JOURNEY OVER THE PRECELLY MOUNTAIN TO CARDIGAN--EXTENSIVE
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.
The choice of our journey from Haverfordwest {81} to Cardigan was a
matter of some difficulty; we were desirous of traversing the 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 of three miles, I halted to take a
retrospective view of the country. Haverfordwest new 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 westward,
the lofty tower of Roche castle was conspicuous; and partly in the same
direction, the Trogan rocks, rising from the verdure in abrupt crags, so
as to be generally mistaken for stupendous ruins. Turning to the east,
within a short distance appeared an 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 attributed
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 became 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 between Haverford and Cardigan: however, I here obtained part of a
goose for my dinner, and then proceeded up the PRECELLY MOUNTAIN.
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, a
wild hilly tract, yet not undiversified with patches of cultivation,
stretched nearly to the northern confines of South Wales, where the pale
summit of Plinlimmon, in Montgomeryshire, might be just distinguished
from the atmospheric blue: more westward, beyond a vast expanse of sea,
like a doubtful mist rising from it, appeared Bardsey island, and the
neighbouring 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 discover any such
appearance. On looking backward, the whole of the interesting country
that I had travelled in the neighbourhood of Milford-haven appeared in
one comprehensive though distant display. From dwelling a considerable
time on these extensive scenes, I traversed an uninteresting country made
up of lumpy hills, and left Pembrokeshire in crossing the handsome old
bridge of Cardigan.
CARDIGAN (in Welch chronicles Abertivy {84}) 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 carry on a pretty brisk trade with Ireland. This town, though small,
is governed by a mayor, thirteen aldermen, and as many common councilmen.
The ruins of its castle, appearing on a low cliff at the foot of the
bridge, are very inconsiderable, scarcely showing more than the fragments
of two circular bastions overgrown with ivy; yet it was once a large and
important 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. {85}
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 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.
[Picture: St. Dogmael's Priory]
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 Gothic style; in the cemetery adjoining the ruin, and the
village church,
--"a church-yard yew,
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
picturesque. This priory was founded for Benedictine monks by Martin de
Turribus, a Norman chieftain, who first conquered the surrounding
territory called Kames or Kemish, 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 proprietors, 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 jugglers, scarcely less inimical to the rights of society, though
less ferocious, than themselves.
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 particulars:
From Haverfordwest the road passes neat the elevated ruin of Roche
castle; thence extends through a wild dreary country, near St. Bride's
dangerous bay, and crossed the romantic creek of Solva to the once
flourishing city of ST. DAVID'S, now in appearance an inconsiderable
village. This deserted place occupies a gentle eminence on that
projecting 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 attention to the
antique style of architecture, now appears in renewed magnificence. This
venerable structure is cruciform, of large dimensions, and of the early
Gothic architecture, though not without much of the high-wrought
fret-work 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 be met with in the church and its chapels,
those of Owen Tudor, and Edward Earl of Richmond, father of Henry the
VIIth, both situated near the middle of the choir, are worthy of notice.
The episcopal palace is a superb ruin, surmounted with a light parapet
raised upon arches, in the style of Swansea castle and Lamphey court.
"The area of the great court is 120 feet square; on the east side of
which is the Bishop's hall, 58 feet in length, and 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
return 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 cast end is a curious circular window with bars diverging from the
centre, 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 deficient in proofs of the regal
splendor assumed by the Romish pastors of Christian humility.
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,
nevertheless, 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 circumference.
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 cathedral, 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 1369.
At the extremity of St. David's promontory is a disjointed craig; so
large, that it is supposed a hundred oxen could not drag it away; but so
placed on smaller stones, as to have been easily rocked by the pressure
of a man's hand. {91}
In druidical ages, this formed the grand ordeal: if a man was to appear
guilty, the priests managed that he should apply his pressure near the
axis, and the stone remained immoveable; but if his peace or priest
offerings 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 tempestuous 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 another poor fishing town, at the bottom of a small
bay: the ruined castle, seated on a hill above the town, was built by the
Anglo-norman settlers in 1215, but afterwards nearly destroyed by
Llewellyn. In Nevern churchyard, 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, 150 feet in circumference; in the midst whereof is a cromlech
{92} of great dimensions: in the same parish is another altar monument,
called Llech-y-drybedh, having a furrow in the flat 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 spat to Cardigan.
We projected an aquatic excursion, to explore 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 land to Kilgarran. The Tivy above
Cardigan becomes environed by high hills, whose approaching 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 midst of this
imbowered glen, a naked rock, crowned with the truly picturesque remains
of Kilgarran castle, proudly advances, and forms a striking contrast to
the dark rich verdure that prevails in the other accompanyments of the
river.
[Picture: Kilgarran Castle]
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 apartments 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 foundation of the castle is uncertain, and the styles of different
ages appear throughout 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 Gruffydth, and gained
an undisputed footing in these parts. The town of Kilgarran is
diminished into one street, thinly inhabited by 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; {94} 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 employed 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 between his teeth. In this way the fishing in
most of the rivers of Wales is pursued. Coracles have been peculiar to
British rivers from time immemorial. Lucan very clearly describes them;
and in latter times, Sir Walter Raleigh relates, that "the Britons had
boats made of willow twigs covered on the outside 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 antiquity. Thence
a road of twenty miles extends through a dreary uninteresting country to
Caermarthen.
A more romantic and sequestered path than is traced beside "the hollow
stream that roars between the hills" from Lechryd bridge to Llangoedmor
on the north margin of the river, can scarcely be imagined; 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 parish of Neuodh, also near Cardigan, is another very
large cromlech; and near it is a parcel of large hewn stones nineteen in
number; which, it is said by the vulgar, cannot be counted.