An Account of Valle Crucis Abbey, Llangollen, and All the Recent Discoveries

Part 2

Chapter 21,514 wordsPublic domain

The freemen of Llangollen made a grant of a fishery to the monks, in a part of the Dee near the town, and, for want of a seal of their own, they affixed to their grant that of Madoc, the founder of the Abbey. The monks soon afterwards erected new works on the river, for the purpose of taking the fish; this caused a dispute between them and the freemen; and these last referred the matter for decision to the abbot and five monks of their own choice, who were to determine the matter upon oath. Madoc and his secretary, John Parvus, appointed a day for the purpose; the assembly was held, the oaths solemnly administered, and the abbot and monks made the decision (as might have been expected), in their own favour. They alleged they had bought the right of erecting what works they pleased, and of repairing them, from the heirs of Llangollen. Madoc confirmed the decree, and the donation of a fishery, by an instrument dated 1234.

The revenues of the monastery at the time of its dissolution, in 1535, were £188 per annum according to Dugdale, but Speed reckons them at £214 3s. 5d. The last abbot was John Hern, who received an annuity of £23 on his surrender. This, together with £10 13s. 4d. to some of the brethren or surviving monks, were the only charges remaining in 1553. It remained in the crown till the 9th of James I., who granted it to Edward Wotton, afterwards created Lord Wotton. In 1654, we find a lady, Margaret Wotton, a recusant, to have been in possession, and that it was put under sequestration by order of the commissioners of the ruling powers. The Abbey now belongs to Rice Thomas, Esq., who is the proprietor of the Trevor Hall Estate, and is under the charge of the Rev. H. T. Owen, by whose kind permission the visitor, on the payment of the small fee of 6d., may inspect the interior.

Through the exertions of the Rev. H. T. Owen, some very interesting excavations have been made of late years. During the summer of 1888, Mr. Owen caused some investigations to be made in the Monks’ Dormitory, for by removing surface earth that accumulated there during the time it had been in ruins, five very interesting sepulchral slabs were discovered of very early date, not later than the tenth century. There is one which has a Norman sword on it, and also an inscription which cannot be deciphered but with some degree of uncertainty. It can be read as follows:—

“Jacet Oidus Madoc . . . Insignis Cele Ominu Crucis,”

which may be translated:—

“Here lies Owi dus Madoc, a distinguished Warrior of the Cross of Heaven.”

Another stone contains a beautiful floriated cross with a circle, which may be taken for the tombstone of an Abbot or Bishop. There is another floriated circle, in splendid condition, with no inscription whatever. The other two are simply fragments, one having the point of a spear very distinct, and on the other the old Grecian ornament. As these stones form part of the vaulting of the slype, and are of much earlier date than the present Abbey, and were inserted there when the vaulting was erected, it is a certain proof that there must have been a religious house here long before this edifice was erected. Some antiquarians make out one stone to be Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Hibernia.

During the year 1889, which was the year of the Queen’s visit to Llangollen, Mr. Owen started again to make further excavations. This time he turned his attention to the excavation of the exterior of the north transept and aisle, and here he came upon the buttress of the north transept in splendid condition, also the plinth and buttresses of the north aisle, and at the north-west corner was found a magnificent buttress like a turret tower, and all in excellent state, as sharp as if they had been newly erected, although they had lain buried for centuries, and would have been still buried only for the exertions of Mr. Owen to make this noble ruins interesting to visitors.

In these excavations, between two buttresses, close to the foundations, was discovered a very interesting stone, about 5 ft. 6 in. long, containing a Knight Templar’s sword, or rather a double-handled sword, beautifully sculptured at the foot. This was a very interesting find, and well worth any one’s inspection, especially antiquarians, to whom it must be of great interest, for this shows at once that the Knight Templars must have had something to do with the Abbey either in its erection or as Pilgrims. Or there is another theory respecting this interesting stone:—Knight Templars were usually regarded as the military, and it is possible that a Knight Templar might have been killed in defending the Abbey in those troublous times, and possibly was buried close to the foundations, and this stone, which has no inscription, erected to his memory.

In this excavation was found some beautiful specimens of old stained glass of the thirteenth century, a few tiles, and several pieces of molten lead, which is a certain proof that it had been burnt down at some time or other, probably the same time as the Castle of Dinas Bràn, during the last struggle of the Welsh for their independency.

Valle Crucis now contains three things which are not found in any other Abbey, viz., the oldest Stone known to antiquarians, with a date on; Knight in Armour; and a Knight Templar’s tombstone.

Admission can be obtained by ringing the bell at the west entrance, which will bring the custodian to the door, who, with every courtesy, will conduct the visitor among the ruins and answer any queries respecting the same.

The Pillar of Eliseg.

Leaving the Abbey, let us now proceed through the adjoining meadow to the Pillar of Eliseg, to which we have previously referred. It is situated in a field opposite the second milestone from Llangollen, and stands on a slight elevation, called Llwyn-y-Groes, or the Grove of the Cross. Similar monuments were generally erected on a tumulus or sepulchral mound, and inclosed in a grove.

It is among the first lettered stones that succeeded the Meini-Hirion, Meini-Gwyr, and Llechau, and was erected by Concenn ap Cateli, in memory of his great-grandfather Eliseg, whose son, Brochmail Ysgythrog, Prince of Powys, grandfather of the founder of this rude monument of filial veneration, was engaged in the memorable border wars at the close of the 16th century, and was defeated at the battle of Chester in 1607.

It remained erect and entire until the civil wars, when some of Cromwell’s ignorant zealots, mistaking it for some Popish cross, overthrew and broke it, and it remained for more than a century in a prostrate state, until the Rev. John Price, Bodleian Librarian, uncle to the late Dr. Price, formerly of Llangollen, wrote to Trevor Lloyd, Esq., of Trevor Hall, who, with praiseworthy zeal, had its mutilated remains reared again into its base, which had not been removed, and placed upon it this Latin inscription:—

Quod hujus veteris monumenti superest diu ex oculis remotum et neglectum tandem restituit. T. Lloyd, Trevor Hall, 1779.

Translated as follows:—

T. Lloyd, of Trevor Hall, at length, in the year 1779, restored what remains of this ancient monument, that had been for a long time removed from sight and neglected.

The Cross, or rather Pillar, was formerly twelve feet high, but at present is little more than eight feet, and is inscribed all round with letters. It has a round band, resembling a cord, arranged as if in drapery, round an altar, with a ring in each compartment, part of which is either broken or worn away, but the form is clearly defined. The inscription is now much defaced, but when the monument was restored, the characters were carefully copied by Mr. Lloyd, the great antiquarian of that period, who gives them as follows:—

Concenn filius Cateli—Cateli filius Brochmail Brochmail filius Eliseg—Eliseg filius Cnoillaine Concenn itaque pronepos Eliseg edificavit hunc Lapidem proavo suo Eliseg.

The following seems to be the exact translation:—

Concenn, the son of Cateli; Cateli, the son of Brochmail; Brochmail, the son of Eliseg; Eliseg, the son of Cnoillaine; Concenn, therefore, the great-grandson of Eliseg, erected this Stone to his great-grandfather Eliseg.