THE ANTIQUITIES 0 LAUGHARNE &c. MARY CURTIS 3KC0ND EDITION uUjO CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is responsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 1 6B of Illinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CALL (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign APR 1 5 2004 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. LI 62 / OF THE UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 9 4 £58 C94a 1060 THE ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PENDINE, AND ®Ijcir |[ci0ljb0itt^a0'trs, CARMARTHENSWIRE, AMROTIf, SANDERSEOOT, CILGETTY, PEMBROKESHIRE, SOUTH WALES ®itlj lllustiations. By MARY CURTIS. SECOND EDITION. Printed for the Author by R. Clay, Sons, & Taylor, Bread Street Hill, London. 1880. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/antiquitiesoflauOOcurt CONTENTS. PART I. PAST AND PRESENT SfPATE OF THE TOWN OF LAUGHARNE PART II. THE ENCROACHING OF THE SEA AND ITS RECEDING PART III. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF LAUGHARNE PART IV. LAUGHARNE CASTLE PART V. LAUGHARNE CHURCH — DISSENTING CHAPELS PART VI. CHRIST CHURCH — MARINERS’ CHAPEL ^... PART VII. DISTINGUISHED PERSONS OF LAUGHARNE PART VIII. RIVERS, INNS, MILLS, TRADES, ETC. PART IX. LLANSADURNEN, OR LLANSADYRNIN y PART X. LLANDAWKE— LLANDYSSILIO § PART XI. PAGE I 45 56 68 95 130 140 157 173 192 CUSTOMS OF LAUGHARNE 202 IV CONTENTS. ST. CLARE OR ST. CLEARS PART XII. . PAGE ... 226 WHITLAND ABBEY PART XIII. ... 235 LLANSTEPHAN PART XIV. 242 LLANYBRI PART XV. ... 249 CHURCHES, TOMBS, ETC. PART XVI. ... 251 PART XVII. FERRYSIDE— KIDWILLI OR CIDWELLI ... 255 FRUITS — FLOWERS — FERNS— PART XVIII. ■SHELLS ... 259 WESTMEAD— LLANMILOE PART XIX. ... 260 PENDINE CHURCH AND ITS PART XX. MONUMENTS AND PARISH ... 300 THE SAMPHIRE AND LAVER PART XXI. , i.e, llafan ... 312 PART XXII. EGLWYSCUMMIN AND MARROS, CAERMARTHENSHIRE ••• 317 PART XXIII. AMROTH, Wiseman’s bridge, sandersfoot, kilgetty or CILGETTY 326 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE No. I, WoGAN Street (see Part iv.). ... ... ... ... 68 Effigy in Llandawke church, No. xx. (see Part x.). Shape of THE STONE CALLED ‘‘THE DEVIL’s TRACK,” IN THE ENCAMPMENT ON Napps, No. XVII. (see Part xix.). The ring mentioned in Part iv. that Mrs. Lloyd had when Cromwell arrived at Maesgwrda. Inside the ring are these words, “ Minde the Giver.” ... ... ... ... ... ... 76 Laugharne Castle, 1786. Carmarthenshire (see Part iv.). Laugharne Castle (Date unknown). Laugharne Castle, 1740. 88 Roche Castle at Broadway, Laugharne (see Part iv.). ... 92 A REMNANT OF THE CROSS IN CHURCHYARD OF PeNDINE, No. XVIII., Part XX. Urn found under the floor of the south transept IN Laugharne church, No. vih (see Part v.). ... ... 97 Cross on the Grist, Laugharne (see Part vi.). Island House, 1856. At the back by the sea, Laugharne (see Part iv.). ... 130 “The Dials,” the ancient hostelry of Laugharne, co. Car- marthen (see Part viii.). ... ... ... ... ... 162 Inscriptions on the stones in Llandawke church (see Part x.). 196 VI JST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. l-AGE Pilgrim church, near Laugharne (see Part xvi.). Running AWAY WITH THE Bride (see Part xi.). 208 Resting-stones in Hollis stone field, near Llansadurnen, No. xii. (see Partxi.). Stones at Brixton, No. xiil (see Part xi.). 214 These are the Peithynen on which the old Britons cut THEIR letters (see Part XL ). ... ... ... ... 220 The OLD CHAIR in St. Ishmael’s church. Ferryside, near Carmarthen (see Part XVII.). ... ... ... ... 256 Ruins of Tremoillet mansion. On the Marros road ; near Pendine church (see Part xx.). Morfabychan valley. Mr. Morris’s cottage. Pendine church on the hill (see Part XIX.). ... ... . . ... ... ... ... 306 PREFACE. I ACKNOWLEDGE With mucli pleasure and with many thanks the kind attention of my friends in these parts, and also of those to whom I am comparatively a stranger, for furnishing me with so many interesting facts connected with the subject of this book; and would express how pleasant an occupation it has been to collect and record the history of a place in which I have found so many kind friends, and received so many attentions, during a residence of some years, far away from London, my home and native place. The advantages and pleasures of intellectual pursuits are infinite and never-ending. Cicero justly says — They give strength in youth, joy in old age, adorn prosperity, support in adversity; at home are delightful ; abroad, easy ; at night they are company ; when we travel they attend us ; in our rural retirements, do not forsake us.’’ This second edition corrects a few of the faults of the first. The illustration of Laugharne Castle as it stands now is in the first edition. The reader will observe that the explanation of the draw- ings of the ^‘Resting Stones,” the Peithynen,” and ^‘Running away with the Bride,” is in Part XL Mary Curtis. Latigharne, and Paddington^ London^ May 2 /gth, 1880. ERRATA. Page 13, line for Morfalychan,” I'ead “ Morfabychan.” ,, 37, line 5,/^r “ Wages account,” read “same account.” ,, 39, line 12, for “ Llanddowrron,” read “ Idanddowrror.” ,, 100, line 8, read instead of “died 1834,” — “vacated the living in 1834.” ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. PART 1. Past and Present State of the Town of Laugharne — Population — Lundy Isle — Pirates — Curious Story connected with Gosport House — Picturesque Sites — Springs — Excellent Water — Climate — Soil — Fairs — Markets — Trade — Past and Present Condition of Labouring People — Ancient Hospitality — Prices op Food — Fishing — Licences — Wages — Descent of the Cymri a7id Intellige7tce in Section i and 2 — Morals^ Section 3 — Welsh Costume^ Section 4. “ Kidwelli was, Caermarthen is, and Laugharne will be, The greatest city of the three.” — MerlirC s Pi'ophecy. Then most renowned Wales, thou famous ancient place, Which still has been the nurse of all the British race. Since Nature thee denies that purple clustered vine Which others’ temples chafes with fragrant, sparkling wine, And being now in hand to write thy glorious praise. Fill me a bowl of Meath, my working spirit to raise; And ere seven books have end. I’ll strike so high a string. Thy bards shall stand amazed with wonder whilst I sing ; That Taliessen once which made the rivers dance. And in his rapture raised the mountains from their trance. Shall tremble at my verse rebounding from the skies, Which like an earthquake shakes the tomb wherein he lies. ” Polyolbion, ^h Song of M . Drayton, 1563-1631 To preserve in this world of change something of the past his- tory of this ancient and interesting town of Laugharne and of the pretty village of Pendine, with their respective neighbourhoods, to record the particular localities of ancient structures, the curious / % 2 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, tales and peculiar customs of these parts, now fast fading from the memory of the oldest inhabitants, these pages were composed ; for Laugharne and Pendine have experienced, as fully as most places, the truth of the saying, that “ the fashion of this world passeth away,” not without the hope that it may create an interest in the localities themselves, a taste for antiquity in those who have no care for the past, and erroneously think it has little or nothing to do with the present; for as the tiny seed contains within itself, in a manner, the specific character of the tree in all its several stages of growth up to the attainment of its full size and beauty, so the circumstances which contribute to the rise of a town have always more or less to do in directing its after progress, and determining its ultimate development. Surely it must be interesting to compare the past condition of Laugharne and Pendine with their present condition, and to see at some future day how far they may, as history sometimes does, repeat themselves. The examination of past transactions and of ancient structures is one among the many pleasures whereof this world is full. ‘^Pleasure is spread thro* the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.’^ What is that within us which creates so great a longing to dive into the dark recesses of the past, and causes us to throw enchantment over past scenes? The ‘‘Major a longinquo reverentia” of Tacitus does not, I think, fully account for it ; it proceeds, perhaps, partly from that propensity in man to be discontented with the present condition, to think present grievances the worst, to be insensible to the pleasures and blessings in possession, and never to know them thoroughly till they are gone ; partly, too, from the sense of pleasure in the human mind prevailing over the opposite sense ; so the mind, faithful to its nature, paints the past in bright colours, and sees not the ugly features which too often predominate. But let the cause be what it may, there is in this contemplation of the past, something very beautiful — the mind taking no account of time, thus almost realizing that a thousand years are as one day. But as to the places we are concerned with, the past is in some respects a more agreeable picture than the present. In Laugharne nearly all the ancient and wealthy families are gone. About forty to fifty years ago every large house was occupied by parties with handsome incomes ; the smaller ones by persons of great respect- ability and of some property. Laugharne then presented a lively scene : the carriages of the rich rolled by its houses. In the morn- ing and afternoon the different families walked up and down the street, from the Mariner’s corner to the house with bay windows PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 3 just past the vicarage on the opposite side. This place I consider rather a remarkable one, though out of the route of the general traveller, so remote from the bustle of the world, away from those hives of industry, and those thoroughfares which lead to them or even to a great city, in fact, no thoroughfare at all, conducting but to some village on the hill, or the plain, or on the sandy shore, to some lonely church in a picturesque dell, or to one crowning the hill-top ; yet so many people know Laugharne or have heard of it. Persons from most distant parts of the world find it out somehow, and make it either their home or a temporary resting-place ; as some come, others go ; a continual stream of emigration goes on ; its natives spread themselves rapidly over the world ; very little work to be had in it ; so one son and another, then the daughters, leave the shelter of the home to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Go to London or a large town, sure you will find some one whose home has been here, or has sojourned in it, or heard of it ; many come expecting to find it a certain refuge from observation, a safe hiding-place ; but they soon discover there is no place where things will be more quickly known and their affairs thoroughly investigated ; no place where kinder people are found ; no place where good nature has been more abused. Some observations I intended to make in the preface I shall make here : a preface is so rarely read. The reader must keep in mind, that throughout this book nothing is exaggerated. No false colouring cast over anything. What I state and describe is, as far as I have been able to ascertain, true. The facts and stories I received from persons, who either witnessed them or gathered them from their fathers and mothers, or grand-parents, or trust- worthy sources ; all the while making allowance for the imper- fection that so often attends the relation of things conveyed orally from one to another ; strict accuracy is rare. When they are of the character of tradition, or are doubtful, I say so. It is a fault rather common, even with literary authorities, to proceed too hastily in overturning previous conclusions ; they believe nothing, or they believe it all ; it is all right or all wrong. I see much good where there is much evil, and truth where there is much that is false. Dr. Stephens, the great Welsh scholar, pronounced the Triads utterly false ; before his death he reversed this opinion, and allowed to them an amount of truth. I notice them in here. Gibbon said. The interest and romance of history was at an end: a lesson to all not to pass judgments too hastily and too sweepingly. The Druidic circles which I mention have ever been B 2 4 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, considered places of worship, now they are only burial-places ; be- fore long perhaps this will be partially reversed ; for I believe from certain circumstances some must have been for worship. The generality of persons have little faith in tradition : it is true, some traditions are false, some carry mutilated facts, some, though true in subtance, appear in a false dress, or cover only a partial truth ; for all that tradition is not unsafe. I doubt if we have gained so much as is thought with regard to truth by the printing press and preservation of facts in books. Are the facts in books always true ? Have they never any false colouring? Do they not gloss over things ? Do they not exaggerate ? In periods when books were few, or there were only manuscripts, still more, when there were neither, and man depended on his memory for the retention of knowledge, the memory was stronger, more retentive, less liable to play false, than in our day when we fall on the artificial aid of books. Dr. Nicholas in his work, ^ The Pedigree of the English,' says, ‘‘Tradition, the memory of a nation, is wonderfully retentive, and upon the whole singularly accurate." Viewing tradition in another light I think it should be preserved and respected, it is the poetry of Localities. Take tradition away, and you take away the interest of a place, destroy the pleasant colouring cast over the things of time, leaving all grey. It is sad that the greater number of people have no love or due appreciation of antiquity ; this is to be regretted, as things now are not made and built to last ; many serve but for the present hour ; this encourages an undue love of novelty. Some look on their ancestors as though they did not belong to them. Our ancestors who trod this land worked for us ; in many instances they designed, constructed, toiled, and we en- joy: I think they deserve something more than a passing thought. We in our turn design, construct, and toil, often with little hope of reward, sometimes amid discouragements and abuse ; the only support the mind has under it, is the reflection that posterity will do what contemporaries will not, or cannot. You would think it hard not to be remembered, then do unto others as you would have others do unto you. With regard to the appearances of per- sons after decease, lights before death, &c., which I describe in Parts XL, VI., and I. I observe, we often hear disbelievers remark that these stories have been found false or accounted for in a natural way. That I believe too ; but this does not necessarily prove that none are true. There could be no imitation if there were not the true from whence to imitate. Deception and fraud are attempts to represent truth, and carry within themselves a PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 5 reality somewhere or somehow. The skilled artisan who repro- duces a piece of antique work so correctly that it can hardly be detected does but represent what is ; that nineteen out of twenty stories of this nature should be proved fabrications will not affect the one that is true. Malkin, who was in Laugharne in 1803, says it was the best built town in Caermarthenshire (see his ‘ Scenery and Antiquities of South Wales,’ ii. p. 406). It has improved in cleanliness, but not in buildings : Gosport, where the cockle people dwell, was a dirty place not fit to walk through ; heaps of cockle-shells were piled up against the houses ; this is not allowed now. The popu- lation was formerly far greater than it is now, especially in the time of Queen Elizabeth; latterly it rose to 2050; at the census in 1871 for the parish it was 445, in the township 1278, in Llan- sadurnen 207. A fair was anciently held, which, according to the Survey, was on St. Martin’s day, Nov. nth, the patron Saint of Laugharne church. On the 9th William III. return was made to a writ ad quod damnum,” directed to the Sheriff of Caermarthen by the Lord Chancellor, that Thomas Powell, Esq., and his heirs should hold a market at Laugharne on Tuesday in every week, and two fairs in each year for sale of all kinds of corn, grain, cattle, goods, mercery, and other merchandise. Friday is thought to have been the day when, under the rule of the De Brians, the market was held. Antiquarians trace the origin of our fairs and parish feasts to Pope Gregory, who advised St. Augustine that, in doing away with sacrifices in the heathen temples of Britain, there should be instead, on the anniversary of the Saints, or of that on which the several temples were consecrated to Christian worship, booths erected round them for people to sit in and enjoy them- selves, when they should kill, and there feast on, the animals once burnt on the altars. The Rev. Rice Rees in his work, ‘ Welsh Saints,’ says, Antiquarians think that parochial wakes were the means of assembling people, who after converted the occasion into an opportunity of buying and selling. Fairs in many instances succeeded to wakes and festivals. Many village fairs in Wales held on Saints’ days, old style, i. e. eleven days later than the Gregorian style.” This shows that fairs were held in Wales before St. Gregory and Augustine’s time. Though the fairs are no longer held in Laugharne, yet two elderly women of the town have kept up to this time a semblance of them, selling a few cakes — one of them, Rebecca Evans, is deceased ; the other, Ketty Griffiths, you will see on 6th of May and nth Nov., seated at a little round table. 6 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, having a neat white cloth covered with cakes and sweets, by the Town Hall, children of course surrounding her. It is called now ‘‘Becker’s Fair,” in honour of Rebecca Evans.^ The Town Hall has a clock tower and cage attached. Every house in King Street had formerly a piece of ground before it laid out as a garden with flowers and trees ; on each side of the street was a row of trees, the few old-looking ones that remain are some of them ; about three or four years ago they began to plant a few, so we yet may see the street shady with trees. ^ Since I wrote the first edition the town has received some improvements — lamps have been placed at intervals along King Street. It has not arrived at the' convenience of gas lights, so on Sunday, during the dark evenings of winter, you still see the streams of light cast from the lanterns ot the people going to church and returning. There is something so novel in being lighted on the way by one’s own lantern ; it has a charm for those like myself, who belong to London, and are used to its life. Laugharne has not those interesting accessories such as the barber’s shop with its long pole seen from one end of the place to the other, no blacksmith’s shop at the corner of a shady lane with a noble horse-chestnut tree or an ancient oak forming a leafy roof, but it has features of greater interest than these, such as its antique ruins and natural beauties. In the locality called “Gosport” are many ancient unpretending cottages, several with thatched roofs ; some will have on the window-frames two or three apples, perhaps a long row of them, long sticks of sweets perched upright to entice the little ones, often a solitary roll or a bun. At eventide in winter a lonely candle makes visible these delights of the children, and casts a narrow strip of light across the pathway. Langharne has not lost its natural beauty, its position amid the hills, its picturesque churchyard, its pretty walks, its sheltered site on the edge of a small bay with the prospect of the prettiest line of coast imagin- able. Several headlands stretch into the sea ; the one nearest Laugharne is called “Cover Cliff,” the next is “Warly Point.” When the sun is departing the variety of tints these headlands and the lines of coast beyond display, one perhaps dark violet, ^ The daughter of R. Evans sits at another similar table covered with cakes, and by the Town Hall. These fairs were held the one on June 8th, the other September 17th. 2 Laugharne is very bare of trees and has no fine ones. Caermarthenshire has few or no oaks. The elm and the ash abound, but may not be ranked with the magnificent ones of England. The ash is of a degenerate race called “Which Ash,” PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 7 another of a rosy hue, others with lighter tints, renders it a lovely scene ; at noon the coast is sometimes of an intensely deep blue or violet. The New Walk winding along the side of Sir John^s hill affords a fine prospect; the old church of St. IshmaePs seems to stand on the sea ; the coast near Llanelly with a slight tint of green revealed by a gleam of the sun, its white habitations sprin- kled about as pearls on a vesture of green ; the Glamorganshire coast with its undulations so well wooded, its cliffs sparkling with the sun-light at the hour of a fine sunset; and Worm’s Head. Here you can sit and see the vessels sailing down the Towy, per- haps the Tenby steamer from Caermarthen, or through your glass a large bark well laden near Worm’s Head, bound for the West, and numerous little vessels always passing to and fro. If the tide be out, a large piece of sand near the ferry looks beautiful, touched with the golden light of the sun — come unto those yellow sands.” If you come to this w^alk in autumn, when the streams come home,” as the expression is with the people of these parts, your ear will be pleased and soothed by the gentle music of the many small rills that gush out from the sides of the hill. No sight here more lovely than a small vessel with its one sail resplendent with sui-light gliding gracefully between the two headlands of Llanstephan and the Ferryside. Laugharne marsh, with its farms and fine pastures abundant in cattle, spreads out far below, bounded by the sand-hills. There the sands extend for miles free of rocks or pools or streams of water, as firm as a well-made road, some- thing beautiful in the silence and loneliness of the spot, not a human being to be seen, nor sound heard save the dashing of the waves aud the loud note of the curlew and sea gull ; but a rabbit, one of those numerous ones which shelter in the sand-hills, may cross your path. This marsh is skirted on the land side by lime- stone diffs, against which it seems pretty certain the sea did once beat ; tradition says so. The tide goes very far out ; a broad strip of mud is left by the rocks ; next to it a large extent of sand reach- ing beyond the Ferryside Point. Seamen call a port of this kind a dry harbour. The point which comes out under the New Walk forming the Bay of Laugharne is called Cockshelly; the point where the vessels anchor is Bach Point. A narrow path runs along the cliff where the ferry-boat is always ready to take you to the Black Scar for the pretty village of Llanstephan. From the Scar a line of hills bends along the side of the river ; the scenery here is pretty; low down a modest cot with orange-tinted front and thatched roof rests lonely by a little stream which, touched by 8 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, the sunbeam, looks like a golden thread on an enamelled surface. Far above it a cluster of trees on the slope of the hill shelters a farm-house and its out-houses ; to its left and rather below bushy hedges and trees enclose a homestead ; beneath, the roofs of two or three white cots peep above the ridge of a hill ; a farm lower down occupies the slope. Near the sea are some thatched cot- tages with white and orange gable ends ; another farm, and then comes the ancient one of Mwchau. At early morn stand on the cliff by the turning to Glan-ymor, if the sun has just risen above the hill and the tide is in, the prospect is lovely. On Sir John’s hill the roof of the farm-house there can just be seen ; a little below it are clusters of straggling trees such as you see in pictures of the old masters, the stems bare, only their tops crowned with green. On the strand near the water’s edge a large house looks picturesque with its one tall tufted tree in front, just like that tree so often placed in the foreground of a classic scene. Nearer the New Walk is Gosport House embowered in trees, with its white gables peeping through the foliage ; an antique house with historic associations ; a few thatched cottages, all white-washed, stand near the Strand House, and the retreating tide discloses patches of green on the strand. This path on the cliff whence you \iew this scene is lost to sight as it winds between the thickly foliaged banks, above them a tower of the old castle rises. Far out to sea is the meeting of the waters, the white foam sparkling in the sun. On the Marsh is a row of trees bereft of foliage except at their summits, such as you see often in paintings of the old masters. The position of the castle is not commanding, but it looks well, seated on the water’s edge. The admirer of Nature will enjoy a lovely scene if he stand at the back of the castle some fine moon- light night at spring-tide, and the heavens are bespangled with those isles of light, so pure, so spiritually bright,” and the waves just ripple on the rocks, and the moon, shining with that exquisitely clear light, is enthroned in the heavens midway between the two hills, and she casts on the waters her trembling column of golden light ; intent on the waters she denies her light to the hills en- veloped in darkness, their strongly-defined outlines contrasting with the clear sky, a few airy clouds float in one of those half- perceptible blue skies which the eye can scarcely define, like words in speech half uttered; perhaps a boat lies motionless on the waters, and a light bark with its white sail glides swiftly home for the night : all the while the cheerful song of some farmer’s boy PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 9 comes across the water blending sweetly with the half-audible dashing of the waves. Close by is an ancient residence, Island House, in the shade of an avenue of horse-chestnut trees, giving an interesting appearance to the entrance of this end of the town (see sketch of it in Part IV.). The town is not prettily built, but it has several residences on lovely sites with fine prospects of sea and land, and many such sites that would be delightful for houses. From whatever point you see the parish church it is exceedingly pretty ; its embattled tower always rising out of a cluster of trees, built on the rise of a hill, its churchyard disposed in broken terraces. Stand on the path coming from the highest terrace, and the church stretches out its length before you, its buttresses forming shady nooks ; a short avenue bordered with very ancient yew trees leads to the low porch. An American cedar rising almost to the top of the church tower, casts a pleasant shade over several tombs. Upon the highest terrace are a cluster of nine trees in solitariness, branches in branches twined they form a substantial roof; the glare of noon has given place to the long shadows, so the yew trees by the porch present a dense mass of darkness ; the sun darts through their branches short glittering rays of many colours, the shadows are broken with touches of sunlight ; some lofty trees still see the setting sun. Two ancient farms, Brixstarrow and Dalycors, are near the river, and not far from “ Hill-side,” a pretty residence ; Mapsland, another residence, .has a fine view of the sea. On Ants’ hill close by is a substantial house with a noble view of hill and dale, sea and coast ; it is one of those admirably well-built houses you seldom see, erected by a gentleman very talented and noted for his scientific attainments. The part by Fernhill is exceedingly pretty just where the hills on both sides of the road are thickly covered with trees, and a sudden turn in the road masses them all together ; if it be autumn, and the sun declining, the streams of pale yet vivid light penetrating the thick gloom on one side, the varied tints of the different trees on the other, is beautiful. A small house stands on Fernhill, in grounds disposed in the manner of terraces bordered with trees ; sometimes they part and let in the view of a sweetly undulating hill bearing a white cottage, or you see the winding road with its babbling brook and rushing stream, where sometimes the hay-cart passes, and the cows slowly wending their way at milking time. In the long avenue in these grounds you have a lovely peep of the sea and the Glamorganshire coast ; another avenue gives an exquisite view of three headlands : this is justly termed one of the celebrated views of Laugharne. These 10 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, grounds were laid out and the house ^ built by Mr. Fairchild, a very talented person and an amateur artist. If the town is ugly, which it certainly is, the prospect at each end makes up for it ; as you stand in the principal street you see the green hills rising above at each end. Ants’ hill house with its trees looks down on it like a castle keeping watch. The Cors is not an old house. On Sir John’s hill is a glorious view — a mass of hills, swelling and declining, continue till the peaks of the Perseli ^ mountains shut in the scene ; there is Perseli top, called ‘‘ Perseli the proud ” by Drayton, and the celebrated Brenhin^ Fawr rising majestically — “ A hill that thrusts its head into the ethereal fire.’* — Folyolbion^ ^th Song of Drayton, Worm’s Head,^ where the Roman sentinel watched, is here well seen ; it has its name from the fancy of the sailors, who thought it resembled a worm crawling with its head erect ; it has curious rocks. Camden and Giraldus mention singular noises heard at Worm’s Head and at intervals along the sea cliffs of Glamorgan- shire. Here is a very pretty bay called Rosilli bay, which has lofty downs affording magnificent prospects; there is a village called Rosilli (Rhossili). The cottages of Glamorganshire are comfortable, having neat gardens and small orchards. The birds called Eligugs visit the coast of Glamorganshire. Laugharne lies low, the hills slope gracefully down to it. If rain be near, the Devonshire coast is faintly traced behind Glamorganshire and the Isle of Lundy too, which is farther off ; of this isle Drayton sings — “ This Lundy is a nymph to idle toys inclined, And all on pleasure set doth wholly give her mind. ** It was once erected into a kingdom by a pirate who made himself the sovereign. For the possession of it, Drayton in his song says, England and Wales did contend, the river Severn personified was Judge between them and decided — ‘‘Then take my final doom, pronounced lastly, this : That Lundy like ally*d to Wales and England is.” — ^th Song Polyolbion, ^ Fernhill was formerly called “Bucking hill;” the house was built about forty-five years ago. 2 The Welsh spelling of Perseli is Preslau, it means places overgrown with furze. 2 Brenhin is spelt Brening in Welsh, and is the Welsh word for King ; and Fawr is great. ^ A Roman encampment is somewhere there. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. II Captain Thomas Salkeld, the notorious pirate of those days, was king of Lundy. William Young of Pembroke gave evidence before William Wogan, John Wogan, knights, and others, on 17th April, 1610, that Captain Salkeld captured him and his bark bound for Ireland at Milford Haven on 8th March, 1609, and took them to I>undy. At Dale, a town at entrance of Milford Haven, he rob- bed the people of their goods and burnt their houses, and took a bark from the quay ; after this he took Mr. George Escott’s bark of Bridgewater, bound for France, made him and his men prisoners; and then the vessel of John Bennet of Appledore. At last he landed at Lundy, 23rd March, 1609, with colours displayed, pro- claimed himself king of Lundy, wishing his Majesty’s heart was on the point of his sword (meaning the king of England); on the 25th he made all those he had taken prisoners from the captured ships carry stones to form a port. In the evening of this day, which was Sunday, a Flemish ship from Rochelle with salt touched on Lundy ; ^ Salkeld sent his long boat to her with advice that she belonged to a king’s ship, and offering to send her a pilot; it seems she escaped, as did a Weymouth vessel on the same day, carrying off two of Salkeld’s men. When he died Lundy was ruled by another pirate. Before this William de Marisco, a pirate in Henry Ill’s time possessed the island ; in Henry VIH’s time another pirate occupied it. The remarkable history of this island is given in a memoir by — Steinman, Esq., F.S.A., and is published in the ^Collectanea Topographica,’ Part XVI. Mr. Chamberlain, an amusing writer, says, in a letter dated 4th September, 1624, that ‘Hwenty-two Turkish pirates have captured prizes in the Severn Sea, and carried off many prisoners.” It was such depredations that caused the introduction of that prayer for captives into the Litany of the Church of England. ^ Caermarthen Bar, an extent of sand dangerous to ships, lies near the Burrows. At spring-tide the depth of water over this bar is four or five fathoms. The Cefn ^ Sidan, a mound of sand, is close by; many wrecks have been here. Some years ago a vessel laden with silk foundered on it, hence the term sidan, which is the Welsh word for silk. In 1872 a friend of mine found the bone of a ^ ^ Canon Kingsley thought Lundy might be derived from the name of a Scan- dinavian hero, as the prefix Lund is a typical Norse name, and its old termin- ation of i signifies “an island ; ” so it would mean the island of Lund. 2 In Part HI. is some account of the pirates. ^ Cefn is Welsh for “rising ground,” “ back,” “ridge.” In 1828 a French West Indiaman from Martinique was wrecked on the Cefn ; a niece of Josephine Buonaparte was a passenger, her fingers were cut off for sake of the rings. 12 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, deer in the sands of Laugharne. The most extensive view is on Hugden ; here hills are massed together as far as the horizon, Coigan just raises its rounded top, sea and coast spread out far and wide, Laugharne nestles securely amid the hills ; it is like a view of the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them, and you “ are monarch of all you survey/^ Foliage alone is needed to make the scene perfect. Gosport House, the ancient residence of the Laugharne family, is prettily situated, its grounds descending to the sea-shore. It has this tale attached to it : two young boys, the sons of a family living in it forty or fifty years ago, used to see every night after they were in bed the appearance of a woman passing across the window, her figure enveloped in drapery, her hands covered her face, as though in distress of mind, or in deep devotion. It was at the window of the room over the drawing- room looking on to the sea.^ I had this from the parties them- selves. In relating such occurrences I shall not use the word ghost ; its use has given erroneous impressions. Special terms should not be given to things whose nature, as in the present case, is not known. I hope, and I believe, the time is not distant when these cases will receive that thorough investigation they deserve, and when care will be taken to ascertain whether they be some- times the result of an exaggerated state of mind, or the con- sequence of some law of nature unknown to us, or are beyond human reach. Many of the appearances, miracles, and pro- phecies recorded in mediaeval ages and in our times may well be disbelieved ; but to pronounce a sweeping condemnation on all is scarcely consistent with the very circumscribed sphere of human observation. He would be a bold historian who should reject the statement of Tycho Brahe, regarding the rise of a great northern prince in the early part of the 17th century; what is related of Gustavus Adolphus the night before the battle of Leipzig ; of the Ex-Jesuit, Beau Regard, when preaching during Lent, 1789, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris ; the account given by the Baroness de Beausoleil, an astronomer and great explorer of mines, of what she saw in the mines ; what is recorded of Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paufis ; with the following prediction of David Ddu, a dignitary of St. Asaph, and Vicar of Dymeirchion, about 1340, that there would be a railway from Chester to Holyhead. I leave the subject — I This appearance is called ‘‘The White Lady she appears on 24th July, and has been seen lately by some friend of mine. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 3 “ I’ll rise and dress myself in Mona’s isle, Then in Caerlleon to breakfast stay awhile ; In Erin’s land my noontide meal I’ll eat, Return and sup by Mona’s fire of peat.” Laugharne stands on a stratum of red argillaceous sandstone. Limestone prevails; much is obtained from Coigan at Kingaddle; it is of a superior quality ; farmers far away send for it. In sum- mer-time some of the inhabitants may have their nights disturbed by the lime carts from Coigan driving through at early morn ; the drivers have a pleasing custom, they smack their whips one after the other in regular time as they pass along the town. There is plenty of limestone at Pendine and Morfalychan. Laugharne is a long straggling town, which was once shared between Welsh, English, and the Flemings, of whom some account will be given in Part VIII. The springs of water are numerous and excellent ; a gentleman examined all the springs about, and he said he knew no place where the water was so universally good. There is one which seems to exceed all others in excellency, it flows from the hills on the cliff, and comes out at White ^ spot on the rocks by the sea. Near Horsepool and on lower Llandawke road is an ancient and excellent well; about the Laques are wells. At the end of the New Walk, by the walls of a ruined cottage, is a spring ; there is Molin’s well, its water flows out of the rock on the hill near the ruin of what was the house of the steward of the Pennoyre family. Greenway well is on the Lees, nearly in a line with the old malt-house and the oast-house ; the path leading to them is called greenway. There is the Fairy well ^ beneath the cottages at the end of the New Walk; you come to it by a sloping path on the hill, and find it lying in a sweet nook surrounded with foliage of all kinds, and its water making a musical trickling as it flows down the slope of the hill. The well in Orchard park once supplied Laugharne Castle, and was as clear as crystal, now thick and dirty, spreading out on the ground making it swampy ; the stones gone which were arranged so as to keep it within bounds, with two steps down to it for the household maid to descend and dip her can ; two trees above it on the hedge look forlorn, ragged, and bent with age, once so luxuriant, throwing a pleasant shade over its waters ; it flows in a small stream by the side of the house, the Three House-shoes ; ” formerly it supplied all Gosport up to the end of the houses at the lane turning up to ^ A number of flat stones is so-called. 2 The people about call it “ The King’s Well.” 14 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGH ARNE, Sir John’s hill, and Stony way too. By the Ferry and near White Spot is Bunny Saer’s pool, where the water is about i8 feet deep; a man was drowned in it, which gave this name to the pool. At spring tides the sea comes up to the houses on the Strand, and the Grist ; the inmates barricade ; the view of the bay is then lovely. During unusually high tides it comes into the town, and passes Island House. At low water there is a large extent of mud and sand, the resort of numerous aquatic birds, as gulls, cormorants, herons ; in winter of ducks, teal, geese, and other migratory fowl. Laugharne is twelve miles from Caermarthen ; it is a sheltered spot ; its climate though not bracing is healthy, beneficial to per- sons with delicate lungs. It is free from fevers of all kinds ; a case of fever rarely occurring, and when it does, in every case I have known during my sojourn here it has been brought by some one from afar. During the cholera which prevailed some years ago Laugharne had but two or three cases, and they were of persons of intemperate habits. In summer, if it is a warm one, it is very oppressive. Malkin, who was here in 1803, speaks of the extreme heat ; ^ the springs are not pleasant, generally cold and cheerless ; but the autumns lovely; the decline of the year often brings a second summer. The winters are not severe ; snow, when it does come, lasts but three or four days ; only twice within the last eighteen years has it been deep, and remained on the ground two weeks. In Pendine it is the same except the sea breezes there lessen the heat in summer ; formerly the winters were severe, and the sum- mers far warmer and lasting longer than they do now. People now living (1877) tell me that forty or fifty years ago the snow would lie on the ground for weeks ; that in unusually cold winters they had known it to last three months, and so deep that the hedges could not be seen ; sheep buried in the snow often found dead, while those alive were detected by small holes in it caused by their breathing ; that the snow was so hard you could walk on it like pavement, and the roads about Laugharne and Pendine were for weeks impassable. Extreme severity marked the winters of 1814 and 1816. The general character of the few winters I have seen is that of great moisture, with large quantities of rain, only two or three weeks of cold, or a few days or a week now and then ; the rest mild. This severity was felt at Ferryside and other parts which now are comparatively mild. The old people had this say- ^ There is this peculiarity, the violent storms of thunder and lightning so pre- valent rarely visit this spot, nor is it troubled with floods excepting once, about twenty-two years ago. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 5 ing here, A wet winter, a dry spring, a bloody summer, and no king.’^ From the same people I learn the intense heat of the summer, that in April, and often in March, it was so great they have known the oxen while drawing the plough to be so over- come that their tongues would hang out, and they would be taken with the rest of the cattle to a shady place to repose awhile. The climate and fertility of the county of Caermarthen is celebrated, the air most salubrious and health-giving, tending to lengthen life. Though the prices of articles of food have risen the last few years you may still live at less cost than you would in many places. House rent is low ; the Welsh flour is very good and sweet, far preferable to the English ; milk and butter excellent. There are not the adulterations we suffer from in London. The fruit is not fine ; no doubt arising partly from the want of diligent cultivation. There has been a flower-show, including fruit and vegetables, in each of the last three years, and it proved the capabilities of these localities for bearing superior produce; I saw last year (1876) vegetables remarkably fine. The price of coal has always been very low : the hard coal seven shillings a load, which is not quite a ton ; the soft coal twelve shillings. Owing to the strikes among the workmen in 1873-4 the price has doubled; it is lower now (1877). There is a good chemist’s shop, selling stationery, fancy goods, and a variety of articles ; and shops where meat, bread, cakes, pastry, and all kinds of grocery and various wines are sold ; several drapers’ shops, which supply all the necessary articles of dress. Fish is had at a moderate price, and cockles ; salmon is dear. Brit and sewin are often plentiful, but rarely soles. The fires 1 made of the hard coal and balls composed of slime and culm are fitted for cooking, as there is no smoke ; at the farm- houses they are arranged in pretty devices. Many kinds of shell are found on the sands by the Burrows, especially on ‘^the shell bank,” which is on a line with the Hurst House; an account of them is given in Part XVHI. There are two good hotels, with nice accommodation and attendance. Two or three houses have pleasant apartments to let ; afford good attendance. Once there was a Bank. The magistrates used formerly to sit in Laugharne, now they are at St. Clears ; but within the last year two magistrates have been appointed to whom complaints are made and summons obtained, but the affair and persons connected with it must go to St. Clears, where the magistrates sit and give the final decision. ^ For mode of making fires with hard coal see the end of Part XI. 1 6 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, During the year a few amateur concerts are given, sometimes penny readings. They have this year, 1877, set up a band of music, composed of the young men of the town. No market is held here now; even that which used to be on Friday, merely for the sale of meat, has been given up for several years. The monthly market of St. Clears, held on a Tuesday, is well attended by the people of Laugharne. A curious circumstance is connected with it ; it is invariably a rainy day ; perhaps once in forty times it is fine, and this has been so for the last fifty years. When the day is fixed for cutting the Furlongs, which is in August, that is sure to be wet too. The Ivorite Club, which holds its feast in this month, go to Pendine the day after it for recreation, and that day is nearly always wet. Every Friday there was a market held under the Town Hall, where, besides meat, there was butter, eggs, fowls, and all kinds of poultry. On other days of the week meat was purchased from the publicans and small farmers, for there were no butchers’ shops in Laugharne formerly. On market-day the town was full ; the farmers with their wives and daughters coming in from Lamboidy and other parts on horseback, seated on a sort of cushion called a pannel, with large bags of striped woollen stuff, some full of corn, others of oats, swung on each side of the horse. The boys made many pennies by holding their horses. There would be, perhaps, sixty or seventy farmers in the town on this day. The corn and oats were sold to the different storehouses, and were then regularly shipped for Bristol. This was the state of things about fifty years ago. At this period some of the pleasant scenes of country life were common in Laugharne. The farm maids would come into the town from the farms around every week with baskets of butter, some with poultry and eggs ; themselves the perfection of neatness and cleanliness, wearing the Welsh hat and costume, their well- frilled caps as white as snow, sometimes with bright ribbons fluttering in the wind. Though much of this is departed, there are still many coming in during the week ; it is their holiday ; they look to it with pleasure. The labouring people find great support from the sale of fish, especially of cockles ; it is a busy scene, one fit for an artist, when the women come in from the sands with their bags of cockles ; perhaps they have walked miles. They return as they went, in groups dressed in their worst, with hats of all sizes and shapes, generally with the well-known hand- kerchief tied over their heads ; their skirts tucked up in all forms, some not unlike those of the fashionable ladies ; wooden shoes ; PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1/ some with baskets, others with tin pans on their heads full of cockles, which they poise admirably with their arms akimbo, though one will put her hand to the load. Six or ten women will come in with six or more poor donkeys staggering under their loads, one or two happy to have only one long bag across his back, others will have two, and even three. On Sundays these women come out like butterflies, dressed in all their finery. Bede, in his ‘Ecclesiastical Hist,’ says, “Britain has great stores of cockles, whence the scarlet dye is got.” For the convenience of the ships there was Leighton’s storehouse at the entrance of the New Walk on a raised part, which is still seen at the side of the stream flowing down that which was the old route into Laugharne, by the side of Gosport House grounds, and was well stored with corn, oats, and grain of all kinds. When farmers came in with corn, two toll- gatherers — Molly Richard and Sally Lewis — would stand, one by the Mariner’s corner, the other by the storehouse on the Grist, holding a wooden dish to receive the toll : one dish of each kind of grain, out of every sack, was required ; the half of what was in the dish went to the portreeve of the town, the other half to the women who received the toll. That part of the strand from the entrance to the New Walk, and far out where the sea now comes, was dry land covered with grass, of which patches remain. I am told by very old inhabitants that a quay wall stood from the entrance to New Walk to the summer-house of the Castle, and that ships from Virginia, bringing tobacco, unloaded here; and the large stones now sunk in the sand by the corner of the garden wall of Mr. Vaughan’s house formed part of the wall. Ships now unload just under the cliff. Several old people,, now deceased, told me they remembered the ballast posts which stood by the old road, which passed from the rocks by the Castle straight out into the mud which the sea now covers, and the ships unloading here and carts bringing the cargo along this road, of which some traces remain in the mud : none of them saw the quay wall. There was a kind of quay wall by the salt-house at the bridge over the Pill, this side of the marsh. Mr. Davies of Pentywyn ^ farm above the Scar used to bring the stones from Coigan to this wall, and take back the coal from the vessels. I pass now to the condition of the labouring people as regards their food. The elderly people of these parts, whose families have lived for generations here, tell me that the farm-servants forty or ^ Pen is head ; tywyn, a tuft or bush ; it means “head of the Strand.” c 1 8 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, fifty years ago had more substantial food than they have now ; that instead of the tea or coffee at breakfast, with simply bread, butter, and cheese they have in these days, they had meat, and the more nourishing dishes of milk and oatmeal. Though they have white bread instead of the dark barley bread of olden days, that is no improvement, for it is the opinion of all whom I have consulted that the barley bread is more nourishing. They would not now eat it, nor accept the milk and budrum, or oatmeal, in place of tea and coffee ; so this is not the fault of the farmers. It was often oatmeal bread in summer-time, and barley in the winter, while I have heard of cases where mouldy bread and cheese, poor broth, cider instead of good beer, was the fare of the farm-servant. These two different accounts may be reconciled in this way. In the large farms they fared well, in the small and poor farms they might fare worse than they do now ; and even this last state of things might be exceptional and accidental. Now, in all farms, rich or poor, white alone is supplied ; mouldy bread and cheese would not be submitted to. This was the usual fare : At breakfast there was always meat dressed in some form or other; and' more meat on the farmer’s table than is now. They do not kill so many sheep and oxen for their own use as they did. Bacon now is the principal dish ; formerly an ox would be sure to be killed in the year, and the parts salted and hung up in the roof. This roof beef was excellent. There was more corn beef in pickle than there is now, and an old cow would be often killed for food; sheep continually ; legs of mutton salted and put up to dry, and called Scotch hams.” Cawl was the principal dish at the breakfast-table : it was a broth made of beef and mutton ; more generally of bacon with a portion of beef or mutton ; the meat was boiled with leeks, cabbage, potatoes, and oatmeal. The common name is porridge ; cawl is the proper Welsh word. Porridge without the meat is called cawl-llaeth, /. e. milk porridge. Laeth is milk in Welsh. There is a poor kind of porridge made of oatmeal and milk. There would be, too, budrum, called also flummery and wishperer, a most nourishing food made of oats mixed with milk, so thick you could cut it. Beer brewed by the farmer was generally on the breakfast-table. For dinner they had bread, butter, cheese, budrum, meat, beer ; for supper there was meat such as roof beef, corn beef, and Scotch hams, potatoes, sometimes puddings. Trollees was a usual dish, composed of either barley-meal, oatmeal, or white flour, made into a paste wetted with the fat skimmed off the top of the broth from the beef TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 19 or bacon, made up into several dumplings in the form of long rolls and put into the broth to boil. Stump was another dish made of potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage, mashed up with butter, pepper, and salt ; it is a North Wales dish introduced here. Uwd was eaten at supper ; it consisted of the essence of oats, or, as you would say, the dust of them, boiled in water made as thick as a pease-pudding ; a quantity of milk is put into a dish, and these boiled oats are put into it. Uwd llaeth it was called properly. At harvest-time, about twelve o’clock, and again at four, budrum would be sent to the labourers with bread and cheese, butter, potatoes, and beer; dinner was either at one or four. The harvest over, a feast was given to the helpers, the tables were well loaded with different kinds of meat, vegetables, tarts, and puddings ; the children of the labourers were invited. At Christmas hospitality was most profusely dispensed to all, friends or strangers, known or unknown. All the farms about Marross, Pendine, Laugharne, had, during the whole of Christmas-time, tables laid out with substantial dishes, besides mutton and goose pies, mince pies, plum-puddings, and numerous kinds of cakes ; whoever called was invited to partake, and they sent to the poor cottagers some of this good fare. This has passed away, still great liberality is yet shown in many instances by farmers ; no doubt much of what has ceased arises from the introduction of new customs and new fashions in food, &c. Man is very considerably moulded by circumstances : his good and evil qualities depend upon external circumstances for their development ; the few strong-minded and independent resist if the tendency is for evil ; the multitude, deficient in firmness, weak in purpose, fall in with the prevailing fashion. I am told that every cottage among labouring people had, about thirty years ago, always a good fat pig, oftener two or three; abundance of bread, butter, barley bread and potatoes, bacon, and often meat for dinner. Potatoes were so plentiful that even the good ones were given to the pigs ; in selling them they were not strict to the exact measure, but would always give some over. This is not so now. So kind a feeling was there, that if any neighbour needed food he was supplied without asking. At the mansions of the rich, tables covered with food were daily laid out for the poor and the stranger ; he had only to knock at the door and he was admitted.^ This brings pleasantly to mind the beautiful manners of the ancient Greeks, who never turned away the stranger who came to their door ; but fed him, clothed, ^ See an account of this in Part XIX. c 2 20 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, and bathed him ; never asked who he was nor what was the purpose of his journey till these Christian rites had been performed and St. Paul’s admonition observed: ^‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.” ^ It is certain from what I have heard that every poor person could buy meat, which they cannot now. Yet for all I have stated, it appears there was more poverty in some respects than at present. It seems to me that in many ways the poor fared better formerly, and in others were worse off. It is certain that numbers of their class are in these days far better off than their ancestors ; but, on the other hand, many also have not the common necessaries they would have had fifty or sixty years ago. I know many in these localities, even of the better labouring class, who seldom have meat, and some never, especially in the present high price of it. About forty years ago beef was 3^^. per lb. ; mutton, 4^. ; butter, 7^. ; flour, ; a fowl was Sd. ; goose, is. 6 d. or 2s. ; rabbit, 4^. ; six large flat fish, id. ; eggs, four for a penny ; a large quart mea- sure of potatoes heaped up, 2d.., which now is 6^. ; coals were 3^. (id. the load; four years ago they were 7^., and since that have risen in price ; salmon was 4^. per lb. Then the fishing-trade is not now so great a support to the labouring class as it was. In 1861 the liberty of fishing for salmon and sewin was taken away with other advantages, by the Act which requires every one to take out a licence. The right of taking all other kinds of fish is allowed.^ The cost of the licence is from to ^5, according to circum- stances. They are restrained to a great degree from the use of the ancient mesh of three inches. The legal mesh is now three inches for one month only, i. e. from July isth to August 15th ; four inches after that date. The result is, that not so much fish is taken, for the fish slip through the larger mesh. Their expenses are therefore increased, for the net costs from to <^10, according to the materials. The hand net is <^1. The liberty of having the three- inch mesh for a month is really no aid to them, as it puts them to the extra expense of two nets instead of one. They may not take a fish lying on the sand, nor stop the river Taf at ebb tide for catching fish ; there is a fine for that. This has raised the price of salmon to lod. and is. 2d. ; sewin to is.., which was before '^d. per lb. These supplied their tables ; now it is too dear and they sell them. They lose, besides, other kinds of fish which are not so ^ Heb. xiii. 2. 2 They take the fish by means of a net affixed to stakes driven into the sands or mud. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 21 abundant now. Their principal support is from the flat fish and cockles. The inhabitants of Laugharne have the liberty of fish- ing in the river Taf from St. Clears to the sea, and other parts where the estate of Westmead joins.’’ The inhabitants of Laug- harne had once the liberty of fishing from the Cow and Calf to New Inn Lake. In i86i they were deprived of this. The Cow and Calf are two rocks under Bennet’s house, some way past Recess Cottage on the sea-shore once called Gin hill. New Inn Lake is the stream at Eareweare, which divides the counties of Caermar- then and Pembroke. The right of fishing in the Taf from St. Clears bridge to the sea was conveyed to M. Jones, Esq., when he purchased the estate, and he has the exclusive right as his prede- cessors had ; but he never exercised it. The labouring class are better off in this respect. The wages of farm servants and domestic ones are far higher now.^ A maid on a farm had formerly only ^3 or <^4, she has now rfio or ^14 ; a man had ^5 105-., now he has ^16 to <^18; a boy had £2 105 “., now <^9 or ^10 ; but are they all essentially better off for this ? It appears not ; for I am told by possessors of farms that they often saved more with lower wages, and with articles of clothing at a higher price than they are now, than they do with high wages ; that debts incurred for articles of clothing are not paid with the punctuality of old times, and many times not paid at all.^ Of course there are exceptions to this. With the low wages a trades- man never thought it possible a young woman would not pay in due time ; they are more extravagant ; the money all goes in dress, not in the substantial clothing of old days that lasted almost for ever and passed down to the grandchildren, but in the trumpery finery and ornaments and fashionable trimmings. Though better paid they do not accomplish the amount of work they did, are not so attached to the families they serve as they used to be, and do not remain with them as long : there are always exceptions. Causes are no doubt at work which in some degree create this state of things over which they have no control, and are often powerless to resist. I believe if they were as economical in their habits and dress, as saving as they were of old, they would be better off by far than their predecessors in many instances. They have another drawback — the Laugharne Marsh of itself was enough to support the working people of Laugharne. The East and Hurst farms used, thirty-five years ago, to employ fourteen men and sixteen women each ; now hardly more than a man or two and a boy do 1 These cases will be more particularly stated in Section 3 of this part. 22 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNF, the work. The poorer people are certainly deprived of this in our times. Flocks of them, who only earned (yd. a day and had large families, would come daily to the Great House of Pendine for food, which they were sure to obtain. Though they earn more now, yet they are in many cases as poor at the end. Poor people would sometimes come from Pembrokeshire, where, owing to so many coal-pits being worked, barley was not so plentiful, and go to the farms on Laugharne Marsh, Pendine, and elsewhere for help, and they would be sure to have a Winchester of barley, often other food enough to last three or four days, and gifts much more than they were able of themselves to carry back to their homes in Pem- brokeshire ; they were sure of a good meal at the farms. There is little or nothing of this now ; but we must consider that at this period there was very little work for poor people ; however willing to work they were forced to be idle. Now every woman and child finds something to gain a few pence, if not shillings ; this, no doubt, has tended to weaken the sympathy and hospitable feeling for the poor, as the other did to heighten it. In another particular they were worse off than now. The school children of Laugharne about thirty-five years ago walked to church barefooted, poor things, and had to sit on damp stone seats in the chancel, till some merciful people raised money to buy them clogs, with which they were quite elated ; now they go well-dressed in every point, more often too much dressed. But I do see in the town very often boys and girls barefooted. I am told by those able to judge that the labouring people are not so strong as they were in the days I refer to. A person fifty years old said to me, I used to work on the farm from five in the morning till ten at night in the long days. I had only cider to drink, and am stronger now than many of them, and others did the same and fared the same.'^ It is difficult to decide unless every individual case is known. The strong might pass through it ; we do not hear of the weaker ones who sunk under it. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. o 23 PART I. SECTION 1. THE DESCENT OF THE WELSH OR CYMRI. “ Tradition, the memory of a nation, is wonderfully retentive, and, upon the whole, singularly accurate .” — Pedigree of the English, hy T. Nicholas, Ph.D. Avoiding the scepticism which is as hostile to the investigation of historic truth as the weakest credulity, we receive the Triad account as substantially worthy of reliance.” — T. Nicholas, p. 55. The Welsh, or Cymri, which is their proper name, the beauty of whose women is celebrated by all writers, descend from Corner, eldest son of Japhet, and from Ashkenaz, and are the oldest family in the world, and so acknowledged by the ancient writers of Greece ^ and Rome. Their history and colonizing Britain is told in the Historic Triads of Britain, Bardic poems, &c. ; and in the remains of camps, cromlechs, temples, scattered over the whole island. The Triads say, that ‘Hong before the Cymri came to Britain the Llyn Llion, or Great Deep, literally, the abyss of waters, broke up and inundated the whole earth” ; and that the ship Nevydd Nav. Neivion, in which two individuals were saved from this deluge, was built in Britain, and was one of its three mighty works ; that for a long time after the subsiding of the deluge the Cymri dwelt in Deffrobani, or the summer country, about where Constantinople is. The Triads say that Hu Gadarn,^ or Hu the Mighty, led the Cymri from Deffrobani to Britain, and took possession of it, not by conquest or oppression, but by right of man over Nature, and called it “ Ynys Wen’^ (/. e. White Island). They found no one on it except bisons, elks, bears, wolves, beavers, water monsters, and oxen with the high prominence. Settled here, they soon invited the Lloegrians (or Lloegrwys), descended from the chief nation of the Cymri, who were in Gwasgwyn (/. e, Gascony), and the Brythons, who were Cymri, dwelling in Armorica (Aquitani), to come to Britain, and gave the first the district extending from Kent to Cornwall; the Brythons that from the Humber northward; ^ See Diodorus Siculus, lib. 5. 2 Gadarn is the proper spelling. 24 * ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, while they, as the elder tribe, held the land lying between the Severn and the sea. These three are called the three pacific tribes, because each settled here with the consent of the others, and in peace and love ; they are called in the fifth Triad the three honourable tribes of the Isle of Britain. Hu Gadarn ruled over them as sovereign of the whole isle. The Monarchic and military supremacy was vested in the elder tribe. Afterwards they occupied the north-west of the isle and the east of Albyn (/. e. Scotland) ; from this elder tribe came the Piets and the Welsh. This account is older, by many centuries, than the earliest account of Greece and Rome. The Triads mention, that after these three peaceable tribes were settled three refugee colonies arrived and settled here with the consent of those peaceable ones ; they were the Caledonians and Scots, who settled in the north, and the Belgae,^ in the Isle of Wight and the south parts of Britain. They next record the coming of three predatory colonies who found a home here ; among them were the Saxons ; this was after the Romans left; now appeared trouble, separations, and losses. These last six colonies leagued together, seduced the Lloegrians, one of the peaceable tribes, from their allegiance with their own Cymri ; the elder tribe made common cause with the Saxons against their own, which ended in the elder tribe, that is, the Cymri or Welsh, who are the original Britons, losing the sovereign power which they had resumed after the Romans, but kept their language and country and were confined to the principality which they ruled, dividing it into three parts, viz. Venedotia, Powys, and Deheu. According to the oldest accounts the Saxons gained the sovereignty, not by exterminating the native British, as historians have falsely represented. Great numbers of British were incorporated with the Saxons in what we call England \ and the Triads say, that only a few Britons fled to Wales, and the greater part of the English are at this day more Britons, that is, Cymri, than Saxons or Normans. This loss of power was deserved in some way. Ancient annals tell us that Vortigern tyrannized over his own Cymri subjects, and then when they rose against him called in the Saxons to protect himself against them ; and the Lloegrians after- wards put themselves under the protection of those very Saxons against the tyranny of Vortigern. Vortigern settled the sovereign power on Cotta, or Otta, his son by Rowena his wife, daughter of Hengist ; so it was not by conquest, but by some show of right, that the Saxon princes in later times claimed the sovereign power. 1 The Belgae came about three hundred years before our era. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 25 It will be interesting to the reader to give the account given of the three predatory colonies in the seventh Triad thus: — ‘‘The first was the Coraniaid, who came from the country of Pwyl (/. e, Poland 1 ) ; the second the Gwyddyl Ffichti (/. e. Gallic Piets), who came to Alban by the sea of Llychlyn ; the third the Saeson (/. e, Saxons). The Coranians and Saxons united brought the Lloegrians into confederacy with them, and by violence and oppression took the crown of monarchy from Cymri. Another Triad says, “The three refuge-seeking tribes who came in peace by consent of the Cymri, without weapon or attack, were — ist, the Celyddon in the north ; 2nd, the Gwyddelian, who dwell in Alban (/. e. the Highlands of Scotland) ; 3rd, the men of Galedin (/. e. Holland), who came in naked vessels to the Isle of Wight when their country was inundated, and where they had lands assigned them by the Cymri. They had no right of possession in the Isle of Britain, beyond the land and protection accorded them under limits. It was stipulated that the rights of the primitive Cymri should not be theirs till the end of the ninth generation (see ‘Myvrian Arch, of Wales, ^ ii. 57). Our island was divided into three parts, viz. Lloegyr, Alban, Cymru, /. e. England, Scot- land, Wales. Dr. Nicholas, in his ‘Pedigree of the English,^ says, from the Lloegrians is derived the modern Welsh name for Eng- land — Lloegr ; that the Lloegrians came from the valley and region of the river Liger, the modern Loire, in Erance. The fifth Triad says, the Lloegrwys (or Lloegrians, or Ligurians) came from Gwas- gwyn, i. e. Gascony. The research of modern historians have proved beyond doubt that Celts, Gauls, Gaels, Cimbri, Cimmerii, Scots, Piets, Teutones, and all the people of Europe, and all the Celts who overran Asia, are one race divided into tribes, with some more estranged from the pure, original Celt than others. Diodorus Siculus confirms this in some particulars : Cymri means the people ; Cymru the country, i. e. Wales. Cymri, or Cymbri, means the first race or original people ; they were the first who entered Europe. As inclination or necessities arose for seeking new localities they assumed new appellations ; so it was that the Celts in Gaul had the name of Galli or Gauls from their habits of life — Galli, from their living in open plains and pursuing agricul- ture ; the Celts, those who dwelt in the coverts or woods, and lived chiefly by hunting. “ The proper Cymbri belongs to those who moved in a westerly direction over Europe, of which the Welsh, Cornish, and Breton are the most immediate remains, while ^ Dr. Nicholas says more probably some region of North Germany. 26 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Irish belonged to those who remained longer on the continent” (see ^Cambrian Register’ for 1796, pp. 17 and 20). These called themselves the first race, perhaps because descended from the elder branch, or from being the first to enter Europe. In this Register, p. 22, is this Triad, a curious fragment of history, record- ing the three ancient names of Britain before it was inhabited ; it says it was called, ‘‘The water-guarded green spot; ” after it was inhabited it was called “The Honey Island,” and when it came into subjection to Prydain, the son of Aedd Mawr, he gave it the name of “ The Isle of Prydain, i. e. Inis Prydain ; when Caesar came here it was regarded, he says, as the “Sacred Isle of the West.” Some think the Triads are not entirely to be relied on, but Dr. Nicholas considers they are ; his opinion I have stated in first page of this. There is much obscurity regarding the way in which the Welsh acquired that name, and their country that of Wales. In northern languages of Europe it signifies a stranger. Some writers say, that as the Britons were unlike their conquerors in language and customs they were called Welsh and their country Wales, a name the Saxons gave them by way of contempt. The learned Sumner says, that “the Saxon verb weallan means ‘to wander,’ and by giving them this name they meant to brand them as fugitives, and that Saxons gave them that name when they drove them beyond the Severn;” but antiquarians say the name was given much earlier, according to the testimony of the ‘ Saxon Chron- icle.’ The ‘Saxon Chronicle’ mentions them by title of Brit-walas, or Britwalan : he says, the Britons styled themselves and the neigh- bouring nations as Gall or Wall. This appellation, which extended over all the British Isles, and a considerable portion of the conti- nent, philologists have tried without success to explain. Dr. Nicholas says. The Anglo-Saxons termed the Britons Wealas, /. e. foreigners. Latham, in his ‘ Hand-book of English Language,’ says, “Wales is the plural form, and derived from ‘ Wealhas ’ — foreigners, the name by which the Welsh are called by Germans of England, just as the Italians are called Welsh by the Germans of Germany. The transfer,” he says, “ of the name of the people inhabiting a certain country to the country so inhabited was one of the commonest processes in both Anglo-Saxon and old English.” The Tyrolese and other people of Upper Germany used to call the Italians Welsh, and their language Welsh, meaning by this that they were foreigners, strange to them, though they were neighbours. The Rev. Mr. Walters in his dictionary says, “ Wallia is derived from Gallia, and the English word Wales from the French PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 2/ Galles or Gaul ; that Gwal in Welsh is a place fenced in or sheltered, a place of repose, a bed ; that the Cymmri gave this name to regions cultivated and had fixed inhabitants.’^ The language of the Celts prevails in the different dialects over the whole of Europe and a considerable part of Asia ; it is the foundation of the Latin. The names of the old Latin families, as Catullus, Camillus, Cato, &c., are Cymric ; it is an element in the Greek, Sanscrit, English. The names of the Pictish kings, rivers, mountains of their domains, are Cymric ; it shows the affinity between languages of East and West ” (see Bunsen’s ‘ Christianity and Mankind,’ vol. iv. p. 158). It has, beyond all other languages, preserved its ptirity, brought pure by the Cymri, as it was spoken by their ancestors in Armenia, b. c. 1700, into Britain. The structure of our language is considered by the learned to be essentially Cymric and not Saxon. It would be interesting to the reader to give some few particulars on this subject. Mr. L. Morris, writing in the Cambrian Register in 1796, says. The letters called Saxon are those used by the Druids and ancient Britons generally, and in these islands before the Saxons or even the Romans came here ; this is proved by their appearance on ancient tombstones in Wales, erected before the Saxons had the use of letters ; the Britons immediately under Roman power took Roman letters, so the old character is not found among the Lloegrian Britons or the Cornish or Armoricans, but they are in Wales, Ireland, and the Highlands. In process of time the British and Roman characters were mixed as we find them in some tombstones in Wales, but not in England, The Irish, he says, still retain the old character {i.e, was in 1761); Britons laid it aside about time of Norman Conquest. The Welsh word for heaven is found in thirty different dialects : for the singular likeness of the Welsh language to English and other languages of Europe see more in ‘Cambrian Register,’ 1796, and Dr. Nicholas’ ‘ Pedigree of the English.’ This duration of the language of the Cymri is accounted for by the very slow progress the Saxons made in Britain for some time, according even to their own authorities. It is singular the Welsh records of the 6th century allude to few instances of conflict with the Saxons. Their customs and institu- tions as well had a long endurance in face of the Saxons. Sir F. Palgrave (in ‘ History of Anglo-Saxons ’) says, that the process by which they merged into Saxon element, not completed till a com- paratively recent period; for in 1304 a.d., Edward I. abolished their laws and usages, and their language gave way to that of Saxon English about thirteenth century ; in some secluded districts it is 28 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, thought to have lingered till the Reformation, when the Protestant clergy, in their ministrations, destroyed it. The great bulk of the Britons were not exterminated, nor did they retire to Wales in any great number from the presence of the Saxons, nor did the Saxons gain the sovereignty by exterminating them as modern historians have erroneously stated. The Triads show that only a few Britons fled into Wales ; and the greater part of the English are much more Britons (/. e. Cymri) than Saxon or Norman ; Saxon element is very trifling. With William the Conqueror came a great number of Celts. ^ As their language and race prevails, so do their usages, laws, civilization, superior intelligence, and love of liberty. When the Romans arrived British society was in a civilized and polished state, and I have mentioned that from the first settlement of Hu Gadarn it was not barbarous, as it has been falsely said. The code of British laws of Molmutius, b.c. 6oo, which is the basis of our common or unwritten law, proves it ; the early British legends say, Britain had many stately cities, which were afterwards attri- buted to the Romans.^ Lord Chief Justice Coke (vol. iii. of Reports and Preface to it) says, ‘‘The original laws of this land were composed of such elements as Brutus first selected from the ancient Greek and Trojan Institutions. It is from these native laws, and not from either Saxon or Norman, as has been erroneously asserted, that the free British Constitution has arisen, and the greater liberty the British people enjoy beyond that of all others.’’ Lord Chancellor Fortescue says, “I am of opinion that the differ- ent powers which kings claim over their subjects arises solely from the different nature of the original institutions. So the kingdom of Britain had its original from Brutus and the Trojans, who attended him from Italy and Greece, and were a mixed government compounded of the regal and democratic.” The Trojans were Cymri. By the old British law a woman might rule the kingdom as well as a man ; and among the Piets, too, “ the succession went wholly by the female side.” The Saxons discontinued the rule of a queen. There is much ^ more on this subject, but I may only give the interesting subject of Brutus leading a band of Trojans from Troy to our isle, which some think all fable, but which such authorities as Lord Chief Justice Coke and Lord Chancellor Fortescue believe in, as I do myself ; tradition is in its favour ; tradition is not to be resisted. Our isle was called the Isle of ^ And the Normans had too the blood of the Cymri in them. " And governed by wise laws falsely attributed to the Saxons. ^ See more on this subject, Latham’s ^Varieties of Man.’ PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 29 Brutus; the descent of Britons from these Trojans was believed in for fifteen hundred years, then the derivation of Britannia ; tan is the old British word for land ; the British u is sounded like e ; so from Brutannia, i. e. Brut’s land, came Britannia. The ancient Britons designated themselves by two names — Cymri and y Lin Troia, u e. the race of Troy. London was called New Troy. This Trojan descent, says Morgan in his ‘ British Kymri,’ first page of introduction, has been always consistently maintained by the native authorities, and finds ample confirmation from the earliest docu- ments of Italy, Gaul, Bretagne, Spain, and Iceland ; Giovani Villani the Florentine, in his Universal History, gives the descent of the Britons from the Trojans, and the arrival and settlement of Brutus and his company in Britain. Brutus is celebrated in the Triads as one of the three king revolutionists of Britain, the Trojan system under him being incorporated with the Patriarchal. It is said, Brutus, arriving with his company in ships, anchored off Talnus in Torbay, that he was the first to set foot on this isle, and that the rock still pointed out there is called The stone of Brutus.” Corineus, one of the Trojans coming with Brutus, wrestled with one of the giants of Britain, and hurled him into the sea from the cliffs of Dover. Milton says, that part of the cliff has ever since been named Langoe magog, which is to say ^‘Giant’s Leap.” Collectors of traditions speak of Samothes or Dis, a son of Japhet, previous to Brutus’ arrival, peopling Gaul and Britain with a Celtic race, and calling it Samothea ; that a hostile race, who are said to be giants under the command of Albion, arrived after this and became masters of the isle, and changed its name to Albion. Samothes arrived two hundred years after the deluge. Geoffrey of Monmouth says, Brutus arrived here twelve hundred years after the deluge. Brutus and his company were received by the three pacific tribes of Britain as brethren ; at a national convocation of the whole island he was elected sovereign, and he established the constitutions and laws of Troy. On his way hither he consulted, it is said, the oracle of Diana at Melita, then called Legatta, as to the future destiny of his family : the oracle declared Brutus should “Found an empire in his royal line, Which time shall ne’er destroy nor bounds confine.” This was engraved in Greek letters on the altar of Diana in London, and translated into Latin by Neunius, a British prince at the court of the Emperor Claudius Gothicus, uncle to Constantins. In ‘ Cambrian Register’ for 1796, the address of Brutus to Diana is translated, and is this — Powerful Goddess of the woods, thou who ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, 30 art so terrible to the wild Boars ! to thee there is liberty to walk through aerial roads and infernal mansions, and to revolve terrestrial destines ! Say to what earth thou would’ st to be inhabited by me, wherein I also might honour thee with vestal choirs.” Diana’s answer I give in Pope’s translation of it. It is thus : — ‘‘Brutus, there lies beyond the Gallic bounds An island which the Western sea surrounds, By ancient giants held — now few remain To bar thy entrance or obstruct thy reign ; To reach that happy shore thy sails employ. There fate decrees to raise a second Troy, And found an empire in thy royal line Which time shall ne’er destroy nor bounds confine. ” This prophecy, the oldest excepting that of Balaam (in Numbers), has been fulfilled. The descendants of Brutus still reign here, and the empire he founded becomes mightier as time advances. The sacred stone which was the pedestal of the Palladium of the city of Troy Brutus brought with him and placed in the court of the temple of Diana ; upon it the British kings swore to observe the usages of Britain. What is now called ‘‘The London Stone, which is built into the south side of St. Swithin’s Church, Cannon street, is that very stone. The belief of older times was, that as long as this stone remained. New Troy or London would continue to increase in wealth and power ; that at its disappearance they would decrease and finally depart. It was the tradition of the Cymri that Britain would rule a wider empire than either Asiatic or Italian Troy (/. e. Rome). The proverb of the Cymri is, “ Tra mor, tra Brython,” /. e, “as long as there is sea, so long will there be Britons.’’ In the lowest condition to which the Cymri have been at any time reduced they have never lost faith that the throne of Britain would be restored to their race ; this belief, called by their bards “ the lamp in darkness,” “ has ever nerved them in the hour of defeat.” Merlin and Taliesin, ^ then famed poets, prophesied that the Welsh would regain the sovereignty of the island, which seems to have its fulfilrnent in Henry VIL, who was of Welsh or Cymric origin. Many thousand Welsh followed Henry VIL to England and settled there, and a constant flow of them thither has continued ever since; their preponderance is evident in the returns of the Registrar General for England. Eor thirty-three centuries have this people preserved their identity, their vigour, superior intelligence, language, and love of liberty. ^ Taleisin lived in sixth century. TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 3 1 Rev. Mr. Morgan, in his British Notices,^ it is remarkable that they should, as they did in Crimean war, fight in the cause of liberty and justice, on the very spot from whence they came to this quarter of the world. The Crimean was one of the two routes by which the Cymri entered Europe, and where they settled for a time. Mr. Stephens, lately deceased, an authority in Welsh history, was of opinion that the Triads dealt largely in fiction, still retaining a nucleus of truth.” Before his death he very much modified his previous opinion if he did not consider them to contain actual truth. SECTION II. THE INTELLIGENCE AND CIVILIZATION OF THE WELSH, OR CYMRI. “ A race not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit ; acute to invent, subtle and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to.” — Milton, in his A 7‘eopagitica, I HAVE just noticed that the Britons were in a civilized and polished state from the first settlement of Hu Gadarn, and had not declined from it when the Romans arrived. A few proofs of this will be interesting and useful to the reader. A plan of military castrametation was brought to Britain by Brutus superior to that of the Romans; and Julius Caesar says it attained in his time ‘Hhe highest perfection;” then the skill shown in the construction of their war-chariots ; the difficulty the Romans had in gaining a permanent footing in this island ; the many magnificent cities, which under the Saxons went to decay ; the good roads and cultivated state of the land which those rude people neglected and left to be covered with forests. This was their first period of civilization. To the next period of civilization belong those numerous castles which Malkin, in his ‘Travels in South Wales’ in 1803-6, says, are con- tinually recurring, some built for strength, some for magnificence, displaying great skill and superior workmanship. You cannot, he says, go ten miles without coming upon them, besides ruins of palaces. About Laugharne and its neighbourhood are several ^ British Kymri. 32 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, castles and traditions of others. To this period belong the large farms with barns Malkin saw ; and barns, he says, belonging to abbeys which would contain more than the produce of the parish in which they were, and the superior appearance of the ancient cottages. It has been an opinion assumed by many without due investiga- tion, that the Welsh have not, and do not, attain a high standing in literature and science, and are generally far below the English — this is untrue. At an early period, when England’s literary standard was very low, Wales was rich in poetry. Her Augustine age was from 1 100 to 1500. Thierry says, The Cymri of middle ages were the most intellectual people of Europe. Bishop Percy says. Neither France, Italy, nor England had produced compositions equal to the masterly lyric pieces of the principality. The Druids of Britain, it is said, had advanced their inquiries to heights as should make moderns ashamed of themselves. Strabo and other classical writers relate that a learned Druid, Abaris, resident in the Hebrides, was sent by his fraternity as their sacred ambassador. This is Strabo’s account : ‘^He came to Athens, not clad in skins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his shoulder, a plaid wrapt round him, a gilded belt encircling his loins, trowsers reaching from the waist to the soles of his feet ; he was easy in his address, agreeable in his conversation, active in his dispatch, and secret in his management of great affairs, quick in judging of present occurrences, and ready to take his part in any sudden emergency, provident withal in guarding against futurity, diligent in quest of wisdom, fond of friendship, trusting very little to fortune, yet having the entire confidence of others, and trusted with everything for his prudence. He spoke Greek with a fluency that you would have thought he had been bred up in the Lyceum, and conversed all his life with the Academy of Athens.”— b.c. 600. In more modern times there are Giraldus Cambrensis, Sir W. Jones, the celebrated Oriental scholar, and a host of sweet poets, and many sublime ones. The poem.s of David ap Gwylym, the bard of Glamorganshire, are beautiful and sublime ; that on the Wind, and another on Thunder, are allowed by competent judges to be hardly equalled in any language. There is Madoc (son of Owen Gwynedd, one of the sovereigns of Wales), the discoverer of America about a.d. 1160. The family traditions of Mexican royal family in time of Cortez refer its descent from Madoc. For military prowess there are Picton, Nott, Combermere, the Dukes of Somerset and Beaufort, descending from the Cymric line of PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 33 Raglan, the Herberts Earls of Powys, and Herberts Earls of Pem- broke, Earls of Dynevor, all of Cymric descent, having a noble reputation ; and if we descend lower, we shall not find the picture reversed, though its features may not be so striking. Malkin, whom I have quoted before a.s making his researches in 1803-6, says there are few, if any, parts of England where the lower classes speak with so grammatical a propriety, and are better informed. I do not say,” he says, that the Welsh peasantry at this present time are better taught than the English, for of late greater efforts than formerly have been made to educate them ; but our middle- aged and elderly poor are more ignorant than those of Wales, at least those of the parts I am acquainted with. The reason of it is perhaps the general knowledge the peasantry have, with their own legendary poems and tales, and* a certain portion of knowledge having descended from father and mother to the children for generations.” This form of instruction elevates and permeates the mind rather than the set rules and dry routine of school teaching. Added to this, Malkin found in the villages and remote parts of South Wales schools for the poor though unendowed. Rev. Mr. Charles of Bala, whose home was not far from Laugharne, and whose exertions in educating the poor will be described in Part VII., speaks of the many instances he found in his catechising the peasantry, of superiority of intellect, their uncommon quickness, and great strength of memory. From my personal intercourse with this class in the localities with which this book is concerned, I can say there is not that ignorance, awkward expressions, uncouth lan- guage you find in some of our English counties — Essex, for instance. The children, as well as their elders, speak English grammatically, and with a good accent. It is not the presence of a few great geniuses that constitute an intellectual people — it is the general intelligence of the mass, and if you judge the Welsh by the mass, they will come out very creditably. D 34 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, SECTION III. Purity of Welsh Literature— Character and Morals of the Welsh — Their strict honesty in former times — Change in their domestic habits and their sU'ong Protestant feeling, “ The Britons were simple in their manners, and far removed from the cunning and wickedness of men of the present day/’ — Diodorus Siculus^ v. 2 I, 22. I THINK the Welsh have not had full justice done them. From all the information I have gathered from elderly Welsh people whose testimony may be depended on, and from my own observ- ation during my very long exile in the localities I am writing about far away from London, my home and native place, and my research into Welsh customs, legends, and literature, I believe in the original purity, simplicity, and kind-heartedness of the Welsh. There is a feature in their history which must have had a purifying effect on them. British poetry was the ‘‘vehicle of truth.’’ “The truth against the world was the maxim of the Druids and bards.” All Welsh fabulous writings were in prose. Nothing of that kind in poetry till close of fourteenth century. Secondly, Though the Welsh muse, from the character of the times, relates scenes of slaughter and desolation, yet there is a softening, refining atmosphere cast over them, in strong contrast to the coarse picture drawn by the Scalds of the North, who would infuse into the warriors a desire for carnage. British bards considered themselves as the messen- gers of peace. If we are reminded of the immoralities which did, and do still, prevail in the principality, it may be returned — an enemy hath done this ; it is to the foreigners who came here that the declension is to be attributed. The Saxons who arrived in these parts were a treacherous, cruel, immoral people. As proof of this I give the testimony of Malkin, who travelled in South Wales in 1803. He says there are few parts of the country where more dissolute manners prevail ; and others affirm this too, and that about Pembrokeshire, as for instance Fishguard, Newport, and St. Dogmael’s, the purity of the Welsh character “ is gone,” though it is to be hoped it has improved since that time. Nowit was in these parts the Saxons settled. Though it is long since the Saxons arrived here ; but it is not unknown that vices once introduced PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 35 remain for centuries. It is more difficult to eradicate vice when once sown than to preserve virtue. Giraldus Cambrensis, in his ^ Description of Wales,’ represents the morality of Cambria as very low. In some points I think he is mistaken on this matter ; and Lord Kaims, in his ‘Sketches of Man,’ written 1775, gives the same account. Opposed to this I have the testimony of very old people, natives, and continued residents of different parts of Caer- marthenshire — for instance, Pendine, E'erryside — who say that in their young days young women were very circumspect gener- ally, and a strict moral code was observed. A departure from it was rare, a great disgrace, and no young person would show her- self among her acquaintance after it ; and they were more intent upon their daily work than upon dress and gossiping. I am speak- ing of those who laboured for a livelihood. This state of things is much altered now, and the morality is not as it was. I cannot say if this decline appears in other counties of Wales ; yet in the last century there were in some parts immoralities and gross ignorance. The Eev. Mr. Charles of Bala found it so in Bala and other locali- ties, and Rev. G. Jones of Llanddowrror (near Laugharne), about the country there. In face of all this I adhere to my original assertion, that the Welsh character is pure, simple, with much kind-heartedness, and I give these reasons for it : the purity of Welsh literature. It has no tales of immoral tendency. Malkin says, “ One of the reasons given against the abolition of the Welsh language is the comparative purity of the Welsh character as it stands at present (that is, in 1803-7). The books to which the working people have access are all either of a religious, or strictly poetical cast ; that it was yet a secret that letters could be made fertile to purposes of corruption, and there were no catching tales, as with us, in a phraseology lowered to the comprehension of the poorer classes, representing pleasure and fortune as the legitimate objects of life ; no stimulants to deserve the gallows.” He says, the Welsh are good-humoured, of strict morals, and exemplary piety. The daughter of a Welsh clergyman, in her work, ‘ Sketches of Wales,’ by Amy, published 1847, gives them a high character, her early life spent among them. I have seen, she says, tomb- stones covered with clothing, and they were safe, I suppose ; a robbery of them was never known ; but in other localities robberies were at times known often committed on people returning from the fairs. She says they are abstemious at home, but drink at fairs and public-houses, and then the quarrelling and noise is insufferable ; that clothes drying on the churchyard hedge in a village traversed 36 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, by a public road are quite safe, and so are the horses, whips, and great coats left in the church or meeting-yards on Sundays. She says, should a farmer remove to another farm she has known twenty-eight carts sent to help him carry his corn, &c., and that neighbours would come to help him make his hay. My own experience in the parts about Laugharne and Pendine assures me of the kindly feeling and sympathy they have for their neighbours who are in sickness or trouble ; and here, too, doors of houses may be left open without fear, and farmers of Pendine and Laugharne would help their neighbours. The reason this custom has gone off is not from the absence of kind feeling, but owing to a new state of things that has brought in machinery, &c. Malkin says (1803-7) it is remarkable that great immoralities do not prevail in any part of Wales, not even in places contiguous to large manufactories. He also notices the obliging manners and intelligence, the polite- ness which distinguishes the lower classes of the Principality, the grace with which the women perform the office of attendance at table. Other travellers make the same observations. I have seen in many instances in these parts a politeness and superiority of manners you would not expect to see in that class. In Part XIX. I shall give more of these good features in their character. Miss Sinclair, in her ‘ Sketches of Wales,’ describes the simple, amiable character of the country people in Wales, and so perfectly unsophis- ticated even in neighbourhoods frequented by travellers. A people who could fight unaided for their independence with a resolution which no reverses could weaken, whom the greatest misfortunes could not demoralize, must have a singular elevation of character ; in the darkest hour rallying round the Red Dragon with renewed spirit and determination. I think this is unparalleled in history. Malkin notices as a remarkable feature, the remembrance they cherish of their ancient independence though so long past. He says it is west of Caermarthen that the unmixed Welsh character appears. It is very difficult to give a correct decision on this sub- ject, since one comes occasionally upon dark spots in this bright picture ; but this is certain, that within the last forty years there is a considerable decline in morals in some points. I am informed by an elderly Welsh clergyman that the ancient character of the Welsh, and the state of society, mode of dress, is now almost gone ; that about sixty years ago, the honesty was such that it would have been deemed an insult to send a bill in to a customer for money owing to the tradesman, as well as for a customer to ask for a receipt. Their word was their bond. Domestic servants were so PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 3/ trustworthy that shopkeepers were as sure of receiving their money at Michaelmas for goods purchased, as that Michaelmas would come. A very old respectable shopkeeper of Laugharne confirmed these facts, and others in the localities about here gave me the wages account Moreover, I am told they saved more with the low same of olden times than they do with the high ones of to-day, and that when articles of dress were dearer than they are now ; but they were everlasting wear. A man-servant on a farm formerly had ^5 los. a year, he now gets ^18 or £16 ; a boy, 105 *., now he has <^9 to ,^10 or ^14; women, ^^2 loj*. to <^4, now <^12 or <^14. In private families, maids had <^3 to ^4 now <^10 to ,^14, and they are just as poor at the end. No doubt there are exceptions to this, but however numerous the exceptions may be it is certain shopkeepers do suffer from neglect of payment, and to send in their bills is a most needful precaution. The money now goes in fine fashionable dressing. No doubt the rejection of the substantial costume for the ugly fashions, tawdry, unmeaning trimmings and ornaments of the present day, has had much to do in the departure from that high moral conduct which alone confers respect ; but I am happy there are some exceptions to this. To dress becomingly, to wear pretty dresses and bonnets, and make an agreeable appearance, is what should be, and they have as much right to it as the rich and great. It is the hideous forms of dress I am against. It would be well if they could be made to see how far more respectable it is to possess substantial, handsome clothing that will go down to their grandchildren as heirlooms than to follow after the things that perish in the using. N ow, out of the humble cot of a labouring man, remote from towns and the great world, and where meat is scarcely ever seen, issues a young girl with a huge bunch of hair behind her head looking like a second head, a hat on the top, or an apology for one, seem- ing ready to fall off, loaded with flowers and ribbons. With the departure from simplicity of dress, the simplicity of their occupa- tions, and the custom of reading the works of superior authors is gone too. The daughters in the farm-houses used to card, spin, and weave the wool into different kinds of clothing for the house- hold. In every farm was the spinning-wheel, now it is crochet and fancy work, and many, I am told, would deem it beneath them. Such are some of the false notions with which the fashions of this world infect unreflecting minds, for did not the ladies of the Baron’s Castle spin and work for the household ? -But I know some in farms and houses who are wise enough to spin, &c. No doubt 38 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, this change has been owing in some degree to other causes. Articles of clothing are now easily purchased; they travel to the shop more easily and quicker than formerly ; time is more precious. The most respectable farmers would send the girls and boys of the ages of eleven to fourteen years old to the ploughing in the field when there was a scarcity of labourers, and they would walk by the bullocks which drew the plough, to keep them in the straight and right track. The daughters grown up tended the cattle, gathered furze on the hill-sides, and worked very hard. No one will say that many do not do so still, but it is not so general, and to my knowledge there are households that, with some change and improvement, which must ever be the case, have not entirely deserted the good old ways. I hear from the elderly people that individuals were more simple-minded and sympathizing, lived with each other more amicably than they do now ; the troubles of one were the troubles of all ; ready to help their neighbours in their need, and to give of their store of food, though not overflowing themselves ; I must say some of this lingers still. Rarely, I am told, were ill-natured remarks made, nor was there gossiping and idle tales carried from house to house. The children were more simple-minded, more simple in their ways and amusements, delighted in collecting flowers, disposing them into wreaths and other forms. At Christmas they would decorate the windows and rooms of their homes with the box and other plants formed into various devices, and go down the town to see whose windows were the prettiest. This is all gone. To set the advantages and disad- vantages of one period against those of another, and decide in which they preponderate, is not easy. When changes are coming and a new state of things brings into being certain better customs, unfortunately some of the old ones, worthy to be retained, are swept away. The mode of farming and condition of the farms have changed as well. Farmers pay three times the rent they did for- merly. They have no heavy crops as of old. The use of the new- fashioned manure, to the entire rejection of lime, has made the land poor, and they have turned their farms into dairy ones. And on some farms where once many labourers were kept, now there are but two or three, or a boy and a man. Notwithstanding we hear so much of the laxity of the Welsh clergy, and ill state of the Church in olden times, it is pleasant to find some bright spots in its pastures. Old inhabitants of these parts assure me that in parishes near Pendine the clergy were dili- gent and zealous in performing their religious offices, and un- PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 39 exceptionable in their daily conduct. Such was the Rector or Vicar of Begelly (a village on the edge of King’s Moor, near Sanders- foot, in Co. Pembroke), the Rev. M. Thomas, about fifty years ago. He allowed no work to be done in his household after six o’clock on Saturday even : and gathered round him the members and domestics of his family for prayer and praise. The Rector of Pen- dine, who held the living about eighty or ninety years ago, was an excellent man ; he used on Saturday evening preceding the cele- bration of the Communion, to assemble in the Church all those who intended to communicate, reading the prayers, and giving an address upon the sacredness of the rite they were about to partake. There was the excellent Rev. G. Jones of Llanddowrron, whom I shall especially notice in Part VII. Laugharne has had a succession of excellent and zealous Vicars, and there have been others in adjoining places, which will be mentioned in Part VII. It is pleasant to hear of the harmony there was between Church and Dissent in past times, and to see that it still exists in a degree in some localities, especially in the secluded and mountainous districts ; but not so usual in the towns ; and the Dissenters formerly would often contribute to the needs of the Church as well as to the Chapel. In Llandissilio parish (Co. Caermarthen), near Narberth, it is so, and in Caermar-then town it was formerly.^ A strong Protestant feeling distinguishes the Welsh, as strong as when the persecuted British Church found shelter among their mountains. Their religious feelings are as warm as when Giraldus extolled the fervour of their piety. Since the Bible and Prayer Book Tiave been translated into Welsh by order of Queen Eliza- beth, no place,” says an old writer, has adhered more strictly than Wales to the Rubrics and Constitution of the Church of England, both as to substance and form of worship.’' 1 See for more upon this in Part VH. 40 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, SECTION IV. THE WELSH COSTUME. “ Let other maids their heads enfold In tresses dark or coils of gold ; Cambrian Maids, believe me that Your crowning beauty is your hat.” Mrs. J. Hughes ^ of Denbigh. The Welsh costume is fast going out, and the ugly fashions of the day taking its place ; it is now only worn by elderly people, and not always by them ; when they depart there will be an end of it. It is, therefore, well I should give the following description of it, that it may be retained in mind. About Laugharne, and throughout Caermarthenshire, the costume is this : A bodice, with sleeves and a skirt, which comes below the knee and only to the sides, looped up behind in the middle, hang- ing down like two ends ; a petticoat underneath falls to the ankles ; a large apron conceals it in front — all composed of substantial woollen stuff, the material worn throughout Wales. Sometimes the petticoat is of merino. This woollen material is called Minco, and composed of yarn and worsted ; the worsted is of a coarse kind ; the yarn is the wool. The colour of the material varied in the different counties. In Caermarthenshire it is black or brown, dark blue, and a kind of morun, or what they call here a wine colour. The patterns are stripes ; the plaid pattern you see now is modern. The stripes are red or white. Sometimes the bodice and skirt is of a printed cotton, which they call Stamp.” They would say of one they admired, That is a pretty stamp.” The petticoat would be woollen or merino. A small pad like a roll is put underneath the skirt at the waist : the sleeves short, and the bodice cut low, and confined in front by two strong, large-headed pins, like skewers. Hooks and eyes were not known formerly ; more commonly pin- drain, i,e, thorn pins; and the shawl was fastened with sharp thorns from the thorn-tree. They were carefully sharpened with some instrument and dried by the fire, and lasted long. Drain in ^ This lady gained the prize for this Epigram on the Welsh hat at the Eisteddfod held at Wrexham, Wales, in 1876. PENDINE, AND TPIEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 4I Welsh is thorns ; dreinen is the singular. A man used to come from the higher parts of this county with these thorn-pins to sell. The body being low, a coloured handkerchief is tucked into it, covering the neck ; on holidays a white muslin one, fastened with a gold pin or brooch ; perhaps a silk handkerchief ; then a ‘‘ turn- over,’^ which is a small shawl coming down in a point behind and in front, made of woollen or cashmere. For mourning it is a sub- stantial silk handkerchief of blue-black. As the sleeves are short they wear sometimes woollen mittens tucked under the sleeves. There was worn, too, long gloves, which must have been like the old long ball-gloves ; and also a leather glove, which was tied at the elbow with a ribbon run through a hem, and came over the back of the hand like a mitten. The long gloves were the more ancient fashion, and the material might be woollen, merino, printed cotton, or muslin, tied round the arm above the elbow with a ribbon. They also wore, as they do now, instead of gloves, &c., a sleeve a little full, tucked into the sleeve or tied above the elbow, and confined at the wrist, made of woollen, or merino, muslin, or wash-leather, the colour of dark-blue, but usually scarlet. Stays were not worn. Stockings were of wool of the sheep, or best lamb’s-wool, black or scarlet ; white ones only worn in the towns, and that quite lately by those who imitated ladies. Shoes had narrow straps in front, or ears, as they called them, such as were worn formerly. There was a smarter shoe worn with a larger, deeper strap, ornamented with buttons on each side. In winter the poorer class, and often the better class too, wore wooden shoes ; and in many instances they do so still. The ordinary cap is white muslin with full frilling ; but there was a very pretty cap, called the bridal cap. It was composed of a broad ribbon-net, of some length, on which an edging was sewn, or it was made of some handsome real lace, often worth one guinea a yard. It was put along the upper part of the forehead, passing to the back of the head, where it was crossed and brought forward to the front, and confined under the chin with a pin. Some- times a bright silk or satin ribbon was attached to the upper part of it, crossed behind and brought to the front, and confined at the top of the head in the centre. This cap was worn by those of the better labouring class, and by the families of respectable farmers ; but it was especially worn by the bride on her marriage-day. The maids in farm-houses wore sometimes a similar cap, except that it was not so expensive, and was made of muslin. The costume of the families of respectable farmers in Caermarthenshire was very pretty when they were dressed in their best on Sundays, and for 42 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, visiting. It consisted of a good black silk petticoat quilted. The gown was of a substantial expensive material, generally with a gold shot, the body neither high nor low, coming well over the shoulders, sloping low to the front ; a handkerchief, red perhaps, covering the neck, and tucked into the body. The skirt only came to the sides. Over the open space in front was a clean muslin apron, gathered up small at the waist. The skirt reached just above the ankles. Shoes with handsome steel buckles ; very often they were silver. The pretty bridal cap completed the costume. Out of doors there was the usual shawl, and, if the weather required it, a cloak of dark blue cloth, and the Welsh hat. But at this time, i.e. seventy years ago, it had a broader brim and lower crown, and was trimmed with a broad black ribbon going round the bottom of the crown, with a bow and long ends at the side. At fetes they wore a mob- cap, and the hood of the cloak put over it. The present high- crowned hat is a late intrusion on the ancient one, which always had a low crown and broad brim. Anciently each parish wore a distinctive petticoat ; the people of each parish were known by their petticoat ; the number of stripes indicated the parish. I do not know if this were so all over Wales ; but it was so in some counties. The costume I have above described was usual in Pembrokeshire ; this county followed very much the same fashion as Caermarthenshire. I should have said that the low-crowned hat was brought in, as far as I can ascertain,- in the reign of Eliza- beth. The cost of it now is <^i js. There is always a white muslin cap with full frilling worn with it. More anciently the elderly people wore a handkerchief over their heads, and not a cap. A Welsh woman, when dressed for church, or visiting, or going for a holiday, always carried her shawl folded lengthways and thrown over her arm, and many do so now ; it is called a whittle. When covered with a pattern, like carpet pattern, they are called ‘‘ carpet shawls.” They are of wool ; sometimes have a mixture of cotton and silk. In summer Cashmere shawls are worn. For winter there was a large cloak reaching to the feet, with a large hood, with which in rain they covered the hat, as many wear still. It is. made of the best cloth, such as will last for ever, of a dark colour, some- times scarlet ; the hood often lined with silk. In some places there was a short cloak worn by the better classes, trimmed with ermine ; the less rich ones had it trimmed with rabbit-skin. A pair of substantial wash-leather pockets, tacked on to one string, were worn by innkeepers, farmers, and persons in trade, sold at glovers’ and at fairs. For mourning, a piece of crape of a blue- PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 43 black round the hat, just as on gentlemen’s hats ; for a young person, a piece of white love ribbon {i.e. gauze) would be put over the crape where it was joined ; for an elderly person, it was black lace. Now they wear black cloth instead of crape round the hat. Widows’ caps were white, with two or three frills of muslin at the sides, plain at the top ; through the hem was passed a quill or piece of wood, and the muslin gathered closely up on it so as to come out crimped. I have heard stories of the maids of the farm-houses making use of tubs of water as looking-glasses. The materials of dress were, and are still, expensive; but then they are good and strong, and almost last for ever. The woollen stuff for the gown, petticoat, apron, was, and is now, from 3^*. to 55*. the yard ; all wool, no mixture of cotton ; not of a wide width. I have seen cloaks that have had fifty years’ wear looking as good as new, and whose material was verily like a board. The cloak cost <^5. Welsh flannel, for shirting, very durable, 2s. 6d. and y. the yard. How well this looks — dresses remaining heir-looms in the family from generation to generation — speaking more power- fully for their respectability and good position than do the smart but poor materials, the trumpery finery, the tawdry ornaments they now assume, which perish in a season, and the foolish ugly fashions of this vain world ! Dress seems with them now the great business of life, as it unhappily does with most classes. In Pembrokeshire they wear a short jacket, cut low on the neck, and called ‘‘cwta,” which means short; bobtailed; especially ap- plied to a dress. In common language it is called ‘‘a cutty”; the skirt of it — if so short a piece as is attached, and hangs down from the waist of the jacket, deserves the name of skirt — is cut off short at the sides, just under the arm, and falls lower down behind. It is something like that frill which fell behind from the waist of a lady’s riding-habit which was once fashionable. In this jacket it is in folds ; comes almost to a point. A handkerchief of some gay colour, as red, covers the neck, tucked into the top of the jacket ; white muslin for holidays. A bright ribbbon is put in front where the jacket closes, and also round the sleeve, which is short, just above the elbow. It is composed of woollen of some dark colour or else black ; sometimes it has narrow red stripes ; the petticoat of some material with red stripes. The whole dress has the name of ‘‘ Pais gwn bach ” in Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire. J^ais is jacket ; gwn is gown ; hach^ little. They wear mittens of wash-leather such as I have already described, and a white cap with full frills, and the Welsh black stockings. Malkin, who travelled in Wales in 1807, 44 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, says in his ^ History of South Wales ^ The women in Pem- brokeshire wear a short jacket and petticoat of brown woollen, like a riding-habit, a close cap and long lappets, with a man’s beaver hat. The Whittle,” he says, ‘‘only appears in this county occasionally, and is a distinction on which the wearer never fails to value herself highly. It is a short red mantle, with a very deep fringe, hanging over the shoulders, and gives a most awfully mili- tary appearance, as General Tate can testify.” He is alluding here to the landing of the French ^ at Fishguard, at the time of the first French Revolution of 1789*90, and the Welsh marshalled the women with their red mantles to make the French think they were soldiers. The skirt worn in Cardiganshire is pretty ; it is open in front and turned behind, and confined there ; it is not unlike the present fashion of skirts. ^ See the account of French landing at Fishguard in Part XXII. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 45 PART 11. The encroaching of the Sea and its receding — Laiigharne Marshy its houses — Buried Land — Submerged Forests — Forest of Coedr at h and Narberth — Fnc7'oaching of the Sea at Tenby. Association is everything; clothe the shore with buried cities, spread an air of romance over every hill-top, and it is wonderful how different rugged nature will look : on the other hand, let all the associations be those of commerce, and the most beautiful scenery will have a very matter-of-fact appearance.” — Headley’s Travels in Italy. It is difficult to decide to what extent the sea has receded and encroached at Laugharne ; the accounts are conflicting, but I give them. It is certain the sea broke in at the Salt House on the marsh facing Ferryside, and that the land there extended four hundred yards out before the sea came in ; did it, before this encroachment, come as far into Laugharne as it does now? It would seem not. I was told by an old inhabitant, whose family had been here for generations, that the marsh was reclaimed from the sea about four hundred years ago by a Dutchman, as I shall mention presently. Tradition says the sea came up to Duke’s Bottom, at the hills in Pendine, and to Coigan, and the rocks along to Laugharne ; there are facts that prove it. I refer the reader to Parts VL, XVII., XIX., for them. There was once dry land on Cefn Sidan between Ferryside and the marsh at some period. Thomas Prout, an old inhabitant of Wiseman’s Bridge, near Sandersfoot, told me there was a tradition that the old town of Laugharne stood on Cefn Sidan ; this is very likely to have been confused with the old town of Ferryside, which stood between the Ferry Point and Laugharne Burrows. The old inhabitant I have just mentioned, who is eighty years old, gave me this account, which he had from his father and grandfather, who both held farms on the marsh. That Dutchman, he said, was the first to shut out the sea and put up banks. He first banked 46 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, in that part by the Sand Hills. He reclaimed a good deal of it. The sea had previously been receding. He made that road from King- addle straight down to the Sand Hills, and pitched it. He lived in Laugharne, and spent much money in the place. A tradition exists of a Dutchman, named Von Donop, living here. He intro- duced the Dutch one-handed plough, which ceased to be used about thirty years ago. His mantle, which was very handsome, was preserved in Laugharne Church, as well as Gui de Brian’s. Much fine pasture land is still covered by the sea. He gave me this account of the sea breaking in by the ancient Salt House ; it stood near the Cockle Bank, about thirty yards from it by the sands at the Upper Marsh.i About 130 years ago the sea broke in, and rose to a great height, he said ; and his grandfather, Mr. John Morris, a farmer, residing at Brook Farm, on the estate of the Upper Marsh, rescued the inmates of the Salt House. He swam to them on his horse. They escaped from the top windows and were all saved. The walls of this house are to be seen when the tide is out ; and this is the ancient one; that which stood till 1873 by the bridge over the hill was more modern. I have it, upon what would be considered good authority, that, about ninety years ago, it was dry land from the Castle to Bach Point ; that it was all grass and shady with trees, the stumps of which remain. Patches of grass are visible now at low tide. This is confirmed by others ; and an old inhabitant, eighty years old, deceased these four years, told me he remembered a house being built with one of the trees. Another, who is now seventy, says, that when he was a boy the sea never came up to the Strand House on the strand, nor to Island House, as it does at present, and that there was not so much mud as now, and the land here was firmer. I have, in Part L, mentioned the quay wall and the ballast posts that were here once. A person of middle age, and another much older, says, that at spring-tides the sea always came into the town past Island House up to the old Porch House in Wogan Street. One of the fishermen of Laugharne tells me the sea is now rather receding at Laugharne and encroaching at Pendine ; it is certainly receding at the bottom of Laugharne Marsh where the Wit-e-yerd, or Whityed flows, for the residents of Honeycors say, that forty years ago it came at high tides over the marsh opposite Brook, two fields from the road ; a bank was put up to keep It out. James Wilkins, an old man, who was gardener to the Laugharne family of the Castle, tells me that in the gardens of all ^ The rocks underneath the New Walk up to the gate opening on to it is called the Barks or Barques. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 47 the houses at Gosport which look upon the strand, and also in the gardens of the houses on the opposite side of Gosport, passing down to that called The Horse Shoe,’' and to Stonyway, there is sand if you dig four feet down ; that it is like that at the sea, only a little darker, which shows that the sea washed over them once. Tnere is the same kind of black slime found in the bed of the river Coran all the way up to Horsepool, which is seen where the sea washes on the strand. Everywhere along this coast and that of Pembrokeshire up to the North great changes have occurred. The sea used to wash the marshes and burrows of Penally, near Tenby, and almost approached Gumfreston. A gentleman, who is an authority, told me the coast about these parts had altered very much by the encroaching and receding of the sea. The cave called Merlin’s Cave, near the end of the south cliffs of Tenby, towards Penally, has a beach on the top, which shows the sea once waslied above the cliffs. I saw this beach, and observed there was a quantity of stones at the mouth of the cave. He says the sea came up to that part of the road which takes a turn towards Gumfreston. A domestic in the household of this gentleman told me, he remembered the sea flowing over the salt marshes by Penally, and over the road to Penally village ; and that about midway on this road, and near a kiln, once stood a post, with all the different high water marks. The above authority said a ship was found on the salt marsh of Penally. Mrs. F. G Wynne, in her book on Tenby, says the sea, about eighty years ago, reached Hoyles Mouth, a cave not far from Gumfreston, to the south of it. During the last 100 years vessels were laid up high and dry for the winter, beneath the hill near the Station, and at high water. Seventy years ago, boats cruised where the Ritec, a stream by Hoyle’s Mouth, flows, and for hours carriages could not pass till the sea ebbed ; I rather think this was so thirty years ago. There is a tradition that before Tenby pier was built the primitive harbour of Tenby was up the estuary. I think this was near Hoyle’s Mouth at the Ritec. About a mile and a half from St. Catherine’s Rock, at Tenby, is the rock called the Woolhouse, or Woolacks, very dangerous for ships ; the water very deep here. A beacon stands on it, with a red ball on the top, to warn ships ; the ball will hold twelve men. Not very long ago a building stood on it, called Woolson Buildings. An intelligent working man of Wise- man’s Bridge, Sandersfoot, informed me that old Tenby was where this Woolhouse is ; that it came out in front of Wiseman’s Bridge, about one mile from Monk’s Point, which juts out from St. Bride’s 48 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Hill, Sandersfoot. He said he had read in a very ancient work, ^ The History of Wales and England,’ which I could not have access to, that old Tenby was submerged by the sea at the same time that it broke in at Worm’s Head and eventually submerged the forest, the stumps of whose trees are seen all along the sands from the Ragwen Point to Wiseman’s Bridge.^ The Lower Salt Marsh, which is part of Laugharne Marsh, extends from the Genst Point, which stretches out from the sands into the sea, going all along the side parallel to the Ferryside up to the bank by the Pill, and in the other direction passes to that small house by the tramway which is this side of the Old Malt House (f. e, Laugharne side) where it ends. From the pine end of this house a bank goes across the marsh to the sand-hills by the sea ; though not quite in a straight line, it takes several bends ; it bounds the salt marsh on the sea side, and is the Upper Salt Marsh. The Lower Salt Marsh is very rich pasture land, as rich as any in the country ; the upper is not rich. It did belong to the Corporation, but they gave it to Pennoyre Watkins, upon condition that he put up a bank and cleaned out the Pill, which also belonged to them. It was called the salt marsh because it was flooded by the sea. The Pill is Mr. Broadwood’s, and is on Laugharne Marsh. Cat’s Hole is a sort of yard in which cattle are confined when needful ; it is opposite Ferryside, on a line with the ruins of the Salt House, just where the two banks meet, one of which shuts out the marsh from the sea, and is the new bank by Ferryside. The other is the old bank, and divides the upper marsh from the lower. The last extends from Cat’s Hole to the bank by the Pill ; the first passes from Cat’s Hole to the sand-hills by the sea, on a level with the sands of Pendine. The other way they extend from the bank opposite the ferry to the causeway at Kingaddle. George Watkins, the eldest son of Pennoyre Watkins, the possessor of the Broadway Estate, was the first to put up a bank parallel with Ferryside and up to the point at the end of the sands. This was about fifty-nine years ago. It shut in the upper and lower marsh, which had till then been entirely open to the sea. The old bank, built by Sir Sackville Crowe, encloses the old salt marsh over which the sea once washed up to this bank which begins at the Witchet, or Whityeard, just opposite Brook Farm, and then passes in a line towards Westmead \ this bank has been very much lowered. A new bank was built j3y Mr. Hipingstall, called the Witchet Bank, on 1 See Part VI., in the latter pages of it, for an account of the alterations there have been on this coast. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 49 Great Hills Boro East. The Witchett is a small stream which has its rise at a farm called ‘‘ Parkcynog/’ comes down Brook Valley, turns the Brook Mill, and on to the marsh by Mr. Hipingstall’s bank, and along the sands, emptying itself into the sea at the end of the sands at Laugharne ; from Little Burrows Farm, it forms the boundary of the two estates of Broadway and Westmead. The law decided it belonged to M. Jones, Esq., as the possessor of West- mead Estate. There were flood-gates at the Witchett by the salt marsh. This is now but a small stream ; was once spread out over the sands. The sand-hills where the stream runs along were not so high sixty years ago as they are now ; but to the right and left of it they existed long before. I had this account of the banks, &c., from an offlcial gentleman connected with the Westmead Estate. In official documents it is spelt Witchett, sometimes “ Wide, or Widgate ; ” now its ordinary spelling is Whityeard, or Whityed. It appears that any word having “ gate added to another word, like Widgate, is of Norwegian origin, or else comes from the Northmen who settled on our coasts, and indicates that thjre was some settlement, houses, &c. Dr. Johnson says “Wich’^ means a spot where once was a village or a castle, or the indentation of a bay into which streams flowed. That part by the Salt House on Laugharne marsh, standing just where a kind of bridge has been built over the Pill, is called “ Railsgate.” There were salt pans on the marsh of Laugharne. They used to let in the sea at high tides to fill the pans. The salt was coarse, but excellent for salting meat. They were on this side of the Pill. This was about fifty years ago. The names of the farms on the marsh are as follow : — West Marsh, on a line with Little Llanmiloe ; the next towards Laugharne is ‘‘ Great Hill Burrows ; ” then, “ Out- wards Lodge ; then, Gin Shop ; next is Green Arches ; next, ^‘The Brill. These two last, very old houses, and so is ‘^Out- wards Lodge “New House’’ not so old. These are parallel with the sea ; the rest more inland, as the Hurst House, called also Ost or Oast House ; the Malt House, one of the oldest here, had its name from the malt which was made in it for the family of Broadway Mansion. Previously oil from the rape-seed was extracted here ; the stones remain with which they crushed the seed. I saw them a few years ago. An old inhabitant, whose ancestors occupied farms on the marsh, told me this house was built, and the extracting of the oil was began, by a Dutchman about four hundred years ago. There are the farms of “Causeway,” “ lioneycors.” Some ruins remain of the ancient farm of “ Cross E 50 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Bank.” Beacon’s Hole is a hundred yards from the farm of ‘‘ Brill.” The point coming out from the sands opposite Ferryside is called the ‘‘ Genst.” No one knows the derivation of this word. BURIED LAND. Though it is beyond the limits to which this book is confined, I cannot help recording a sad catastrophe which happened about A.D. 460 to 520, on the coast of Cardiganshire, thinking that the submerged forest, which begins at the Ragwen Point by Morfaby- chan, might have been connected with that part ; I refer the reader to Part XIX., where the forest is described. This catastrophe forms the subject of a poem written some years ago; it is titled ^ The Land beneath the Sea.’ ^ There was a beautiful champaigti country, called Cantrev-y-Gwaelod ; in English, ‘‘The Lowland Hundred;” having sixteen fortified towns and cities, surpassing all in Wales (except Caerlleon^ on Uske), and seated in Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire, in the part washed by Cardigan Bay. This country was below the level of the sea, and to protect it from inundations high embankments were raised all around it, flood-gates were put at the mouths of the rivers — shut at high-water, opened at ebb-tide, to let the water run out. The care of these flood-gates was an important office always held by persons of high rank. At the period of this disaster Seithenyn filled this post. On one of the feast days he was intoxicated and forgot to shut the gates before night. The tide rushed in, aided by a westerly wind, and swept over the land. The people fled, some to Cardigan, others to Merioneth and Carnarvon, The rest were drowned. By the morning all was desolation, silent as the grave. The besetting sin of the people of this land was the love of intoxicating drinks. There were two others as notorious for this vice as Seithenyn ; they were Ceraint Feddw, king of Esgyllawg, who, overcome with drink, burnt all the corn in the country, it is said, and caused a famine ; the other was Gwrtheurn Gwrthenan (Vortigern), who gave the Isle of Thanet to Horsa. The most ancient account of it is in the ‘ Welsh Triads.’ They notice “the three notorious drunkards of the Isle of Britain.” Seithenyn they speak of as “ son of Seithyn Saidi, King of Demeetia, who, being intoxicated, neglected to attend to the sluices, so the sea overflowed the Lowland Hundred.” Tradition has woven a love story out of it, which in the poem just mentioned is enlarged ^ Composed by Mr. Jeffrey Llewelyn, nearly fifty years ago. 2 See the ‘ Welsh Historical Triads.' There are ‘ Irish Triads ’ also. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 5 1 upon. It is said Seithenyn was a suitor for the beautiful daughter of Gwyddno Garanhir, who ruled Cantrev-y-Gwaelod ; he was rejected, and in revenge effected the ruin of that country by neglecting the sluices. Gwyddno was the last of its princes, and was a poet ; his poems are in the ‘ Llyvr-du'O Gaervyrddin, or Black Book of Caermarthen,’ written in the ninth century. The Welsh Herald, Theo. Jones, Esq., of Brecon, had a paper with the pedigree of Gwyddno, referring to this flood as happening about 520 A.D.^ The author of ‘The Land beneath the Sea/ says he had a letter from Rev. Tho. Thomas, the author of ‘Memoirs of Owen Glendower,’ in which were these observations : “ I have enclosed every document in my possession respecting Cantref-y- Gwaelod, which coincides in proving the event, though they differ in the date and extent of the inundation, an incongruity to be overlooked from bards, antiquarians, and historians, who have written at different times.^' Meyrick,in his ‘ History of Cardiganshire,’ says : “Among the thirteen varieties of kingly regalia in the Island of Britain, the third is mentioned as belonging to Gwyddno Garanhir.” According to the ‘ Triads ’ the haven of Gwyddno, in North Wales, was one of the three principal, or privileged, harbours in Britain. Theo. Jones, the Welsh Herald, says : “ History and tradition assert that Cantref-y-Gwaelod reached to the Irish coast ; that it was only a small river divided them till it was inundated.” He calls Gwyddno — “ Goronhir,” which means “ long crown ; ” Garanhir means “ long shanks.” The submerged forest by Morfabychan, near Pendine, might have joined this buried land ; for Carlisle says : “ Cantref-y> Gwaelod is thought to have occupied that portion of St. George’s Channel which lies between the mainland and a line drawn from Bardsey Island to Ramsey in Co. Pembroke ; and the proprietor is called, in ancient authors. Lord of Cantref-y-Gwaelod in Dyfed, which is the old name for Pembrokeshire.” This brings it near to this submerged forest. Besides, it appears that a great part of the coast was anciently a forest, and ail writers describe the forests about as containing trees of very great size, such as are never seen by the coast, which shows that lands of considerable extent must have been inundated before the sea arrived at its present bounds, Beaumaris Bay was flooded in the sixth century. At low water it is left dry, and called the Lavan Sands ; here oak trees have been ^ In a work, ‘ The Misfortunes of Elphin’ by Peacock, the author of ‘ Head- long Hall,’ published 1829, is an interesting account of this disaster, with pieces of Gwyddno’s poetry, some of Taliesin’s, and his history, with extracts from other celebrated Welsh poets, E 2 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 52 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, discovered far from the banks of the sea ^ Among the people of the north coast the tradition is, that on the site of the Lavan Sands, about the sixth century, a beautiful, inhabited country was inundated and many drowned; hence the name, “Wylofain.” The Welsh name of the Lavan Sands is ‘‘Traeth Wylofain,” ‘‘weeping sands.” There is a piece of ground two leagues north-west of Aberystwyth, dry at some low tides, called Caer Wyddno or Patches ; this was the name of the principal city of the buried land. Carlisle’s account of its extending to Bardsey Isle, and having the name of Dyfed, is strengthened by the fact that this isle,^ three miles from the Carnarvon coast, is still considered a part of Pembrokeshire, and pays taxes, &c., as such. There is a saying common at this day among the peasants of Merionethshire and Caidiganshire when any great tribulation occurs to any one — it is this : “ Ochenaid Gwyddno Garanhir Pandroseidir,” meaning, “The sigh of Gwyddno Garanhir, when the wave turned over his land.” Some records call Gwyddno King of Pembrokeshire ; others, King of Cardigan ; his rule was probably over both counties, as well as over the lost land. Rees, in his work, ‘Welsh Saints,’ p. 234, thinks that the extent of land inundated has been exaggerated, but it appears, from all the researches I have made, it was certainly extensive, in the first place. The ‘Welsh Historical Triads’ describe it as extensive, and the character of these records render them trustworthy. These records, with the poems and other works of the Welsh, contain no fiction : “ the truth against the world ” was the maxim of the Druids and Bards. “While the poems of Europe of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries abound in giants, fairies, and other legendary fictions, those of Wales were purely historical, religious, and moral.” The Druids and Bards conveyed the facts of history and principles of science in a species of record, called ‘ Triads,’ peculiar to the Welsh ; and here are more facts as to the existence of the buried land and its extensiveness. Meyrick, in his ‘ History of Cardiganshire,’ pages 50 — 72, describes four causeways : one, Saru Cynfelyn, or St. Cynfelyn’s Causeway, to whom a church in Cardiganshire is dedicated, extends seven miles into the sea from a place called Gwallog, or Gwallawg, in Cardigan- shire, which seems to imply the inundation of this country, as it signifies “ defective ; ” at the end of it is Caer Wyddno, very rocky ground, and supposed to have been the royal residence. The ^ Extracted from the introduction to the poem, “The Land beneath the Sea.” 2 See Bingley’s ‘ North Wales,’ vol. i., p. 335. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 53 first he gives is Saru y Bwch, or Goat’s Causeway, going about a mile and a half into the sea by Aberdysyni, in Merionethshire. Saru Ddeur, or St. David’s Causeway, is in a line with the church of Llan Ddewi Aberarth, or St. Davids, at the mouth of the river Arth ; Saru Cadwgan, or Cadwgan’s Road, about half a mile or more from Saru Ddewi, and passing a mile and a quarter into the sea or rather more. He says, that three miles from Aberaeron, in Co. Cardigan, and half a mile from the shore, is a piece of foul ground called Eglwys-y-rhiw, or the church on the hill-side. Mr. Lewis Morris saw a stone found in the sands on the coast of Co. Merioneth, which was part of the buried land. It had an inscription in Roman letters, and that tradition says : “ There was a town on Cribach Road, before Cantrev-y-Gwaelod was inundated.” In the churchyard of Abergeley, a village on the coast of Carnarvonshire, an inscription on one of the graves says, that the person there interred lived three miles northward of this burying-place : the sea now washes the walls of the churchyard. It is said that those who fled, when the sea broke in on the buried land, came to Ardudwg in Carnarvonshire, and ascended Snowdon. Mr. R. Vaughan of Hengwrt, says, in his ‘ History of Merionethshire,’ in the ‘ Cambrian Registerfor 1795-6, p. 188 : “A whole cantred, or hundred, called Cantre’vGwaelod, extending west and south-west about twelve miles in length, and no small part of this country, hath been overwhelmed by the sea, and that a great stone wall, forming a defence against the sea, is visible from the mainland, and extends from Harddlech towards St. Davids Land a great way, and is called Saru Badrig, i. e, Patrick’s Street ; or ‘ Bad-rwyg,’ /. e, ‘ Boat or Ship-breaking Causeway ’ ” (p. 188). In an ancient book, I am told, it is recorded that the coast of Lau^'harne suffered an overflowing of the sea at the same time that this buried land was inundated. David ap Gwilym, ^ styled the Welsh Petrarch, alludes to this buried land thus : “ Though sunk beneath thy billows,, lie Proud fanes that once assailed the sky.'^'—Morvyih^s Pilgiimage, And the old poet Drayton speaks of ^‘ the groves that once bravely graced the fair Pembrokian ground,” over which the sea now washes. The saying of William Rufus, the king, when he saw Ireland from St. Davids Head, that he could easily make a bridge of ships, whereby he might walk from England into that kingdom, shows how much the sea has encroached. 1 Who died A.D. 1400. 54 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, FORESTS OF NARBERTH AND COEDRATH, OR THE LOWLAND FOREST. Anciently it was all forest from Laugharne, Ferryside, to Llanelly, along the lower lands in Glamorganshire to Worm’s Head, thence to Caldy Island by Tenby, Sandersfoot, Amroth, Pendine, where now is the sea; it extended over hills and valleys, between Tenby and Amroth, and to Pendine by Morfabychan. Along the coast of Laugharne the forest bent out, and passed outside the marsh and sands ; at Morfabychan and Amroth it bent in, and you see the stumps of trees on the sands in these two places ; at Wiseman’s Bridge and Sandersfoot it bent out. In all these places, except the present Tenby, the trees are underneath the sea, and are visible at spring-tides when the sea at low water is far out. Thomas Prout, an intelligent labouring man, told me, that when he was fishing he had come upon patches of grass far out in the sea, and the walls of a house protruding out of the sands, and trees lying full length ; knocked down, I suppose, by the rush of water ; that his grandfather had found mill-stones there. This forest extends thirty miles in the direction of Worm’s Head ; was overflowed by the sea at some remote period. It is called Coedrath,^ belonged to the Earls of Pembroke, and was kept as a preserve for timber for Pembroke Castle. There is a tradition in Sandersfoot that on one occasion the people of Laugharne — or rather, I should think, the garrison of its castle — marched through this forest to fight the people of Tenby. They took them by surprise. A hard battle it was, for they killed, so the story goes, every man, woman, and child in the place. From Sandersfoot to Llanelly, it is called ‘‘The Flats,” which extend about a mile out in the bay from the shore of Wiseman’s Bridge and Amroth ; passes outside the Cefn Sidan at Laugharne, and beyond Caermarthen Bar — so the shore is safe ; Laugharne and Ferryside, not included in the Flats, is unsafe. Leland says, in his time it was all forest between Tenby and Sandersfoot ; that the last was covered with the forest, and had the finest timber he saw in that part of the country ; that the trees on the right of the road near Sandersfoot are the descendants of those of the forest, being a growth sprung up from the old stools “ of the ancient wood,” and these still remain. At St. Issels, in Sandersfoot, there is much wood about, and also around the neigh- bourhood of Bonville Court, half a mile from St. Issels Church. ^ Called also “ The Lowland Forest.” PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 55 Many authors think that Narberth Forest was a continuation of the lowland forest (/ e. Coedrath) overwhelmed by the sea. Narberth forest extended into Caermarthenshire. In one of its points Coedrath forest reached thit line of hill which runs parallel with the path into which you enter by the gate at the side of the Great House at Pendine. The old resident inhabitants of the place tell me there was a deer-park on this hill ; that the two fields on the top of it — one belonging to Mr. Lloyd of Bronweeth, the other to Colonel Stepney — are called Penbwch, which means head of the deer, or deer head {pen, head; bwch, a deer), and were part of the park which in ancient days composed this portion of Coedrath forest. Soiije proof of the forest being about Sandersfoot is in the name “Coedrath” given to a cottage not far from St. Issels Church. The tradition there is that it was named from the forest. At Cil^etty, about a mile from St. Issels, a pound for confining animals trespassing on the property of Cilgetty is called Coedrath. Mr. G. Owen, who lived in the latter end of the sixteenth century, in his MS. History sent to the ^ Cambrian Register,’ notices a storm that in his time disclosed the stumps of trees in the sands at Newgal, in Pembrokeshire. He says, writing this in 1590: “Twelve or thirteen years since the sea-sands at Newgal were, by some extraordinary violence of the waves, so washed that the stocks of trees appeared.” Malkin, in his ‘ Scenery and Antiquities of South Wales,’ vol. ii., p. 182, says, “that the opposite side of Newgall Bridge, in the hundred of Ross, was called a wood, though there had not been a tree growing there in the memory of 56 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PART III. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF LAUGHARNE. Diocese of St, David's — Its Bishops — Christian Church in Wales before St, Augustine ariived — Meaning of Word Llan'' — Pirates — King of Lundy Isle - The Cognizance of Cambria — Emblem of the Welsh — Heraldii Devices of the Several Counties of Wales, Laugharne was a Roman station. It was a fortified town supposed to have been founded by the Princes of Dynevoi, prior to the Norman Conquest. It is in the country called Demetia, the Dyfed of British writers. It is thought the Romans derived the word from Dyfed, which is said to be an abbreviation of Deheufod, meaning, Theophilus Jones ^ says, “the land on the right.’’ It is now called Deheubarth, “which is,” says Dr. Nicholas, “a corruption of Deheufod.” ^ The exact bouncaries of Demetia are not known ; Ptolemy placed Caermarthen within it ; Camden the counties of Caermarthen and Cardigan ; Theo. Jones adds Co. Brecon; afterwards Co. Pembroke was included (see Rees’s ‘Wales,’ v. i8). At a later time, in a.d. 870, Rodenque or Roderick the Great, King of Wales, divided it into three kingdoms: — Demetia, S. Wales; Provisia, or Powisland ; Venetia, or N. Wales. Ancient records divide Wales into N. Wales, S. Wales, W. Wales, containing 14 counties, including Herefordshire and Monmouthshire. Laugharne is in the hundred of Derllys,*"^ twelve miles from Caermarthen ; which is the Mari- dunum of Ptolemy, and the Muridinum of Antoninus, anciently considered the capital of Wales, An old writer says: “Caermarthen is so well built and popu'ous, so industrious a town, the air and soil the best and most Iruitful, whose inhabitants are reckoned the politest and wealthiest in Wales, that some call it ‘ the London of ^ The Deputy- Registrar of the Archdeanery of Brecon. ^ See ‘ British Traveller,’ pub. 1784 ; under the inspection of G. A. Walpole, Esq. 2 Derllys, derived from Derwen, an oak tree, and Llys, a court of justice. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 5/ Wales.’ The air of Caermarthen ^ milder and more wholesome than most of the neighbouring counties.” Caermarthen town, like that of Haverfordwest town, is considered a county ; and a member of Parliament returned for the town is looked on as returned for a county. Malkin says, writing in 1807, that it was then a filthy town to an unpardonable excess” (p. 485, 2nd voL). In 1801 he says ‘‘the population was 557.” In a Welsh account of the Principality, printed 1720, Swansea is said to be the best- built and most cleanly town in Wales. The word Caermarthen comes from Caermurddin, i. e. the town enclosed in a wall. Giraldiis Cambrensis describes it as enclosed by a wall ; and the Romans named it Miiridinum for the same reason. Giraldus describes Caermarthen as a place of great strength. The county gaol built on the foundation of the old castle ; but part of it is the old castle. Towards it were the two great sections of the famous Roman Road, the Strata Julia, along which the legions of Rome marched. Laugharne has had several names. Its ancient British one was Abercoran. Abei' means the mouth or confluence of a river; either a river running into another, or into the sea. The river Coran passes through the town and falls into the sea on the Strand — hence the name. It was afterwards called Tal-larhar, i. €, the shining or conspicuous headland. This is the name Giraldus Cambrensis gives it in his ‘Itinerary of Wales’ in 1207. Now you see from eve^y part of the country the headland of Laugharne very conspicuous. In the taxation of Nicholas IV. in 1291, Laugharne is called Tallachrn. Lacharn is an abbreviation of it. It is in the commot of Tallacharn and Cantrev-maur. Mr. Kemp, who v;rote upon Laugharne in the ‘ Gent. Magazine,’ is thought wrong by Welsh scholars in making Talycharn a contrac- tion of Tal-y-lwch-eirian, which is “head of the beautiful lake.” The mixture of Welsh and Flemish is apparent in the dark and fair complexions you see here. The last settled in the counties of Glamorgan, Caermarthen. and Pembroke. The ‘Welsh Chronicle,’ written by Geoflrey of Monmouth and Caradoc of Llancarvan, relates that in “the yeare 1108 the rage of the sea did overlow and drown a great part of the lowe countries of Flanders in such sort that the inhabitants were driven to seek themselves other dwelling-places : who came to King Henrie ist and desired him to give them some void place to remain in.” He placed them in the land of Ros, in Dyvet or West Wales ; where now are Tenby, Pembroke, and Haverfordwest. There their descendants are at ^ “ Caer ” is prefixed to places fortified by the Romans. 58 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, this day. Haverfordwest is still in the hundred of Ros or Rhos, a Welsh word, signifying a marsh or turbary ground, where turf is dug. Hovedon, who was chaplain to Henry II., relates that a number of Flemings came over with William the Conqueror, and more besides, forced here by an inundation of their country. They settled in the north of England, and afterwards removed to Pembrokeshire. William of Malmesbury, who lived at the time, says: ‘^The Welsh, perpetually rebelling, were subjugated by King Henry ist; who discovered a mode of counteracting their designs by stationing in their country Flemings to be a barrier to them, and keep them within bounds’’ (p. 33s). The old poet, Drayton, in his fifth song, refers to the floods in Flanders that drove the Flemings to Britain. They also settled along the coast of Co. Caermarthen. Their presence is very apparent in Laugharne, where are many tucking mills introduced by them (see Part VIII.). Selden mentions their coming. A fresh colony of them arrived here between the years 1113 and 1115, driven from their land by another flooding; and many came over with Sle()hen, and Henry II. removed them from England to Wales. This was the third colony.^ The families with the names of Kemp, Voyle, Jenkins, Collins, Rowe, Wilkins, Sinnett, are said by writers learned in these matters to be of a Flemish origin. J. R. Pnillip, in his ^ History of Cilgerran, Co. Pembroke,’ says : ‘‘In the parish registers between 1708 and 1730 occur the purely Flemish names — Phillips, Warien, Roblin, Tompkins, Mason, Roos, Shelby, Jason, Higgon, Gibbon,” &c. Most of them have become extinct ; Masons and Phillips remain. They did not acquire the language of the people among whom they settled, nor did they retain their own ; but they spoke good and pure English ; no one is able to account for this. Giraldus Cambrensis says the whole district of Pembrokesliire is Anglicized to such an extent that he calls it Anglia Trans walliana, or England beyond Wales. They benefited Wales; they promoted horticulture, commerce, and the woollen trade ; built convenient houses and castles of superior workmanship, in allusion to which there is a proverb in Wales, thus: “That the masons are to grow worse and the carpenters better to the end of the world.” But now Laugharne is colonized by the English. For some years it has been the resort of English families of good position in society, who sought retirement, and a spot where the necessaries of life are purchased at a reasonable price. This is altered: prices, as I have noticed, have risen. ^ See Malkin’s ‘ Scenery of South Wales,’ vol. ii. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 59 The prophecy contained in the above proverb has in part proved true. The buildings of the Flemings and Normans are generally extensive, strong, made to last, throughout Co. Pembroke and Caermarthen. Compare them with the later ones and those of our day, which often let in the rain by the time they are a year old ; and almost need building up anew when they have seen but a few years. I.augharne, though out of the highway of the world and compar- atively of little note, is raised in importance by its location in so renowned and ancient a diocese as St. Davids, which once had St. David for its archbishop, whose fame was so great that two visits to his shrine at St. Davids, Pope Calixtus ^ declared equal to one at Rome. It was said of old that there was as much merit in going twice to St. Davids as once to Rome. There was superstitious feeling that every man must go to St. Davids once either dead or alive. William the Conqueror, Henry IL, Edward I., and his Queen Eleanor, made pilgrimages to it. It has sadly fallen ; its palaces are in ruins, and its cathedral has only been lately restored. It is said Bishop Vaughan could, when sitting in the chapel called by his name in the cathedral, see five different masses performed at five different altars. The city of St. Davids was next in rank to that of Rome. The diocese was merged into one of the three great sees into which Great Britain was divided before the Saxon invasion. The archbishops presided respectively over — first, London, for Britannia Prima ; second, Caerleon, for Britannia Seconda ; third, York, for Britannia Maxima. St. Davids is called St. Dewi by the Welsh. He is the reputed founder of the cathedral, and from him it has the name of “ Ty Dewi ’’ (/. e. the house of David). Mena- pia and Menevia were its ancient names, and the see was at some early period translated to Caerleon.^ Merlin prophesied it in these words : Menevia shall be clad with the pall of the city of Legions.’' Selden mentions it. The Rev. Rice Rees, who is a learned and respectable authority, says, in his work, ‘ Welsh Saints,’ that St. David being the patron saint of Wales is of modern introduction. He is reputed archbishop of St. Davids,^ and primate of all, and 1 About A.D. 1154. 2 Caerleon was once the metropolis of Wales. The Romans called Caerleon “ Urbs Legiones,” and “ Isca Legio Secunda Augusta.” They always gave an additional name to a city which they termed a colony, and had a governor. When Britain was released from the government of Rome, Caerleon became the seat of the British Government. The word “Isca,” derived from the British Wysg, i. e. a current or stream. Caerleon is in Co. Monmouth, and was the Isca Silurum of Antoninus. 3 Rees says it was formed into an Archbishopric in the seventh century. 60 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, his death is given in a.d. 6oi, bat I have seen a different date. There is some doubt if St. Davids was ever an archbishopric. It has no historical foundation. It is a Welsh tradition. There are respectable authorities for it and against it. Giraldus Cambrensis relates that the princes of North and South Wales petitioned Pope Innocent to protect the Metropolitan rights of St. Davids against th.‘ encroachments of Canterbury, and that he carried their petition to Rome, and observes that St. Davids was the seat of the Primate of all Wales. The Pope decided nothing except declaring Giraldus’ election to the see void, and getting money out of those who arcompanied him. Giraldus is not considered very trustworthy. Theophilus Jones, the Deputy- Registrar of the Archdeaconry of Brecon, in his ‘ History of Co. Brecon,’ ^ appears to believe in it. Rev. R Rees, whom I have just mentioned, says the appeal to Pope St. Gregory for restoring the Metropolitan authority of Caerleon (St. Davids) was refused, as it could not be proved a pall was ever given, and it had to submit to Canterbury. The ‘ Triads ’ speak of three Archbishoprics of the Isle of the Britons. The facts against it are, that some of the Welsh bishops were conse- crated by Archbishop of Canterbury, a.d. 872. Moreover, there appears not to have been in Wales at this early period dioceses of a territorial character, or having any jurisdiction such as is now. Bishops seem to have been only the heads of monastic institutions, with their clergy residing with them, and going from place to place instructing and preaching. St. Davids was very migratory, l3eing sometimes at St. Davids, then at Caerleon, sometimes at Llandaff. It is possible that St. Davids, being so much distinguished beyond all the rest, might have had the title of Archbishop simply as an honour, and thus the mistake has arisen. Haddan and Stubbs in their work, ‘Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents,’ p. 148, 189, &c., say it had not Metropolitan authority, and Dr. Basil Jones, present Bishop of St. Davids, and Dr. Freeman, ^ in their work written jointly by them, titled, ‘ History of St. Davids,’ are of the same opinion. Rev. Rice Rees says there were no established sees in Wales till the sixth century, excepting Caerleon, when those of Menevia, Llanbadarn, Llandaff, Bangor, and St. Asaph were formed. But as the feeling in favour of its Metropolitan character is strong in some quarters, and the ‘Old Book of Llandaff’ asserts it, though this book is not considered trustworthy in every point, I will give these particulars. The Metropolitan authority of Caerleon 1 Published 1805. 2 The author of ‘ Hist, of Norman Conquest.’ PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 6 1 (/. e. St. Davids) is said to have ceased in the twelfth century with Wilfrid. Its next prelate, Bernard, sank into a suffragan, who after struggling to retain the position was forced to yield to Canterbury, at the command of Henry I. I have seen a suggestion as to whether the revival of this Archbishopric might not benefit Wales. They say it had then the greatest number of bishops of any see in the kingdom. Rees, in his ‘ Beauties of England and Wales,’ gives seven suffragans under St. Davids ; Giraldus Cambrensis names twelve. His testimony is not much esteemed. Elsewhere I see eight, viz., Chester, Worcester, Hereford, Llandaff, Bangor, St. Asaph, Llanbadarn, Margam. This last is in Glamorganshire. Its magnificent abbey, so noted, is in the direction of Brigend. Llan- badarn is one mile from Aberystwith in Cardiganshire. To St. Davids belonged large estates ; in fact the greater part of the county of Pembroke. Within Djwisland, which was the property of its bishops, they exercised the quasi regal powers of lord marchers : ” their power well nigh regal all over the diocese. They were noted for their princely and unbounded hospitality. The offerings to the shrine of the saint was a great source of revenue. Mr. Fenton, in his ‘ Hist, of Pembrokeshire,’ says the veneration for St. Davids was such, that in every will, so low down as Charles L, there is always a bequest to the church of St. Davids. The bishop’s presence was required in time of war. He came in solemn state. The burgesses of St. Davids escorted him, with the relics and shrine of St. Davids, on the first day of his march, so far as to admit of their returning that night. They had eight palaces in their diocese which they kept up in splendid style. The palaces were St. Davids, Lawhaden Castle,^ the manor-houses of Trevine, Lamphey Park,^ Poyntz Castle, Llandugwydd, Braan, Llanddew,^ near Brecon. By a statute of Bishop Gower,^ eight palaces only were required to be kept up. Abergwili was not one ; it was pro- bably the Deanery House of the Collegiate Church. This account of the palaces I received from the present bishop of St. Davids (Dr. B. Jones); he remarked that they are called houses,” for “a bishop has but one palace.” Now, and for many years, Abergwili is the only residence of the bishop, and the style main- ^ About four or five miles from Narberth, and three from Pembroke. ^ Two miles from Pembroke. ^ Or Llanddewi properly. * There must have been nine palaces, for Sir G. Scott, in his account of St. Davids Cathedral, says Bishop Gower built the castle at Swansea. He held the see from 1328 to 1347. He re-erected the whole of St. Davids Palace, which was one of the most superb episcopal residences in the kingdom. 62 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, tained is not more than the elegance of a private gentleman’s house. The Rev. William Thomas,^ vicar of Laugharne, and the eminent Bishop of St. Davids, is said in the ‘ Enwogion Cymru,’ by Rev. R. Williams, to have repaired those of Brecon and Abergwili. Lawhaden Castle is a ruin, and very little remains. Lamphey Park, partly built by Bishop Gower, was a fine mansion ; part still exists. Poyntz Castle, seven miles from St. Davids. Of Llan- ddew very little remains ; it is a mile and a quarter from Brecon. Theophilus Jones, in his ‘ Hist. Co. Brecon ’ (p. 223, pub. 1805), says : “ Near the site of present church of Llanddew, was formerly a castellated mansion, where bishops of St. Davids resided. It is still the property of that see,” ^ and was a resting-place for the bishop on his way to England. He says : “ Llanddew is one of the earliest churches, if not the most ancient, perhaps, in Breck- nockshire.” Llanddew is a village. Archbishop Baldwin, coming in 1188 to preach the Crusades, passed a night in this mansion. Giraldus Cambrensis mentions it. The village of Lawhaden was the ‘‘ Caput Baroniae,” by which bishops of St. Davids sit in par- liament. About 1719 Latin was abandoned as the language of official documents in diocese of St. Davids. English took its place, and then the bishops ceased to sign Menevia, and used “ St. Davids ” instead, and there are official documents existing of 1719? 1753? 17^9? signed St. Davids; one in 1719 signed A. Menev. ; one in 1671 signed W. Menevensis ; these two last in Latin. This is the account given by Mr. J. Thirlwall, secretary to the late Bishop Thirlwall. Diocese of St. Davids now includes counties of Pembroke, Caermarthen, Brecknock, Radnor. Robert Eerrar was the first Protestant bishop of St. Davids. He was burnt at the stake in Mary’s reign, on March 30th, 1555, on the spot, it is supposed, where the market cross was, in Nott Square, in town of Caermarthen. The stone which was fixed to the stake now forms the apex of the spire of Abergwili church. Tradition says the bishop sought rest from his persecutors at times at Pen-y- Craig, a farm above Abergwili common. Before the sixteenth century, it is said there were seven hundred ecclesiastics residing at St. Davids. Sir G. Scott discovered, while restoring the cathe- dral, a deep recess in the wall of Bishop Vaughan’s chapel, with holes in the wall opening on the high altar, as if to let a person see through them" what was doing there. There is full evidence that the Britons had a Church independ- ent of the Bishop of Rome, and that long before St. Augustine ^ Born 1613. 2 Qf Diocesan of that see. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 63 arrived, and was not in communion with Rome. Bede, in his ‘ Ecclesiastical Hist.,’ affirms it, and other writers of learning and authority. Rees, in his ‘Welsh Saints,’ says no fact is more clear. Tertullian shows that Christianity had taken deep root here in the second century. The conflict between the native Christian ministers and the clergy of Rome proves it ; also the fact that many churches in Wales and Cornwall are named after the native pastors of the county ; for instance, the Church ot Perranzabuloe or St. Pirau in Cornwall ; that of Llansadurnen, near Laugharne, which has its name from the Apostolic pastor, Sadyruin, Bishop of St. Davids, who died a.d. 832 ; then the Church of Llandafif or Llandav, founded by Lucius, King of Britain, third in descent from Caractacus. He began to reign a.d. 176, and the ‘Triads’ say he was one of the blessed princes of the Isle of Britain. One ‘Triad’ states that “ he erected the first church of Llandaff, which was the first in the Isle of Britain.” ^ Another ‘ Triad,’ speaking of the three archbishoprics of Britain, says : “ The earliest was Llandaff, of the foundation of Lleurwg ab Coel ab Cyllin.” Lleurwg is Lucius, the King of Britain. He was the first sovereign in Europe, it is said, who became a Christian. Rev. R. Rees, in his ‘Welsh Saints,’ says all churches dedicated to St. David were erected by the primitive Christians of Wales from the earliest time up to the middle of the seventh century. Those to St. Michael were founded from A.D. 800 to 850. “At this period tlie persons to whom they were dedicated in Wales were not reckoned as saints or martyrs ; they were simply individuals of holy lives, and churches they founded called by their names as a h mse is often named after its builder. There was no formal dedication. The person who was to found it dwelt on the spot, for a while, on which it was to be erected, using prayer and fasting every day except Sunday. This was the mode among the Scots and South Britons before the Romish Ritual was received.” “Succeeding generations gave them the title of saints.” Such churches as have their names composed of “ Llan ” are of the older foundation. It is a pure Welsh word, meaning a circle or sacred enclosure,^ used in the earliest times for a place of worship, and though applied to the structure called a church, belongs truly to the sacred spot which surrounds it, and which is enclosed. That it does not primarily ^ Some authors make Lucius the founder of twenty-eight churches, viz. those of Bangor, Winchester, &c. ^ The “ sacred nature ” of the word Llan is a secondary use of it. The original meaning is a narrowing, a dyke, a recess. 64 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, mean a covered building is shown by its being applied to places of this kind — a corn-field is ydlan^ (/. e. in Welsh), or corn enclo- sure ; perllan, an orchard or enclosure of fruit trees ; gwinlan, a vineyard or vine enclosure ; corphlan, a burying-ground, or corpse enclosure, and proves the fact that it was this sacred land or enclosure on which they met for worship. In early times all public meetings, religious, legislative, or judicial, were held in the open air. The oldest historical documents show that the Welsh Chris*- tians, from middle of the first century to middle of the fifth, held religious worship in the open air. No churches, such as we know, are mentioned, or even hinted at, before the mission of the saints Germanus and Lupus in fifth century, sent by the Pope to sup- press the Pelagian heresy. ^ The names of very many towns and villages in Wales begin with Llan. The Llandref of South Wales and the Treflan of North Wales signify, says Malkin, the town or village containing the church or enclosure of worship. 01 the same origin, says Malkin, is the English word church, and Scottish “kirk,” which comes from the Latin “circus.” From what I gather, he says, from old Welsh writers and from my literary friends, I am persuaded the first British Christians used the Druidical circles for Divine worship, and that the church was afterwards built within this circle, as is evident in the church ofYspytty Ken- wyn, many of the stones forming the circle remaining, he says, when he (in 1805-6) made his researches, and that near Marcross, a parish near Brigend (Co. Glamorgan) is a cromlech, called the “ Old Church,” and they have a tradition here, and at Laleston near Brigend, where a cromlech is, that they were formerly places of worship. Moreover, he says : “ The first Christian ministers among the ancient Welsh kept the title of Bards and Druids till at least the seventh century.” Rev. R. Rees says : “ Parishes were not established by the act of the Legislature, but gradually, and their boundaries were determined by the territory of the person who endowed each church with tithes. Chieftains endowed them, and originally the incumbent of every parish was a rector ; under him was a vicar, helping as a curate does now. To the account I give of pirates in Part L, where I describe how Captain F. Salkeld, the pirate, got possession of Lundy Isle ; I have to relate that he was at last defeated. On one occasion he called his men and prisoners together, and threatened those ’ Ydlan, I am told, is more properly the place where the corn is laid up after being taken from the field ; a Haggard, as it is commonly called. * ‘ Scenery and Antiquities of South Wales,’ by Malkin, p. 1807. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 65 who would not abjure their king and country and receive him for their sovereign, with execution on a gallows which he had in readiness. He shaved the heads of his captives in token of slavery, and set them to building walls for a fort, and constructing a platform for cannon to command the road ; he brought three pieces of cast-iron ordnance on shore, and a cannon, styled in the warlike language of the day a murtherer,’' to be planted on the fort and on an old ruinous castle adjacent. He had confined Mr. George Escott of Bridgewater, whom he had taken prisoner with his sailors, in a little house too bad for dogs to live in. Escott here formed plans with his fellow-captives to escape. Escott was the only one with arms ; and he with the rest got out at a hole in the house ; he attacked Salkeld’s confederates, taking some, and putting the rest to flight. Then all the company made Escott their commander for the king, and Salkeld, seeing all lost, fled away in Escott’s bark and goods. The end of Salkeld is not known. This account is taken from a MS. which is formally subscribed, ‘‘William Young of Pembroke.” Sir John Perrot, who held Laugharne Castle, erected a house on Sir John’s HilP in order to watch the barks of the pirates. He was often engaged in prosecuting the pirates who infested the Severn sea, and in amercing the inhabitants of Caermarthenshire and Pembrokeshire for giving them provisions, and purchasing the things they had taken from captured vessels. There is an original document, dated 12th Dec. 1573, giving an account of a commission of inquiry under the Great Seal, directed to Sir John Perrot, John Wogan of Boulston, John Barlow, Esqrs. ; as also by letters patent from Lords of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, concerning all persons as had bargained and contracted with the late pirate, Robert Hexte, and been victuallers of the now pirate, Thomas Clerke, together with the value of their lands and goods. The names of the jurors, which are twenty-three of the presentiments following, are specimens : “ David Allan of Laughern, Richard Hamon of Tynbie, had their bark, being of the burthen of 12 tons, or thereabouts, laden with salt, from the said Hexte, valent in bonis, viz. Allyn 3I. and Hamon 3I. John Butler of Laugharne had from the said Hexte, one bark of 15 tons, or thereabouts, laden with salt, &c. James ap Rodds, Robert Elliott, and George White, with divers others, at commandment of Sir J. Perrot, took two pynnaces of one Roger ap Richard, alias Parry of Aberystith, in Co. Cardigan, from said Hexte, his ship side, the one having in ^ This hill had its name from him. F 66 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, her 38 barrels of salt, the other .... bushels of come, which come was by them restored to the true owners, Harman Ranke and Bernard Jordane, whence Hexte took it ; and they had given to them by said owners for their paynes, the one moyte with an acquittance under the owners’ hands and seales, which acquittance was seen by us the jury. John Humphrey sold the said Clarke one carcase, and of a beef and one mutton. Thomas Hexte of Nangle went on board the said Gierke’s ship in a payre of velvet breeches layde on with gold lace, a doublett of satin, and a velvet! cap, and brought Clerke as much tallow as drest his ship.” Red Dragon of Cadwaladr is the cognizance of Cambria ; the ancient motto, ‘‘The dragon is invincible.” Rev. R. W. Morgan in his work, ‘The Cambrian History,’ p. 153, says the golden dragon is the standard of the military supremacy of Britain held by West Saxony since the reign of Ivor ; was claimed and raised by Offa, King of Mercia. The lion was the crest of Llewelyn, Sovereign of the Principality. When King Vortigern fled from the Saxons into Wales, the story goes that he ordered a house to be built for himself. In digging the foundation a red dragon and a white one were found. They fought ; the last was victor. This is an allegory given in Merlin’s first prophecy of the ‘Dragons.’ The red dragon represents the Britons, the white the Saxons. There are different opinions as to the leek being the true and ancient emblem of the Welsh; as far as I have searched I think it is not. Some trace its origin to a victory gained by Cadwallo over the Saxons, ist March, a.d. 640; when the Welsh^ to distin- guish themselves, wore leeks in their hats. The old poet Drayton in his ‘ Polyolbion,’ fourth song, gives its origin thus : '‘That reverent British saint, in zealous ages past, To contemplation lived; and did so truly fast, As he did onlie drink what crystal Rodney yields, And feed upon the leeks he gathered in the fields. In memorie of whom, in the revolving yeere. The Welshman on his day that sacred herbe doe weare. ’ Mr. I. Price of Llan Fyllin, in ‘Cambrian Register' for 1795-6, p. 327, says: “I take the leeks to be a distinctive mark which St. David gave his followers in a battle wherein he led them against the pagan Saxons.” Theophilus Jones, Registrar of the Arch- deaconry of Brecon, says he cannot find out the cause of the adoption of the leek by the Welsh : he believes it was derived from the English, who probably at first meant it as a mark of contempt (‘ Hist. Co. Brecon,’ p. 290). The Rev. R. Rees, in his ‘Welsh PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 6/ Saints/ published 1836, says: ‘‘The early biographers of St. David do not mention the story of the leek given by St. David, or its adoption as a national emblem.” The author of a poem titled ‘ The Land beneath the Sea,’ says : “ I have been confidently assured that the Sevi-lan-Gwy, which signifies the Sives of the Wye, was once the national emblem of the Welsh, and not the leek, as vulgarly adopted. It grows wild on no other part of the island than on the banks of the Wye. It is common in every peasant’s garden, but is now little regarded. It flourishes best in a wild state, has something of the smell and flavour of the leek or onion, but less offensive and far handsomer.” At the battle of Agincourt, the Welsh had on their banners th<^ heraldic devices of their respective counties. In a poem titled ‘ The Battle of Agincourt, they are thus described : — ‘ ‘ Pembroke, a boat wherein a lady stood Rowing herself within a quiet bay : Those men of South Wales of the mixed blood Had of the Welsh the leading of the way. Caermarthen in her colours bore a rood Whereon an old man leaned himself to stay, At a star pointing ; which of great renown Was skilful Merlin, namer of that town. Glamorgan men, a castle great and high. From which out of the battlement above, A flame shot up itself into the sky. The men of Monmouth, for the ancient love To that dear country, neighbouring them so nigh, Next after them in equipage that move, Three crowns imperial, which supported were With three arm’d arms, in their proud ensign bear. The men of Brecknock brought a warlike tent. Upon whose top there sat a watchful cock ; Radnor, a mountain of a high ascent, Thereon a shepherd keeping of his flock ; As Cardigan, the next to them that went. Came with a mermaid sitting on a rock ; And Merioneth bears (as these had done) 'j Three dancing goats against the rising sun. Those of Montgomery bear a prancing steed ; Denbigh, a Neptune with his three-forked mace ; Flintshire a work-maid in her summer’s weed With sheaf and sickle, with a warlike pace. Those of Caernarvon (not the least in speed. Though marching last in the main army’s face). Three golden eagles in their ensign brought. Under which oft brave Owen Gwyneth fought.” ^ Malkin, in his ‘ Scenery and Antiquities of South Wales,’ has this poem in vol. i. p. 67, 63 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PART IV. LAUGHARNE CASTLE. Charter granted by Sir Gtii de Brian — The Boi'otigh — Sir John Perrot — Sir Sackville Crowe — Sir John Powell — Cromwell takes the Castle — Cromwell at Maesgwrda — De Brians -r— The Corporation — The Com7non Walk — Roche Castle — Island House — Roman Villa, The castle^ is thought to have been built on the ruins of a Roman fort : its early history lies in obscurity. The Romano Britons had a settlement here, near Muridunum {i, e. Caermarthen), and here have been found coins of Cauransius, the Roman nav^al commander. This castle is the work of different architects at different periods. It is often mentioned in the ‘ Welsh Annals ^ as having been taken by Welsh princes in wars with the English : date of erection unknown. Rees, in his ‘ Beauties of England and Wales' (vol. xviii.), thinks.it was built by an Anglo-Norman, soon after the Conquest : others make it the work of Rhys ap Griffydh, last of the princes of South Wales, who after hard fighting became tributary to Henry IL, and did homage when he visited this castle on his return from Ireland, 1172. Some parts of it are in the style of the Flemings, who built their towers round, not arched, and formed a dome at the top by placing several large stones one on another, each of which gradually projected beyond the one under- neath. In some work, it is said Laugharne Castle had a tower thus built ; the great tower of Pembroke Castle so formed. The Flem- ings were used to make the approach to the second gate in a differ- ent direction from that of the first ; in Laugharne Castle the first or outer gate is in another direction to what the second gate Avould be ; for this must have been opposite that gable end, flanked by two towers. Here was the great hall, and a gate always led directly to the hall. The principal street in Laugharne is called King Street, in memory of Henry H.’s visit just mentioned. At 1 In Welsh History is called sometimes ‘The Castle of Abercorran and C. of Abercowin.’ WOGAN STREET. See Part 4. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 69 Henry’s death, ^ T1S9, Rhys ap Griffydh revolted, and took the castles of Laugharne and Llanstephan, and laid waste that of Pembroke, but could not take that of Caermarthen. In 1215, Laugharne Castle was taken from the Normans and burnt by Llewellyn ap Jorwerth, Prince of North Wales. Now the celebrated family of De Brian begins to figure in the history of Laugharne. Sir Guido de Brian rebuilt it the following year (1216) : he married one of the daughters of Prince Rhys, and obtained the lordship of Talycharn. At his death the lordship of Taljcharn descended to one of his two daughters and co-heiresses, who married Owen Laugharne of St. Brides, Co. Pembroke. The castle is said to have been again destroyed by Llewelyn ab Gryfydd, Prince of North Wales, in 1256, from which time few particulars of its history are recorded till the reign of Henry VII., though it was pro- bably ^ rebuilt within that period, as that monarch, among other grants, in compensation for his great services, gave this castle and its dependencies to Sir Rhys ab Thomas, who attended him to Bosworth field, and by his valour and influence contributed materially to the success of the enterprise which placed him on the throne. On the attainder of the grandson of Rhys, the castle reverted to the crown. During the civil wars in Charles I.’s time it was garrisoned for the king.” This is Lewis’ account, which in one point is attested by the ^ Directory for Gloucester, Bristol, Caermarthen, Kidwelli, Laugharne,’ by Hunt and Co. : it says, the daughter of Sir G. de Brian married Owain Laugharne, and so his family settled here. I . shall give the accounts I saw in other records ; for some state facts which others do not, and each one differs slightly from the rest. From two distinct documents, in MS. in private hands, I had these facts. Sir G. de Brian, a Norman knight, was noted as one of those marcher lords stationed on the sea-coast and frontiers of Wales ; he sided with the Barons against Henry III., and they gave into his charge the castles of Cardigan, Kilgeran, Caermarthen ; the castle and royal demesne of Laugharne he held as a grant from the Crown, in return for the military service of finding two men-at-arms with horses all properly equipped, or eight armed soldiers on foot, to be maintained in the field for three days for the king at his proper cost, on receiving due notice from the bailiff of Caermarthen. So he had returned to his allegiance and recovered the confidence of the king. Boswell, ^ The following account taken from the * Topographical Dictionary of Wales,’ by S. Lewis, vol. ii., pub. 1833, by Lewis, 87 Aldersgate Street. 2 Other accounts show it was rebuilt then. 70 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, in his ‘ Historical Description of England and Wales/ says : This Sir Guido was the first possessor of the castle, and supposed to have founded it, and had Walwyns Castle, Co. Pembroke, as well ; that he married Eva, sole daughter of Henry de Tracey, by whom he had one daughter, who married Jeffry Cainville. J. Cainville is the person who appears as one of the witnesses to the charter of the burgesses of Laugharne : that by his second wife, whose name is not known, he had issue Gui. de Brian, called the Minor. The marriage with Eva is noticed by Dugdale ; but he says nothing more of the family.’' This Gui. de Brian, called the Minor, is said in Tanner’s ‘Notitia Monastica,’ p. 99, to have been the founder of Stapleton, in Devonshire. Slapton probably it is, where he in 1373 founded a college or chantry for a rector and four fellows adjoining to the parish church in the diocese of Exeter. He married Gwenllian, daughter of Gryffydh ap Lloyd, and had a second wife by whom there were two daughters. This marriage is mentioned in a MS. in possession of Mrs. Starkes, who some years ago resided and died in the castle, which belonged to her and her family. At his father’s death, in 1307, he succeeded to his estates, and granted the charter of privileges and incorporation to the burgesses of Laugharne. The first charter was granted in the reign of King John, which appears true from the wording of this charter, where it speaks of preserving all the good laws and customs the burgesses of Caermardyn have hitherto enjoyed in time of king John. He added much to the burgesses’ lands, which they still enjoy. The borough brought into existence by Sir Guido de Brian in 1300; he is called ‘^the Minor,” and took a just view of things not always found in feudal times, and seems to have been much interested in the welfare of the town, for he granted many privileges which I shall notice in future pages ; he grew imbecile, and his son had, under certain conditions, the management of his property. This son died 17th June, 1349, and was succeeded by the celebrated Sir Gui. de Brian, one of the Knights of the Garter, and standard-bearer to Edward III. Mr. Theop. Jones, in his ‘ Book of Pedigrees,’ calls him Lord Bryan, though he doubts the title, as it is not mentioned by Dugdale.^ In 43rd of Edward III., he was made Lord High Admiral of the Fleet sent against the French ; he was at the siege of Calais, and brought to it one ^ knight, six esquires, and six archers. Two years after he was in 1 Yet Dugdale says he was summoned to Parliament as a Peer from Edward III., twenty-fourth year, till thirteenth Richard II. inclusive. 2 See Duncumbe’s ‘History of Herefordshire,’ p. 84, vol. i. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 7 1 the Scottish wars. In the first year of Richard II. he served in the wars of France, and attended that king in his Irish expedition ; he took great interest in the welfare of his Barony of Laiigharne, and is thought to have built or rebuilt the parish church. Boswell says he married Elizabeth, daughter of William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury (see Duncumbe), his son Gui, the usual baptismal name of the family, married Alice, daughter of De Barri : he died 1391, before his father, and was buried in the Abbey Church of Tewkes- bury, where his monument is still, bearing his effigy, and the armorial achievements of Brian and Montacute. He left two daughters — Philippa and Elizabeth. Boswell says Philippa married Sir John Devereux. This must be wrong, for in the Public Records I have seen no mention is made of Philippa's marriage, but Elizabeth married Sir Robert (or John) Lovell, who died in 1397 without issue, and she married her second husband. Sir John Scroop, and the manor of Laugharne passed to her. Boswell says by some settlement Laugharne passed into the family of Devereux, and then to Sir Walter Devereux, his brother, whose granddaughter Anne held the castle and married William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke of that name. Maud, their daughter, married Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland ; he was Lieutenant of Yorkshire, and was murdered by the populace at Cocklodge in that county, 28th April, 1489. William Herbert, the fast friend and partisan of Edward IV., had grants from him in the first year of his reign of numerous lands and castles in South Wales, viz. those of Pembroke, Tenby, Walwyns, Haverfordwest, St. Clears, Laugharne, Llan- stephan,! &c. : all these Dugdale mentions except Laugharne, which may be inferred, as it was his by marriage : also he had grants of Dangleddy and Ross, the moiety of Burton Ferry, &c., in Wales. ^ Malkin says, as well as the town, castle, and lordship of Kilgerran, the lordship of St. Florence, New Castle Emlyn, the Hundreds of Castle Martin. By Maud, just named, he had a son Henry, Earl of Northumberland, who held the castle in Henry VH.'s time, and being in his minority at his father’s death, Henry VII. in 1490 granted to Robert Jay, an officer of the court, groom of the stole, ^ for life of the office of forester and hay ward of Laug- harne,^ with that of bailiff in the king’s gift, during the minority of ^ This account is given by Boswell. ^ Second voh, p. 342, of his book on South Wales. ’ “ Valet or gentleman of the bed chamber : ” designated as Valectus hostiarius Came or Camere == short for “ Camerarise.” * Cardiff is added in another MS. document. 72 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, the Earl, and to receive all the profits of such offices, which were to be paid him at Michaelmas and Easter by the king’s receiver or farmer, so that the annual value may be certified to the Crown. The castle and barony of Laugharne remained in the family of Percy till the attainder of Thomas, sixth Earl, in Elizabeth’s reign, when it fell to the Crown. Since writing about William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Alcwyn Evans of Caermarthen informs me he did not receive the castle by marriage, but it was given by Edward IV., in his first year, to Sir John Donne of the Kidwely family, and ill his seventh year he gave it to Sir John Donne and his heirs; previous to Edward it had been the property of William Scroop, Earl of Wilts. I have here to note that the fact generally believed that Sir John Perrot being illegitimate by Henry VHI. is much to be doubted. Stedman Thomas, versed in antiquarian knowledge, gives me these reasons against it : his succeeding to so vast an inheritance, equal in extent and value to that of the greatest of the nobility ; also, the claim he set forth so successfully through his descent, through Sir Thomas Perrott, his presumed father, to the lordship and castle of Laugharne, by the failure of descendants of both granddaughters and co-heirs of Guy Lord Bryan, and in consequence his own next of kinship. An authority in these matters tells me that Mary, granddaughter of Sir Thomas Powell, married first, William Powell of Pennybank, Abergwili ; second, Sir John Rudd, Bart., of Forest Glyncothy; third, Plowell Gwyn of Garth, Esq. Further on I have said Sir J. Powell was her grand- father. The celebrated Sir John Perrot, lord deputy of Ireland, a reputed natural son of Henry VHI., was then intrusted with the custody of the castle and demesne of Laugharne, till he was accused of uttering disrespectful words against the queen, of encouraging the rebellion of O’Rourke and other Irish malcontents and Romish priests, of communicating with the Prince of Parma : all this was false ; he said, he had from impatience, but not from a disloyal heart, uttered words against the queen.” Cecil was one of the commissioners on his trial at Westminster. Burleigh shed tears when sentence of death was pronounced : he was averse to his prosecution. Popham, the Attorney-General, found him guilty, though unjustly. Leaving the tribunal he said : “ God’s death, will the queen suffer her brother to be offered up a sacrifice to the envy of his frisking^ adversaries'?” The queen seemed inclined to ^ This word “ frisking ” was applied in allusion to the acdomplishment of the PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 73 pardon him; but he expired of grief in the Tower, in 1592, six months after his condemnation. He was lord of the manor of Eglwyscummin, and the tablet to his memory, which still hangs in Eglwyscummin church, says he died of grief in the Tower ; that the confessed forgery of a popish priest caused his confinement there ; that he was of a high spirit and hot temper (see more on this tablet in Part XXI 1.) ; but some Public Records I have seen say he was beheaded. His lands were allowed to go to his son, who had married the sister of the Earl of Essex, according to one account ; but it is contradicted by the Public Records above-mentioned, which are to be relied upon. Another account says the Crown resumed possession of the castle after the Earl of Essex had it, and was granted to Sir Sackville Crow by Charles I. BoswelP is wrong in saying Charles II. granted it to Sir William Russell, called White Sir W. According to those Public Records, Sir S. Crowe sold it to Sir W. Russell, as I shall state more particularly some pages on ; and they also state Charles I. granted it to Sir S. Crowe. Sir W. Russell married Hester, daughter of Sir Thos. Rous, by whom he had only one daughter, Mary, married first to Sir Robert Calverly Cotton of Cambermere ; second, to Arthur, second surviving son of Henry Duke of Beaufort. Sir William sold the property to Sir John Powell, knight, one of the Judges who acquitted the seven bishops, time of J ames II. The granddaughter of Sir J. Powell, Mary, married first, Charles Powell, Esquire, of Penybank; second. Sir John Rudd ; third, Howell Gwynne, Esquire, of Garth, Co. Brecon. She sold it to Pennoyre Watkins, who by a will dated 3rd January, 1787, left the demesne and greatest part of the lands of Broadway (where Sir J. Powell had built a mansion), to his eldest son, George Price Watkins : the castle to his granddaughter, Elizabeth Ravens- croft, wife of Richard T. Starke, Esquire, possessor of it 1806. The Starkes still hold it. There is another account of the way Pennoyre Watkins obtained the property. Persons, natives of Laugharne, and alive at the time, and well conversant with the affair, told me that H. Gwynne of Garth, Esq., was in difficulties and borrowed money of Pennoyre Watkins ; that when the officers were crossing the water from the Scar, on their way to distrain for debts incurred by Gwynne to certain parties in London, Pennoyre saw them from the Castle, and set off for Broadway Mansion ; he closed the doors, and they did not effect courtiers in the brawls or dances so much in fashion at court. See Part I. xxiii. for account of Pirates, and Sir J. Perrot prosecuting them. ^ In his ‘Historical Descriptions of Antiquities of England and Wales.’ 