David at Shrewsbury in 1283 the fortress was granted to Henry de Lacy,
Earl of Lincoln, who erected the present castle.
Old Denbigh occupied the area in front of the castle, but this part
was abandoned about the reign of Elizabeth for New Denbigh, built at
the foot of the hill, either because there was lack of water on the
summit of the rock, or because the steepness of the ascent rendered a
residence more convenient lower down. Now the space within the walls
is unoccupied save by the little church of S. Hilary, and the ruins of
a cathedral begun by the Earl of Leicester, who proposed to transfer
thither the seat of the bishop from S. Asaph. But it was not completed.
This is to be regretted, as it would have been a most curious specimen
of Gothic in its last stage of decay. We have plenty of examples of
domestic architecture of the period, and very delightful they are, but
of ecclesiastical buildings none. It was a period of church gutting
and pulling down, and not of erection and decoration. Henry de Lacy
was engaged on building the castle when a fatal accident disheartened
him, and he left the work incomplete. He had erected a tower, now
called that of the Goblin, over a well with an unfailing spring in it,
that was to supply the castle. His son Edmund, a boy of fifteen, was
playing in the tower, scrambling among the scaffolding, when he lost
his footing, fell to the bottom, and was killed.
The water has now been drawn off to a bath-house outside, at the
foot of the rock, and was at one time supposed to possess curative
properties.
The dead boy’s spirit is thought still to haunt the tower, and his
white face to be seen peeping out of the ruined windows.
Henry de Lacy’s daughter Alice was married to Thomas Plantagenet, Earl
of Lancaster, and he by right of his wife became Earl of Denbigh.
Edward of Carnarvon had received his father’s instructions before
Edward I. died. Of these the principal were: that he should persist in
the conquest of Scotland, and should not recall his favourite Piers de
Gaveston. These commands were violated by the young King. His first
act was to send for Gaveston, and to confer on him the royal earldom
of Cornwall; and when, at the coronation of Edward, Gaveston was given
precedence over all the great nobles of the realm, their wrath knew
no bounds. Three days after the ceremony they called upon the King to
dismiss his favourite. Edward was obliged to give way, and Gaveston
to swear that he would never return. The Pope, however, released the
favourite from his oath, and shortly after Edward recalled him. The
Earl of Lancaster and Denbigh refused to attend the next parliament
convoked by the King, and the barons, flying to arms, captured Gaveston
at Scarborough, and by order of Thomas of Lancaster cut off his head.
The news affected the King with passionate grief, to which was quickly
added a fierce desire for revenge.
Some time after the death of Gaveston, Edward found a new favourite,
Hugh le Despenser, whose harsh attempt to enforce feudal law to his
own advantage excited the marchers of Wales to arms against him. They
were joined by Thomas of Lancaster, but he was defeated and taken to
Pontefract Castle, where he was executed. Upon his death Denbigh was
conferred on Hugh le Despenser.
The incapacity and favouritism of Edward occasioned a fresh outbreak,
and Hugh le Despenser fell into the hands of the barons, who hanged him
after a hasty trial. Then Denbigh Castle passed to another favourite,
Roger Mortimer, the paramour of Queen Isabella. He was taken at
Nottingham, arraigned in a Parliament summoned at Winchester, and
hanged at Tyburn.
It really seemed that Denbigh was doomed to bring ill-luck on its
masters. That ill-luck did not end with the hanging of Mortimer.
In 1566 Elizabeth granted it to her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of
Leicester, whom she created Earl of Denbigh.
His conduct rendered him odious to the inhabitants, and his extortions
drove them to open rebellion against his authority. He raised rents
from £250 per annum to £800, he levied fines arbitrarily, encroached
on private estates, and enclosed commons. Two of the young Salusburys
of Lleweni pulled down the fences he had set up on the common land.
