WENTWOOD FOREST--EXCURSION TO THE CASTLES OF DINHAM; 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.
Having satisfied ourselves with the antiquities of Caerwent, we planned
an excursion, to comprise the six castles mentioned by the author of
"Secret Memoirs of Monmouthshire" as surrounding the forest of WENTWOOD.
These were erected soon after the Normans established themselves in
Monmouthshire, in order to keep the natives in check, who were wont to
sally from their 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, Dinham,
Penhow, Pencoed, Lanvasches, Lanvair, and Castrogy or Striguil. On a
bridle-road, extending to Share Newton, we proceeded to the village of
DINHAM, a poor place consisting 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 neighbourhood the old chapel. There being nothing here to fix our
attention, we made the best of our way to LANVAIR CASTLE, situated on a
small rise about two miles from Caerwent, near the road to Usk. In our
approach to the ruin, an effect caught through intervening trees was
pleasing and picturesque; but the ruin aspires not to grandeur, and is in
a great degree concealed by embowering verdure: a nearer inspection of
the castle increased our opinion of its former 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
features of the ruin, which is in part moulded into a farm-house: the
area of the principal court is employed as a kitchen-garden. Beneath 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 tract a dreary ride among dark woods, and
russet heaths, laboriously ascending, brought us to the PENCAMAWR summit;
a remarkable eminence in the long ridge of hills crossing the midland
parts of Monmouthshire, from the vicinity of Caerleon to the banks of the
Wye near Landago.
Here a prospect greatly extensive opened to us. Beyond the wild region
prevailing about our eminence, broken into a rapid succession of high
hills and deep valleys, the winding Usk, with its emeraldic valley,
accompanied with numerous villas and rich hanging woods, appeared in all
its beauty. The bold character of the foreground, soon melting into a
gentle undulation, displayed a 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 itself;
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 declivity, 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 profusely overspread with ivy, and the
pendent foliage of wide-branching trees, that an accurate judgement can
scarcely be formed of its architecture: but where the structure can be
seen, pointed arches with neat facings appear throughout; from which
circumstance the accuracy of Iceland 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 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 re-appearing 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
antiquated mansion, the hanging groves, and dark mantling woods of
Bertholly, impendent 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 for extent and diversity.
The views described from the Pencamawr here appear, with all the added
charms of the scenery of the Usk, in this part eminently beautiful: 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 receding confine, too remote
for the distinction of sight, appears dissolved in the blue ethereal.
From these charming scenes we descended, and in a short time left the
British way, in joining the Newport turnpike near a public-house called
Cat's Ash. This road is for the most 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 Lanvair 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 PENCOED CASTLE and
manor-house. These ruins are situated on the extreme boundary of that
hilly tract bordering Caldecot level, over which and the Bristol channel
it commands a comprehensive view. Of the castle very inconsiderable
vestiges appear, in a gateway with a circular arch and two small
pentagonal turrets, a round embattled tower, and some dilapidated walls;
yet, decorated with a profusion of verdure, the ruin, though small, is
picturesque and pleasing. The architecture of these fragments is of a
more distant date than most of the small castles in Monmouthshire, and
may be considered coeval with the first establishment of the Normans in
Gwent, _i.e._ Monmouthshire. The mansion, occupying the site of the
baronial fortress, built with its materials and engrafted on its
foundation, is of an architectural date between Henry the Eighth's reign
and that of Elizabeth. This neglected edifice is now partly occupied as
a farm-house; but indications of its former importance appear in the
grand dimensions 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 tower is the leading feature of this ruin, which is very
inconsiderable, and chiefly converted into a small farming habitation:
"There in the ruin, heedless of the dead,
The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed;
And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile,
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 remained of the
fortress at Lanvasches, we returned 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 traversed a fruitful country, pleasingly varied with wood
and pastures, in our way to CALDECOT CASTLE. The situation of this ruin
in an undiversified swampy plain, is not calculated 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 projecting
towers, is truly noble. The light grey 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 further means of defence is visible in holes through
the arch, down which boiling lead might be poured on the heads of the
besiegers. 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
citadel, 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 uncertain: 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 architecture of the building is Gothic.