74 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, an entrance. The title-deeds were missing : Pennoyre forced the sale of the property, and thus came into it. There is a curious story 1 about the discovery of the deeds; they were found under the floor of one of the upper rooms of the mansion ; I could not say for certain this was correct. To go back a little — in 1644 Laugharne Castle was garrisoned for the king, when it was besieged and taken by General William Laugharne for the Parliament, after a vigorous resistance, says tradition, during three weeks ; it was taken by cutting off the water, which supplied the castle. Some one in the town turned king’s evidence, and told where the well was whence the water came : to this day the residents of the castle are deprived of the water. This well is in Orchard Park, up Stony way, at the back of Stony way House : it is now (1877) in a very bad condition. The pipes conveying the water from the well were found under the garden of the ‘‘Three Horse Shoes” in Gosport, and under the storehouse opposite. Lewis, in his ‘Topographical Dictionary of Wales’ (vol. ii., pub. 1833), says It was besieged by Cromwell in person, and at the end of three weeks several breaches were made in the walls ; the garrison surrendered upon honourable terms. Perhaps it was twice besieged, which would account for the difference in the relations. General William Laugharne was displeased at something, and left Cromwell’s army for the king. He then held the castle, and it was besieged by Cromwell’s party. When taken for the Parliament, as just related, “General W. Laugharne, Richard Swanley, William Smith, John Elliot, Robert Lort, John Havard, complained of the conduct of Morgan Lloyd of Llandawke, as a malignant, that he supported the rebellious power of Russell and Gerrard’s army then in arms against the Parliament ; that when the forces of the Parliament approached Laugharne, he and others removed their stock of cattle and other substance from the places of their residence, between the castle and county of Pembroke, over the river Taive (the bridges of the river being broken by the enemy), and carried them far remote into the enemy’s quarter, to supply them with relief, and to deprive General W. Laugharne’ s army of victuals in their quarters while maintaining the siege. These articles were exhibited on behalf of the King and Parliament to the committee for counties of Pembroke, Caermarthen, and Cardigan, for discovering the malignancy of Morgan Lloyd and others ; but he was of such note and repute, that when he fell into their power they did not condemn him to death, for he had joined the royal forces : and on 30th March, 1645, the committee above- 1 See Part VI., for this story. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 75 named gave him licence to depart : but to appear again upon summons.’’^ This endorsed 1645. Morgan Lloyd was of the family of the Lloyds of Laques, near Llanstephan. In a field called ‘‘New Parks,” above the cliff, remains the battery raised by Cromwell’s soldiers for firing on the castle ; another of their batteries is on the top of the hill behind Fernhill: they also fired on the castle from the field called Orchard Park. When Mrs. Starkes resided at the castle, her gardener, digging in the site of the moat, often found cannon-balls. Two lanes preserve the remem- brance of Cromwell’s deeds — one called the “ Back Lane,” which passes down by Gosport House to the Strand ; a little stream runs down it. Here was much slaughter when the castle was stormed. The other is a shady lane, called “ Headmen’s Lane,” passing between two fields ; it is on the left of the cottage which is just above the gates leading into the grounds of Fern Hill. Tradition says this lane was deluged with blood, so fierce was the fight, and hence its name. The soldiers set the castle on fire, which caused its present ruined condition. Large breaches were made in a circular tower at the north-east angle. From that tower to the south-west angle, the curtain-wall has been entirely razed. The spacious lodging-rooms and the hall were burnt. The gateway facing King Street, by which Henry II. entered, is preserved : this street had its name from his visit. The present residence of the castle is part of the older house which Colonel Starkes, who married Miss Ravenscroft, altered and enlarged. The Misses Laugharne, one of whom married Mr. Ravenscroft, resided in the older house, which was thus described to me by a person who saw it : — It was a low house, the ground-floor as in old houses; it had an embattlement going all round the house at the top. An antiquarian, versed in the history of these parts, tells me Cromwell was not in Laugharne nor in Wales. Lewis, as I have said, states he was here in person. History says he was on his way to Glamorganshire when Colonel Horton, his general officer, won a battle over the Welsh at St. Fagans, three miles from Cardiff, and that Parliament sent Lieutenant-General Cromwell to reduce Tenby and Pembroke. Tradition favours it. It says Gosport House was his head-quarters ; that he slept in a room there which is over the sitting-room looking on to the road, and from a window in this sitting-room watched the progress of the conflict, and gave out his orders. An old inhabitant told me that Captain Laugharne, to whom the house belonged, said Cromwell did occupy it. Tradition says he eat his last dinner in Laugharne, 1 See Boswell’s ‘ Historical Description of England and Wales.’ 76 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, in the only room of a thatched cottage with one window, close to the stables of Mr. Vaughan’s house on the Strand, which are in a line with Gosport House. The cottage has lately been altered and put in good repair ; the window is gone, and tiles have taken the place of thatch. It is said he slept at the big house behind Pendine church. The farm of Maesgwrda,^ near Newton, on the upper Pendine road, was held by the ancestors of the Rees family, who occupied the great house in Pendine. From Miss Rees, one of the daughters, I had this account in 1867 : — One day Cromwell and his soldiers arrived at this farm. He seized all the implements of husbandry, horses, cattle, except a lame ox and a blind mare. Pie m.ade every man and boy come with him, except one boy who concealed himself in the straw in the barn. He took Mr. Lloyd, the master of the house, from his wife’s side in bed, despoiled the house of many ornaments, but did not touch the furniture. Some of the glass drops of the lustres fell from his carriage. Mrs. Lloyd picked them up ; they are still preserved in the family. Mrs. Lloyd, left alone with, the boy, put the seed into the ground, carrying it in her apron. The boy held the plough. After this, passing along the bridge at St. Clears, over the river Tave, she met her husband returning home. The present bridge there has been built about forty years ; before that it was one of those ancient bridges still to be seen at Whitland. The ring Mrs. Lloyd wore when Cromwell came was by her express wish preserved in the family in memory of the event, to go down from daughter to daughter ; this and two tables which were in the house at the time, are now (1878) in the possession of the Rees family. One of them Miss Rees has in her house at Pendine; the other is at the Inn, “The Spring Well,” kept by Miss Saer, her niece, and is opposite Miss Rees’. Miss Rees has the ring : the front part of it represents a heart and a crown ; on the inside are these words, “ Mind the giver ” (a sketch of this ring is here). From the same source I learned that Cromwell visited Wenalt, a residence belonging then to the Lloyds, and their freehold ; it is occupied now by Mr. Carver, and is near the St. Clears Road. Cromwell burnt the house ; the deeds perished with it, and the family lost this freehold. I observed that General Laugharne,^ displeased at something, left Cromwell’s party for the King’s, and with Powell joined Poyer, a brave man, ' Maesgwrda is Welsh, and means ** Good Man’s Field ” : Maes is field ; da, good ; gwr, a man. ^ See ‘Memoirs of the Civil War in Wales and the Marches in 1642-1649/ by John R. Phillips, of Lincoln’s Inn; pub. by Longman. October, 1874. EFFIGY IN LLANDAWKE CHURCH. No. 20. See Part lo. Shape of the Stone called The Devil’s Track," m the Encampment on Napps. No. 17. See Part 19, PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 7 / who had hitherto held Pembroke Castle for the Parliament, but now raised the standard of revolt. He marched out of Pembroke Castle to fight Cromwell. He, with General Laugharne and Powell, were defeated at St. Fagans, near Cardiff, and retreated to Pembrokeshire. Powell defended himself in Tenby Castle, but soon surrendered : Poyer and Laugharne at Pembroke held out for some weeks and then surrendered, July i ith, 1648. They were sent to the Tower of London, remained there till the following spring, when sentence of death was passed. Those in power were lenient, and would that one only should suffer. Lots were drawn for who that one should be. Upon two of the lots was written, Life given by God : ” the third was a blank. A child drew them. The blank fell to Colonel Poyer. On the 21st April, 1649, he was shot at the Piazza, Covent Garden, and met his fate calmly. Laugharne was a man of high character, a good soldier and general. At the head of the Parlia- ment forces, he carried all before him, and won South Wales for his party. The character of the Welsh at this period experienced a change ; they began to take an interest in English politics and constitutional freedom ; the Puritanical spirit that was in England now appears among them, and the religious controversies, the marked feature of the times, begin to agitate their religious life. When Robert Fitz Hamon,^ one of the knights who came over with the Conqueror, and to whom he gave the honour of Gloucester, conquered Rees or Rhys, the Prince of South Wales, he divided the conquered lands among twelve knights, who were his followers : to one, Richard Siward, he gave the castle and lordship of Calavan, which is probably a misreading for Talavan or Tallaugharne {i. e. Laugharne). Giraldus Cambrensis, in his ^ Itinerarium Cambria,^ states that Resus, son of Griffin, after the death of King Henry II., took the castle of Talaugharn. King John is said to have made a grant of this lordship to Guy de Brian ; but the grant has not been discovered. In 1215, Llewellyn, son of Jorwerth, demolished the castle, and those of Llanstephan ^ and St. Clare (Clears). In 32nd Henry III., Guy de Brian gave five marks for the grant of a market at his manor of Talachar. In an extent of the county of Caermarthen, made 4th Edward L, under the head of Baronies,” Guy de Brian is returned as holding the barony of Talacharn by barony, by the third part of a barony of St. Clare (Clears), and he does suit at the county from month to month. ^ This division of lands by R. Fitz Hamon I extracted from the Public Records I have named before. (See also ‘ Dugdale’s Baronage,’ p. 286.) ^ Brut y Tywysogion, p. 286. 78 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, In ist Edward II., Guy de Brian died seized of the barony of Tallaharn, and an inquisition was taken- of his lands. Guy de Brian, son of the said Guy, succeeded to the barony, and held it till 23rd of Edward III., when he died seized of it. An inquisi- tion was taken after his death ; Guy de Brian, his son, succeeded him. In 24th Edward III. he had a grant of free warren in all his demesne lands in Tallagharn and elsewhere. In 9th Richard II. he appears to have made a settlement of the manor, castle, and lordship of Tallagharn (so now first called), by conveying it to Hugh Yong, clerk, and others, who regranted to him for life with remainder to William Briene, chivaler; and by charter, i6th Aug., loth Richard II., the king confirms the grant, added certain privileges, as return of writs, &c. &c. 15th Dec., 13th Richard II., is a similar confirmation, with fuller liberties. In ist Henry IV. the grant is again confirmed by letters patent, and again in ist Henry V. Gui de Brian died 13th Richard H., leaving Philippa and Elizabeth, daughters and co-heirs of his eldest son, Gui de Brian. Elizabeth ^ married Sir Robert Lovell, knight, and the manor of Tallagharn passed to her. In ist Henry VI. Sir Robert Lovell made a grant of it to John Merbery of Weobley (Hereford), Esquire, and others, probably trustees. In 6th Henry VI. the grant of 13th Richard II. was again inspected and con- firmed by letters patent. In i6th Henry VI., Elizabeth, wife of Lovell, died, seized of the manor of Tallagharn. Humphrey, Earl of Arundel, son of her daughter Matilda, was found to be her next heir, and to be nine years of age. He died under age in the same year, and Avicia, wife of James Ormond, knight, is found to be his sister and next heir. The escheator of Caermarthen had received the issues of the manor since the death of Elizabeth Lovell. This James Ormond was the Earl of Wilts, who was attainted on 4th November, ist Edward IV., and in the same year the manor, by the description of the castle, manor, and lordship of Tallagharn, with all lands, &c., late of James, late Earl of Wilts, was granted inter alia to John Donne, chamberlain of the household, and heirs male of his body, with a proviso that he was only to receive £\oo a year of the issues of the lands granted to him, and to account for the residue. In sth Edward IV. is a similar grant to him, but without the proviso. In 7th Edward IV. is another similar grant to him and Elizabeth his 1 I refer the reader to a few pages back, where there is some difference regarding who succeeded to the manor of Tallagharn, and also regarding the marriages. Authors differ on this point. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 79 wife, and the heirs male of John Donne, without the proviso. The Act of Resumption of 7th and 8th Edward IV. has a proviso, excepting this last grant from the operation of the Act. In 2nd Richard III. the manor was in the hands of the Crown, for we find the appointment of auditors of the minister’s accounts of the manor. On 9th June, 2nd Henry VII., the manor appears to have been in the hands of William Perrot of Haroldiston, who on that date gives a power of attorney to John Perrot of Haverford, Esq., to enter into the lordship of Tallagharn. Before 2nd Dec., 5th Henry VII., it had passed to Earl of Northumberland, who had died seized of it, for we find the king granting to Robert Jay the offices of forester and heywood of Laugharne, and the office of bailiff of the town and lordship there : ^ these offices being in the gift of the king by reason of the minority of Henry, son and heir of Henry, late Earl of Northumberland, to hold during the said minority. By indenture, being a deed of purchase and exchange, dated 3rd Feb., 26th Henry VIIL, Henry, Earl of Northumberland, conveyed to the king mter alia the castle of Laugharne, alias Tallagharn, in Co. Caermarthen, and lands in Marras, Great Castle Ely, Little Castle Ely, Maysegarda, Cleuewyn Llansadurnen, &c. Previous- to this conveyance the Earl had leased it to Thomas Jones for a fee farm rent of ,^80. The manor, or rather the rent of <^80, and the reversions of Earl of Northumberland’s lease, appear to have remained in hands of the Crown till i6th August, 4th and 5th Philip and Mary, when the king and queen granted ^ it to Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumber- land. Before 9th Elizabeth, the manor had passed to Sir John Perrot ; he was attainted and beheaded 4th Nov,, 34th Elizabeth. In another account, which I have given some pages back, it says he died in the Tower of grief. Sept., 1592. The commission issued to inquire into his estates, &c., 6th October, 34th Elizabeth, gives the manors and estates he held in the lordship, but no mention of his holding Carew Castle, which I found in another document that he did. He rendered yearly to Catherine, Countess of Northumberland, for the lordship of Tallagharn, and lordship of Castle Walwain and Manor Fietherhill in Co. Pembroke, ^80. He also held the manor of Egloskymmyn. After his death, his son and heir, Thomas Perrot, claimed an ‘ amoveas manus ’ for the manor and other property by virtue of a settlement made 29th ^ In Lewis’ ‘Topographical Diet, of Wales,’ it says Henry VH. gave the castle of Laugharne, &c. to Sir Rhys ap Thomas. ^ In this grant the manor of Walwaynswick and Fotherhill are mentioned.! 8o ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, May, 26th Elizabeth. . . The Attorney-General confesses his plea is good, but it appears that he did not recover the property.^ By letters patent, 36th Elizabeth, the queen made a lease to Lady Dorothy Perrot, widow of Tho. Perrot, knight, deceased, of certain lands of Sir J. Perrot, and of a lease of the rectory of Laugharne. By letters patent, 39th Elizabeth, the queen granted to Robert, Earl of Essex, a lease for twenty-one years of all that the castle and mansion-house called ‘Castle of Tallagharn,’ with all its rights, &c. Courts and manorial privileges excepted from the lease. By letters patent, 25th February, 2nd James I., a lease in reversion was made to Knollys and others for Dorothy, Countess of North- umberland, for her life, and twenty-one years after her death, of all the castle, lordship, and manor of Tallagharne. . . with full liberties and privileges. In 5th James I;, a commission was issued to inquire as to the decays of the estate of Sir J. Perrot, and of Laugharne Castle. The return describes their state. By indenture, loth January, loth James I., the king leased the reversion of the manor of Laugharne to Sir Francis Bacon, knight, John Walter, and others, as trustees for Prince Charles, for ninety-nine years, and by indenture 12th July, 2nd Charles I., John Walter, the surviving trustee, leased it to Sackville Crowe for thirty-one years, to commence from the expiration of the prior lease made to Lord Knollys, 25th February, 2nd James I. On 4th November, 3rd Car. I., the said trustees sold the residue of their term to Sackville Crowe at a rent of £208 Ss. lo^d., and by letters patent, 20th July, 3rd Car. I., in consideration of a sum of money, £1500, paid by Sackville Crowe, the king grants the reversion to Ralph Whitfield and Henry Peck at a fee farm rent of £208 iSs. iQ\d, The manor remained in the possession of the Crowe family till the middle of the last century, and has since passed to Morgan Jones, Esq. “ Between 3rd and 13th Charles I. Sir Sackville Crowe appears to have conveyed to Sir William Russell the castle and portion of the demesnes of the manor : in what manner or when this was done has not been discovered. In 13th Car. I., Sir W. Russell had a grant of a weekly market and two fairs at Laugharne. By indenture, loth July, 6th William and Mary, Sir W. Russell con- veyed to Thomas Powell, Esq., the castle of Laugharne, and the Broadway Estate : 9th William and Mary, Thomas Powell had a grant of a market and fair at Laugharne.^’ Here ends the account given in the Public Records. Many pages back I have con- 1 The Public Records say he did not recover it. TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 8 1 tradicted Boswell’s assertion that the castle was granted by Charles II. to Sir W. Russell. The demesne lands are represented by the Broadway Estate, the property of Mr. Broad wood, and by portions of the Westmead Estate, the property of M. Jones, Esq. The rent re- served to the Crown by the grant of Charles I. is to this day paid by M. Jones, Esq. and Thos. Broadwood, Esq. Mr. Jones, being the owner of the lordship, pays the larger portion of this rent. The sketch of Laugharne Castle here is copied from a picture dated 1740 ; an inscription on it says Sir Sackville Crowe sold the castle to Sir J. Powell thus : To Velters Cornewall, Esq., Knt. of Shire Hereford, this prospect is inscribed by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck. This castle was anciently called Abercorran, and inhabited by the Flemings : time of its being built uncertain. Henry VII. granted it to Sir Rice ap Thomas, Knt. of y® Garter, forfeited by his grandson. Rice Griffith ; afterwards granted to Sir J. Perrot, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who being attainted, it was granted by the Crown to Sir Sackville Crowe, who sold it to Sir J. Powell, Knt., Judge of Common Pleas, whose heirs. Sir John Price, Bart, Lady Rudd, and Velters Cornewall, Esq., are the present possessors. S. and N. Buck, delin. et sculpt. Pub. by Act of Parliament, April Sth, 1740.” In the Court Roll and Portreeve’s account of the town of Tallaugharn, loth Elizabeth, is this account of the port rent of the castle : Town of Tallaugharn. The account of John Bonn, reeve there, of the issues of his office for one whole year ended at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, in loth year of reign of Elizabeth, &c. Of chief rent, or rent of the castle, called porte- rent, due to the lord for the year aforesaid, viz. of twelve pence for each burgage ^ within the town aforesaid, and the liberties of the same, in the collection of the same reeve, £() 2s, 3^., which he delivered to Griffin Harbert, receiver of the lord, as appears by two several acquittances thereof, &c. Of the perquisites of the Court of the Hundred, and of the issues of all fines, amerce- ments, and forfeitures to the lord, leviable within the town, iSs, Whereof he prays allowance of 75*. of a certain piece of land com- monly called le Wester leaze under Clyff, formerly and hereto- fore in the hands of the reeve of the town aforesaid, for the aforesaid rent of js., and now taken into the hands of the lord. . . ^ Burgage is an ancient tenure proper to boroughs ; it is also used for a free- hold house. The electors in boroughs were such as held burgages or ancient tenements within the boroughs, which gave them the right of electing Members of Parliament. G 82 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, js. And he paid to Griffin Harbert, as appears by acquittance, jis. And so the same accountant owes upon his acc. nihil. Signed, John Donn.^’ The following is extracted from a ‘Book of the Surveigh ^ of the Lordships of Laugharne,’ made by the jury, 2nd October, 34th Elizabeth, according to articles given them in charge by Thomas Hanbury, auditor, and Robert Davies, receiver, &c. : — “ The town of Laugharne we find to be a corporation, granted by Sir Guido de Bryan the younger, in King John’s days, about 300 years past, then being lord marcher of said town and lord- ship of Laugharne, having jura regalia ^ in himself, as appeareth by his deed of grant unto the burgesses of the said town of Tallaugharn, as well for the government of the Corporation afore- said, as also free commons of divers land there within the liber- ties of said town of Laugharne, to the number of 400 acres, as by ancient custom out of time and mind the burgesses and free- holders now holdeth. There are contained within the liberties of the town of Tallaugharn in number about 200 dwellings, but some in decay. The freeholders and burgesses held their bur- gages, houses, and lands within the liberties aforesaid in burgh and soccage tenure, and are free from all services to the lord of the manor, or lordship of Tallaugharne, more than paying their free rent of ^9 5^'. 4^. yearly for the burgages of the said town, at two times in the year, that is to say, at May and Michaelmas ; which rent is for the burgages holden within the liberties of the said town of Tallaugharne, and particularly due from every free- holder. Also the lord of the said manor may command to borrow of every burgess in the town of Tallaugharne the sum of twelve pence, as appeareth by their grant from Sir Guido de Bryan aforesaid, and also the burgesses of the said town by the said grant, choose by the greater assent of them twice in the year, viz. at May and Michaelmas, a sufficient burgess of the same town to be their portreeve,^ to keep their court every 15 days, and also the said portreeve is to make or choose a bailiff or catchpoll, to arrest and to levy and raise the lord of the lord- 1 The original surveigh is in the possession of the Corporation of Laug- harne. One prerogative of the jura regalia was the trial and execution of criminals within the lordship. 2 At time William 1. defeated Harold, the chief officer of London was called “Portreeve,” or Portgrave, from two Saxon words signifying, “Chief governor of a harbour.” PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 83 ship free rents. Also the said portreeve is to levy and raise all the amerciaments of the said town of Laugharne, and to be accountable unto the lord aforesaid for the same. Also we keep one fair yearly within the said town on St. Martin’s day, being nth Nov., the toll whereof the portreeve is accountable for to the lord. Also the parishioners of Llansydurnen hold their lands there in burgh and soccage tenure, being within the burgh and liberties of town of Tallaugharn, and hold under the town court as the freeholders and burgesses there hold, and pay in chief rent to the lord of Laugharne aforesaid, the sum 375-. yearly, twice in the year, that is to say, at May and Michaelmas, due particularly upon the freeholders of Llansydurnan.’’ The jurisdiction of the castle extended to Pale, a farm-house belonging to M. Jones, Esq. It is near Llandowror. I have noticed the markets and fairs granted to Thomas Powell, Esq., near the beginning of Part L The charter of the burgesses of Laugharne, in possession of the Corporation, says: ‘‘Guido de Bryan the younger has granted to the burgesses of Laugharne all the good laws and customs which the burgesses of Caermarthen have used and enjoyed in time of King John, Lord Edward, the son of Henry, and their pre- decessors. The weights and measures preserved, which were in time of Guido de Bryan the elder, and granted to the same a free common in our whole North Wood, that is, in the whole forest of Coydebeath Coydebech, and all that common pasture in the Laugharne Marsh, called ‘ Maen Corse,’ or Maen-y-cors, by the boundaries as it is walked about. Further, a free common from the rivulet called Macorells, ascending to Greenslades Head, and so to the west above Eynonsdown, or Eynonsdune, by way leading to Bran ways, ^ and thence untill Corran’s Head, ascending till Honey Lake or Horilake, thence to the head of Tady hill, and so descending untill passenan or Passenants Ehislake, and towards the east until the limits between Moldenhill and that plough land which was formerly Rice’s, the son of William, descending to the water of Taf, and so to Heming’s Well, thence ascending to Hoarston or Morestone, thence descending to Blindwell and to Rochcomb, and so down to our ancient whirl- pool of Taf, thence to Howelln’s Croft or Showwellecroft, ascend- ing to the Burch and Meer, so coming down to the Long Rock, which is by our virgultum of Thalacharn. (Virgate is the common name for a garden or any enclosed land.) We have granted to the same one way, in breadth 16 feet, to water their cattle from ^ Branways must be Bromwast. g2 84 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, the above common pasture by passenan Ehislake to the water of Taf. We have granted to the same one acre of moor in length and breadth, to dig turf clods where they will choose it, in the turbary of passenan Ehislake.’^ Turbary ground is that where turf is got. To have a turbary was counted for something in Eng- land formerly. Coydebech means ‘^Little Wood."” Maen-y-cors, mentioned above, means ‘‘the marsh near the rocks.’’ “ Mac- orells ” must be the Makerelle Lake. Coranssheved means “ head of the Coran stream” or Corrans head; “heved” is Saxon. Tadyshull is a farm close to Halfpenny Furse, spelt Tadyhill here. Moldenhill is where Molden Farm is by Halfpenny Furse and St. Clears Bridge. “We have granted the burgesses that they, for the transgression or forfeiture by servitude, lose not their own goods and chattels found on their hands or in any other place deposited in our liberty as far as they will be able to prove them to be their own, and that if the burgesses, or some of them, within our liberty, shall die testate or intestate, we nor our heirs will not confiscate their goods, but that their heirs may entirely have them as far as the said chattels of the deceased have been kept, so that knowledge and certainty may be had of their heirs, and that none of them be vexed for the debt of any neighbour unless he be debtor or surety, and though he be somebody’s security he may not be compelled to pay, whilst the debtor hath from whence he may or can pay. That all transgressions within our liberty committed may be forgiven on same consideration as in the borough of Caermarthen hitherto accustomed, and that if any one of them within his villa,^ shall forfeit to any one, let him not be brought within the gates of the castle, so that he can give good and safe pledges for his appearance; and that none be compelled to accommodate their lord nor any bailiff of his beyond twelve pence unless they do it of their own good will, and that no inquisition be made of the things of foreigners by the burgesses, if they possess them freely, nor by foreigners of the burgesses. We grant to the burgesses that they choose twice in the year two competent burgesses for our portreeve, i. e, one in the next hundred after feast of St. Michael, and another in the next hundred after Easter, by common consent of the same, and not by our authority, or any bailiff of ours, to govern the hundred, and to receive attach- ments belonging to the hundred, to receive the return of the villa, and the toll, and that the said portreeves should deliver the said ^ Villa is another name for township. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 85 returns or tolls to us or to our certain bailiff, for that purpose assigned within the villa of Tallacharn, by sale ; and that they may not have any other office of buying, exchanging, aliening, or servitude, which may prejudice them within or without the villa. We have granted further that the burgesses be free from all servitude and service of ploughing, grinding, mending the mill- pond, and all other kinds of services that may redound to their slavery or loss within or without the villa, and that they go not into the army unless it be to defend their own as the burgesses of Caermarthen. We further grant that if any one in open day in presence of his neighbours shall buy anything, and afterwards that thing be evil spoken of, as if stolen, the buyer shall lose nothing if his neighbours shall swear they knew not that he bought of a thief.’’ After saying that this charter is impressed with our seal,” these witnesses are given as present — Galfred de Caunn, P. de Cadmr, Willo de Caman, Tho. de Pryce, Roger Corbet — knights. John Laundry, Walter Malenfant, Mayor of Caermarthen, Thomas B., Esq. and others. In another copy of this charter there are these witnesses added — Geoffrey de Caunville, Patrick de Chaworth, William de Caunville, Thomas de Roche, which all are knights. To this attach some more facts relative to these matters gathered from the researches of Mr. Kemp, an antiquarian, who visited Laugharne, wrote the results of his inquiries here in the ‘ Gentleman’s Magazine ’ for October, 1839, 1842. He says : Some of the lands of the Corporation were got rid of, viz. Maen-y-cors, which is a great part of their commons, and a great profit to the inhabitants of Laugharne, which com- mon was passed by way of exchange, as appears by an indenture ^ dated y® xxvi. October, anno regni d’nae n’rae Eliz. XVI""® (and diverse burgesses of the town and inhabitants there not assenting to the same), to the great decaying of many, and for those lands of Maen-y-cors thus conveyed away. Sir J. Perrot assured to the burgesses a yearly rent of 6s, Sd, for ever. The Crown resuming possession at Sir J. Perrot’ s attainder; this rent long remained unpaid.” “ I found,” he says, among the muniments, two records that successful application had been made ; one is, an order of Court of Exchequer of James I.’s time, much defaced, for its payment ; for ever barring any claim by them for arrears ; another order of this Court, dated July ist, 5th year of Charles IL, to same effect.” He says he could not ascertain whether the ^ Indenture — ^John ap Richard, Portreeve of Tallaugharne, October, i 6 th Eliz. 1574. — Corporation Muniments. 86 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, rent was now received (/. e, about year 1833-4, when he was in Laugharne). He says : Sir J. Perrot took one parcel of Common Wood to his own use, called Coydbech, to the number of twelve acres, without consent of the greatest part of the town, and that muniments of the Corporation of Laugharne he found in excellent condition ; they escaped the destroying measures of Owen Glyndwr in Henry IV/s time ; they incidently record his burning the title-deeds and other muniments of St. John’s Priory and Chancery of the Principality of Wales, in Co. Caermarthen.” Mr. Kemp took some of this account from an ancient book titled, ‘ The Surveigh of Lordship of Laugharne,’ belonging to the library of Sir J. Powell (the Judge). CORPORATION OF LAUGHARNE. The Corporation of Laugharne consists of a portreve, two common attorneys, one recorder, four constables, a bailiff or crier, and a foreman of the jury. The outgoing portreve names the foreman of the jury for the ensuing year. The bailiff of the closing year is sworn in again, that he may nominate a new jury ; he then chooses twenty from the body of the burgesses to consti- tute it ; this new jury elects the portreve. Before electing him, the names of all the burgesses are called over, then those of the shareholders. The new portreve appoints the bailiff for the ensuing year. The portreve is sworn in only for six months, though it is understood he remains a year. He is chosen at Michaelmas ; sworn in again in May. He is always elected on a Monday. The Sunday following he gives a breakfast to the jury- men, aldermen, and any one he pleases to invite ; after it they attend him to church for the morning service. He gives a dinner to the same parties on the Monday fortnight following that on which he was elected. T’he jury are sworn for six months, but it is understood they remain in a year. They are sworn in again for the next six months if they are present in court ; if any are absent the bailiff selects others. The bailiff, in proclaiming that the court is about to sit, says, “ O yes, O yes, O yes ! all those persons belonging to the Court Leet and Court Baron of our sovereign lady, the Queen, draw near and give your attention.” He closes the court thus : ^*0 yes, &c., all persons who have met here now, may depart hence, and meet here again at eleven o’clock this day fortnight. God save the Queen.” At this court he calls over the names of the jury. It is an adjourned court, meeting every four- teen days j its business then is to transfer property and leases from PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 8/ one person to another, to renew leases, with other matters con- nected with the Corporation. Each juryman received two cakes and some ale when they opened the fairs held in Laiigharne on 6th May and nth November. The fairs are discontinued, but the cakes and ale are given, though the last half year of May, 1871, they were omitted. The portreve has <^10 a year out of the box, which is in lieu of the tolls he once derived from the market, &c., and receives the rent of a field called Portreve’s Field,’' ^ which varies from <^15 to<^i8a year. The two common attorneys are sworn in for the year. They collect the rents belonging to the Corporation, and see to the repairs of the roads. They have is. for every pound they collect. The recorder, according to usage, is elected for life ; his business is to make out rent rolls, draw up leases. He has ^8 a year out of the box. The four constables are sworn in for the year. A piece of land called ‘‘Constables’ Piece,” ^ yields ^12 a year ; that is divided between them yearly. The bailiff has <^5 a year out of the box. Every member of the Corporation is a burgess. There are six or seven hundred. Seventy-six of them come into possession for life, by senior rotation, of portions of land on Hugden Hill, the gift of Sir Gui de Brian. As some of the seventy-six die off, the others come in for their portion. They are required to live in the township, and to be householders, in order to have the land. The Corporation lands are now valued at <^20,000. They were once far more extensive than they are now. Anciently they extended to St. Clears, Pendine, into Marros, Eglwyscummin, and Keffig. The boundaries of lordship of Laugharne, which are these lands granted by Sir Gui to the Corporation, are preambulated every third year on Whit Monday by the burgesses. It is called the “ Com- mon Walk.” They have done so ever since Sir Gui’s time. The circuit is upwards of twenty miles. They set out at six o’clock A.M., attended by large number of people and many boys, return- ing at six P.M., when they go three times round the Market House cheering. The people and boys attend them that they may bear in mind what land belongs to the Corporation. The boys are asked 1 This field is walled in, and is at the corner of the lane leading from Little Milton Farm to the high road, going down to Laugharne town ; the lane comes out just opposite that leading to Mapsland ; the field is at this end of the lane. ^ “Constables’ Piece” is Corporation land. It skirts the lower Llandawke road, reaching from the gate by which the stream of water runs from Bronwast and Llandawke, nearly up to Little Milton Farm, and ends at the gate close to this farm and on its right ; the hedge here passing from this gate separates Constables’ Piece from the field, passing before the farm a little way from it. 88 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, if they know the names of the places they come to ; if they do not, they stand them upon their heads that it may make them remember the names they tell them. They carry mattocks, to dig up the soil at intervals ; some of the customs observed at this pre- ambulation have ceased, as, for example, that of throwing cakes out from the windows of the town-hall to the girls and boys in the street. Nothing is known respecting the original style of building of I^augharne Castle, and little of the after-changes it underwent. The three sketches of it here, viz. Nos. 2, 3, 4, represent its condition at different periods. Seated on the edge of the sea, it is what would be termed in Germany ‘‘a Water Castle for at very high spring-tides, when the sea washes far into the town, it is almost surrounded with water. We may safely decide that that was the hall where the gable end is flanked by two towers looking on to Wogan Street: if so, the two stories above it tell that its roof did not glitter from afar, though its floor in summer might have looked bright, strewn with fresh roses. It was deemed very important in Italy and Germany that the roof of the great hall should be seen glittering afar off ; to this end, those of Germany were covered with coloured tiles or slates, those of Italy with coloured marbles. In an ancient document belonging to the library of Sir J. Powell (the Judge), of Broadway Mansion,^ now in possession of the Corporation, is a description of the castle. The document is titled, ‘‘A Book of the Surveigh of the Lordship of Tullangharne, alias Laugharne, with the members made by the oathes of the same parties under-named, the 2d day of October, in y^ xxxvii. yere of the raigne of our Soveraigne Lady Elizabeth, etc., according to certain articles given them in charge by Thomas Hanbrury, auditor ; Robert Davye, receiver ; and others her Majesty’s Commissioners for that service,” etc. Then follow the names of the jury, i. e. James Pretherech, armiger, and eighteen others. The document thus describes the castle: ‘‘The same (i,e, the castle) is situate on the south side of the towneof Laugharne, and adjoin- ing to the same ; the chief prospects whereof are towards a creek ^ ‘ ‘ When that mansion of Broadway was pulled down, the books of its library were removed to a barn near, and that document fell from the vehicle in which they were conveyed ; for some time it lay on a dung-hill, till an inhabitant of the town found it.” Mr. Kemp, the antiquarian, who visited Laugharne, and wrote an account of his researches in the ‘ Gentleman’s Magazine ’ for 1839 and 1842, says : “ The spot where the fountain stood in centre of the Castle Court is marked by a hollow.” A description of Broadway Mansion is in Part VI. LAUGH ARNE CASTLE (DATE UNKNOWN). The Castle on this page is correctly drawn, with land all round it. The same Castle, Avhich is the centre one in the page here, has by mistake been surrounded by seei. \ LAUGHARNE CASTLE, 1786. Carmarthenshire. See Part 4. LAUGHARNE CASTLE. {Date unknown.) LAUGHARNE CASTLE. 1740. TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 89 that floweth from Seavern, close to the said castle, and three miles and a half higher into the land. At the entry whereof, from the said towne, is a fair gate-house, having on it two lodgings, from which goeth a wall eastwards, along the garden afore-mentioned, compasswise to pile itself, and from the other side of the gate- house westward the like wall, within which is an outer court ffower hundred and 3 yards (/. e. 403) compass. The castle, or pyle itself, hath at the entrance to it a new strong gate, over which are fair chambers, with lights of stone hewed towards the outer court, the whole building of which castle is contrived compasswise from the said entrance, about a little inner court of ffower score and 10 yards in compass, in the midst whereof is a choyce fountaine, with a stately rounde staire of limestone wrought, and a porch over a part thereof, leading into a faire hall, at the upper end of which is a faire dyning chamber, and within the whole building a great number of lodgings faire and fit for such a pyle. The same hath been a very ancient castle, but utterly decayed till about 13 years past, when Sir J. Perrot did re-edify the same, and almost fully finished it, but now many of the windows, as well within as without, moulder away by force of the weather and y^ badness of y® stone, and the whole bad building thereof ; without excessive charges it is like within a few yeares to run to utter ruin. There is a garden without the court wall of the castle, consisting of 7 burgages and a half part lately built. Sir J. Perrot made considerable additions to the castle, and more in style of a Baronial residence \ that next to the principal tower of the north-west angle he built a large projecting gateway, over which were spacious apartments lighted by bay windows, flanked by two round towers, between which rises a pointed gable. Tradi- tion says there is a subterranean passage passing from the castle under Island House to the Strand ; another from Gosport House to the castle ; another from the castle and underneath the houses in Wogan Street to Island House. An evidence of the last is, that in treading on the floors of those houses there is a hollow sound, and the people in one house can hear, when all is silent, footsteps in the other houses. There is one from King Street to the church, according to tradition. Those houses in Wogan Street which begin at the castle and end at Island House, are the most ancient part of Laugharne, and were within the castle-gates. One of the houses is called the Porch House. It had once a large porch and a very heavy door pierced with nails larger than a half-crown piece, and there was till lately a large iron door in portcullis 90 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, fashion. In the front bed-room was a curious large arched fire- place, now partly destroyed, with steps going up one side of it, of which two remain and are curious in construction. The two chimneys belonging to it are outside, placed corner ways, just as the Flemings built their chimneys ; instead of the side facing you in the street, it is the corner ; it was built by the Flemings, no doubt, who settled here. One of the castle gates ^ was by the chapel and just above the present bridge by Island House ; another was across the road just below the Mariner’s Corner. It was taken down about eighty or one hundred years ago. Another stood by the sea, just where Victoria Cottage is. Here the gallows were stationed, and the street leading to them, now called Victoria Street, was then Hangman Street. Where now the row of houses is, there was then only two or three thatched cottages. The thatched house by the chapel is one of that period, and has the Elizabethan fire-places; it was built in 1736. The two cottages at the back of the castle, even with Victoria Cottage, stand over a cave where smugglers concealed their stolen goods. These were within the precincts of the castle. They are not so old, since on their site stood two ancient cottages with Eliza- bethan fire-places ; one had a large porch. The curate of Laugharne Church resided in it. The last and outer gate of the castle was across the road before the church-gates. Mr. Kemp says the foss which surrounded the castle is indicated by a slight depression of the ground. I do not see this depression. He saw it about 1834-6. He says probably it was a dry one. The inner enclosure he says can only be reckoned a fortress, or rather fortalice, sur- rounding a court-yard of about thirty-five yards in length from east to west ; eighteen in breadth from north to south. Mr. Kemp says : James Reddish, Esq., holdeth one water grist mill, rent per annum iii?, also one pidgeon house on the lord’s lands which he purchased of Morris Cannon ; Walter Vaughan shewed us a deed bearing date 3d June, regni dominse nostrae lizabeth xiii'"^', that Hugh William made to John Vaughan, who was rightful heire of the same. The pidgeon,” he continues, is now ruinous, and ready to fall to utter decay. Kifficke (Cyfig) Park impaled, containing 4 myles 3 quarters compass, every myle 1800 yards, wherein is by estimac’on 300 acres, whereof we find of copses and groves 12 acres, which we value each acre of y^ said copse and groves to be worth xiiP iiiF for the wood. Also we find one other parcel of timber trees of a hundred years growth or thereabouts, which we value every tree with bark, top and lop, to be worth 4s, 1 Part of this gate is built into the chapel. TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 9 1 Silly ground heathes and ffurzes, the number of acres, which we do value y® aforesaid grounds to be worth per ann. ;^6 13J* Possibly silly ground^’ maybe arable land; for Sillon is a furrow in French. About twenty minutes’ walk from Laugharne Castle stand the ruins of Roche 1 Castle at Broadway, in a field five minutes’ walk from the road, and at the back of the Inn called ‘^The Carpenters’ Arms.” But little of its history is known ; it belonged to the Perrots, the descendants of Sir J. Perrot, who held Laugharne Castle time of Elizabeth. I have been told it was turned into a monastery, and at one time became a nunnery. Tradition says a daughter of Sir Gui de Brian resided in it. One of the witnesses to Sir G. de Brian’s charter is Thomas de Roche, a knight. The names of several of Henry II. ’s followers in his expedition to Ireland are attached to certain localities in the neighbourhood of Laugharne. Makerelle Lake, or Brook, derives its name from the Norman knight Maque- relle ; so Passenant’s Lake, mentioned in Gui de Brian’s charter, was no doubt from the Norman knight Passenant. The wall enclosing the castle was in existence thirty or forty years ago, and the walls of the castle were up to the second floors, and the rooms and apertures of the windows remained ; now there is only a piece of the wall of the ground-floor and a large arch which looks as if it had been an entrance to a court-yard. Twenty-seven years ago a large round room existed with windows like the castle windows — small bay ones — and several small round rooms, without windows, close together, and a spiral staircase, and there was a tower. Tradition said these rooms had, underground, a communication with Laugharne Castle, and that pipes conveyed water to this castle from Orchard Park Wells. There still remain two oblong places which look like cells. Its inmates had a pleasant view down the valley to Fern Hill. The houses at Broadway were built with the materials taken from this castle ; the wall at the side of one of the houses, which is just opposite the ruins of the castle, looks so ancient that it was no doubt part of the castle. A subterranean passage is said to come from the castle to the Barques, issuing out at the part called Cockshelly, just under the New Walk. The Perrots -had some kind of agreement by which they had Roche Castle on condition of keeping the dovecote or a grist mill which was at the side of that house just before the ruins of the castle. The holes of the dovecote are to be seen now, this year 1878, at the gable end of this house. The part where the houses are at ^ See a drawing of it here. 92 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Broadway was called Roches ; now it is Broadway. About eighty years ago it was the custom for the people of Laugharne to go of an evening to the enclosure or greensward of Broadway Mansion, and amuse themselves by playing at bowls and dancing. Some told me it was at Roche Castle, and that there was cock-fighting here and a cock-pit. Island House, a most ancient and interesting one, is near the castle ; its walls in some parts as thick as those of the castle. The projecting part of it is properly the middle of the house ; the other half, extending on the other side of it, was de- stroyed by accident by the cannon-balls fired on the castle by Cromwell’s soldiers. At that time a partisan of his was living in the house ; and a small part of the half now extending out from the other side of the projecting part, was destroyed; one of the balls was preserved in the house up to 1823. It extended farther out at the back ; for on the outside wall, on the castle side, are two protuberances showing there had been a room ; besides, foundations proving a building went farther out. In the garden the foundation of a rounded tower was discovered underground in 1818; also Roman baths and leaden pipes ; an Etruscan urn was found in the Roman remains. About 150 years ago a small cottage was at the bottom ol the garden not far from the wall by the Strand ; there were steps from it to the sea ; the wall at bottom of the garden did not go so far out as now. At the front of the house an old door opening into a yard bears the date 1658. There were two bridges belonging to Island House till 1800, when, through the neglect of a guardian to the then minor — the heir to the property — their possession was lost. One bridge was on the Strand, and taken away a few years ago ; the other remains close to the house. Formerly there was no thoroughfare before the house ; the public road went by that row of houses opposite the turning to Stoneway, and pro- bably passed hence round the back of the mill which is on the Grist. This house appears in the sketch of the castle, dated 1740, and to the right of it. CORPORATION LANDS. The lands of the Corporation of Laugharne given by Sir Gui de Brian, which I have noticed, are extensive. Some of the land has been lost. The Corporation had once lands in Marros and Kiffig ; its lands extend now very near to St. Clears Bridge and beyond Jonah Webb’s cottage, which is a hundred yards from road turning to Tenby. It has land on both sides of the St. Clears road ; on one ROCHE CASTLE. At Broadway, Laugharne, See Part 4. •’‘b' ••'>1 r f PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 93 side it goes up to Cresswell Farm, though that is not Corporation property ; on the other side a small portion called The Lower Moor/^ including Morfabach, which begins at Morfabach, goes along the lower lands by the river-side to Brixstarrow Coombe, by Brixstarrow Farm. It is in this Lower Moor the burgesses, as I have noticed, have lands allotted them, into which they come by rotation. In the Upper Moor no land is allotted them. The rents of the lands here are collected and put in the town chest. This moor begins opposite Morfabach on the other side of St. Clears, and far beyond, goes to Halldown Farm and Cresswell, taking in Halfpenny Furze. Heoldown is proper way to spell it ; heol is a road in Welsh. The Lees and the land on Hugden is Corporation property — and this is all. The Lees are by the rocks and under the hills where New Walk is ; in breadth extends from the rocks to the Pill, and in length from the cottages past the Bach Point, coming out from Cockshelly up to the Causeway at Kingaddle, divided into the Western Lees and the Eastern. The Pill divides them. The first is on this side of the Pill by the rocks, as I have just described ; the last is on the other side of the Pill, and goes the length of the Western, terminates at the Greenway path, passes out to the old Malt House, stopping three fields from it. Portions of the Lees are allotted to the burgesses. They come into them by senior rotation, as they do into those of Hugden ; and they were given by Gui de Brian in his charter. To keep each one’s piece of land distinct, a narrow strip is left unploughed. It is called a landmark ; it has also the name of Voor or Vors : the more correct word is Landsker. The Pill divides Corporation ground from Mr. Broadwood’s property. Brixstarrow Farm, Gin Hill or Recess Cot- tage by the sea, and a small house of Bennet’s past it, is Corporation property, and so is a part within the castle grounds where there is a mound and small coal-house ; J. Starkes, Esq. , pays something for it to the Corporation. The cottage on slope of the hill to the left of the gates of Fern Hill, and above it where trees are, and a por- tion of Fern Hill, is Corporation land ; and so is it from the stream across the lower Llandawke Road, which flows near where Llandawke Wood was, and the flat land in the Holloway fields, up to the mill on the Grist, and the Cors. There is a square, ponderous piece of rock, about four or five feet high, standing alone, past the Bach point, called “ Aber ^ Maen Stone Rock,” of which I get no certain information. Four elderly inhabitants tell me that in their early days they heard their parents say it was the Long Rock mentioned 1 See Part H. 94 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, in the charter ; others say the Long Rock must have been on the cliff side of the castle and by the river ; others, that it may be the Green Rock which is sunk in the sand, and lies midway between the small house Bennett occupies past Gin Hill and Dal y cors, or De la Corse Farm ; there is a pool by it called Green Rock Pool.” The rocks under the New Walk up to Kingaddle have all the appearance of having been washed by the sea, and by the rocks you see sand such as is found by the sea. There is historical evidence enough to show the sea washed up to these rocks. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 95 PART V. LAUGHARNE CHURCH — DISSENTING CHAPELS. Giii de BrimUs Tomb — Charities — Vicars of Laugharne — Rewards given for destroying Foxes — Monuinents in the Church and Churchyard. ‘‘A dim and mighty minster of old time ! A temple shadowy with remembrances Of the majestic past ! ” — Mrs, Hemans. This church, dedicated to St. Martin, is handsome and spacious, supposed to have been built, or rebuilt, as was observed, by the celebrated Sir Gui de Brian of Edward III.'s time. It was origin- ally in the gift of the lord of the castle, but at the attainder of Sir J. Perrot the barony escheated to the Crown. Eventually the Crown gave the church property to the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, in return for some manors they held, so the vicarage of Laugharne and rectory of Llansadurnen fell into their gift ; they still retain it. In Lewis’ ^Topographical Diet, of Wales’ Laug- harne is described as a prebend in cathedral church of Winchester, and rated at <^45 in the king’s books. In the account of the taxa- tion of Pope Nicholas IV., 1288-1292, the income of the church was ^26 i^s. 4d. Llansadurnen, which is a rectory, and held with Laugharne, is not noticed in this taxation. In the Report of the Commissioners appointed by Edward VI., 1552, “to take and make a just viewe, survey, inventorie of all maner of goods, plate, Jewells, vestyments, bells, and other ornaments within euery parrishe,” it states of Laugharne Church — “ In p’mis ij. Chalyces. Item iij belles.” Mr. Spurred of Caermarthen, in his Magazine, ‘Haul,’ pub. 1873, gives this account: “The church is built in the perpendicular style. It has a square central tower, embattled in that style which some antiquarians consider was introduced b^^ the Flemings ; it has a corner turret^ at one of the angles. When ^ This turret is called “The King’s Seat.” It had a niche at its side large enough for a person to sit in ; this was the King’s Seat. 96 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, the church was restored in 1873 this tower was lowered. It has suffered many alterations. Originally the floor was divided into three ascending grades approaching the altar, a form peculiar to many Welsh churches. It was destroyed, and the pavement of the chancel was put in the manner of an inclined plane, which has also been done away with. Its roof was beautiful, formerly decorated with gold, crimson, and azure. Small ornaments, something in the form of drops, as far as I can ascertain, were suspended from it. People came from all parts to see it. In no country do the churches present such splendid roofs as those of the perpendicular English. The porch on the north side, opposite that on the south side, has been destroyed, but the outline of the archway was completely restored in 1873 ; but is blocked up. The present north transept was the vestry some thirty-five years ago, and the south transept ]iad then no pews in it, and was used as a lumber place.^’ The Ten Commandments have been taken away, and are now in St. Clears church. There was about sixty years ago a room in the tower near the top, with a fire-place ; a friend of mine remembers a gentleman frequently occupying it. A sketch of the church is in the First Edition. An effigy of a lady of 14th century lies in an arched niche in the north transept ; it is not known whose it is. Some say it is that of a Lady Palmer ; it appears not. The Palmers were an ancient family of Laugharne, and are said to have built the north transept, which had the name of Palmer’s Isle. The Lady Palmer just mentioned is said to have met her death from a reaping-hook concealed in a hay-field ; and that her tomb was much injured, says tradition, by Cromwell’s soldiers, as well as the church itself. The interior of the church has some beauties. Stand at the lower part of the nave ; look down its length, and the two arches through which your eye passes to the Communion-table has something very beautiful in it. At the back of the Communion table is a range of decorated niches where figures were once enshrined. Here within the rails is the monument of Sir Gui de Brian, first possessor of the castle ; a description of it is given in the account of the monuments in this Part V. On south side of the Communion table are the piscina and sedilia, which have been perfectly and beautifully restored. They were discovered some time ago plastered up. Outside the rails on the south wall hangs the monument of Judge Powell who released the Bishops in time of James II. ; that is described in the account in here. The south transept must have been a chapel in Romish times, for in the wall is a piscina. There was a figure of St. George painted in one of A REMNANT OF THE CROSS IN CHURCHYARD OF PENDINE, No. i8. Part 20. URN FOUND UNDER THE FLOOR OF THE SOUTH TRANSEPT IN LATJGHARNE CHURCH. No. 7. See Part 5. i PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 9/ the windows. A fine head of Edward III. remains in a window on north side of the nave. An ancient cope is preserved which must have been very rich, and retains two or three figures of saints embroidered in gold. During the restoration of the church, in 1873-4, several interesting discoveries were made. Beneath the floor of the nave they found the walls of an older church ; it was narrower than the present one, and not so long, terminating just where the porch is. Another sign of an older church was seen. Pulling down one of the buttresses on south side of the church, there was a portion of the effigy of a lady built into it ; the neck and shoulders only, the head gone. It belonged very probably to the older church, and was taken to help build this one. Some- where else they found a stone, about a foot and half in length, with a cross carved on it, the work of the nth century. It stands now in the aperture of the Hagioscope, ^ which was also discovered at this time. In the south transept, under one of the stones of the floor, they dug up an urn, and buried it again. Its construction is rude; very little carving about it. There was something which seemed like cinders in it ; it is thought to be British. An aperture was discovered in south wall of the nave, close to the door leading into the church from the porch ; a white stone is inserted to mark its position. Within the porch a stoup remains, and a niche above which held a figure of the Virgin perhaps. Malkin, when he visited Laugharne in 1803-4, says : ‘^The church was in good repair.’^ Mr. Kemp, an antiquarian, in his account of Laugharne, published 1839 and 1842, says : ‘‘The velvet pulpit-cloth bears the date 1720, and about that time,” ^ he says, “ the bells of the church were cast at a house in Victoria Street. Some say in one on the left hand of the castle wall in Wogan Street. The metal came by sea.” These bells bear an inscription on each of them. One bell has this — i. “ Peace and good neighbourhood, 1729.” 2. “Pros- perity to the Church of England.” 3. “Prosperity to the Town and Parish, 1729.” 4. “Abraham Rudhall cast us all, 1729.” 5. “Prosperity to our Benefactor, 1729.” 6. “ Thomas Philipps, vicar, 1729.” These inscriptions were copied by H. Williams, Esquire, churchwarden, when the belfry was repaired and a new crown put into the third bell. The bells three and four, being cracked, were sent, August 3, 1872, to Messrs Mears and Stonibank, Whitechapel, London, to be recast at the expense of W. Norton, Esquire. In ^ There are two Hagioscopes discovered ; the other, which is on the opposite side to the above, they have closed up. i ^ See the Parish Register. H 98 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, 1720 those yew trees, which give so pleasing a shade and so venerable a look to the picturesque churchyard, were planted. The old one near the church door in the south transept is called the Fox Tree,” from the custom of hanging fox’s heads on it : polecats and other animals were hung on it as well. In old times when it was a necessity to exterminate certain animals, as foxes, wolves, &c., a reward was given to those who captured them, and it was usual to attach their heads to the cross in the churchyard for the purpose of valuing them. They remained on the cross usually for three church services, and after that the reward was given. For a wolf’s^ head the same sum was awarded as was for the capture of the greatest robber ; for foxes 2s. 6d, and i^-. 6d, In the Register of Laugharne Church is this account of the rewards : By a vestry held May 5th, 1723, it was agreed that as there was a difference in the accustomed reward for destroying vermin, there should be imposed on the Town, Marsh, and Parish an allowance — For every vixen fox,^ 6d . ; every dog fox, i^-. od. ; every cub or young fox of either sex under a year old, is. od . ; every badger, 6d.; every wild cat, 6d . ; every owl, 3^. — Signed — Thomas Philipps, vicar.” Before the present church gate stood an ancient cross, similar to the one that will be described in Part VI. Funerals used to go three times round it before entering the churchyard ; there is no appearance of a cross in Laugharne churchyard. Almost every churchyard I have seen since my sojourn here has had one either entire or a remnant. Funerals used to pass through the large gates by the turning to the Parsonage House, and there was a road well kept going from them to the east end of the church. The pathway up to the church porch was made some years ago ; before that the way into the churchyard was by the road. At the side of that pathway, and directly opposite the porch, and on this side of the old style and steps still remaining, was a gate with steps ascending to it, through which they entered. No place abounds more in charities than Laugharne, nor are the inhabitants of any place more ready to relieve the wants of others than those of this town, both in past and present times. The west gallery was pulled down in 1873; on its front were recorded the various gifts to the poor, to the schools, and the church. They are the following : ^ Tradition says the last wolf that was captured in Wales was in the parish of Reynoldston, or Rinnoldton, six miles from Tenby. 2 A vixen fox is a female one. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 99 I. Zacharias Thomas, gent., who devised an annuity of ^4 to be applied to the use of the poor of the said town and parish, and charged his freehold lands called Norwaddin, in the said township, with the payment thereof II . Mrs. Letitia Cornwallis, who bequeathed the sum of ,^100, the interest thereof to be for ever annually distributed to such of the said parish, and in such proportions as the ministers and churchwardens for the time being shall see fit. The said legacy and an accumulation of interest, having been invested in the 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, produce the annual sum of ^10 135-. 8d, III. Elizabeth Foster, widow, who bequeathed the sum of ^150, 4 per cent. Bank Annuities, the interest thereof to be applied in the instruction of poor children in the said town, in reading, and in the principles of the Christian religion : annual sum, ^6. IV. Mary Griffiths, widow, who bequeathed the sum of ^52, the interest thereof to be applied in buying weekly twelve penny loaves to be distributed between twelve poor widows, or old maids, at the discretion of the vicar and churchwardens for the time being: ^2 12s. Katherine Elliott, of the town of Laugharne, widow, whose will is dated 1585, Maye 3d, in which she desires to be buried in the chancel of Laugharne church, left a sum of money to this church and to the poor. Elliott was her maiden name. V. Jane Morgan, widow, who bequeathed the sum of ^52, 5 per cent, stock. The interest thereof to be applied in buying twelve penny loaves, to be given to twelve poor widows of the said town, every Lord’s Day for ever: ^2 12s. VI. The gift of Mr. Matthew Warren, citizen of Bristol, clothier, being is. to be distributed in bread to twelve poor widows of the town of Laugharne, weekly for ever. On the north side of the nave, and against the wall where now the monument of C. Skinner Shaw, Esq., hangs, was a slab some time ago. On the top of it a square board had these words : Matthew Warren, clothier and citizen of Bristol, left twelve penny loaves for twelve poor widows of the town of Laugharne, to be given weekly.” These loaves were every Sunday, before the morn- ing service, placed on this slab and piled up in the middle, and distributed after the service. At each end of the slab was a brass candlestick, such as is carried at processions in Romish Church. H 2 lOO ANTIQUITIES OK LAUGHARNE, THE VICARS OF LAUGHARNE. Rev. John Palmer (vicar), T427. Alan Percy (rector); JohnPalmer (second vicar), 1535. John Evans, 1591 — 1618. William Thomas, vicar of Laugharne, 1644 or 1645 ; Bishop of St Davids, 1 68 1 ; Bishop of Worcester, 1684. George Owen — Michael Owen, 1684 or 1689. William Lloyd, died 1706. Thomas Phillips, 1707; 1748 died. Edmund Sandford, 1748; died, 1790. Thomas Watkins, 1790; died, 1799. John Williams, 1799; died, 1829. William Daun Harrison, 1830; died, 1834. Jasper Nicolls Harrison, 1834. William Thomas, Bishop of St Davids, just mentioned, it was who let the ancient vicarage of Laugharne go to ruin, which stood in the field by the church gates. (See the account of it in Part VHI.) While he was vicar of Laugharne, a company of cavalry in the service of the Parliament visited the town. They asked whether the popish vicar was still there ; whether he continued reading the liturgy, and praying for the queen ? One of them said he would go to the Church next Sunday, and if Mr. Thomas dared to pray for that^ he would certainly pistol him. Information of the threat having been conveyed to the vicar, his friends earnestly besought him to absent himself. Thinking that would be a cowardly deviation from his duty he resolutely refused. When he began his duty the soldiers placed themselves in the pew next to him. When he prayed for the queen, one of them snatched the book out of his hand, saying, with a coarse expression, ‘What do you mean by praying for that ? ’ meaning Henrietta, the king’s wife. Mr. Thomas bore the insult with so much Christian meekness and composure that the soldiers who had been guilty of it shrank away ashamed and confused. He continued the service, and gave an excellent discourse with great spirit and animation. On his return home he found the soldiers waiting to beg his pardon, and desire his prayers to God on their behalf. The Parliamentary Committee soon afterwards deprived this resolute pastor of his living. On the Restoration of Charles H. he was rewarded for his brave loyalty; appointed Bishop of Worcester. He faithfully served Church and State in this See until the Revolution of 1688, when, refusing to take the oath ^ of allegiance to William HI., he would have been turned out of his See had not his death intervened to spare him this indignity. His objections to the oath were conscientious, and 1 He meant the Queen Henrietta, Charles’ wife ; called her by a very ill name. 2 He was a non-juror. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. lOI could not be overcome.’’ In a letter to a friend, he says: If my heart do not deceive me, and God’s grace do not fail me, I think I could suffer at the stake rather than take this oath.” I have obtained this account of Rev. W. Thomas from ‘ Curiosities ^ of the Pulpit,’ by Rev. Prebendary Jackson. It is surprising that Mr. Thomas should hesitate to take this oath, or could be so blind to the miseries and dangerous state James IPs policy was bringing on the country, and that any faithful Protestant clergyman could uphold a popish sovereign. A letter exists of Archbishop Sancroft to Mr. Thomas in 1683, in which he complains of a custom then prevailing and continued long after, of having a sermon preached in the nave of a cathedral while the prayers were read in the choir. It arose from there being no sermon in the parish churches ; and in order that the people might have one, there was one preached in the cathedral after prayers in the parish church were over. Generally an eminent man preached. LAUGHARNE PARISH AND TOWNSHIP, AND LLANSADURNEN. The township and parish of Laugharne contain 1100 acres. Laugharne is a very large parish, and bounds Llansadurnen and Llandawke parishes on all sides. Laugharne parish extends to Bishop’s Court Farm where it meets Llandowror, and to the middle of St. Clears bridge, touching St. Clears parish. It reaches the Independent Chapel near ‘‘Three Lords” on the Upper Pendine road. The lodge -gate of Parson Lays divides the parish of Laugharne from the township, which last ends at a narrow lane just past Cross Inn on St. Clears road, where it meets the parish. The township ends in the Llandawke lane, and meets Llandawke parish, where the J udge in a trial ordered the gate to be taken away, and passes to Great Bromwast Farm to meet Llandawke parish, where the stream runs across the lower Llandawke road. Laugharne township meets Llansadurnen parish somewhere about the centre of Llansadurnen road. Llansadurnen parish goes up the road to back of the church. Pont-y-glaspool divides the two parishes of Laugharne and Llansadurnen. Township of Laugharne ends 100 yards beyond the farm of Mr. Richards at Broadway. Llansadurnen parish dovetails in between Laugharne parish and township, for it passes across the Broadway road, goes over the hill where Dells Grove is, down the other side to the Pill, taking in Honeycors and ^ Pub. by Hogg and Son, York Street, Covent Garden. 102 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Brook Mill and Farm, which last divides parishes of Laugharne and Llansadurnen. The first then goes to the gate opening on Pendine Burrows and ends, but above the hills. It includes Castle Lloyd, and comes down the valley to Frog's Hole and Duke's Bottom. THE DISSENTING CHAPELS. There are four of these in Laugharne parish, viz. the Independent, Wesleyan, Calvinistic Methodists, Baptist. The Wesleyan Chapel near the Cors was built in i8io. The celebrated Richard Trefrey was then superintendent of the district. There was no Welsh congregation in Wales till the beginning of the present century. The Wesleys often visited Wales after the commencement of the Revival. The old ruin by the turning to Gosport, which I have described in Part VI. as a Mariner's Chapel in Romish times for votive oifer- ings, was, in the remembrance of elderly people now living, held by the Calvinistic Methodists, who performed Divine service in it. The Rev. Peter Williams, whom I have noticed in Part VII., sometimes preached in it. From that chapel they removed to the one they now possess by Island House, in Wogan Street. I have mentioned its being built in Part VHI. There is also a Baptists' Chapel near Brook, in the Parish of Llansadurnen, on the Pendine Road, and lately built. There were Quakers formerly residing in Laugharne. Their burying place was the part still called ‘‘The Quaker's Yard," a field near Ant's Hill, on the opposite side of the road to it. (See Part VHL, where I mention it. ) The Calvinistic Methodists' Chapel I have noticed in Part VHI. There is an Independent Chapel at the “ Three Lords," in the parish of Laugharne. The Independents of Laugharne trace their origin to the labours of the Rev. Stephen Hughes, the ejected minister of Meidrym. Till the passing of the Toleration Act they had no regular place of worship, but from 1688 till 1697 they worshipped at Palmawr, in the parish of Kilfig, when for some unknown reason they had to leave. They are next found at the Mwr near Morfabach in 1704 ; they continued there till 1750, when they migrated to the town of Laugharne, settling at “the Bachs" till 1850, when a disused old meeting-house of the Quakers was given them on the cliff where the present chapel stands {vide ‘ Hist, of Independents in Wales,' by Drs. Rees and Thomas, v. iii. p. 368-375). The Baptist Chapel at Bwlchnewydd, about two miles from Laugharne, on the road to Llandowror, was built in 1801. Another PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. I03 Baptist Chapel is at Plashett, in Llansadurnen parish, a mile from Laugharne j built 1862. MONUMENTS IN LAUGHARNE CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD. Within the altar rails is Sir Gui de Brian's monument, possessor of Laugharne Castle, timie of Henry III. (In Part IV. is the account of him.) It is a square, solid stone, standing on the floor by the north wall : it has no inscription. His arms are carved on it. They are, first, three piles for Brian ; second, a lion rampant ; third, a label of five points ; fourth, a chevron between three poping- Above this tomb a tablet is attached to the wall, bearing this inscription : In this chancel, in the grave of his ancestors, are deposited the remains of William Skyrme, Esquire, late of Laugharne, also of Allt-y-GoG, Cardiganshire, and of Launceston, in the county of Cornwall, who departed this life April 23, 1823. As a tribute of respect to his memory, and to beautify the House of God, the two windows of the north and south side of the Lord’s Table were erected with stained glass by his only surviving child. A.D. 1858.” ‘‘Our days upon earth are as a shadow” (Job viii. 9). “The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants” (Psalm xxxiv. 22). On the north side of the east window over the altar is a marble monument with this record : IN MEMORY OF THOMAS LAUGHARNE, OF LLANDAWKE, GENT., And M.A. of Jesus College, Oxon, who. True to the Principles there imbibed, discovered there good Influence, and the Benefits of a Liberal Education. In his moral and Religious Conduct, not less distinguished ■for his social virtues. Cheerful without levity. Affable without design. Generous without ostentation. He died as he had lived, dear to all his Friends, most lamented by a most affectionate Wife, Dorothy, daughter of E. R. Lloyd of Llanstephan, Esquire, who Erected this Monument to the Best of Husbands. Ob. 2 July, 1739. JEt. 42. 104 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, On the other side of the altar window (/. e, SQuth side) is a similar marble monument with these words : Accede Hospes Et si quid lacrymis vel moerori vacet Hie pavies movebit H. S. E. The following are translations of the Latin on Sir John Powell’s monument and on Matthew Pryce’s, both in the chancel. Sacred to the memory of John Powell, knight golden. If you desire to know what sort of a person he was, you must seek for it not from the marble of a small tomb, but from the annals of the realm, and from books of historians. He successfully pursued a liberal education, in which from his earliest youth he was brought up under an excellent instructor, Jeremy Taylor, afterwards Bishop of Down and Connor, and then in Oxford University afterwards. Although given to literary studies, such was his modesty it would rather have pleased him to seek an elegant seclusion in the country. Yet thinking he ought to serve his country, he preferred to be involved amidst knotty points of law, and to shine in the Forum, and provided he succeeded he did not object to become distinguished ; therefore he never anxiously sought for honours ; very often of his own accord he declined them when brought to him. As a Judge he adorned the tribunal both of the Queen’s Bench and the Common Pleas. He did not hesitate to refuse the custody of the Great Seal, superior indeed to every title. How active a defender he was of the Church those seven Apostolical Bishops are witnesses. When summoned before his tribunal for courageously vindicating the faith of Christ, he fearlessly set free them. Having been to his honour ^ removed from his judicial post, the affairs of the kingdom^ having changed, not long after he again filled it. At length, broken down by the many labours he endured, whilst he was consulting for the good of his country, whilst he was rendering assistance to every injured and oppressed person, and protecting the dignity of the laws and the monarchy, he died in the year of our Lord 1696, aged sixty- three.” Meaning that it was for no dishonourable conduct that he was removed. 2 It means on the accession of another king. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. I05 TRANSLATION OF THAT ON MATTHEW PRYCE’s. ‘‘Approach, Stranger, and if you have any leisure for lamentation This will move you. H. S. E. Matthew Pryce, Esq., son of Vaughan Pryce of New Town Hall, in Co. Montgomery, Bar., and grandson of John Powell, knight,* of the College I II I. viralis, for settling the disputes in King’s Bench. With an unshaken love of virtue were united, vieingly and happily, remarkable talents and excellent judgment. In his aged youth he shone forth with the most distinguished endowments, which are an honour and ornament to those more advanced in life. He had a soul pure without stain, a genius splendid without pride, modest, serious without severity. Such was the sweetness of his manners that he seemed to be born for conferring obligations on mankind ; such also was his firmness that he could not by any examples be turned aside from a right course. But the opinions which we first formed of him whilst amongst us were heightened at his death. When a young man, by a spirited impulse he most readily gave up the study of the laws of his country, to which he had first applied his mind, that he might entirely devote himself and all his thoughts to the Church, whose ancient discipline, which he had derived from the Sacred Scriptures, he faithfully exhibited by the integrity of his life. Whilst he was thinking of going to Cambridge, snatched away by sudden disease, very dear to all his friends, he died. He lived for twenty years, five months, nineteen days. He died the second day ^ after the Ides of March. — i.e. the 14th of March, a.d. MDCCXX. “John Pryce, Baron, most piously erected this last testimonial of his affection and love for the best of brothers. “P. C.” MATTHHEUS PRYC^US. D/ Vaughani Prycsei de villa Nova in Com : de Monte Gomerico, Bar, Filius, et Johanius Powelli, Eq : aur : Collegii HH. viralis litibus in Banco Regia judicandis. Ex Felia Nepos. Cum amore virtutis inconcusso. Egregia Indoles et Indicii Vigor. Certatim et feliciter convenire. In senili juventute summis. Quo ^ Golden. 2 They never said the second day after the Ides, but Pridie^ i. e. the day before. P.C. most probably means Pius Conditus. I 06 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, provectioribus decori sunt et ornamento. Dotibus emicuit. Animus illi sine fuco candidus. Ingenium sine fastu splendidum, Sine severitate gravis Verecundia. Ea fuit morum suavitate. Ut demerendis liominibus natus videretur ; Ea pariter constantia ut nullis vel in prejus inimutari, vel deflecti. Poterat exemplis. Sed nascentum quam de eo jam incolumi concepimus opinionem. Ipse moriens longe superavit. Ligum patriarum studium cui primiim animum adhibuerat, Diviniori juvenis affectu lubentissime reliquit, ut ecclesise se curasque suas totus devoveset Ecclesise cujus antiquam disciplinam quam ex. S. S. hauserat integritate vitae fideliter expressit : sed dum Cantabrigiam ire meditatur,repentino abreptus morbo suis omnibus. Charissimus decessit, vixit anno: xx. men : v. Dies xix. ob. ID. Id. Martii a.d. MDCCXX. Johannes Prycaeus, Bar., Fratri optimo, et bene merentissimo, hoc ultimum Pietatis, et Amoris sui Tes- timonium. P. C.” M. Prycaeus interred under sth stone in altar floor, which I shall give presently. On the floor within the altar rails are several stones recording the burial places of these families. First stone says : ‘‘ Underneath is deposited the body of Sir John Crow, Bart. : who died ist July, 1715, aged 76.” The second stone says: ‘‘Underneath are de- posited 1 . . . Anne, first wife of Sir Sackville Crow, who died the 13th 2 (or iSth) Dec., 1679, aged 38. And Sackville Crow, Esq., only son of Sir Sackville Crow and of the said Anne his wife, who died 15th February, 1700, aged 28.” The writing of the top of the third stone is hidden by the altar step, and I can only begin with this — “who died 1706, aged 69, and of Francis Cornwallis, of Albermarlis, Esq., son-in-law of the said Sir Sackville Crow, who died 19th August, 1728, aged 35. And of Elizabeth Maude, of Westmead, widow of Sir RobeT Maude, Bart. : Elizabeth Maude died 27th of March, 1779, aged 82.’’ ‘‘This matron’s wish through all her lengthened days Was not to captivate, but merit praise ; With liberal hand and sympathizing heart, To aid pale want, and blunt affliction’s dart. As oft withdrawing from the great and gay. She sought the cot where meek misfortune lay : And M^ould have kept each generous deed unknown. But mindful gratitude inscribed this stone.” 1 Here the altar-steps conceal the word. 2 And that date partially. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 10/ Elizabeth Letitia Jane Vaughan (the rest must have been cut off the for this is all), who died 6th August, 1696, aged 56. Here also lieth the body of Jane, wife to Francis Cornwallis, Esq., and daughter to Sir Sackville Crow, Bart., by Anne his first wife. She died October 7th, 1730, aged 58 years and 10 months.’’ The fifth stone says : Here lieth the body of Matthew Pryce, Esq., second son of Sir Vaughan Pryce, Esq., of Newtownhall in Co. Montgomery, Bart., who died March 14th, Anno Dom. 1721. ^tatis suae 20. Sors tua mortalis non est mortale quod optas.” ^ The sixth stone says : Underneath are deposited the bodies of John Laugharne, gent., who died 24th March, 1682, aged 60. And of Anne Lloyd, wife of the said John Laugharne, who died the 29th of April, 1717, aged 74 ; who was also married to Thomas Davies of Newton, gent. Also here lieth the body of Anne, daughter of the above-named John Laugharne and Anne his wife, who died 2 2d of March, 1758, aged 82 years.” The seventh stone. The inscription on it too worn to decipher. Outside the altar rails, and on the south wall, is a monument to the celebrated Judge, Sir J. Powell, who liberated the seven Bishops from prison in the time of James H. This is the inscription : M. S. JoHANNis Powell Equitis Aurati. Qualis fuerit. Non ab exiguo monumenti marmore sed ab annalibus Regni, et historicorum libris quseras edoceri. Bonus Artes, quibus sub Optimo praeceptore (Jeremia Taylor postea Episcopo Dunensi) A prima juventute enutritus erat. In Academia dehinc Oxoniensi feliciter excoluit ; inde quan- quam literis humanioribus dedito. Rure eleganter delitescere, quae erat ejus modestia, magis allubesceret, patriae tamen sese deberi ratus, modosis legum vinculis implicari, et in foro splendes- cere maluit ; et dummodo prodesset conspici non gravatus est. Honores itaque nunquam sollicitus petiit ultro ad se delates saepissime detrectavit utrumque tribunal banci, regis et commu- nium placitorum judex adornavit. Magni sigilli custodiam non dubitavit recusare, omni scilicet titulo superior. Quam strenuus Ecclesiae Defensor fuerit, testes II., septem Apostolici praesules ^ Translation: ‘‘Your condition is mortal;” what you wish for is not mortal. I08 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, quos ob Christi fidem fortiter vindicatam ad ipsius tribunal accitos intrepidus absolvit. Hinc a judiciaria cathedra honorfice dejectus, non multo post, mutatis regni rebus, eandem iterum implevit. Tandem laboribus quos tulit plurimos, dum patriae consuleret, afflicto cuique, et oppresso subveniret, tueretur legum et Mon- archiae dignitatem, fractus decessit. Anno Domini 1696, ^tatis 63.^ The translation of this is at end of monuments inside the church. Next to this is a marble monument with a shield ; an urn stands on it partly concealed with drapery. It bears these words : O ! reader, if thy mind be noble, if the remembrance of the good and wise should move thee to respect, know that this is the monument of Pennoyre Watkins, Esq., a man in whom all the fairest qualities of thy nature, with few of its defects, were united. His genius and application would have raised him to the summit of any profession, and his integrity made him deserving the situation. His gratitude to God, his zeal for liberty, his indefatigable exertions as a magistrate in the counties of Brecon and Caermarthen, his affection to his family, his sincerity to his friends, and, in short, his bene- volence to all, gained him a reputation so high above detraction as to convert envy into praise. He was born in Brecknockshire, on the 5th of November, 1721, being descended from the Watkins of Pen-y-ros, in that county and the Pen-y-ros ^ of the Moor in Herefordshire. On the loth April, 1791, his country lost and will long lament him. His body is interred in the family vault of this church, ^tat 70.” ‘‘To thee this tribute of respect is paid. By him who lov’d thee, dear Parental Shade. Oh ! may he live what thou hast been to be. And die lamented and revered like thee.” Thomas Waikins. On the same monument is : In memory of Mary, his wife, daughter of David Lloyd of Eb^ m, Co. Brecon, Esq. A lady-wife, virtuous and charitable, who lived an example of conjugal and maternal affection. She died at Brecon, Dec. 27th, ^ This monument of Judge Powell is adorned with an entablature and Corinthian columns. Beneath the cornice is Justice bearing the scales ; above it a shield, and a lion occupying the whole field ; on the top a helmet placed full front, the visor open ; a dog standing on his hind legs is placed on top of the helmet. On each side of the monument is an urn ; flames issue out of one. 2 The latter part of these two words I am not sure of, for the monument is so high up. 3 This word and these dates I am not sure of ; the monument so high up. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. IO9 1762/ 34I or 54. In memory also of their daughter Sarah, wife of Colonel Ravenscroft of this town, whose character will be best described by observing she inherited the virtues of her parents. She died July 3d,i 1780 or 1782, aged 25 ^ or 35.” Next to the above is a monument with a torch carved on each side, and an urn above, having drapery falling over it on each side : “ Near this place are deposited the remains of Mrs. Margaret Elliot, widow of George Elliot, Esq., who died the ninth day of July, 1817, aged 82.” Below is a monument with a cherub’s head above ; beneath a figure of a woman leans over an urn, with two torches placed cross- wise. It says : “Near this place are deposited the remains of George Elliot, Esq., of St. Botolph’s, in Co. Pembroke, many years an inhabitant of this town. He departed this life 28th Jan., 1799, 65th year of his age.” These two Elliots are interred outside the church in a nook secured by rails on the east side of the door leading into the south transept. The only mark is a long cross laid on the ground. A square grey stone attached to the wall here says : “ Sacred to the memory of Thomas Davies of Newton, gent., who departed this life 15th June, 1733, in 57th year of his age; and lies interred near this place, together with four sons and two daughters, by Martha, his affectionate wife, daughter of Richard Tooth, Esq., of Hixon, in Co. Stafford, who, out of singular esteem and regard to her dearly beloved husband and children, caused this monument to be erected.” Over the altar-steps, and between the window and the arch of the north wall, is a handsome monument with an entablature and pilasters. Beneath the cornice is written, “ Doce me numerare Dies Meos.” Underneath is a Death’s head, three cross bones under that. On one side : ‘‘Underneath lieth the body of Mrs. Elizabeth Powell, first wife to Sir Thomas Powell of Broadway, Bart., daughter to Thomas Mansell of Britton Ferry, in Glamorganshire. She was one of the most shining examples of primitive piety and goodness this age has produced ; one who wisely employed the short life allotted her here, making it one continued preparation for eternity. She devoted her youth to the service of God, and religion, and became so eminent a proficient therein, that all the severer duties of Christianity were become habitual to her at an age when others scarce begin to think of them. And yet so far was she from affecting to appear more religious than others, that she industriously ^ This word and these dates I am not sure of ; the monument so high up. IIO ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, concealed, even from her own family, many instances of her piety and beneficence ; contenting herself with the approbation of God and her own conscience only. She died June 8th, 1697.” ^ On the other side of this monument is written : Near this place lieth the body of Sir Thomas Powell of Broadway, Bart., son to that worthy patriot. Sir John Powell of Llanwrda in this county, and one of the Justices of the King’s Bench at the memorable trial of the seven Bishops, wherein he acquitted himself with great honour and reputation, choosing to do justice to those venerable prelates at the expence of his post and his Prince’s favour. He was educated under the instruction of his father in the profession of the law, and having so eminent a pattern to copy after, he made such proficiency therein, that he was made Attorney- General in this circuit in reign of Queen Anne. As the father could not be wrought upon to deviate from the rules of justice, either by the allurements of honour and preferments, or by the frowns and displeasure of his Sovereign, so neither could the solicitations of a court party influence the son, when in Parliament, to act against the interest of his country and the dictates of his conscience. He had imbibed an early tincture of religion under the influence and example of a father as eminent for his piety and virtue as he was for knowledge in the law ; and the same good example he had received from his father he faithfully transmitted to his children in all the virtues of a sober, pious, and religious life. He died August 2 2d, 1720, aged 56. Sors tua mortalis, non est mortale quod optas.” Translation : “ Thy condition is mortal ; what you wish for is not mortal.” Above the pew by the pulpit in chancel, a tablet has this inscription : Near this place lieth the body of George Owen, gent., son of y® late Reverend Mr. Michael Owen, Master of Arts, formerly Vicar of this parish, who lost his liveing for conscience sake. He died 24th day of August, 1736, aged 64 years.” Just above the Vicarage pew, on south side of the chancel, hung on the wall between the chancel arch and the window a tablet in memory of Mary Laugharne, with the same inscription as I have recorded on the stone on the floor of the north transept, where she was interred. ^ The rest of Mrs. E. Powell’s inscription is too imperfect to insert, so many words not legible. At the end is this : “Her only daughter Elizabeth, who was afterwards married to S . . . Pryce of Newton Hall in . . , Bart., lived to copy out her .... in great perfection.” I learn from authority that Sir Plubert Powell, son of Sir Thomas Powell above-m'entioned, died without issue ; so the family became extinct. