<g>Carmarthenshire</g>.
“Now strike ye the harp that has slumbered so long,
Till yon mountains re-echo the theme of my song!
Come forth, ye bold warriors, from forest and tarn,
And up with the banner of <g>Guy of Laugharne</g>!
The sound is gone forth--all the land is awake,
Swords flash in the valley, and spears in the brake;
And, gleaming in arms, at their head ye discern
The fearless in battle--bold <g>Guy of Laugharne</g>!”
[Illustration: T]<g>OWARDS</g> the south end of the town, close on the Bay of
Carmarthen, are the ruins of the Castle, supposed to have been founded
by Guido de Brian, in the reign of <g>Henry</g> III., or, according to others,
to have been rebuilt by him; for it is said that the original castle was
destroyed by Llywelyn-ap-Iorwerth as early as 1215. If so, the said
Guido de Brian rebuilt it in the following reign. The remains, which
have been many years enclosed within the walls of a private garden, and
consist of a large square building--now a mere shell--are still in
tolerable preservation. In this parish also are the ruins of what is
called <g>Roche’s</g> Castle, but which tradition reports to be those of a
monastery; though of what order, or epoch in the Cambrian annals, is not
ascertained. This monastic or feudal ruin stands about a mile from the
Castle of
<g>Laugharne</g>, the subject of our present notice. The ancient appellation of
this town and castle, according to the native writers, appears to have
been Llacharn, and seems to have taken its present orthography from the
general of that name--William Laughearne--who distinguished himself in
the service of the “Parliament;” and in 1644, after a siege of three
weeks, took the Castle of “Llacharn.” Its still more ancient name is
Abercoran, or Cowan--the “Castle on the banks of the Coran”--which, at a
short distance below the Castle, empties itself into the sea. Local
tradition says that the parish church formerly stood upon a farm, in an
island called Craseland--that is, <g>Christ’s-land</g>; but of the sacred
edifice, not a vestige remains to support the tradition--
“Not an arch of nave or aisle--
Not a relic marks the pile;
Shrine and monumental stone,
Floor and fretted vault are gone!”
The Corporation consists of a portreeve, a recorder, an indefinite
number of aldermen, two common attorneys, four constables, and
seventy-six burgesses, who have shares in lands and commons which were
given to the Corporation by “Sir Guido de Brian the younger, lord
marcher of the said town and lordship of Laugharne,” in the reign of
King John. “His cloak or mantle,” says Carlisle, “richly embroidered in
purple and gold, is still preserved in the parish church.” Laugharne, as
described by a recent tourist, is one of the neatest and cleanest of the
smaller towns of South Wales. It has many excellent dwelling-houses, a
good inn for the accommodation of travellers, and possessing various
local attractions and a cheap market, many private families have made
choice of it as a residence which unites pleasure and economy. The
situation is low and sheltered--bounded by the tidal estuary and the
Taff, which, at low water, presents a wide extent of dry land--an
amphibious territory, which the inconstant sea alternately invades and
deserts.
<g>Guy de Brian</g>--The founder of this name, and his successors, were all in
their day knights of military renown. Their chief seat was in these
marches, where, in the 29th Henry III., the first Guy received command
to assist the Earl of Gloucester in suppressing some new insurrection in
the country. Toward the close of the same reign, he had summons to
attend the king at Chester--well fitted with horse and arms--to “prevent
the incursions of that unruly people.” But not long after this, when the
breach betwixt the king and divers of the great barons happened, he
adhered unto them; for it appears that, after the battle of <g>Lewes</g>, where
the king was made prisoner by the barons, he was constituted by them
governor of the Castles of Cardigan and Kaermerdyn [or Carmarthen],
which commission was renewed the next ensuing year; he having then also
the like trust granted unto him by them for the Castle of Kilgaran. But
shortly after, when the battle of Evesham “had quelled the power of
those haughty spirits, he became one of the sureties for Robert de <g>Vere</g>,
then Earl of Oxford, that he should thenceforth demean himself
peaceably, and stand to the decree called ‘Dictum de Kenilworth,’ for
the redemption of his lands.”