He had them arrested, taken to Shrewsbury, and hanged there. The
exasperation against Leicester became so great that the Queen was
compelled to interfere, and he, with a view to make some satisfaction
for the evils he had inflicted, began the erection of his cathedral,
of which he laid the first stone on March 1st, 1579. But now the fate
that had already fallen on three of the holders of Denbigh reached him.
He died of poison at the age of fifty-six, on September 5th, 1588. The
castle and lordship then reverted to the Crown, and from that time till
the commencement of the Civil War drops out of historical importance.
The keep, grand entrance, and Goblin Tower are undoubtedly the work of
Henry de Lacy. The gateway is best preserved, and over the entrance in
a niche is a mutilated statue of Edward I., with lovely ball-pattern
sculpture in the mouldings of the niche enclosing it.
The views from the castle over the Vale of Clwyd are most beautiful;
none finer than from the bowling green. That was inaugurated by the
Duke of Sussex in 1829.
During the carouse on that occasion, that took place in the arbour, His
Royal Highness had the misfortune to spill a glass of punch over his
lap. As his breeches were white, and he had not another pair with him,
he was constrained to retire to bed till a local tailor could fit him
out afresh. When the august visitor to Denbigh re-emerged into the
streets, lo! already had the little tailor inscribed over his shop: “By
Special Appointment, Richard Price, Breeches-maker to his R.H. the Duke
of Sussex.”
There are two modern churches in Denbigh. The old parish church,
S. Marchell’s, is at Whitchurch, about a mile out of the town. S.
Hilary’s, in Old Denbigh, was only the castle chapel. S. Marchell’s
is a good fifteenth-century building, and is now used as a mortuary
chapel. The roofs are specially fine. In it is the tomb of Sir John “of
the double thumbs.” He was a man of enormous strength, and is reported
to have killed a white lioness in the Tower by a blow of his fist. He
died in 1578. In the porch are two brasses of Richard Myddelton, of
Gwaenynog, Governor of Denbigh Castle in the reigns of Edward VI.,
Mary, and Elizabeth, and of his wife Jane. Denbigh was the native place
of Hugh Myddelton, who, largely at his own expense, brought the New
River from Ware, twenty miles distant, to London. He was the sixth
son of the above-mentioned Richard, and was a goldsmith in Basinghall
Street. His elder brother Thomas was a grocer--so little in those
days was trade thought to be unsuitable for men of gentle birth and
good position. He represented Denbigh in Parliament several times,
and obtained a charter of incorporation for his native town. A proper
supply of pure water to the Metropolis had often been canvassed by the
corporation, and the wells were frequently contaminated and productive
of periodical outbreaks of fever.
Myddelton declared himself ready to carry out the great work, and in
1609 “the dauntless Welshman” began his undertaking. The engineering
difficulties were not all he had to contend with, for he had to
overcome violent opposition from the landowners, who drew a harrowing
picture of the evils that would result were his scheme carried
through, as they contended, for his own private benefit. Worried by
this senseless but powerful party, with a vast and costly labour only
half completed, and with the probability of funds failing, most men
would have broken down in bankruptcy and despair. But James I. came
to his aid and agreed to furnish one half of the expense if he were
granted one half of the ultimate profits. This spirited act of the King
silenced opposition, the work went on, and in about fifteen months
after this new contract the water was brought into London.
The popular story is that Myddelton ruined himself by this undertaking,
and had to apply for relief of his necessities to the citizens of
London, who, however, failed to unbutton their pockets for their
benefactor. He fell into poverty, and disguising himself under the name
of Raymond, laboured as a common pavior in Shropshire.
This is, however, a myth. After the completion of his great achievement
for the benefit of London, Sir Hugh reclaimed Brading Harbour, in the
Isle of Wight, and undertook the working of Welsh mines, whose tin and
lead brought in a large revenue, but he sank much money unprofitably
in looking for coal near Denbigh. He died at the age of seventy-six,
leaving large sums to his children, and an ample provision to his
widow. When James I. created him a baronet he remitted the customary
fees, amounting to over a thousand pounds--a very large sum of money in
those days.