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 1 I Upon inside of the chancel, just over the reading-desk, a square piece of dark grey marble has these words : ‘Hn Memory of Francis Wilkie the younger, of Foulden House, in the County of Berwick, Esq., who died 9th day of January, 1813, aged 66 years.” INSCRIPTIONS ON THE STONES OF THE CHANCEL FLOOR. FIRST STONE. First stone by the altar steps, on the side by the organ, records : Near this place are deposited the remains of Roger Mortimer of Llanmiloe, gent, and his consort Rachel. He departed this life 26th March, 1703^ aged 32; and she on 27th Nov., 1741, in 76th year of her age, being then the widow of the late Zachary Bevan of this town of Laugharne. This stone and inscription are designed as a small tribute of duty and gratitude to the memory of her beloved parents, Roger and Rachel above-mentioned, by their only child Jane, wife of Owen Edwardes of Llanmiloe in this county, and of Tufgan in Co. Pembroke, Esq.” SECOND STONE. The next stone to this says : — ‘^Portum ^ inveni spes et fortuna valete. Sat mihi vobiscum Laudite jam alios. Iter peregit. R. M. 1789. While I had life I did my best To please my God, and here I rest With whom in life I promise made ; In the same grave I would be laid. What was my age it matters not, For all live, die, and are forgot.’^ On the same stone is written : Sophia Moore, who departed this life, 14th day of Dec., 1805.” THIRD STONE. The next stone, which is nearer the south wall, I cannot decipher. FOURTH STONE. Next to it, but still nearer the south wall, is one recording: “^^Here lieth the remains of Elizabeth, wife to Thomas Philipps, A.M., Vicar of this parish, who in many particulars answering the descrip- tion given of a good wife in 31st c. of Proverbs, deserves to be ^ Translation : “I have found the haven, hope, and fortune. Farewell. I have had enough to do with you. Now go and praise others. R. M. has performed the journey of life.” 1 12 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, remembered. She died Nov. loth, 1734, aged 39. Also Cathe- rine, eldest daughter of the said Thos. and Elizabeth Philipps, and wife to John Hensleigh of Panteague, gent. She inherited her mother’s good qualities, and died June isth, 1739, aged 29 years, 3 months, and 8 days. Also John Philipps, A.M., only son of the said Thos. and Elizabeth Philipps. He died January 5th, 1743, aged 29, 3 months. Also the said Thos. Philipps, A.M., 40 years Vicar of this parish. A pleasing and instructive preacher. And what added still force to his preaching, was his unblameable example and personal conduct. His piety unaffected. His bene- volence unusual. His beneficence limited only by a just regard to his family. His morals without reproach, and his life was an ornament to that religion which he zealously professed and con- scientiously taught. He died much regretted, 23d June, 1748, aged 66.” FIFTH STONE. Below the above stone, with Sophia Moore” on it, is a stone which says : In m.emory of Mrs. Martha Laugharne, daughter of Mr. John Laugharne and Theodosia his wife, who was youngest daughter of Morgan Davies of Coomb, Esq., who died y^ 17th June, 1794, aged 60 years. Also the remains of John Laugharne, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the White, and son of John Laugharne, gent., of this town, and Theodosia his wife, who was youngest daughter of first Morgan Davies, Esq. of Coomb, in this county ; died Oct. nth, 1819, aged 74.” By side of this, on the organ side, a stone says : Here lieth body of Thomas Beynon, late of this place, son of Thomas Beynon of Caermarthen, gent., who departed this life loth of July, 1736, aged 31.” “ Here from the torments of the world retir’d my body does remain, That by God’s great command expir’d to ease my grievous pain.” On the south side of that of Mrs. Martha Laugharne’s stone, a stone, with what appears a griffin’s head above, records : This stone covers the remains of William Laugharne, ^ gent., and Theo- dosia his wife, youngest daughter of Morgan Davies the first of Coomb, Esq.” (The remainder is covered with the choir benches.) A stone next records : ‘‘ Underneath lies the remains of Captain Morgan Laugharne of Royal Navy. He was son of Mr. John Laugharne, by Theodosia his wife, who was youngest daughter of ^ Son of John Laugharne, gent. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. II3 Morgan Davies of Coomb, in this county, Esq. He died 7th — 1810.” (This stone is worn ; I am not sure of the month or date.) Beneath that of Mrs. Martha Laugharne is a stone with this : — Underneath are interred the remains of William Laugharne, gent., of this town, son of Mr. John Laugharne by Ann Davies of Newton in this parish, who died March, 1731, aged 66 years. Also Mr. John Laugharne, son of the aforesaid William Laugharne, who died Oct. 14th, 1748, aged 38. Also are deposited under same stone, Mrs. Charlotte Laugharne, wife of Capt. John Laug- harne, of His Majesty’s Navy, son of the above John Laugharne. She departed this life Nov. 5th, 1788, in ^ 24th year of her age. And with her, John Laugharne, her only son, who survived her 12 days, aged 18 ^ days. Also Ann, the daughter of the above Captain John Laugharne and Charlotte his wife, who died 4th August, 1792. Also Martha, daughter of the above Capt. John Laugharne and Charlotte his wife, who died July y^ 5th, 1801, aged 1 6 years. MONUMENTS IN THE NAVE ON NORTH WALL. By the arch on this north side is a monument in form of a scroll, which says : ‘‘Sacred to the memory of Courtland Skinner Shaw, Esq., M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and only son of Lieut. -Col. Shaw and Amelia his wife, who departed this life on third day of October, a.d. MDCCCLIV., in 43d year of his age, sincerely regretted.” Over the escutcheon is a squire’s helmet : on the sinister side is a lion rampant sable.; the field, plain, with seven figures on it (which I cannot make out). The dexter side has four quarterings, two of them have the field, gules, with a chevron between three birds ; the other two tfie field is proper, with a bunch of flowers, or grapes perhaps ; vert and d’or, on one ; the other azure, with three urns d’or, and three stars beneath. “ Laetitia et spe immortalitatis.” Next to this, and by the window, is a monument in Gothic style. A lion rampant stands on the extreme point at top of the arch. A shield is inside under the arch, a lion rampant occupies the field. It says : “ Sacred to the memory of Charlotte, second surviving daughter of the late John Owen Edwardes, Esq., of Llanmiloe, in this county, and Sealeyham in county of Pembroke. She departed this life on 21st January, 1838. This tablet was ^ Two or three of these dates I am not quite sure of, the stone is so worn. I 1 14 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, erected by her affectionate sister and brother-in-law Courtland and Jane Shaw.’' Beneath this is another which says : Sacred to the memory of John Hayle Shickle, Esq., late of the island of Jamaica, Alderman of this town, died October 2 2d, 1828, aged 61. Also of Ann, relict of the said John Hayle Shickle, Esq., who died in this town, October 27th, 1840, aged 74 years.” A dove with an olive-branch in its mouth is on the top. On the other side of the window is another, with a funeral urn partly concealed with drapery. A cypress tree shades it above ; beneath, two branches of the laurel ; between which is a shield bearing a lion rampant, and a chevron. Below is written : ‘‘Est mihi solet.” ^ . . . - It says : In this churchyard are deposited the mortal remains of the late John Owen Edwardes, Esq., of Llanmiloe, in this county, and of Sealyham in Co. Pembroke, who departed this life July 8th, 1825, in 80th year of his age. Also of Catherine, his beloved wife, who died July 4th, 1826, aged 73. In whom unaffected piety and universal benevolence were equally and eminently conspicuous. Their three surviving daughters, deeply sensible of the loss they have sustained by the death of their excellent parents, have erected this monu- ment to record the virtues of the dead, and gratitude of the living.” A small tablet surmounted with an urn is ‘Hn memory of Rowland Edwardes of Treffgarn, of the county of Pembroke, and of Llanmiloe in this county. Esq., who died 2d August, 1778, aged 58 years, and lies interred with his parents, Owen and Jane Edwardes, in the family vault, in this churchyard. This tablet was erected by his widow as a mark of her affection, and his worth.” The next, with an urn in the centre, says : Sacred to the memory of John Laugharne, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the White Squadron of his Majesty’s fleet, who died October nth, 1819, aged 74 years. He was son of the late John Laugharne and Theodosia his wife, who was youngest daughter of first Morgan Davies, Esq., of Coomb, in this county. And also to the memory of Charlotte, wife of said Admiral Laugharne, and of their three infant children, John, Ann, and Martha. Also to the memory of Louisa, wife of Capt. William Laugharne, R.N., who died October 28th, 1820, aged 37. And also of Mary Emilia, 2nd wife of the above Capt. Laugharne, who died at Stone House, ^ The rest of the sentence is concealed. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. IIS March 19th, 1832, aged 32 years.” Below, it says: ‘^As a last token of respect to the memory of a benevolent and revered uncle, this monument is erected by his grateful nephew, William Laugharne, Capt. R.N.” Below is a shield without quart erings with an inescutcheon field plain ; three heads (of animals possibly) support it : beneath is written, ^‘Qui male, cogitate male sibi.” Even with the above is a small tablet surmounted by a grey- hound. It says: ‘‘Sacred to the memory of Rebecca, wife of J. Price, Esq., of Laugharne, died April 29th, 1819, aged 59. Also to the memory of the above-named John Price, Esq., who died at St. Clares, in this county, 17 th September 1830, in 73d year of his age.” A tablet below says : “ This tablet is erected according to the will of the late Capt. William Laugharne, R.N., who bequeathed to the Vicar and Churchwardens of the parish of Laugharne, for the time being, <^400 in trust, to expend the interest in the pur- chase of bread, to be distributed by them among the poor of I.augharne township and parish, on 21st day of December in every year. The said Capt. William Laugharne further be- queathed to the Vicar of Laugharne, ^200 in trust, to apply the interest thereof to the same purpose as <^150 formerly be- queathed by Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, with power to expend half the sum on the erection or purchase of a schoolroom for the objects of Mrs. Foster’s charity. He also bequeathed a silver waiter for the use of the Communion-table of Laugharne parish church. Vice-Admiral John Laugharne, uncle of the above Capt. William Laugharne, gave a.d. MDCCCXIX. the organ in this church with its appendages, and a stove, at , an expense of ^430. Mrs. Theodosia Laugharne bequeathed to the Vicar and Churchwardens of Laugharne for the time being, <^1800 in trust, to pay out of the interest an annuity of ^20 to her servant, Ann Wilkins, and as a testimony of her affection to her brother, the said Vice-Admiral John Laugharne, to discharge the whole salary of the organist, and to keep in repair the organ with its append- ages, and the stove belonging thereto, and to keep a fire in the said stove ; the surplus of the interest to be distributed annually at Christmas among poor and aged persons of the town of Laug- harne. The organ was repaired a.d. MDCCCLVII. at an expense of <^140. Mrs. Theodosia Laugharne also bequeathed to the Vicar of Laugharne ^300 upon trust, to pay the interest thereof to her relative Morgan Davies, and after his decease to establish therewith a school of industry in the town of Laugharne. — Jasper 1 2 Il6 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Nicolls Harrison, Clerk, M.A., vicar. Robert de Winton, Esq. ; James George, draper; Charles Eastment, yeomen; church- wardens.’’ Next to this a tablet, and underneath, surmounted by an urn with drapery over it : Sacred to the memory of William Morgan Thomas, Esq. (only son of the late William Howell Thomas, Esq., of this town, and of Mary his wife), whose life, rich in promise from his many excellent qualities of mind and disposition, was suddenly cut olf in 24th year of his age, August i6th, 1847. Also of Frances Mary Thomas (the beloved wife of John Lewis Thomas, Esq., of Caeglas in this county, and only daughter of the above-named William Howell Thomas, Esq., and of Mary his wife), who died 15th day of June, 1856, having left an infant two days old bereft of a parent exemplary in every Christian virtue, aged 34 years. This tablet is erected by their widowed and bereaved mother in humble resignation to the Will of an all-wise and merciful God. ‘ The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’” (Job i. 21). On the other side of the aperture which marks where the porch once was is a tablet bearing an urn. It is Sacred to the memory of Bingham Walker Hamilton, A.B. sch : T. C. D., who died in this town, 12th day of October, 1815, aged 20. A youth of the bright- est talent aided by solid judgment He entered at an early age the University of Dublin, where in classical and scientific learning he obtained the various prizes of excellence, awarded by its institutions to distinguished merit. In Oratory his powers were universally acknowledged. In the moral virtues, ' Truth and Honor, he stood unrivalled. In Piety and Fortitude exemplary and resigned. The Truth of Christianity he not only professed, but defended when assailed by some well-written Essay. He was snatched (too early, alas !) from this earthly scene to that where reliance on the merits of his Redeemer gave him in his last trying moments the assurance, but humble hopes, of attaining to a Glorious Immortality.” There is on a square piece of stone,^ which was inserted into the north wall of the nave, placed just above a pew, and at the corner of the second window from the chancel, this record : — ‘‘Here lieth the Body of Kattrin Sare whoe departed this Life HE 22th day of IVLY ANNO. Domine 1690. Behovld HE 1 It is now placed beneath bench on left side of the porch as you enter the church. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 11/ place where I do LY, AS YOV are now, so once was I ; as I am now, so shalt HOY be cut off by deathe and FOLLOV ME.” These are all the monuments on the north wall of the nave. The following are on the south wall : — Over the door here entering the church is a tablet, having a female figure kneeling, bending over an urn. Beneath is written : “To the memory of Owen Evans Lewis, Esquire, of Glanyrhyd and Clynderwen, Co. Pembroke, who died at Laugharne, April 25th, 1821, in 23d year of his age. En- dowed by nature with every estimable quality of the head and heart, he was respected by all who knew him, adored in his domestic circle, and by those who could appreciate his rare and genuine virtues. In his early fate his neighbourhood has sustained an irreparable loss, but chiefly her who is now left to mourn her blighted happiness in the premature loss of an idolized Husband.’^ By the side of this is a monument with an entablature, recording — “ That near this Place resteth in Peace, Arthur Bevan, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Recorder of the County-Borough of Caermarthen, and for 14 years their worthy Representative in Parliament. His skill in His Profession enabled Him, and His Integrity inclined him, to be the faithfullest Advocate, and the readiest Friend to the Injured and oppressed. In his public station as a Senator, he was a zealous and steady Assertor of the Liberties and Rights of the People, but with due Deference and Regard to the Dignity and Prerogative of the Crown. In the more Private Relations of Life his conduct was uniform, manly and engaging, a Reproach to a degenerate Age, and an Ornament to the most virtuous. In justice to the Memory of so valuable a man and the tenderest of Husbands, His afflicted Widow as the last Token of her Esteem, hath caused this Monument to be erected. He dyed March 6th, 1742, aged 56, greatly belov'd and lamented.” This is a tablet having a Squire’s helmet ; the rest obliterated. Underneath is — “ Nil Desperandum.” “ In Memory of Mary the beloved wife of Henry Edwards Hill, Esquire, formerly of Parson’s Lodge in this Township. She was 2d daughter of Thomas Waters, Esquire, Tutshill, Banker at Chepstow. Obit. October 1854.” Above this is a tablet over which a hand holding a pen is carved. It says: “Sorrow and affection unite in tracing this mournful Tablet to record the Memory of the undernamed departed Spirits, who but now, were to their afflicted Relatives, everything : and now to them and each surviving inhabitant of the earth, are Nothing! Louisa Sarah, daughter of Richd. Tc. Starke, Esq., by Elizabeth his wife, Died, and was buried at Epsom, Surrey, the 7th, Il8 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, 1799, aged 2 months. In the family vault of this Church are buried Louisa Susannah, daughter of the above named Richd. Tc. and E. Starke, died Feb. i8th, 1802, aged 5 months. Louisa Lydia Starke .... died Nov. 8th, 1808, aged 20 months. Matilda Hannah Starke, died Sept. 12th, 1810, aged 7 years.’^ Underneath the window near the porch is a tablet with — ^^To the Memory of William Morgan Thomas, Esq., late Portreeve of this Borough, whose early death was felt by all classes of his fellow townsmen as a public loss. This window erected by the In- habitants of Laugharne and other Friends, is dedicated a.d. MDCCCLVIII.’’ ^^An unspotted Life is Old age^’ (Wisd. vii. 9). Next comes a tablet with cornice, surmounted by a lion rampant, standing on what appears to be a ball (red) placed in something resembling a boat ; below the tablet is a shield quartered on the sinister side ; the top part of the field is gules, bearing three heads of griffins-d’or (I think) ; the bottom of the field is — d’or, with a chevron-gules, between the heads of three animals, like to birds-sable ; it is the same on the dexter side, only reversed. The inscription is this: — In the Family vault in this Church, in hopes of a glorious Resurrection, rest the Remains of John Ravenscroft of Laugharne, Esq., Lt. Colonel in the Royal Caermarthen Militia, in which Regiment he served upwards of 40 years, much respected and esteemed from the highest to the lowest Rank. He twice attended the Regt. to Ireland, whither they handsomely volun- teered their services when times of danger required them. He died June 13th, 1800, at Williamstow, Co. Meath, Ireland, the seat of the Honourable and Rev. H. Cutfe, in the 72 year of his age. In this neighbourhood where he long resided, he was revered and beloved as a useful active Magistrate, and a sincere friend to the Poor. As a last token of love and affection this Monument is erected.’’ By the side of the above, a small tablet, with a cornice, on its top a weeping willow. ^‘Sacred be the Monument which here is raised by affection and gratitude to perpetuate the Memory o f Mary Hill, who died October 24th, 1807, aged 80 years. She is interred in the Churchyard, in a nook by the South wall, not far from the Church Porch.” Below the above, a tablet bearing an urn says — ^‘Sacred to the Memory of Abiah Hill, who died deeply lamented, 1844, aged 85.” PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 19 Beneath the window, near the arch leading into the chancel, is a square tablet, which says : ‘‘To the Honour and Glory of God, erected a.d. MDCCCLXI by Mary Thomas, sole surviving daughter of Walter Thomas, Esq., of Wainrhyddod in this county. In Memory of the undermentioned children of said Walter Thomas, Esq. — Hannah, who died March 27th 1812, aged 23 years. Marella, who died Jan. 27th 1821, aged 22 years. Philip, a Capt. in the Bengal army, died August 2d 1828, aged 41 years. Margaret, died August 26th 1832, aged 40 years. Rachael, died March 17th 1840, aged 48 years. Sophia, died Sept. 29th 1852, 57 years. Thomas Rees, Major in Royal Marines, died Jan. 27th 1857, aged 74 years. Also in Memory of Frances, Relict of the late W. Williams, Esq., of Caermarthen, died Dec. 15th 1830, aged 71 years. Mary Thomas, the last surviving Member of a much beloved and deeply regretted family. Departed this Life April 2d 1863, in 8ist year.” “The Memory of the just is Blessed” (Prov. x. 7). By the arch in nave on south side hangs a tablet in Gothic style, which says : “Sacred to the Memory of Anna Maria, Relict of the late Charles George, Esq., and eldest Daughter of the late John Owen Edwardes, Esq. of Llanmiloe, in this county, and Sealyham in Co. Pembroke, who departed this life loth day of Sept. 1846.” Upon the floor between the south wall and the pews, and close to the porch entering the church, is inscribed on a stone this : “Thomas Becke Foxon, died October 26th 1782, aged 34 years ; also the Remains of Capt. John Foxon, Father of the above Thos. Becke Foxon, who died May 19th 1790, aged 68.” Next to this a stone has : “ Beneath this stone are interred the Remains of Zach. Thompson, Esq., late of his Majesty’s Navy, who died Sepber. 2 2d 1780, aged 63.” Next stone says : “ Beneath are interred the Remains of Charles Rudd, who was born 20th day of Nov. 1809, at Lowland House, near Sunderland, in Co. Durham, died 28th Janry 1812.” The next stone records : “ Here lieth the body of Philip Langston, who departed this life 23d day of April 16 ^ . . . And also the body of Elizabeth Lloyd, the (wife of said Lang- stone) who departed (the 7th of Dec.). And likewise body of Marther^ . . . Town who departed^ . . . day of Sept. Philip ILOYD, departed this life 1726. Nicholas Edward, who departed this life March in year of our Lord .” This the end of the monuments and inscriptions inside the church. ' This date and rest of the lines with lines beneath, and where parenthesis is and crosses are put, I am not sure of the words ; the stone is so worn.. 120 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Within the porch on south side of the church, and on your left as you enter it, a square grey stone inserted into the wall bears this inscription : “HERE LYETH THE BODY OF ELIZAB : BYON WIFE OF WILL: BYNON & DAUGHTER TO HEN: BAYLY OF y= TOW“ OF LAUGHARN WHO DYED DECE,i THE 13TH OF JUNE 1679 AGED 37 YEARES.” ‘ ‘ Deare friends henceforth Pray cease to weepe, For Death hath closeD My eyes with sleepe.” MONUMENTS IN NORTH TRANSEPT. At the inside of the arch leading into the north transept, and on the west side, is attached a tablet to record that — Here lieth the body of the Reverend Nathanael Be van. Master of Arts, Rector of ILanvillo in y® county of Brecon, who departed this life y^ loth day of May 1725, aged 57/^ A stone on floor of this transept gives the same record. On a tablet hung on the west wall at the entrance of the tran- sept is this : Near this place is interred the Remains of Henry Matthews, Gent., who after serving the office of Excise for 14 years in this Town with credit and justice, died July 17th 1775, aged 44.’^ Next to this another tablet says : ‘‘ Evans Jenkins, officer of Excise, who departed this life y® 23d of September 1746, aged 43 years. “ ‘Mourn not for me, my wife, u children dear, Am not dead but sleeping here. Put ye your trust in Christ, and sin refrain. Then we in Heaven shall meet again.’” Then comes a tablet with this: ‘‘Here lieth the body of Mr. William Gwinnett, grocer, of the city of Bristol, who departed this life the 27th of May 1729, aged 40.’' Below this last another records: “Near this place lieth the body of Ansellem Butler,^ mariner and Alderman of this Town, who departed this Life on 5th day of July Anno Domini 1703, aged 5 1 years. Also here lieth the Body of Rachell Bennett, wife of the said Ansellem Butler, who departed this life the 23rd day of 1 This word is “deceased.” 2 These two tablets of Rev. N. Bevan and Ansellem Butler have been removed at the restoration of the church, and are not now in this transept. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 12 1 Dec. 1733, aged 76 years, with eight children. The Relict of William Langstone.’’ Another tablet close by records : Here lyeth the body of John Jack, who departed this life 9th day of July, aged 55 years. Also the body of Hester Jack, who departed this life the 19th day of April 1719, aged 24 years. And also the body of James Jack, who departed this life the 26th day of February 1720, aged 20 years. ‘ It is no wonder men are turned into clay, Since Marble Monuments does decay.’ And y^ body of Mary Jack, who departed this life 13th of May 1751, aged 85 years.” There is a tablet by the window of this transept, on its right, as you face the window which is described at the end of monuments in this transept. A tablet on the east wall of the transept says : ‘^Here lieth y® Body of Alice John, who departed this life y^ i6th day of Decem- ber 1733, aged 19 years. ‘ In youthful years thro’ pain and grief, Here I retreat and find relief. Friends, be content, and bear in^^mind I was but lent here for a time.’ Here also lieth y® body of Catherine John, Mother of Alice John, who departed this life y® ist day of February 1733, aged 57 years.” A stone forming the floor between the pews of this north tran- sept records that — ‘‘Near this place lieth the Body of Mary Laugharne,^ eldest daughter of Thomas Laugharne of Haverford- west in y^ county of Pembrokeshire, who departed this life y® 23d day of June 1717, aged 34 years. ‘ Who Soonest Dyes Lives Long Enough Our Life is But A Blast or puffe O’er Death I shall in Triumph Sing Thy Conquest Grave Where is thy Sting.’ Also here lieth the Body of Anne James of this Town, Widow, who died the 9th day of July 1768, aged 84.” This is the first stone on the floor under the north window of this north transept. The next stone to it records the death of Ansellem Butler, which I have just given on a tablet. The inscrip- tion is the same as on the tablet. ^ Just before the church was restored, a tablet with this record of Mary Laugharne hung over the vicarage pew in the chancel, just where the Hagio- scope is, and by the window : it is not there now. 122 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, The next stone records the death of Rev. Nathanael Bevan, and bears the same inscription as that on the tablet just described. The next stone says : Here lieth the Body of William Drewet, Alderman of this Town, who Departed this life the 3 day of Sept, in the year of Our Lord ...” This stone so worn that the date of the year and day of month is not visible. A tablet by the window of this transept : “ Here lieth the Body of Richard Reynold, who departed this life 2 2d day of June in year of our Lord 1690. Likewise the Body of Alice, wife of the Aforesaid Richard Reynold, who departed this life the i6thdayof October, 1692. And Likewise the Body of Sarah John, daughter of William John and Katherine his wife, and granddaughter of the Aforesaid Richard and Alice, who dy’d March 29th 1719 or 1779” (the figures are worn). ‘‘ Tread softly passenger for here doth lie A dainty Jewell of sweet Infancie A harmlesse babe that only came and dy’d In baptism to be washed from sin and dy’d.” In this transept is a recumbent figure of Lady Palmer. SOUTH TRANSEPT. A TABLET hangs against the inside of the arch leading into this transept with this on it : In Memory of William Rees, late of this town. Esq., and of Mary his wife. He died April 3d, 1775, aged 60 years. She — August 7th, 1763, aged 39 years.^ This monument is set up by their children surviving, to be a lasting (tho: small) proof of their duty and respect, to the memory of so good and worthy parents.” By the window of this transept is a tablet saying : Infra jacet THEODOSIA Rev. L. Sandford, M.A., Conjux Mulier mitis benefica Spiritu paupera bonis operibus dives. Ob : 7 Aps. 1757. Pauca decent, non est opus addere multa, Flos bene depictus floris odore caret. E. Sandford departed. Parochia Vicarius.” ^ They are interred under the stone on floor of this transept, at entrance of it coming from the body of the church. I shall presently give the inscription on it. TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 23 The rest of the inscription cannot be deciphered. They are interred underneath the stone on the floor of this transept, that on which I give the inscription which has Grace Sandford,” &c. The next tablet says : In memory of Rev. Walter Davies, who departed this life March 28th, 1811, aged 75 years. ^‘Sit locus beatus, in quo nuper steti Sanguinis expiabilis prodigia que perspexi. 52 years.” This is surmounted by an urn. A small tablet on west side of the door of this S. transept, has this inscribed: ^‘Sacred to the Memory of the Revd. John AVilliams, for thirty years Vicar of this parish. He died July 28th 1829, aged 85 years. This tablet is erected by a few friends and Parishioners as a humble tribute of respect and esteem. The next tablet surmounted by a funeral urn says : In memory of Anne, wife ot Rev. John Williams, late Rector of Llandevailog near Brecon, and Vicar of this parish. She died August 7th, 1804, aged 54 years. Resurgam.” The next tablet says: ‘^Near this place lieth the remains of William Griffiths, Alderman of this town, who departed this life Dec. y® 2ist 1799, ^ged 65 years. My Glas is run, my days are spent, My Life is gone, it was but lent ; And as I am so must you be. Therefore prepare to follow me. ” SOUTH TRANSEPT. By the door going up to the tower in S. transept is a monument which says : ‘‘Sacred to the memory of William Howell Thomas, Esq., who died the ist of January 1826, aged 45 years. Gifted with a dispassionate judgment and extensive knowledge, he re- garded this talent as the property of his fellow creatures, and numbers have to deplore his loss in the character of a sterling friend and a judicious counsellor. To purity of life and inflexible integrity, he united the exercise of every Christian and domestic virtue, in the several relations of a husband, father, and brother, of which full evidence is afforded in the heartfelt sorrow of his dis- 124 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, consolate widow, and a numerous circle of afflicted relatives. Also of Mary his wife, who died 12th day of April 1875, aged 92.’^ By the side of the above, is a tablet which says: “This ancient doorway, supposed to lead to a wood screen, was dis- covered when the transept was undergoing restoration at the expense of F. Wrenholt, Esq., a.d. 1873, and was temporarily re- opened in same year; it was again built up with a view of strengthening the tower ; by the munificence of the same bene- factor, the tower underwent a thorough repair, as did also the porch. At same time, two of the bells were recast at the expense of W. Norton, Esq. “ Remember them, O our God, concerning this, and wipe not out their good deeds that they have done for the house of our God (Nehemiah xiii. 14). Upon a stone upon the floor between the pews of this S. transept, and at the entrance of the nave, is written : “ Here lieth the Body of Mary the daughter of William Rees of this town, Gent., by Mary his wife, eldest daughter and co-heiress of James Davies, late of Penalltcych, in the county Pembroke, gent., deceased, who died the second day of November, 1746, aged one year and three months. Here also lieth the Body of Elizabeth, daughter of the said William Rees, by Mary his said wife, who died the sixth day of November 1746, aged 9 days. Here also lieth the Body of William, son of the said William Rees, who died 2 2d day of Nov. 1751, aged 2 months. Also y® Body of James Rees, son of y® said William Rees, who died October 30th, 1754, aged 2 years, and William Rees, obt loth, ijKK. . , , Rees obt 15th 9^*’ 1756, aged. . . The next stone on floor is this : “ Underneath this stone are the remains of Grace Sandford, wife of Rev. Edmund Sandford, who died March 6th, 1804: She was 2d daughter of Rev. John Tucker, of Sealyham in county of Pembroke, by Mary, daughter of Atkin Williams, Clerk, a descendant of Williames of Penpont in Breconshire.’’ The next stone says : “ In memory of Frances, relict of the late W. Williams, Esq., of Caermarthen, who died 15th December 1830, aged 71.” MONUMENTS IN THE CHURCH-YARD. Just outside the porch leading into the nave, and on its right, is the tomb of Arthur Bevan, Esq., the husband of Madame Bevan 1 This last part is too much worn to decipher. TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 25 of Laugharne, noted for her charities, and the aid she rendered to Rev. G. Jones of Llanddowror in his labours in his parish and schools. The inscription is : Here lieth the Body of Arthur Bevan, Barrister at Law, who died 6th March 1742, aged 56. Also the body of Z. Bevan, Esq., who departed this life June. loth, 1770, aged 46. A sincere Christian.” Behind this tomb, and on a tablet or piece of stone inserted into the wall of the church, is this inscription : Mortality, behold what a change of flesh is here. In this tomb lieth a Mother & 8 of her children ...” The rest is so obliterated, I can add no more. Beneath is this inscription: ^‘Here lieth the Body of Sarah Baily, the wife of Zachary Bevan of the Town of Laugharne, Esq., who departed this life 27th January in the year of our Lord God 1705, aged 52 yeares, with 8 of her children. ‘ Mors mihi Lucrum.’ ” And also : “ Here lieth the Body of Zachary Bevan of the Town of Laugharne, Esq., who Departed This Life the 2 2d day of February, Anno 1715, aged 59 yeares.’^ By the chancel door in churchyard is a flat stone on the ground which says : ‘^Unda'neath are interred the Remains of William Lister, Gent., Descended of the Sisters of . . . Yorkshire. He Departed this life Dec. 1 7, aged 4 ^ years. Here from the troubles of this world . . . My Body doth . . . That by God’s Great Command expired To ease my grievous pain Mourn not for me my wife and children.,” The rest, like some of the above, is not legible. Also the Body of Margaret Lister, his widow, who died 30th May (I am not quite sure it is 30th, for figures are so worn), aged 76. Departed this life June 15, 1829, aged 67, Jane Waite (it may be Walter, the last letter imperfect), 2d daughter of the above William and Margaret Lister. Also at Stockwell, County S . . ., John Lister, son of William & Margaret Lister, died 1836, aged 64.” On the other side of the chancel door is a tomb raised to the wife of Peter Kelly, M.D., of the Royal Navy, died March 1817, aged 28, and to her son P. N. Kelly, died June 14th 1817. Close to this, in a nook formed by the buttresses of the church wall, is a tomb within railings, where are buried the Elliot family, whose ^ The other figure which must have joined the 4 is obliterated. 126 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, monument is in the chancel, and which the reader will see the account I have given of it here. Mrs. Parry of Laugharne, and her husband, who was curate of Laugharne church, and their son, Mr. George Parry, are interred in this tomb. Mrs. Parry was Miss Elliot. Near here, and just under the terraces of the churchyard, is a handsome tomb and monument with this inscription on the outer side : — Sacred to the Memory of Frances, wife of John Birkett Wienholt, late of Thames Ditton, in the County of Surrey, Esquire, who died June 26th 1814, aged 40, and whose Body is Deposited in this Vault. At the head of the sarcophagus : — John Birkett Wienholt, Esq., Born August 24th, 1775, Died September ist, 1852. On the inner side : — Here rests also the Body of Sarah, second wife of the late John Birkett Wienholt, Esq., and daughter of Edward Hill, Esq., of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, and who died at Reading on 13th November, i860. They left seven sons and three daughters to mourn their loss. The crest is, two arms raised, the hands meeting, holding a bunch of grapes. The east window in the church is put up in memory of John Birkett Wienholt, Esq., and that of the Ascension in the chancel is in memory of his second wife, Sarah. Just above this last and on the terrace, is the tomb of Rev. J. N. Harrison, vicar of Laugharne, and records : Frances Henri- etta Harrison, died May 9th, a.d. 1857, aged 10 years & ii months. Jessie Marella Sophia Harrison, died May 24th, a.d. 1857, aged 6 years and 6 months. Gustavus Chads Harrison, died April xiv., 1864, aged 15 years and 10 months.^' By side of this is a tomb of the same family which says : Caro- line Pooke, daughter of John Pooke, Esq., of Fareham, Hants, born May 12th, 1795, Oct. 12, 1866.'' PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 12/ On a higher terrace not far from this last, is the tomb of the Bedford family of Ant’s Hill ; records : ‘‘In Memory of Horace Bedford, son of A. Bedford, Esq., and Clara his wife, died yth Nov. 1870 ; and of Clara, wife of A. B., Esq., who died 23d Nov. 1875. Lower down, on a terrace, is that of Capt. J. R. S. Wilson, for- merly of her Majesty’s 37th foot, second son of Rev. W. G. Wilson of Knowle Hall, Co. Warwick, died Feb. 26, 1871. Close to the monument to the Wienholt family is one in form of an obelisk. The inscription thus : “ Sacred to the memory of Capt. W. Laugharne, Royal Navy, who died in city of Bath, Nov. 6th, 1856, aged 71 years: Of him it may be justly recorded that to his country, his relatives, his friends, and the poor of this parish, he faithfully did his duty in that state of life to which God had pleased to call him. And also of Martha, Widow of Major General George Prescott Wingrove, sister of the above Capt. W. Laugharne, who died at Bath, Oct. 31st, 1861, aged 81.” Near this is one to the memory of wife of Rev. T. R. J. Laug- harne, now (the year 1879) vicar of Rhayader. She died 1868. Near this is. one to W. Norton, Esq., who died Nov. 9, 1873 ; and next comes the vault of Robert Holderness, Esq. On the terrace above these is tomb of Dr. Hamilton, for long the much respected medical man of this town, who died 25th April 1855, aged 51. On a line with this is a tomb within rails, which says : “ In memory of William, son of Mr. Sutherland of this town, died 26th Feb. 1834, aged 32 : Also of Mr. Donald Sutherland, father of the above, who died loth Sept. 1838, aged 72. Also Mary, widow of the above Mr. Donald Sutherland, who died 26th March 184^, aged 80.” Not far from this, and on the terrace above that of Capt. W. Laugharne, is the tomb of the Edwardes of Llanmiloe and of Sealyham, whose monuments I have described in the nave of the church. The last of the three daughters of John Owen Edwardes, Esq. of Llanmiloe and Sealyham, named Jane, and married to Courtland Skinner Shaw, Esq., M.D., whose monument is described in the nave, was interred in the above tomb on Tuesday, nth March 1879, aged 85. On the left of the path going up towards the stile by the garden wall of the parsonage, is the tomb of the Thomas family. The first on it is to William Morgan Thomas, son of Howel Thomas, Esq., and Mary Thomas {i. e. Mrs. Major Thomas), who died 1847. Also to Howel Thomas, Esq., and to Frances Mary Thomas, who 128 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, died April i86i. Also to Mary Thomas, wife of Howel Thomas, Esq., who died 12th April 1875. Next but one to this is that To the memory of Harriet Blanche, dec. March 12th, aged 2 years and 7 months, and Albert, dec. April 13th, 1845, aged 7 years and 2 months, the beloved children of Capt. Harding and Eliza his wife of Hill Side. ‘ The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.’ ” Near this is that of Mrs. Fairchild, formerly of Fernhill in this town. Close by is one ‘^To memory of Sidney Louisa Bowden, the beloved wife of James Bowden, Esq., and second daughter of John Baker Greaves, Esq., District Judge of Kornegalls, Ceylon, late Capt. of 14th Light Dragoons, died March isth, 1862, Aet. 37. Above this last is one ‘‘Sacred to the Memory of William Thomas of Horsepool in this parish, died June i6th, 1872, aged 79 -" By the path near the vestry door is a tomb — “ In memory of James Bedford, Esq., obiit 1868, aged 46, son of Lieut. Colonel Bedford of the Bengal army, and his child aged 22 days.” Behind this are those of the Ruthvens and Lowens. They record that Mr. William Hore (of the family of the Lords Ruthven of Scotland) died May 12th, 1847, aged 34; that Mrs. Eliza Lowen, widow of Colonel Lowen, K.H., died August 12th, 1873 ; that her son, Mr. Lowen, died 15th July 1865. The other is to memory of Mary Sutton, daughter of Mr. W. Hore, who died 4th Feb. 1867. Behind these is that to Charles Beresford, Esq., surgeon of this town, died 1863, aged 32 ; and very near is one recording that Capt. Claude Clifton Lucas died 1852, and his wife in 1854. Near it that to the memory of William Ringer, Esq., formerly of Clifton and Bristol, died at Laugharne, 1858. On the west side of the church is a tomb — “Sacred to the memory of W. N. Treherne,^ organist, who died May 6th, 1848, aged 45. Also of Mary, the beloved wife of the above, who died Sept. 17th, 1869, aged 91.” At the point which stretches between the two pathways leading respectively up to the porch and chancel door, is a small tomb- stone, saying, “ In memory of Mary Lewis, died Jan. loth, 1831, aged 66. Many years school-mistress.” There are no very ancient dates on the tombs in churchyard ; ^ Whitlock Nicoll Treherne. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 29 the generality do not go earlier than 1749. Owen Edwardes’ tomb, in a nook at the south wall near the porch, gives his death in 1681, and his son in 1703 : there are tombs so worn that the writing is not legible. Great destruction must have been done in past times for so ancient a church to be without more ancient tombs. K 130 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGFIARNE, PART VI. CHRIST CHURCH — MARINERS’ CHAPEL. Monastery — Mansion at Broadway —Appearances of Persons after Decease — Kingaddle — Coiganfts remaiPable Cave — Skeletons in it ; two of giant size — Bones of the Elephant^ — Hn^nan Bones and Skeletons in a Field at Capthorne Farm a^td Flashy att — Honey cor s — Changes on the Coast. “It is too much the custom to question the authenticity of those documents or traditions which happen not exactly to tally with our own conjectures or preconcerted hypotheses.” — Malkin’s ‘ Scenery and Antiquities of South Wales: Tradition says a monastery was on the Grist, just where those ancient houses are ; whether they formed part of it does not appear. It extended to the corner turning up Gosport. A cross stood on the Grist ; the lower part remains. A portion of the cross which I saw when I first came here some years ago is now gone. It is said to have been within the precincts of the monastery. The monks coming from Roche Castle, at Broadway (or rather the monastery it afterwards became), used to go three times round the cross. Sometimes a monk would preach at it, tradition says ; and that on certain festival days they came into Laugharne, and were met at the cross by the people of the town. It was usual for funerals, after Romanism had passed away, as they came from Gos- port, to go three times round this cross before proceeding to Laugharne Church ; this was observed as late as thirty years ago. An old man, now deceased, told me he had helped to carry a coffin three times round it. The family at the ancient mansion of Broadway, used on Christmas day. Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, to walk three times round it on their way to Laugharne Church. If any one should doubt all this in the absence of more decided evidence, let them remember it was more likely than not that so important a place as Laugharne was should have had a monastery. The building adjoining those ancient houses on the Grist, I have just noticed, and which was but lately used as a I CROSS ON THE GRIST, Eaugharne. See Part 6 , ISLAND HOUSE, 1856. At the back by the Sea, Laugharne, See Part 4. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 13I storehouse, was the church of the monastery, and called Christ Church, and the name Grist, which this part now has, might have originated from Christ. This church has a gable end at the back looking on Frog Street. I notice appearances on its walls which look as if there had been memorial tablets. There is a room next to it, but which they say was the priest’s. We know that rooms were built into churches and occupied by priests ; it is so in an old church in Bristol. The burying ground, they say, was at the back of the church, where now a garden is enclosed with a wall, and ir. Frog Street, and extended up the rising ground behind the houses here, and by the side of Stoneyway, and from the garden of the house on right hand as you leave the Grist to go up Stoneyway, and behind those houses to the gardens of the houses at Gosport that come out on the Strand. There is some evidence of this in the discovery of human bones in large quantities on three several occasions. The town-crier told me he remembered in that garden opposite, and at back of this church, human bones dug up, enough to show it might have been a burying-place. An old woman gave me an account of numerous bones found when they were making the foundation of that house I have just noticed as on right hand as you leave the Grist ; that some were so large that they seemed like those of giants, and there were children’s bones of all ages. In October, 1874, they pulled down some old houses at back of this church ; they found several human bones, and a square stone with some peculiar carving on it, having the appear- ance of being part of a post or pillar for the entrance to some place. I saw this stone ; it is now in the possession of a lady of the town. The Grist occupies all the part from the houses in the row in which the Inn called the ^‘Fountains” is, up to the ancient mill, and thence to the turning to Gosport. From this turn- ing all along to the entrance to the New Walk is the Strand. The Grist is called Cross Square. There is an old roofless building at the turning to Gosport which is always washed by the sea at spring-tide. The walls have the appearance of great age, built with the stones of the country ; it was called anciently, The Mariners’ Chapel.” A lady whose interests lie in these parts, and whose family for generations has belonged to them, told me she knew for certain that it had been in Romish days a chapel for votive offerings, and for seamen. Malkin refers to the fact of there having been, on coast of Pembrokeshire, several chapels for seamen, but that of St. Justinian alone remained; it is likely then that this at Laugharne was of the same kind. I am told that some K 2 132 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, years ago it had a stoup and piscina ; no trace of them now. Latterly, the Calvinistic Methodists held services in it ; several old inhabitants of Laugharne now living remember them. They say the interior had a very ancient appearance, and was very simple in its style of architecture. Some thirty years ago or more it was finally abandoned, and the present Independent Chape], near the Cliff, was erected to supply its place. I should have said an inhabitant of the town informed me that her grandfather knew the tradition to be very prevalent, that sea- men arriving on this coast used to go to this chapel to offer up prayers. Neither this nor Christ Church nor the monastery is mentioned in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas IV.: that does not contradict their existence ; for neither is Idandawke nor Llansa- durnen nor Marros noticed. The castle was unroofed and con- siderably destroyed by the Parliamentary forces under Cromwell. Being not habitable. Sir J. Powell erected a large and fine mansion at Broadway. In old deeds it is said, ‘‘The mansion was built where there was a broadway leading along.” It stood on Big Madras Hill; the hill on its right is called “ Middle Madras Hill;” and the hill on the other side of the lane leading to Llansa- durnen, and opposite Kingaddle, is “Little Madras Hill.” I have not been able to learn as much of this mansion as I could wish ; but from what I gather from elderly people of this place who saw it, it seems to have been of no particular style of architecture, was built of stone, with two stories and garrets ; a very large porch raised four or five steps above the ground facing the present road, led into a spacious hall, very handsomely decorated with red and gold, having a handsome staircase. On one side of it was a large dinings room ; on the other, a saloon lighted by narrow windows with leaden frames. The kitchen was very large, had an enormous fireplace, and a sort of porch built out from it, and nine immense ovens. A tennis-court stood to the left of the house by the road to Llansa- durnen ; the buildings attached were so numerous as to be like a little town ; the stabling extensive beyond what was required for a gentleman’s establishment. This was for the convenience of travellers, as the inns of Laugharne were poor places ; the liberality of the possessor supplied the deficiency. It formed the only stage between Caermarthen and Tenby. The servants’ hall was hand- some and large, the floor covered with a coating composed of something that looked like steel, figured with red, but in no set pattern. It was at the side of the house ; its windows looked towards Kingaddle, and on to the orchard and hot-house, which PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 33 passed at the back of all the buildings, and was on the right hand. On the left, a row of fine lime trees passed down to the end of the grounds towards Kingaddle parallel with the orchard ; between these two stood a terrace forming a pleasant walk. By the corner of the wall up above, and at a little distance from the two trees so curiously bent, there was a large glass summer-house, in which, in sunny days, the family would banquet and enjoy themselves. Another summer-house stood lower down, near where the mark of a gateway is in the wall. A fine apple tree was by the wall in front of the house near the end, Kingaddle way, bending its branches into the road. Many a whip was applied by the driver of the cart passing by to bring the apples down. Several statues adorned the grounds. The story goes that those two trees above-mentioned were twice taken up and planted on Laugharne marsh, and mys- teriously brought back again to the old spot, and that the second time they came bent as they are now. This is to be received, just as such stories are, for what it is worth. Over the porch, in front of the house, a white stone was fixed into the wall. Swords, lances, battle-axes, &c., cut out of the solid stone, and the repre- sentation of a battle in relievo ; so some describe it to me. Another person says it was only the coat of arms carved on it, which to me is the more likely. The entrance-gates were opposite the porch, and large gates stood on the other side of the road just where an old square stone stood three years ago. They opened into the road leading over the hill : no trace of a road now. This hill was then thickly planted with trees, and called ‘‘ Dell Grove.’’ The trees only went up to the edge of the hill, and extended from the railing by side of the road going up to Resting Stone Hill down to the part just past the outhouses of the farm-house ^ which once, in time of Judge Powell, was the residence of the agent of the Broadway estate. A path ran through the grove, by which the lady of Broadway, her family, and household, went to church in summer-time. It fell into the old road from Pendine, of which distinct traces are here left, and will be pointed out in Part VIII. I am told that on Christmas day. Good Friday, and Easter Sun- day, a carpet or horse-hair matting was laid down from the porch of the mansion, through Dell Grove, and down the old road, which still exists in that narrow lane by the side of Gosport House, coming out by the sea, and all the way to Laugharne Church, which is an impossibility, especially when we know what severe ^ This house, which still exists, is therefore as ancient as the Broadway mansion. 134 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, winters there were in olden times ; however, I give it as I am told. On this carpet the family walked ; when they reached the cross, they went three times round it. The paddock was opposite the mansion on the other side of the road, and extended from the haggard of Kingaddle farm to the railing above -described going to Resting Stone Hill. On the top of the hill behind the mansion, and on the other side of the road that passes to Llansadurnen, were woods. An orchard in the grounds of this house went parallel with that road and over the hill. The dog-kennel, black- smith’s shop, and the barn, were on the other side of it, by that road. The rosemary garden and raspberry garden were behind the house, and passed up the hill. The farm-house now occupied by Mr. Howel on the Broadway House grounds was occupied by the butler of the family, and the enclosed part before this farm- house, planted with trees, was the lawn, and the principal entrance to the mansion. It was the custom of this family to have a long table laid out every day with meat, &c., for all poor persons who chanced to pass by to come and partake. It was placed parallel with the wall by the side of the road going to Llansadurnen ; traces of the door through which they entered are visible now. Over it was a notice inviting any poor person to come in, but to take nothing away. It was told one day to Sir Watkin Gwyn that some persons transgressed the rule. To be sure of this, he dressed him- self as a beggar, sat down at the table to dine. Two people soon came in, who, when they had finished dinner, said, Let us take enough away for a dinner ; we maybe hungry by-and-by.” The next day no table was laid out, and from that time Sir Watkin gave up the custom, saying, He would feed those who needed it, but would not have thieves.” At Westmead and Llanmiloe, on the Pendine road, the families there had dinner ready every day for poor people. So had Capt. and Mrs. Ackland at Amroth Castle, three miles from Pendine. Sunday was an exception. At these mansions it was allowed poor persons, who could give a good account of themselves, to remain a month in them. Lord Ken- sington, who resided in Westmead House, used always to give the Irish a dinner when they took this route from Ireland to do har- vest work in England. The Gwyn family, whom I have mentioned as living in the mansion of Broadway, came into the property thus : Mary, the granddaughter of Judge Powell, married Howel Gwynne of Garth. She sold, as I have stated, the Broadway property to Pennoyre Watkins, Esq. When Pennoyre comes into possession, a new scene opens ; the glory of Broadway departs, and the man- ^^ENDINE, AND TIIEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 35 sion disappears — the fate of most of the grand things of this life. To this mansion is attached one of those mysterious tales which always belong to historic places. It is said a former lady of Broad- way used often to appear in the house, and that she showed the spot above the fireplace in the kitchen where money was concealed. There are curious stories about Pennoyre coming into possession of the property, which I am not at liberty to go into ; but this I may say, that it appears the Gwynnes borrowed money of Pennoyre, secured on the estate ; that he, in the absence of payment, forced the sale of it ; the deeds were not to be found. When Pennoyre pulled down the mansion, they were discovered underneath the floor by the fireplace, in a room above the ground floor. Another account says, a beggar man found them after Pennoyre^ s death, and took them to one of his sons ; whether either of these accounts be right I cannot say. I had them from reliable sources, but experience teaches how difficult it is to come to the truth of things. After Pennoyre’s death, they say he appeared continually in the grounds of Laugharne Castle, and on Sir John’s Hill, which is sin- gularly connected with an old woman of Pembrokeshire, who had recently come to live in Laugharne, and had not seen him in his lifetime. She would go at twelve o’clock at night into the ruins of the castle, where he appeared to her. The domestics of the castle always watched her coming in. One night he carried her up to Sir John’s Hill. Tom Owen the crier, an old man deceased about twelve years, told me his aunt was one of the domestics, and saw her come in. I give these stories as I was told. The family of Pennoyre were displeased with the stories of this woman meeting their father. To know the truth they had the woman to the par- sonage by the church. In the present dining-room there the family portraits hung ; they turned all of them with their faces to the wall. As one by one was presented to her, they asked if that was like the person she meets in the castle grounds ; she said No ” to all. When they came to Pennoyre’ s, she said, ‘‘ That is the man.” Observe, she had never seen him in his lifetime ! With some of the materials of Broadway mansion, Pennoyre built the two large houses, one with bay windows in every floor, nearly opposite the Great House, and the vicarage in King Street, Laugharne. With the rest of the materials he began what he desired to be a grand mansion, on Sir John’s Hill, but died before it was finished. The present farm-house is part of it. Laugharne Castle and houses still in possession of his family, and so was the marsh and Broad- way estate till lately. Mr. Ravenscroft married Miss Laugharne of 136 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, the old family of the Laugharnes of this place, who held Laugharne Castle. His son, Colonel Ravenscroft, married a daughter of Pennoyre Watkins, and lived at the castle ; their daughter married Colonel Starkes. This Mrs. Starkes was the last of the family who resided in the castle. She had two daughters, three sons. One of them, named James, is the only one who had children. His son James holds the castle and some houses in the town. One of his daughters (/. e. of the first James) married a Baptist minister in London. The Broadway estate, including the Marsh, was the property of Colonel Watkins. It was mortgaged, and Mr. Broad- wood of London purchased it of the mortgagees. Kingaddle, or Kyn Gadel, near Broadway, is a pretty pass through the cliffs. It is supposed the Romans had a fort here ; the position is admirable for commanding a view of the whole sea and coast. The hill overlooking Kingaddle farm-house is called Coigan. Near the top of it, and facing the sea, is a remarkable cave.^ I explored it in 1877. The entrance is so low that you have to stoop considerably to get in, and was once still lower ; it winds and branches off in two directions, and extends about 80 yards. Near the entrance is an aperture in the floor through which they have discovered a room beneath, but not yet explored ; the roof is very low in some parts. A few years ago it was rich in stalac- tites, of which it was unfairly robbed ; the floor is composed of what is thought the excrement of animals. It has been ascer- tained there is another large cave. In 1800 or 18 to, a sacrificial censer or thuribulum was found, containing 60 coins of the period of the Roman empire. The censer was of bronze, very highly finished. Mr. Kemp, an antiquarian, who wrote an account of Laugharne in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for 1839 and 1842, examined it, and doubts the correctness of its discovery in a cave ; thinks it more likely it was found in excavating the limestone from the hill, and that the coins were of the period of Carausius.^ In 1842, he says, that the quarrymen in digging for stone on Coigan, found on its northern top the skeleton of a man, of a very large size, in a sort of cell cut in the rock 4I feet in length, 2\ in breadth, and 2 feet deep ; but in parts its size varied. It was lying on its side, with the head to the north, the knees bent up. On the top of this grave was a huge stone called a clegger, nearly circular, about five feet in diameter, 10 to ii feet thick ; and as it ^ Two hundred and fifty feet above the sea-level. “ In 1830, an urn with Roman coins was found in a garden joining Laug- harne Castle. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURPIOODS. 1 3/ is all limestone here, it must have been brought from the adjoin- ing hill, and that with great labour, showing, Mr. Kemp says, there had been no secrecy about the burial. The top of the covering-stone was about a foot below the surface of the earth ; round the edges of it a sort of dry wall had been built ; the whole was overgrown with turf, and quite concealed from view, till the opening being made at the side displaying the skeleton induced the visitor to remove the soil and turf from the top to see the size of the stone. The Rev. J. N. Harrison, Vicar of Laugharne, sent this account of the discovery to Mr. Kemp. The position of the body indicates a very early period ; the most ancient mode of burial deposited the body within a cist, with the head to the north, and the knees drawn up, which was an Eastern custom ; and the mode here of closing the aperture to the grave was very anciently adopted. This Coigan cave I have described had been known to the inhabitants of Laugharne, but was never explored scientifically till the autumn of 1866, when Mr. Allen, an authority on bone caves, and Dr. Hicks of St. Davids excavated it, and found bones and teeth of hyenas, hippopotami, rhinoceros, mammoth, red deer, horse — the floor strewed with fragments of bones lying on the surface. All the bones found then and after- wards were sent to Professor Boyd Dawkins, who said that the teeth indicate every variety, from the whelp to the adult in the decline of life."” Mr Allan stated this in his speech at the meet- ing of the Cambrian Archaeological Society at Caermarthen, in August 1875. He said : This cave was an ancient hyena den ; that the bones introduced by hyenas are distinguished from those brought in by water or some other agency by their imperfect state, since all the eatable portions are gone, the hyenas having eaten all the eatable parts.” He says : The scanty herbage now on the bare hills near Laugharne would not provide nourishment enough for such gigantic animals, nor cover for them ; so that there must have been a much larger area of pasturage when these animals perished than is at present ; hence geologists have inferred there must have been an alteration of the level in the land, and that at the period we are speaking of Coigan Rock overlooked a vast fertile plain affording abundant pasturage, and occupying the pre- sent site of the Bristol Channel. This elevation of the district above its present level was part of the general elevation of the whole of Western Europe. The submarine forests along the coast below low-water mark, and dredging up of mammoth bones in the German Ocean, favour this view. So England at this period 138 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, was not an island, but the high central plateau of a large con- tinent. This alteration, not the effect of a sudden convulsion ol nature, but took place gradually. The rocks in which these caverns are found to exist are almost exclusively mountain lime- stone, though a few have been known in other rocks.’’ He says : “ The formation of bone-caves is due to the agency of water, as the Roman poet says, ‘ Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed saepe cadendo.’ ^ The limestone is so traversed by joints and cracks, that the water rapidly sinks in to itsmass, and collects in small streams, which owe their direction to the dip of the strata and the position of the fissures, and these passages are continually being widened by the mere mechanical action of the carrying down of stones and silt.” The second time he found bones here, he sent them to the museum of Rugby School. Since this, some have explored the cave, and found bones of the elephant and two teeth, and bones of the bear, elk, oxen,^ and of other animals. In the soil about are mingled with the stones numerous bones of birds, small animals, and shells. Caves containing fossil bones first explored in Germany during i6th and 17th century; not for scientific purposes, but to obtain mammoth’s teeth, then used as a drug by chemists and quacks. In 1871, the quarrymen exca- vating at Coigan found bones of animals, and a curiously-shaped spoon. Not far from Coigan cave, and a little below it, another cave has been lately found ; no bones in it ; and near it two human skeletons buried in the hill-side in two distinct places, of a size almost like giants. In 1875, Mr. Raymond, of Honeycors Farm, by the Marsh, while ploughing the field called Plashyatt, discovered under several large stones and many small stones a quantity of human skeletons, some of men of large size, some of children about 12 to 14 years old. He had them buried in the spot they were found, and covered them with the stones, which are very large and heavy. The area the large stones occupy is about ten yards each side of the square. The smaller stones were mixed with earth, and they have been removed to another spot near at hand. It is to be observed that all the stones and the earth mixed with them are not of the same kind with those in this field of Plashyatt, but like those of Coigan. This burial-place is in a direct line with Roger’s Well, where the house and farm there 1 A drop cuts the floor, not by force, but by often dropping. ^ See Parts XIX. and XX. for discovery of bones; also Parts XXI., XXII. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 39 Stand on the top of the opposite hill, and it is on the extreme high point of Plashyatt field, near the edge of the point where the ground rising from the plain into a hill attains its extreme height, and bulges very prettily — a commanding position, a lovely spot, with all those features of land and sea which constitute a grand and beautiful prospect. Coigan is not surpassed by it ; the walk to Coigan over the hill is most pleasant, and the view of land and sea is glorious. Some time ago, a quantity of bones, skulls, and teeth, were found at the point of Coigan low down on the plain. Twenty years ago, bones of giants were found at Coigan in excavating. Coigan supplies abundance of limestone ; carts come from great distances for it, and rumble through Laugharne in the early morn of summer time. The point of Coigan which rests on the Burrows beneath is called Norhook. I am told by the old people of the place that there is, and was always, a strong tradi- tion that the sea came up to it, and ships anchored there, and it was dangerous ; and that in times far past a battle was fought either at Kingaddle or on Madras Hills. The derivation of Coigan and Kingaddle is uncertain. Coigan is thought to be derived from Milo de Coigan, a Norman knight, who had a grant of the property of Llanmiloe near Pendine. Mr. Kemp says Coigan was part of the possessions of Milo de Coigan, who followed Henry 11. into Ireland ; he thinks that as the causeway by the pass of Kingaddle, or Cyn Gadel, might have been formed in Roman British times for landing military bodies, Cyn Gadel may have been derived from Cad,^^ a battle, or the pass of Gadel ; but a Welsh clergyman, a good authority, says it comes from Cad, a battle ; ” Cyn, the front place of the battle.” I am told that a subterranean passage passes from Coigan to Honeycors Farm, and issues out at its cellar. Capthorne is a farm near Llansadurnen ; one of its fields joins Hollis stone field by Hugden Road, and in it was once a tumulus, with a quantity of bones under it. (For more discoveries of bones, and some of giants, see Part XX.) At Maenclochog, a village, with its church perched on the Perscli mountains, in Co. Pembroke, about three miles from Llandissilio, which is five from Narberth, a burying-place was discovered similar to that on the land where Tremoillet Mansion stood, near Pendine ; the new school-house stands on it now. (See Part XX. for Tremoillet.) 140 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PART VII. Distinguished Persons of Langharne — Eminent Men of the Church of England who belonged to this Town or its Neighbourhood — Madame Bevan — The Circu- lating Schools founded by Rev. G. Jones of Llanddowr or —Schools of Laug- harne — Charities— Bible Society founded by Rev. Mr. Charles of Bala. Besides the remains of antiquity which give an interest to Laug- harne and its neighbourhoods, it bears the honour of having been the residence or the sojourn, and in some instances the birth-place, of many persons noted for their talents and the excellency of their lives. Some of the great of the earth have seen this ancient town. Henry II. visited the castle on his return from Ireland (see Part IV.). The Black Prince, son of Edward III., resided for a time in a very ancient curious house opposite Laugharne — Castle House — it was pulled down about ten years ago. It joined the present Ravens House, and was on the exact site on which Mr. Thomas has built his shop. Cromwell appears to have been here. Tradition says the great artist Vandyke was once in Laug- harne, and left a memorial of his presence in some spirited pieces drawn on the walls of one of the rooms of Gosport House, in which he is said to have sojourned ; if so, some Goth plastered them over or obliterated them, for nothing of the kind appears. It is not un- likely he was here, for he married into the Stepney family, whose seat is Greenfields, Llanelly, Caermarthenshire. He was interred in the crypt of St. Paul’s. Dante, the Italian poet, was a guest of the Cambrian Prince, Owen Glyndore, at Sycharth, and Beddge- lert, in the autumn of 1404; Lord Huntingtower was here on a walking tour ; Lord Harrington for a time ; and Lord Aylmer in early life resided in Gosport House. About 26 years ago, he, with Lady Aylmer, visited Laugharne, to see the old place again ; some friends of mine met them in the town. A Lady Aylmer ^ resided in that ancient handsome house Mr. Muscat now occupies, close to the Vicarage. I have heard the Hon. Mrs. Norton sojourned 1 This is true, for friends of mine knew her. TENDINE, AND TIIEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. I4I for a time in the large house at Llandawke, which Lord' Kensing- ton possessed. Some people dispute this ; if she did, it was at the ancient house which was close to the church, and was, in the memory of old persons still living, pulled down some years ago. A lady, long resident in this town, told me Lord Harrington, before he came to the title, and just after his marriage, lived in Laugharne for a short time. I cannot refrain from noticing a very great character, though it is not quite within the route of my plan — Sir R. Steele, the great writer in the ‘ Spectator,’ and friend of Addison, has done honour to this county by his presence. The inn called the ‘‘ Ivy Bush,” in the town of Caermarthen, was his house ; he departed this life in it. There are two inns of this name ; one pleasantly seated, with a view of the sweet Towy behind ; a good house. This I understood was his ; but lately I hear it was the other one, whose aspect is not so inviting. I leave it undecided, except that he did reside in one of them. It is an honour indeed to have had a writer in the ^ Spectator ’ here, and the friend of such an one as Addison ; one of irreproachable life, the purest and most sincere of Christians, whose immortal writings, beyond all praise, will last as long as language lasts. After Sir R. Steele lost his wife, he, being in weak health, retired to Caermar then to live on her property there ; she was a Miss Scurlock. He also resided at a house,^ now a farm-house, near Llangunnor Church, which is about two miles from Caermarthen, where in the summer-house he composed his last work, ‘ The Conscious Lovers;’ and ‘Svould be often carried out of a summer evening when the country lads and lasses were at their rural sports, and with his pencil give an order on his agent for a new gown for the best dancer.” He departed this life nth Sept., 1729, aged 58; buried in the chancel of Caermarthen Church. A kind husband and generous friend, retaining his cheerful sweetness to the last.” Mr. V. Davis has had a tablet put up in this church to his memory, with this : Sir R. Steele, Knight, Author and Essayist, first chief promoter of the Periodical Press of England. Born in Dublin, March 12th, 1671. Buried in this church.” — (Certified) Latimer M. Jones, Vicar.” It says; Extract from Register of Burial, 1729, Sept. 4th.” Then he must have died before the nth. The present Vicar of Laugharne, Rev. J. N. Harrison of Worcester Coll, Oxford, is talented, of considerable classical attainments, and a poet. Besides these public men of note, ^ This house is called Ty Gwyn, i. e. White House, and is the very house he lived in, and was always a farm-house. 142 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Laugharne has been favoured by the residence of several private individuals of superior talents and acquirements. No less than three amateur artists, whose paintings would bear comparison with some of the first works of the Royal Academy. I have next to record the history of some noted clergymen of the Church of England. Reginald Peacock, Bishop of St. Asaph in 1444, afterwards of Chichester, was born in Laugharne. He translated portions of the Bible into English, was fellow of Oriel Coll, Oxford, and chaplain to Humphrey Duke of Glocester, uncle to Henry VI. He was persecuted for some opinions he held that were declared heresy, recanted at St. Paul’s Cross. The Rev. William Thomas, an eminent Bishop of St. Davids, whose truly Christian life deserves the long record I give, born at Bristol, Feb., 1613, of a respectable Caermarthenshire family; his father a linen-draper of Bristol; his grandfather had been Re- corder of Caermarthen. In 1629, at the age of fifteen, he entered Jesus Coll., Oxford, and became a fellow and tutor of it, after- wards Vicar of Penbryn, Co. Cardigan, and chaplain to the Earl of Northumberland, who presented him to the Vicarage of Laugharne and Rectory of Llansadurnen. He married Blanch, daughter of Mr. Peter Samyne, a Dutch merchant of an ancient family, and of Lyme Street, London, by whom he had eight children. He died June 25th, 1689; interred in cloisters of Worcester Cathedral. The following account of him I extract from pp. 488, 490, of ‘ Enwogion Cymru,’ a Biographical Diet, of eminent Welshmen from the earliest time, by Rev. R. Williams : ‘‘He religiously performed with great faithfulness and zeal every duty of a parish priest, esteeming his employment not a trade but a trust, till he was deprived of the living of Laugharne by the Parliament Committee about 1644. From this time to the Restoration he endured great hardships, being a sufferer to the amount of ^1500 and more. To support his family he taught in a private school in the country. Though his friends often made him liberal presents, yet his wife and family were frequently in want of common necessaries. At the Restoration he was reinstated in the living of Laugharne and Llansadurnen, and made chantor of St. Davids. In 1661 presented to the Rectory of Llanbedr Velvre, Pembrokeshire, by Lord Chancellor Hyde, then chaplain to the Duke of York, with whom he was in a sea engagement against the Dutch. In 1665 was made Dean of Worcester. In 1670 presented to the Rectory of Hampton Lovet, by Sir J. Pakington. Now he quitted Laugharne for Hampton. In 1677 TENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. I43 he was Bishop of St. Davids, while holding the deanery of Wor- cester in commendam (/. e. for a time). He was liked by the gentry and clergy of this diocese. He had been bred up among them, and a fellow-sufferer with many in the late troubles. His chief concern was to correct their morals, promote piety and goodness. He repaired the palaces of Brecon and Abergwili, preached often in several parts of the diocese in Welsh language. In 1683 was made Bishop of Worcester, and conducted to his palace by the gentry and clergy of his diocese, where he enter- tained them very handsomely, and ever after they found a plen- tiful table and hearty welcome. As bishop, his hospitalities and charities were unbounded ; he being always of opinion that to mend the morals of people the first step was to gain their ac- quaintance and affection. The poor were daily fed at his door ; he sent provisions twice a week to the common prison, besides very large sums where he saw occasion. What with his extensive charities and numerous family, he was sometimes almost on the verge of debt, which he dreaded as a sin. He laid not up for himself or his children. When charged with not providing for his own, he answered — No bishop or priest was to enrich himself, or raise his family, with the revenues of the Church ; the sacred Canons forbade it.’’ He published an ‘ Apology for the Church of England.’ By his exertions a new edition of the Welsh Bible was published. Malkin, in his ^ Scenery and Antiquities of S. Wales,’ pub. 1807, says: ‘Mn the library of Sir T. Mosty, in Flintshire, is a letter in MS. of Tho. Llewellyn of Regoes, to Dr. Richard Davies, the second Protestant Bishop of St. Davids, advising him to translate the Bible into Welsh, and giving some account of his own attempt.” The Bishop translated and published the New Testament, but no more, Malkin thinks. I come now to a remarkable character, the Rev. Griffith Jones, Rector of Llanddowror, near Laugharne, interesting from his con- nection with this town. He was curate of Laugharne for one or two years, where his popularity was so great, the church could seldom hold the multitudes who came to hear him. In 1711, he was presented to the living of Llandilo-Abercowyn, and in 1716, Llanddowror was added to it by Sir John Phillips of Picton Castle, the patron, with whom he was connected by marriage. He was born in the parish of Cilrhedyn, Caermarthenshire, in 1684. His parents were religious, and members of a Nonconforming church. From childhood he was religiously disposed, and inclined to Calvinistic doctrines. He was educated at a Grammar School 144 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, at Caermarthen, kept by an eminent classical scholar. He was ordained deacon by the celebrated Bishop Bull, Sept. 19th, 1708, and afterwards priest, by the same prelate, at Abermarlais Chapel. Preached at first in his native parish. He was to the last the greatest preacher in Wales. The plainness and earnestness of his sermons were made striking by an eloquent delivery and a melodi- ous voice. His constitution was delicate ; in early life severely suffered from asthma ; but the energy of his mind and vigour of his intellect gave a vitality to his constitution it had not naturally, proving that truth which so few will believe, that mental exertions improve health and lengthen out life. As he advanced in life this complaint almost disappeared. His popularity and usefulness raised the jealousy and hatred of the clergy. Pressing invitations to preach in different parts were continually sent to him. Some- times, when the churchwardens had announced him to preach, the incumbent would take away the key of the church ; in such cases, he preached on a tomb-stone or under a yew tree in the church- yard. This brought him into collision with the Ecclesiastical Court. Some would not allow him to preach in their churches on week-days, however much their parishioners desired it. And there were occasions when the multitudes who came to hear him were too great for the church, and he preached in the churchyard.^ He conferred the greatest benefits on Wales. Ignorance, irreligion, immorality, spread like a pestilence over the fair Principality ; wakes, vanity fairs, and other impious gatherings were aggravating these moral diseases. While he was straining every nerve to arrest their progress, labouring early and late, in season and out of sea- son, exercising the greatest self-denial, bitterly persecuted by churchmen, harassed for twenty years with a prosecution in the Ecclesiastical Court, the Church was resting quietly in the midst. He called forth the feeble sparks of religion that still remained. He travelled about the country during Easter and Whitsuntide, when the wakes and fairs were held, preaching in the open air to draw the people from those places. In many places he put an end to the wakes. It is well attested that through his schools, parish churches, empty before, were filled with large congregations, communicants increased, and many householders used family wor- ship.” The great work on which his fame rests was the founding of the Welsh Circulating Schools. They arose from the small beginning of a charity school he established in 1730 in the parish ^ He preached once before Queen Anne, and she highly approved of his sermon. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 145 of Llanddowror, supported with the sacrament money. Soon after another was formed ; and with the assistance of some benevolent people and the Christian Knowledge Society, the number rapidly in- creased, so that in 1741 there were 128, and the number instructed in them was 7595. His plan was this : he established a seminary at Llanddowror for training teachers ; these he sent about the coun- try, one to each town or village where their aid had been requested ; when they had instructed all who had attended them, they were to go on to the next place, and after a time to revisit the localities they first came to, thus making a circuit of the whole country. They were to teach the people to read the Scriptures in the Welsh language, to catechise them, to instruct them in Psalmody, and lead them to live religious lives. By 1761 their number had become 218. In one year 10,000 persons had been taught to read, and in course of 24 years, 150,212 could read the Welsh Bible, comprising all ages from six years to above 70. It was in a great degree owing to him that the “Bible has been found in the Welsh cottage.” Madame Bevan, an excellent and distinguished ]ady of Laugharne, gave him very material help in his labours ; from her he received “munificent gifts of money.” At his death he left nearly £8000, which he collected for the schools by his own exertions ; he left it to her, as well as the care of the schools : she increased this sum to £10,000. When she departed this life, in 1779, she left the books and estate of Rev. G. Jones, and the residue of her own estate, for the use of the Welsh Circulating Schools ; one of the trustees of her will possessed herself of the property, and refused to give it to the schools. This forced them to be closed for many years. “It was not till the year 1807 that the money, which during a protracted suit in Chancery had accumulated to a con- siderable sum, was, under a decree of Lord Eldon’s, applied to the purposes for which Mrs. Bevan intended. Lewis, in his ‘ Topo- graphical Dictionary of Wales,’ vol. 2nd, says : “ From a litigation of many years, the sum left by Mrs. Bevan for the schools had in- creased to <^31,486 12^*. 2d. in 1833. The Circulating Schools exist no longer ; but under a scheme, authorized by the Master ol the Rolls, annual grants are made to parochial schools within the Principality.” This account of the schools is correct, as I had it from one of the Canons of St. Davids. Dr. E. Williams, Minister of the Independent Church at Oswestry, was the next after Rev. G. Jones to establish Sunday Schools ; this was in 1786, and in North Wales. They were turned into Circulating Day Schools. The Rev. Mr. Charles of Bala was the next who laboured in this work. L 146 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, In the account I shall presently give of him, his schools will be noticed ; the care and preservation of them is due to him alone. Mr. Morgan John Rees of Pontypool, an Anti-paedobaptist minister, founded some in South Wales, but he left for America in 1794; and Dr. Williams finally left too for England. There were Sunday Schools before, as appears from an MS. written in 1720 by Morgan J. Morriston, near Swansea, which were held by the Nonconforming Churches. Sunday Schools, in the modern form, were not generally established in Wales till close of last century. The Gaelic Schools were established in consequence of the information given of the Circulating Schools of Rev. G. Jones. I have shown that the Rev. G- Jones’s unwearied labours were not performed amidst peace. Both bishops and clergy were very bitter against him, except a few, who were indifferent. The charges made against him, and the coarse language with which he was assailed by the clergy, I shall not relate, for their credit sake : the less a book is soiled with such un- becoming expressions the better. It is to be hoped they saw their error in time, and were convinced that the charity, or rather love, so forcibly inculcated by the Apostle, is the only true test of a Christian ; that charity is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, doth not behave itself unseemly — (and the natural inference would be, useth not unseemly expressions) — believeth all things, hopeth all things ; and that it covers a multitude of sins.” But he had a powerful protector and friend in Madame Bevan ; this distin- guished lady deserves the record I give. The attempts made to stop his active labours, and to eject him from the Church, were frus- trated in a great degree by her exertions and influence ; and his extensive usefulness was owing considerably to her powerful assist- ance, her generosity and benevolence. ‘‘She was a person of no ordinary character: ” “under the ministry of Rev. G. Jones she received her first serious impressions.” Miss Bridget Vaughan she was; her father was — Vaughan, Esq. ofDerllysg, Merthyr : her hus- band, A. Bevan, Esq. of Laugharne, was Member of Parliament for Caermarthen. He died in 1 742, and was interred outside Laugharne Church, close to the porch on its right at the south wall, where a tomb was placed. She was a very beautiful woman, and for a while held a post in the Court of George II. She lived in a large house, pulled down about 1859, behind the Market Place. She attended Llan- ddowror Church every Sunday, and by her express wish was buried in that church. She died in her house in Laugharne. Some account of her was in the ‘ Christian Guardian ’ of September, 1809 (p. 334), and of the schools in the October No. of 1809. Rev. G. PENDTNE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. I47 Jones died in her house in Laugharne, under her care, April 8th, 1761, aged 7 7, having been Rector of Llanddowror 45 years; and was interred there in the church. He published several works — ‘ The Exposition of the Church Catechism ’ in Welsh — ^ Welsh Piety’ in English, giving annual reports of the Circulating Schools and in- formation as to the religious state of Wales. The letters of Madame Bevan to Rev. G. Jones are published, edited by Rev. E. Morgan. Llanddowror is a pretty village, four miles from Laugharne, in Hundred of Derllys, Co. Caermarthen. The scenery about is beautiful. The Taf runs through it. Here is one of the finest quarries in the county. From its position between the waters of the rivulet Hirwaun ^ and the river Taf, it has its name, — Laii is ‘ two ’ in Welsh, and ddwr is ^ water,’ making Llanddowror. ‘‘The church is dedicated to St. Cringat : in the inventory, time Edward VL, it says Llanddowror has. In p’mis a Chalyce ; It’m, a bell.” In Spurrell’s Magazine, ‘ Haul,’ for January, 1873,1! says : “ Llanddowr- or is a corruption of Llan-dy-fr- wyr, the church of the Waterman. In the ‘ Life of St Cybi ’ it ns spelt Llandaverguir. Before St. Cybi went thence to St. Davids, he left a small parti-coloured hand-bell at this church. This place derived its name from some fisherman whom St. Teilo placed there on his property.” Accord- ing to this the derivation of the name which I gave first is wrong. In the king’s book it is rated at <^6 a-year, and called a Discharged Rectory, 2 and is in the gift of Phillipps, Esq. of Picton Castle. There is a Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Llanddowror About ten years ago a British School was established in the parish ; it was self-supporting ; but now (this year, 1877) a Govern- ment National School has taken its place. The Rev. Peter Williams comes next. He was the son of Owen and Elizabeth Williams, born January 7th, 1721, in a farm- house his parents occupied, and which still exists, and is now tenanted by Cornelius Edward es ; it stands on Laugharne Marsh, and on the borders of Llansadurnen parish, and on the strip of land in that parish which comes from the Pendine road and across the marsh to the sands, dovetailing in between the township of Laugharne and its parish : it is the farm just before you come to that of Steven Thomas. From this farm they removed to Castle Lloyd, above Llanmiloe. His parents descended from re- spectable families ; they died when he was twelve years : a maternal uncle took care of him : the religious instructions of his mother ^ Hirwaun, in Welsh Hir is ‘ long ; ’ waun, ‘a meadow.’ 2 A Discharged Rectory is one that does not pay the first-fruits.” 148 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, made a lasting impresssion. At sixteen he went to a Grammar School in Caermarthen. Here he was deeply impressed by a sermon he heard from Mr. Whitefield, who, in one of his preaching excursions, delivered a discourse in the open air in Lammas Street. In 1745 he was made deacon by Bishop of St. Davids, and became curate of Eglwyscummin, which is three or four miles from Laugharne. Here he kept a school, but the Rector, disliking his Methodistical principles, dismissed him, and he became curate at Swansea, then of Llangranog in Cardiganshire. From these he was dismissed for the same reason. Lastly he was at Llandysilio. The same fate pursued him here : the Bishop would not admit him to priest’s orders, so he left the Church to join the Methodists. He preached several times in that ruined chapel which is at the turn- ing to Gosport by the sea : it belonged to the Calvinistic Method- ists. He was not free from persecution even in this position ; he suffered from his friends as well as from his enemies. ‘^He was unjustly accused of heresy, and expelled the Methodist Society in his 70th year ; an act of base ingratitude, for he had served them faithfully, often at the peril of his life.” Now he joined the Inde- pendents. He departed this life in 1796. At this time, many clergy of our Church preached in the Methodist Chapels ; as the Church became more strict the curates were ejected for preaching in the chapels and in the open air ; but the beneficed clergy who did these acts were not touched. ^‘As a preacher he excelled all his Methodist brethren ; no minister of the eighteenth century did so much to cultivate religious literature in the Welsh language.” His ‘Family Bible’ appeared in 1770; in 1773 he published his ‘ Welsh Concordance of the Bible,’ “esteemed a work of labour and utility ; ” in 1790 he published the Bible with Canne’s marginal notes and references, with additional ones of his own, all in Welsh. “ To this day these labours have endeared him to the Welsh.” He was descended from the Rev. Lewis Bayly, the distinguished Bishop of Bangor in 1616. His life is written in Rees’s ‘ History of Protestant Nonconformity in Wales,’ and a notice of him is in the ‘Enwogion Cymru.’ His descendants are still in these parts. Mrs. Williams, now living at ‘ The Three Horse Shoes ’ at Gosport, in this town, is his great niece ; his grandson is now a medical man practising at the Ferryside, near Caermarthen. The Rev. Eliezer Williams, his son, was a scholar and poet, of Jesus College, Oxford. Among other preferments he was Lecturer of All Hallows, Lombard Street ; Curate of Chadwick, Essex ; Chaplain to the Garrison of Tilbury Fort ; lastly, Vicar of Lampeter, Cardiganshire ; died Jan. 20th, 1820. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 149 Dr. Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, a distinguished scholar and divine, and a political writer, was born in Laugharne, 1713, in an ancient house, tradition says, called ‘‘Old Bell House,” in King Street. It stood on the site of the house, with a window on each side of the door, on your right, as you go towards the church, a little way past the Vicarage, which is on your left; but this is certain, he lived in it with his father and mother. His father was a farmer, and left Laugharne to reside on his estate at Aberystwith, Co. Cardigan. Though he had but a small income, he contrived to send his son to Ruthin School, Co. Denbigh. Here the future Dean was diligent, and he gained an exhibition at St. John’s College, Oxford. His journeys thither from Wales were on foot, carrying a bundle filled with his belongings at the end of a stick laid across his shoulder. He was ordained to the curacy of All Saints, Bristol ; afterwards curate of St. Stephens in that city ; then a minor canon, and domestic chaplain to Dr. Butler, the author of the ‘Analogy,’ who gave him a Prebendal Stall in the Cathedral of Bristol, and the Rectory of St. Stephens ; lastly, he was Dean of Gloucester in 1758, in which post he left this life, Nov. 4th, 1799, aged 88; interred in the south transept of Gloucester Cathedral. His name supposes a Flemish origin ; Tucher, corrupted into Tucker, is the Flemish for a weaver. A colony of Flemings settled in Laugharne ; their traces and descendants still exist, as I have noticed. In private life he was most amiable, much beloved and respected in his parish. With only a moderate income, he was able, by a frugal style of living, to give liberally, and did an act of kindness which should never be forgotten. His curate at St. Stephens had a large family, but a small income ; he resigned St. Stephens in his favour. With much difficulty and great solicitation he got the Chancellor to accept his own resignation and receive his curate. Later in life he married Mrs. Crowe, his housekeeper. Miss Burney, the authoress of ‘ Evelina,’ daughter of Dr. Burney, when in attendance on Queen Charlotte, notices, in her ‘ Diary,’ his visiting at the Court when George HI. was at Fauconberg Hall, Cheltenham. “ I was very glad,” she says, “ to see him ; he has a most shrewd, keen face, and is past eighty.” His sermons and treatises were ably written, but his fame rests on his political writings ; they show the goodness of his heart. Those relating to trade, commerce, and war, tell how free he was from the prejudices and exclusiveness so com- mon in life, and that his views were beyond the age he lived in. His work, ‘Cui Bono,’ was upon the impolicy of war. He was averse to the penal laws against Dissenters ; was their friend and sympathizer. He advocated the naturalization of the Je^vs and all ISO ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, foreigners ; reproved the English for their illiberal conduct towards foreign nations. His works are now very scarce. I saw in the Baptismal Register of Laugharne Church his name entered as born 1713 ; that his parents were Josiah and Elizabeth Tucker. A large farm, called Pantdwfn, having a substantial, good-looking house, seated on a rising ground, is very visible on your right as you pass along the St. Clears high road from Laugharne. It is but a short walk from St. Clears, a long one from the Pilgrim Church in the parish of Llanfihangel Abercywyn. This house was built not many years ago ; very near it, on the same farm, is an ancient dilapidated house in a deep hollow ; this has the honour of being the birth-place of a clergyman to whom the idea first occurred of founding the Bible Society, and the principal, though not the only, person who practically carried it out, who founded the Circulating Schools, and the Sunday Schools in North Wales. It was the Rev. T. Charles of Bala.^ His diary records his birth, October 14th, 1755 ; parents were of a most respectable class, and designed him for the ministry. His father was a farmer, and cultivated the farm of Pantdwfn, occupying the old house in the hollow just mentioned, in the parish of Llanfihangel. The description of a house in which so excellent a man was born is interesting. I examined all that remains of what was a large house having the appearance of great age : three rooms only remain ; the hall is turned into a room ; farm-servants live in it. An ancient well is at its side. Its position in a hollow has given its name. ^ Pant,’ is a hollow ; ‘ dwfn,’ deep. It has a pretty prospect, but inferior to that of the new house, which from its high site enjoys an extensive view all round. He was educated at the school of Llanddowror, where he first felt serious impressions. A very religious man, Rees Hugh, a disciple of Rev. Griffiths Jones of Llanddowror, confirmed him in them ; from there he went to the Academy at Caermarthen. In May, 1775, he set out for Oxford, and entered Jesus College. After about two years’ residence, the money supplies from his family ceased ; this perplexed and dis- tressed him ; in debt to the college for £ 20 , he resolved to retire to the country to gain a living. Amidst this confusion of mind he had a presentiment he should be delivered from his difficulty. One morning as he was writing to his family to tell them his plans a friend called. To him he related his trouble, and was relieved with the reply : Make yourself easy, I do not doubt you will be assisted.” A few days after this, a gentleman invited him to din- ^ Bala in Merionethshire. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. IS I ner j he went, and before he left his host gave him <^20, saying he should not want while he was at Oxford. On June 14th, 1778, he was ordained deacon at Oxford, accepted a curacy in Somerset- shire. Before entering on its duties, he visited his family at Pantdwfn. During his stay he preached at Llanfihangel, called the Pilgrim Church, now in ruins, which will be described in Part XVI. He married a lady of Bala, as good and religious as him- self, on August 20th, 1783 : then took the curacy of Llanymawddwy , fourteen miles from Bala. The congregation disliked his preach- ing, and the Rector gave him notice to leave. The religious condition of society must have been very low for a man so zealous and active in his duties to have been ill-treated as he was, and ejected from three curacies. To his grief, shut out from minis- terial labours, he had the young people to his house in Bala on Sunday evenings for religious instruction : this was the origin of the Sunday Schools all over the country before any were in Eng- land. He was offered the use of the chapel of the Calvinistic Methodists, who were then, and for long after, connected with the Establishment ; he accepted it. In 1784, he joined their society, not because he disliked the Church ; but he could not be idle : he would have worked in the Church for nothing. Soon after this, in 1785, the idea occurred to him of founding the Circulating Schools in North Wales, knowing how much good they had effected in South Wales ; this year he established them. In 1789, he began night schools for those too poor to attend the day schools. These Circulating Schools removed to new localities at the end of every 9 or 12 months, sometimes more. He was deeply touched with the gross ignorance and low state of religious feeling and know- ledge he found everywhere. Here he showed the pure and dis- interested spirit that moved him. His difficulties in getting teachers were great. He began with one teacher, and at first taught in the schools himself; then he had to teach and train the teachers, always overlooking and catechising, receiving no pay, giving all he had, even the little he received from his preaching at Bala, for their support ; presiding over the associations held at times by the different schools; going to the most remote and moun- tainous districts to preach and catechise. Besides the laborious- ness of these visits be suffered hardships as to food and shelter, for the people were poor, and in winter the cold intense. This brought his life in danger. His thumb was frostbitten, and obliged to be amputated. He had been known often to take his own great-coat off to cover the almost naked. Then holding private 152 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, meetings to discuss certain subjects ; commencing and directing a Magazine in the Welsh language, giving account of missions and religious intelligence generally. It is called ‘Trysorva YsprydoV i. e. Spiritual Treasury, and was the first ever published in Welsh. He set up a printing-press at Bala. He wrote many works, the greatest of them being ‘The Scriptural Dictionary^ in 4 vols., besides numerous letters, giving advice about the establishing of schools and missions in other places. It is not surprising that such labours, performed without expecting any worldly reward, should have effected a wonderful reformation in the habits and morals of young and old. Instead of going as formerly to the public-houses on Sunday to play ; instead of cards and dancing, interludes, quarrelling, barbarous and cruel fightings, they attend prayer-meetings, engage in religious exercises, and go to the schools. He did much good work in Scotland and Ireland by his advice and influence. The amount of work he did was extra- ordinary. The ‘Scriptural Dictionary^ was enough of itself; every Welsh word is analyzed, and the corresponding word in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin ; Welsh proverbs and doctrines stated ; references to approved critics, &c. “ It is a valuable library of itself ; and, next to the Bible, by far the best book in the Welsh language. Its language is simple, elegant, energetic, and is pure Welsh.” He generally visited London for three months every year, serving in Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel, where he did much good. He traversed Ireland with three friends during one month, preaching and ascertaining the religious state of the people, and the best means of instructing them with success. He did the same in many parts of England. Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, &c., felt the benefit of his presence. From what trifles do great things spring. Late in the year of 1802, the Rev. J. Charles of Bala, whose good deeds we are con- sidering, was walking in the streets of Bala, when he met a little girl he knew. He asked her if she remembered the text he preached from on the preceding Sunday. She did not answer ; after asking twice more, she burst into tears and said: “The weather. Sir, has been so bad, I could not get to read the Bible.” He found out there was no copy of it at her home or about the place, and that she used to walk seven miles every week over the hills to a place where there was a Welsh Bible. Now he dis- covered that in the towns and villages there was only one Bible to about eight families. How could he remedy this ? — he was without money. After much reflection he decided that when he next PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 53 visited London he would see what help he could get there. He was in London, December, 1802, and on the 7th of this month he visited the Committee of the Religious Tract Society. The Rev. J. Hughes of Battersea was present, and in answer to his appeal for a Bible Society for Wales and England, said : “Why not one for the whole world ? The subject was discussed, and before they separated they formed, with others, the British and Foreign Bible Society, which in 48 years sent out above 25 millions of copies of the Scriptures in 148 languages and dialects. Mr. Hughes drew up a circular letter entreating Christians to join in a society for this end; he, with the Rev. T. Charles, and Mr. Jones, all Welsh- men, were the principal workers. It is said at their first meeting they were so affected with the prospect of the good that would ensue, that they simultaneously shed tears of joy. The first public meeting to form this society was held in the London Tavern, March 7th, 1804. Grenville Sharp, Esq., was in the chair; ^700 was subscribed at once. The New Testament was completed in July, 1806 ; and when the cart arrived in Wales with a load of copies of it, the Welsh peasants went out in crowds to meet it, and drew it into the town ; every copy was soon appropriated ; the young people sat up all night reading it. On the next morning the labourers carried it to the fields. That such a man should have a mob stirred up against him, as he had, when he was attempt- ing to preach at Corwen, Merionethshire, nearly losing his life through the blow of a stone, is unaccountable ; still more so that he was forbidden the pulpits of the Church of England, and in danger of being silenced by Dr. Horsley, Bishop of St. Asaph. Lord Erskine stopped the Bishop ; he told him that if he pro- ceeded against Mr. Charles, he should get the obnoxious and obsolete law abrogated. A singular incident is recorded when he was at one time dangerously ill. At the chapel, I suppose at Bala, his restoration was fervently prayed for. One person in particular prayed earnestly, repeating many times these words : Fifteen years more ; O Lord, we beseech thee to add fifteen years more to the life of thy servant.” Mr. C. heard of it ; it deeply impressed him. He thought it Avould come true. When last he visited South Wales, he was asked when he would come again. He replied that his fifteen years was nearly up, and probably he should never return ; so it proved. He departed about a quarter past ten on the morning of 5th Oct. 1814 ; his faithful wife was lying ill and hardly conscious of his loss. She was released nineteen days after. Mention is made of his son and other children. The 1 54 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, reader will see his life in a work published by Simpkin and Marshall, London, 1852, titled ‘Life of Rev. T. Charles.'’ I regret I have no eminent women to record except Madame Bevan. As the Rev. Mr. Charles was connected with the Calvinistic Method- ists it would be well to give some facts relating to that society which I think should be known. It was usual in Wales for the clergy of the Church of England to serve in their chapels, but in 1807 a change occurred, arising from this cause : The connection of the Calvinistic Methodists was enlarging; the clergy of the Church of England, who served in their chapels, were few ; there- fore it was desired that some of the approved lay preachers should be ordained after the manner of the Dissenters, or of the English Methodists, to assist in administering the sacrament. The Rev. Mr. Charles and other clergymen resisted this for some years ; but in 1810, at a meeting at Bala, he gave his consent, and in 1811 eight preachers were solemnly set apart for the work, and this year the Methodists separated from our Church. The reason the clergy opposed the ordaining of lay preachers was the fear it would separate the Methodists from the Church, and they were correct ; but it was not all the fault of the Methodists ; the Church com- mitted a great mistake at this time. “The clergy who thus laboured with the Methodists were on the increase, and perhaps would have supplied the demands of the connection had not the Bishops become stricter, and insisted on uniform regularity.” At Haverfordwest was a Calvinistic Methodist chapel ; one at New- port, Co. Pembroke ; another at Bala in Merionethshire, all licensed, not consecrated, yet belonging to the Church ; in these our clergy served. There was good reason for the ordination of lay preachers. “ The Society would be kept sometimes a whole year without the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, as the clergy who administered it were so widely scattered, and too occupied in their parishes to attend at the chapels frequently.” It appears it had been agitated from the beginning. At this change, the clergy who opposed the ordination left the Society, while those who did not, and had been deprived of their livings in the Church, remained. John Elias, a celebrated preacher among these Methodists, obtained the recog- nition of this sect by the law about 1811, and they were enrolled as a corporate body. The movement began 1743; on the 5th and 6th Jan. they were established ; and the first Methodist Association in Wales was held at Watford, a Presbyterian (or Independent) chapel so named, near Caerphilly, Co. Glamorgan ; but what finally led to this movement was Howell Harris, of PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 55 Trevecca, Co. Brecon, in 1735 exhorting people to lead a better life ; as a layman he preached at fairs, wakes, in cottages. He was son of a gentleman, student of St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford. Intend- ing to take Holy Orders, being much attached the Church, the laxity and manners he saw at Oxford disgusted him, and he chan_5ed his mind. About fifty years ago the Dissenters used to attend Church, and the Church people the chapels at times. It was so in Caermarthen, Laugharne, Haverfordwest, Pendine ; in this last it remains to a certain extent. In the remote and mountainous districts it lingers, as I myself have witnessed ; in other parts it is gone. Rees, in his ‘Hist, of Nonconformity,’ says: “The leaders of the Methodist movement in 1743 had never entertained the idea of setting up a new denomination. Their scheme was only in- tended to introduce and promote a revival of religion in the Estab- lished Church ; but their measures being uncanonical they were opposed by the dignitaries of the Church, and their attachment to the Establishment necessitated the Nonconformists to keep aloof from them, in order to prevent the ruin of Nonconformity. Their position was therefore most difficult, and the discordant classes of which their societies were composed added to the diffi- culties.” The Rev. G. Jones of Llanddowror, said: “I must do justice to the Dissenters in Wales, and will appeal for truth of it to all competent judges, that it was not any scruple of conscience about principles and the orders of the Establishment that gave occasion to scarce one in ten of the Dissenters in Wales to separate from us at first, whatever objections they might after imbibe against conforming ; but they dissented at first for no other reason than the want of plain, practical pressing and zealous preaching in a language and dialect they are able to understand, and freedom of friendly access to advise about their spiritual state.” Having given the history of the Circulating Schools founded by the Rev. G. Jones of lianddowror, I would notice some minor schools this town was benefited by, beside the circu- lating ones. There were many who kindly interested themselves in the education of the young. Mrs. Eoster left ^6 a-year to pay the mistress of the infant school ; her income altogether is <^35 ^ 9 ^' year. The monitress has ^6 los. per annum. Sewing mistress, <^^10. The monitor, ijs. for seventeen weeks. Mrs. Wingrove’s charity for the schools — the dividend was, in 1876, for the year <^10. That for Madame Bevan’s charity, <^5. Capt. Latigharne’s was ^2 iSs. lod. The average attendance at the 156 ANTIQUITIES OE LAUGHARNE, National School during the year 1876, was loi. A Wesleyan minister kept a school in a house at the back of the Globe for girls and boys together ; after him another Wesleyan minister held one. The daughters of Lady Cooper, who lived in the Green House,’' opposite Holloway Fields, collected the children in a house over the rocks by the sea at back of the castle, where there are still two houses, and of an afternoon gave them instruc- tion themselves. Mr. Thomas, the late master of Brook School, had a school for boys in an old house near the Castle House, and opposite to where Madame Sevan’s house stood. His first wife had one for girls. An antique, picturesque old woman, called Pal Lewis, wearing the high-heeled shoes, and the pretty bridal cap, which is described in Part L, gathered around her numerous chil- dren of all ages, often enticing them to her school with an apple or a cake ; she lived in the first of the two thatched cottages by the Church Lane, and opposite the turning to the Cliff ; the first one coming from Victoria Street. At her death, a person called Creasy, of Laugharne, carried on her school. She was buried in Laugharne churchyard, just at the point of the ground, filled with tombstones, where the path up to the church divides into two, one leading to the porch, the other to the small door of the south transept ; there stands her tombstone still, and records that she left this life, Jan. loth, 1831, aged 66, and that she was many years schoolmistress ; the name inscribed is Mary Lewis.” Pal is a name the Welsh use for Mary. I’ENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 157 PART VIII. Rwers — Quakers’ Yard — Old Houses and Roads — Furlongs — Inns — A Noted House-breaker bi'eaks into Madame Bevan’s House — Storehouses — Mills — lucking Mills — Ihe Ferry — Aber Maen Stone — The Lees — Western Hills — Trades — Weavers^ Sr^c, — Tan Pits — Chemical Works. Like all towns, Laugharne has its river ; but do not imagine that it bears along the noble ship, or the small trading vessel, supply- ing the households with the necessaries of life ; nor even the two- oared boat. No; it is a modest little stream, gentle and clear, content but to refresh the lands, afford water to the people of Laugharne, and excellent fish for their tables. There is good fishing in it at Newton. It is called the Coran, or Corranbrook, and Pen Fluken. It derives its waters from two sources ; one of them rises under Maesgwrda, near Newton, which is about four miles from Laugharne, and is the larger stream ; the smaller one rises by a house called Pen Fluken, which is more than half a mile from the back of Llandawke Farm. These two meet at a little foot- bridge by Pen Fluken; the lesser one passes near Llandawke Church, and forms the parish well, just opposite to the gate lead- ing to this church. After that, it flows by the back of the Rectory and to the pond here ; then passes below Great Bromwast Farm ; thence to the gate where Llandawke Wood was on Lower Llan- dawke road ; it flows across the road to a kind of bridge where it meets the larger stream of the Coran. Their waters mingle, flow under it, and then along the road-side for a little way. Soon it turns suddenly off to go through the middle of Constables’ Piece, turning and twisting, till it passes through the field in front of Little Melton Farm, where it gets entangled in a marshy piece ; flows behind the cottage called “The Hills Corse,” up to the Shepherd’s House on Lower Llandawke road ; thence to the bridge by Horsepool, and along the Holloway Fields ; washes the side of the grounds of the Cors often too profusely ; hurries away to turn the Laugharne mill in company with the Makerell stream. 158 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, For here they meet at the Mill Pond at the bottom of the shrub- bery of Island House ; but presently part company — the Coran to flow under the bridge in Wogan Street, and between Island House and the Chapel, into the sea ; the Makerelle stream to run by the wall of the garden of Island House, into the sea, where it joins the Coran again. When the Coran leaves Maesgwrda, it passes under Halfpenny Furze, then between Llandawke Bottom and Laugharne parish, and to the Lower Llandawke road just men- tioned ; it loses itself in an accumulation of stones and mud near Bach Point under the New Walk. The Makerelle stream, or lake as it is usually called, comes from the Buildings, a farm on the Hugden road ; flows to the Broadway pond by the Llansadurnen road ; then to Roche Castle, and down the ravine, the side of which under Hugden is called Makerelle Hill. From the ravine it turns abruptly from the left, and under the road here, to go be- hind the cottages opposite Chief Hill. A portion of it turns under the road to work Hugden Mill ; the remainder flows away to the end of this road, to pass by the side of the road by Fern Hill, and to the Mansion House. At the bottom of the garden of this house, and back of the workshop in it, it divides into two streams; one going underground by ^‘The Dials,” the old inn in ruins, then under the Grist, falling into the sea at the turning to Gosport. Formerly it flowed along the Grist, and under the bridge there was by the Cross. Twelve or fourteen years ago it was covered over. The other stream passes by the side of the garden of the Mansion House to the Mill Pond, as I have just described ; thence along the garden wall of Island House, to join the branch which comes under the Grist, into the sea. It is said to have its name from the Norman knight, Maquerelle, mentioned in Gui de Brian’s charter. This Broadway Pond is Corporation property ; it is a feeding-pond ; when water fails in other parts the cattle come here. There were flood-gates to retain a good supply ; the pillars now alone remain, so the water is not abundant as of old. The rivers flowing to Laugharne are the Taf ^ and Cywyn, com- monly spelt Cowin. The first rises at Brenhin ^ Fawr, a peak of the Perseli ^ mountains, which are fifteen or sixteen miles north of Laugharne ; four streams rise at Perseli Top, a peak of these mountains. One of them is the Cywyn, which comes to the farm 1 The Taf means winding water. ^ Brenhin, king ; Fawr, great. ^ Preslau is the Welsh ; it means places overgrown with furze. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGPIBOURHOODS. 1 59 Pont Cywyn ; ^ then near to Banc-y-Felin,^ a cluster of houses with a tucking-mill. It turns off for Laugharne under the bridge across the high road to Caermarthen. It now travels to St. Clears, and the Taf as well ; they meet at the tongue of land on which the Pilgrim Church of Llanfihangel Abercywyn stands. The Taf passes on the Brixstarrow side of it ; the Cywyn on the other, by the church of Llandilo Abercywyn, and loses itself here in the Taf. The Taf has shifted its bed more than once. Anciently it went by Dal-y-cors ; but thirteen years ago it left this course to go by the Wood Cwm Celyn on the opposite coast ; then by the farm Mwchau, and to the Ferry House at Laugharne ; here it turned abruptly to Bach Point. Ten years ago it suddenly resumed its ancient course by Dal-y-cors, and as suddenly returned to that new one in which it still runs ; finally, loses itself in the Towy, at the Ferryside. This change of course has been an injury to the fishing trade ; less fish caught here in consequence. There is good fishing in the Taf and Cywyn. A small stream, called the Common Pill,^ by the Laugharne Burrows, divides the lands of the Corporation from Mr. Broadway’s property on the Marsh. In the Taf is the Green Stone Pool, which is formed thus : At Bottom Point a part of the rock or cliff shelves considerably down to the bed of the river at its side, where currents occurring a pool is the result. One stone in it is called Green Stone, which gives it that name ; here the river has a great depth. There was a very ancient road commencing at the coast, mid-way between the Wood Cwm Celyn and the white cottage by the stream which you see from the cliff. It passed out to the sea, terminating mid-way between the coast it left and the opposite coast. This road was traversed a hundred years ago, when the tide was out, by carts carry- ing lime from Coigan, for the use of the farms about. It has not served this purpose since. The carts had always to wade through the Taf to Bottom Point ; then by the rocks to Recess Cottage, and under the hills and rocks to Coigan. It was a very ancient route ; not known when it was opened. At that time the Taf flowed by Dal-y-cors, and along the coast there ; when it shifted its bed to go by Cwm Celyn it broke up this road. These carts sometimes turned up Dal-y-cors Lane to Mapsland ; thence down the town to Coigan. ^ Pont Cywyn and Banc-y-Felin are on left of the road going to Caermar- then, and three miles from St. Clears. 2 Banc-y-Felin is mill-bank. ^ Pill is the generic name for a small stream or sea-ditch or trench, filled at high water ; an artificial, not a natural stream. l6o ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, About fifty years ago the town was divided between the Welsh, English, and Flemings. The first resided principally in the upper part, which extends from the large ^ house next the Vicarage, up to the church. The space from that large house down to the Grist was held by the English. From the Grist all up Gosport, to the end of the houses by the turning to Sir John’s Hill, was the dwelling-place of the Flemings. This last division is called in old deeds ‘‘ Lower Town.” There appears to have been great rivalry and some ill-will between these nationalities among the working-classes, which came out forcibly in the game of foot-ball played on Shrove Tuesday, in times past. Several families of the Quakers resided here formerly. In a field belonging to Horse Pool Farm they had their burying-ground ; it is entered by a gate on this side of the upper gate of Ants Hill House, and opposite to it. From the gate you pass down a narrow path with trees on each side ; at the end of it, and on the right, is an opening into a square plot of ground closed in on all sides, but one with a hedge and trees; it is the Quakers’ Yard.” It dates from about 1600. Some poplar trees then stood here. The wall by the road, which encloses the grounds of Ants Hill, had an ancient seat built into it ; the mark of the arch which was over it remains. Here passed the old road from St. Clears. It turned first into the Llanddowror road; just past Cross Inn, then by Ants Hill; passed by the Quakers’ Yard to Horse Pool, and the bottom of the Holloway Fields; ending at the ruined inn called ‘‘The Dials,” by the Laques. Another old route into Laugharne was the narrow path by the side of the first gate of Ants Hill coming from the town. This path turned down the hill ; came behind the ancient Parson- age that once stood in the field by the church gate, and below the churchyard. The part by the cross roads where the St. Clears road passes Little Milton Lane on the one hand, and the road leading to Mapsland and Dal-y-cors Farm on the other, is called Crosstowy. Here gypsies, not the real ones, used to encamp for a week ; and they did so in Little Milton Lane, by the Portreeve’s Field. The open space by the lane leading to Dal-y-cors Farm, and by the cross roads — one coming from Hill Side, the other from Mapsland, another going to Brixstarrow — is called Broad- patch. There was an ancient way to Laugharne Church through the Furlongs, which the good people of this ancient town used when the church lanes in winter were in too bad a condition. They entered the pathway through the gate in the field just by the ^ This large house is called The Great House. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. l6l Long Lane, before you turn to the cliff, and close to the gable- end of one of the two old cottages. This gate lets you into the Little Furlongs, along which the path went. P'ormerly there was a stile by the gate. Then they came to the stile and the gate on the other side of the Furlongs which led into the Big Furlongs, and the path passed hence to another stile into Crofts Field, out of which they came into the church-lanes through a gate nearly opposite the ancient stile by which you enter the churchyard. The Furlongs is the path to a church, and is so considered on account of the Furlongs belonging to the Rector or Vicar • the word has no other meaning. The present Hugden Road was made about fifty years ago ; before that the ground was on a level with the hedges. It is Corporation land. The ancient way is traceable within the field on the left comingTrom Llandawke. It issued at the part of the hedge where there is a curve in the hedge, with a tree on one side of it, and a stump on the other, near the gate where a stream flows. It then crossed the present road to go through the garden of the cottage opposite, and may be recognized in that narrow path between hedges passing to the cottages below, by the Makerelle Lake, which it crossed to ascend to the two cottages in ruins upon Chief Hill, and then on to Gillys Lane coming out on top of Stony way. Funerals used to go through this lane, which extends from the cottages in ruins on Chief Hill, and along the high ground opposite Fern Hill ; issuing by the cottages at the top of Stony way. This route was taken when the road by the Laques and Fern Hill was under water. It was closed to the public about eight years ago. The gypsies used to encamp in Gilly’s Lane. An ancient public path came out at Stonyway by the gate at Orchard Park, behind Stonyway House. It went across this park, ending at the top of Gosport, opposite the last row of houses there, by the turning to Sir John’s Hill. Colonel Starkes shut up this path ; and the stile at its end \^nt to ruin. Stonyway was an old entrance into Laugharne. The old road from Llanmiloe gate, which will be described in Part XIX., passed in front of Broadway House; then turned up by the two ruined cottages near Mr. Morris’s house. A gate here shuts in a narrow path, which was the road, and is still traced behind the slope of the hill that skirts the road below ; issues at the road leading up to Sir John’s Hill ; crosses it to pass behind the houses at Gosport ; comes out on the Strand by Gosport House, where you may fancy you saw — or if you could, as the poet says, ^‘recall the past, and play the fool with time,” you might see — some pedlar on his pack- 1 62 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, horse just appearing in the dusk of evening, after a wearisome ride, laden with goods, bespattered with mud; his destination The Dials” or the Jolly Sportsman.” Another ancient way lies parallel with the above road, but on top of tlie hill. A gate on the Broadway road — Laugharne side of Kingaddle, and opposite where Broadway Mansion stood — leads up the slope of the hill called Dell Grove ” into it, goes through Resting Stone Hill and along the fields, till it comes out on Sir John’s Hill. Its traces remain, which will be explained in the account of the Resting Stones in Part XI. By this route the people of the marsh passed when the road beneath was too bad to traverse ; and funerals from Llansadurnen to Laugharne Church came by it. The narrow lane coming out on the Pendine road, opposite Kingaddle, was the old road from Llansadurnen. Traces of the ancient road from King- addle to the sea are seen on the right of the present one, as you go down to the sea. I have noticed, in Part IV., that the public road did not of old pass before Island House ; to that part I refer the reader. The roadway by the Cors and Newbridge was rarely pass- able. In winter never : for the water which flowed over the part called ‘‘ The Laques flooded this road. In summer even it was wet, so that the usual route for those coming from the Three Lords” and Llandawke was that by Chief Hill I have just described. The Cors, where there is a house and garden, was all marsh ; hence its name. Cors is the Welsh for marsh ; marshy land of some extent, not exactly a bog; the plural is Corsydd. In 1825 the present bridge was built at the part called Newbridge,” opposite the Cors. Mr. Shickle of Hill Side had the road by Fern Hill and the Cors repaired ; it is now always dry except in times of un- usual floods. In olden times there was no good accommodation for travellers between Caermarthen and Tenby ; private mansions supplied the need. At the mansion of Broadway the traveller’s interests were considered; the poor wayfarer housed and sent on his way rejoicing. In Part VI. this is explained. The stables of this house were made extensive for their accommodation. Dugdale, and the ‘Cambrian Guide,’ published 1808, calls “The Castle” the principal inn of Laugharne. That old house, “The Fountain,” in the row opposite Stonyway by the Grist, was one of the old hostelries. The “Jolly Sportsman,” hard by on its right, was another. It was the last in the row, very ancient, curiously built, with only four rooms. A larger house now stands 1 The derivation of Laques I cannot discover. It is thought not to be a Welsh word ; it is applied to moist, splashy places. '•THE DIALS.*' The Ancient Hostelry of Laujjharne, Cc, Carmarthen. See Fart 8. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 63 on its site. The Dials/’ close by on the same side, nearer the Laques, is the most ancient hostelry, and the principal one of Laugharne ; it has recently gone to ruin ; a sun-dial was on its front. All the fire-places were arched. A society called the Druids are said to have built it. They held their meetings in a large room on the first floor, to which there was access by the steps still existing outside the house. All the houses in this row are ancient. Where now two white houses stand on a bank nearly opposite “The Dials,” was an ancient chapel; just past these are ancient cottages in ruins, on a bank, with the Elizabethan fire- places. The row of houses which extend from the turning to Stony way, to the ruined houses on the bank by the Laques, is called Water Street. Here, upon the site of the two larger houses, was an ancient and good house called Sutton’s House ; it had a large arched door, like a church door ; two old maiden ladies occupied it, whose name was Sutton. It had been used as a storehouse. Nearly opposite the last house stood once a curious thatched cottage, called The Seraglo, or Seraglio, close to that Jeremy, the coal merchant, lives in, which has a garden in front upon the Grist, with the old Cross before it. Those who remembered it, told me that somewhere dn it was an aperture like a stoup, and that on its site was an ancient mansion, said to have been occupied by a Roman Catholic family : perhaps the thatched cottage had been a part of the mansion. The open space here where the Cross stands, or rather only the lower part of it, up to the last house in the row in which “The Fountain” stands, down to the mill, and all along to the turning to Gosport by the sea, is called “The Grist:” also “Cross Square.” I refer the reader to Part VI., which has an account of the Cross and the ancient houses here. This spot must have been very pretty once, with the old mansion and its garden ; the Cross before it, not a ruin, as now; the pretty curious thatched cottage at the edge of the Grist, where stands instead two tall houses on one side of the narrow road, between them and Jeremy’s house (the coal merchant) ; above all, the picturesque old mill opposite, pulled down some years ago to erect the present one joining the avenue of Island House. Up Stonyway were ancient houses : one with a large porch to it stood where now a row of cottages stand, overlooking Laugharne. Behind the ancient houses on the Grist there is a line of houses, forming Frog Street,^ beginning from the corner turning to Stony- ^ See Part VI. for houses at Broadway. M 2 1 64 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, way, up to the Three Horse Shoes; here were ancient houses, some of which remain. From the storehouse by the sea at the turning to Gosport up to Gosport House, were very ancient houses. Some remain, but they are beginning to alter them, and pull them down. The small thatched cottage, with one window, joining the stables on their left is altered and repaired ; the thatch and the pigeon-hole of a window are gone. In it, as I noticed in Part IV., tradition says Cromwell ate his last dinner in Laugharne, in the only room it had. Opposite this is an old miserable-looking house on a high bank, with steps to ascend to it. It was built by one of the Misses Laugharne, who then lived at the castle. This was before the time of Admiral Laugharne, who died 1819, aged 74. It was a summer-house, and these ladies would often come here to take tea and enjoy the sweet view of the bay and coast. There yet remains some curious recesses and cupboards ; there is a cupboard in which was a kind of round-table, so contrived that while it was fixed it turned round on a pivot, and could be drawn out when the hour for that refreshing beverage arrived. There were four cup- boards whose shelves turned on pivots, and could be drawn out. A cupboard with same kind of shelves was in an old house which stood on the site the new house of Mr. David (the chemist,) occupies. The Miss Laugharne who built the summer-house married Mr. Ravenscroft. This family, to whom it still belongs, allows their old servant, who was gardener at the castle, to live in it rent free. He told me the date of its erection was carved on it; he thought it was 1777. He describes it as a little paradise. The garden was tastily laid out, full of gay flowers ; now it is desolation itself. Gosport House, close by, is a very ancient, interesting, historical house ; was the residence of the Laugharne family, to whom it still belongs. Its grounds are capable of being made lovely. Cromwell sojourned in it, they say. For this and other interesting facts relating to it, see Parts I., IV., VI., VH. On the other side of it is an ancient thatched cottage, and is, with that called ‘‘The Horse Shoes, the only thatched ones remaining. The row of ugly houses from Gosport to the turning to Sir J. Hill are not old ; a great disfigure- ment they are. This spot must have been pretty when an ancient house with a garden behind and on each side occupied their site. It belonged to the Palmers, an ancient family who lived here. Mrs. Palmer, the last of the family, resided and died in it ; after her death it was pulled down. The part called “the Strand’^ extends from the storehouse and the roofless building by the turning PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 65 to Gosport and along the sea-shore to the entrance to New Walk. Here an ancient house, called “Strand House,’’ by the narrow passage leading from Gosport, belonged to the ancient family of the Edwardes of Llanmiloe; Colonel Edwardes lived in it. Another house here, standing in a garden occupied by Vaughan, Esq., is on the site of an ancient one : a small remnant of it is seen in the garden. An ancient storehouse, “Leighton’s Storehouse,” once stood on the raised grassy plot of ground walled up, and is separated from the grounds of Gosport House by the stream, which runs between them on to the strand. For more of this, and for quay- wall and shipping that once enlivened this spot, see Part I. Some very large ash trees formerly gave a pleasant shade in front of that storehouse. The storehouse by the turning to Gosport is not old ; there, it was an open space not so very long ago ; a steam-mill and windmill stood on it. How Laugharne has declined in beauty ! — this spot is ugly enough. What became of the steam - mill I don’t know ; the windmill was taken to Llansadurnen, and there it has disappeared. Island House and Wogan Street have been described in Part IV.^ An old storehouse stood in this street, where now the chapel of the Calvinistic Methodists is : it was between two and three hundred years old. The wall of the room fronting the street, which is underneath the chapel, and occupied by a tenant, is part of the storehouse, with the beams supporting the ceiling. Here a way led direct from Wogan Street to the sea. There was not then that wall now enclosing the castle ground, and which is parallel with the side of Cliff House, but hedges. The space within the castle it encloses was then appropriated to the pig and cattle market. Here, just behind the present Market-Place,^ was a handsome, substantial house, built by Madame Bevan : on its site had been a very ancient one. This residence, interesting from the lady who built and lived in it, was pulled down in 1859 ; was very strongly built, strengthened in every way, or fortified, as was the expression to me, so that it was said it could not be broken into. Its strong character spread far and wide. A noted house- breaker of London was challenged regarding it. It was represented that there was a house he could not break into — Madame Bevan’s in Laugharne. He said he would, and did it. He was not caught in the act, but afterwards. At his trial there was not evidence suffi- cient to condemn him ; it was not circumstantial, it rested mainly on a book found in his possession, apparently without a name in ^ And here are the Flemish houses described in Part IV. 2 Or Town-hall. 1 66 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, it. Madame Bevan was present. The counsel for the prosecution questioned her in every possible way as to the book without success for some time. She was unwilling the man should be condemned. At last, worried out, she said angrily : ‘^Well, if you will have it, look at the page (naming the number), and you will find my name.'’’ It was there ; the man was condemned to death. Another account I had says that it was Lady Maude’s (of Westmead) book, and that it was her the counsel thus questioned. This is the Madame Bevan whose friendship with the Rev. G. Jones of Llanddowror is described in Part VII. He died in this house. Opposite the castle, just at the end of Wogan Street, was a very curious house, about 700 years old. I saw it myself; it was demolished about 14 or 15 years ago; now the shop of Mr. Thomas occupies its site. Tradition says it was the hunting-seat of a Duke ; that there were woods and hunting-grounds here, and at one time beautiful gardens. It is supposed by those well able to judge from their connection with it, that it was originally larger, and extended over the part now occupied by Raven’s House. It is certain its gardens went all down Wogan Street, where are two or three houses now, and to the avenue of trees opposite Island House. Possibly a Duke Wogan possessed it. The Wogans bore the title of Duke, and gave their name to this street. An old document states that the Black Prince, son of Edward HI., sojourned for a time in this ancient house. The Wigans are descended from the Wogans, — Wigan is a corruption of Wogan, ^ — and were lineally descended from Gwgan, son of Bleddyn ab Maenarch, regulus or lord of Brecknock. In Wiston or Wizton, near Lawhaden, Co. Pembroke, this family had a princely residence, often noticed in the ^ Welsh Annals ’ as a castle of great extent and strength. Part of the keep remained in 1815. Gwgan acquired the property by marrying the daughter and heiress of Sir Philip Gwys, grandson of the Norman settler. The Welsh name of Wizton is ‘‘Castell Gwys,” perhaps corrupted from Wiz (see Rees’ ‘Beauties of England and Wales,’ vol. xviii., p. 107-8). Malkin in his 2nd vol., p. 254, of his ‘Scenery and Antiquities of S. Wales,’ says, he saw (in 1803) “several monuments of the Wogans, who were Knights Templars, in the north aisle of St. Davids Cathedral, the effigies clad in armour and much mutilated.” Tradition says a member of this family fought with a dragon in the woods of Wizton and killed it. It was crying “ Woman ” or “Whatman : ” from this it is said they 1 See the pedigrees in the Appendix to Part VII., where Wogans are allied with Perrots. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 167 took the name, Wogan. The Wogans and Mortimers were allied. At one period the Wogans held Picton Castle, in Co. Pembroke, when the line of William de Picton, a Norman Knight, in reign of William Rufus, became extinct. Raven’s House is old, and is built on the site of a house that had the large Flemish chimneys and fire-places. A large house at the back of the Globe, gone to decay, belonged to the Davies of the C\^m (Coombe it is now spelt). C^m, about two miles from Llanstephan, was their ancient residence. The old house is gone ; another built on the spot. Two ancient houses were pulled down to build the present schoolroom in 1867. That small house which is at the side of the avenue opposite Island House, is part of the house Admiral Laugharne was born in, and it extended to that large house at the back of the Globe I have just mentioned as belonging to the Davies of the C^m ; upon a shutter was the date of Admiral Laugharne’s birth. The houses on the castle side of the street from those, of which one was once occupied by Mr. David the chemist, and the other is now (1878) by Misses David, down to the grocer’s shop, are old houses modern- ized, and had the Elizabethan fire-places. The grocer’s had an arched door, such as you see in ancient houses. Lower down, and opposite the Vicarage, is a garden within a wall ; here once stood two houses. They belonged to the Palrners I have mentioned. Opposite the grocer’s shop, and to the right of the Vicarage, is a very old house ; the walls incline inwards, which shows great age. A poet named Singent lived in it. The Vicarage is a modern house, erected by the present vicar, Rev. J. N. Harrison. The ancient Vicarage stood in the field at the side of the walk leading up to the porch at the south side of Laugharne Church. The Rev. W. Thomas, Vicar of Laugharne, and afterwards Bishop of St. Davids, who has been mentioned among the eminent men in Part VII., allowed it to go to ruin. As a compensation he gave, when he left, two cottages that stood on the site of the present Vicarage. They were made one for a residence for the Vicar. There was a small enclosure before the house, planted in garden fashion, with a porch for the entrance, having a seat on each side and a small window above each seat, just as it is in old houses. Two square stones sunk in the ground, bearing the word Porch ” before the door, shows its position. The large house on the left side of this Vicarage is one among the oldest of Laugharne ; it is called “ The Great House.” It was repaired and renewed in Queen Anne’s time. Its walls very thick. The back part of it indicates far greater antiquity than the front. Its walls extremely thick, com- 1 68 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, posed of the stones of the country, which shows antiquity; there being no bricks ; and there remains the base of what must have belonged to a pillar very beautifully carved. This back part contains a^ wash-house and room and outhouses. No doubt this was the back portion of a more ancient house than the present, which is built and adorned in the style of the period of Queen Anne. The entrance-hall very handsome, and the staircase too, which conducts to a handsome landing on the first floor ; entered through two round arches beautifully carved. The carving about the hall, stair- case, and rooms handsome; the two sitting-rooms are lofty, as well as the ten bed-rooms. These houses are in King Street, which extends from the castle to the houses by the church ; had its name from Henry II. visiting the castle. All the houses, from the turning to the Cors up to the Vicarage, were ancient and thatched, except the one the Elliots lived in. The one I have noticed as the poet Singent living in, is the only ancient one remaining. Every house in King Street had a piece of ground in front, laid out as a garden ; trees were on each side of the street. An old house stood where the one is Mr. Broadwood who holds the Broadway Estate occupies; lower down, and opposite the Holloway Fields, a house, with rooms on each side of the door, is on the site of an ancient house called ‘^The Six Bells,’’ having an arched door. Here Dean Tucker lived in his youth with his father and mother (see Part VII.). Lower down, nearer the church, two small houses were occupied by Rev. Mr. Porter, Moravian Minister; one he preached in, the other he lived in. People came from Pendine and other parts to hear him. By Horsepool two or three old houses remain, and two on the road leading to Ants Hill. Just past Dean Tucker’s house is the Green House,” formerly Upton House; ” on its site stood an ancient one with a Gothic door. Continuing on this line of road towards St. Clears, Milton Bank is on the left, a pretty modern residence ; its back looks on a pretty view of the hills. Parsonlays comes next, seated some way from the road in its own grounds, sheltered with trees. A lovely peep of the sea between the hills is seen from the front. Near this stood a turnpike. Little Milton Farm, at the back of Milton Bank, is ancient; stands near the river Coran. It belonged once to a family of Webb ; now it is attached to Milton Bank. The Hills Farm- house stood just behind the Shepherd’s House which is on the Lower Llandawke road ; it was very ancient. The Hills Cottage here is newly built. The Hills is not Corporation property ; it com- PENDINE, AND TPIEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 69 prises all that hilly part which skirts the Lower Llandawke road. Little Milton Farm is on Corporation land. An ancient mill, called the Upper Mill, stood on the cross road, or way, that leads from Milton Lane to the Shepherd’s House just mentioned. Milton Lane passes from the Laugharne high road to St. Clears, to this cross way. The mill stood on the Mound, which is but a few yards from the gate that opens on to the path which goes by the Hills Cottage on the way to the Shepherd’s House; no vestige of it remains. The water of the river Coran turned it, and at that time a branch of it coming from Constables’ Piece, through which it still runs, passed close to the present gate of Little Milton Farm, and under a bridge there ; then along by the wall of the farm, and behind the cottage a little way on the same side ; thence it crossed to the other side of the road, flowing before the cottage there up to this Upper Mill and to the cottage called the Hills Cottage, where it joined that branch of the Coran that now passes through the garden of this cottage, and to the Shepherd’s House. They diverted this branch by the mill into the main one just mentioned. There were three grist mills on the Corporation land, viz., this Upper Mill, which is the most ancient one ; the Lower Mill now on the Grist by the avenue of Island House — this belonged to Gui de Brian. Little Milton Farm is on Corporation land. Another proof of the presence of the Flemings are the several tucking - mills about these parts. They introduced, as is well known, the weaving of cloth (see Part IV. i). There were two tucking-mills in Laugharne : that mill near the cottages by Chief Hill, which the water of the Makerelle lake turns, is one ; it is in the turning out of the road going by Fern Hill to Llandawke. The weavers who had the care of it lived in an old house which once stood within the wall that enclosed the kitchen garden, by the road-side, belonging to Fern Hill : the old wall remains. The other tucking-mill stood in a small enclosure called The Garden, for it was a fruit garden, just behind the last house in the row going down to Horsepool. The enclosure is even with the Lower Llandawke road, and has the Coran river on one side of it and a hedge on the other, separating it from the Tucking-mill Field. It is in the memory of some old people that an old house stood in it. I was told by some that the mill stood by an old tree close to the river ; others say the mill was in the Upper Tucking-mill Field, in which was an ancient well now closed. There are here two Tucking-mill Fields, — the upper and lower; the first is just below the Quaker’s Yard, which has ^ And Part H. I/O ANTIQUITIES OK LAUGHARNE, been described in the first pages of this Part : the latter is that field which you enter by the gate on the left hand just before you reach Ants Hill, if you come from Laugharne. It passes down the Lower Llandawke road. Both belong to Horsepool Farm, and were lately purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, to whom the farm belongs, from the Edwardes family of Llanmiloe. A tucking -mill once stood in a field belonging to the farm of Pent-y-glas, not far from Brook Farm on Pendine road. You go to it up the valley by the side of Brook. The stream which turned it remains. There was one close to Eare Weare by the stream that divides the counties Pembroke and Caermarthen, and a carding -mill too; both are gone. Near the Newton woods, about a mile from Llanddowror, a tucking-mill remains. The ancient Eerry House was at Bottom Point; it is in ruins now. Here they ferried over to the part midway between the wood called Cwn-Celyn and the small cottage just by the stream on the sea-shore ; thence the road passed to the farm, Mwchau ; afterwards turned up to Pentywyn, a farm above the Scar, and into the road which now goes to Llanstephan. On the cliff a small house is within the gates leading to Glan-y-mor. Before it was built, a public-house, called the Eerry House, was here. The ancient Eerry House stood by the rocks and sea, on a line with the part where the stables of Glan-y-mor are, the Recess cottage side of it ; a kiln stood by it. It is in the memory of old persons, lately deceased, that the ferry boat was not in the re- quest it is now ; that they knew an old woman of the name of Bennet, who resided in this ancient Ferry House ; they called her Betty Fordside, because the house was by the side of the ford. She was the ferry woman. She had a horse for carrying persons over to the Scar at low water ; it went with them on its back ; but to their misfortune, when the tide came in quicker than usual, the horse would have to swim to land, and the riders sometimes to swim for their lives. Once upon a time a Jew going this perilous course was drowned. She could have been stopped from this; for there was, as now, a ferry boat ; but they were not very strict then. She must have carried on a good trade with her horse, for it took travellers by land as well as by sea. On Saturdays it was in tremendous request; every one wanted the horse to go to Caermarthen. She was verily besieged with applicants ; plenty of intriguing carried on, and subterfuges resorted to, to induce her to let out the horse. The ferry boat belonged then to that Ferry House that I have mentioned as within the gates leading to Glan- y-mor. The present Ferry House is a new one. The ferry is PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. I/I held between M. Jones, Esq., of Llanmiloe, and Mr. Meyers, to whom the Plas at Llanstephan belongs. The ferryman pays <^3 3'^* yearly to M. Jones, Esq., and the same to Mr. Meyers, who holds the property on the Llanstephan side. By this Ferry House is a pool called Bunny Saer’s Pool, after a man of that name, who was drowned in it; its water is 17 or 1 8 feet deep. There were many carriers going weekly to Caermarthen, and in the absence of all hired carriages some ladies took advantage of it. The Red House, an ancient one, was on the site of that stand- ing in grounds just below Glan-y-mor.^ This last occupies one of those lovely spots so common in Laugharne, placed far above the sea, nearly at the top of the hill. It has a glorious view, the sea spread out before it ; bounded by the undulating coast of Glamorganshire, and close by a pretty curve of green hills. The grounds are sweetly laid out ; far beneath them a nice walk has been made by the sea with seats. The point by the sea which comes out under the New Walk on the Laugharne side of the hill, where the vessels anchor, is Bach Point. An ancient house now in ruins, just above the entrance to the New Walk, is called Plymouth Dock, and all the part from here to Bach Point is called Plymouth. Turning round Bach Point, by the rocks, you come to Aber Maen Stone Rock ; it is an upright rock or stone pillar, broken at the top, standing isolated on the mud. I gather no decided history of it, except that it serves to attach vessels by throwing their rope around it. An old inhabitant tells me, that his grandfather informed him it was the Long Rock mentioned in the charter, and it may be so, for in the charter it is said the Vir- gate of Thalacharn is near the Long Rock. N ow Aber Maen Stone may be said to be near where the Virgate was. I have observed before that there is no certainty about it. Another person told me that he always understood it was somewhere by the Western Hills. 2 The next point to Bach Point is Cockshelley, and forms with the opposite point of Black Scar the bay of Laugharne. After this the hills bend inwards, forming a half circle, called White Lady’s Hole, as far as to Goat Stairs. The point that comes out here is Goat Stairs ; so named from the steep- pathway which ascends this side of the point, and descends the other side of it. From here the hills take a circular form, and have the title of White Lady’s Hole too — hence to the Western Hills it is called Cockshelley. These hills, which have the name of Lees Hills as ^ Gian (in Welsh) is brink or side ; in6r is sea. 2 And formed part of the hill. 172 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, well, extend to Kingaddle. They begin just where the stile is at the end of the New Walk, near the cluster of cottages on the hill. The hill on the Laugharne side of the stile, and close to it, rises in a peculiar way up to the New Walk, and slopes gradually down ; it is called the Ewe and Lamb, and served the labourers on the Marsh for a clock. When the days are 13 or 14 hours long it is wrapped in shadow at six o^clock. In harvest time it told them when six o’clock arrived. There are three caves at White Lady’s Hole ; in one of them are rare ferns. There appears to have been a certain amount of manufacturing carried on in Laugharne. A person of the name of Foyer and his wife were glovers; he prepared the kid, and she fashioned and sewed the gloves. They lived in a cottage where now is the garden by the side of the large house next the Vicarage. They had tan-pits at the back of the Methodist Chapel, just where the Coran flows into the sea. An old inhabitant told me (Mr. Francis), he remembered playing in them with his companions. Tan-pits stood underneath the wood opposite the grounds of Fern Hill, with two ancient cottages. Mr. Alcock, a stranger to these parts, possessed them, and carried on the trade of a tanner. There- were tan-pits at Newbridge, opposite the house called The Cors. Two sisters of the name of James, living at Plashyatt, about two miles out of Laugharne, were weavers. Some weavers resided in a house on the right of the Vicarage in Laugharne. The clothiers and lacemakers were here. A teasel garden lies at the end of the Furlongs in the church lanes ; teasels grew in it till they were rooted up a year ago. Pal Lewis, whom I have mentioned in the preceding Part as keeping a school, made excellent pillow lace, as her mother did before her. There were chemical and oil works at Brixstarrow Coombe, which is by the river, and Brixstarrow Farm, opposite the Pilgrim Church. Mr. Butler established them.. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 173 PART IX. LLANSADURNEN, OR LLANSADYRNIN. This little hamlet belonging to the borough of Laugharne, in the hundred of Derllys (or Derlles), two miles from Laugharne, crowns the summit of a lofty hill with a glorious prospect of the sea. Its name is derived from Sadyrnin,^ Bishop of St. Davids, who died a.d. 832, to whom the church is dedicated. This church must be one of the earliest foundations, from its having “Llan^’ attached to its name, and that name derived from the native pastor of the country (see Part III. for account of ‘‘Llan,” &c.); but Spurred in his ‘Magazine,' for January, 1873, titled ‘ Haul,' ^ p. 34, says : “ This church was founded by Sadwrn Hen, son of Cynyr of Caer Gawch in Co. Pembroke ; he lived in 6th century. In the Report of the Commissioners appointed by Edward VI., 1552, to take and make a just viewe, survey, inven- torie of all maner of goods, plate, Jewells, vestyments, bells, and other ornaments within every parisshe, it states that Llansadurne had — In p’mis a chalyce ; It'm, ij belles." Rev. j. N. Harrison, the Vicar, holds Llansadurnen as the Rector ; he tells me there are no registers of Llansadurnen parish existing earlier than 1663. I saw the registers and their date. It is, as Laugharne Vicarage, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester. The Rectory is an ancient poor-looking house occupied by a farmer. There are no ancient monuments in the church. A tablet on south wall records the death of Capt. B. Reynolds. It says : “ In memory of Capt. Benjamin Reynolds, son of Richard Reynolds, died 17th Dec. 1774, aged 65. A dutiful child, and a kind brother." In the churchyard, the base of the ancient cross remains ; the upright part remains. To this cross they used to attach the heads of animals, as wolves, &c., a custom explained in Part IV. The church was rebuilt, 1859, in the early decorated style. The old church was very plain and ancient, without any decoration ; the ^ The more correct spelling is Sadurnen. 2 Haul is Welsh for “ Sun." 174 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, only portion preserved of it is the stone belonging to the window at back of the altar, and a beautifully-carved niche on right of the altar. It is not a communion table, but an altar in form. I have given the bounds of the parish in Part V. Nothing is known of the ancient history of this place, except that there was an ancient mansion, the seat of the Barron family. The house on the right, as you come up the road towards the village, was originally built out on each side at the back part, forming part of a square ; in the front a room was built out on the right side. It w^as the residence of the Reynolds family, whose tablet is inside the church. It is the property of the Rev. Mr. Laugharne, who belongs to the Laugharne family. The village once possessed that very pretty object — a windmill. Some spin- ners and weavers were once settled here, and carried on a brisk trade. In i86i, the population was 194 in this parish; at the census in 1871, it was 207. It was the custom here to brew ale for Whit Sunday ; on that day a number of people would come from parts about to church, which was generally crowded on this Sunday. After service they went to the different houses to drink ale, and spend the evening, which ended in a state of intoxication. It was called Whitsun ale. Two roads lead to this lofty spot — one over Hugden, the other by Broadway — where, as the road ascends, you have a lovely view of the hills and the sea. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 175 APPENDIX TO PART VII. The Descent and Interesting A ccoimts of the Families 7ioticed in this Booky from whom Families still existmg descend : Giii de Brians — Perrots, The information given here respecting' these families is drawn from the Mabus MS. and an MS. in the possession of Wm. G. Stedman Thomas, Esq. of Caermarthen, as well as from deeds and other private documentary evidence in his possession, to whom I am much indebted for the interest he takes in my work, and the time he has spent in col- lecting for me so many interesting facts ; also from Dwnn’s ^ Heraldic Visitations of Wales, temp. Elizabeth,’ Joneses ^Hist. of Brecknock,’ Leland’s itinerary,’ Fenton’s ‘Tour in Co. Pembroke.’ The Gui de Brians — Sir Wm. de Gyse or Guise, a younger brother of an illustrious Norman family — came to England with Wm. the Con- queror at the Conquest, received Aspley Guise as a portion of the spoil, with several lordships in Co. Bedford and Buckingham. Sir Wm. bare for arms, “ Ermine, a chevronel gules.” His son, or grandson, Philip de Gyse, a powerful feudal lord, came here and took part in the conquest of Dyfed, when he built a castle at the head of his barony of Dangleddan, called after his name, Gyseton, thence corrupted into Guyston, and still more modernly, “Wiston.” He reversed his father’s armorial ensigns ; bore, it is said, “Gules, a chevron ermine.” His daughter and heiress, Gwenllian de Guise, conveyed in marriage this barony to Gwgan, Lord of Aberllyfin, near Glasbury and Llanfi- hangel, Taly-Llyn ^ in Co. Brecknock, son and heir to Bleddyn ab Maenarch, Regulus of Brycheiniog, by his wife Elen, sister to Prince Rhys ab Tewdwr. From this marriage came the knightly house of Wogan of Wiston, and some of the leading families of Brecknock and Glamorgan. Gui de Bryan, K.G., said by some writers to have been of common origin with the O’Briens of the Thomand family of Ireland ; others say, and Mr. W. G. Stedman Thomas thinks, more correctly, that he was of the Norman sept (/. e. tribe) of Bryan, or de Brienne, ^ as given above, barons of Castle Walaine, Co. Pembroke, and of Laugharne. This Sir Gui buried near the high altar in Abbey Church of Tewkesbury. In an old MS. pedigree of the Prices, of the Priory of Brecon, it is said they descend from Gwgan, Lord of Aberllyfin in ^ The Lordship or Manor of Tal-y-Llyn. 2 De Brienne in old records. 176 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Co. Brecon, and from the Guise, through marriage with heiress of Sir Philip de Guise, and that the father of this Sir P. was Sir Wm. Guise, younger brother of Philip, Duke de Guise in France. ^‘If so, perhaps the Duke visited his nephew, Sir Philip, at a mansion of his near Laugharne, and that in honour of the visit, the Duke’s title was thus perpetuated.” (See Gui de Brian, Part IV.) Sir J. Perrot(see Part IV.) could not have been a natural son of Henry VIII., for he claimed the vast estates of Laugharne, &c., and got them through asserting that Sir Thomas Perrot was his father, who possessed them. If so, he was descended from the Gui de Brians, first, through the families of Picton of Cermeys, Forde, Fitzhenry, and Wolf, from the Hon. Margery de Brpn, wife of Sir Robert Wolf, Knt., and daughter of Sir Gui de Brian of Laugharne Castle, K.B. and K.G., i.e. Lord Bryan, who died 1 390- 1, through his wife and Baroness Elizabeth le Despencer, Countess of Gloucester, daughter of Wm. de Montacute, Earl of Salis- bury, K.G., and later from Joan, daughter and co-heir of John de Guise, wife of Thomas Perrot, his great-great-grandfather. Mr. Wm. G. Stedman Thomas, of Caermarthen, has a photograph copy of an excellent engraved likeness of this Sir J. Perrot. (For Perrots, see Parts HI. and IV.) Owen Family — The Laugharne Family — Protheroe and IVogan. There is no other connection in blood descent between the Gui de Brians and Laugharnes than that they had through the marriage of Rowland of St. Brides, Esq., High Sheriff for Co. Pembroke in 1586, with Lettice, daughter of Sir J. Perrot of Laugharne and Carew Castles, by his second wife, Jane Pollard, who married, second, Walter Vaughan of Golden Grove, M.P. for Caermarthenshire. The Phillipps and Protheroe families descend from the de Brians by these marriages. Francis Laugharne of St. Brides, Co. Pembroke, father of Rowland L., just noticed, married Joan or Janet, daughter of John Phillipps of Picton Castle, Esq., Co. Pembroke. His daughter, Dorothy Laugharne, married Rhys Protheroe of the Hawkesbreak family, of a common origin with the Prices of Dynevor, &;c. &c. The Wogans^ connected with the Laugharnes thus : — Joan or Janet, daughter of Sir Henry Wogan of Wiston Castle, by his wife Margaret, sister to Wm. Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke, who was beheaded after the unfortunate battle of Denesmore at Banbury, 1469, married David Laugharne, Esq., of St. Brides, and were grandparents of the above Francis Laugharne. Emily Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of John Lucas Popken, of Llandilo Fawr, now, 1879, wife of Charles Bath,^ Esq., of Ffynone House, Swansea, descends from these Laugharnes, through marriage of Arthur Laugharne, of St. Brides, with Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of David Owen of Henllys, Esq., lord of Cemaes, by his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Corbet of Ynysymaengwyn Towyn, 1 Wogans, see Parts IV. and VIII. 2 Mrs. C. Bath thus descends from the Plantagenet line of kings, through the Earl of Shrewsbury. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 77 Merionethshire, Esq., descended through the ancient house of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire, the Verons of Haddon and John Talbot, second Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Butler, daughter of James, fourth Earl of Ormonde, from King Edward I. of England. The estate of Slebeck Hall, valued at ^100,000, was granted to Major General Rowland Laugharne, by the Parliament, March 4th, 1645, for his services. He went over to the Royalists and was deprived of it ; but his family seem to have retained St. Brides. John Laugharne, the last male heir of this ancient house, dying on the night of his election as M.P. for Haverfordwest, 1715, the estates fell to three co- heiresses, and were dispersed. Phillippa, daughter of Rowland Laug- harne, and I presume, says Mrs. W. G. S. Thomas, sister to the said John Laugharne, married Charles Phillipps, Esq., great-grandson of Sir J. Phillipps of Picton Castle. Through this marriage the demesne of St. Brides fell to the Phillipps family ; and her son and heir, Rowland, assumed the name of Laugharne, and his grandson, Rowland Henry, on the death of the elder line of Phillipps, in the person of Sir Richard Phillipps (seventh Baronet, raised to the peerage of Ireland as Baron Milford), without issue, succeeded, as eighth Baronet, as Sir Rowland Henry Laugharne ^ Phillipps, Bart., of Picton Castle, but did not inherit the castle and estates, only the title. (For Laugharnes, see Parts IV. and VIII.) Tradition says the Laugharnes came into Wales in this way: — Thomas Laugharne, a Cornish man, of the respectable family of Laugharne, of Laugharne in Cornwall, was shipwrecked on the coast of Co. Pembroke. He was discovered in a lifeless state by Elizabeth, only daughter and sole heiress of John de St. Bride, lord of St. Brides, a descendant of one of the principal Norman adventurers^ who settled in Dyfed. She had him conveyed to her father’s mansion not far off. He was carefully treated, and recovered ; proved a handsome engaging person. His preserver honoured him with her hand and estate. From this happy union came the Laugharnes of St. Brides. This story is not given as perfect truth ; for others say this Laugharne got con- nected with the St. Brides family through his adherence to Henry VII., and landing with him at Milford when Earl of Richmond. This family were of the Earl’s party. I have heard that the first coming of the Laugharnes here was in CromwelFs time. General Laugharne was here at that time. I do not say they were not here before him. Wogan Fajnily, There are the Wogans of Ireland, who are ^Mescended from the Pembrokeshire race of that name, whose ancestor was another follower of Strongbow, or perhaps even a later advenoe in that kingdom, and so become there an Irish surname. The gallant Cavalier, Colonel Wogan, saved the life of King Charles II., at the battle of Worcester, during the civil war. It is not impossible that the descendants of this par- * “This family,” says W. G. Stedman Thomas, “became, I have heard, im- poverished.” N 1/8 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, ticular branch afterwards settled abroad, taking foreign service, and afterwards rewarded for their merit with a title : for we afterwards hear of a Baron Wogan (continental).” Notes on the three distinct Families of Protheroe in Co. Caermarthen, A YOUNGER male branch of the last, derived from Gwynne of Glanbran, are the issue of the late Dr. Prothero, M.D., of Llandilo Fawr. There were three families of gentry of the Prothero or Protheroe, in Co. Caermarthen ; the first of which was that of Protheroe of Hawkesbrook and Laugharne, descended in direct line male, like Rices of Dynevor, Jones of Abermarlais Dolaucothi, and Abermad, &c., from Sir Eledyr Ddu Fitzurien, of the Crug, near Llandilo Fawr, and thence to Urien Rheged, a famed British Prince, temp, of King Arthur, circa A.D. 537. The second family of P. was seated at Egremont and Dolwilym, who were descended from Cadifor^ Fawr, Prince of Dyfed, the great pro- genitor also of the Lloyds of Ystradcorwg and Glengwilly, Llanllawddog or Llenllewddig, the Morgans of Tredegar and Pen-y-coed, Co. Mon- mouth, a branch of which was Treharne Morgan of Motlyscwm, from whom Morgan of Ishcoed, St. IshmaeFs, and the knightly Baronetical House of Phillips of Picton Castle, descend. They bore argent, a lion rampant, guardent sable, armed and incensed, gules on a white or argent field. The third family of Protheroe, seated at Llangadock, Llanfair- ar-y-Bryn, and Doly-gaer, through the marriage with Dorothy Sted- man of that estate, and of Pantygof, Co. Caermarthen. They were a learned and younger branch of the ancient house of Glanbran, being descended in direct male line from Rhydderch Gwynne, of Llanfair- ar-y-Bryn, the son and heir to William Gwynne, Esq., of the same place, younger and next brother to the first Rhydderch Gwynne, of Glanbran Park, and sons to David Goch Gwynne, of Glanbran, and his wife Elizabeth Bowen, of Bryny Beirdd and Upton Castle, Pem- brokeshire. The surname of Protheroe has been varied from Prytherach or ap Rhydderch. Urien Rheged, noticed above, bore for arms the chevron and three raven banner. Members of each of the three families of Protheroe served the office of High Sheriff for Co. Caer- marthen, and for Monmouth, and they are found on the roll for the county of Monmouth. Miss Prothero, sister of late Dr. Prothero, residing at Cwmcoch, Llandebie Cross Inn, Llanelly, and her relative John Prothero Lewis, solicitor of Llandilo Fawr, whose mother was sister of the Rev. David Prothero of Llwynhelig, Vicar of Llandilo Fawr (about 1840), and aunt to late Dr. Prothero, of course descend from the princely stock mentioned here, as also John Prothero Lewis, Esq , solicitor, of Llandilo Fawr, and I believe Canon Prothero, chap- lain to the Queen, is of this family. The present curate of Hay, Co. Brecon, Rev. John Edwards Prothero, is son of the above Dr. Pro- thero, M.D., of Llandilo Fawr (deceased). Thomas Prothero, M.A., of Oxford, Vicar of Llangadock, married Mary, daughter of Rev. Francis 1 Buried in the Priory, Caermarthen, A.D. 1089. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1/9 Beale, of Pentrecwn Llandilo, M.A., Vicar of Llangarnmarch, Co. Brecknock, by his wife Elizabeth Gwynne, of Cynghordy, and had three sons, viz. : — First, Rev. Thomas Prothero, B.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, Vicar Llywel,who married Dorothy Stedman ; second, William ; third, John Prothero, one of whom was ancestor of Protheros of Llandilo now extant. These descend from Brychan, Prince of Brecknock, who nourished from 420 to 450. Brecknock has its name from this prince. Of the Rev. Thomas Prothero, Vicar of Llangadock, just mentioned, I note that his family and line allied themselves with the Herberts of Monmouthshire, the Cymric lords of Trecastle, the Bowens of Bryny Beirdd and Upton Castle, a branch of the Rices. Fity Urien of Dinefawr or Dynevor, the Dawkin of Geliy hir Gower, originally Langeton of Henllys and Langrove, knight, the Lloyds of Danyrallt or Allt-y-meibion, Llangadock, derived from Idio Wyllt, a lord of Des- mond in Ireland, a royal Irish sept, and maternal nephew to Rhys ab Tewdur, whom he assisted to recover his crown of South Wales, and was rewarded with the lordship of Llywel in Brecknock, Beale of Pen- trecwn, and Stedman of D61-y-gaer, when this the elder line failed with Gwynne Prothero, Esq., who died 1780. I have said the Protheros of Egremont and Dolwillym descend from Cadifor Vawr, Prince of Dyfed, and Lord of Cilsant, Laugharne, &c., who bore the black lion, and from this stock sprang the Thomases of Llangiennog, Mydrim, &c., an extensive clan in their day (from former of whom are Thomas of Pantygof and Parcau ^ Henllan Amgoed). The name of Prothero, or Protheroe, has been varied from Prytherach, or ap Rhydderch. I give this further notice of Rev. Thomas Prothero, of Pentrecwn, Vicar of Llangadock, just mentioned, Co. Caermarthen. He made his will, bear- ing date loth March, 1743, leaving his wife, Mary Beale, sole executrix, who proved the same 5th of May, 1744 (old style). In his will he leaves legacies to his two youngest sons, William and John Prothero, and to his daughter, Mary Prothero, afterwards the second wife of Eugene Vaughan of Plasgwyn in Co. Caermarthen, Esq. This, which is in his own handwriting, and witnessed solely by his elder son Thomas Prothero, bears the impression of his quartered armorial seal, viz. Quarterly of four — first and fourth the fesse and swords as Gwynne of Glanbran Park, as borne by his ancestor William Gwynne, second son of David Goch Gwynne, Esq., the first resident at Glan- bran Park, Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn, Esq., descended from Brychan, Prince of Gathmadoyn, A.D. 420 — 450. Second, argent, a chevron inter three ravens sable, for Urien Rheged. Third, party per pale azure and sable, three fleur de-lis, or, for the ancient Cymric Lords of Gwent. On the death of his widow Mary (Beale) Prothero, further administration was granted, loth July, 1746, to her eldest son, Thomas Prothero, B.A. Clerk in Holy Orders of Dolygaer, Brecknock, and then appears a full inventory of all the effects at the Vicarage or large house at Llanga- dock, and at Pentrecwn Llandilo Fawr. The son, Thomas Prothero, of Dolygaer, Vicar of Llywel from 1750 to 1768, when he died at * For Parcau, see page at the end of this. N 2 l80 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Dolygaer, it is said, was buried at the Hay, where his parishioners erected a monument to his memory. His sister, Mrs. Vaughan of Plasgwyn, was grandmother to the late Colonel Vaughan of Caermar- then, who died 1871, and whose widow, with her family, are now resident on the Parade, Caermarthen. The connecting link between Thomas ab Rhydderch, of Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn, the immediate ancestor of Rev. Thomas Prothero, Vicar of Llangadock Fawr, Co. Caermarthen, and the Gwynnes of Glanbran, is to be found under that title, and more especially under that of the other branch of same stock as the Powells of Ystradwalter, in Vol. I. of Lewis Dwnn^s ‘Heraldic Visitation of Wales.’ ' The Protheros of Malpas Court, Co. Monmouth, may be descended from one of the two younger sons, viz. William or John, of the Rev. Thomas Prothero, of l entrecwn Llandilo, Vicar of Llangadock, though from their armorial bearing they appear to derive their origin from a branch of the Protheroes of Hawksbrook or Laugharn, of the sept of Urien Rheged. Nevills^ Earls of Weshnor eland ^ and Right Honourable Sir Wm, Pelha?n, The following is a further notice of Nevills, Earls of Westmoreland, one of whom, Charles N., sixth and last Earl, I have noticed in the pedigree drawn out here,^ as brother to Lady Eleanor Nevill : Henry Nevill, fifth Earl of Westmoreland, K.G., eldest son of Earl Ralph by his Countess the Lady Catherine Stafford, daughter of Edward Bohun Stafford, third and last Duke of Buckingham, K.G., A.D. 1521. This nobleman was of illustrious descent, and in his day could lawfully claim to be one of the nearest of kin to the royal Plantagenet house of Lan- caster, as being descended, through the Lady Anne Holland, only sister and heir to Henry Holland, third Duke of Exeter, K.G., and wife to Sir John Nevill (slain at Towton), brother to Ralph, third Earl of Westmore- land — and thus a descendant of the Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister by full blood to King Henry IV. of England. This Henry, Earl of West- moreland, was a sterling specimen of the great English aristocracy, a staunch and unflinching supporter of the English constitution and government, and judging from his letters,^ he was a sensible and well- educated, as well as a brave, man. He was Warder of the West Marches, and was buried with his first wife and the mother of his elder children. Lady Jane Manners (a near kin of the royal house of York), in 1563, in the church of Staindrop, in the Bishopric of Durham. His male line ended with his unstable and inconstant son Charles, the sixth and last Earl of this ancient Baronial House ; and his eldest sister, the Lady Eleanor Nevill, who became Lady Pelham, is mentioned above ; 1 In page opposite this. * See Lodge’s ‘ Illustrations of British History.* IP AN, AND LLOYD FAMILIES, brmarlais Istle, CO. jugh this ", pne, first I for CO. Sir John Pti?> of Carew a^^^ harne Castpo"’ Ityr III. JAMES Jones, of Lllanbadarn, maternal half-brother to Sir J. Perrott, and brother by full blood to Sir Henry Jones: he served High Sheriff for co. Cardigan in 15S6. I. Sir Rij^ter of Rowland Puleston, died Jane Gruffydd, Abet®®y> North Wales, who was i through John ab Mere- ly- Lord of Anglesey, ^ AteJb^chen.^^^^^’ Prince, of North OMAN, Esq. tiin, CO. Car- d co-heir, poYSE (V^aughan, ....... u»rcnei1n Jvaughan, secondly, the Hon. M then be- widow of Vandycke ; J}’ “ ^ II. Bridgi ried 1 Brom' Anne, widow of James Lewis, Esq., and sister and co-heir to Morgan Parry, of Glansawdde, and Richard Parry, of D61au- cothi, Esq., and daughter of John Thomas ab Harry, of Cryngae, New Castle Emlyn, by his second wife, Eliza- beth, daughter of Sir Richard Vaughan, of Bredwardine Castle, CO. Hereford, and his wife Anne, sister and heir to Arnold Butler, of Dunraven Castle, CO. Glamorgan, and Perabrey Court, Caermarthen. Thomas Jones, of Aber- ^ Mary, daughter of James Lewis, mad and D61aucothi, r^rrM. High Sheriff for co. Caer- marthen, 1617, and for Cardiganshire, 1618. first wife extinct in t hgan. fourdi and^?it Bm-om^AN. II! ANNE. III. MARY, fourth and last Baron<^j^^^^ daughter and co-heir, mar- latthew Price, of Newtown Hall, ornery, Bart. III. Mary married leibert, of Havodychtroyd, co. II. Anne married Thomas Lloyd, adcorwg and Glangwilly, Sheriff, }. Caermarthen. of Abernantbychan, co. Cardi- gan, by second wife, Anne, daughter of John and sister to Sir William Wogan of Wiston Castle, co. Pembroke, living in 1613. (a) JAMES JONES. See his marriage given with Mary Pryse on this page, to the right. III. Thomas Lloyd, Esq., J.P., and Mayor of Caermarthen in 1718 ; ob. 1723, Sp. Sir Marte Brecknock, ailr. Stedman aermarthen, The only true reiSromwydd), and his kinsman the Rev Lloyd, formerly curate of Pembroke, who 11 : in..; I T 5 u:„. a J n TUoKiic M s This Mr. Lloyd IS the only is married and has issu( brother of Mrs. Lloyd : drinont, or Rhiw Arthen, as noticed in Mabxis M.S. [nilies of Wales.’ \To face page iSo, DESCENT OF THE PERROTTS, PRYSE, JONES, BROMLEY, STEDMAN, VAUGHAN, AND LLOYD FAMILIES. Lloyd prices, of PEDIGREE OF JONES FAMILY, AND STEDMAN AND VAUGHAN. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. || -a . o.s gu.SiJ^ ^*^3 §s r - ttj 0 ) 6'0'~^ o i CTrr.C l!- D O (U u WW^ S < *< 2 S jTrt-g WTS ~ TJ ^ h«'3 d ^ ^ 3 .— .3 4-> 3 Jx 3 (J iS S f >,!t! S WW u3;c/5^>Sy5u C'x33 a ^ O 3 § bfl_o ° S ’S .Q ^ ^ a Q 3 -S H "S ’G -3 5^ :"lpi §SU: 2 -^^ c 'S o Kij^pg .i3 ^ 1) o ”2 oE°-^ t! w ^ h o (L) >3 O 3 . •K o^ <«'’3'^ t/f xJ ^ O Q AS 5 ShJ 3 >- D tn ^ O rt ^ >,0, rt 3 (. ^ 1 r- (U •" (I 0 .5 ^ ^ (j c P; yhn'^ I asF = ^ - s = W U V o'G bnv ^ rt 3 J- ,< tuofii g tX) >'-5 cH « 0^1-52 pou.Gt^ T~ ^• I c/2 g 3 C g.WW ■S ’^'■§^15 , rt C H T3 ’ (fi rt 3 5-3 ^ o c'S.'H J2 3 rtA’jc'S 3 bc^5x >:S^UU H •G jji'o . 3 3^ S ..^S' .t5 8« S d ^ si 3 fg 'd U 3 3 L-“’lf-^'§ !£|||m| S ^ § 3 ^ W S »o crtfl J2 ..*T (u o 3 .3 . p M H G S s W 'C o 3 ‘JJ i? 5 ^ bcw i8i i 82 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, and see the page before this, drawn out in pedigree form. The letters of Henry, Earl of Westmoreland (just mentioned), which are in Lodge’s ‘ Illustrations of British History,^ vol. i. p. 300, throw much historical light on the fidelity that then existed between landlord and tenant. The following extract, given to me by Mr. Stedman Thomas, of Belle Vue House, Caermarthen, as were all the accounts of the families noticed in this appendix to Part VII., is the authority for the marriage of Elizabeth Pelham and Sir Henry Bromley, mentioned in the page drawn out in pedigree form before this ; E. Pelham, having died before her father, is not named in his will. The extract is as follows : The trustees of Field-Marshall the Right Honourable Sir William Pelham were Roger Manners (the maternal uncle of his wife the Lady Eleanor Nevill), Henry Bromley (his said son-in-law), Robert Dormer and Thomas Pelham, Esquires.” (This latter, Mr. W. G. Stedman Thomas says, he believes is the ancestor, through the female line, of the present Earl of Yarborough ; and brother to the said Elizabeth Pelham.) The supervisors of the said will were Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chancellor of England (the father of the said Sir Henry), and Sir William Cecil Lord Burleigh, Lord Treasurer of England. The names of these two great statesmen appear as principals touching the estate of Sir J. Perrot upon his attainder. Notices 071 the Earl of Lisbnr7te and the Faniilies of Nevill^ Pelham^ Vmi^haiiy Sted77ta7i, Jones, Pryse, Lloyd, Lewis, Stef7iey, Bromley, Berkeley, The fifth and present Earl of Lisburne, Ernest Malet, whose descent is shown in the pages drawn out in pedigree form, is the representative of his noble house, and is eighth Viscount, descending from Jane Sted- man, who married Sir John Vaughan of Crosswood ^ Park ; this family ennobled temp. William IIL, 1695, as Lord Vaughan, Baron Fetherd, and Viscount Lisburne of Antrim, Ireland. One of the immediate ancestors of this present Earl of Lisburne was made an earl for his eminently useful and long Parliamentary services. The Hon. J. Shafto Vaughan, of Moredun Mains, near Edinburgh, is the only remaining uncle of the above Earl Lisburne. Julia Elizabeth, the wife of Mr. Wm. G. Stedman Thomas, of Belle Vue House, Caermarthen, is the eldest daughter of this Hon. J. S. Vaughan ; she has an’ only brother, John Vaughan, married, and settled in Victoria, South Australia. She passed away in early life, in 1867. The Earl of Lisburne, through the houses of Courtenay (de jure) Earls of Devon, and Bertie, Earls of Abingdon, could claim descent from the marriage of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, with the daughter of the said Lord Burleigh. It is said, whether true or not, this Earl neglected her because his father-in- law, Burleigh, refused to obtain a pardon for his friend Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who, with Charles Nevill here mentioned, was implicated in the rising of the North in favour of Mary Queen of Scots. Field- 1 In Welsh “Trawscoed." PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 83 Marshall Sir Wm. Pelham, just noticed, was an eminent soldier and statesman of the reign of Elizabeth, who had been previously Lord Justiciary of Ireland ; he was Master of the Ordnance, and died at Flushing, 1587-8. In a MS. Journal of his (written when he was Lord Deputy of Ireland), preserved in Lambeth Palace, it is observed under the date 22nd January, 1580, when his lordship was present at the assizes held at Wexford : ‘‘In this town is spoken more English than Irish. Camden observes that the English language was spoken in the district called “ England beyond Wales, and remarks : “ The king’s writ ran there; so the English language, laws, customs, and loyalty prevailed (from the time of the invasion of Ireland) in the northern portion of the county of Wexford, so much so that it was called ‘England beyond Ireland.’” The lineage of the Stedmans of Strata Florida, and Lloyds of Ystradcorwg, is to be found in Dunn’s ‘ Heraldic Visitation of Wales,’ temp. Elizabeth, vol. i. There is a race of Vaughans in Cardiganshire, who descend in direct male line from the first or second generation of Viscounts Lisburne, before they possessed the earldom ; they sprang from Edward Vaughan, Esq., of Green Grove, and are traced thence through the Vaughans of Tyllwyd, to the present families of Vaughan of Llangoedmore, and the present Captain Herbert Vaughan, of Brynog ; so they descend from Sir John Vaughan of Crosswood, the Lord Chief Justice, and his wife, Jane Stedman of Cilcennin. They highly distinguished themselves, and deserved well of their country, as officers in the British army. Thos. E. Lloyd, Esq., M. P., of Coedmore, descends through the Lewises of Coedmore, the Wogans of Wiston, the Carnes of Ewenny Abbey, Glamorgan, and Deneys of Dyrham Park, Gloucester, from Anne Berkeley, younger of the two daughters and co-heirs of Sir James Berke- ley of Thornbury Castle, Co. Gloucester, second son to Maurice (de jure) eighth Baron de Berkeley, heir-at-law to Wm. Marquess of Berkeley and Earl of Nottingham, K.G., Earl Marshall of England, and from Mary, Lady Perrott, through the marriage of his ancestor. Sir John Lewis, of Abernent Bychan, with Bridget, eldest daughter of Sir Richard Pryse, of Gogarthan, M.P., and his wife Gwen Pryse, heiress of Aberbechan, Co. Montgomery, and sister to Sir J. Pryse of Gogarthan and Aberbechan, knight, who married Mary Bromley. Elizabeth Pryse, the elder of the two daughters of Sir J. Pryse, knight, and Mary Bromley his wife, married first Walter Vaughan, Esq., of Llanelly, who died sp.; second, Charles Stepney, fourth son of the first Sir J. Stepney of Prendergast (created Baronet, 1621), and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir Francis Mansel, of Muddlescwm, Kidwelly. Charles Stepney had issue by Elizabeth Pryse : First, Richard Stepney, who married Miss Tancred, died sp. ; second, Charles Stepney, paymaster of Waller’s Marine Regiment, died sp., wounded at Cork, 1690 ; third, Alban S.