Caldecot castle, in the different accounts of Monmouthshire, has been
attached to the lord high constableship of England, upon the authority of
Camden; {236} 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. Caldecot church is an extensive and highly-ornamented 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
recollection a tale of outrage and cruelty that strongly characterizes
the state of society at the time, and may serve as a buoy to mark the
lawless violence of military dominion. It is related in Powell's
translation of Caradoc's history, that Harold, after wresting part of
Prince Gryffith's possessions from him, built a magnificent palace at
Portascyth (Portswit) in Monmouthshire; "and, stowing it with a great
quantity of provision, splendidly entertained the king, who honoured him
with a visit. This was by no means pleasing to Tosty, to see his younger
brother in greater esteem and favour with the king than himself; and,
having concealed his displeasure for a time, he could not 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 was so much respected beyond himself, could not refrain to run
furiously upon him, and, pulling him by the hair, dragged him to the
ground; for which unmannerly action the king forbade him the court. But
he, with continued rancour and malice, rides to Hereford, where Harold
had many servants preparing an entertainment for the king; and, setting
upon them with his followers, lopped off 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 acquaint him, 'that of other fresh meat
he might carry with him what he pleased; but for sauce he should find
plenty provided for him.' For which barbarous offence the king
pronounced perpetual banishment upon him. But Caradoc ap Gryffydth gave
a finishing stroke to Harold's house, and the king's entertainment at
Portascyth; for, coming thither shortly after Tosty'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 materials, which, with great charges and expence, had
been brought thither to beautify and adorn the structure."
Proceeding through an agreeable undulating tract towards the sea-shore,
we soon arrived at the NEW PASSAGE, the principal entrance into
Monmouthshire from the south-western counties. {238} The breadth of
water from this place to the Bristol coast is three miles 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 by the more commodious landing at the former. Both these
concerns, being monopolies, are, like all other monopolies, hostile to
the interest of the publick; for there being no competition for
preference between the boatmen, they are extremely rude in their manners,
indifferent to the accommodation of the publick, and by no means
unpractised in various arts of extortion. But these exclusive privileges
have existed from time immemorial. The title of the New Passage arose
from its renewal in the year 1718, after an abolition in consequence of
the following remarkable 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 swards 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 stones, near the
Gloucestershire coast, to which they were instructed to ford: indeed, 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, informed of the transaction, abolished the ferry; nor was it
renewed, until after a long chancery-suit between an ancestor of the
present proprietor, Mr. Lewis, of St. Pierre, and the guardians of his
Grace the Duke of Beaufort, proprietor of Aust ferry.
A walk of a mile, on the shore westward of New Passage inn, led us to
SUDBROOK ENCAMPMENT, crowning the brow of an eminence which rises in an
abrupt cliff from Caldecot level. This work, consisting of three
ramparts and two ditches, forms a semicircle, whose chord is the sea
cliff; but it is evident, that part of the eminence has mouldered 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 Venta Silurum (Caerwent). Eastward of the
encampment is SUDBROOK CHAPEL, a small Gothic ruin, which was formerly
attached 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
incongruous mixture, in which the modern refinements of sash-windows, &c.
are forced upon a Gothic structure upwards of four hundred 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 appellation of
this river arises from the story of a British princess. Geoffry of
Monmouth relates, that she was the daughter of Locrine king of Britain,
by Elstridis, one of the three virgins of matchless charms whom he took
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 assumed 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
"The Severn swift, guilty of maiden blood;"
but in the Mask of Comus he enters fully into her sad story:
"There is a gentle nymph 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 Locrine,
That had the scepter from his father Brute.
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.
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;
Who, piteous of his woes, rear'd her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectar'd lavers strow'd with asphodil,
And through the porch and inlet of each sense
Dropt in ambrosial oils till she reviv'd,
And underwent a quick immortal change,
Made Goddess of the river."
Crossing the grounds of St. Pierre, and passing Pool Meyrick, a brook
falling into the Severn, we turned to the right in search of MATHERN
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 appearance 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 quadrangular court, and was
raised by different bishops; the north and north-east parts, comprising
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
entrance 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 Gothic structure, but of British origin, is
the following epitaph written by bishop Godwin; the substance of which
accounts for the manor 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 he 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 succeeded
him in the Kingdom, that in the
same place he should happen to decease a
church should be built, and his body buried
in the same; which was accordingly performed
in the year 600. {244}
Within a short distance of Mathern is MOINSCOURT, another deserted
ecclesiastical mansion, attributed to the erection of Bishop Godwin, and
also occupied as a farm-house. This exhibits a handsome Gothic porch
defended by two lofty turrets: within the court-yard are the two Roman
inscribed stones mentioned by Gibson in the supplement to Camden, and
said to have been brought from Caerleon: 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. Posthumius Varus.