But he was not the only Myddelton who was a benefactor. In 1595 his
brother Sir Thomas purchased Chirk Castle and Denbigh from the Crown.
He provided the Welsh “nation” (in 1630) with the first portable
edition of the Scriptures at his own expense. His brother William gave
the Welsh a metrical version of the Psalms.
In Nantglyn, at Plas, five miles from Denbigh, was born Mrs. Jordan
the actress, if we may trust local authorities. She made her first
appearance at Drury Lane in 1785, and appeared as Peggy in _The
Country Girl_, driving her audience frantic with delight. How she
could act in serious parts Charles Lamb has described in one of the
most exquisite passages of the _Essays of Elia_. According to some
accounts, she was not Welsh, but Irish; but this opinion seems to be
due to her having made her début at Dublin. Her real name was Dorothy
Bland, but she assumed the name of Frances. To her we owe “The Blue
Bells of Scotland,” one of those rare instances of a woman composing
a melody that has taken hold and remained. It is curious that a Welsh
girl--or Irish, if the Waterford claims to her be maintained--should
have contributed a national air to Scotland. Mrs. Jordan was not really
beautiful, but she had a most engaging manner and expression of face.
Her voice was not only sweet, but her articulation was distinct. The
last song she sang in public on the stage was--
“Last night the dogs did bark,
I went to the gate to see,
And ev’ry lass has her spark,
But nobody’s coming for me.
O dear! what can the matter be?
O dear! what shall I do?
Nobody’s coming to marry me,
Nobody’s coming to woo!”
--one of those delightful English airs that will never die. This was
shortly before her eldest son, George Fitzclarence, was born--January
29th, 1794.
Mrs. Jordan acquired a good deal of money by her profession, and she
was not an extravagant person. She had a large family, and was a good
mother. A person who had married one of her daughters had involved
her in a debt of £2,000, and this so preyed on her spirits that it
shortened her days. She withdrew from England and settled at S. Cloud,
near Paris, and died there July 5th, 1816, aged fifty, and is buried at
S. Cloud.
Llanrhaiadr is three miles from Denbigh. The church has some fine
old glass in the east window, representing a Jesse tree. There is a
wonderful genealogical tombstone in the churchyard to a certain John
ap Robert, ap David, ap Gruffydd, ap David Vaughan, and so on back to
Cadell Deyrnllwg, king of Powys.
A curious story is connected with an interment in this churchyard.
“Anne Parry had opened her house for the preaching of the Methodists
in this place, and originated a Sunday-school in the neighbouring
village. She ended a life of laborious benevolence by a peaceful
death, and forty-three years after her decease, on the occasion of
her son’s burial in the same tomb, her coffin was opened, and the
body of this excellent woman was found to be in a perfect state of
preservation, undecayed in the slightest degree, and her countenance
bearing the hues of living health. The very flowers which had been
strewed upon her body, it is said, were as fresh in colour, and as
fragrant in odour, as when they were first plucked from their native
boughs. The body of this lady was exhumed about three years afterwards
(in 1841), and was nearly in the same state of preservation. This was
corroborated by the mayor of Ruthin in 1841. The compiler of this
account received the same information on the very day the lady had
been re-interred, not only from the parish clerk and the mayor of
Ruthin, but from several other parties who saw the body.”[4]
Some allowance must be made for exaggeration here. That a body in
certain undetermined circumstances may remain undecomposed is doubtless
true, but the statement relative to the flowers must be dismissed as
impossible.