„ died at sea, sp. ; fourth, Jane S., only daughter, married M., Bloysdon of Dresden. Unless there are descendants left of this Jane Stepney in Dresden, the sole representatives of the senior line of the Pryses of Gogarthan (Baronets extinct in 1694— 5 J devolved on Elizabeth 1 84 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, (Pryse) Stepney’s only sister, Mary Pryse, and her issue by her hus- band, James Jones of Dolaucothi and Abermad, Sheriff in 1667 and 1671 for counties of Caermarthen and Cardigan. Notes on Jones Family of Dolaucothi^ &^c. The following are notes to the preceding pedigrees of the Joneses of Dolaucothi, &c., and Jane Plerbert, granddaughter of Mary Vaughan, wife of M. Herbert of Havod : Thomas Jones, who married this Jane Herbert, the last heiress of the estate of Havod Ychtryd, was the last heir male of the senior line of the Joneses, the branch resident at Llanfair Clydogau, in Co. Cardigan, and proprietors also of the Dolau- cothi estate in Co. Caermarthen, springing from the said James Jones of Dolaucothi and Abermad, by his first wife, Mary Pughe of Mathavan in Montgomeryshire. Thomas Jones (for as such his name appears under his own signature to a legal document still in existence), to- gether with his friend, Sir Nicholas Williams, of Edwinsford, M.P. for Co. Caermarthen, Bart., also Lord Lieutenant and Custos, were found to be the trustees for the extensive estate of Glangwilly, known also as the Llanllawddog, in counties of Caermarthen and Cardigan. On its partition in 1731, he (T. J.) died without surviving issue, in 1733; when this, the senior line, became extinct, and the successor of this line at Dolaucothi was John Williams (brother of the said Sir Nicholas), who married Mrs. Bridget Lloyd of Bronwydd, widow, and younger of the two daughters of the aforesaid James Jones, by his second wife, Mary Pryse of Gogarthan, and only sister to the said Mrs. Ann Lloyd of Glangwilly. This John Williams owned the estate of Dolaucothi from 17 ii till his death in 1729, when he died issueless, leaving his estate of Dolaucothi to his brother. Sir Nicholas Williams, Bart., subject to his permission that his late wife’s fhvourite maid, Elizabeth Williams, should have a life residence at Dolaucothi mansion-house, together with the furni- ture, in which she continued till her death in 1735, when it reverted to Sir Nicholas. The Johnes family of Havod Llanfair Clydogau and Dolaucothi, were a distinct family from the Joneses mentioned here, from whom, among others, Mr. W. G. Stedman Thomas of Belle Vue House, Caermarthen, claim. At the extinction of the Jones family, the Johnes must have purchased the estates ; for they were wealthy, through a marriage with an heiress. Miss Powell of Radnorshire. The Johnes, from whom the Johnes of Dolaucothi spring, were descended from Johnes, Esq., of Penybout, Tregaran, Co. Cardigan, circa 1720. Mary Lewis, daughter of James Lewis, Esq. (and sister by full blood to Sir John Lewis of Coedmore and Abernantbychan, Captain of the Milford- ians), wife of Thomas Jones of Dolaucothi and Abermad, and mother to the said James Jones of Dolaucothi and Abermad, was herself de- scended maternally through the Wogans of Wiston Carnes of Ewenny Abbey, and Denys of Dyrham Park, Co. Gloucester, from Anne Berke- ley, sister of Mary Perrott of Haroldstone, widow, and afterwards Lady Jones of Abermarlais, and thus from the said Baronial houses of PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 85 Berkeley, Mowbray, Fitzalon, &c. &c. I have this notice to make regard- ing Anne Jones (mentioned in the page written in pedigree form), sister to Sir Henry Jones of Abermarlais Park. This lady was twin sister to Mary, wife of Rhydderch Gwynne of Glanbran, and mother to Howel Gwynne of Glanbran Park, Esq., who married his cousin Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Rev. Herbert Jones of Lanover, Co. Mon- mouth, B.D., Chancellor of Llandaff, had, with other issue, Susan Gwynne, wife to Thomas Gwynne, Esq. of Cynghoney or Cynghorny (see Beal, Stedman, and Prothero). ^^The present Thomas Edward Lloyd of Coedmore, M.P. for Co. Cardigan, is through Lewises of Coedmore, whose heiress brought that estate to his family, the now living representative of Sir John Lewis of Abernantbychan and Coedmore, Captain of the Milfordians, the mater- nal uncle of James Jones of Dolaucothi and Abermad, and so from Anne Berkeley, sister to Mary Perrott, afterwards Lady Jones of Aber- marlais, and of that Plantagenet descent. ‘‘Thomas Lewis, Esq., solicitor, of Narberth, Co. Pembroke, is a de- scendant of the Protheros of Dolwilym, near Whitland, in the male line ; but changed their name to Lewis. D 61 is a meadow in Welsh. Earl Cawdor, the proprietors of the Picton estate, Pryses of Gogarthan, Lloyds, Jones of Abermad, descend from Gui de Brians of Laugharne, and the Perrotts. The present Colonel Pryse of Peithyll, Aberyst- with. Lord Lieutenant of Co. Cardigan, and his nephew. Sir Pryse Pryse, Bart., of Gogerddau near Aberystwith, descend from Elizabeth Perrott, sister to Sir J. Perrott, Lord of Laugharne and Carew Castles, &c., and daughter of Sir Thomas Perrott. The senior line of Pryse of Gogar- than, Barts., and the extant Pryses, Barts., the old Jones of Abermad and Dolaucothi, the representatives of the former and senior branch, the Lloyds of Ystradcorwg and Glangwilly Llanllawddog, Co. Caermar- than, and Lloyds of Bronwydd, Co, Cardigan, descend from Sir Gui de Bryan, Lord of Laugharne, and the wife of Sir John Pryse of Aberbe- chan ; i. e. Mary Bromley could trace her descent from Henry Percy, fourth Earl of Northumberland, K.G.,who was, in right of his wife (Lady Maud Herbert), Lord of Laugharne. The Earl of Cawdor and the extant family of Pryse of Gogarthan, Bart., descend from Thomas Pryse of Glanfred (younger and next brother to Sir Richard Pryse of Gogarthan, Knt., who died 1622, M.P. for Co. Cardigan), the second son of John Pryse of Gogarthan, Esq., barrister-at-law, one of the Council of the Marches and M.P. for Co. Cardigan, temp. Queen Mary, by his wife, eldest of the two only sisters of Sir John Perrott of Carew and Laugharne Castles, Lord Deputy of Ireland ; and thus from the De Brians, Berkeleys, Mowbrays, Fitzalons, and royal line of Plantagenet, derived from Edward 1 . The present W. O. Price of Castle Piggin ; Sir Marteine Owen Mowbray Lloyd, Bart, of Bronwydd, Co. Cardigan ; Llewelyn Lloyd, Esq., of Glangwilly, and of the Laques, near Llan- stephan ; Mrs. Lloyd Davies of (Abercery), Wellfield Row, Caermar- then,and her son Thomas Forde Hughes, Esq. ; his sister. Miss Lloyd Davies; and Wm. G. Stedman Thomas, Esq., of Belle Vue House, 1 86 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Caermarthen — also derive, in addition to the above descent, through the second marriage of James Jones of Dolaucothi and Abermad, Sheriff of Co. Caermarthen in 1667, and for Co. Cardigan 1670-1, with Mary, younger of the two only daughters of Sir John Pryse of Gogarthan and Aberbechan, by his wife Mary Bromley, daughter of Sir Henry Bromley, of Holt Castle, Co. Worcester, M.P., and Elizabeth his first wife, daughter of Field-Marshall Sir Wm. Pelham, of Brocklesby, Co. Lincoln, and Eythrop, Bucks, by his wife the Lady Eleanor Nevill, daughter of Henry, fifth Earl of Westmoreland. K.G., and his wife Lady Jane Manners, daughter of Thomas, thirteenth Baron de Ros, and first Earl of Rutland, K. G. ; and thus through the two Plantagenet Duchesses of Exeter, Elizabeth and Anne, sisters to Henry IV. and Edward IV., as well as from the four Royal Princes, sons to Edward HI., through the great baronial houses of Nevill, Manners, Stafford, Herbert, Percy, Howard Duke of Norfolk, and Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, K.G. Mary Pryse, noticed above ; her brother. Sir Richard Pryse, Bart., of Gogarthan, married, secondly. Lady Mary Ruthven, widow of Sir Anthony Vandycke, the great artist. The father of Sir H. Bromley, above-noticed, was Thomas, Lord Chancellor Bromley, temp. Queen Elizabeth, and was President of the Peers, who condemned the unhappy Mary Queen of Scots. Mr. Stedman Thomas’s descent is in the page here written in pedigree form. The Laugharnes are connected with the De Brians, through Lettice, daughter of Sir J. Perrott (by, it is said, a second marriage), marrying Rowland Laugharne of St. Brides.” Crowe Fa7nily of Westmead^ and Tuckers of St. Brides. The Perrotts and Wogans allied to the Mortimers by marriage. Rev. John Taylor, late Rector of Eglwyscummin, near Pendine, Co. Caer- marthen, is a descendant by the female line of William Rees, Esq., of Laugharne, High Sheriff for Co. Caermarthen, 1765. The Crowes of Westmead descend from the Stocketts of Bradstead, Kent. The daughter and heiress of Lord Stockett married Richard Boare. Boare (bore gules, a boar passant, argent), their great-granddaughter and heiress, Joan, married Thomas Crowe of Bradstead, time Edward IV. Stocketts or Socketts appears to have been the name of their residence in Kent. Joan’s great-grandson married Anne, daughter and co-heir of John Sackville of Chiddingleigh, Sussex; their son. Sir Sackville Crowe, was created Baronet 1627, and possessed Laugharne Castle. He died 1683, in the Fleet Prison. The Baronetcy extinct in 1705. On death of Sir J. Sackville Crowe, the name Sackville assumed through sponsorship (see for Crowes, Lloyds, &c. Parts IV. and XIX.). The Powell family, who held Broadway Estate ” in Laugharne (see Part IV.), one of whom was Sir John Powell, one of the Judges who acquitted the seven bishops time of James 11 . , were previously of Llan- wrda, and a branch of the ancient lords of Cilycwm, seated at Ystradffin (see Part IV.). The Vaughans of Golden Grove were, by PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 8/ direct male line, descended from Madoc, last Prince of Powys. Mrs. Bevan of Laugharne, whose good deeds in supporting the Circulating Schools, &c., which I mention in Part VIE, was a Vaughan. I mention in Part XIX. that the Edwardes of Llanmiloe were allied with the Mortimers. Capt. Tucker, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwardes of Llan- miloe, and aide-de-camp to General Sir Thomas Picton, descended by the female line from John Tucker of Sealyham, Esq., High Sheriff for Co. Pembroke, in 1763. Dr. Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, whom I mention (Part VIII.) as born in Laugharne, 1712, descended from the Tuckers of Sealyham, through a cousin of John Tucker of Sealyham, Esq., the High Sheriff for Pembrokeshire in 1763. The father of Dr. J. Tucker was a gentleman farmer of Fynone Manor Deivi. Rev. George Parry, who ^served Laugharne Church many years ago, descended from a sister of this Deanes. Mr. Wm. G. S. Thomas says : Lady Cotgrave of Netherleigh House, near Chester, has a pedigree, drawn by Randall Holme, 1672, from compilations by William Camden, in 1598, of the Cotgraves of Hergrave, with the descent of three generations of the Tuckers. Eleanor Cotgrave mar- ried Richard Tucker of Sealyham, and of Halton, Cheshire, grandson of Sir Owen Tucker, time Edward TIL I observe in this book that Vandycke, the great artist, is said to hav.e paid a visit to Gosport House in Laugharne ; it is likely, as he married Lady Mary Ruthven, Maid of Honour to Henrietta, Queen of Charles 1 . He died 1641, aged 43, and his widow afterwards married, secondly, Sir Richard Pryse of Gogarthan, created a Baronet, and was his second wife. His only daughter and heir, Justina Vandyck, married Sir John Stepney of Prendergast, Co. Pembroke, third Baronet, whence the Stepneys of Prendergast and Llanelly, who now hold property in Pendine. The Elliots of Amroth Castle I notice in Part XXI I L, and their pedigree is in the last page here. Families of Stedjnan^ Jones ^ Pryse ^ Brownley ^ Thojnas of T7'emoillet^ in Pendme, Mr. W. G. Stedman Thomas, of Belle Vue House, Caermarthen, to whom I am indebted for the account of these families, descends from Major Stedman, a field officer and royalist, who in the battle of St. Fagans, time of Cromwell, was taken prisoner ; and also from James Jones of Llanbadarn, the maternal half-brother of Sir J. Per- rot of Laugharne, through the marriage of his descendant, James Jones, Esq., of Dolaucothi and Abermad, with Mary, his second wife, daughter of the said Sir John Pryse of Gogarthan and Aber- bechan, by Mary Bromley of Holt Castle, Co. Worcester. The Thomas family of Tremoillet, Pendine, were of English origin, of the name of Webb or Webley, the first of whom, of the name of John, came from England into Cardiganshire. His second son, David, was called by the Welsh, Dufydd Sais-y-Cwm, or the Saxon David of the Dingle. He adopted the Cymric custom of David ab John, mar- 1 88 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, ried, and had a son Thomas ab David, whose son, Evan Thomas, was the first who perpetuated the name of Thomas, and was progenitor of Thomas of Cwrtnewrydd (which means ‘‘New Court), and Trem- oillet (see Part XX.). The Barret Family of Pendine, The Anglo-Norman family of Barret de Pendyne came first into Wales in person of Sir Peter de Barret, with Gilbert Strongbow, A.D. I no, who had been rewarded by William (II.) Rufus, with the lands of Cadwgan ab Bleddyn, Lord of Naunan, Camden’s renowned Briton (son of Bleddyn ab Cynfyn, Prince of Powys), situated in Cardigan and Dyfed, and who was thus enabled to reward his faithful adherent, the said Sir Peter de Barret, with the lordship of Pendyne, as set forth in the ‘ Wiston Records’ {vide Mabus, or Dale Castle M.S.). Peter Barret, feudal lord of Pendyne, paternally descended from the aforesaid Sir Peter de Barret, knight, bore gules on a chief indented, argent, three escallop shells, sable. Crest, a lion rampant, or, holding between his forepaws an escallop shell sable. He married Jane, daughter and co-heir of Sir Wm. de Langeton, knight. Lord of Henilys and Langrove in Gower ; his grandson, Wm. Barret, Lord of Pendyne, married Joan, daughter of Sir John Wogan of Wiston Castle, knight. A descendant in the direct line, viz., Wm. Barret, Esq., de Pendyne, married Margaret, daughter and co-heir to Sir Huko Howell, Lord of the Manor of Woodstock, &c., by his wife St. Margaret de Marlas, daughter and heir of Sir Wm. de Marlas, knight. This lady was foundress of the churches of Pendyne, Llandawke, and Kiffig. The daughter of the above Wm. Barret, Jonet, married Jenkin Elliott of Amroth Castle, Esq. Their son, John Elliott, of same castle, married daughter of Sir Thomas Perrott of Haroldston, &c., by his wife Jane, daughter of John de Guise. John Elliott, Esq., of Amroth Castle, great- great- grandson of the last-named Wm. Barret, married Joan, daughter and heir of John Vaughan, Esq., of Narberth. One. of the descendants married into the Protheroe family. Barretts of Pendyne, Tenby, Pem- broke, Caermarthen, all descend equally from this stock. Another member, William Barrett of Pendyne, married Agnes, daughter of Phillip ab Meredydd, Lord of Cilsant, by his wife Joan, daughter of Jenkyn Lloyd Vychan of Pwll-Dyfach, ancestor of the Lloyds of Plas and Laques, Llanstephan. The celebrated Bard Lewis Glyncothi, temp, of the War of the Roses, addressed an ode to this Phillip ab Meredydd, in which he says, “ May I be bound in fetters, and pine away to a skeleton, if Jonet’s (Phillip’s wife) lineage is not most noble.” Jane Donne, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Donne of Picton Castle, knight, time Edward IV., conveyed that castle and manor of Picton, &c., to her husband. Sir Thomas Phillips, Lord of Cilsant, which castle and demesne of Picton had descended through the Wogans, Lords of Picton, &c., from Sir Wm. de Picton, first lord thereof, a noble Norman, who built the castle, temp. Arnulph de PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 1 89 Montgomery, Lord of Dyfed. Wm. Barrett of Pendyne, Esq. (eldest son of Henry B. and Katherine his wife, daughter of Treharne Morgan of Motlyscwm, Co. Caermarthen, and of Llandeilo Abercowin, Steward of Pembroke, time Henry VII.), was Mayor of Tenby, 1549, third of Edward VI.; his brother James, Mayor 1562-4, 1574-5, had a son, Devereux Barrett, who was Mayor of Tenby in 1599, 1604, and 1617. Rhys B., the brother of James, was Mayor, 1572. Joan or Jane Barrett, daughter of Wm. Barrett (just named as Mayor), by his wife Anne, daughter and sole heiress of Thomas Longher of Tenby (of the Longhers of Tythegston Manor, Co. Glamorgan), married Erasmus Sanders of Tenby, Esq., Mayor, 1577, descended from the Sanders of Kent, from whom the Sanders of Pendyne and Tenby come ; i. e. the Sanders who lived in the Big House behind Pendine Church (see Parts XIX. and XXIV. for Sanders), and held property here. Richard Barrett, of the Tenby branch, left Tenby to settle in Caer- marthen, in 1609, was Alderman, Sheriff, and Mayor of that town. John, the elder brother of the last Richard B., married Agnes, daughter of Robert Elliott, Esq. (see Part XXIV. for Elliotts). The second male line of the Barretts of the Tenby branch assumed the name of Richards in this way : John ab Richards Barrett (great-great-grandson of the last-named Richard B.), was of Llandeilo Rynys Lloneywad or Llonegwad,^ and had a grant from the Corporation of Caermarthen, 1711, and gave up his Norman name of Barrett, took, as is the custom in Wales, a surname, derived from the Christian name of a forefather. He had a son, John Richards, from whom, with several others, the present Mr. Thomas Richards of Broadway Cottage, Broadway, in Laugharne, descend. The Barretts of Pendyne became extinct in the male line, in person of Wm. Barrett of Pendine, who married Anne, daughter of Thomas Longher, Esq., of Tenby. His only child, Joan, and heiress, married Erasmus Sanders of Tenby, son of Wm. Sanders of Eoyle, Co. Surrey. At one time there were monuments of this family of Barretts in Tenby church, long ago destroyed. Most of the old deeds relating to those Richards are in possession of Wm. G. Stedman Thomas of Caermarthen. For the Barretts, Prices, Lloyds, &c., see Part XIX. The present Griffith Griffiths, Esq., solicitor, at Caermarthen (cousin to Mr. Thomas Richards of Broad- way, just noticed), is of the old Cambro-N orman family of Barrett, and so is Wm. G. S. Thomas, Esq. of Belle Vue House, Caermarthen, in addition to his Plantagenet descent. Mr. Griffith Griffiths is son to the late Mrs. Griffiths of Alltyferin, and they sold the estate of Allty- ferin, Co. Caermarthen, to the Bath family, the same as Charles Bath, Esq. of Swansea. The Griffiths are of the Tenby branch of the Barretts, descending, by the female line, through John Richards of Llandeilo Rynys, great-great-great-grandson of Richard Barrett, who left Tenby, and settled in Caermarthen, and held the office of Sheriff of the Borough in 1613, and Mayor 1622. A great number of the old Pembrokeshire names are even yet to be found in Ireland, * Parish of Llanegwad, Co. Caermarthen. 190 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, such as Barrett, Fitzgerald, Carew, Roche, Meyler, Fleming, Canton from Cankington, de Laundres, Nangle, Castlemartin, Staunton, Prendergast, Stackpole, Barry, Power, Huskerd, Beneger, Harold, Wogan, Bonville, Synnott, supposed to have been a Flemish family, one of whom, David Fitz Adam Synad, had a grant from his kinsman, Sir Gerald de Roche, cma 1215 A.D., of a tract of land north of Wexford Town, well known as ‘^Synnott^s land,^^ and the name is still very common in that county in Ireland. The ancestry of the fore- going, and many others, which have not been mentioned, of the advenoe of Pembrokeshire and South Wales, took part in the invasion of Ireland, by Strongbow, te?np. Henry 11 . In the ‘ History of Hijflach- rach,^ printed by the Irish Archaeological Society, 1844, in the account given of some of these by M*ac Firbis or Tirbis, an antiquary of 17th century, it is stated that the Welsh White Knight and his brother Wm. Barrett, called by the Irish, “William Breathnach,’’ or “the Briton,” and among their descendants set forth, were the Lords Barrett of Tirawly in Mayo, who had become altogether Irish in 15th century. Of the Munster Barretts, their British origin is shown by this : When a follower of Hugh O’Neil, Earl of Tyrone, during his march near their castle in his rebellion, 1600, heard him mention their name, Barrett or Breathnach, he (z. e. the Earl) said he hated the English churls as if they had come but yesterday. George Thomas Parcau of Parcau Henllen Amgoed, is the son of the late Thomas Thomas of Parcau’s third marriage with Louisa, sister and heir to Nathaniel Rowlands of Parcau, Esq., grandchildren of the celebrated Daniel Rowlands of Llangeithio, and descends in the male line from the Thomas clan of Llangunock or Llangunnog, who are derived from Cadifor Fawr, the aforesaid Prince of Dyfed, lord of Cilsant, &c. &c. Mr. Thomas Thomas was previously resident at the old mansion-house of Penybanc Abergwili, since known as Bryn Merddin, the modern mansion of Thomas Charles Morris, Esq. ; here were the children of his first and third wives born ; his second wife (married 1795), Elizabeth Williams, widow of Rev. Rice Williams, clerk in holy orders, daughter and co-heir of John Lewis, Esq. of Lletyllowynchwith, in the parish of Llanybydder, dying without issue. Mr. Thomas was born 1758, 9th of March ; died 25th Dec., 1851, aged 93. Upper Pen-y-banc was formerly the seat of Milburn, Bishop of St. Davids, and his descendants, the Blome or Bloom family, allied in blood to Lloyds of Glangwilly, here mentioned. Notices 07 t the Elliott Faviily, Katherine Elliott, whose tomb in Laugharne Church I have noticed, was probably of the family settled in Narberth and Erwer. It is believed Elliott was her maiden name, and that she was sister to John Eliott of Narberth, who was Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1585, 27th Elizabeth. She mentions in her wilU (dated 3 Maye 1585, proved ^ Which is in Probate Court, London. Several other v':hildren who died unmarried. rH), Irried Rev. Moses Grant, bn of Rev. John Grant, 3f Nolton, &c. She was )ther of the second Lord of Picton Castle, co. ke. Georc Elizabeth = John Howell bevan. Mary = Rev. George Parry, Miss I I Curate oi Laugharne. MARGARET BEVAN. \ George Elliot Parry, lOT, died unmarried, 1859. I. John Let" Villiam, Madras V. Charles Morgan, VI. Edmund, Seve- VII. Richard, daughfcrs. VIII. Robert, Civil Service, mar- ried and had issue. F.R.S., Major Ma- dras Engineers, died unmarried. all unmarried. Rev. FREDERICK EBRINGTON ELLIOT, M.A., of Stanford Rhrers, in Essex, un- married 1880. HUGH ELL^T. FRAI iULL ELLIOT. JAMES DUNCAN ELLIOT, Other children. \Tofa.e pag . 19&. PEDIGREE OF ELLIOT FAMILY OF ERWER (AMROTH). PH.UPH.„'o.M.O.. ”pfe£ ■ “ofK; fc'ltsr T JOHN LETTSOM ELT.IOT = ■ "• “b“.s;=cS°^: ” '"lisjsSS "'liK \Tofa.epas PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 19I in London 23d February I59f, which says she is ^‘of the town of Lagharn, widow ’ 9 , her sons Jams Appth/ and William Johns, who is made her heir. In the Visitation of Wales, made by Lewis Uwnn, between 1586 and 1613, a Katrin Eliott married Rys ap Rydderch, Esq., and had a son, James ap Rydderch, living 1597; perhaps she married twice. There are instances of married women keeping their maiden name, or known by it. In the will of Roberte Elliotte of Lam- phey (proved 1603), he speaks of his wife as Alson Bendley ; and David Eliotte of Steynton, in his will (proved 1618), mentions his wife Mary Lloyd. They are both in the Caermarthen Probate Court. George Elliot, buried in Laugharne Church, was son of Rev. Philip Elliot of St. Botolphs ; his ancestors were settled in Elizabeth’s time in Steyn- ton, Co. Pembroke. Francis Elliot was buried at Steynton, loth August, 1660, ^Gn templo.”^ John Elliot, loth December, 1675, also ‘Gn templo.” The family have the pedigree in unbroken descent from Thomas Elliot, whose eldest son Philip, baptized at Steynton, 5th February, 1637, was great-grandfather of George Elliot above-named. The castle at Amroth (Erwer or Eareweare), was the seat of the Elliots, of the ancient castle, which was small ; only the chapel at the top of the present house, and some of the cellarage, is embodied in it. It has not been proved that George Elliot of Laugharne was of the family of Amroth. The frequent occurrence of the names Thomas, John, Philip, Lettice, in the two pedigrees, and the fact of their near neighbourhoods, make it probable that the two families have a common descent. The arms of Eliot of Amroth had twenty-four quarterings in temp, of Elizabeth. On their seal they used only three, viz. : Quarterly, first and fourth (argent), a fess (gules), double cotised wavy (azure), for Eliot. Second, three castles, for Howell. Third, three boys’ heads couped, each entwined about the neck with a snake, for Vaughan ; crest, an elephant’s head couped. ' This is an abbreviation. It is possibly the James ap Rydderch, mentioned by Lewis Dwmn. 2 i,e. in the church. Entries in Steynton Register. 192 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PART X. LLANDAWKE — LLANDYSSILIO. An Inscription on a Stone in Llandawke Churchy composed of Ogham and Roman Letters — A shnilarly inscribed Stone in Church of Llandyssilio, and on Caldey Island at Tenby — Stones with Burnt Bones, and Ur7i zuith Bones. This is a parochial district in the Hundred of Derllys, Co. Caer- marthen, a mile and a quarter from Laugharne, with only one farm-house, a cottage or two, a church and its Rectory-house. The approaches to it from Laugharne are very pretty. The lower road winds between hills which slope gracefully to the level ground ; near its end a large cluster of trees cast a grateful shade on a sunny day ; they have disappeared. Some people here have an unfortunate propensity for cutting trees down. The upper road is its rival in beauty ; it is but a narrow lane, just wide enough for two abreast, shut in with high banks ; it is called Llan- dawke Lane, and the Bromwast Road. Its banks are enamelled with spring flowers in the season, often entirely covered with primroses, and luxuriant with ferns. This lane rises and declines at intervals ; about the middle it makes a deep descent, and gives one of those pretty and sudden turns that conceals its further pro- gress. Near here is a lovely peep of the sea, and a bit of the coast with a headland ; now and then you get through a break in the bank a passing view of the undulating hills, or of a field where cattle are grazing, or an accumulation of hills of varied heights sloping to the plain each after its own fashion. One bears a solitary tree, another small patches of wood, and if it be harvest time, mows^ will be scattered about waiting for the farmer to gather the corn in. Now you approach a pretty scene — a curious old church with the Rectory at its side, lying in a dell. You look down on them. A hill on the left rises far above the Rectory, thickly set with trees to its base, where an ancient well of good ^ Mows is the name given in Wales to the peculiar form in which they do up parcels of the corn. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. I93 • water lies. Behind the Rectory, and on its right, numerous fir-trees shelter it, towering above. Within the Rectory garden blossoms a fine laburnum ; in the season it is a mass of yellow flower, and when the sun casts on it its brightest gleam, verily it is all aglow. There is something indescribably sweet and quiet in the scene here. I cannot give a better idea of it than is given in a descrip- tion of a scene in the Faery Queen of Spenser (Canto I.) : — “ A littly lowly hermitage it was Downe in a dale hard by a forest side, P'ar from resort of people that did pas In traveill to and froe.” The peaceful look, the solitude of this little parsonage of Llan- dawke, seems almost to fulfil all that Virgil desired in these lines of the ^ Georgies ' ; — “ My next desire is, void of care and strife, To lead a soft, secure, inglorious life, A country cottage near a crystal flood, A winding valley and a lofty wood ” — and looks the very spot where the man may dwell, and hear, as he says, without concern, but hear from afar, “ of tumults and descents, and distant war;” and where, as Horace says, in his praise of a country life, how happy he may be, unconcerned in the hurry and bustle of life, viewing his lowing flock feeding in a remote valley, or shearing his sheep ; or when autumn raises her head crowned with the fruits of the earth, delighting to gather the mellow pears and purple-coloured grapes.” There is another pleasant feature to record. A more hospitable Rectory does not exist. If you happen to enter its interior you will have so hearty a welcome, and find such hospitality, from the Rev. D. Thomas (the Rector) and his lady as you will not easily forget. They are near carrying out the heartfelt manners of the ancient Greeks, who feasted, washed, and clothed the stranger before they asked who he was, or on what errand bent. Use hospitality, for some have entertained angels unawares. Rev. D. Thomas, who held this living with Pendine, has passed away since I began these pages, and Rev. Mr. Butterworth is now Rector. The patron of the two livings is Colonel Powel ^ of Nanteos, Co. Cardigan ; the in- come small ; service held once on a Sunday in each. Derivation of Llandawke uncertain. Rev. D. Thomas told me it was spelt Llandawg in Welsh. ‘‘Llan” has been explained in Part III. 1 He is lately deceased. O 194 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, The word dawke ” is the puzzle. Mr. Thomas thought it might be derived from St. Oudoceus, the founder of the church. Ac- cording to some authorities, as the antiquarian Alcwyn Evans, in his book ‘Royal Charters,’ and Spurred of Caermarthen, the great Welsh scholar, says : his' name spelt often Docheu ; he was a native of Armorica ; Bishop of Llandaff after the death oi his uncle, St. Teilo, in 563 or 566. Bishops of that diocese claimed supre- macy over southern parts of Co. Pembroke and portion of Co. Caermarthen. The church ^ is dedicated to St. Margaret Marloes, or Marios. She is said by some writers to be a saint of Syria of 2nd cent. ; but the antiquarian Stedman Thomas of Caermarthen, to whom I am so much indebted for extracts from valuable docu- ments in his possession, tells me that upon “ unquestionable author- ity” Margaret Marios was patron, saint, and foundress of Llan- dawke, Kiffig, and Pendyne near Laugharne; that her name appears as an ancestress of the ancient family of Barret, feudal Lords of Pendyne (i. e. Pendine), and also of the Elliotts and others ; that she was daughter of Sir William Marios, a noble foreigner, who resided at his castle of Marios among his retainers in great military state, and makes a great figure in some of our ancient MSS., but not a vestige of his stronghold exists. She was an only child, and wife of Sir Huko Howel, a very powerful Cymric chieftain, lord of the manor of Woodstock in Co. Pembroke. The armorial bearings — “az. : a falcon, close argent.” In the inventory of church goods, taken time of Edward VI., Llandawke had — “ In p’mis, a lytyll bell and no chalyce.” This church is not mentioned in the taxation, time of Pope Nicholas IV., nor is Pendine. The valuation of livings in this island, by Nicholas, was in 1288 — 1292. The omission of Pendine was owing probably to its belonging perhaps to Tremoillet mansion as a private chapel — Llandawke to* the old Manor House, which stood once by its side. When the church was built is not known ; it is composed of a stone called “kiffig,” which has a tendency to crumble; the architecture of the same simple style as Llansadurnen church ; no aisles, no tran- septs. At the arched low entrance into the church is a step having a remarkable inscription ; its history unknown, except that the letters are Roman, and Ogham, which is Irish stenography. A sketch of this stone is in here. On it is a Latin inscription : “ Hie jacet. Here lies Barrivend, son of Vendvbari.” On another part of the stone there is written, “ Maqi (or Maquy), the son of Maqi.” The following remarks 1 It was built after the Norman Conquest. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. IQS account for the presence of the two kinds of letters, and proves the great antiquity of the Llandawke stone : The provincial Britons under Roman power took the Roman character or letter, but the old British character was retained by the Druids, who fled to Wales, Ireland, and the Highlands of the North. The British here kept the old character, while the Roman party took to the new character. In process of time, Roman and British characters were mixed together, as we find them upon some tombstones in Wales, but not in England’’ (see ‘Cambrian Register,’ p. 366-7, pub. 1796). Professor Fergusson, an authority, says; “Faint traces of Ogham are on the pillar in the churchyard of Cilgerran, on the south bank of the Teivy, South Wales ; it bears a Roman legend.” He says : “ There are three groups of Ogham inscribed monuments in Britain, viz. Irish, Scottish or North Britain, Welsh, and Devonian; the two last differing from the Irish and Scottish in this — they always present their vowels in the form of notches on the angles of the pillars, and are the most ancient.” This is the case in the Llandawke stone ; it is seen, in the sketch of it, that the notches are on its angle. “ Whereas the Irish and Scottish put the vowels in the form of digits crossing the arris or stem line, and are of more recent date.” He adds : “ What gives to the South British Oghams their claim to higher antiquity is the almost universal presence on same stone of inscriptions in Ogham letters, with the corresponding inscription in Roman characters.” This is con- sidered to belong to a period not much after the Roman occupa- tion. Now on the Llandawke stone is Maqi^ which is Ogham, and means the same as filii in the Latin, and the other Roman letters on it are mixed with Ogham. Stones inscribed with Ogham exist in many parts of South Wales. On Caldy ^ Island by Tenby is a stone, in the ruins of the Priory there, which has six incisions, and are Ogham. Mr. Jones, a learned authority, says it is of the 7th or 9th century. The presence of these Ogham inscriptions in Wales is owing to an Irish occupation. The Welsh records and the Irish historians state that towards the close of 4th century, a formidable invasion of Wales by the Irish, headed by Nial, a king of Ireland, occurred, and occupied the whole of North Wales, and Co. Cardigan, Pembroke, and Caermarthen. They were expelled, A.D. 425 ; some few remained (see Moore’s ‘ Hist, of Ireland,’ chap. vii. p. 109). The letters, called Saxon, were those used by the ' Caldy, anciently called “ Pyr it is a Welsh word for ‘‘ Lords.” “ Pyr ” is the plural ; “ Por,” singular. O 2 196 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, Druids and ancient Britons, before the Saxons or Romans came. (See more of this in Section 1. of Part I.) There are three early inscribed stones built into the south outer wall of the church of Llandyssilio, five miles from Narberth, Co. Pembroke. Some of the letters on them appear to me Ogham. Some are remarkable in form and position. Two members of Cambrian Archaeological Association examined them, and found and ‘‘T’’ conjoined; N ” reversed; T ” placed trans- versely; the ‘‘G of the Hiberno-British form ; the A in jacet much elongated. With these exceptions, the inscription is in Roman capitals.^ On one stone, in Latin, it is, “ Here lies Euolenus, son of Litogeni.” Second stone has a Latin inscription, with the same peculiarity of letters; very rudely cut. There is no ‘‘Hie jacet;’’ and it is thought the words imply that the body of Clutorix was lying concealed in the grave adjacent, and that Paulinus, or Pawl Hen, appears to have been a North Briton, and one of the found- ers of Ty Gwyn ar, Daf, /. e. Whitland Abbey, near St. Clears, Co. Caermarthen.^ Within the altar-rails of Llandawke church is a piscina, and an arched recess, which is no doubt a credence. This might seem to indicate the date of the church, for these appendages to the altar are not found in churches earlier than the 12 th century; but as these might be added after churches had been built, the church may still have been founded in 6th cent. The effigy of a lady lies on the floor by the north wall, within the communion-rails. It is divided into three parts ; the hands held as in the attitude of prayer. Its date may be guessed by the wimple and peaked toes. It is said to represent the foundress of the church. Her history as derived from tradition .is this : She lived at Broadway. One day, as she was returning across Hugden from arranging affairs regard- ing the church, robbers attacked her, and cut her into three parts ; to commemorate this martyrdom her effigy ^ was divided into three separate pieces. The division has to me rather the appearance ^ This church of Llandissilio was restored in 1830, and, like most modern restorations, was more like spoliation ; ornaments and decorations of its archi- tecture — niches, arches of the windows — were all destroyed. At this time they discovered an enormous quantity of human bones, both in the church and churchyard, far beyond in number what would be in so small a place ; for Llandissilio is now, and as far as is known of former days, a small village. A tradition among the people of the place says, that at some time a battle was fought here^ I have mentioned in Part XIII. about the Roman encampment near Llandissilio. * See Journal of ‘ Cambrian Archaeological Association,’ for Jan. i860, 3rd Series. ® A drawing of it is here. A MEMORIAL STONE WELL RAILED IN OF WHITE WK/KKKtti MARBLE IS ERECTED IN LLANDAWKE CHURCHYARD, BY THE WIDOW tf)£ of The late REV. DAVID THOMAS, More than Forty Years Rector of this Parish of Llandawke and of Pendine. DIED, DECEMBER 26, 1877. AGED 77-' A Cedar has Fallen- t o THE INSCRIPTION ON THE STONE IN LLANDAWKE CHURCH. THE INSCRIPTION ON THE STONE IN LLANDAWKE CHURCH. See Fart lo. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. IQ/ of design ; if accident or the destroyer’s hand effected it, then there is a regularity about it unusual in such cases. It is said the church was dedicated to her in consequence. Mr. Kemp, who wrote, as I have mentioned, an account of Laugharne, considers the effigy to be of 1 2th century. There is no historical evidence for that story ; it is tradition ; but tradition often carries truth. A lady did found this church, as I have just mentioned. In my researches for this book I have in several cases found what I had received from tradition confirmed by authentic sources. The arch leading into the chancel is round and very small, without the least ornament ; the whole church is plain. On each side of the arch is a pro- tuberance ; a sort of thick knob for resting something on. No doubt it was for resting the rood or figure of Christ stretched out upon the cross, which used to be placed over the screen which divided the chancel from the nave. Here monks would celebrate mass at midnight, and formerly the lessons were read from the top of the rood-screen. The tower, which is on the west side, has a deeply-recessed window, large and square, blocked up, on its ground floor. Another on the south side, deeply-recessed, with but a narrow slit in the middle letting in the light. You ascend to the first floor of this tower by a spiral staircase, which is lighted by a small slit in a deeply-recessed square window. This floor was no doubt used as a room, for there were anciently rooms in towers. Here was a window looking into the nave ; it is large, square, deeply- recessed ; it is blocked up. The bell hangs in an arched opening opposite to it. On the north and south side is a large, square, deeply-recessed window. The tower is covered with ivy ; an apple tree has clung to it, and grown out at its top. There are no monuments ; the church is said to have been despoiled of all its ornaments and monuments by Cromwell’s soldiers. A brother of Guido de Brian was buried in this church about 1300. The son of Gui de Brian, who gave the charter of privileges to the bur- gesses of Laugharne, married an ancestor of the Skyrme family, and was buried here. Also one of the Edward es of Llanmiloe, under the south window ; but there is not a trace of their tombs or their names. There are a few tablets hung on the walls inside the church, in memory of those buried here. The inscriptions on them are as follows. MONUMENTS IN LLANDAWKE CHURCH. In the east wall, and at the back of the communion-table, and below the window, a tablet is inserted in the wall with this inscrip- 198 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, tion : Here Lyeth the Body of Ihon Lavgharne of Landawke, Gent., Who Departed This Life on 28th day of IVne, 1712, aged 46 yeares : As also William, the Son of the Above Said Ihon Lavgharne, Who Departed This Life On the 4th Day of Febrvary, 169s, aged 8 months.” Within the altar rails a square tablet is attached to the north wall, which says : “ In Memory of Martha Edwards, wife of Owen Edwards of Brook in the Parish of Laugharne, and daughter to Ihon & Barbara Evans of this Parish. This Stone is set up to be a lasting Memorial of the Respect due from a Husband to an affectionate wife. She died much lamented Ivne y® 27th, 1793, aged 26 years. Barbara, daughter of the above named Owen Edwards and Martha his wife, died May y® 23, 1794, aged one year and 8 months. Close by this, but outside the altar rails, is a similar tablet which says : Near this place lieth the body of Thomas Evans of Llan- dawke, who died June 29th, 1763, aged 75. And also the Body of Anne his wife, who died April 4th 1771, aged 84. At the foot of this Stone lieth the Body of John Evans, Son of the above Thos. and Anne Evans. He died December 26th, 1785, aged 53 years. A loving husband, an affectionate Parent, a sincere Friend, and an honest Man : ‘ Beloved in Life, Lamented in Death. Mourn not, my Friends, I am only gone before. In this vain -world you ne’er shall see me more. Prepare to follow, Mind the word Prepare. Let not this world too much engross your care. Trust in the Lord. He will dispell your Fears, And guide you safely through this Vale of Tears. To every Faithfull Soul by Christ is given A certain Promise they shall meet in Heaven. With Cherubs joyn’d their noblest anthems raise. To carol out the Great Jehovah’s Praise.’ Also the Body of Barbara Evans, wife of the said lohn Evans. She died April y® 6th, 1790, aged 52 years.’ ^ Over the rector’s pew, and on north wall of the nave, is a small tablet : “ Sacred to the Memory of James Eastment, late of Cold- stone, Laugharne, who died on 24th day of January 1852, aged 62 years.” On south wall over the large pew close to the chancel arch in the nave, a tablet says : Sacred to the Memory of William Metheringham- Shield, Esq., Late of Frieston, near Grantham, in Co. Lincoln, who Departed this Life at Llandawkeon i6th March, PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 199 1843, aged 52 years. Also to Robert Shield, Esq., second son of the above, who Departed this Life at Cwm on the nth of July, 1846, aged 26 years.” In the churchyard is a tomb with this inscription : Here lie the Remains of Mr. William Evans of Clog-y-fran, in the Parish of St. Clears in this County, died Sept. 8th, 1822, aged 54 years. Also of Anne, Daughter of the above-named William Evans by Eliza- beth his wife ; died April 3d, 1809, aged 8 years. ‘ How still and peaceful is the grave, Where, life’s vain tumults past, The appointed house, by Heaven’s decree, Receives us all at last.’ Also of Elizabeth, wife of the above William Evans, died Sept, loth, 1827, aged 51 years.” Morgan Lloyd of Llandawke, who is mentioned as a malignant in Pari IV., resided in the first ancient manor house, which was close to Llandawke church. Not a trace of him is in the church, if he were buried in it. He is mentioned in documents of Crom- well’s time. He was of the same family as the Lloyds of Laques near Llanstephan. That manor house stood behind the church, near vhere the pond and trees are now. No one remembers this house A part of the wall of its kennel remains ; but the house built m its site was not very old. Some now living have seen it. This 'n time disappeared, and Lord Kensington, who had the pro- perty built in 1841 the present large house occupied now as afarm- hous( by Mr. Morse. It is very prettily situated, has a lovely view of th.‘ distant bay of Laugharne. Llandawke church belonged to this fid manor house. In digging the foundations in 1841 of that hous they found five square stones ^ so placed that there was a hollcw space in which were burnt bones ; also an urn or earth pot withbones in it, of very rude construction, evidently of an early dat^ most likely British ; I saw a part of it. The stones were taken to Llandawke church. The Rev. D. Thomas, the rector, shos^ed them to me, and the part of the urn which was in his posession. There is a story of a quantity of gold found buried sonewhere at the back of this house, but I cannot say that it is true. Tie present rectory of Llandawke, occupied by Rev. D. Thomas, ws anciently the storehouse of the old manor house just men- tioied, and was then called the Red House. The rector at that ^ These stones are now (1877) laid down at the back of the Rectory of Llan- dwke. 200 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, time lived at Brook. But as this house is said not to be ancient, I suppose it was either built on the site of the storehouse, or the storehouse was restored and remodelled into the present one. Llandawke was anciently divided into seven divisions, each with a farm in it, viz.: Upper and Lower Llandawke, Cwm Biddy, Rachel, Cwm Mawr, Cwm Bychan, Tavern Devlas. Cwm Biddy extends from the hedge which divides it from the meadow in front of Bromwast,^ skirting Llandawke Lane ; goes along by side of it, up to the garden wall of the rectory. Upper Llandawke is above the wood on the right side of the rectory, and is all that part going to Llansadurnen along the Hugden road before you come to “ the Buildings,^’ a farm by Llandawke Wood. Lower Llandawke is where the farm and house is occupied by Mr. Morse, and was Lord Kensington's property, and extends by Lower Llandawke road. There was once Upper Llandawke farm-house, but now Upper and Lower Llandawkes' farms are in one, and held by Mr. Morse. Rachel is the part at back of Lower Llandawke farm- house, that is Mr. Morse's, and one field from it. It consists of three fields, viz. : Great Rachel," Little Rachel," and ‘‘ Rachel Hill." There is no farm here now. Cwm Mawr is th^ part coming from the Newton hills near Llanddowror, and there separ- ates the Newton lands from Llandawke lands, stretches to Tavern Devlas, about one field from it. It is a glen, as its name imports. ‘‘ Cwm " is Welsh for a glen ; Mawr " is great. At back of Tavern Devlas is an ancient cottage called Cwm Quick." It ismore towards the Three Lords. “Cwm Bychan " comes fron the Pound pond near the farm called the Buildings, and goes to Pen Fluken and down to Llandawke Bottom. Neither of thesehave farms nor woods, which they once had. “ Tavern Devlas "is on the right hand of the Hugden road, going towards the Three Lards, and continues some way past the Buildings j it retains its arcient farm-house. In Lord Kensington's time there were fish-ponds in Llandavke wood. Now they are gone. Llansadurnen and Llandavke parishes occupy central spots in the midst of Laugharne paish. Llandawke parish begins about the mid-way on the Llandayke Lane or Upper road, as it is called, between Little Bronwast firm and Llandawke church, that is, just where there was a gate in his lane, which the judge, in a trial that took place in 1873, ordeed ^ In the charter it is spelt Brangways, derived from “Bron,” the Welsh or the side of a hill. The wast is perhaps a corruption of Cest — a man’s chestpr any protuberance. Now this farm is on the side of a hill. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 201 to be taken off because it was a public road. From here it passes across the lands or fields to the Upper Hugden gate, where you see that lovely view of the three points of the coast stretching into the sea ; thence it passes to the farm-house of Tavern Devlas, which it takes in, as it also does the farm called the Buildings on the other side of the Hugden road. At Tavern Devlas it ends, and Laugharne parish meets it there. All this Hugden road up to the Independent Chapel by the Three Lords is in this last parish, while the fields on both sides of it up to Tavern Devlas are in Llandawke parish, which parish meets the township of Laugharne at the Upper Hugden gate above mentioned. It then passes to Upper Llandawke Farm, extending a good way behind the farm- house there of Mr. Morse, and continues before the house down to the gate on the Lower Llandawke road, which shuts in the road, and is just where the stream coming from Llandawke parish well passes and flows into the Coran by a kind of bridge. Here Llan- dawke parish ends, and Laugharne township meets it, and the river Coran divides them. Llandawke Bottom is in Llandawke parish. This parish is comprised of 700 acres. The population for this parish was about thirty-three in 1861. There is now only the mysterious part of its history to relate. It is said the foundress of the church, whose unhappy fate I have described, used to appear in Llandawke Lane, and that she does so still. There is a legend of a young lady, in Queen Elizabeth’s time, being murdered and buried by her lover in the lane leading to the church. Another legend tells of a bride murdered on her wedding day at Llandawke, and thrown into the pond behind the church, which she afterwards haunted, and that she was buried under the kennel of the old manor house. Her husband was murdered at the same time. His body was found outside the church door, without marks of violence, but quite dead. In both cases jealousy caused the deeds. Fifty years ago people used to declare they saw the murdered bride leaning over the gate by the part where she met her death ; sometimes in the twilight, dressed in white, with a broad lilac sash tied with a large bow behind ; a very large straw hat and lilac ribbons. A clergyman related to me that an inhabitant of the parish told him that his wife as she passed Cwm Biddy to milk the cows used continually to meet a lady in a large straw hat standing by the gate. 202 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PART XI. Customs of Laugharne — New Year^and Ch7'ist7?ias Custo77is — The Ply gain — Ga77ies — Bull-baiting^ — Cockfightmg — La77i777as Hotises — Customs of All Hallozus Eve— Wedfings — The Ra77imas — Wakes — Restmg Sto7ies — Burials — Stones at B7'ixton Ea7'77i — Lights befo7‘e Death — Legends — Prophecies — Peithynen or Coelbren — Harp — Crwth — Pibgorn — Bagpipes — Clubs — Plank Bread — Black Butter^ and other Welsh Dishes — Mode of making Fires — Eisteddfod. ‘'For former things Are set aside like abdicated kings, And every moment alters what is done.” Ovid. Meta. B. xy. 274. Laugharne and its neighbourhoods have many legends and a rich history of customs and usages, most of them of great antiquity and interest.^ They are of the things which have passed away. On New Year’s day the boys of the town paid an early visit to the bedroom of the master and mistress of the different houses, carry- ing branches of rosemary dipped in water, with which they sprin- kled their faces, wishing a happy New Year. They would carry pieces of the box-tree and cups of water, sprinkling every one they met In 1873 it was discontinued for the first time, and I have not heard of it since ; but in Pendine the children do still on old New Year’s day, which occurs on 12th January, come early to the houses and sprinkle water about the passages with branches of box, while they repeat an ancient piece of poetry which the reader will find in Part XX. Some of the best families would say to those they liked and respected, Bring us New Year’s water.” They always gave to the bringer ^s. or 2s. 6d. There was a feeling at this time that it was fortunate or unfortunate if the name of the first person they saw on New Year’s day morning began with a fortunate or unfortunate letter. H, J, R, were fortunate, for they denoted Happiness, or Health, Joy, Riches. The letters T, W, S, foretold Trouble, Worry, Sorrow. The anxiety was to be the ^ Many of the customs and ceremonies of the Welsh are traced to the high- est antiquity, and though many of them are passing away, in Cardiganshire they are retained to an extent they are not in any other part of Wales. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 203 first to wish a happy New Year. They would go to the door of some house and knock as the clock struck twelve at midnight. The inmates asked what the name of the person was who knocked ; if it began with an unlucky letter they did not open the door, nor if it were a woman. It was unfortunate to see a woman the first of the year. The young boys who were to be apprenticed to a trade gathered money on this day from the different houses to help them in their start in life. Originally it was confined to those who were to be masons or carpenters. They carried square money boxes, with a slit in the middle for the money, ornamented with crosses and hearts, with the words, The apprentices of Laugharne’^ inscribed. This has ceased. I have not heard of any poetry repeated on these occasions ; but as I take some notice of Tenby in this book, I give the following lines that were sung on New Year’s morning in that town when they entered the bedroom of the master and mistress to sprinkle water. ** Here we brings fresh water From the well so clear, For to worship God with This happy new year. Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, The water and the wine. With the seven gold wives. And the bugles that do shine. Sing Rains a fair maid. With gold upon her toe ; Open you the west door. And let the Old Year go. Sing Rains a fair maid, With gold upon her chin ; Open you the east door. And let the New Year in.” In Wales it was an ancient custom to go to church at three o’clock on Christmas morning, and afternoon prayers, and the sermon. The congregation sang psalms till daylight. This act of devotion was called Plygain, or Plygan, or cockcrowing. Those who did not go to church said prayers at home. At Crickhowel in Co. Brecknock, and near Abergavenny, it was observed in 1834, and perhaps is still, and at the church of Llansaint which is some little way from the Ferryside. It is some years ago that it was observed in Laugharne. The boys came with torches to the vicarage to conduct the vicar to church. At this time the two chandeliers that were suspended from the roof of Laugharne church were filled with coloured candles. Two candlesticks on a slab, 204 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, which was then just above where the pulpit is now, had coloured candles lighted. Two candlesticks were on the communion-table with coloured candles, but no one I have questioned ever remem- bers their being lighted. Bourne derives the origin of the Plygain from an imitation of the Gloria in Excelsis ” sung by the angels over the fields of Bethlehem. It is a Welsh word for ‘‘early morn.’' At midnight a number of boys and men on Christmas Eve used to run up and down the street of Laugharne till the morning, carrying huge lighted torches, enveloped in a cover- ing of canvas pitched, bound firmly to a staff, and fired. It is thought this originated out of the superstitious rite of the heathen Britons. Tacitus describes the scene presented when Suetonius Paulinus appeared before Mona (Anglesey). Women were running to and fro with lighted torches, dressed in funeral vestments. They do always on Christmas Eve drive a tar barrel with flaming torches up and down the principal street as far as to Milton Bank. At Christmas time the inns and every house had suspended from the ceiling either a holly bush or ivy, if they could not get mistletoe. It was adorned with ribbons to which oranges were sometimes attached, and called the kissing bush. It had been an ancient custom in Laugharne, as in other places, to have a match of football on Shrove Tuesday. The people of the town and from the country formed into two parties, contend- ing who should be the first to impel the ball to the stated goal at either end of the town. The ball was called the “ Head of John the Baptist.” It consisted of a bladder, covered with leather cut in strips and sewn together. It was usual for those who had a hostile feeling towards any one, or desired to have their revenge, to take the opportunity now. Especially did the rivalry and ill- will that existed between the working people among the Welsh, English, and Flemings, appear here in full force. These three nationalities were very bitter towards each other. Every house closed its shutters during this contest, and barricaded with boards. So many were injured in the fights that took place, and the nui- sance was so great, that the magistrates in 1838, at Shrovetide, prohibited the game for all future times. Bull-baiting and cock- fighting were discontinued in Laugharne 100 years ago. Close to where the cross on the Grist was, of which the lower part remains, an iron pole was buried in the ground with a ring attached, to which the bull was tied. At some tides the ring is visible. There was then bull-baiting at Caermarthen. The cock- PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 205 pit was at Broadway, in a field on the right of the path leading to the ruins of Roche Castle, on a line with it, and at back of the house on the Broadway road ; the pit is filled up, but the circle is visible. On Ascension Thursday the young people dressed the cross on the Grist with flowers, and amused themselves by running round it, beating each other with the clether, a species of flag that then grew at the Cors. This was an ancient custom, discontinued thirty years ago. On Midsummer day the people would go to the farm-houses to ask for milk, wherewith to make the Midsummer pudding. It was given bountifully. On Lammas day,^ ist August, it had been from time immemorial the custom at Laugharne and throughout Wales to construct huts of branches of trees and furze, with earth laid on the roof, and to call them Lammas houses. They erected them in the morning ready for the evening feast, of which apples were the prominent features ; for now they celebrated the ripening of that fruit. The huts were often large. In the middle was a rude fire-place formed of stones, for burning wood to boil the tea-kettle. In the afternoon the company assembled. They brought apples, tea, sugar, butter, cheese, little apple pies. The farmers near would send milk and cream. The apples were roasted. After regaling themselves with tea and making merry, they left at sunset, setting fire to the hut to light them home. There was generally a Lammas house at the end of the New Walk by the cottages ; one on the Burrows, perhaps, and one at Brook. This custom arose from the desire to keep in memory those very early times when they built houses of white wattles and branches of trees to reside in during summer. Houses formed of white wattles interwoven with smaller twigs of various colours, represent- ing figures of birds, flowers, and other natural objects, for summer residence on mountains and in woods, are often referred to by the poets, so late as the early part of the 17th century; and later than the year 1760, they were used on the mountains of Glamor- ganshire and Monmouth for summer dancing. About 1800, they ceased to build them in Laugharne.*^ On All Hallows Eve (Nov. ^ Lammas is a corruption of Loaf mass (Saxon). On this day the old Britons offered a loaf made of new corn, as a thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth. ^ An inhabitant of Wiseman’s Bridge, close to Sandersfoot, told me in 1871-2 that the Lammas houses are still built for Lammas Sunday ; that they sit in them all day and all night. They build them Saturday eve. One was built, she said, the last Lammas day near her house ; but the police are trying to put them down. On the 12th May, they planted a white-thorn tree by the door of their house, and obtained it from the adjoining parish. 2o6 antiquities of laugharne, nth, old style), ^ small cakes were made like muffins here, and at the Ferryside, called Pacerana or picyrana, derived from the Welsh words, pic^ a cake or bun ; cacen^ a cake ; and rhan^ part, share, division. They were supposed to keep away evil spirits. Ale was drank with them. They called it cake ale. They made also a liquor of apples, sugar, and ale, called ‘‘wassail,” to drink on this eve. The children had a feast of nuts on this eve. The nuts were put on the fire ; if they burnt briskly, cracked or burst and flamed up, the one who put them on would not die that year. If they smouldered away, death was certain. The amusements of this eve were many ; apples, sixpences, shillings, would be put into a basin of water — the young ones were to take them up with their lips while their hands were tied behind them. A stick was sus- pended from the ceiling by a string tied round the middle of it ; to one end was attached an apple, to the other, a lighted candle ; to catch the apple with the mouth, having their hands tied behind. In the effort they often caught the candle instead of the apple. These two games were usual in Cardiganshire on this eve. In parts of North Wales, as Bangor, they are still in being; if not, it is quite lately they have been given up ; and there it is on All Saints^ Eve they are played. In the megalithic chamber discovered in the serpent-shaped mound of Loch Nell, Argyleshire, in 1872, they found charred hazel-nuts. Our ancestors celebrated their old autumnal Fire Festival on All Hallows Eve, when they burnt nuts. Curious that this should have continued to these times, though with a different object. On this eve they used, as an ancient cus- tom, to hang branches of the caer tree or white-thorn over the street door, and inside, and outside, and into the cracks of the door, and about the rooms, to keep away witches ; and kept there for a week or more. The old people say that from the quarter the wind blows on this eve, so it will blow thence or from the opposite quarter all the winter. They had this very remarkable custom : — I was informed by a respectable farmer of Eglwyscummin parish, who died in old age in 1875, that his father told him that there was a person appointed to every church, whose office was to go to the church on All Hallows Eve to hear the names of those who would die the next year, called. An old woman of this town, dead now sixty years, is remembered by some old people as going on this eve to Laugharne church to stand by the chancel window, where they say she distinctly heard the names pronounced. She said that, as she ^ All Hallows day is now on 2 d Nov. {i.e. new style). PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 20 / had been once to hear the names called, she was bound to go at every future eve. I was told by one of the most respectable and esteemed old inhabitants of this town, that in his presence some one said to her, that a lady then dangerously ill, and given over, would die. She said, ‘‘ No ; for her name was not called.'' She did recover and live many years. And another time she foretold that a funeral of a person would take place shortly in Laugharne church, which it did. In Cardiganshire, on All Hallows Eve, it was the custom to sit in the porch of the church to see those pass through who should die that year. I am not quite sure that this was not on St. John's day, 24th June. I give no opinion, though I would not declare them falsehoods, or the results of imagination. Which is the worst to believe — too much or too little ? Some people, deeming themselves very wise and superior to such ere- dulity, with a wonderfully wise look, condemn these as mere super- stitions. Nosclyngiaf is Welsh word for All Hallows. It means the night before the winter. In Welsh, nos is night ; cyn^ before ; ganaf is winter. The Welsh corrupt it by calling it ‘‘Land Hollands eve." It is still the custom to bake a quantity of barley bread at the farm-houses about Laugharne and the country around for All Souls’ day, 12th Nov., and give it with cheese to the poor; it is not what it was. They used to expend a large sack of flour for the occasion, and the maids of the farms would be up all night making the bread. In some parts they begged bread for the souls of the departed. The bread given then is called “ bara ran," or “dole bread." ^ This day is called also “ Soul meat day." On All Hallows eve ^ (nth Nov.), a fair has ever been kept in Laugharne ; it is dwindled down into a very poor affair. Rebecca Lewis, an old inhabitant of the town, lately deceased, has kept up a semblance of it every year in the form of two round tables placed in some spot near the Town Hall, dressed with a neat white cloth covered with cakes, especially the nuts proper for burning on All Hallows eve ; a number of young, eager-looking faces surrounding them ; Rebecca presiding. Since her death, her daughter sits at one of the tables ; Kitty Griffiths at the other, who is lately deceased. The customs at weddings were very curious in Wales. On the ^ They still gather bread and cheese too at the farms about the country, but with no idea of the original purpose of it, but simply to eat it. All Souls’ day is All Hallows, which is 12th Nov. 2 All Hallows eve is now on ist Nov., new style. 2o8 antiquities of laugharne, wedding day the bridegroom would send a friend, attended with twelve more of his friends, perhaps thirty or forty, to the bride's house to bring her to the church, or he might come himself. When arrived at the door, they found it bolted ; the friend or the bridegroom knocked and explained his errand, putting it in the form of verse. After a while, a window above would be opened, and a male relative of the bride or some other person appeared and asked in verse what he wanted. He replied in verse, demanding the bride ; this was stoutly refused. After some persuasion he got the door opened, and was let in. He had now to search for her, as she hid herself. The friend whose business it was to find her was called Gwyr, i, e. in Welsh, Seek out." He placed her when found on his horse behind him, or on a horse by herself, and ran with her, galloping as hard as he could, for the bridegroom was not in possession yet. They gave her the first start ; then the bridegroom and his friends tore after her. A hard race it was ; all were quite spent, and she yielded herself up. Sometimes the bride and her relatives would be already mounted on horseback when the bridegroom and his friends arrived. They positively refused him the bride, upon which a mock scuffle ensued, while the bride,^ seating herself behind her next kinsman, is carried off*, pursued by the other party with loud shouts, at full speed, ‘‘ cross- ing and jostling to the no small amusement of the spectators." When they have fatigued themselves and their horses, the bride- groom is allowed to overtake his bride ; he leads her away in triumph. They conclude with feasting and festivity." A lady told me she remembered in her youth a bride thus pursued wading with her horse through a river. The excitement and the hard racing cost her her life. Though this custom had declined, yet till quite lately in many parts of Wales it continued. Another lady advancing in years, tells me she remembers in her young days meeting bridal parties near Laugharne, riding furiously helter skelter, heeding nobody and nothing. After the marriage cere- mony was over, and they left the church, they rode away in this furious style. This same custom at weddings was usual in Muscovy, Lithuania, and Livonia. Among some Circassian tribes it is an old practice, still prevailing, for the bridegroom to steal the bride from her father’s house, or else to fight for her with her relatives or clan. He is victor, and carries her off*, sitting on the saddle before him ; and it would seem that the present custom for the bride of the Emperor of China when arrived at his palace to 1 In here is a sketch of the running away with the bride. PILGRIM CHURCH. Near Laugharue. See Part i6 PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 20 g Step from her chair upon a golden saddle is a remnant of this. It would not be dignified for an emperor to fight for his wife in the streets. In some parts of Caermarthenshire it was usual as late as twenty-two years ago for the young men after the marriage cere- mony to seize the bride and rudely drag her out of church. There is another custom at weddings which still partially lingers in Laugharne and many other parts. All over Wales a numerous company attended on the wedding day. Previously there was a bidding, which is yet preserved in remote districts among farmers and others of their class. Bidding letters were printed, and sent to all the friends of the bride and bridegroom, inviting them to the marriage feast. The following is a copy of the bidding letter, sent about on the occasion, and given to me by the parties interested in the marriage: ‘‘ March 26th, 1821. As we intend to enter the matrimonial state on Monday, April 23rd next (being Easter Monday), we purpose to make a bidding on the occasion, the same day, at the young man’s father’s house, called Cwmslac,” in parish of St. Ishmael, Ferryside, at which place the favour of your good and agreeable company is respectfully solicited ; and whatever donation you may be pleased to bestow on us then will be thankfully received, warmly acknowledged, and cheerfully repaid whenever called for on the like occasion, by your obedient humble servants, John J., and Anne L., late servants to Mrs. B.” “ The young man’s father, and mother, and sister desire that all gifts of the above nature due to them be returned to the young man on the above day, and will be thankful for all favours granted. Also, the young woman desires that all gifts of the above nature due to her, be returned on the above day, and will be thankful for all favours granted. Mrs. and Mr. B. will be thankful for all favours bestowed on the young couple.” Two other letters I have are of the same kind ; one dated Caermarthen, Sept. 19, 1862 : the other in the parish of Llanegwad, Dec., 1874.^ Then it was very general in Wales for a bidder, called in Welsh Gwahoddwr,” to go about the neighbourhood before the bidding day to proclaim the invitation, and ask for gifts for the young couple. He carried a long pole, called bidder’s staff,” with ribbons at the end of it. The form of words in which he put the invitation and requested gifts, was called a Rammas, which was very long generally, so they say of any story or discourse that is lengthy — “That is a Rammas.” Its composition was 1 About 40 years ago the bidding letters ceased to be sent in Laugharne, and a bidder was sent round instead. See Part XX., similar customs at Pendine. P 210 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, different in each county. Before the bidder began it, he gave a song or rhyme, in which he described the dainties and good cheer of the wedding feast. In Laugharne, John Williams was chosen for this office : he has been dead 30 years. He would be dressed in a white apron, a white ribbon was tied in the button-hole of his coat, and the bidder’s staff in his hand with which he knocked at the doors. No one now remembers any ribbons at the end of it. A bag was swung at his back, in which he put the bread and cheese the people at the farm-houses gave the bidder. His Rammas is described as most amusing. I have collected the sub- stance of it, though by no means all— he varied it at different times ; nor have I succeeded in getting the rhyme in which he repeated it. It is as follows : was desired to call here as a messenger and a bidder. David J. and Ann W., in the parish of Laugharne, the Hundred of Derllys, Co. Caermarthen, encouraged by their friends to make a bidding on Tuesday next ; the two young people make their residence in Gosport, No. ii, thence to St. Michael’s^ church to be married. The two young people return back to the young woman’s father and mother’s house to dinner. They shall have good beef and cabbage, mutton and turnips, pork and potatoes, roast goose or gant, perhaps both if they are in season, a quart of drink for fourpence, a cake for a penny, clean chairs to sit dowm^ upon, clean pipes and tobacco, and attendance of the best ; a good song, but if no one will sing, then I’ll sing as well as I can ; and if no one will attend. I’ll attend as well as I can. As a usual custom with us, in Laugharne, is to hold a ^sending gloves ’ before the wedding, if you’ll please to come, or send a waggon or a cart, a horse and a colt, a heifer, a cow and calf, or an ox and a half, or pigs, cocks, hens, geese, goslings, ducks, turkeys, a saddle and bridle, or a child’s cradle, or what the house can afford. A great many can help one, but one cannot help a great many. Or send a waggon full of potatoes, a cart-load of turnips, a hundred or two of cheeses, a cask of butter, a sack of flour, a winchester of barley, or what you please, for anything will be acceptable ; jugs, basins, saucepans, pots and pans, or what you can ; throw in ^5 if you like ; gridirons, frying-pans, tea-kettles, plates and dishes, a lootch ^ and dish, spoons, knives and forks, pepper-boxes, salt-cellars, mustard-pots, or even a penny whistle 1 St. Martin’s now. 2 Some of this Rammas is exactly like that I read of as used in Breconshire nearly 200 years ago, so it is ancient. 3 A lootch is a wooden spoon. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 21 1 or a child’s cradle. Ladies and gentlemen, I was desired to speak this way that all pwyths due to the young woman’s father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, aunts, brothers and sisters, and the same due to the young man’s father and mother, &c. &c., must be returned to the young people on the above day. So no more at present. If you please to order your butler, or under- servant, to give a quart of drink to the bidder.” The night before the wedding-day was called ‘‘Sending Gloves Night;” on this eve or night, friends came with their presents. Some would bring a sack of flour, some a cask of butter, cheeses, hams, &c., till there was enough to last the household for a year. They brought as well bread, butter, cheese, etc., tea and sugar for the nuptial feast. At the wedding dinner a plate was handed round ; each guest gave a present of money. The presents of money and of different things just named are called “Pwyth.”^ Those who give them expect that when their wedding happens, the bride and bridegroom, whom they now favour, will bring them presents in return. The asking for these presents as due to the parties about to be married, from those whom they favoured on their wedding day, is termed “calling in the Pwyth.” The sums given often amounted to ^30 or ,^40 ; not long ago such a sum was collected in Laugharne. In remote districts these presents are still made ; as a general thing they are not what they were. In Laugharne now, and most places in Wales, there is simply a tea-party on the wedding-day, when the guests give money or what else they please. Previously, the bride and bridemaid call at the houses to invite people to come and give presents : this is still in Laugharne termed “ calling in the Pwyth.” They make buns for the occasion to sell them about, to get money for the bride and bridegroom. This is done on the eve of the wedding. For the same reason the family of the bride are allowed, for a few days before, to brew a quantity of beer, and sell it without a licence. After the tea they usually dance, often keeping it up till midnight. In Cardiganshire the old wedding customs are thoroughly kept up ; I was told so two years ago, in 1875. In some parts of Cardiganshire it is the custom now at a sailor's wedding for each sailor to carry a miniature ship with its sails all complete, on a pole, and they walk two together to church. If the bridegroom be a shoe-maker, one of the party carries a pair of shoes on a pole. They used in Laugharne and 1 These presents have the name also of ‘‘purse and girdle,” an ancient British custom. 212 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, elsewhere to scatter on the path, by which the young couple went to the church, evergreens and sweet-scented flowers. I give another old form of invitation used at Llanbadarn, in Co. Cardigan, at marriages, when the bidder proclaimed : With kind- ness and amity, with decency and liberality, for Emion Owain and Llio Elys, he invites you to come with your good will on the plate ; bring current money ; a shilling, two or three, four or five, with cheese and butter. We invite the husband, and wife, and children, and men-servants, from greatest to the least. Come there early; you shall have victuals freely, and drink cheap, stools to sit on, fish if we can catch them ; if not hold us excusable. They will attend on you when you call on them in return.’^ This is another form of poetry used when the bridegroom arrives to claim his bride, but is refused. He repeats these lines : “ Open windows, open doors, And with flowers strew the floors ; Heap the hearth with blazing wood, Load the spit with festal food, The chrochon on its hook be placed.” The chrochon is the large three-legged iron pot for cooking. Wakes ^ have always prevailed in Wales ; they were observed in Laugharne 50 or 6o years ago ; there were instances in which these gatherings were abused. I am told by those who were present at them, that young people, and older ones, looked forward to them for amusement ; they would perhaps play at cards ; boys and girls would have some fun. I am happy to say this was not general, as far as I can ascertain. An elderly person told me that the com- pany who remained the night with the deceased, behaved generally most reverently ; mourned as though the departed were a relative. I think it is Lord Kaims who, in his ‘ Sketches of Man,^ says : It speaks well for the Welsh that had the steadiness and firmness to resist the temptations to evil which such gatherings present, and which their brethren of the sister kingdoms could not escape.’^ An elderly lady tells me that, 37 years ago, it was usual for the higher classes at Ferry side to sit up with the departed, and the peasantry and respectable people of the locality, who felt respect for the family, would sit up with them. Six mould candles kept light in the room ; refreshments, as mulled wine and cakes, pro- vided for the watchers; sometimes tea and coffee; refreshments of some kind usual everywhere. The gentry used to send a pound ^ Wiln6s is Welsh for a wake, derived from wyl, wail, and nds^ night. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 21 ^ of mould candles to a family of the working class, where there was a death. When a death occurred, a boy was sent round the town and neighbourhood to give notice, and invite to the sitting up ; he rang a small bell to draw attention. People were expected to come to the funerals in their neighbourhood, even without invitation; families would be offended if they did not. There is something very beautiful in the care the Welsh show for the dead, and in their customs at burials. It proves their kindliness and reverential feeling. They think it wanting in feeling to leave the dead body in the room by itself for a single instant. The face was exposed, a number of candles kept burning all night, and those who came to sit up brought presents of tea, sugar, and candles. An old inhabit- ant of this town, who died 20 years ago, aged 89, was at a wake kept in a room of the old inn, called the Dials, now in ruins. During the night, in presence of the departed, a number of men and women, she said, played different games. One was called Troun- sing;^^ it was like blind-man’s buff. If the young man who was blindfolded caught a young woman, she was his sweetheart for that year. No more remains of these customs in Laugharne, except the presents of candles, etc., which friends do bring. A large number of people followed the deceased to the church. They assembled outside the house ; cake and mulled beer were offered to all ; four chairs were placed outside to rest the coffin on ; the clerk of the church gave out two or three verses of a hymn, and all sang ; as they passed to the church they sang the remainder. This custom prevailed to within 50 or 60 years. I remember, in 1871, an old inhabitant, at the funeral of his niece, having cake and mulled beer for the company assembled before his house. In Laugharne a number of people still attend funerals ; there is something very pleasing in this last attention paid to the departed. How often of an afternoon do you hear the slow, measured tread of a large company passing down the ancient town to the last resting-place ! I hope it will long be heard. They placed rose- mary and laurel on the coffin. A white rose sometimes placed on the grave of a virgin ; the red rose for those distinguished for benevolence and other social qualities. In days a little further back they used on the way to church to rest the coffin, at intervals, on resting-stones, and would put down the coffin at every crossway, kneel down, and repeat the Lord’s Prayer ; they did the same at entering the churchyard. The route funerals took at this period, and position of these stones, are known. A path, called the 214 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, ‘‘funeral path/^ once went through “Hollis Stone field,” which is at the back of Llansadurnen church and by the Hugden road ; it joins the fields belonging to Capthorne farm, and is near a farm — “ Tavern Devlas.” This was the ancient route for funerals coming from the houses about here to Llansadurnen church ; for the Hugden road was then in a bad condition in winter. The four stones forming the resting-stone still remain in Hollis Stone field. One large square stone, with the surface only visible, has a circle carved in the middle of it with an inner circle. Another large square one, sunk in the ground too, has a small round hollow in its middle, generally filled with water. In olden times they used to throw pins into the water here, then take them out to prick their warts, believing it was a sure cure. The two other stones are so deeply buried that only a portion is seen. The sketch here repre- sents them. Another resting-stone stood on “ Resting Stone Hill,” which is on the opposite side of the road to where the Broadway Mansion was, and overlooks the ground that house occupied. To go to it, you enter a gate on the left hand of Broadway road coming from Laugharne, and nearly opposite the two curiously bent trees, which are in grounds of Broadway Mansion. From this gate you go straight up the slope of the hill, called “ Dell Grove; ” rails go up on your left all the way, dividing Dell Grove from the Paddock. Near the top of the hill you have to pass through a gate which leads into Resting Stone Hill. The road now bends to the left after leaving this gate ; then goes along the hill to another gate by which you enter another road. At the edge of it, and on your left, stood the resting-stone, about 150 yards from the gate just mentioned. It was five tons in weight, two feet high, four feet wide, six long. Continuing along this road, you come to another gate, through which this road passes along a field to a gate opening on to Sir John's Hill. Dell Grove is beneath Resting Stone Hill ; Portland Field lies just beneath the field next to Resting Stone Hill. This is the ancient road by which the people of the marsh passed to and fro to Laugharne when the Broadway road beneath was too bad to traverse, and by which funerals from Llansadurnen passed to Laugharne church. When they arrived at Sir John's Hill, they crossed it, and went down the road which leads out by the line of houses at Gosport ; but instead of coming out there, they took the dirty lane on the right, which is at the back of those houses, and passes by Gosport House to the Strand, which lane is the old route I have described in Part VIII. When funerals came by the ancient route I have there noticed, which is by Little Madras Hill, RESTING STONES IN HOLLIS STONE FIELD, Near LJansadurnen. No. 12, See Part ii STONES AT BRIXTON No. 13. See Part it. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 21 5 issuing out opposite Kingaddle into the main road ; before entering this road they rested the coffin by this hill, just where the roads meet, that is at the cross roads, and sang a hymn. An inhabitant told me she remembered their doing this. I thought, when I stood on this spot, where so many a one that had fell asleep had rested on their way to their last resting-place, with voices rising up from this elevated spot, what a glorious place it was for such an act of worship ! — in the midst of the beautiful works of the Creator, Swelling hills stretch in all directions ; the undulating line of hills ending in a point on the fine sands of Pendine. Before them, a village perched on the extreme point of a hill, its white cots, hay- stacks, and church-spire peeping through the trees : below, the pleasant green fields. On the right. Fern Hill, with its dark patch of trees, gives a pleasant change to the scene ; on the left Coigan rises, clothed with a thick wood on its slope, which has been destroyed lately. Beyond the hills, hard by, are the distant hills, where flitting gleams of sunshine disclose sweet patches of green. The Perselau mountain far away, with its peaks grey and shadowy, shuts in the prospect ; the everlasting hills around, the great deep beneath. A lady of this town remembers a resting-stone by the Mariner’s Corner, turning to Victoria Street. Their care of the dead did not end here ; they planted the grave of the relative with shrubs and flowering plants. This is an ancient custom, still observed in Wales. It is a pleasing scene, on Easter eve, when those who have relatives buried in Laugharne churchyard, are busy putting the graves in order. Every Saturday or Sunday, throughout the year, that any kind of flower or green is to be had, they lay crosses or crowns or bunches of flowers on the graves. Tradition says it had its origin in the people being told they would not be happy unless they cleaned the graves for Sunday. An author, writing in 1803, says : “ So great is the reverence the Welsh have for the resting-places of the dead, that no one is ever known to touch a flower on a grave; it was considered sacrilege.” It were well if some of the present generation did imitate their exemplary ancestors ; we do sometimes hear of flowers stolen from the graves. At the farm of Brixton, about a mile and a half from Laugharne, near the road to St. Clears, are some ^ stones of which no account is known. They are deeply embedded in one of its fields called Parc Pound,” and next above the field called ‘‘Parc Berth,” which passes down to the Lower Llandawke road. Parc is a ^ A drawing of these stones is here. 2i6 antiquities of laugharne, field, in Welsh. Whether these were resting-stones as marking the burial-place of some Briton is uncertain. Brixton is thought to be derived from Erickstaine, meaning, I believe, the home or burying-place of Erick. Ton is a homestead ; if this is so, then probably they were a place of burial. For Pennoyre Watkins appearing after death, see Part VI. about Broadway Mansion ; and another of those remarkable appearances see Part I. on Gosport House. A strong belief exists in the diocese of St. Davids, that lights ^Hraverse the road by which the dead will be carried to burial.^’ The funeral procession too is seen previously, and the mourners distinctly recognized. One tradition says, they appear in answer to the prayer of St. Lanon. She desired that the people might be warned before death came, and so have time to prepare them- selves. Another says, it was in consequence of Bishop Ferrars, who was burnt at the stake in Caermarthen, declaring that if his doctrine was true, a light would go before the death of every per- son in the diocese of St. Davids. I have received many relations of these appearances from parties of great respectability, and whose veracity and freedom from fanciful imagination I am sure of. These are some : An inhabitant of Laugharne, of a most respectable old family of the place, himself universally esteemed, told me that as he was walking one evening on the St. Clears road, he saw in the distance two lights moving across a field, and enter the Pilgrim Church by the river. A person who was with him saw them as well. At another time he saw a funeral pro- cession go into this church. A member of a most respectable, substantial family of Pendine related this to me. Her brother, with his little son, was on a visit to her family. This son was sud- denly seized with fever about eleven o’clock, and in great danger. The father for a while was walking before the house, when he saw a small light in the churchyard of Pendine, moving towards the church porch, and going into the church. He saw it inside the church ; it came out and passed to the tomb of his family ; there it stood fixed. The child died soon after. On the spot where the light had rested the child was buried. He had disbelieved, now he believed in the lights. A member of the same family gave me the following : Her husband was very near his end, when she said to him, There is a curious little light on the Strand ; what can it be?” He replied, ‘Mt is the light before death ; it is for me.” That it may not be thought by disbelievers that it is only Welsh supersti- tion, and confined to Wales, I will finish the list with another PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 21/ which occurred in England a short time ago. A dignitary of the Church of England was dying; suddenly a very vivid light illumined the room, so much so that the man-servant was obliged to shade his eyes with his hand. He who was dying said, ‘‘ Look ! After this he seemed done with earth, and had no wish to be read to, or to have any human help. The light vanished as suddenly as it came. His daughter was in the room, and saw the light, and told this to a friend of my cousin’s. My family have known this clergyman many years. An old inhabitant related this — Fifty-four years ago, as some working men at mid-day in summer were cutting wheat in a field near Eglwyscummin church, they saw a funeral coming along the path in the direction of the church. While it passed they lay down. Among the mourners they recognized per- sons resident in the parish, and an old woman walking last, carry- ing green plants in a handkerchief to put on the grave. Soon after an inhabitant died. His funeral went by this path, with the same people as mourners, and the woman with plants, just as the men had seen. The relater of this was one of the most respected persons in the place. An old woman of Laugharne said to me that she continually saw those lights. It seems from all I hear that they are seen as much as ever. I must give this singular one : A gentleman belonging to a county family of Pembrokeshire, was some years ago returning in his carriage to his home in Tenby from the rail- way. He was inside. With the coachman sat a tenant of the lady from whom I had this story. Between Narberth and Templeton, they perceived through the darkness of the evening a black mass moving towards them. As it approached they saw it was a funeral. The horses now plunged and reared ; the carriage was overturned ; the coachman and the tenant thrown over the hedge into the field, much bruised ; the gentleman escaped without injury. My friend who related this had it from her tenant himself. As I have in Part I. impressed on the reader that no statements in this book are exaggerated, no false colouring given to anything ; where there is doubt I have said so ; I think it right to give these facts connected with this last story : Desirous of being correct, I asked my friend to ascertain from her tenant the exact spot at which he saw the appearance. She wrote to him, observing that some one was about to publish an account of this appearance, but his name would not be mentioned. The answer was long in coming. In his letter he denied that he had ever seen it. Now I do not consider this affects the truth of his account. He must 2i8 antiquities of laugharne, have been untruthful in one of the statements, and I should attach the falsehood to the last for this reason : His coming unto my friend the moment he arrived in Tenby, all excitement, full of the occurrence, eager to relate it, as she represented to me ; this seems the result of truth. Years pass by ; he cools on it, perhaps half forgets it. In the interval, it may be he has come to think it very foolish, sinful even, or has something to do with the spirit of evil. Perhaps some one has told him so. At any rate he knows a vast number of people think thus, and ridicule it, so he denies it, in- fluenced as well by the fear of being placed in print. I know some, who laugh and ridicule these things, will eagerly catch at this denial, instead of employing the legitimate process of patient and careful investigation. Laughing is not argument, nor does ridicule pro- duce conviction in well-constituted minds. For myself, I should be callous to all laughter, nor in the least affected by being thought weak-minded ; people ought to be well steeled against such attacks. I give no opinion ; but I am not going to tell a person, whose veracity I have no reason to doubt, that he did not see what he tells me he did see. To do this is to shake the foundation of human evidence, and declare the senses untruthful, which they are not. I have met with another case of this kind. A person of these parts who had a reputation for these and similar appearances, was asked to relate them to me. I went to hear, but she told me she had never seen anything. The party who had made the request asked her the reason of this. She said she had denied it because she would not be laughed at, or accused of relating untruths ; for the appearances she had described were true, and she positively affirmed she had seen them, and was in fear I should publish them, and her name too. I believe there are many cases of persons thus acting, and we miss many singular facts in consequence. A member of a well-known and respectable family of Pendine, told me that, in her young days, a little girl one evening came into the kitchen of her father’s house for some milk. She rested her elbow on a table ; it was a chilly eve, and she was asked to go to the fire. She placed herself close to one of the jombs, as they call them, and soon left. Presently one of these lights entered the kitchen, as she and her mother sat by the fire ; it rested on the exact spot the child had placed her elbow, then moved to the jomb, remaining on it awhile, and passed out of the kitchen. That night the child fell ill with a fever and died. There is a story, related by an authority, of a daughter of a Bishop of St. Asaph, many years ago, seeing one of these lights before her when on her PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 2ig way to pay a visit on horseback at a friend’s house. I do not remember the particulars, but either she died or some of her family. It would be impossible in this book to give all I have heard. Among the Greeks these appearances seem to have been known ; for in ist vol. of ‘Athenian Oracles’ there is an account of the fetch-lights, or dead men’s candles. The daughter of a Welsh clergyman has recorded, in a work she published, several interesting things of this kind. Among them she says : “ Work- people, much engaged in thinking about their occupations, will, as it is apprehended, by their spirits make a terrible noise in the night, disturbing families by sawing, driving nails, &c. I have known,” she says, “ a good workman refused employment on ac- count of his propensity. A relative of my own,” she says, “ when a boy was awakened by the sound of a large sycamore tree being cut down. His brother heard it too. In the morning they found the tree standing as usual. She gives an account of those visions of the funeral procession, as seen and related to her by those whose truth she could rely on.”^ I give now some legends and prophecies. It is said Old Caer- marthen stood where Cefn Sidan is. This is a bank of sand near the Laugharne Burrows ; that it was sunk by enchantment ; that a man was standing on Capthorne farm, near Llansadurnen church, when it sunk ; that if you stand on the very spot he stood on, keep your eye fixed on the part where the town stood, and place a cat on it, the town 'will rise again ; and when it has risen, if you walk straight to Cefn Sidan, keeping your eye fixed on it, put a cat or any other animal there, which will sink down, the town will never sink again ; that the present town of Caermarthen is some day to disappear in this way. Merlin prophesied that Caermar- then would sink on a 12th of August, during the fair then held in this town. He prophesied that a red bull would go up the steeple of Caermarthen church. Tradition says that a long while ago one did go up. As I take some notice of Tenby, I give this legend, which I believe has never been published, and is titled ‘ The Legend of St. Govans ’ : The Rev. G. W. Birkett, late Rector of St. Florence, near Tenby, in the course of catechising the children of his parish, asked one of them where it was our Lord first appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. The boy answered, “ At St. Govans.” Surprised at this, and thinking ^ Her book is simply and classically written ; well deserves reading. It is titled ‘ Sketches of Wales by Amy,’ published 1847, by Hamilton, Adams, and Co., London. 220 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, he might have mistaken the boy, he asked him again, but he received the same reply. Mr. Birkett took great pains to find the origin of this, and came upon this curious and beautiful legend : A man was working in a field, sowing barley seed, when a very striking-looking person came up to him, his countenance and appearance having something very superior beyond what was generally seen. He asked the man what he was doing. He answered, ‘ Sowing barley seed.