<g>Guy of Laugharne</g> married Eve, daughter and heir of Henry de <g>Traci</g>, and
dying in the 31st Edward I. left a son--then in his twenty-fourth
year--named also Guy, who being a knight, in the 4th of Edward III., was
made governor of the Castle of Haverford. “But it was found by
inquisition, that he complained to the King that Roger de Mortimer,
late Earl of March, had made seizure of his Barony of Walwaynes Castle,
in the Co. Pemb., as also of the goods and stock thereon, and had
delivered them to Guyon his son without warranty. Likewise that the king
then took notice of certain differences betwixt the said Sir Guy and the
same Guyon, his son and heir, which were pacified in his presence, by
the assent of Wenthlian his wife, in regard that himself, at the time,
was not of sane memory. Moreover, that by this agreement the Barony of
Chastel-Walweyn was to remain to young <g>Guyon</g> and his heirs, on condition
that he should be obliged to prefer his two sisters out of the revenues
thereof: As also that two hundred pounds which Ioan de Carru was bound
to pay to him, the said Guy, for the marriage of his son Guyon, should
be paid to Guyon towards the marriage of those his sisters. And that
because the said Sir Guy was not in his perfect senses, the barony
should remain in the king’s hands, and livery thereof be made to Guyon
in performance of those covenants.” Sir Guy being thus out of his
senses--“I come,” says the Chronicle, “to
“<g>Guy</g>, his son, who was in the Scottish wars, and in consideration of his
special services had an annuity of forty pounds granted to him by the
king, to be paid out of the Exchequer during his life. In the 15th Edw.
III. he was made governor of St. <g>Briavell’s</g>, in Co. Gloc., and warden of
the Forest of Dene; and, in the following year, was again in the wars of
France. So likewise in the 19th and 20th, but died June 17, in the 23d
of the same reign, being then seized of <g>Tallughern</g> in the marches of
Wales, which he held by the service of finding two soldiers with horses
harnessed; or eight footmen--according to the custom of those parts--for
three days at his own proper cost, upon notice given by the king’s
bayliffe of Kaermerdyn [Carmarthen].”
<g>Guy</g>, his son and heir, was at the time of his father’s demise turned
thirty years of age, and became a person of very great note in his time.
He was standard-bearer to the King in that notable fight with the French
at Calais, 23d Edw. III.; and there behaving himself with great courage
and valour, had, in recompense thereof, a grant of two hundred merks per
annum out of the Exchequer during his life, He obtained a charter for
free-warren in all his demesne lands, as well as at <g>Tallughern</g>, &c.; and
being still governor of St. Briavell’s, and warden of Dene Forest, he
had a grant of all the profits and emoluments arising out of the market
and fairs in that town. He was also constituted one of the commissioners
for arraying men in the counties of Oxon and Berks, for defence of the
realm against the French, who then threatened an invasion. But as our
limits will not admit of our giving his public services in detail, we
shall merely record them as they were successively performed in the same
brilliant reign:--He was, with Henry, Duke of Lancaster, sent on an
embassy to the Pope: attending the King in France, he was made a
banneret: he was again in the same war, and sent a second time to Rome:
afterwards pensioned anew for his services: made admiral of the King’s
fleet, then acting against the French, and constituted, the year
following, admiral of the Royal fleet from Southampton westwards:
employed in the Scottish wars: associated with the Earl of Warwick and
others to cause “satisfaction to be done by the King’s subjects to the
Scots:” was elected into the most noble Order of the <g>Garter</g>: served
again in the wars of France: was appointed one of the commissioners to
treat with the Duke of Brittany and Earl of Montfort for a league of
friendship with King Richard; and lastly, joined Mortimer, Earl of
March, in the expedition into Ireland. This concludes his military
services; but while he had proved himself a valiant son of Mars, and a
faithful servant of the King, he was a pious son and liberal benefactor
of the Church, in witness whereof he “founded a chauntry for four
priests, to sing divine service in the chappel of Our Ladye within his
mannor of Slapton, Co. Dev., and endowed the same with lands,” &c. He
married Elizabeth, daughter of William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury,
and widow of Hugh le Despenser the third, and departed this life on
Wednesday next after the Feast of the Assumption, 14th Rich. II.,
leaving Philippa,[407] wife of John Devereux, and Elizabeth, wife of
Robert Lovel, daughters of his son Guy, who died in his father’s
lifetime, to be his next heirs to the demesne of Laugharne and other
baronies.--_Dugdale._
[Illustration]