Between Denbigh and Ruthin, and three miles from the latter, is
Llanynys. Here, at Bachymbyd, an ancient mansion, are “The Three
Sisters,” noble chestnuts planted by the three daughters of Sir
William Salusbury. The property passed into the hands of Sir Walter
Bagot through a singular circumstance. He had been shooting in the
neighbourhood, and a favourite pointer strayed, and he could not
recover it. Some time after Sir William Salusbury found the dog, and
sent it to Sir Walter with his compliments. This led to an exchange of
compliments, and next time Sir Walter Bagot was in the neighbourhood
he called at Bachymbyd to express his gratitude. He there met the
daughters of Sir William, and fell in love with one of them, proposed,
and was accepted. Before the lady left for her new home she and her
sisters planted these trees.
Ruthin is a pleasant little town, with its castle, but the latter is
not old, having been almost wholly rebuilt. Portions of the earlier
castle still remain.
The castle was founded in 1281 by Edward I., and was granted to
Reginald de Grey. This man did his utmost to exasperate the Welsh to
fresh insurrection, and Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, made a
journey into Wales to mediate between the King and Llewelyn, and allay
the irritation. He complained to Edward, but in vain, of the rapacity
of Reginald, whom he accused of committing the most flagrant acts of
injustice, of depriving officers of the places they had purchased
and of commissions that had been granted to them, of revoking just
sentences when they jarred with his interests, and of compelling the
peasantry to plough his lands without wages.
A contest about a common called Croesau, between Ruthin and
Glyndyfrdwy, led to the insurrection of Owen Glyndwr.
During the reign of Richard II. a controversy had arisen relative to
rights over this common. Reginald de Grey, who held Ruthin Castle,
had claimed it. Owen disputed the claim, and gained his suit in a
court of law. But no sooner was the usurper Henry of Lancaster on the
throne than De Grey took possession of the common. Glyndwr appealed
to Parliament, but his appeal was dismissed. Not satisfied with this
infringement of his neighbour’s rights, De Grey resolved on utterly
ruining him. Henry had summoned Owen among his barons to attend him on
his expedition to Scotland, and had confided the summons to De Grey to
deliver. De Grey treacherously withheld it, and then represented Owen
as wilfully disobedient. Owen was accordingly sentenced, unheard, to be
deprived of his lands, and De Grey seized them.
The Bishop of S. Asaph appealed to Parliament against this injustice,
but in vain; and he warned it against the imprudence of exasperating an
honourable and loyal man of extended influence, and driving him into
rebellion to maintain his just rights. But the Lords scoffingly replied
that “they had no fear of that pack of rascally, bare-footed scrubs.”
De Grey surrounded Owen’s house, but failed to capture him. He had
attempted a most treacherous plan. He sent to Owen to offer to dine
with him and talk over matters for a reconciliation. Owen consented
on condition that De Grey came with only thirty followers, and these
unarmed. De Grey accepted the terms, but ordered a large force to
approach and surround the house while he was within. Glyndwr, however,
knew his man, and he had set his bard Iolo Goch to watch. Iolo saw the
approach of men-at-arms, so entering the hall he struck his harp and
sang:--
“Think of Lleweni’s chief, no slight
A murder on a Christmas night.
The blazing wrath of Shrewsbury keep,
The burning head’s avenging heap.”
Owen took the hint; he escaped.
Owen now proclaimed himself Prince of Wales, and called on all
true-hearted Welshmen to rally to his standard. His first exploit
was the capture of Ruthin in September, 1400. His men had concealed
themselves in the thickets of Coed Marchan, near the town, and when the
gates were thrown open for a fair, some made their way within disguised
as peasants, and kept the gates open for their confederates. Glyndwr’s
men rushed in, fired the town in four places, and slaughtered every
Englishman they met. Then, laden with booty, they retreated to the
mountains. Lord de Grey collected a force and marched against Glyndwr,
but fell into an ambush, and was taken and carried off to the wilds
of Snowdon, where Owen, before he would let him depart, forced him to
marry his daughter Jane and to pay for his ransom 10,000 marks, which
compelled him to sell his manor of Hadleigh, in Kent.