^ The stranger then said. Did he expect it to come up. He said. Yes, he did. ‘ But,’ returned the stranger, 4t might decay and rot in the ground.’ The man observed, that the sun and the rain would certainly make it grow, and come to full growth ; that he would pray, and it would be sure to come up. ‘ Then,’ said the stranger, ‘ I am the resurrection ; go away, and in the evening bring your carts, and you will reap your barley.’ ” For more legends and sayings, the reader must go to Parts XIX., XX., XXL, XXH. THE PEITHYNEN. The ancient Welsh or ancient Britons wrote on wood. A frame of wood, with four bars, oftener five, were inserted through holes in the two sides of the frame, and called Peithynen,” and also Coel-bren.” (See the sketch of it in here.) The bars were square, with four sides, sometimes only three, and arranged so that they could be turned round. On each side was the writing. As they read they turned the bars ; the letters cut with a sharp instrument ; hence the expression of the Welsh, ‘‘I will cut my name,” still used by country people in some parts when they sign their names. The Eev. J. N. Harrison, Vicar of Laugharne, tells me that when he first came here, forty years ago, there was a frame of this kind in the school-room ; but not' used for this purpose. The long, narrow pieces of wood, and the smaller ones drawn with the above, are [also Peithynen, and Coel-bren, on which letters were cut. Peithynen means ‘‘plain,” “clear.” The verb Peithynu is “to make a clear place,” or “flat or plain.” “ Coel” is “an omen, belief, credit ; ” “ pren ” is wood. The Coel-bren was also a piece of wood used in ballotting, whereon the name of the candi- date was cut. “ Coel-bren y Beirdd ” is the alphabet of the Bards. This, the original alphabet, was cut across the surface of a square piece of wood. Henry IV., when at war with the Welsh, re-intro- duced the ancient Druidical modes of inscribing their compositions on revolving bars of wood (Peithynen), in the primitive vertical character, and taught the people esoteric means of communication THESE ARE THE PEITHYNEN ON WHICH THE OLD BRITONS CUT THEIR LETTERS. See Part ii. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 221 hitherto confined to the Druids. The lower class of Welsh people came to attach a magical, power to these carved pieces of wood or sticks on which letters were cut. Hence Coel-bren j Beirdd came to signify The Lot of the Bards/’ and then came to denote the Welsh alphabet. Hence originated the log-book used by sailors, and ‘Hhe tally,” a piece of wood cut with notches or inden- tures in two corresponding parts, of which one was kept by the debtor, the other by creditor ; the way of keeping accounts formerly. In Staffordshire is the ^‘clog” or ‘Hog.” The Tally Office, and Letters of the Exchequer, in London, come from the word “talu,” to pay, or from French, “taille.” MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. The harp from the earliest time was the principal instrument of Wales, and strung with hair, till the beginning of the 15th century, when cat-gut came into use ; had but a single row of strings up to the end of 15th century. Sharps and flats produced by a peculiar management of the finger and thumb, a trick now lost. Latterly they had three rows of strings. There was the pibgorn, crwth, and bag-pipe. Miss Sinclair, in her ‘Travels in Wales,’ mentions some harpers “ who play a march representing the advance and retreat of an army ; beginning with scarcely an audible softness, swelling out to the fullest force of the instrument, then dying away as if they were five miles off, with so much management and effect that Bochsa himself might have been jealous.” There were anciently several curious modes of playing with the fingers on the harp, now lost. I am told by a Welshman that here about 60 years ago harpers used to come. I have little to say about the pibgorn. No one I have questioned seems to know it. It is thought by some Welsh scholars to be the bag-pipes, as “ gorn ” is a liorn in Welsh ; this looks at least as if it were a wind instrument. The crwth was next to the harp in antiquity and estimation. Its name sug- gests its form. It implies any hollow protuberance, such as a flask, a box. Crwth-halen is a salt-box. “ It is on the same principle as the violin ; it has six strings, four of which were played with a bow ; the fifth and sixth diverge a little from the others on the finger-board, and serve as a base accompaniment. Its tone is a mellow tenor, very soft and agreeable.” A writer in ‘Cambrian Register’ for 1796 says: “I heard it played twenty years ago by a man ; with him died most probably the true know- ledge of producing its melodious powers.” The instrument least 222 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, in repute was the bag-pipes ; the minstrels played on them. It has been out of use in North Wales for three centuries. In South Wales it was known in 1796. The violin came into use when the crwth ceased to be played. There are several clubs in Laugharne. The ancient ones are gone, such as the Druids’ Club, said to be a remnant of the Druids. The object of these clubs, both ancient and the present ones, is to aid its members who might be in difficulties or in ill-health. The Druids’ Club, on their festal day, had a picnic at Pendine. Their meetings, as I have said, were held at the old inn, ‘‘The Dials.” In some way this club survives, and is all over Caermarthenshire. It had a procession in Caermarthen the day the Prince of Wales was married. They used formerly to place a goat at the head of the procession, and were attired in long dresses and flowing beards. The Ivorite Club is very ancient, named after Prince Ivor. The Leek Club, ancient, has been done away with 16 or 17 years; its feast was held on St. David’s day, when its members wore leeks stuck in the right side of their hats. It was a leek taken from the garden ; wire was put at the back of it ; in front it was adorned with small rosettes of different coloured ribbons. The Checked Apron Club wore checked aprons and a gilt leek. The White Apron Club, white aprons on their festivals. Two clubs remain. The Rose Club ; the women who belong to it walk in procession to attend Divine service on the morning of the 24th June, at Laugharne church. Second, The Ivorite Club, which is the men’s club; they too walk in procession to church on ist August, when they wear rosettes, and scarves of blue and white ; flags and ban- ners are carried. They afterwards dine at the Globe, while the women of the Rose Club, on their festal day, feast in the school- room. As notice of places where the Eisteddfodd was held are given in this book, I may give a slight account of that interesting meet- ing. At Caermarthen, an Eisteddfodd was held in 1451,^ under the patronage of Gryffiidd ab Nicholas of Denevawr, grandfather of Sir Rhys ap Thomas, whose tomb is in St. Peter’s, Caermarthen. It lasted fifteen days. The successful competitors were Gwilym Tew, and Darydd. The last grand one was held there about 300 years ago ; they have lately been held there again. One, a few years ago, in which Dr. Thirlwall, the late Bishop of St. Davids, presided. At St. Clears, where that artificial mound is in the town, it is said there was a meeting of the Bards. These sessions always ^ See Giraldus Cambrensis. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 223 held in the open air, on a high conspicuous place, or, in the figurative language of ancient times, ‘‘under the eye of the sun, in the face of light, in the view and hearing of the country, and the Sovereign Power.” Hence it is that many mountains in Wales bear the name of Cadair ; for ex. Cadair Idris, i. e. the chair of Idris, meaning that there the Bards assembled. The Bards of the most modern date have termed their meetings the “ chair of song or poetry.” Idris is a giant, whom old Bardic writings represent as a poet, astronomer, and philosopher, great in mind as well as in body, and supposed to have . made the mountain summit his observatory. The Welsh, as other nations, have different modes of making bread and dishes peculiar to themselves. Plank-bread is very commonly made. It is baked on a circular plate of iron put on the top of the fire ; they make it of a round shape, and not very thick ; they call it a cook when it is very small. At the farm- houses they make oatmeal-cakes, which are very nice j there is an art in making them. Like most old things it is dying out. They are composed only of oaten meal and water ; no yeast used. They are crisp, and thin as a wafer almost. Like ordinary bread, the meal is put into a pan and well kneaded, then formed into a round, of the size of a dinner-plate. It is first put on a table, and spread out very thin with the hands with great pains. This is the most troublesome part, for it needs some skill to get an exact circle. They are piled up all together, one over the other ; between each is sprinkled some oatmeal, to prevent their sticking. The next difficulty is to make them all even, and of the same size, and make the edges clean ; to effect it, one hand, with the back turned against their sides, is pressed against them, and the other pressing them down, each one separately is placed on a round iron plank, and put over the fire to bake. The fire must be quite clear, and free from smoke. They are quickly baked, for they should not be baked thoroughly. The baking done, each one is rolled round a thick wooden stick, and placed before the fire, laying them on two or three bars of wood, or at the back of the fire or near it ; this makes them crisp, and curl up. They will keep good for a year if put into a quantity of oatmeal. In some farms they have a large chest filled with oatmeal \ into this they put the cakes. In this way they keep good for a year, but even without oatmeal they will last two or three months. They have black butter, which is made of a sea-weed found on the rocks of Pendine, near Laugharne, and on the coasts of Pembrokeshire, 224 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Cardiganshire, Glamorganshire ; it is called Llafan by the Welsh. Laver is the now popular word. It is a dull green colour when young, becomes purple afterwards ; the texture is beautiful, of a fine silky kind. The time for gathering it, for making the butter, is from January till May, and at all times except summer months, when extreme heat gives it an unpleasant flavour. The purple is preferable to the green. It was a favourite vegetable of the ancient Romans ; they used it in their soups. The poor of Corn- wall, Scotland, and Ireland, make a meal of it. Mr. Camden thinks it is the Oyster Green, or Lectuca Marina. This is the way to make it : Wash the sea-weed in many waters ; then put it in a large pickle-jar ; fill it full, and pour in a quart of porter, and put in one pound of butter ; tie it down with paper, and place at the side of the fire to simmer gently for 1 6 or i8 hours ; it is then fit for use. It will keep good many months. Tie the jar over with a bladder for keeping. In preparing it for table, you fry it with butter or lard, and serve it in small pats. It is often fried with bacon. It is eaten with pepper, lemon, or vinegar. ^ In olden times the Welsh made beer of the mountain ash, using the berries, leaves, and branches. Budrum has been always much eaten by the Welsh. It is called also flummery and Wishperer. It is made of the oats, which they put into a stone jar with water, and place it by the fire to steep. It becomes acid ; it is eaten with sugar ; milk may be added. It is considered very wholesome and strengthening. Miss Costello says : ‘‘ Milk and flummery, fair Cambria’s boast, I hold the best, and ever prize the most.” I should say it is made as thick as blancmange. The dishes for breakfast, dinner, and supper were porridge. Properly it is called cawl. Porridge without meat in it is called ‘‘ cawl-llaeth,” /. e. milk porridge. Uwd llaeth, made of oats boiled in water, eaten with milk. Stump, composed of different vegetables mashed up together with butter, pepper, and salt. Trollees, made of barley- meal, oatmeal, or white flour formed into a paste, moistened with the fat skimmed off from the broth of the bacon or beef boiling on the fire, and put into a round form like a roll, and boiled in the broth. Roof beef Scotch hams, i, e. legs of mutton salted. (See Part I. near the beginning, for more about these dishes.) In the farms the families manufactured themselves most of the articles of ^ In Cardiganshire and Glamorganshire they cut it in round pieces the size of half-a-crown, and fry it in oatmeal, and call it Laver bread, and garnish dishes of meat with it. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 225 dress, and those for household purposes, such as stockings, cloth, flannel, blankets, &c. ; such blankets and flannel they were as you never see now ; lasting for ever. I have seen some of them which were fifty years old, and they seemed as good as new. I should have said that those dishes I have described are more or less in use now. The shape of the tin cans in which they fetch water at Laug- harne and Pendine are exactly like those the Flemish use in Belgium. It is said Flemings who came here introduced them. Their fires are made of the hard coal, kept in all night by stum- ing them. In the morning they are made up wuth balls composed of slime and culm, which in a few hours light up and send outa' great heat, and need no more replenishing till night-time. They are free of all smoke, and give a slight, beautiful, clear flame with a tinge of blue in it, or rather of azure. The arrangement of the balls has a pretty effect. They do not need stirring, for that would demolish them. In some parts they arrange them curiously ; in Llandilo they did formerly, and I believe do now in the farm- houses where the grates are very large. They make them there in the form of houses and castles with chimneys and turrets, and whiten the whole with clay. They last a week without being thoroughly done up, save replenishing them by putting some small coal down the chimneys and turrets. It w’as customary on the anniversary of Charles I.’s death for persons in Laugharne to send to friends a calfs head, designed to show the feeling they had against him. Of funerals I have this to add : — When the Welsh sat up with the deceased, there was a pewter plate put on the coffin, a candle- stick with a candle lighted on each side of it. When the coffin was brought out of the house and placed on the bier, the mourners formed a circle round it, and sang a hymn expressive of belief in immortality ; this is now done sometimes. It is a custom derived from the Druids. The Russians now sit up with the deceased. They think the soul remains in the abode a stated period before going to its eternal rest. Russians of Greek Church believe in the Communion of Saints in its literal sense. Q 226 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PART XII. ST. CLARE OR ST. CLEARS. Description of the country — The Corporation and its lands— Castle — Artificial Mound— Roman Watch Tower and Road — Bishop's Court Vawr — An alien Priory — Nunnery of Santa Clara — Old Inn where Lojidon stage stopped — The Church — Customs — A singular story connected with SU Clears. This is a place of great antiquity, in the Hundred of Derlles, Caermarthenshire. Its village is straggling, about three miles from Laugharne, from which it is approached by a fine open road, with a prospect of a pretty amphitheatre of hills sloping and rising to the horizon. The country about St. Clears has no marked beauty, but it is not destitute of attractions, especially at certain hours and seasons. If you were so fortunate as to pass along its bridge, as I did once, on a spring evening at sun-setting, when the moon at her full stands sentinel-like above, surrounded by those immor- tal lights that do live along the sky,’' you will enjoy a sweet scene. As I approached the bridge, lengthy and silent, the moon’s exqui- sitely clear, mild light contrasted beautifully with the intense deep blue, almost approaching black, of the sky in which she was enthroned. Beyond this darkness, a lovely clear light, merging on the right into a deep orange, against the green hills beneath which the sun had sunk. On the left, the winding river like a bright crystal. Having passed the bridge and reached the part of the road which has a considerable ascent, and falls abruptly to the land below, the river here appears to advantage, winding through the green pastures. Now one star, then another, then a soft planet came forth, till at last the heavens glittered with “ the starlights ot eternity ” — “Those beacons beautiful and bright, Isles in the ocean of the blest, That guide .the parted spirit’s flight Unto the land of rest.” — Malcolm’s Invocation to Night. This bridge has been built about forty or fifty years (this year, 1878). Before that there was one of those curious ancient ones, PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 22/ like that still at Whitland. The road from St. Clears to Laugharne, like most roads then, was so bad that people went by the river. I cannot praise the appearance of St. Clears. It is a forlorn, melan- choly-looking place. It receives its name from the nunnery dedi- cated to Santa Clara that once existed here. The river I mention becomes at certain points united with three others, and has the name of Genning or Gynin. It joins the Mydrim just past St. Clears church ; the two unite with the Taf by the bridge at entrance of the village. They travel together to the Pilgrim church, where they join the Co win or Cywyn on their way to Laugharne. St. Clears is still a corporate town. There are two portreves, the first only in authority for the time being ; two common attor- neys considered to act as bailiffs ; one recorder. There is no bailiff. The portreves are elected every year on the first Monday after 29th Sept. The recorder elected for life. The rest elected every year. There is no court baron. The court leet held twice a year, according to old custom, on first Monday in May and first Monday after 29th Sept. The corporation had once extensive lands. Originally one-fourth of the parish of St. Clears was the commons. Much of it was lost when the commissioners, under the Enclosure Act, took away certain portions of it, which they distributed among the different farms according to their size. The Welsh Annals make frequent mention of a castle at St. Clears. In 1190 or 1189, Rhys ap Grufydd, prince of South Wales, took the castle and gave it to his son, Howel Sais, with the adjacent country (‘Annales of Cambriae ’). This prince about same time took the castles of Taiacharn and Llanstephan, and 1190 he built the castle of Kidwelly (Cydweli). This castle stood on the confluence of the Cathgenny or Gynin, and Taf, seated in tne ancient commot of Whitigadaf or Widigada within the great hundred and superior lordship of Cantref-maur. It was probably Welsh castle formed of a tumulus and wooden piles (see Jones' ‘ Hist, of Wales,’ also ‘ Hist, of Princes of South Wales,’ by Hon. G. T. Bridgemen). Now there is a tumulus existing at the con- fluence of the Gynin and Taf, so this indicates its site. In 1212, Llewelyn ab Jorweth, Prince of North Wales, led an army to South Wales, and attacked the territories of the English vassals; destroyed St. Clear’s castles and others in first year of his reign. Edward IV., in his first year, gave Sir W. Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke, his friend and partisan, St. Clear’s Castle. I am told there was another castle ; I do not say it is correct. The late Mr. Q 2 228 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Davies, the linen-draper, said it stood on the site of his shop, which is on the left of the Blue Boar inn. He pointed out to me part of its walls, which remain in the kitchen of his house, now wainscotted over. He said the window of the kitchen belonged to the castle, and the wall in which it is, as well as the wall oppo- site it. The other castle just mentioned stood, I was told, behind the shop kept by Misses Morris. The ancient well called Fynon Var is close to it, and supplied it with water. Ffynnon is a well in Welsh. The river Gynin, united with the Mydrim, flows now close to this well ; formerly it was farther from it. I am told that some time ago an antiquarian visited St. Clears, and said that a Roman watch-tower stood near this mound ; that from it travellers were watched going along the road from Bishop’s Court farm to Tygwyn. I traversed a part of the road by the Cliflside, and had Bishop’s Courts Vawr and Bishop’s Court Bach in full view, and it was evident the route from Bishop’s Court to Tygwn could be well seen, and the whole country around. The road begins by the left side of the old inn in ruins. The Red Cow, where in the plea- sant coach days the London stage would stop. This inn is in the main thoroughfare of St. Clears village, and the road passes along the top of the Cliffside, which is the high ground by the river. Now you cannot go to Bishop’s Court without taking a circuitous route, for it is supposed the river has changed its course ; that anciently the road crossed somewhere where now the river flows. My knowledge of this watch-tower is derived only from oral sources. I know of no document that mentions it. The field in which the artificial mound is, is called ‘‘Banc y Baily.” Here it is said the Welsh bards used to meet. It is thought this was the place of judgment. There is a tradition that a subterranean passage passed from the castle to Bishop’s Court Vawr. In a field of this farm there remains a round hollow spot in which they say the bishops held their court ; and hence its name. Rees, in his ‘ Beauties of England and Wales,’ notices the remains of an alien priory in the middle of the village, which he saw; his work written in 1815. He places its foundation in 1291, and was a cell to St. Martin de Campis of Paris. It was composed of a prior and two Cluniac monks. Henry VI. gave it to All Souls’ College, Oxford. A field adjoining the churchyard of St. Clears, on its south side, is called Priordy Field, ^ and between it and the well Ffynnon Var, the priory stood, at the end of the lane called Rheol.^ There was a ^ Priordy is Welsh for priory. * Heol is Welsh for a lane or street. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 229 nunnery for Black Nuns dedicated to Santa Clara, and under the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Whitland. It is said to have stood in a field on the right hand as you come from the first part of the village, and near the Blue Boar inn. I have heard of a sub- terranean passage connecting it with Whitland Abbey, but Miss Yelverton, whose family possesses the abbey, tells me it is doubted. There are many very old cottages in St. Clears. The one I explored near the Cliffside by the river was three hundred years old, the residents assured me. The Red Cow inn, now in ruins, broke up nearly forty years, when the old coach, instead of coming through St. Clears to Llanddowror, took another route, which was shorter, /. e. the road that goes up on a line with Blue Boar inn, and in an opposite direction to the way to the station. The coach came from London, ending its journey at Haverfordwest. Near St. Clears is a pit called Pwll-trap; it might have been used for cock-fighting. The parish church is older than that of Laugharne. Its greater age is shown by the walls, which outside incline inwards at the top, a peculiarity common to very ancient Welsh structures. The Welsh anciently used no plumb-line. Also from the Norman arch leading into the chancel. The pilasters on each side of it are pure Norman, the soffit without ornament. It has an embattled tower, with a corner turret. The church is entered by a door in the tower, and this part of the tower was, like a room, separated from the nave by a door some years ago. At the restoration of the church, this space in the tower was let into the nave. This separation of the tower from the nave is common in old Welsh churches. It is being done away with. The tower was used in troublous times, as a place of refuge. It is a vicarage. The great tithes are held by All Souls’ College, Oxford, and is in the gift of the Phillips of Llwyncrwn ; dedicated to St. Clara. The Rev. Mr. Pughe is vicar. Spurred says, in a note to his Magazine, ‘Haul,’ for January, pub. 1873, ^hat it is thought this church was erected by a lady named Clara, who became its patron saint after her canonization. In the inventory of time Edward VI. (1552), which I have described in Part IX., and is given by Spurred, are these goods, belonging to the church : “ In p’mis a chalyce. It’m iij belles.” In the account of the taxation in time of Pope Nicholas IV., the income of the church was <^13 i 6 s. 8 d. about the year 1291. Lady Drummond, sister of James I., was interred in the church, where there is a monument to her. Since I wrote this Part, I have learned from an architect that 230 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, the idea that these towers about Counties Caermarthen and Pem- broke were not anciently separated from the nave by a door, which he proves from this — that in his work of restoring several churches about these parts, he has always found the marks of a large arch exposing the tower to the nave, and that the door therefore is a modern innovation. This last is no doubt modern. May not the arch have been previously an innovation, for reliable authorities say they were places of refuge, which this architect denies. They may have been so, though the arch existed. This neighbourhood was the principal rendezvous of the leaders in the ‘‘Rebecca’' riots of 1843. Among the customs of the place are these : — When a marriage is about to be celebrated, a bidder is sent round to proclaim it and solicit presents, and he repeats a Raramas. It was formerly the custom, at a death in a family, for some one to go round the village and parts about, to invite people to attend the funeral ; one out of each family was bound to go. There are instances now I believe of this custom being observed. The parish of St. Clears meets that of Laugharne at St. Clear’s bridge. A stone placed about the middle of it, marks the boundaries of the two. In another direction the parish of St. Clears joins that of Llanfihangel at Pentre bridge, by the Blue Boar inn, where a stone shows the ending of one and beginning of the other. Not far off is the road you turn down to go to the station ; at its entrance are several ancient cottages. This is Pentre, and is in parish of Llanfihangel, where the Pilgrim Church is on the river. The village of St. Clears was once the scene of some extraordi- nary occurrences. The history of them I had from an old lady who witnessed them, and with whom I spent many pleasant days in Laugharne. She told me that one fine day, in the spring of 1816 or 1817, a chaise stopped at the White Lion of St. Clears, with a lady of superior appearance — but with an infirmity, as it appeared, since she used crutches — accompanied by her son, and followed by two gentlemen and a young lady on horseback, the latter of extra- ordinary beauty and elegance. She was the daughter of the lady ; the two gentlemen were her nephews ; the bearing of this party excited attention and interest. They took the White Cottage, which still exists, and is nearly opposite and within view of a large house with a door in the middle, on the left hand as you come from Laugharne. A field is before this house, which was then the residence of my friend and her family, who were old inhabitants of the place, and visited in the high circles of the surrounding PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 23 1 country. Their name was Thomas.^ All the gentry about called on these new comers, as well as my friend and her family. The remarkable talents, elegant accomplishments, fascinating manners of the daughter. Miss Baines, spell bound every one. Baines was the name of the family ; the two nephews had the name of Thomson. Miss Baines and the nephews entered into all the society of the place, while Mrs. B. and her son remained at home. The melancholy abstracted air of the latter and his habits were remarkable. It was given out that he was passionately fond of chemical experiments, to which a small darkened room was devoted close to the sitting-room his mother always occupied, as if to guard this sanctuary, which no one ever entered ; when he left it it was locked up. Here he spent the day and the midnight hour, never appearing to visitors nor seen out in broad daylight ; a walk by moonlight or at twilight was all the recreation he had. The large orders they gave the butcher, baker, &c., was singular, and my friend thought it very strange that they should so often send to their house to ask if they would take some of their pro- visions, as they had more than they needed ; sometimes it was a saddle of mutton, a piece of beef or a turkey; the offer was mosdy accepted, and the money for it given. In the summer of this year, in which they came to St. Clears, an advertisement appeared in the local newspaper, thus — ‘‘ Found, on the evening of the 2 2d, in the vicinity of St. Clarren (St. Clears), a pocket-book containing a large sum in Bank of England notes and local notes ; by de- scribing the same, and paying for the advertisement, the owner may receive it on application to A. Thomson, Esq., St. Clarren.’’ Miss Baines and her cousins had been spending the evening with one of the families in the place ; she remained the night, while her cousins returned home with the Vicar of St. Clears. In their path they saw a pocket-book on the ground. One of the Thomsons took it up and examined it by the moonlight ; the Vicar caught sight of bank-notes in it. No claimant appeared for the book mentioned in the advertisement, and curiosity regarding it flagged before the mystery was unravelled. At this time an old-established bank in Caermarthen was suffering from a forgery committed on it. Its notes were so well imitated that the firm itself could scarcely detect the spurious ones ; “ and the casual presentation of two notes of the same number led to the discovery.” The Bank of England was suffering from the fraud as well. The brother of my friend, 1 One of the Misses Thomas, the old lady I mention, afterwards married, and was Mrs. Treherne. 232 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, who was a lawyer, was the one who found a clue to the authors of the forgery. He told one of the partners of the Caermarthen Bank he had strong suspicions regarding a family at St. Clears with whom his sisters and all the residents were infatuated, and per- suaded the partner to go with him there and spend the day with his sisters. They went. As they drove past the White Cpttage, they involuntarily looked towards it. Miss Baines and her cousin were seated in the porch before the door, and they thought they saw a kind of movement that indicated alarm or confusion, as though their looking at them had a meaning. Soon after this it was rumoured that the mysterious room was now left open, and every- thing in it taken away ; that some of the family were busy in the garden all night. Mrs. Baines explained that she had induced her son to give up his pursuits, as they injured his health, and she had turned the room into a boudoir for her daughter ; that her son had left them for Bath, to have medical advice, where they would join him. They left in November of the same year in which they had arrived at St. Clears, with all the regrets of the place, to meet the mail at Caermarthen. Here one of those curious coincidences happened which cannot be foreseen, and which the most adroit management could not frustrate the results. One of the partners in the bank was in the coach-office when the waiter of the inn, at which Mrs. and Miss Baines were stopping, came to secure places in the Bath coach for two ladies, and presented a £io note in payment. The partner thought he saw something peculiar in the note, and examined it ; found it a forgery, as well executed on the Bank of England as that on his own firm. He made inquiries about these ladies, and found the younger one had made purchases at the shops and paid in notes. This accounts for the large orders of meat, &c., they gave, and continually asking my friend to relieve them of some of it, as they paid everything with notes. This partner obtained a warrant to apprehend Mrs. and Miss Baines, which found them at dinner. Messengers were sent after the son, who was found in a lodging at Bristol, with all the implements of forgery, and the die of the Bank of England, the plate, and many beautifully-executed notes. They were placed in gaol. Two persons sympathized deeply with them — one a naval officer ^ of Caermarthen, and his friend, who published this story in a book, titled ‘My Portfolio,' ^ by W. B., to which I refer the reader. ^ Captain Venn. 2 It is' sold by Mason of Tenby, Co. Pembroke, and Longman, Paternoster Row, London. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGIIBOURHOODS. 233 These gentlemen visited them in prison, the painfulness of which was almost forgotten in the brilliant conversation of Miss Baines, the interesting discussions on the literature of the day, and in the courteous, elegant manners of both ladies. ‘‘ The classical beauty of the younger lady, her interesting style of dress, which was a grey silk made in the Spanish fashion, a small velvet cap on one side of her head, a black lace veil falling over her figure, had more the effect of painting than reality,” says the writer of the story. These gentlemen, perfectly enchanted, visited them frequently, and sent presents continually till the dreaded day arrived, which was in the spring of the following year. The court was crowded to suffocation. Their friend, the naval officer, attended them at the trial. Miss B. was in deep mourning ; a lace veil enveloping her figure. They were found guilty — sentence of death was passed. The son dis- played a degree of filial affection and freedom from selfishness worthy of a better cause. He requested no witnesses might be called, as he alone was guilty, and trusted he should be the only sufferer. This confession had the effect of commuting the sentence on his relatives to a year’s imprisonment, and of gaining a free pardon for the Thomsons. As no notes of the Caermarthen Bank nor implements of forgery were found on him, ‘‘the bank could not make a charge to affect his life.” His counsel begged him not to accuse himself. While in prison .a plan was laid for his escape, but his abstracted habits prevented its success. He seemed to have suffered from the beginning for the sake of his mother and sister. He elicited none of the interest and popularity the latter did, though his conduct displayed a noble mind, while they showed selfishness, want of affection, even common feeling, at the hour of his execution. The year’s imprisonment endured by the ladies was lightened by the latter spending her evenings very frequently with Capt. Venn’s family. The gloom of the cell was relieved by a landscape, skilfully drawn by Miss Baines on the walls with charcoal, and by a transparency that hid the prison bars. At the end of the year, when they left Caermarthen for London, Mrs. B. put away her crutches — this deception was no longer needed. Capt. Venn accompanied them part of the journey, and returned full of grief. He kept up a correspondence with them. I should have noticed among the good qualities shown by the son, that he wrote a touching letter to his mother and sister just before his execution. The other friend of these ladies, who published this story, visited London after this trial. Some friends induced him to go with them to the Adelphi to see a beautiful 234 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, actress ; he discovered her to be Miss Baines. The profession of the stage injured her health, and she went with a family to Switzer- land as governess. In a few years she became companion to a Countess at Florence ; finally, she wore a coronet. The son of a noble English family saw and married her, and installed her in a splendid establishment. The singular feature of this is — that he was the ^‘soul of honour,’’ dreaded ‘‘collision with inferior minds,” or with anything degrading and not strictly honourable. Up to the age of 45 he had remained single, though surrounded by all the lovely, elegant women of the day, and had publicly declared his intention “ to remain sole sovereign of his Tusculum.” The house in St. Clears in which the Baines lived, was then called “ Cook’s House,” now it is “ White Cottage,” and is much altered since their time. Only two rooms remain as they were, viz. the attic in which the son forged the notes, and in it the aperture in the wall where he put his instruments was pointed out to me. It goes deeply down. I suppose that was to conceal them. The other room is a bedroom even with it ; the entrance-door, which was then in the garden, now opens on the high road. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 235 PART XIII. Whitland Abbey — Hywel Dda — His Laws — Archbishop Baldwin preaches the Crusade in Wales — Hywel Dda held a Synod — Curious customs of the Kin^ s Household — Description of the 7 y-gwyn^ the house in which that Synod held — Rotnan coins found at Cil Maen Llwyd and a Camp — Druidical Circles — Cro7nlech — Roman Encampment at Llandissilio. ‘‘ Remnants which have casually escaped from the shipwreck of time.” Lord Bacon, This famous abbey, the property of the Hon. W. H. Yelverton, called Ty-gwynar-Daf (or Taf) or the White House, ^ on the Taf, dedicated to St. Mary, in the Hundred of Derlles, Co. Caermarthen, five miles from St. Clears, is seated in a valley surrounded by majestic trees. It is in the parish of Langan, which was founded by Cain, daughter of Caw of Twr Celyn, and had, when that inventory was taken in time Edward VI., “In p’mis, a chalyce ; it’m, iij belles.’^ The few remains of this abbey are sufficient to show it was a structure of great extent, occupying more than an acre, or an acre and a half. There are varied opinions as to the date of its erection. One account places it in thirteenth century, attributing it to some Cistercian monks. Speed says it v/as founded by Rhys ap Theodor (or Tewdwr) in 1086, and became a burial- place for the princes and chieftains of South Wales, and where Cadwalader, son of Rhys ap Gryffydd, 1187, was buried. Some ascribe its foundation to Bernard, Bishop of Menavia if, e. St. Davids), from 1115 to 1147. Wharton, in his ‘Anglia Sacra ^ (vol. ii. p. 649), assigns it to him, and says: “Anno 1143, ducti sunt monachi ordinis Cisterciensis, qui modo sunt apud Albam Landam, in West Walliam per Bernardum Episcopum,” which is : “The monks of the Cistercian order, who are at Alba Landa, were lately brought in West Wales by Bishop Bernard.’’ Leland^ thinks it was Rhys ap Tewdwr. Powell, in his ‘ Historie of Cam- bria’ (p. 184), says it was the first religious establishment of the kind formed in Wales after the destruction of the famous monas- tery of Bangor, called Bangor-y-Ty-Gwyn,^ and held, he says, eight ^ Alba Domus. ^ Collect, vol. i. p. 105. * Before fifth century, the Britons called a college or any Christian society, 236 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, monks. There had been a collegiate establishment^ before the Cistercians came, and it was under jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Caerleon, entirely free of foreign ecclesiastical government, as the whole British Church was, at the early period. The Reform- ation sealed its fate. It was then dismantled, and the people of the country completed the work by carrying away the stones. It is said to have been one of the first that was dissolved, being of less importance than some others. Its annual value was only ^175, while the larger ones were =36^200; but accounts differ. Dugdale says that at the dissolution its endowments were valued at ^135 3^*. ()d. Speed says ^153 17^*. 2d. They were granted, 36th Henry, to Henry Audely and John Cordel.^ Mr. Kemp says that in an ecclesiastical document its gross yearly revenue is stated at ^153 17^’. 2d. The last abbot was William Spragen, who surrendered it Dec. i8th, 1540, the 31st Henry VHI. Henry VII. rested here on his way from Milford Haven. In memory of his visit, the monks carved his coat of arms on a slab of freestone, and in honour of the Welsh, used their own national supporters — a talbot and griffin. Archbishop Baldwin, when preaching the Crusade in Wales, a.d. 1187, lodged here for one night, accom- panied by Giraldus, Archdeacon of St. Davids. A story is told in Hoare’s Giraldus of the Abbot of Whitland, acting under the direction of the justiciary of South Wales, giving orders that no respect should be paid to Giraldus whenever he came ; that he should be received in no better place than the public hall, where the noisy, vulgar guests assembled ; that no monk nor any one in the convent should act as guide to him amid the wild, desolate country that surrounded it. It was afterwards called in Monkish Latin, Alba Llanda, i. e. white or holy ground ; hence the word Whitland. The cloisters are easily discerned. In the kitchen garden and the haggard, bones have been found, and it is thought here was the burial-place. Several carved stones of windows and pillars are scattered about. For a portion of this account of the abbey, I am indebted to the kind courtesy of Miss Yelverton of Whitland Abbey- Mr. Kemp says (in ‘ Gentleman’s Magazine ’ for 1839 and 1842), in 1837 the pondin the farm-yard of Whitland “ Cor,” i.e. a circle, college, or choir. About end of this century, they added the word Ban,” i. e. high or supreme, and it grew into Bangor, and became applied to all societies of this nature. ’ ^ See Mr. Kemp’s account of Laugharne, &c., in ‘ Gentlemaffs Magazine,’ for 1839 and 1842. 2 See Tanner’s ‘ Notitia, Monastery,’ p, 701. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 237 Abbey was cleared out, and disclosed the foundations of extensive buildings, as cloisters, monastic cells, the bases of several clustered pillars of the church, two or three encaustic tiles, and other archi- tectural fragments of twelfth century. Many of the monuments were probably destroyed by Glendower, called the Black Magician.” He says in his pamphlet, titled ‘Notices of the Castle and Lordship of Laugharne ’ : “Near some remains of pillars belonging to the abbey church, two or three tiles were found ; one had a figure in the centre of a lamb with a cross ; around are armorial bearings which,” he thinks, “ may be appropriated to the Norman nobles, benefactors of the abbey, and followers of Henry IL, then deemed merely ornamental ; ” he means the armorial bearings were ornamental. It was like the rest, “ of a brown colour, surface glazed, square form, breadth about six inches. Animals and ornaments on them, &c., are in relief, so that the floor must have been uneven and rough.” “ They were unlike the encaustic tiles of a later date.” Mr. Kemp saw in the walls of the farm-house, near the site of the abbey church, a tablet of stone with armorial bearings of Henry VH. Near this house is an isolated hill, called “The Castle Hill.” But this sequestered spot has an historic existence farther back. Here Hywel Dda, the Lycurgus of Wales, had his palace, and held in this spot that famous synod near the middle of ‘tenth century. The reason Whitland Abbey is called Ty-gwyn-ar-Daf or Taf,^ is, that it was in the locality where the house of Hywel, so-called, stood. Rees says, near where Whitland Abbey was afterwards built, stood the famous Ty-gwyn or White House upon Taf, in Dyfed (/. e. Caer- marthenshire), in which Hywel held the synod. It was constructed of white withes or wattles, from which it took its name, and is spoken of as his hunting-seat. The ‘ Cambrian Cuide,’ published 1808, says the Ty-gwyn was on the very site of Whitland Abbey, and was the summer residence of Hywel. Other writers say that besides the Ty-gwyn, where the synod was held, there are the ruins of Alba Domus in a detached situation, which stands five miles from St. Clears, on the right hand of the road leading to Narberth, and the first nearer the great turnpike road. There was a house called Ty-gwyn, seated on the opposite side of Narberth road going from the station of Whitland ; but a very inconsiderable building. Donovan remarks that it is more likely the palace of Hywel was on the rising ground above Whitland Abbey, where a 1 ” is house, “Gwyn” white, “ar’^ upon, i. e. White House upon Taf. See Historical Part, for Dyfed. 238 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Strong foundation and some leaden pipes have been detected in turning up the ground. The only fragment of antiquity which seems to connect with the abbey is a stone fixed into the wall of a neighbouring building, upon which are sculptured three escut- cheons of arms.^ Mr. Kemp, in the ‘ Gentleman’s Magazine,’ speaks of the synod meeting either at the monastery or the palace of Hywel, and that though the site of the palace cannot be as- certained, there are yet the remains of an extensive deer-park. Hywel Dda,^ or Hywel the Good, was king of all Wales, and styled ‘‘The Justinian of Britain.” His reign forms a new and remarkable era in the history of Wales. Society had advanced beyond the legislative enactments that had risen out of a more imperfect state. Disorders and abuses ensued. A regular written code was imperative. To effect a reformation, Hywel visited Rome, A.D. 926, attended by three bishops — Martin of Menevia, Mordaf of Bangor, Marchlwys of Teilaw (/. e, Llandaff), and other noted men, “ to examine the laws of foreign states, and learn by what laws the Romans had governed Britain, and consult the wise men of Rome upon the subject. At his return to Wales, he summoned the heads of tribes and their family representatives (teisbanteuluoedd), with the wise men of the clergy and laity, to hold an extraordinary council at the Tygwyn, a.d. 940, where a code of laws remarkable for their mildness, humanity, and wisdom,” was formed. These laws were founded on those of Dyfnwal- Moelmud, the celebrated legislator of the ancient Britons. He is supposed to have lived about four hundred years b.c. He was the first to collect the laws, maxims, and customs of Britain into a regular code. They are an evidence that Britons were in a far higher state of civilization than the account given by Roman writers w’ould imply. Before this synod met, Hywel and its mem- bers spent much time in prayer and other devotional exercises. Hywel made another visit to Rome to see if the laws this synod had made were agreeable to those of God and of the different countries of Christendom. After this they were put in force throughout Wales, and continued till it was partially conquered by Edward I. They were retained in certain districts till the final union with England in Henry VHI.’s reign. ^ They are interest- ing from the insight they afford into the character of the age. Mr. 1 See ‘Cambrian Traveller’s Guide,’ p. 361-2 ; pub. 1808. 2 “ Da” is “good” in Welsh. * Caradoc of Llancarvan, ‘ Myfryian Archaeology,’ vol. ii. p. 485, gives an account of this synod. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 239 Barrington considers them the most regular of any ancient code known. Pecuniary fines form the general mode of punishment for all offences, and for the most atrocious crimes. The fine was paid in cattle and other property. The regulations are curious — certain offences against the king were commuted by a gold cup with a cover as broad as the king’s face, and as thick as the nail of a ploughman, who had followed his occupation nine years ; a gold rod of the length of the king’s person, and as thick as his little finger. As to the value of the animals given in payment — it was laid down that a cat from its birth till it opens its eyes, one penny ; from this period till it is able to kill mice, twopence ; after this, fourpence. Punishments were decreed for ill-treatment of animals ; animals were punished for trespassing in corn-fields, &c. The law of gavelkind forms part of the code, and was observed till the union with England, when English law was introduced. There were three copies of this code : One was to follow the prince’s court; the second was kept in the palace of Aberfraw; third in that of Dinevor. Some curious customs were observed in the king’s household, such as the judge of the palace using for his pillow at night the cushion on which the king sat during the day. The laws relative to women are a sad blot in this code. They show their degraded condition, so that, after all, society then was not very far removed from barbarism. The court which decided disputes regarding inheritance of land was held in the open air, and the king or prince sat in it in person. An historical fragment gives the following description of the Ty-gwyn, or White House, in which that synod was held : It says, that ‘‘ Blegywryd or Blegaredus, Archdeacon of Llandaff, engaged artists to construct this house of white wattles, interwoven with smaller twigs of various colours, representing figures of birds, flowers, and other natural objects.” All the heads of tribes and wise men there assembled had similar bowers for shelter and rest during the night. As late as 1760, houses thus constructed were used in the mountains of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire for summer dancing ; even later they were used. The poets refer to such houses as used for residence in summer on mountains and in woods. Malkin, about 1803, in his ‘ Scenery and Antiquities of South Wales,’ says : ‘‘ In Herefordshire, cottages are made of wattles, and plaistered over with clay.” Miss Yelverton informs me that the place of judg- ment was probably a field called ‘‘Parc Rhyd Court,” close to the Whitland station, or rather, on the other side of the river. Rhyd Court might mean the ford leading to it. Rhyd is a ford in 240 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, Welsh ; it answers to our mill bank. The Hon. W. H. Yelverton has erected a mansion on the part where this abbey stood. He holds all the property of Whitland. In the Charter Roll, i6th King John, a.d. 1214, it is said that the lands the monks of this abbey held were the gift of John de Thornton, i. e. those in which Whitland is situate, and also these: — Hen Dy-Gwyn, Tres-grug, Es-gair-Evel, Cefn-Cynvarchen (this last supposed the same as Cefn Varchen, a farm in Henllan Amgoed, three miles from the abbey), Ffynon-Vair, a place so-called near Maenclochog or Capel Colman ; Cilgryman, a farm and mill near Llanboidy; Tref- howystell, and Sinod (so called from an ecclesiastical conference held there; is four miles south of New Quay on Cardiganshire coast, the old land now subdivided into three farms) ; Onnen (a farm, Co. Cardigan) ; all “ Cardiff wood ” (a place called Cardeeth is three-quarters of a mile east of Carew Castle) ; the land Bryn Alltudion; Cil-Dy-Giwyn. This charter says: The land of Trefgrin, and that of Godcelin, the knight, which they have of the gift of same John and Howel Sais, all which aforesaid lands, Rhys ab Griffith (prince of South Wales, 1136 to 1196), as much as belonged to him, to them gave in his time and confirmed by his charter.” H. Sais was younger son of Prince Rees ab Griffith. We confirm,” says the charter, to them all the lands which same Rhys gave to them and by his charter confirmed, to wit : — the land of Oysterlaith (a farm in a commot of same name, in Hun- dred of Arberth) ; Llanvihangel (a farm in parish of Llanvihangel, Abercowin, nine miles south-west of Caermarthen) ; Penffos, Cefnllengath, Blaengwythno (a grange two miles south of Lampeter Velvrey, Co. Pembroke) ; Cilvargen, and Penvey, and Rhydy- maengwyn (a farm nine miles north of the abbey) ; Cefn Drum (means the ‘ summit of the mountain ridge, ^) was the ancient name for what is now termed ‘Forest,* near Cilgerran, was a lordship and manor ; and the portion of Meredith of KilrhedyiVs son, to wit : — Rhosllefrith (literally, ‘The sweet milk meadow *) ; Bronclyd (/. e. ‘ The warm knoll,* and appears to be half a mile west of Brongwyn Church, Llandugwydd, near Newcastle-in- Emlyn) ; Nant Gynfrig, Manorvorion (appears to be about three miles west of Marros) ; Esgair Gaer, Maenor Grug-Whyl (a place of this name in Llanwenog, two miles south-west of Llanybydder, Co. Caermarthen — Capel Whyl, an ancient chapel, was there) ; Rhyddlan (a grange and mill, three and a quarter miles west of I.lanybydder) ; Dynewyn, Craig Cryr (/. e. Heron’s rock) ; Cwm- celli-brog (/. e. the embowed hazel dell) ; Crug-Gwallem, Capriscwm PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 24 1 (/. e. ‘ the bushy-dingle field ’) ; Nant Aren, Dadenath Choranni- mus, Blaen-bedw (/. e, the birch summit in Llandissilio Gogof) ; Blaen Seith (in Penbryn) ; Esgair Seith (in Penbryn) ; a plough- land at Port-bychan, all aforesaid lands Rhys gave them, confirmed by his charter.’^ ‘‘We confirm to them sixty acres of land which they have of the gift of lorwerth ab lorwerth, and of gift of Maelgwyn ab Rhys, the land of Penllwyn-yr-Ebol (two and a half miles north-west of Ci!maenllwyd church, Co. Pembroke) ; and Cathanen.’' Maelgwyn was son of Prince Rhys. Alcwyn C. Evans of Caermarthen, who edited this charter and others, says in a note: “Sir John Perrott of Laugharne was put in the Fleet prison in Queen Mary’s time for entertaining heretics in his house in Wales ; released, Mary gave him Carew Castle.” In Patent Roll, 32nd Elizabeth, a.d. 1590, it says, “Elizabeth granted him her Rectories of three churches in Wales, viz., Llanelly, Llandefaelog, and Pembrey, with all profits, tithes, oblations, &c., belonging to them.” At Cil Maen Llwyd, near Llanboidy, was found in Camden’s time a pot with Roman coins, time Commodus. Close by, at Bronyscawen, two shepherd boys found, in 1692, in a camp, “ Gaer,” silver Roman coins. From the form of this camp, it was British (see Gough’s ‘Camden, v. 3). Near this is a Druidical circle, called “ Buarth Arthur.” Mr. Kemp, who wrote an account of Laugharne in ‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ 1838-9, saw a cromlech at Llanboidy in Capt. Prothero’s grounds. Some think cromlechs were memorials raised to the dead. These lines indicate it : — ‘‘ Pian-y-bedd perdry fal, Ai bedwar maen am-y-tal, Bedd Madawc Marchogdywal.” e. “Whose is this square resting-place, with four stones encircling the head? It is the repose of Madawc, the fierce horseman.” A very perfect Roman encampment is in Llandissilio, ten minutes’ walk from Llandissilio church. R 242 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGIIARNE, PART XIV. LLANSTEPHAN. Take the ferry-boat from Laugharne, land on the Scar, you will soon come to the pleasant, sheltered road passing over the hill, now and then letting in a view of the sea, till it reaches the village of Llanstephan, the admiration of George IV. The first glance of it gives the idea of a neat, cheerful village ; the few ancient cot- tages beneath the level of the road add, in their lowliness, to the picturesqueness of the spot. The village stands at the foot of a hill ; the sweet Towy,^ the most interesting and finest river of South Wales, passes by it, on its way to grace the lovely vale, so celebrated. The view of the hills on the other side of the river, with the widely-scattered village of Ferry side at its edge, is very lovely. It is in the Hundred of Derlles, Caermarthenshire. There are the ruins of its fine castle on a bold, lofty headland, just where the Towy falls into the sea, corresponding with the headland of Ferryside opposite ; its walls enclose a large area. Enough re- mains to show it was a strong fortress. By the walls you have a noble view. The wide expanse of sea is grand ; while the green hills of the Ferry, with its white houses scattered amid the verdure, and the ancient church on the rocky point washed by the waves, give a softening beauty. Sweet it is to watch the little vessels glide between the points into the Towy, or repose in the heat of a sum- mer noon on the wooded sides of this hill, catching glimpses of the white sails between the trees, the yellow sands, the lovely hills, till contemplation has her fill.” Dugdale, in his ‘ Illustrations of England and Wales,^ says, it is supposed to have been built by Uchtred, Prince of Meirion (/. e, Merionethshire), 1138 ; the ^ Cam- brian Guide ’ and another authority, by the sons of Uchtred. A gentleman, a good authority on these matters, tells me it was built by the Earl of Clare. It soon fell into the hands of the Normans and Flemings, with whom were some English. In 1143,^ it was ^ The Towy, called Tobius, by Ptolemy. 2 See Rees’ ‘ Beauties of England and Wales,’ vol. xviii. page 235, which says it was in 1 145. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. • 243 taken from them by Rhys, Meredydd, and Cadelh, sons of Rhys ap Gryffyth, Prince of S. Wales; but immediately some Normans, English, and Flemings, attacked the castle. Meredydd held it with a force far inferior to that of the besiegers. He let them pursue their measures for taking the castle by escalade under cover of the night. When they had nearly reached the summit, he over- turned them by means of the machines he had contrived ; they retired. It went through many changes till it fell to the crown. One change was the demolishing of it by Llewellyn ap Jorwerth, in 1212. An ancient document says in 1215. Edward IV. granted it to William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke. Llan- Stephan means the land or enclosure of Steven. Ystyffan is Welsh for Steven or Stevan. The word Llan has been explained in Part III. The church of Llanstephan is not named in the taxation of Nicolas IV. This Pope made a valuation of the livings in our island in 1288 — 1292. In the inventory, time of Edward VI., it is said : “ Llanstepha, In p^mis, a chalyce ; it’m, iij belles. Spurrell,^ in his Magazine, ‘ Haul,' for Jan. 1873, says. The church is dedicated to Ystyphan, great-grandson of Cad ell Deyrnllwg, Prince of Powis. He lived about 650 a.d.; was called the BaM of St. Teilo." Rev. Rice Rees, in his essay on ‘ Welsh Saints,' says : ‘‘Ystyffan, one of the Bards of Teilo, was founder of Llanstephan or Llanstyffan, Co. Caermarthen, and also of Llan- styffan in Radnorshire, and son of Mawan ab Cyngen ab Cadell." Some of his poetry is preserved in the ‘ Myvyrian Archaeology ' ; this is a work containing all the pieces of the old poets of Wales, collected by a Welshman, a rich tradesman of London. The parish church is very old, dedicated to St. Stephan; it is not known when it was built. Its Norman tower, embattled with a corner turret, shows great age, and was, like most of those towers in Welsh churches, 2 used as places of defence and refuge, to which women and children fled, and treasures were placed in times of disturbance, and separated, as these kind of towers always are, from the nave by a small door. On the right hand, as you face the altar, a stoup was in the wall of the tower ; formerly there were seats in the tower for the congregation, which was thrown open to the nave by a very large pointed arch, now filled up ; for at the restoration of the ' W. Spurrell, Esq., publisher, Caermarthen. ^ Since I wrote this part, an architect tells me they were not places for refuge, nor anciently closed in by a door (see Part XH. for more about it). R 2 244 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, church, in 1872, it was closed from the nave by a door, which still remains. The stoup is filled up, but the mark of it is visible. The entrance into the church is through a porch, on south side, where a stoup is on the right hand, as you enter the church. A niche is above the door entering directly into the church ; it once held an image of the Virgin. A piscina is within the altar rails, now closed up. In the north transept is the hagioscope,^ looking directly to the altar, closed in at one end ; the other is open. It is called a squench ; but it is not a proper term. In Romish times it was designed for those who sat in the transept, to see through it the priest at the altar, and the holy things. AVhere the vestry is now, there was a large door before the church was restored, through which the coffin was conveyed to the place of burial. On the north side of the altar are the ancient tombs of the I.loyds of Laques, and of the Meares family, in a sort of aisle which was once distinct from the church. The church was restored at the expense of that liberal lady. Miss Lloyd of Laques, deceased some years ago. The clerk told me that they found a copper coin, of the date 1099, underneath one of the pews when they were exca- vating. The Rev. B. Evans is Vicar of Llanstephan, holding with it the perpetual curacy of Llangynog, which is four miles from Llanstephan, in the Hundred of Derlles, or Derllys, Co. Caer- marthen. In 1809, the living of Llanstephan was valued at ,^24 per annum, including augmentation stipend, and surplice fees. The following account I have from the best authority : Llanstephan, with Llangynog, more commonly spelt Llangun- nock, annexed, is a perpetual curacy, and the perpetual curate receives an annual stipend of ,^10 from the lay rectors or im- propriators. It is pretty well agreed that anciently the church of Llanstephan was served by itinerant preachers sent from the Monastic Priory Church of Caermarthen. The Priory owned the tithes of Llangain. I do not feel quite sure that it held those of Llanstephan too ; perhaps it did. Llangain is four miles from Llanstephan as the crow flies ; is in the Hundred of Derllys, Co. Caermarthen. Its church is beautifully restored, and opened 27th July, 1871. It is a perpetual curacy. It is called Manor- gain in old records. At the dissolution of the monasteries (Henry VIIL), the rectory of Llanstephan, including the ad- joining parish of Llangunnock, was granted, it appears, by the crown to one of the Earls of Northumberland, and has 1 It means a view of holy things ; from the Greek “haigo,”holy ; “scope,” a view. PENDINE, AND THEIJJ NEIGHBOURHOODS. 245 since passed, with the rectorial tithes, through various hands. The lay rectory of Llanstephan, with Llangunnock annexed, now belongs in undivided moieties to Llewellyn Lloyd Price, Esq., of Glangwilly, Co. Caermarthen, and W. O. Price, Esq., of Castle Piggin, Caermarthen, as the representatives of the late W. Lloyd, Esq., of Laques, and of his daughter, the late Miss Elizabeth Lloyd, of that place ; the right of presentation belonging jointly to these two gentlemen, who are the descend- ants of that very ancient family of the Lloyds just noticed. W. O. Price, Esq., and the father of Llewellyn Lloyd Price, Esq., are nephews of the late Wm. Lloyd of Laques. Dugdale says, Llan- stephan is an ancient manor. I give now an account of the mode of paying tithes in the parishes of Llanstephan and Llangunnock. The document I get it from is dated 17th day of February, 1829, and headed: ^‘The custom and manner of paying tithes, and modus in lieu thereof, in the parish of Llanstephan and Llangun- nock, in Co. Caermarthen.’’ “Forty-eight hours public notice to be given in church, after Divine service, previous to the giving out of the tithes, or paying it in kind ; but the farmer or occupier of land has a right to thrash so much corn for his own use, without tithe, as will supply his people to get in his harvest every year. “ Hay tithe to be paid by the loth, small cock, when first made in rows, in parish of Llanstephan, but no tithe hay in the parish of Llangunnock ; only fourpence annually for each hay-loft. “ Corn tithe to be paid by the tenth sheaf out of the fields, from mows or stacks annually; and if the tithe of hay or corn shall remain on the farmer’s land after it is given out, for twenty-four hours, he is to take care of it as his own corn or hay; but after the expiration of the said term of twenty-four hours, the farmer is to take no more care of the tithes, but may drive in his cattle to the field or fields, where the tithes remain, as his other grazing fields. “ Cows, by custom or modus, at sixpence per cow per year. Farrow cows at fourpence each per year. “Yearlings, be one year old. Beast, one penny per head per year. Yearlings, colts, at one penny per head per year, and yearling fillies at halfpenny per head per year. Sow with pigs, to give the tithe-man one pig a month old, if there be seven pigs in the litter or more, but no tithe to be paid under seven pigs, only one shilling and sixpence per litter; and in 246 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, neglect of the tithe-man coming for his pigs of tithe when sent for, he is not to have more than one and sixpence per litter. One pound of wool to be paid out of every ten pounds to the tithe-man, of what is sheared from the sheep in the said parishes, and sent to the church if required, in each of the said parishes ; and if the tithe-man neglects coming for the tithe wool when sent for, then only one penny per head of sheep to be paid per annum. One lamb to be paid to the tithe-man out of ten lambs that shall be yeaned in the said parishes, but if there be no more than seven lambs, one of them to be paid to the tithe-man, and sixpence to be returned to the farmer. One lamb out of eight, and fourpence to be returned to the farmer. One lamb out of nine, and twopence to be returned to the farmer. If more than ten lambs to be had, then twopence a head to the tithe-man, until seventeen lambs or twenty ; then like the seven and ten lambs as before, &c. The farmer to have the first choice of one lamb, and the tithe-man the second, for every seven lambs to ten per year. “ One goose out of every brood, when only two geese to be had, but if there be had ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or more young geese, only one is to be paid to the tithe-man out of the whole per year. ‘‘ For every hearth or house a man occupies, fourpence to be paid for it to the tithe-man towards Easter offering ; but if he or she be a single man or woman, or widow, twopence per head per year. For every garden with bees, fourpence to be paid for the whole garden per year ; and no tithe to be paid for anything but what has been before described, as testified by the following persons, being inhabitants of the said parishes, received and have paid as before stated : David Phillip, now of College, in said parish of Llangunnock, saith, that he is now 69 years of age, and has been gathering tithes with his late father, David Phillip, and David John Harry, since he was eight years of age, over the whole said parishes of Llanstephan and Llangunnock, received and paid the same in the said parish of Llangunnock, and the same manner of paying tithes was in each of the said parishes, except the hay in Llangunnock, as before described. ‘‘ David Harry, now of Login Coch, in parish of St. Peter, Caer- marthen, saith, that he is now 69 years of age, and that he has been gathering tithes with his said late father, David John Harry, and David Phillip, and for John Lloyd, late of Bontcowin, and John Morgan, Caermarthen, for many years over the whole of the said parishes of Llanstephan and Llangunnock, received and paid PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 247 the same in said parish of Llangunnock, and same manner of pay- ing tithes was in each of the said parishes, except the hay in Llan- gunnock, as before described ; and the said David Harry further saith, that if his said late father, David John Harry, was alive now, he would be 1 15 years of age, and the same custom and modus of paying tithes was in the said parishes of Llanstephan and Llan- gunnock, he had heard and seen with his ancestors ; he acted and conveyed to his said son as above described. ‘‘ County of Caermarthen. The within statement was verified on oath by David Harry and David Phillip, before me, one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, in and for the said county, this 7th day of February, 1829. ‘‘Daniel Prytherch.” A long line of houses prettily built have a lovely view of the green hills of the Ferry, enlivened by the flowing and ebbing of the sweet Towy, sometimes too profuse, visiting their thresholds. The small traffic on its waters is a pleasant, changing scene ; the little white sail, glistening in the sun, passing to and fro, something inexpressively lovely when it glides gracefully into the Towy be- tween the two green headlands. Then the trains passing along the Ferry so often in the day to the great city and back again, the sandy shore and the greensward, with seats before the houses, complete the picture. What can be a more lovely spot than the Plas ! It is a mansion standing in grounds placed close under the Castle Hill. In front it has a lovely view of the Towy and green hills ; it is the summer residence of Lady Hamilton, the widow of late Sir James Hamilton. Plas is a name given in Wales to the principal house of a locality, such as the Squire’s house : it means “hall or palace.” The line of houses I have just mentioned afford nice apartments. The Towy affords excellent fish ; is celebrated for its Sewin and salmon. Just before you come to Llanstephan, by the road leading from the Scar, on your right are grounds well covered with trees. A pathway leads to the large house standing in them ; it belongs to the ancient family of the Lloyds of Laques I have already men- tioned. It is called The Laques, and was the residence of Miss Lloyd, deceased about nine or ten years ago (now this year 1878). This ancient family resided for centuries at the Plas, just described. Not far from the castle is a pretty walk leading to St. Anthony’s Well, to the waters of which miraculous properties were anciently said to belong ; the niche remains where the image of the Saint 248 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Stood. There are very few ancient houses remaining in Llan- stephan ; two houses built 1870-1 by the side of Providence Villas, not far from the Plas, and on the opposite side to it, are on the site of a very ancient house called “Plas Brch,’^ Bryd or Brodyr, said to have been the residence of monks, probably when they came to officiate here. This is likely, as the name signifies the house or the retreat of the brothers. At Caermarthen there is a field, at the back of Lammas Street, called “ Parc-y-Brodyr,’’ on which stood the Grey Friars’ Monastery. There are two or three more ancient houses in the village, but most of them are more or less modern : the village was formerly very small. Castell Moel, or Green Castle, on the Llanstephan road, three miles from Caermarthen, is said to have been built by Prince Uchtred, in the same year as Llanstephan Castle ; its present ruins are of a later date than that. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 249 PART XV. LLANYBRI. Llanybri is an ancient village, perched on the summit of the hills, with a glorious prospect ; its church spire visible at Laugharne. It is part of the parish of Llanstephan, is in the Hundred of Derllys, Co. Caermarthen. Llan-y-bri is in Welsh, ‘‘ the church on the hill ; ’’ bri ” is hill ; Llan ’’ has been explained. Spurrell, in his Magazine, ‘Haul,’ for January, 1873, says, it is said to be derived from one Olbrey or Awbrey, who resided there, and his well is still called Ffynnon Olbrey. There is an ancient building here, which was a chapel of ease to Llanstephan church. In ancient records it is called “the Marble Church ; ” 150 years ago a dissenting congregation took possession of it. They pay a nominal rent for it to the lay impropriators of Llanstephan, whom I have mentioned in the preceding Part XIV. Spurrell says : “ The Marble Church was in the hamlet of Llanybri or Llanybre, and is now used by the Independents as their place of worship.’^ In that inventory I have mentioned in Part XIV. &c., time Edward VL, it says : “ Marbell Church, In p’mis, a chalyce ; It’m ij belles.” About 17 or 18 years ago, the late Miss E. Lloyd of Laques, of the ancient family of the Lloyds, I have mentioned in Part XIV., erected, with great thoughtfulness and liberality, the present church of Llanybri, whose spire is so pleasing an object on the green hills, as we walk on the cliff of Laugharne ; she endowed it at her sole expense, and under her will : W. O. Price Esq., of Castle Piggin, her representative, has the right of presentation to it. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have made it a district church within the parish of Llanstephan, and gave the right of presentation to Miss E. Lloyd. It is a perpetual curacy, held by the Rev. Tho. W. Jones, who is also Rector of Llandeilo Abercywyn. The well, Ffynnon Olbrey or Awbrey, is at the end of the village, on the road leading to Llan- stephan — I saw it, nothing particular about it ; its water excellent. There are several ancient thatched cottages, with those large 250 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Elizabethan fire-places. They keep up here the old custom of stoning. I believe a daughter of a king of Brecon founded a Nunnery here. The view from the village is lovely and extensive. On all sides are the everlasting hills, pretty peeps of the coast, the sea, river Towy, and bay of Laugharne. Here are shady lanes, lovely dells, sloping hills ; sometimes a white cot or a farm-house is seen on their sides ; and a wood will cast a pleasant gloom. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 251 PART XVI. Church of Llanfihangel Abercywyn^ called the Pilgrim Church — Church of Llandilo Abercywyn — Pilg^ims^ Tombs — P'eventy — Monastery — Earth Works. The very ancient Pilgrim church is in the parish of Llanfihangin or Llanfihangel Abercowin or Cywyn, which name it has from the river Cywyn passing by it. Aber means the confluence of water, or of two rivers. It is dedicated to St. Michael. The in- ventory taken time Edward VI. says : Llanvihangell. In p'mis, achalyce; It’m, a bell.” Fihangel is Welsh for Michael; the proper spelling is Mihangel, but the M is changed for F, on account of its coming after the consonant N. It is not mentioned in the taxation, time of Nicholas IV., 1288. This church is prettily seated at the confluence of the Taf and the Cywyn ; a range of green hills rise before it. They must have had a sweet view as they came out of church — the winding river, the gently-sloping hills on all sides — one with a wood casting a pleasant gloom ; the hills on each side of the river closing in at the extreme distance, and the tongue of land "'on which the church stands ; the Taf washing it on one side, the Cywyn on the other. Though in ruins, there is enough left to show it must have been a fair-looking structure in its day. The trees take root in it ; the birds of the air make their nests. It has a square tower at the west end clothed with ivy. Like the towers of many churches in these parts, it is not let into the nave, but communicates with it by a Gothic arch ; on the nave side it is round. The entrance into the tower from the churchyard is very low down, somewhat resembling the Tudor arch. The arch leading from the nave into the chancel is Norman. On the right hand, entering the tower from the churchyard, is a stoup ; there is one at the south entrance into the nave, on the right hand of it. On each side of the arch leading from the tower into the nave, and on the nave side, are small square nooks much broken. A long, narrow, square opening is high up in the tower, facing the chancel, near where the roof of the church was, for the roof is gone ; another 252 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, similar opening is above it, near the top of the tower. A mark on north wall of nave, and opposite the south entrance into it, shows there was an aperture ; it is square at the top ; it may have been a door. In the north wall of the nave, close to the arch leading into the chancel, is a small opening, in which are seven stone steps much broken, at the side of it ; there is in it a mark which looks as if there had been a window. Two windows are on north side of the nave, deeply recessed, the window itself small ; two windows on the south side are large and square and deeply recessed, but so broken that you cannot define the style. The arch leading into the nave on south side is not exactly round, it is oval ; a similar one leads into the chancel on the south, except that inside it is square. The window over the altar is trefoil. On north wall of the chancel is a large, plain, square aperture, blocked up at the back and slightly arched ; a large, square window is in south wall of chancel. To the left of the window above the altar, a small stone slab comes out from the wall, supported beneath by two knobs, similar to those which belong to the rood in Romish times. On each side of the altar is a square, deep recess, blocked up at the back, about the height of an ordinary chair ; and a square, deep recess of greater height, closed up at the back, is in the north and south walls, close to the corner of the east wall. There are two steps ascending to the altar much broken ; the altar itself is gone. The great attraction of this church, which causes so many visits to it, are the pilgrims’ tombs in the churchyard — there are three, the object of much veneration at all times. Tradition says : Three holy palmers, meeting here in great destitution, prepared for them- selves three graves, agreeing that two of them should be put to death ; the third, after burying them, was to lie down in the remain- ing grave, and pull a large stone over it ; ” and you see that in one of the graves the covering stone is awry, as if the strength of the man had failed. On one grave a coil of rope is carved on the stone ; on the second, a hatchet and saw ; on the third, the figure of a woman, with a ring on her finger. T’here are more besides these three in which pilgrims are said to have been buried. One has carved on it what looks like panes of glass ; the others are hardly visible from the weeds that have grown over them. The three first are those which have been so venerated and generally noticed. They say the names of nine monks are somewhere carved on the church. This living is annexed to the Vicarage of Mydrim, is in the Archdeaconry of Caermarthen and Hundred of Derllys. In this parish of Llanfihangel was born the Rev. T. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 253 Charles, the founder of the Bible Society, at the farm-house of Pantdwfn or Bantdovan (see Part VIL, where he is noticed). Not far from this church is a farm-house, called Treventy, which occu- pies the site of a monastery. I visited this house, which is large and substantially built, the walls enormously thick, bearing marks of great age. Whether it retains any part of the monastery I cannot say ; I have been told that the dairy only is part of it ; that the kitchen before it was altered was a curious place. It is divided into two, and appears more ancient than the rest of the house. There was a while ago in front of the house, a passage with a roof to it, along which funerals had a right to pass to the church ; out of it they have formed two rooms. At the back of the house I observed some walls looking very old.^ About ten minutes’ walk from this farm, on the St. Clears side of it, is a small cottage very ancient, the walls exceedingly thick ; it is called Treventy Gate ; ” no doubt it belonged to the monaster3^ The church of Llandeilo Abercywyn is opposite the Pilgrim church on the opposite side of the river, just at the confluence of the Taf and Cywyn ; is in the Hundred of Derllys, Co. Caermarthen, dedicated to St. Teilo. The ‘ Book of Llandaff ’ says it was given to St. Teilo, who died 563 or 566 a.d.; it is therefore very old. Spurrell, in his Magazine, ^Haul,’ in the inventory he gives of church goods in Caermarthenshire, it is said in this church : In p’mis, a chalyce ; it’m, a bell.” The church is not named in the taxation of Nicholas IV., 1288. This church is a plain structure, built with the stone of the country. A low arch, not purely round, gives entrance into the church, where immediately on the right is a stoup. There was an entrance at the west end, for you see there the mark of a similar arch very low down, blocked up with stones ; it has the appearance of the ground being now higher than it was anciently, or of the church having sunk. There is no tower, but a bell hangs from the brick-work. There is no chancel arch ; no division of nave and chancel. The flooring is of common stone, the walls white-washed, the whole building pewless; common moveable benches with backs serve for seats. The upper part of the bap- tismal font seems new, the bottom may be ancient ; no carving on it. The ancient pulpit and reading-desk are gone ; common stained wood ones serve instead. A small table of common wood painted supplies the loss of the ancient altar ; a chair of same material at its side, enclosed within an equally common wooden railing, flanked ^ Opposite the front of the house, the river way, are earth works ; here tradition says a battle was fought. 254 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, on each side by five stone steps white-washed, rising half way up the wall. What was their purpose ? The windows bear marks of great age. An ancient building is near the church ; what it served for is unknown. The lower part is used for a dairy by the people of Llandeilo farm-house. Here the windows are deeply recessed, the ceilings slightly arched ; there is nothing to remark besides. In the front, outside, is the mark of a window blocked up, having an arched stone coping ; at the side of the building, and high up, is a very small window blocked up ; and besides several marks of windows and knobs jutting out, indicating the existence of a floor in past times. Llandeilo farm stands near the church, and is ancient. Llandeilo Abercywyn is a rectory ; the church is served by the Rev. Thomas William Jones, who holds the perpetual curacy of Llanybri. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 255 PART XVII. FERRYSIDE— KIDWILLI OR CIDWELLI. Overflowing of the Sea in iioo, a.d. — Buried Town and Forest — Kidwilli Castle and Church, Ferrystde, a straggling village, is prettily seated on the Towey, the resort of numerous visitors in summer. Like Llanstephan, it has been endowed with every feature this earth has to give — sea, river, bay, sands, headlands, green swelling hills, with all their variety of form, planting their feet on the waters. From the hill- top appear the mountains, the Glamorganshire coast, sweet Rossili Bay, Worms Head with its curious form, its solitariness, its wild, grand scenery, its historic interest ; and you think of the Roman sentinel, who once kept watch on its lonely shore. The view of Llanstephan Castle on the hill-top ; the Plas, the residence of Lady Hamilton, amid a mass of trees ; the village, seated along the shore, rising up the slope of the hill, the church-tower above all, is lovely. The beauty is increased when the little vessels, with snow-white sails, turn the point and glide gracefully down the Towey ; lastly, the glorious sunsets. It is in the Hundred of Kidwelli, Co. Caermarthen. There is little antiquity left. The houses mostly belong to this century. The parish church dedicated to St. Ishmael j in old documents it is Llan Ishmael.” It is one of the oldest in the county ; stands solitary on the rocky point, very interesting in its loneliness ; the wide sea before, far from all sounds but the dashing of the waves and roaring of the winds. Its founder was Ismael, suffragan bishop, under St. Teilo, Archbishop of Menevia, and son of Budig, an Armorican, by Arianwedd, sister to St. Teilo, born in Cornugallia, in Armorica. Forced to leave Armorica, he sailed in a fleet and landed at Dyfed, i. e. Pembroke. He had two sons, Ismael and Tyfei. In the inventorie of church goods, taken time Edward VI., St. Ishmael had “ In p^mis, one chalyce; It’m, ij belles.^’ It is mentioned in the taxation of Nicholas IV., about 1291, as having an income of £(> ly. It is a vicarage held with Llansaint, which is about two miles from 256 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, it, and formerly had the name of Hawlkyng or Halkin churche, being a Chaple annexed to the same phishe (/. e, St. Ismael’s), and having It’m, a chalyce.” The Rev. Owen Jones was the vicar. He died in 1877, and the Rev. Mr. James now holds this living. The walk to the village of Llansaint is exceedingly pretty, and near it are some sweet views. The church of St. Ismael’s has lately been restored, about ten or twelve years ago (this year, 1878). Before its restoration there was inside an inclosure, reserved in Romish times for nuns who had offended. Here they sat as a penance during Divine service. The inclosing wall or screen was so high that the congregation could not see them, but the priest could, and he observed how they behaved. This now forms the vestry. There used to be kept in the church a chair with a divi- sion in the middle, designed for two persons to sit in. I am told by friends of mine, who have always resided in this neighbourhood, and whose family have for generations possessed and lived on their estate here, that this chair was used for the purpose of penance. If a husband and wife quarrelled, they were made to sit in it placed in the nave in the midst of the congregation during Divine service, with a white sheet over their heads. If one only of them was in fault, then that one sat in it alone ; a sketch of it is here. It seems to have been used also for bride and bridegroom ; probably this was latterly, after the custom just mentioned had been done away with. Not many years ago it was the fashion for the men and women to be separated in the church ; the women sat by them- selves on a bench that went all round the chancel. There is a ferry boat which carries you across the Towy from Llanstephan to the Ferry side. The ferryman pays to Mr. Morris, banker of Caer- marthen, to whom the ferry belongs, <^45 a year ; before the rail- way came he paid only I refer the reader to Part VHI., where are some customs peculiar to the Ferryside, described. The Welsh Triads refer to a great overflowing of the sea on the lands of Co. Glamorgan and Cardigan in a.d. iioo, owing to the cutting of the dykes. It was then that the sea encroached on the land by St. Ishmael’s, and on that now washed by Laugharne Bay. The part between Laugharne burrows and the point of St. Ishmael’s was all forest once, and there was a town or village near it, with a gentleman’s seat and grounds. St. Ishmael’swas the parish church of this town, and this accounts for the isolated position of this church, so far as it is away from the village of Ferryside. The church then stood close to the town. A family, whose ancestors had been for generations resident in the neighbourhood, told me HUSIjAf-lDS'l^JVH 'fOiiJi \ritvt:f r^fh^StWA^D THE OLD CHAIR IN ST. ISHIvIAEL’S CHURCH. Ferryside, near Carmarthen. See Part 17. ■I; ■ ■ ^ PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 2^7 the tops of walls protruded out of the sand by the church, and they had often been useful when they were enjoying a pic-nic. In Giraldus^ time there were extensive pastures between the forest and the sea. By the kind attention of the late vicar, the Rev. Owen Jones, I was informed that many acres of this forest, which extends from St. Ishmael’s to Penalt ^ in the parish of Kidwelli, are still to be seen at low water ; that antlers have frequently been picked up on the beach, embedded in the forest and the clay ; he had two or three in his possession. He said the fishermen often trace the foundations of houses, &c., and that the tradition of the place is that a village stood in the bay not far from the old forest. Fishermen of Laugharne have told me they have seen stumps of trees in the mud far out, facing the Castle of Laugharne and Island House. In the Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis, mention is made of this forest in the following passage : — ‘ ‘ Thence we pro- ceeded towards the river Lochor through the plains in which Howel, son of Meredyth of Brecheinoc, after the decease of Henry L, gained a signal victory over the English. Having first crossed the river Lochor, and afterwards the water called Wen- draeth, we arrived at the Castle of Cydweli (Kidwelli). In this district, after the death of Henry, whilst Gruffydh, son of Rhys, then prince of South Wales, was engaged in soliciting assistance from North Wales, his wife, Gwenliana (like the queen of the Amazons, and a second Penthesilea), led an army into these parts ; but she was defeated by Maurice de Londres, lord of that country, and Geoffrey, the Bishop’s constable. Morgan, one of her sons, whom she had arrogantly brought with her in that expedition, was slain, and the other, Malgo, taken prisoner, and she, with many of her followers, were put to death. During the reign of Henry L, when Wales enjoyed a state of tranquillity, the above-mentioned Maurice had a forest in that neighbourhood, well stocked with wild animals, especially deer, and was extremely tenacious of his veni- son. His wife (for women are often very expert in deceiving men), made use of this curious statagem : — Her husband possessed, on the side of the wood next the sea, extensive pastures and large flocks of sheep. Having made the shepherds and chief people in her house accomplices and favourers of her designs, and taking advantage of the simple courtesy of her husband, she thus addressed him : ‘ It is wonderful that, being lord over beasts, you have ceased to exercise dominion over them, and by not making use of your deer, do not now rule over them, but are subservient to them. ^ Penalt means the top or head of the forest. 258 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, And behold how great an abuse arises from too great patience, for they attack our sheep with such an unheard of rage and unusual voracity, that from many they are become few, from being innu- merable, only numerous.’ To make her story more probable, she caused some wool to be inserted between the intestines of two stags which had been embowelled, and her husband, thus artfully deceived, sacrificed his deer to the rapacity of his dogs.” In Camden’s ‘ Britain,’ there is this description of what these parts were in ancient times : — On the north-east side there stretcheth itself a great way out, ^ Cantred Maur,’ that is, ‘The Great Hun- dred,’ a most safe refuge for the Britons in times past, as being thick set with woods, cumbersome to travaile in, by reason the waies are intricate by the windings in and out of the hills. South- ward stand Talcharn (/. e. Laugharne) and Llanstephan Castles upon rocks of the sea, which are most notable witnesses of mar- tiall valour and prowesse.” Kidwelli is within a short drive from Ferryside ; the road to it is by the sea, rather a dreary one, and when you reach Kidwelli, the scene is more dreary, for a more desolate, forlorn-looking place I never saw. It is divided into Old Kidwelli and New Kidwelli. The river Gwendraeth waters it. The Castle of Kidwelli is a fine noble ruin, erected by William de Londres, a Norman knight, about A.D. 1094, so says the ‘Chronicle of Caradoc.’ Its history lies in obscurity. Its gateway is opposite the sea. It has four towers, two in ruins, two in perfect preservation. The chapel must have been very handsome, its windows trefoil, the altar part rounded. A lovely view you have from the castle. The church of Kidwelli is thought to be of later date than the castle. The chapel of Cadog and Teilo are under Kidwelli. Probably that of Cadog, or, as it is called, Llangadog, was at first, before the present church was built, the parish church of Kidwelli. There is the ruin of a priory near the sea, called Penalt Priory. It stands midway on the road between Ferryside and Kidwelli, on your right as you go to Kidwelli. A part of one of the gates of the wall that surrounded Old Kidwelli still remains. The parish church is in New Kid- welli. This place had once a flourishing trade. The proper spelling is Cidweli. I should have observed, that the heroic Gwellian, wife of Rhys, prince of South Wales, marched on Kidwelli, near the spot called “ The field of the grave of Gwellian.” After a desperate battle, William de Londres defeated her. She fell with one of her sons. One of the towers of Kidwelli Castle has the name of Twr Gwellian. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 259 PART XVIIL FRUITS FLOWERS — FERNS — SHELLS. I DO not give a perfect, full account of all the above natural pro- ductions of Laugharne. The fruit generally is inferior, and in small quantities. The agricultural shows which have been held in the town lately, will no doubt do much good ; prizes have been given for some admirable specimens of vegetables. Primroses in the greatest profusion ; the banks of Llandawke Lane covered with them. ‘‘The Cors,’’ where a residence is, was once covered with the common flag, called Cleddr. The wild strawberry is found about Laugharne. The dewberry grows abundantly on the Burrows here. Sloes, hips, and haws are not scarce, and blackberries so plentiful they seem to have possession of the land. The wild cherry is here. The blueberry, which resembles the blackberry, is found too. The crab apple is in some gardens; it is on Hugden, and is used to graft on cultivated apple trees, to give them a fine flavour. Cracks are in these parts ; they have slits in them like a crack, which gives them this name ; they are sour, and like a plum, something between a sloe and a plum, shaped like a bird’s egg. Ferns abound; there are some rare ones in the cliffs rather high up under the New Walk by the sea. The vervain, called “ The Holy Vervain” by the Welsh; this reverence for it probably derived from the Romans, who crowned their altars with it, and used it to purify and clean the temple of Jupiter. The shells are very pretty ; when in winter and stormy weather the sea rolls in more proudly, then it casts its beauties on the shore. I give some of the species : the Solen genus, Siliqua, Vagina, Eusis, Legu- men, Pellucidus, Tellina. The Mactra Lutraria is in great abund- ance near the houses on the Strand in Laugharne. 