Part 7

“The drivers were ordered to stop, and we dismounted, in order to pass over and examine this splendid work, and endeavour to gain as accurate an idea as possible of its nature and size. The coasts of Wales and Anglesea at both sides of the strait, are rocky, and about 100 feet high, and the breadth of the channel by which they are separated, is about 1600 feet. The object was to connect the two coasts by a bridge, and it has been fully attained. Two very stout columns of solid masonry are built in the water, one on each side, over the summits of which are stretched the immense chains, from which the bridge itself is suspended. The channel between the columns is about 600 feet wide, and over this stretches the horizontal line of the road-way, which is supported and made fast by means of about 800 strong iron rods. Each of the sixteen chains which constitute the suspending power, is stated to be 1714 feet long, and consists of large massive links, joined and bound together by strong iron bolts. These chains pass over the tops of the supporting columns, on moveable iron rollers of great strength, and are thus in a condition readily to accommodate themselves to the changes of temperature, without risk. The greatest difference in length between the strongest summer heat and most intense winter cold, is said to amount to sixteen inches. The work was begun under the direction of Mr. Telford, in the year 1819, and finished in 1826. Such is the general idea of the whole structure. When seen from the side, it is very difficult immediately to form a notion of the magnitude of the work; and besides, the simplicity of the outline gives at first an impression of very moderate extent. The feeling is very much the same as that with which strangers are impressed on the first view of St. Peter’s in Rome. They find it extremely difficult to believe that a structure of such magnitude is before them. And as the banks on both sides are very uniform, it requires to be compared with some other object—such as that of a large ship sailing through beneath, in order to gain a correct notion of its real magnitude. On viewing the bridge, and passing over it, through its long uniform alleys of ever-recurring iron rods, another observation forced itself upon my mind. This immense work, which in all its parts is regulated by the principle of utility, is totally deficient in all the charms of beauty. It cuts the landscape like a black uniform line, concave on one side, and perfectly horizontal on the other; and when viewed closely, the columns by which the bridge is supported, are wholly destitute of every description of architectural or sculptural ornament. Those perpetually recurring iron rods, which follow one another in monotonous rows, only serve to suggest the feeling of despair to which a painter must be reduced in any attempt to delineate the structure, and to give any thing like an accurate drawing of this tedious iron lattice-road. True, it may be very difficult to combine the demands of taste with the strict principles of utility in such an undertaking, where the grand object is strength. There is, properly speaking, a genuine English, dry, pedantic character usually exhibited in such structures as this. And, after all, what style should art here apply in order to introduce the charms of beauty into a work of this character? Neither the Egyptian nor Grecian style is at all appropriate to works in iron—the Gothic is quite as little applicable to such a purpose—and I have already remarked that in addition to these three, there can be as little pretension to introduce a fourth, really distinct from them, as to add a new kingdom to those of the recognised mineral, animal, and vegetable ones. This makes the task of the architect a very difficult one to accomplish. It is for them to see how the difficulty is to be met.

“Having passed over the bridge to the Anglesea side, we descended to the shore, and took a boat, in order to have a view of this immense structure from beneath. By far the clearest idea of the vastness of the work is thus obtained, by viewing it from the green sea, which flows beneath with a gentle southerly current; the true magnitude and proportions of the bridge are then most deeply impressed upon the mind; but even here, no idea of beauty is suggested. Other bridges, with their various arches and ornamental buttresses, may, and frequently do present objects of great beauty to the eye. This, however, is, and must always remain, a great _mathematical figure_.

“After having thus examined the bridge from all parts of the river, we descended into the vast cavern on the Anglesea side, in which the ends of the chains are made fast in the rocks far under ground. The whole is planned with great ingenuity and skill. The rock, which forms the resisting power, is armed, as it were, with huge masses of iron, containing deep mortices, into which the bolts that bind the ends of the chains are made fast.

“In this manner, therefore, the sixteen powerful chains are fastened in the deep rocks on both sides of the strait; and assuredly, no human power or weight can be well conceived sufficient to tear them from the depth in which they are anchored. Even the long Macadamized bridge itself presents such a degree of stability, as to be very little moved by the carriages which pass over its surface.”