It was in consequence of Glyndwr’s insurrection that the parliament of
1401 passed a series of the most oppressive and cruel ordinances ever
enacted against any people--prohibiting the Welsh from acquiring lands
by purchase, from holding any corporate offices, from bearing arms in
any town; ordering that in lawsuits between an Englishman and Welshman,
the former could only be convicted by English juries; disfranchising
every English citizen who should marry a Welshwoman, and forbidding
Welshmen to bring up their children to any liberal art, or apprentice
them to any trade in any town or borough of the realm.
The barony of Grey de Ruthin was made out by patent to Reginald and
to his heirs, without specifying that these should be males; it is
therefore one of the few that devolve through heiresses.
In S. Peter’s Square is the picturesque timber and plaster house in
which was born Gabriel Goodman, Dean of Westminster for nearly the
whole of Elizabeth’s reign, and one of Bishop Morgan’s helpers in the
translation of the Bible into Welsh. In front of it, built into the
platform, is the Maen Huail. On this stone, according to tradition,
King Arthur cut off the head of Huail, brother of Gildas. He was a
quarrelsome, turbulent man, who, instead of serving against the Saxons,
was engaged in broils against King Arthur. But his death was due to
another cause.
Huail was imprudent enough to court a lady of whom Arthur was
enamoured. The king’s suspicions were aroused and his jealousy excited;
he armed himself secretly, and intercepted Huail on his way to the
lady’s house. Some angry words passed between them, and they fought.
After a sharp combat Huail wounded Arthur in the thigh, whereupon the
contest ceased, and reconciliation was made on the condition that Huail
should never reproach Arthur with the advantage he had obtained over
him. Arthur returned to his palace at Caerwys, in Flintshire, to be
cured of his wound. He recovered, but it caused him to limp slightly
ever after. A short time after his recovery Arthur fell in love with
a lady at Ruthin, and in order to enjoy her society disguised himself
in female attire, and so got among her companions. One day when this
lady and her maids and the disguised Arthur were dancing together,
Huail saw him. He recognised him at once, and with a sneer on his lips
said “the dancing might pass muster but for the stiff thigh.” Arthur
overheard the remark, and exasperated at the allusion, and at having
been detected in such an undignified disguise, withdrew from the dance,
and after having assumed his royal robes, summoned Huail before him,
and ordered his head to be struck off in the midst of Ruthin, on the
stone that now bears his name.
Gildas was in Ireland at the time; he at once hasted to Wales, where he
raised such a storm, and roused so many enemies against Arthur, that
the king was obliged to compromise matters, and he made over to Gildas
and his family some lands in Denbighshire as blood-fine, after which
Gildas gave him the kiss of peace.
Ruthin Church is puzzling at first sight. It was made collegiate in
1310 by John, son of Reginald de Grey. It consisted originally of two
churches, the parochial church of S. Peter, formed of one long nave and
tower, and beyond the tower the collegiate church.
“The choir being destroyed,” says the late Professor Freeman, “the
tower forms the extreme eastern portion of the northern body. Though
the upper part has been rebuilt, the arches on which it rests
happily remain unaltered. In this lies the great singularity of the
church. There are not, and never could have been, any transepts, but
still arches, almost like those of a lantern, are thrown across the
north and south sides. These, however, are merely constructive or
decorative, as it is clear they never were open. This arrangement is
exceedingly rare.”
The roof is said to have been given by Henry VII. when he bought the
lordship of Dyffryn Clwyd. On it are nearly five hundred different
devices. An aisle has been added to the church, much altering its
character.
In the chancel is the tombstone of one John Parry, 1636, with the
inscription “Hic jacet et (sedes cum sua) jure jacet.” (“Here he lies,
and since the pew is his own, he lies here by right.”)
The range of the Clwydian Hills to the east is in several places
surmounted by camps, that have been occupied by succeeding peoples, for
in some are found flint weapons, bronze, later Roman ware and coins,
and even mediæval pottery.