26 o ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, PART XIX. Westmead — Llanmiloe — Crcrwe Family — Smugglers — Encampfnent — Apartments — Harbour at Duke's Bottom — Roman Vessel — Wells noted for Cures — Castle Lloyd — Remains of an Encampment — Rural Beauties — Ploughing — Corn — Climate — Healthiness — Sea Encroaching — Mrs. Schilnifnelpenninck — Mora- vian Chapel —Morfabychan — Rees Eamily — Hospitality — Morality — Robbers — Inns of III- Fame — The Commons — Druidic Remains — Well and Turning Pool — Submerged Forest — Ferns ^ &^c. — Manor Courts — Morris Cottage — Cus- toms — Ancient Poetry — Fairies — Games — Ancient Families. “ Association is everything. Clothe the shore with buried cities, spread an air of romance over every hill, and it is wonderful how different rugged nature will look. On the other hand, let all the associations be those of commerce, and the most beautiful scenery will have a very matter-of-fact appearance.” — Headley’s Travels in Italy ^ p. 77. A PLEASANT road, about four miles, leads from Laugharne to Pen- dine, Co. Caermarthen, a sequestered spot on the sea-shore, out of the way of high roads and railways. The hills that skirt this road sweep gracefully down, sometimes making interesting breaks which a verdant hill closes in behind, as though they meant to give a sight of a lovely vale or fruitful plain, which an afterthought conceals. On the left, the hills end at Coigan. The road now lies open to the sea, separated by an extensive marsh. A pretty view is produced by a sudden turn in the road. The hills bending outwards appear to cross the road, and cut off all outlet ; but a few steps further an opening shows two or three cottages on the slope of the hill, called Plashyatt. These hills on the right con- tinue to Pendine, sometimes glowing with the gorse or blushing with the foxglove. As you approach Brook, a farm resting under the highest hills in this range, you hear perhaps the pleasant sound of the blacksmith’s hammer. A pretty valley passes from the back of the farm, where the varied musical sounds caused by the rush- ing, dashing, gentle rippling of clear streams, the half-audible trickling of some hidden spring out of a chink in the hill-side, attend you all the way. By the farm a school-room has been built by the thoughtful care of Rev. J. N. Harrison, Vicar of Lang- PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 26 1 harne, and lately enlarged for purpose of holding Divine service in it on Sunday. A little stream runs by Brook Farm, close to the road, which has never been known to fail within the memory of the oldest person now living. Tradition says it has flowed ever since the Deluge. The saying is, that the lease of Brook will last as long as the stream lasts ; originating perhaps from the old Saxon custom of sometimes granting leases for the term of a stream. After Brook you come to the roofless mansion of Westmead, with its many windows, half the cause of its misfortunes ; the window-tax equalled the rent, and the house was abandoned. Ivy clings to the walls ; peeps in at the broken windows. The inmates used to sit on the roof to enjoy the view of the sea. The garden wall protects some of the finest fruit in these parts. It is said to have been a castle. It belonged to the Crowes ; over the door of the principal entrance two crows in stone once rested. The crow was the crest of the family. Their property extended from Eare- weare to St. Clears. Sir Sackville and Lady Crowe resided at W estmead ; they were buried within the communion-rails in Laug- harne church. The date, 1679, records the death of the last (see the account of monuments in Part V.). Sir Robert and I^ady Maude resided here after them, and were buried in same place. Then the Hawardens occupied the house. Following this road, you will soon see a large white house peeping through the foliage, the hills rising far above it. This is Llan- miloe, the residence of Morgan Jones, Esq., lord of the manor of Pendine. The house dates from 1720; this date is carved on the house. A very ancient house was on the site of it, built by the Mortimers, Earls of March ; same family as that of Grey, Earl of Warwick. An heiress of the Mortimers, last of that name, pulled down the old house, and built present one in 1720. She married Mr. Edwardes, of Co. Pembroke, which brought the Edwardes into that family. Latterly, Misses Edwardes resided at Llanmiloe. The lord of Milo, a Norman knight, came over with William the Conqueror, had a grant of the property ; hence the name. Pen- dine now comes into view. Llanmiloe, anciently Castle Lloyd (Llwyd), was one of the chain of forts mentioned in Part XXIII. When Lady Hawarden left Westmead, Lord Kensington lived in it, and was last of that rank who did. Capt. Maude, Lady Hawarden’s son, was much respected. Lady Hawarden sold the Westmead estate, and divided the money raised by it among her children. M. Jones, Esq., present owner of it. Lady Hawarden 262 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, gave the school-house at Marross, and house for master of it, for ever, and that the possessor of the estate should pay the master s £24 per annum (see for this. Part XXII.). On the sea-shore, and on top and decline of the hills, the line of hills that skirt the Burrows is beautiful ; a break in it dis- closes a sweet valley. A line of hill, at right angles with these, extends to the sands, ending in Tolwin Point.^ A neat inn, ‘‘The Spring Well,’^ looks pretty, reposing under the shelter of this hill ; its pure white in pleasing contrast with the green behind. The white houses of these parts have a very cheerful look. To Vv^hite- wash the houses was an old British custom, retained in many parts of Wales. Diodorus Siculus notices that the Britons made their houses white with chalk. In Glamorganshire especially, the Bards sing of its white houses in beautiful verse. Dafydd ab Gwilym, about 1350, says: “The Bard loves this beautiful country, its wine, its white houses.’^ He says : “ Thou sun of the bright morn- ing, beam joyfulness around, and salute the white houses of Gla- morgan.” The sands of Pendine are very fine ; free from rocks, pools, and streams of water, which either prevent you walking along them or make it difficult ; they retain this character for miles. Cliffs of dark stone pass from the Tolwin Point with a graceful bend along the yellow sands. This amphitheatre is pierced with many large caves, the scene of many picnics. Under their shelter you enjoy the pretty view of Tenby and its islands ; the vessels, with their sails glistening in the sun, threading in and out of them. Further off, Gower, stretching into the sea like Chersonese, the undulating land of Glamorgan, that “lady of all countries” — “sweet margin of the sea,” renowned for her fertility and her lovely vales. “ Her trees that bear the luscious pear. So thickly clustering everywhere, That the fair country of my love Looks dense as one continuous grove. Her lofty woods with warblers teem ; Her fields with flowers that love the stream ; Her valleys varied crops display — Eight kinds of corn and three of hay : Bright parlour with her trefoil’d floor, Sweet garden spread on ocean’s shore.” ^ 1 Tolwin is a corruption of Dolween or Dolgwyn ; ddl^ a meadow ; gwyn., white. “The Summer,” by the noted poet of 14th cent., David ap Gwilym of Cardiganshire, styled “The Welsh Petrarch.” It means, “David, son of William.” PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 263 It may be that on some drowsy afternoon of summer, pleasant sounds will greet your ear ; the gentle dashing of the waves, the sweet short whistle of the curlews as they fly off the rocks, the bell-like sound of the quoits, as some party play the game on the sands. Stones and clusters of rocks lie about in interesting con- fusion ; some with pools of water in which the young people catch shrimps and prawns. The cliffs end at Gilmin Point. This name arose thus : During a time of persecution people used to assemble here for Divine worship. On one occasion, a preacher, named Gilman, stood at the entrance of the cave called ‘‘The Pulpit,” and gave a sermon to a thousand people. It is called also Gilmin Church. At this point is an exact likeness of a human head. The nose is broken off. It was the custom for fishermen to ask if the tide was low enough to go round the nose (a sketch of those cliffs and of Pendine is in first edition). The top of the hill over this point is called “Beacon’s Hill,” from lights having formerly been placed there, for the heartless purpose of alluring ships and pillag- ing them. The old inhabitants of Pendine remember the men going on horseback, with a lantern tied under the horses’ heads, for this object. On the top of the cliff here, by the part called “ Napps,” are the remains of a British encampment. It is marked out by a number of single stones, is much larger in length than in breadth ; from it issues more single stones, disposed in a wider area beyond. Next to this, and nearer the sea, is a pretty high earth mound ; round it a trench or ditch. On the top of this mound is a slightly-raised part, of a circular form. One of the stones of this encampment is called “ the Devil’s track.” In the middle is a hollow, the rim of it not quite round ; it has the look of a queer-shaped foot, so it has been thought the mark of the foot of the Evil One, and that he stood across the valley, as I shall notice further on, putting one foot on this stone,^ the other on Marross, where is a similar stone. In the hollow of the stone there used to be water, and they would throw pins into it, and take them out to prick warts, which formerly was deemed a cure. The other stone on Marross is in the Druidical remains. Lower down, nearer the sea than the encampment, is another stone with two curious marks ; one exactly like a man’s foot, the other like a colt’s. Some persons think the encampment Danish. The Danes were on this coast. Historical records say they landed on Pem- brokeshire coast, and twice burnt St. David’s Cathedral. Skomer and Skohang are Danish words, the names of two islands which ^ See sketch of it in here ; the interior is the foot-naark. ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, 264 are near Dinas, between Fishguard and Newport, Co. Pembroke. I should think it was originally an ancient British habitation, after- wards converted into a fortress. I refer the reader to the account I give of these habitations a few pages on. From this encampment there is a splendid, extensive view; a magnificent station for military observation. Very near it, the ground is slightly hollowed ; water they say is always in the hollow. Upon the top of the hill, over Gilmin Point, is a small farm ; the land belonging to it is called Napps, and all the top of this hill, dividing Pendine from Morfabychan, is Pendine Commons. About 68 years ago, 10 or 1 2 Cornish men came to these parts ; remarkably fine men, power- ful beyond usual. They were smugglers, dispersed about Haver- fordwest, Tenby, Pembroke, Manorbier, Llanstephan; two of them, Truescot and Dickdelly, lived in the present farm-house of Napps. Here they brought the wine and spirits which came in ships to Gilmin Point beneath, which they placed first in the cave called Gilmin Church, and afterwards removed to the cellars of that house. One cellar was discovered by the floor of the room above giving way. They concealed the aperture leading into the cellar by placing a box filled with mould and flowers over it. The excise officers were never able to take them. One of them, named Armstrong, being at Caermarthen with his cart full of spirits, was stopped by the officers ; though one against several, he, by his tact and enormous strength, escaped. At another time, he withstood seven officers. Truescot died at Pembroke about 10 years ago (this year 1875). His daughter kept an inn there; another daughter kept one at Haverfordwest. I had this history of the smugglers from an old inhabitant of Pendine, who was personally acquainted with them. Before going more into the history part, I will describe the condition and advantages of this place. It had some ruins, and still has large houses telling of better days in some respects. If the few old families of position have disappeared, it has repaid the loss by a considerable accession of others, who visit its fine sands in the sunny days of summer. Then you see them arriving at all hours in various kinds of vehicles — traps, four-wheeled carriages, carts, dog-carts, waggons occasionally, a handsome gentleman’s carriage, some well loaded with baskets and hampers containing the requisites of a pic-nic. Many rough it; a pleasant change from the conventionalism of town life. Before the present road was made across the Burrows, it was no easy matter to drive along, especially if there had been rain ; for the ruts and pools of water PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 265 in the old road were many ; sometimes you sank into the sand, then you splashed into a pool of water, perhaps stuck in the mud. These various vehicles will stand about the Spring Well Inn, the Beach House Hotel, and the ‘‘New Inn.” And when the sun sets behind the hills, and the company depart, you may see a young lady on a spirited pony, leaving the Spring Well, dashing along the curve of the road, by Miss Rees’, followed by a carriage or cart, well laden with the family party ; a brother or friend on horseback bringing up the rear. Then comes the huge waggon of Laugharne, with its three horses abreast, filled with the good inhabitants of the town ; after it, a smart carriage, and, for certain, a cart full of farm servants, with high-crowned hats and full Welsh costume, and Pendine is left to its own reflections. You walk now, after the bustle of the day, on the sands, to see how sweetly the Spring Well rests against the deep darkness of the great hill, with perhaps its one light in some window, shining like a bright star in heaven, or, as Shakespeare says, “ as a bright light in a naughty world;” and far on the sea, the light of Caldey flickering in the gloom. Or walk before that amphitheatre of cliff, now robed in darkness, frowning on the sands, the moon stationed as sentinel above, and you feel like the last man. Impressed by the beauty of the scene, the dead silence, not a footstep, not a breath, or trace of human being ; the moon looking down in lonely majesty from a sky of that exquisitely pure, indescribable blue — not a cloud — surrounded by stars unnumbered, as the sands on the sea-shore. Those “isles of light, so pure, so spiritually bright.” You are disposed to moralize, as Addison did in that beautiful piece on sunset. “ I was yesterday,” he says, “ at sunset, walking in the fields, till night insensibly fell on me. I amused myself with all the richness and variety of colours which appeared in the western parts of the heavens. In proportion as they faded and went out, several stars and planets appeared, one after another, till the whole firmament was in a glow. The blueness of the sether was heightened and enlivened by the season of the year, and by the rays of all those luminaries that passed through it .... to complete the scene, the full moon rose in that clouded majesty which Milton takes notice of, and opened to the eye a new picture of nature.” As he surveyed this scene he continues : “A thought arose in me which often perplexes men of serious and contem- plative natures. David fell into it. I was afraid of being over- looked amidst the immensity of nature, and lost among the infinite variety of creatures which, in all probability, swarm through all 266 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, these immeasurable regions of matter.’^ So lovely is this spot, at this hour, that I would say to the visitor : you would see its beauty at its height, go visit it by the pale moonlight Another attraction is Miss Rees, a member of a very respectable Welsh family, resident for two or three generations at the Great House in the village — the representative of a class of society rapidly dying out, wearing the high-crowned hat ; much respected. It is a pastime, for those who have long known the family, to have a chat with Miss Rees. Her house, which bears the name of the Beach House, stands pleasantly on the sandy shore. She keeps the Post-office, and lets apartments. Her niece. Miss Saer, is the hostess of ‘‘Spring Well,” which has a pretty view of the hills and sea. Here are numerous arrivals in -the season. Many come to enjoy a chat with Miss Saer, who is indefatigable in at- tending her visitors ; her house well placed for the pleasures and advantages of this spot. On the hill over this house, stands a humble cot, on the part called Goose Hill, with its garden and out-houses ; it has looked on the glorious view before it for more than loo years ; and 40 years ago it was the only lodging in this part by the sea. The Beach House Hotel is as pleasantly situated, kept by very respectable parties, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis ; they have many rooms well furnished to let to visitors. The New Inn, on slope of the hill, has an extensive view of the sea. It is occupied, as tenants, by most worthy, industrious people — Misses Morris — who are of same family as the Rees. From their house you have a pretty view on the right of the hills, where is one of those ex- quisite beauties in a landscape — a little path just disclosing itself through the foliage, and describing a curve, so that its course is interestingly concealed. A large space before the house makes a pleasant promenade, whence you watch the busy scene at the Spring Well. The apartments are neat and clean. Close by are three good houses, with fine views of the sea, and gardens attached. One of them. Rock Cottage, is pleasantly situated, containing several good-sized rooms, and is let furnished. The other is Sandy Bay House ; large, and prettily built. Further on, in the line of this part, are two houses on the path- way to Duke's Bottom, where lodgings are let. They have a good view of the sea. A rural cottage in midst of a pretty, neat garden, by the Burrows, has two rooms to let ; they are small, but neat and clean. Mr. and Mrs. Harris, who live in it, are most respect- able. Not far from the house, a bathing-machine, the only one, stands in a sheltered break in the sand-hills during winter ; but PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 267 the caves in that amphitheatre of cliff fully supply the want of more machines ; they form perfect dressing-rooms. There is no danger in bathing ; for it is quite free from currents, and the sands are firm ; you can go out one mile in safety. Upon the slope of the hill, passing, to the sea, is a house and garden which Mr. Morris, of Morfabychan, lets furnished. It has a sweet view of the sea, the hills, and the Burrows. It is an amusement for those who lodge here, to watch the different visitors coming across the Burrows, to conjecture who they are ; sometimes a council of the household is called to decide the point. The view of the coast opposite, where you look down the sweet Towy, is lovely, especially at early morn, when, as Spenser says : — “ Chearefull chaimticlere, with his note shrill, Had warned once that Phoebus’ fiery carre, In haste, was climbing up the easterne hill. ” Faerie Queene^ Canto 1 1. There is some amusement afforded visitors by Mr. Morris, who in his cottage in the sweet valley of Morfabychan, sings to his violin songs of his own composing ; some very humorous, and very nice poetry. He belongs to the family of the Rees of the Great House. Ashwell Cottage, built by the Misses Edwardes of Llan- miloe, is on the slope of the hill. Ashwell farm-house is the oldest one in this part. The road which now passes by it, coming from the sands, was all field about forty years ago, with a pathway through it. Many fine ash trees stood about this farm, and grass grew where now are mud and deep ruts. Yrom here to the New Inn stood at intervals clusters of ash trees, and a row of them passed from the back of Ashwell farm to Pudlack, where was once an ancient house occupied by the Prices, relations of the Rees. In very ancient times there was here quite a wood of ash trees, so that from Ashwell to the sea, the part had the name of Ashwell : this is its name now. Properly, the name of Pendine belongs to the village where the church is, though it extends beyond it in several directions, because Pendine Commons extend from Duke's Bottom, past Burgesses' Green up to the New Inn, over the slope and top of the hill, past Ashwell farm to Napps and Morfabychan ; in the opposite direction as far as Greenbridge, Ashwell farm, and Ashwell Cottage, Mr. Morris' house, and Matthias. The Spring- well," the Beach House occupied by Miss Rees, the cottage on Goose Hill, stand on the land belonging to Sir John Stepney of Greenfields, Llanelly, Co. Caermarthen. Near the New Inn, on 268 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, its left are the ruins of a pretty residence, called The Cottages,’' with a fine view of the sea. It was in the style of an Indian bun- galow, all the rooms on the ground floor; built by C. Goullet, Esq., an officer in the army. He resided here for six years, with his wife and children. The line of hills that skirt Pendine Burrows has an interesting history. On their slope a road leads from the New Inn to Sandy Bay House.” This has changed its name with its change of structure. It has been enlarged, and its pretty archi- tecture looks picturesque on the slope. Its name is now Bryn Gwyn.” Gwyn is white in Welsh, and Bryn is hill. The mean- ing is, seated on a pleasant hill.” The secondary import of Gwyn is happy, pleasant. On the other side, and as far as to the house of Mr. T. David of Laugharne, the part is called Burgesses’ Green,” for here the burgesses used to hold their meetings. It is so called in old deeds. The next house on this road stands on the spot formerly called Myrtle Bower.” It was a lovely place ; it consisted of a cottage and garden prettily laid out, with a sweet bower of myrtles and other flowers. Here the families who visited Pendine for the day received good attendance. Many tea-parties have been held in the bower. After this, you enter a narrow path leading to a pretty sheltered recess in the hills where a thatched cottage is, called Gaudy Hall.” Here, says an old deed, stood a mansion with that name. These hills continue to Duke’s Bot- tom, where a break occurs to form a sweet valley. The mound on this side bearing a ruined house is called ‘^Duke’s Bottom.” The other side of the valley where there are trees is called Frog’s Hole.” The part by Duke’s Bottom and Frog’s Hole is called the Barques.^ Here was once a fine harbour ; the sea washed the foot of these hills. At Duke’s Bottom have been discovered posts and rings, as you see in seaports, for attaching ships. A person of this town told me her son saw these posts and rings six years ago (this year, 1878). Another, holding a respectable office, related to me that the father of an old man now living had a book stating there was a harbour here, and that the Mole, on the hill above, near farm of Castle Lloyd, marks the site of the ancient castle. In 1780, a portion of a Roman vessel was discovered. There are different stories concerning a duke residing here. Tradition says Duke’s Bottom was so named from a duke ; that a duke com- manded the fort on the top of the hill over Frog’s Hole, and there was the appearance of earth works, and of there having been an Barques, or, as it has been latterly spelt, Barks, is a name given in Wales to that part of a cliff or bank against which the sea beats. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 269 encampment at Castle Lloyd.^ I was told by Mr. Lloyd, of East Pool Farm, in Pwllcoggan, an elderly man, whose family for gener- ations had been settled there. Another tells me that she had heard from her mother that the duke who lived here had been shipwrecked on the Burrows, somewhere in a line with Llanmiloe, and in consequence settled here ; but the following is true : — Mr. Morris of Morfabychan was told by Richard Browne, a domestic of Llanmiloe, who died forty-eight years ago, aged eighty, that his father or grandfather knew the duke ; that he paid his addresses to a lady at Eglwyscummin. They say he lived in a fine mansion at Frog’s Hole, and old inhabitants remember that some time ago, all the vestiges of there having been a good garden were here — many kinds of plants, as myrtles, box-trees, &c. ; all kinds of fruit trees, bearing marks of great age, especially an enormous apple tree spreading its branches far and wide. This was called The Duke’s Tree.” Another quite as old, having the same name, was on the other side of the valley by the Barques. The ruins on that mound just mentioned at Duke’s Bottom was once a farm-house, called Cwmclyd, very ancient, with a good garden. On left hand going down the valley was an old cottage with its ancient mill. Upon the top of the hill, on the side of the valley, are three wells that once were famous throughout the county for the cures effected by their waters. People flocked from all parts to drink them. They had the name of Pynon Nathan, ^ from the name of the per- son who possessed them. They are still open, and Morrises of Morfabychan know the people who still go for their waters to heal their maladies. One was good for weak and inflamed eyes, another for rheumatism, a third for wounds. For rheumatism, the water was mixed with clay and made into a plaister, applied to the part affected. It was in latter part of seventeenth century that the Scotch doctor closed these wells in. They send streams of water down the slope of the hill, which flow to Frog’s Hole, to the sands and sea. The part of the hill just over Duke’s Bottom is called Cold Blow. The valley here bears name of Duke’s Bot- tom, and is lovely. Properly I may say, there are two valleys ; the one which is seen from the Burrows, goes direct to the Three Lords, very near to it. About the middle of it, a valley, having the same name, branches off between the hills, and ends at the farm of Castle Lloyd. The ancient castle I have mentioned, from which that farm has its name, was seated on the hill which dove- ' Tradition says a battle was fought by the Danes here. * In English called “Nathan’s Wells.” 270 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE,, tails in between the two valleys, and on the very edge of it, over- looking the valley which passes to tlie Three Lords ; not a vestige remains of it. The mound is covered with vegetation. A fine site for a castle ; the position most imposing ; the view lovely. It is well deserving a visit. You must go to it by the road to the Three Lords ; turn off down a lane on the right coming from Pen- dine way; the lane brings you to the farm of Castle Lloyd; and you reach the site of the castle through Croft’s Field. This farm belongs to Morgan Jones, Esq., of Llanmiloe, and is in parish of Laugharne. The farm-house is new, built on the site of the ancient one. The pathway I have mentioned, passing by the cottage called Gaudy Hall, was the old road of Pendine. It crossed Duke’s Bottom and Frog’s Hole, came out at Llanmiloe gate by the end of the Burrows, passed before Llanmiloe House, bent upwards till it came behind Little Llanmiloe, which is the keeper’s house. After that, it sloped down till it entered the pre- sent road, which was then narrower than it is now, and of course a very bad road. It turned up by the two ruined cottages by Mr. Morris’ house, near Broadway, and passed to Laugharne, as described in Part VIII. In the other direction, this old road passed behind ‘‘Bryn Gwyn ” House at Pendine, before the New Inn, and over the hill, for then that road cut through the hill, opening near the New Inn, did not exist. You trace part of the old road by the Great House, where it passes the pond at the out- houses, The wide road above the level of this was then a field, now hedged in on the other side of the road. The view from “ Bryn Gwyn ” is extensive over land and sea, and lovely. On the left, it has a pretty break and slope in the line of hill coming from Duke’s Bottom ; and if you cannot see the loveliness of Rhossili Bay and its church on the coast of Glamorganshire, you may imagine it as you sit on the seat by the house, and draw a line straight from the seat across the sea to that coast. On the top of this line of hill, somewhere over Bryn Gwyn, is Cadno, an ancient farm-house ; it is seen from the sands. Cadno is Welsh for a fox. All the part where the New Inn is, and down to the sea-shore, has the name of Lower End Town; and it has the name of Ash well. All the houses here, except that on Goose Hill and Ashwell farm, were built within the last fifty years. That on Goose Hill was the only place where lodgings could be had. Many families of the gentry used to occupy them. Many now living knew this state of the locality described on this page, and that there were no houses on the slope of the hill facing the sea. Mary of Goose Hill lives PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 2/1 in the cottage on Goose Hill. Her mother, who lived at Napps, was the bathing woman. Not far from Ashwell farm, and on the road to Pendine church, there was not long ago an ancient farm- house, with its outhouses, called Pudlack. Its original name was Mudlack. Lower House was another name it bore. Tradition says it was a fortified house, and that it was the pigeon-house to the Great House. No vestige of this house remains ; but as you leave the sea behind, and enter the road leading to the Great House, you soon reach, on the left, its old wall with a gate. This house was curiously built ; not very commodious, nor convenient. It had those Elizabethan fireplaces, in which several persons could sit. The site commanded a noble view of sea and coast, which the house itself did not enjoy, for all the outhouses were in front. The true derivation of Pendine is not determined ; it is thought by some to come from Pen-tywyn, from the head or end of the line of hill behind the Spring Well, being on the Strand or flat ground — Pen,'’ head in Welsh, or summit, or end of a thing. ‘‘Tywyn” is “strand,” or “flat ground;” and “dine,” a corrup- tion of it, meaning, “head on the strand.” Mr. Spurrell derives it from “Pendain,” /. e. “beautiful summit.” The late Rector of Llandawke, Rev. D. Thomas, told me, that in a Welsh book he read that Pendine was derived from “Pen,” head; “deen,” a “ man.” There is a feature that justifies this derivation. At Gil- min Point, as I have noticed, is the exact form of a man’s head. “Dinas” is the word for a fortified place; now it is simply used for a city; some think Pendine derived from it. Theophilus Jones, in his ‘History of Co. Brecon,’ p. 26, says: The original British fortress was no more than an almost inaccessible or pre- cipitous rock or natural wall. To such, he says, the ancient Britons went for safety against wolves and wild beasts ; and after seeking in the day-time for food in the lowlands, which were covered with wood, they rested in them at night : being at first defences against animals, they were afterwards defences against man, and grew to be regular fortifications. They were called “Dinas,” a Celtic word; “Dun” signifying a lofty fortification or stronghold. Some places in Scotland have the name of Dinas attached. When the Dinas was too small for the increasing family, some left to seek other Dinasoedd ; but as these natural strong- holds were not to be found everywhere, they chose the Bannan, or summit of hills, on which they constructed a fortification, making ramparts of earth and stone, and ditches. These inclosures were 272 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, called Caer or Gaer, from the verb cau or caued, to shut up, inclose, or surround with a fence, ditch, or wall. For several centuries Caer was used for a military station or inclosure ; but in many parts of Wales it is used synonymously with cae, a field. When the Caerau^ increased, the Dinas was considered the metropolis or residence of the Tywysog, the general or leader of the whole country. Thus, for centuries afterwards, says Theo. Jones, the courts of the Princes of North and South Wales were called Dinasoedd — as Dinas Pengwern ; Dinas fawr, or Dinevor. I notice this to suggest that it is not improbable the inclosure marked out with stones, thought to be an encampment at Napps, on the hill over Gilmin Point, might have been one of these British habitations; if so, the name Pendine no doubt is derived from Dinas. The beauty ot Pendine is of that kind we often meet with in the human face ; not strictly handsome, but possessing many pleasing features which all together make up what is called beauty. Stand on the sands at sweet eventide, when the sea is dashing in ; look at the two points of the Tolwin and Gilmin, pressing heavily their dark foot on the yellow sand ; the head of a man is distinctly described at the last point. When the waves dash over it, the falling foam resembles the white hairs of an old man. The tints in these parts are lovely. I have seen a beautiful ultramarine at the edge of those points, with a deep orange colour. If it be the hour when those “ beamy fires That show like beacons in the blue abyss, Ordained to guide the embodied spirit home, From toilsome life to never-ending rest,” are shining, and the time be new moon, when she will rise above the Tolwin, and rest over that indenture in the hill, it is lovely — the contrast of her clear bright light with the darkness of the hill. The cliffs here are brown, as they are along this coast ; the patches interspersed among their rugged stones is a pleasant relief ; and as you stand by the Gilmin Point, you see the beauty of the cliff, its deep bend, and its many caves, with their varied interesting ruggedness — some with entrances like Norman arches, some ending column-like, stretching their feet far out on the sands. There is a peculiar beauty in this spot at some periods of the day, especially when eve approaches, and her shades are cast over the swelling hills that skirt the Burrows. You see them flitting ^ Caerau is the plural of caer. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 2/3 about ' them, now casting the side of an indenture in deep darkness, then leaving some hill-top crowned with sun-light. Stand by the Springwell, and watch this scene so sweet — the houses half in shadow, the last rays of the sun gilding the side of one white house, the roof of another, the windows sparkling like diamonds, till only the chimney-tops glow, and the ancient cot on Goose Hill, and its belongings, and a steep pathway, can scarcely be discerned. And at early morn of summer-time how nature loves to throw a veil of soft mist over the fair forms of those swelling hills. The traffic on the sands is not very great, but some may find amusement in the little there is. At early morn you are sure to see several children coming from the sands loaded with sticks, perhaps bits of coal — the remnants of a wreck — for the household fire ; sometimes two carts full of things washed in from a lost ship. After a stormy night men are often seen bearing huge beams, struggling up the narrow beach on the sands ; boys with donkeys coming from afar on the sands, a basket swinging on each side of the animal, filled with wood ; perhaps a great beam, the spoil of the ocean, sticking out ; and for certain there will be one or two from the households on this sandy shore, with a shawl or apron over their heads if it be windy and cold, searching on the sands for stray bits of wood that the retreating tide has cast up ; and a stout woman, laden with wood in her hands and on her head. Young, nice-looking lasses, and staid, stout domestics with their cans, are seen going along the sands to the stream which runs straight to the sea, for water for the households ; then a man brings his horse here to water. As the day advances, you will see a stray donkey coming slowly round the corner of Miss Rees’ house, enjoying, for aught we know, his own thoughts in solitude ; escaped perhaps from his owner’s domain. Then come the cows, running sharply round this corner, to have a run on the sands. In the heat of noon they will be stationed by the waves as the tide advances. The gulls will collect too along the sands, till at last you see one after another leaving earth for air. The gee^e occasionally honour the sands with their company ; they take but a short promenade : formidable beings to encounter — they hiss, run after you, catch hold of your dress. The pigs are frequent visitors to the sands, sauntering about, seeking a stray bit. Sometimes a little girl, shoe- less and stockingless, chases the household pig round the huge stones that stand on the sands, bent on driving him home to the rural cot ; but the pig, holding a different opinion, decides for the sands, and remains victor. Another little girl, stick in hand, trots 274 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, down a solitary cow to the sea; or another, driving home two or three donkeys that have strayed away, or a single donkey with a bag across his back, to be filled with the seaweed or perhaps sand, led by a little girl round the Tolwin Point, two or three children following ; then a number of little ones, with a single donkey, taking him out for a walk, all eagerly clutching at him, to his extreme displeasure. Now a boy will be riding a donkey, seated at the very end of the animal, just over his tail, and a little girl on her donkey, seated as she should be. Two or three donkeys will be always sauntering on the sands and beach. A fisherman with his nets, loaded with the produce of the sea, issues from a distant part of the sands. A cart full of hay comes heavily along ; another with stones or sand or sea-weed for manure. When the season is over, and few visitors arrive here, there are not many sounds, except the cackling of the geese, the loud note of the gulls, and still louder one of the curlews, or the crushing of the stones as some stray donkey wends his way homewards across the narrow strip of beach ; and most pleasant of all the murmur of the sea, the dashing of the waves as the sea comes in. About nine in the morning the postman arrives with his one-horse vehicle, puts up at the Springwell, comes into Miss Rees^ to deliver the letters ; then goes to the Three Lords and Eglwys- cummin to do the same service ; back again to receive the Pendine letters. At half-past two he drives past Miss Rees^ house to be in Laugharne at tour o'clock, and on to St. Clears. Miss Rees ^ is too interesting a person to be left without some record : almost the last of a well-known, respectable family of a period just passed away. In her kitchen is a pleasant window, in a snug nook, having a pretty view of those swelling hills I have so often alluded to. Here IS her station when she rests awhile from her labour, seated on a chair. Goulding's ^Almanac,' depicted in fine colours, hanging on the wall above her head ; a large table on her left, with shelves of books above ; the old-fashioned clock, an old relic of her family, on her right ; a small round table before her, bearing her Bible and other books ; and for a certainty, if eventide draws near, the large iron kettle is on the fire puffing bravely, sending forth volumes of steam ; and a noble fire it will be of hard coals and balls, after the fiishion of the country. Three ancient pictures hang on the walls. An ancient, high-backed settle stands opposite the fire ; a long, high, ^ Since this was written Miss Rees has died. About half-past eight on morn- ing of Saturday, 29th March, 1879, she passed away : interred in the churchyard of Pendine, on Wednesday, 2d April. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 2/5 well-cushioned stool is on the right of the fire — ^just the seat to get yourself well warmed — which the household dog, a good judge, often takes possession of, lying full length ; it is his bed at night. The dresser full of ancient plates and jugs ; bacon, hams, paper parcels full of herbs of all kinds, suspended from the ceiling. By the kitchen door stands the ancient cupboard which belonged to the Great House, and held the bread and cheese that hospitable house, ‘‘ The Great House,'' distributed so freely to the poor. In her sitting-room is the ancient table that was in the house at Maesgwrda when Cromwell arrived there, which some doubt : this is mentioned in Part IV. She abounds in old glass, beautifully cut, such as you rarely see in common now ; handsome china cups ; the large round dishes of old times used for joints of meat. Her geese saunter around the house. Her cow, too venturesome climbing heights, wanting, I suppose, like many of us, to see the world, fell from the top of the hill and was killed. So her house, standing by the garden, with a good thatched roof, became vacant. The geese are now its tenants, and have no doubt a long lease, for there are plenty of them. The pig’s house is close by, rfiade of good stout walls, such as a Roman would not have been ashamed of. A piece of ground, planted with vegetables and fruit trees, sup- plies the household. Fish, rabbits, poultry are plentiful. Fowls remarkably fine, but no butcher’s meat ; that is brought from Laugharne. During the summer, if the visitors have arrived, they come in for orders twice a week. Butter and milk very good ; shrimps and prawns easily obtained. The first are not fine as those of Laugharne ; the last remarkably fine. Eels are plentiful, and so would other kinds of fish be, if some of the village people were diligent in fishing. Formerly it was in abundance, and they brought it to the houses every day. There is a nice fish called the Hen Fish,” the occu- pant of a pretty shell found on the sands. Fruit is not abundant ; it can be had from Laugharne. A hun- dred years ago, and so late as thirty, it was plentiful, and very fine ; they seem to have recklessly cut the fruit-trees down. At Frog's Hole, I have mentioned, was a large garden with magnifi- cent fruit, and on the Mound there by the Bachs was a house with a garden well stocked with fine fruit and flowers. At Myrtle Bower was plenty of fruit and flowers. The corn, according to the accounts I have from the old inhabit- ants, has sadly degenerated, as well as the oats. I am told by old Welsh farmers, whose families have held farms here for several T 2 276 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, generations, that the ears of corn are not so full nor the crops so heavy as they were in old times. The furrows were cut very deeply, which they are not now ; the sticks of the corn and oats were as thick and strong as a good-sized stick, and a sheaf was so heavy that when lifted the ears of corn would bend downwards ; hence the corn was able, and oats too, to stand against storms of wind and rain. They used then a wooden plough, drawn by two bullocks, and two horses leading it, so there was strength for ploughing such deep furrows ; the coulter and share of iron ; now the plough is of iron, drawn by two horses only. The bread, therefore, was better and more nourishing. Another reason for this failure in corn and oats is, that lime was universally used for manuring the ground ; now it is the artificial manure, such as guano. Yet they say the tillage in many respects is better than it was formerly. Latterly there has been another change. The farmers about Pendine, Laugharne, and Caermarthenshire generally, give little attention to ploughing, raise little grain of any kind ; their land is chiefly used for grazing. The result is, that the haggards, once overflowing, are now empty, the storehouses of Laugharne closed ; its ancient mill has ceased to grind. The mineral treasures of these parts I shall give some pages off. The climate of Pendine is most salubrious, neither relaxing nor overbearing. As you come along the Burrows from Laugharne, you notice the soft, balmy, pure, invigorating air. The winters are not severe. It is not so exposed as are some places on the sea-coast, like Laugharne ; it is singularly free from fevers. There is mountain air, or, if you like, the warmer air of the vale,. Formerly the seasons here were earlier; the summer was far warmer, and the winter colder. (In Part I. I have given a longer account of the climate and weather.) The corn, I am told by old farmers, used to be generally got in during the first week in August ; it was the exception if it were as late as September. Now it hardly ever is till September, sometimes delayed till October, owing to the state of the seasons. The population of Pendine at the last census, in 1871, was 160. The sea at Pendine has encroached fifty or sixty yards since 1815 or 1825 up to the year 1875, and it continues to encroach. Grass was on that part of the sands opposite the Beach House Hotel, and the Beach House, where the fresh water runs. Up to the kiln where they used to burn the lime, there was a hard road by which the carts passed to fetch it. Just before the Beach House (Miss Rees’), where the sand is and the beach, it was covered with grass. During the last four years (now 1878), the PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODc^. 277 sand has gathered in heaps up to this house, and you sink almost ankle-deep ; it has well nigh buried the hedge. At Morfabychan the sea has encroached on the land thirty-seven yards within forty years, ending 1875, Morris tells me. He has resided here forty years this year 1878. Twenty-three years ago, he planted potatoes and sowed corn where now the beach is ; it is still encroaching, he says. Nine years ago (this year 1878), it encroached fifteen yards at one tide. It encroaches a yard or two every year, but they manage to keep it back. He remembers that twenty-eight years ago (1878), it rushed in at one tide just between the Turning Pool,’^ ^ on the sands and Teague’s Valley, took possession of a field, threw down the hill here with one sweep, and still holds the spot. The Great House, once the home of the Rees family, has lost its ancient beauties. There was a row of fine trees in the front at the edge of the ground above the level of the house ; only three stumps remain. These trees continued to the present Moravian Chapel. Behind the house, a pleasant garden stocked with fruit, where you had a sweet peep of the sea down the valley of Morfa- bychan ; the fruit was magnificent. That road you enter by the gate by the Great House, going as far as to the kiln by the declivity, was made fifty-eight years ago. Mr. Morris of Morfaby- chan was the first to commence the cutting of it. Before this, there was a row of ash and sycamore trees, down to near the kiln ; quite a wood there was here. The hedge by its side, closing in the ground of the Great House, was then not there ; it was a kitchen garden, which lay open and went to the stream. ^ On the other side of this stream was the orchard of the Great House, parallel with the kitchen garden. The line of hill on the other side of this stream has two fields on the top, called Penbwch — Pen is head; bwch is deer — implying ‘‘head of the deer park.” These fields were part of the deer park which in days long past were a portion of Coedrath forest, which I have described in Part H. One of these fields belong to Sir J. Stepney, Bart.; the other to Mn Lloyd of Bronwydd. The second field extends to Rock Cottage, overlooking the valley, and all over the hill to Tremoillet and as far as to the Cuckoo, which stood by the quarry of Tremoil- let, which is in the meadow opposite the present new school-house. The view from the first field of Penbwch is lovely; the sea appears between the green hill and the mountain ; the whole valley lies at ^ This is the curious pool, which is always in commotion at the edge of the sands. This stream comes from a well called the Red-well by the Big House. 2/8 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, your feet ; you trace the pathway to the shore. In the other direction, the mountain with its dark green verdure rises before you and closes in the view. The Great House was called ‘‘The Court House,” sixty years ago. The Prices, an old Welsh family, were the original possessors ; it was their country-house. From them it passed to the Vaughans, an ancient Welsh family. Mr. Vaughan sold it to Dr. Jones of Haverfordwest, having previously granted a lease of it and of the land to Mr. Rees, whose family I have noticed. It passed to the Lloyds through a daughter of Dr. Jones marrying Colonel Lloyd of Bronwydd, near Castle Emlyn, Cardiganshire. The family of Rhys or Rees have been long re- sidents of this house, though not always under that name. Mr. Vaughan held the farms of Pudlack, or Lower House, as it was called, that of Cadno,^ as well as that of the Great House. He offered to Mr. James of the Great House, from whom the Rees family descend, leases of those two farms with that of the Great House, for as long as the sea ebbed and flowed ^ at the Dolween, or Tolwin, the point at end of the hill at Pendine, at the rate of 155. the acre. He very strangely declined this good offer; he had, at the time, these farms with the usual period of leases. Lady Hawarden of Westmead offered Brook Farm on the Pendine road to this Mr. James for £21 a-year, and the lease for as long as that stream, which still flows by the road-side at Brook, should flow : he declined that. Such was the little value of land then. In the lease of the Great House was included the small farm by the side of Pendine church ; Mr. and Mrs. Howels occupy it. The family of the latter have held it for generations, and were tenants of the Rees family. In a document belonging to the Land Revenue Record Office, dated 1652, stating the rents of the estate and lordship of Laugharne, it names one of the Reeses renting Marros Mill. The Great House was larger than it is at present. It was allowed to go to decay. When the Prices lived in it, there was a sitting-room and drawing-room built out at the back, behind the present kitchen ; that which is now used as a sitting-room was then the servants’ hall. The windows at the back of the house were blocked up many years ago ; they must have looked on a sweet view down the valley to the sea. An owl used to nest in the out-buildings. This house and the big house behind the ^ These two farms included in the lease of the Great House ; their occupiers were tenants of the Rees’. 2 Offers of this kind were frequently made, as landlords were glad to get any one to take their farms and cultivate them. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 2/9 church were the only houses that let apartments. While the Reeses were there, it was a pleasant sojourn in summer for many families of position. The celebrated Mrs. Schimmelpenninck (Miss Galton), the authoress of ‘Port Royal,’ was a frequent visitor at the Great House. She had been brought up as a Quakeress, but afterwards joined the Moravians. She was educated by her father and mother in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, in which she attained great pro- ficiency, as well as in other higher studies, as Algebra, &c., and acquired a scholarly knowledge of Arabic. The purity and excel- lence of her life, as well as that of many ladies educated in this way, contradicts the assertion that such studies are detrimental. They bear on every day life with salutary effect ; they highly develope the powers and refine the mind. If one has the powers to acquire such knowledge, it was intended it should be acquired, or they would not have been given. It is common sense. Such studies are far better than reading the trashy tales of the day, or gossiping about other people’s affairs, or trifling conversation. Her husband was of the noble Dutch family of Count Schimmel- penninck, Stadtholder of Holland. Her family visited in the first literary society of the day. She died in 1856, aged 78; was buried at Bristol, where she lived during her married life. In the cathe- dral there, a handsome monument is to her memory. The Big- House I have just mentioned, belonged to the Saunderses, a county family. The last that resided in the house were a brother and sister, Mr. and Miss Saunders, about eighty or ninety years ago. The Saunderses and Prices buried in Pendine church. There was, before the church was restored, in 1869, a tomb of the first on the right of the communion-table within the rails, and one on the left belonging to the last. They were removed, and two upright stones, placed against the south side of church wall outside, record the deaths of these families (see in Part XX. account of the tombs). With the Big House went the farm where the house called “ The New Inn ” is. All the property of the Saunderses, the farm called “ Napps,” belonged to them. The late possessor, — Saunders, Esq., sold all this property to M. Jones, Esq., of Llanmiloe, in 1877. In 1873, Mr. Saunders gave a piece of ground to enlarge the churchyard. It is said that Cromwell slept one night at the Big House in the bed-room to the left of the house, on the first floor. I shall give some particulars of this family in Part XXH. Mrs. Lloyd, grandmother of the present Sir Thomas Lloyd, member for Cardigan, spent much time at the Great House. She gave the ground on which the Moravian chapel, near Pendine 28 o antiquities of laugharne, church, is built, under the condition that there should not be service in the chapel when there was service in the church. Mr. Jones of Scyke, in parish of Kiffig, and Mr. Oriel of Llandowrror, near Laugharne, left ^loo each to be sunk so as to yield ^lo a year to the Moravian minister for as long as the world lasts. Mrs. Lloyd was of the family of the Lloyds I have mentioned as possess- ing the Great House, &c. This chapel was built about io8 years ago, this year 1878. The part by this chapel and the church, the hollow part, was a level green, and shaded with trees. Close by is the sweet valley of Morfabychan. As you go down the path to it, you see mountains towering to the skies. There is an exquisite beauty where, near the end of the path, the mountain crosses abruptly the road beneath. The hills on your right and left pass down and seem to enclose you in a sweet nook. A little further, and the vale lies open in all its beauty. The roof of the cottage of the bard of Morfabychan (Mr. Morris) just peers above the gentle swelling of a hill, near the sandy and pebbly shore. The sea beyond, perhaps, bears a light bark, its sails glistening in the sun. You trace a delicate line like a thread winding between the mountains — it is the path to the sea. Here the mountains fall majestically to the greensward. At their feet, the elder grows in abundance, and verdure in luxuriance clothes their slopes. The mountain on the Pendine side ends in Gilmin Point ; that on the other side, in the Ragwen. This word is a corruption of Craig- gwyn : craig, a rock ; gwyn, white, in Welsh. This valley is a lonely spot. In the half of it towards the sea, not a habitation besides the rural cottage of Mr. Morris. Dead silence often reigns, but it is enlivened by the bright smile of Mrs. Morris, who has been very handsome, and the song of the bard. A sketch of this is in the first edition. Go to the top of the mountain : perhaps a vessel struggles with the winds and waves, and you may feel as Lucretius, the Roman poet, did, when he said — How sweet to stand, when tempests tear the main, On the firm cliff, and mark the seaman’s toil ; Not that another’s danger soothes the soul. But from such toil how sweet to feel secure.” Or sit on some bright afternoon of summer upon the slope of the hill by the sands opposite Marros mountain, and the enjoyment is great to look down on the scene below — the pleasant greensward, the rural cottage by the mountain-side, the stillness relieved by the sound of the hammer as it falls at regular intervals to cleave a PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 28 1 Stone, and of the saw cutting through a piece of marble in Mr. Morris’ workshop, softened by the distance ; the musical tinkling of the bell of the sheep as they browse above and around you ; the voice of Mrs. Morris as she calls the cows from the mountain-side at milking time ; the gentle crushing of the stones as some visitors tread the beach, coming perhaps to ask Mr. Morris for a song. I have observed some pages back that the sea has encroached thirty-seven yards within forty years, /. e. ending in the year 1875. (For the rest, see those pages back.) There is in Normandy an estate called Morfabychan, the pro- perty of a gentleman of Welsh extraction. During the Exhibition of 1851, in England, he gave an invitation to any Welsh person who liked to come to his house. It is not unusual to find this identity of names in the two countries of Bretagne and Wales. Morfabychan is derived from the Welsh word 77 iorfa^ seabrink or salt marsh, and bycha 7 i^ little. A Welsh scholar tells me, that more properly Morfa means fine arable land on the borders of the sea. I pause here. I think so respectable a family as the Reeses of the Great House should not pass away unrecorded. I therefore pause in my history to give their portraiture. Mr. and Mrs. Rees,^ the parents of Miss Rees, who has long been the mistress of the Post Office in Pendine, were most estimable and religious people. Their seven daughters and three sons generally distinguished for their exemplary conduct. Mr. and Mrs. Rees were unequalled in their kindness to the poor, and hospitality to all. They kept open house ; no poor person went away unsatisfied. A hearty welcome was given both to friends and strangers. Mrs; Rees would say to her domestics, Give to all who ask.” The same hospitality and kindly feeling prevailed in the families of the different farms ; they were very united, ready to assist each other in their needs. The scene the interior of the Great House presented at eventide was delightful. Picture to yourself one of those large Elizabethan fire-places — a very large one it was — holding several persons within it, belonging to the kitchen. Here Mr. and Mrs. Rees, with their many daughters and sons, would resort to join their domestics, and engage in family worship before retiring for the night ; Mr. and Mrs. Rees occupying elbow-chairs on each side the fire-place, the rest around. The ancient settle that did duty here is pre- served in Miss Rees’ kitchen at Pendine. The prayers ended ; they sang the sweet evening hymn, and then retired to the sitting-room for supper. On Sunday they attended service in the Moravian ^ The name is properly Rhys. 282 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, chapel as well as that in Pendine church, a custom that prevailed extensively in Wales in those days, and still lingers here and in remote districts. The Reeses held the Church of England in great reverence, though in communion with the Moravian. At this time it was usual when the communion was celebrated in the church at Pendine, for the Rector to hold an evening service on the Saturday before, with a short address. The same was done before the communion in the Moravian chapel ; at its discontinu- ance, Mr. Rees used to collect his household for prayer in his own house at such times. In the summer of every year, a number of Irish left their land for England, to do harvest work ; they landed at Milford, taking their course through Pendine, where they stopped and had shelter for a night at the Great House to break their journey eastward. Mr. and Mrs. Rees, as their ancestors did, gave them a plentiful supper, a good breakfast the next morning, and sent them on their way rejoicing. The Saers of the Big House, behind Pendine church, gave them a night’s lodging, supper, and breakfast, when there were more than the Great House could receive. In the ^ Beggar’s Roll,’ in London, in which were notices of the farm-houses and other houses which lodged and gave hospitality to the poor, there used to be an account of the Great House, with a picture of it, and it was represented as a ‘‘liberal house perhaps the account exists still. During the whole of Christmas a table was laid out, with substantial food every day, by the Reeses, and at other farm-houses. Whoever called, whether friend or not, poor or rich, known or unknown, were invited to partake. The Reeses would be up half the night making a variety of cakes and pies and Christmas puddings, and preparing different kinds of meat. They would send to the cottagers slices of pies and puddings and warm beer. The poor people who came from Pembrokeshire, as I have men- tioned before, to obtain relief in their helplessness, owing to the coal-pits being opened, causing barley to be scarce, were liberally treated by the Reeses and other farmers. A large quantity of barley was given, a good supper, a comfortable bed made up in the out- houses. One of the kind family of the Reeses would come to see if they were comfortable, and had all they needed ; next morning they were strengthened for their journey with a substantial breakfast. Lord Kensington, when resident at Westmead, used to treat those poor Irish most hospitably, have them collected before the house on the lawn, and sit among them, helping the children first PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 283 and then the parents. I am told by the Reeses, that the labouring people on the farms fared better formerly, as I have mentioned in Part I., and that they were stronger. The flour was generally better than it is now. The Reeses and other farmers gave much the same substantial fare to their labourers as I have described in Part I. ; three meals in the day, and to the children too who came to glean in the fields, and to carry home for their parents what remnants were allowed them. Meat always at breakfast and supper, and often at dinner, with budrum and milk, bread and cheese. They would send some refreshments to them when working in the heat, between the meals. Harvest over they made a feast for them — parents and children. In the time of sowing the barley-seed, the Reeses would set aside a Winchester of barley to reserve for charity; other farmers did the same. At the Great House, as at other farms, the work of carding, spinning, weaving the wool, was done, and converted into blankets and articles of clothing ; and sub- stantial articles they were, such as you do not see now. This family had long been resident at the Great House. Mr. James, the father of Mrs. Rees, married Miss Lloyd, a member of an ancient and superior family. He had a lease of the Great House and farm, including the farms of Pudlack and Cadno ; his daughter and her husband, Mr. Rees, always lived with him at the Great House. Mrs. Prudence Lloyd, the mother of Mrs. James, resided at the farm of Cannock’s Well, just above Westmead, the property of Lady Hawarden of Westmead, who used to pay Mrs. T. Lloyd a visit every week ; her sons, the brothers of Mrs. James, occupied as tenants the ancient farms in the small village of Pwllcoggan,^ which is seen from the Marros Road. David Lloyd leased that of ^‘Middle Pool;” Hugh Lloyd, ‘‘East Pool.” West Pool was tenanted by a Mr. Richard Edwards : these are in Pwllcoggan. The other brother, John Lloyd, occupied the ancient farm of Common Church, in the parish of Eglwyscummin. The farm of Pudlack Mr. and Mrs. Price had; Mrs. Price was Mrs. James’s sister; her brother, Mr. James, farmed Cadno. The Rees family have their grave in the churchyard of Pendine ; an account of it will be found in Part XX. A tablet on the north wall, inside the church, records Mrs. Rees’ death, with rest of the family. This portraiture of the Rees family is not exaggerated. I have heard from so many who knew them, and from the domestics of the family, the same account. The daughters were very good-looking, and their manners were agreeable and superior. Mr. and Mrs. 1 Commonly spelt Pullcoggan or Pulthcogan. 284 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, James were hospitable and kind to the poor. These virtues linger still in this spot. At the Big House, a farm occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Evans, hospitality is freely dispensed. Mrs. Evans well deserves the character she has for kindness to the poor, and pro- viding entertainment for her many visitors. To her house all come when people collect in Pendine for church purposes or any other cause, and they never fail to find attention and hospitality. Her grandfather and mother, who kept this farm, were excelled by no one in their good deeds to the poor. I am told by those who belonged always to these parts, that the state of society is very different now to what it was in the times I am recording ; people are not so united as they were, nor so much given to hospitality. So unrestrained was the intercourse that they would enter each other's houses as though they were their own. To knock would have been thought very singular. There was no gossiping, no ill- natured remarks, or idle tales carried from house to house ; if any one attempted to disparage his neighbours, it was not listened to. The manners and habits of the young women of these days are not as irreproachable as they were then. It was a rare thing for a young woman to disgrace herself; if she did, she would not show herself for some time. It ds well known they have now very little reserve of this kind. In those times the roads near Pendine were not always safe. A noted robber infested them. The Three Lords was an inn of ill fame. Many inns about the county were kept by bad characters, who murdered people arriving for shelter, for the sake of their valuables. Near Haverfordwest was such a house. Miss Rees gave me an account of the narrow escape Mr. James, her great- grandfather, had at an inn of this kind. One evening he was on his way from Cwm or Coomb, a village about 50 miles from Caer- marthen, whither he was bound. Finding he could not reach that town till too late an hour, he put up at an inn for the night. The room he was ushered into had a door in some part of it with a hole in it ; he looked through the hole and saw a table covered with pistols, knives, and swords. In a few moments after this discovery, he said aloud, as if the thought had just struck him : “ I expected my man to have been here by this time ; he must have missed the inn. I must be off to seek him." He then went to the stables, got his horses out, and galloped away as fast as pos- sible. Presently there was a peculiar kind of whistle, designed to cause the horses to stop, but he succeeded in keeping them at a rapid pace and escaped the pursuers. In returning from fairs, PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 285 people were often robbed. The lower road from Laugharne to Pendine was safe. The upper one by the Newton woods, which comes out at Pendine village, robbers frequented. Now such characters are never seen. Marros mountain extends from the valley of Morfabychan to Eareweare, along the sea. Inland it stretches three miles. Pendine Commons extend from Llanmiloe, Duke’s Bottom, up to the New Inn kept by Misses Morris ; then from Ashwell P"arm, which is on the other side, to the Grove, by the lime-kiln near the end of valley of Morfabychan, and from Napps to Greenbridge, all along the top of the hill and its slopes. It was customary to perambulate the Commons just as I have described in Laugharne, Part VI. ; and at certain points stand the boys on their heads to make them remember the boundaries of the Commons. These Commons did belong to the poor of the place for centuries; but not very long ago their right was contested, and after a struggle they finally lost it. It was attempted several times by the labouring- people to build on them, and hold the houses rent free ; this was not allowed ; those who had built on them were forced to buy them. They were put up for sale at the Globe,” in Laugharne. Those two houses of John and William Reef, on the left of the road coming from Mr. Harris’ cottage by the road on the Marsh, and by the old road passing up to the New Inn of Misses Morris, were bought in then, as were also the two houses occupied respect- ively by Thomas Williams and William John, which are on the Commons, and just past Mr. Morris’ house, and that Mr. Mathias lives, in. On Marros mountain, just over the Ragwen, are an enor- mous quantity of huge stones. How did they get there ? They are of the Clegger kind, of which this mountain is full. The spot they occupy is called Maiden’s Bower,” which some will have is a corruption of Maiden’s Bier, because they say the Druids sacri- ficed a young girl to the sun ; this is false. I shall show presently that the Druids were not guilty of human sacrifices. When I first saw them in 1869, there was a long line of huge stones piled one over the other up to four or five feet in height ; if you look from the ground before Mr. Morris’ cottage, you will just see the top of one of them. In this line a break occurs, which appears to be an entrance. In another part is an opening. The stones on each side look like posts ; on the top of one of them are three square stones, each one less than the under one. When I saw these remains a second time in 1876, the top stone was gone. There has been much destruction committed here lately. Of the twelve 286 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, tables that were here in 1869, only six remain now. The two upright stones in each of them existed in 1876, but all the cap- stones that rest on the two upright ones have been thrown down. Upon a small stone fixed in the ground here is the mark of a queer- shaped foot, said to have been impressed by the Evil One when he strode across the valley. I have noticed this in the first pages of this Part. Many antiquarians have rejected the idea that the upright stones, either singly or in groups forming circles, were used for worship by the Druids. Theophilus Jones, the Registrar of Archdeaconry of Co. Brecon, in his work, ‘ History of Brecon,' pub. 1805, believes the opinion that the cromlech was an altar of sacrifice, and the slanting position of the stone was to prevent the human victim from retreating to be false. Borlase, in his ‘ Antiquities of Cornwall,’ thinks so too, and proves by facts that are irresistible that they were sepulchral, perhaps covering the remains of the chief Druid or some warrior, and that these lines, written in fifth or sixth century, seem to infer it : ‘‘To whom belongs the quadran- gular grave with its four stones inclosing the front ? It is Madoc’s the intrepid warrior.” 1 Theophilus Jones believes Druidism the earliest religion of all countries. Sir W. Jones has shown the relation between the religious system of Brahmins and that of Britons. He says a discovery has been made of communications between them in very remote ages. He mentions an Oriental sage and writer of eighteenth century, who was a pure theist, and disclaimed the adoration of fire and of other elements. The pre- sent Arch-Druid, My fyr Morganwg,^ says in 1874; “In stone Bardism is found Christianity in its original purity before it was corrupted by the Orientals ; and that all the ancient Oriental religions are a corruption of Bardism.” He says “ Bardism is the voice of the Deity in the voice of nature, the religion of truth, peace, patience, tolerance, and liberty.” One of the Triads, known to the Greeks, says : “ Do no man wrong ; be valiant for your country.” I cannot refrain from giving this. In ‘ Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xi. p. 69 ; vol. vii. p. 246, is the following : “ It is openly avowed in sacred books of Hindoos that the Light of Revelation came from the West ; that the Vedas reside in the White Island {i. e. Sweta Dwipa), in human shape; that all the fundamental mysteries of their religion are intimately connected ^ See Part XIII. for more Druidic remains. * This arch-Druid is Rev, J. Williams, M.A., a clergyman of Church of England, who left it for Bardism, and he gave this account in ‘ Western Mail ’ for March 7th, 1874. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 28 / with this isle ; that all the momentous events which took place in consequence of them, either to create the world, or bring on the regeneration of mankind, and show them the path to heaven and eternal bliss, came to pass in the White Island or its adjacent sea.’^ The White Isle is the Holy Land of the Hindoos ; to it they refer everything. The sacred isles in the West, of which the White Isle is the principal, and the most famous, is so intimately connected with their religion and mythology that they cannot be separated. This White Isle is Great Britain. It is not known the exact period at which Bardism appeared in Britain. Caius, an author quoted by Lewis in his ‘ History of Britain,’ supposes it was 1013 Before Christ j Stukeley, in his ‘ Description of Abury,’ says it was much earlier. It is quite certain the Druids neither practised magical frauds nor sacrificed human beings. The extreme purity and sim- plicity of Bardic Triads is against it ; nor do other remains of genuine Bardism give the idea of enchantment. Romans and Saxons did not understand the spirit of Bardism. It is not more strange they should accuse the Druids of magic and sacrificing human beings, than that they should assert that the Christians who lived in their midst, sacrificed a child at the Lord’s Supper. The order had in Gaul become corrupt in religious rites. Idolatry and human sacrifices may have crept in from the close contact with the nations around them. The Romans knew more about the Gauls than they did of the Britons, hence Tacitus might think the last like the first when he called the religious rites of Britons bloody. As this book will be read by many who hear little of Wales and its bards, it is interesting to let them know a remarkable meeting of bards that took place at Pontypridd at the Rocking Stone on a Sunday, June 22nd, 1873, at eleven o’clock, a. m. A great throng stood around the stone, of bards and working men. The Arch- Druid, Mr. Davies, author of interesting works on the religious belief of ancient Britons, stood upon the stone with his face to the sun, and commenced the sacred service with these sentences pro- nounced in Welsh : — “ In the face of the sun and the eyes of light, Truth against the world. He that killeth shall be killed. Be eloquent.” After this, he said the throne-prayer in Welsh, which is : God grant strength ; after strength, sense or wisdom ; and after sense or wisdom, knowledge ; and from knowledge, righteousness ; and after righteousness, to love it; and from loving, loving everything; 288 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, and in loving everything, loving God.” After this he gave a very eloquent discourse on Bardism, alluding to the legend about the Deluge discovered in these stones, and that Mr. Smith, in his discoveries in Mesopotamia, had found the Izdubar Legends con- tained accounts of the Deluge, to which Sir Henry Rawlinson has given his full assent. If these remains were places for worship, they had a glorious site for so noble an exercise — hills and valleys, coast and sea, heaven and earth spread out before them. It is worth climbing up to enjoy such a scene. As you leave these remains behind in your progress over Mar- ros, you pass several farm-houses thought to be 600 or 700 years old, occupied by tenants in 1870, whose families had dwelt in them and cultivated the land for two hundred years. The descent on this side of Marros opens on a pretty scene. The undulations of the mountains skirting the sandy shore, their gentle sweep to the lowlands is beautiful, enlivened by a profusion of the gorse on their summits and sides. The plain has a park-like look, the gorse disposed about in separate clusters in a way as gives the semblance of artificial planting. Here is Lady Crowe’s well, concealed in a wilderness of furze and bushes. She resided at Westmead, and for the convenience of bathing had a room built by the well ; this is close on the sands. On their edge is a small piece of water, called The Turning Pool.” They say it has no bottom ; the effort to sound it unsuccessful. It is always more or less agitated. When I saw it, its surface was calm 3 beneath, commotion. As the tide comes in, its agitation is at its height, and it throws up sand and water ; the tide out, the surface is quiet. Here is the submerged forest. Stems of trees protrude out of the sands, branches with leaves ; nuts have been picked from them. After a storm, and the sea is boisterous, the sands are quite darkened with the trees ; some of them appear of enormous size. They extend from the Ragwen to Amroth, three miles off, also a mile or two into the sea towards Caldey Island by Tenby. Tradition says from here to Caldey was a forest,^ which I have noticed with the buried land in Part 11. About thirty-four years ago, this year 1878, the jaw-bone of a whale was found in the slime just by the Ragwen Point. Mr. Morris of Morfabychan told me he saw it. The late Mr. Owen of Dan-y-grag had it brought to his house, and placed it on the lawn in his garden, where it is still. It filled a very large cart, and required two horses to convey it. Not far off, and ^ Mr. Morris of Sanclersfoot told me that in this forest had been wild animals, as wolves, buffaloes. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 289 towards Amroth, is Teagues^ Valley, opening on to the sands. Just by is Marros Mill. This valley is the sportsman’s delight — a famous place for foxes, otters, and badgers ; they abound. A stream, rising at Tavern Spite, ^ waters the valley, afterwards runs through Clyng Wynne Valley,^ and loses itself at Amroth by the inn where it divides the two counties of Caermarthen and Pembroke. The valley is rich in quarries and ferns, especially the Royal fern. It has a wood, called Teagues Wood. The valley of Morfabychan has been noted for time immemorable as the resort and home of the foxes. When the fox is hard pressed, he thinks of this valley, knowing he will be secure in its rocks. In summer of 1872 there were three broods of foxes two hundred yards from Mr. Morris’ cottage. Though this valley from the sea-shore to its end, open- ing on Marros road, is called Morfabychan, it has the name of the Black or Dark valley, which in Welsh is Shingle Du. Leaving Mr. Morris’ cottage behind, continue till you come to the path by which you enter the valley from the village, pass it, go straight to a thatched cottage called Buck Hall, you will soon come to a sweet spot, indeed something grand about it, just where a cottage is on top of the hill. Now turn round, and see the mountains in their descent crossing each other, till they shut out all prospect and everything but the blue vault above. The little path is gone, the mountains fall abruptly, their sides thickly clothed with furze and other plants. You feel inclined to say of them, as Roger did of the Aps : Those mighty hills so shadowy, so sublime, as rather to belong to heaven than to earth.” Perhaps it is depart- ing day, and the sweet evening cloud stretches above them, or there has been a vernal shower, and the bow of many colours arches their summits, to perfect the beauty of the scene. Buck Hall, just mentioned, stands where once an ancient mansion was. One of the oldest inhabitants told me she recollected an immense number of stones here, looking like the remains of a building. In this valley ferns grow in profusion and luxuriance, attaining the height of small trees. The elder abounds, so that one might say : ‘‘ I know a vale where the elder grows.” Miss Rees says her mother had heard her grandmother speak of the Manor Courts held at Pendine by the lord of the manor. The Great House was called the Court House, she said. That looks as if the Courts were held in it. She said the Leet Courts were held here. I cannot quit Morfabychan without picturing some more of its 1 Teag is “ beautiful ” in Welsh. 2 Welsh it is Ysbytty. 3 Clyn is “leg;” gwynne, “white.” U 290 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, rural scenes, and above all Mr. and Mrs. Morris, who have been for thirty-six years (this year 1878) the sole inhabitants of this part of the valley in their cottage near the sandy shore ; worthy people now nearing the end of life. Though their cottage is small and homely, they let two rooms, which some of the best families in these parts have occupied in summer-time. I have, like others, spent many pleasant and happy weeks in their cottage, and shall be sorry when they depart. When that happens some of the enjoyment and picturesqueness of the valley will depart too. They are of a class fast passing away, which we shall not see again, unhappily. Mrs. Morris, or Jenny, as her lady friends like to call her, must have been very handsome, rendered more so by a sweet smile and sweet manners. Unassuming and natural, she is incapable of doing and saying a vulgar, insolent thing ; none of the conventional manners of the day ; in fact, she is ISl ature^s lady. The hideous fashions and fooleries of dress have not caught her. She wears the Welsh high-crowned hat, with full-frilled cap and the woollen shawl of the country. Their thatched cottage is seated by the side of the rugged mountain of Marros, within sound of the sea, and view of the light on Caldey, which sheds a golden glow over it. In clear nights the light of Lundy Isle is seen at the back of the cottage. Stones lie in abundance, partially covered with verdure, patches of green and luxuriant ferns crop- ping up between them. Here the cocks and hens wander with the geese and pigs, seeking stray bits ; in due time they supply the dinner-table. This is the pleasure-ground of the donkeys, sheep, and cows. Amidst this litter of stones is the pigs’ house, verily a fortified house in miniature, in form not unlike the hut of an old Briton. The walls composed of huge stones filled in with earth ; a thatched roof ; a small area before it, is enclosed by a wall of large stones, strong enough, in case of a siege, for the pigs to hold their own against the enemy. The geese have a residence not far off, and the cows by the side of the cottage and the hens’ house ; behind is the baking house. The dairy at the back of the kitchen, just the spot for it, as the sweet air up the valley and the stronger breezes from the mountain blow on it. Here everything is beautifully clean — pans of excellent milk and cream, rich-looking butter. This leads to the kitchen, looking pleasant and clean, with a window to the sea and a door opening into the passage. On the other side of it a sitting-room, in which many parties of pleasure in summer days have taken tea, or out on the green- sward, entertained with the songs of Mr. Morris, accompanied by PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 29 1 his violoncello. He is a poet,^ and has composed several spirited pieces. A room at back of the house holds her stores of bread, butter, and cheese ; two bedrooms above, and a thatched roof. On left of the house, a garden stocked with fruit and vegetables. A piece of ground enclosed with a low stone wall, describing an exact circle, which might almost cheat the antiquary into its being a Druidic one ; this was a garden. A fruit tree or two remain to note its past character ; now the ferns and nettles are lords of the domain. In the centre is a quantity of straw made up in form of an extinguisher, out of the top of which a piece of wood protrudes, which prevents the straw spread at the bottom from being driven away in rough weather. Their establishment is a primitive one. They eat their own fruit and vegetables, milk, butter, cheese, and bread ; they grow their own barley and corn, cut it, winnow, thrash, grind, and sift it ; kill their own pigs and sheep, geese and fowls, for their own table and for sale. Mrs. Morris has no sons and daughters, yet she has a large family to take care of — two cows, one pig, nineteen geese, twenty sheep, one donkey, a cock and hen, chickens in abundance ; this is enough for any one. She walks miles to get barley-meal if the household runs short, and sifts it. She converts the wool of the sheep into stockings, aprons, dresses, petticoats, blankets ; often dyes the wool herself ; so they are clothed with their own produce. The feathers of the geese she reserves for feather-beds ; the wings of the cocks and hens do for brushes to sweep up the hearth, &c. On Saturdays, she keeps up the ancient custom of stoning ; adorns the hearth, the stones by the front, dairy, and kitchen doors with pretty devices in chalk. The household has its troubles — some of the family will often play truant ; the cock fights ; the donkey, a sad plague, strays no one knows where, causes the servant- boy in his search to lose his breakfast, wasting half the day, well-nigh fainting with hunger and fatigue, before he catches him. The cows are as bad. The chickens', rambling about the kitchen, get sadly in the way. The geese make many attempts to enter the front court and would the house itself j abamcade, composed of a piece of wood and a stick stops them, and they are not daring enough to storm this outpost, so they cackle and hiss instead. The cock, who is a fine fellow, and seems to know it, has frequent skirmishes v.dth the geese, whom he evidently considers an inferior race ; he generally pre- vails, and after the victory struts before them majestically like a conquering general, heading a company of prisoners. The pig 1 He is called the Bard of IMorfabychan. U 2 292 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, conducts himself pretty well ; he often lies full length near the dairy door fast asleep. The geese are the worst — rather formidable creatures to encounter ; they hiss with all tlieir might ; catch at you. Up the valley they will be sometimes walking two and two in procession ; another company of them will be sure to be walking towards the top of the valley, but they will not molest you. The sounds in this secluded vale are sweet — the gentle murmur of the sea, the bleating of the sheep, the musical clucking of the hen and her chickens, the pleasant calling of the cows at milking time, in sweet twilight, perhaps, the quick short bark of the fox, while the house-dog barks at him. On the greensward there is nearly all day the regular, measured sound of the saw cutting through some stone, the sharp sound of the chisel cleaving a piece of marble, or the soft one from the planing of a piece of marble, and that of the wheel going round to assist in it — for here is Mr. Morris’ workshop where he executes the tombstones with great success, so that his reputation has spread far and wide. The morning noises are amusing if you do not object to beawakenedat four o’clock. Mrs. Morris’ family take care she shall not over-sleep herself. They all set up a tremendous variety of sounds ; the cock jumps on the stone wall and crows with all his might, the gander screeches, the geese hiss, then come the cattle bellowing, the pig grunts and scratches at the door, the chickens add their small voices ; the dog barks at them all The peep of the mountain through the kitchen door is very sweet ; its ruggedness relieved by numerous thick patches of bright-coloured heath and luxurious ferns, and the little mountain sheep browsing about ; very likely the cow lying full length. If it be sunset and a fine one, the dark edge of the mountain-top stands out sharply against an exquisitely clear sky. Here Mrs. Morris, when the labours of the day are over, seated on a bench in the kitchen, enjoys this lovely view. Sometimes a small yacht, its white sail glistening in the sun, glides slowly by; boats with ladies enjoying a row often pass, and far off the Tenby steamboat, and some ships hardly discernible in the distance. Besides this it is lonely and silent — a shore formed for study and meditation. CUSTOMS OF PENDINE, AND ANCIENT POETRY. As regards weddings, the same customs prevailed as I have described in Part XL The bidder repeated a Rammas ; all I have been able to obtain of it is this : There will be a round or PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 293 two of beef, half-a-dozen roast geese, two or three legs of mutton, plenty of potatoes, greens, cabbages, cauliflowers, plenty of good bread, plum-puddings, rice-puddings. A plate will be handed round, and whatever donations you please to bestow on the young couple on that day will be thankfully received and cheerfully repaid whenever called for on a similar occasion. After the dinner, the party will remove into another room, where will be a pint of beer for twopence, a cake for a penny, plenty of pipes and tobacco for nothing.’^ This was the form of invitation to the people of the place to attend at the wedding dinner. The little children of Pendine still keep up the old custom of bringing New Year’s water to the houses on Old New Year’s Day, 1 2th January, throwing it plentifully about the entrance, and then singing before the houses the following very ancient pieces of poetry : — TO MIRTH INCLINED. , Let all who are to mirth inclined Consider well and bear in mind. What our good God has for us done, In sending His beloved Son. Let all our songs and praises be, Unto his heavenly Majesty, And evermore amongst our mirth, Remember Christ our Saviour’s birth. Twenty-fifth day of December, We have great reason to remember ; In Bethlehem upon that morn There was a blessed Messiah born. The night before this happy tide, The spotless Virgin and her guide Were long time seeking up and down To find some lodging in the town. The night before the Virgin Mary mild Was safe deliver’d of a Child, According unto Heaven’s decree, Man’s God and Saviour for to be. Near Bethlehem some shepherds kept And watched their flocks while others slept, To whom God’s Angel did appear. Which put the shepherds in great fear. Prepare and go, the Angel said. To Bethlehem, be not afraid ; There you shall see upon this mom. The blessed Babe, sweet J esus, born. 294 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, Within a manger he was laid, The Virgin Mary by him staid, Attending to the Lord of Life, Being both mother, maid, and wife. Three Eastern wise men from afar. Directed by a glorious star. Came boldly on and made no stay Until they came where Jesus lay. And being come unto the place. Where the blessed Messiah was. They humbly laid before his feet Their gifts, and gold, and odours sweet. No costly robes nor rich attire. Did Jesus Christ our Lord admire ; But glorious music from on high, Of shining Angels in the sky. If choirs of Angels did rejoice. Well may mankind, with heart and voice. Sing praises to the God of heaven. Who unto us his Son has given. Moreover let us, every one. Call to mind and think upon His righteous life, and how He died To save poor sinners justified.. THE SEVEN JOYS. The first good joy that Mary had, It was the joy of one ; To see her own Son Jesus, To suck at her breast bone. To suck at her breast bone, good Man. And blessed may He be. Chorus. Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity. The next good joy that Mary had. It was the joy of two ; To see her own Son Jesus, To make the lame to go. To make the lame to go. And blessed may He be. Chorus. Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity. PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. The next good joy that Mary had, It was the joy of three ; When that her own Son jfesus, Did make the blind to see. Did make the blind to see. And blessed may He be. Chorus. Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity. The next good joy that Mary had, It was the joy of four ; To see her own Son Jesus, To read the Scriptures o’er. To read the Scriptures o’er. And blessed may He be. Chorus. Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity. The next good joy that Mary had. It was the joy of five ; To see her own Son Jesus, To raise the dead to life. To raise the dead to life. And blessed may He be. Chorus. Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity. The next good joy that Mary had, It was the joy of six ; To see her own Son Jesus, To wear the crucifix. To wear the crucifix. And blessed may He be, Chorus. Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity. The next good joy that Mary had, It was the joy of seven ; To see her own Son Jesus, To wear the crown of heaven, To wear the crown of heaven, good Man, And blessed may He be. Chorus. Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity. 295 296 ANTIQUITIES OF LAUGHARNE, The people of Pendine used to go very early on the morning of Easter Sunday upon the hill behind the Spring Well ; when arrived at the part just over the sea, they threw stones in it, meaning by that, to break Lent’s neck,” which has been corrupted into Break Land’s neck. The struggle was who should be the first to throw a stone : hence the name of the hill, Break Lent’s Neck.” At Lammas-time they kept the feast here, and observed the cus- toms as are described in Part II., to which I refer the reader; and I shall only say that they built the Lammas houses on the first Sunday after Lammas-day, on Marros Mountain, on the hill by Castle Lloyd, Eglwyscummin, and on Pendine Burrows. On the hills they would be seen, at sunset, far away — burning. This ceased 30 years ago. In Pendine and parts about, it was usual, on 1 2th May, to plant a white-thorn tree by the door of the house, and procure it from a neighbouring parish. I could find no reason for this beside that of serving to throw articles of clothing over it to dry. No doubt there was a superstition attached to it. On All Hallows Eve they hung up branches of the Caer tree and the v/hite-thorn at the door of the house to keep witches away ; stuffed pieces of it in the cracks of the door, and all round it. The Caer tree has a yellow flower. They had a May-pole in May, dressing it with wreaths of flowers. They have from time immemorial ornamented the stone floors of their kitchens, and the door-steps with devices traced in chalk, and still do so. It is called stoning. Miss Saer never omits it any one day. About 40 years ago Wakes were regularly kept up ; members of the Rees family and other families would go to sit up at night in a house where a death occurred, and did the same at the poor cottages. I am told by those who had sat up themselves that the conduct on these occasions was most correct and reverent ; in no way ever abused, as was the case sometimes in other places. Pendine has been famous for its fairies and witches. In a meadow behind the Great House the fairy-rings are seen. For the stories about the fairies, I refer the reader to Part XXL The traditions about the fairies may possibly be accounted for from the evidence, as it appears probable, of a race of diminutive stature among the Celtic people in pre-historic times. On the borders of Llandyssilio parish, five miles from Narberth, at a part called Mein an’r Gwyr, have been found very diminutive urns, bronze weapons, and stone celts, a sword or dagger in a low carnedd or stone heap, soMiminutive, says Mr. J. Fenton, as to be unfit for use by an ordinary adult. They are of same kind as are found in the low Burrows of Wilt- PENDINE, AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS. 297 shire. (See the account of this in ^ Archaeological Cambrensis/ the Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association). The story goes that the fairies frequently visited Pendine. On one occasion they attended Divine service in the church one Sunday, and behaved well. Before they entered, they hung their cloaks on a sunbeam, for they were wet with a shower. The Welsh tradition of the origin of the fairies is this: In our Saviour’s time there was a woman who had a great many children. When our Lord was coming towards her house she, by some unaccount- able impulse, hid half her children, so that He should not see them. After He had left she went to the children she had hid,