* * * *

“On the morning of the 13th, (July, 1844,) the birthday of my dear mother, I enjoyed a beautiful view of the little port of Bangor, from the garden terrace of the hotel, from which a view is obtained of the northern opening of the Menai Strait, of the bay of Beaumaris, and the more distant mountains of Wales. The weather, too, was tolerably fine in the morning; but at the time of our departure it had become cloudy, and it was raining hard when we arrived at the remarkable and extensive Penrhyn slate quarries, which are of great importance to the whole of Wales. They are situated about six miles to the N.E. of Bangor, on the slope of the hill, and have been particularly rich and productive for the last fifty years. When one arrives at this quarry from below, it presents the appearance almost of a crater open towards the front, along the lips of which, twelve or fourteen terraces run, one above another, each of which is from forty-five to fifty feet high, and upon which the works of blasting and digging are carried on by about 2000 workmen. The stone is of a reddish-brown; sometimes, also, greyish slate, of fine grain, which splits well into plates, and takes a fine polish. The mass never contains organic remains, but is frequently traversed by strata of quarry or limestone, in which crystals of some metals, principally copper and iron, occur.

“The manner in which these quarries are worked is the following. On the galleries, or terraces, large masses of slate are first detached by means of powder, and then roughly hewn into shape. There are laid along each of these terraces tram-roads formed of rails loosely laid down, upon which the masses of slate, in waggons with suitable wheels, are thrust along by men to the little houses situated on the declivity of the mountain, at the extremities of the galleries. Here they are split into smaller plates; and it is curious to observe how regularly the slate splits into fine and still finer plates, down to the thickness of three or four lines. Several pieces are allowed to retain a thickness of an inch or an inch and a half, and are used for tables and flagstones, the thinner ones for covering roofs, &c. The manner, too, in which they are squared, being cut out at once by a sort of hatchet, according to a line made by means of a ruler, is very curious. The plates thus formed are distinguished by very amusing names. Thus the largest are called _queens_, the next _princesses_, then _duchesses_, _ladies_, and so on. The enormous quantity of slate produced may be estimated from the facts, that a railway has been constructed specially from these quarries to Penrhyn harbour, at an expense of £170,000, which _every week_ takes down between 500 and 600 tons, or about 12,000 cwt. of slate; and that the yearly net produce has sometimes brought in as much as £60,000 to the owner of the quarry, the Hon. Douglas Pennant.

“The quarrying itself is attended with considerable danger. The workmen, when a portion of the rock is to be blasted from the upper part of a gallery, are obliged to bore the hole, suspended in mid-air by ropes, to load the hole so bored, to set fire to the match, and then to place themselves beyond the reach of the explosion. They are also exposed to the chance of accidents from the falling of portions of the sharp slate; and it was carious, even yesterday—on which, being pay-day, the work was not regularly going on—to hear now and then the explosion of the blasting of some part of the rock, at the same time that it was almost difficult to pass along the galleries, without falling over the little railways or some of the sharp pieces of stone. The manner in which Queen Victoria was received here, on her visit some years ago, must have produced a curious effect. As soon as she arrived, 1300 explosions were heard from all parts of the quarry, having been all previously prepared for this purpose. After having (the greater part of the time in the rain) inspected all the parts of this immense quarry, and, besides, a saw-mill, for cutting up the thicker plates of the slate, we returned towards Bangor, and visited Penrhyn Castle, the property of the Hon. D. Pennant. In olden times, a castle belonging to Roderic Molwynog, grandson of Cadwallader, stood on this spot. It was rebuilt in the time of Henry the Sixth, and has been quite lately renewed (under the direction of a London architect, of the name of Hopper) by the father-in-law of the present possessor. It is a remarkable and splendid building, such as could only be completed with a revenue like that proceeding from the quarries.

“On entering the park, the castle is seen on a wooded height, grey, like Windsor, with large towers and high turrets, without any apparent roof, quite like an old fortress. Through the castle-gate we entered the court-yard, ornamented in the Norman style: but this style is much more splendidly and grandly exhibited in the entrance-hall, from whence staircases conduct to the upper rooms. Every thing here is in the Saxon style of building; the columns with their curious ornaments, and the upper parts covered with arabesques. Tall stone candelabra and a splendid chimney-piece, all in the same style, increase the magnificent appearance of the hall; the windows with their round arches are filled with stained glass; the staircase winds over arches supported on columns, and beside Norman statues; in a word, the whole sight is grand and imposing. The internal arrangements of the whole place, the drawing and dining rooms, the library, the bed-rooms, are all on a similar scale of magnificence; several wainscotted with beautiful carved oak: the furniture and beds all harmonising with the prevailing style of the building. We remarked a curious object in the state bed-room (almost all such castles appear to have such a state room, with a bed in it); namely, a bed, of which the whole of the bedstead and the posts which supported the canopy were made of the finest black slate, beautifully polished and manufactured. This reference to the principal foundation of the wealth of the possessor, appeared to me to show his gratitude rather than his taste. It may easily be supposed, however, that other curious objects were to be seen here; among these, we were shewn one of those curious drinking horns, formerly general in this district, as also in Scandinavia. I was sorry that we entirely lost the view from the continued rain; for this view, both towards the sea and towards the mountains, must be of a very splendid description.”