The highest point is Moel Famma. Moel Fenlli is the nearest to Ruthin,
and takes its name from Benlli, king of Powys, who was supplanted by
Cadell Deyrnllwg. He is reported to have retired to this stronghold.
The story is this.
Germanus--not, I hold, the Bishop of Auxerre, but his namesake, a
nephew of S. Patrick, and finally Bishop of Man--was in western
Britain. He came to Pengwern or Shrewsbury, and asked to be admitted.
But Benlli refused, and Germanus was forced to spend the night outside
the walls. A servant of Benlli, named Cadell, disregarding his master’s
orders, furnished the saint and his party with food. According to the
legend, fire fell from heaven and consumed the town, and Benlli escaped
with difficulty. Then Germanus set up Cadell to be king of Powys in his
room.
What seems actually to have happened was that Benlli, with the pagan
party, clung to the side of Vortigern, and Germanus, stirred up Cadell,
a petty prince of Powys, against him, and that Pengwern was taken, and
Cadell elevated to be king in the room of Benlli.
Legend has been busy with the deposed king. It is said that in his camp
he suffered tortures from rheumatism and wild-fire, and that he sought
relief from S. Cynhafal, patron of Llangynhafal hard by, who refused
it to him, as he was a renegade to paganism. Then Benlli in his pain
sought ease in the cooling waters of the River Alun, but the stream
likewise refused its aid, and dived underground. Again Benlli plunged
in, and the water dived again. He tried a third time, and the river a
third time retreated below the surface. The story has been invented to
explain the fact that the Alun actually does thrice disappear in its
bed.
At Derwen, in the church, there is a good screen, but the finest of
all in this district is that of Llanrwst. In most of the Welsh screens
the openings are rectangular, with some dainty tracery introduced at
the top. But at Llanrwst the openings are pointed. In the Devon and
Cornish and Somersetshire screens these openings are mere Perpendicular
windows, and all in each screen are alike in tracery, and this tracery
is very much the same in all. But at Llanrwst the design in each window
of the screen is different; there are, however, no mullions. The face
of the rood-loft is also rich, and only needs the filling in of the
niches with figures to make it complete.
Llandegla is interesting only on account of its spring, now all but
choked up, on Gwern Degla, about two hundred yards from the church.
Pennant in his _Tours_ writes:--
“The water is under the tutelage of the Saint (S. Tecla); and to
this day is held to be extremely beneficial in the _clwyf Tegla_, S.
Tecla’s disease, or the falling sickness. The patient washes his limbs
in the well, makes an offering into it of fourpence, walks round it
three times, and thrice repeats the Lord’s Prayer. These ceremonies
are never begun till after sunset. If the afflicted be of the male
sex, he makes an offering of a cock; if of the fair sex, of a hen. The
fowl is carried in a basket, first round the well, after that into the
churchyard, when the same orisons, and the same circumambulations are
performed round the church. The votary then enters the church, gets
under the Communion Table, lies down with the Bible under his or her
head, is covered with the carpet or cloth, and rests there till break
of day; departing after offering sixpence, and leaving the fowl in the
church. If the bird dies, the cure is supposed to have been effected,
and the disease transferred to the devoted victim.”
This is now a thing of the past. But the oblation of cocks and hens
still goes on in Brittany. At Carnoet, near Carhaix, is a chapel of S.
Gildas. At his _pardon_ in January the peasants bring fowls, and in
the chapel are three ranges of hutches, in which they are placed, and
where they remain clucking and crowing during Mass, so that often the
voice of the celebrant is drowned. After service the fowls are sold by
auction, and the money obtained goes for the maintenance of the chapel.
On the floor of the chapel is a stone sarcophagus, in which sick
people were wont to lie in the hopes of thereby recovering. It was, one
would suppose, kill or cure. They also offered a cock or hen, but this
has gone out of use in Brittany as in Wales. No one now sleeps under
the altar at Llandegla, or in the stone coffin at Carnoet.
[Illustration: LLANGOLLEN]