BANGOR IS-Y-COED, (_Flintshire_.)

Chester 13 Ellesmere 8 Holt 7 Overton 3 Whitchurch 10½ Wrexham 5

Bangor Is-y-coed stands in a detached part of the country, on the banks of the Dee, over which is a good stone bridge of five arches, from the vicinity of which a beautiful landscape is presented. This place is celebrated as the site of the most ancient monastery in Britain, founded, as old writers assert, by Lucius, the son of Coel, and first Christian king of Britain, prior to the year 180. Lucius formed it into a university, for the increase of learning, and the preservation of the Christian faith in this realm; and it produced many learned men even in that early age. At the arrival of Augustine about 596, on a mission from Pope Gregory I. to convert the English Saxons to Christianity, this monastery appears to have been in a very flourishing state. The monks at Bangor were independent of the Romish church; and in a conference between St. Augustine and its governors, the imperious missionary demanded of them that they should keep the feast of Easter at the same time that the Papists did; that they should administer baptism according to the ceremonies of the church of Rome; and “preach the word of life with him and his fellows.” In other things, he said, they would be allowed to retain their ancient customs, insolently concluding, that “if they would not accept of peace with their brethren, they should receive war from their enemies.” They refused obedience to his injunctions, and resolutely maintained the original rites of their church. Shortly after this period followed the dreadful massacre of the monks of Bangor.

Not long after this event, the monastery became neglected, and went entirely to decay. William of Malmsbury, who lived shortly after the Norman conquest, asserts, that even in his time, there remained only some relics of its ancient magnificence: there were, he says, so many ruined churches and such immense heaps of rubbish, as were not elsewhere to be found. Leland says of it, in the time of Henry the Seventh, that its site was in a fertile valley on the south side of the Dee; but that the river having since changed its course, then ran through the middle of the ground on which it stood. The extent of its walls, he affirms, was equal to that of the walls round a town; and the two gates, the names of which had been handed down by tradition, had been half a mile asunder. Within the memory of persons then living, the bones of the monks, and pieces of their clothes, had been ploughed up, in the cultivation of the ground.

BARMOUTH OR ABERMAW, (_Merionethshire_.)

Aberdovey 16 Dolgelley 10 Harlech 10 London 225 Towyn 12

The town of Barmouth is seated near the bottom of some high mountains, many of the houses being built on the steep sides; and viewed from the sea, it resembles a fortress of some strength, hanging immediately over the sands. The town stands near to the sea, at the mouth of the Maw or Mawddach, and takes its name of Barmouth, i.e. Abermaw or Mawddach, from that circumstance. At high water, the tide here forms a bay above a mile over, but the entrance is rather hazardous, on account of the sand-banks. This is the only port of Merionethshire, but its commerce is not very extensive. The chief manufactures are flannels and woollen stockings; and of these Mr. Pennant observed sixty years ago, that £40,000 worth of the former have been exported in a year, and £10,000 worth of stockings.

The parish church is distant about a mile and a half from the town, but in 1830 a chapel of ease was opened here for Divine service, which is principally performed in English. A national school has recently been erected at the outskirts of the town, on the Harlech road, from an excellent design by Mr. Jones, of Chester. There are also chapels in the town occupied by the Wesleyans, the Calvinists, and Independents.

The town is generally well filled with fashionable bathers in the summer season, for whose convenience, accommodation, and amusement, the inhabitants have made ample provision. There are two excellent inns: the Cors-y-gedol Arms, where post chaises and cars, as well as guides to Coder Idris, and the lakes and waterfalls, may be obtained; and also the Commercial Inn, with stabling and coach-houses. During the summer months, stage-coaches leave and arrive every day in the week, except Sunday, from different places, including Liverpool, Shrewsbury, and Caernarvon. There is a mail every day to and from the latter place, passing through Harlech, Tan-y-bwlch, Tremadoc, and Beddgelert. A four-horse mail-coach between Chester and Barmouth has lately commenced running daily. There are several good shops; and for the accommodation of visitors, circulating libraries have been established. Here, also, are two baths, a billiard-room, and a bowling-green. The lodging houses are excellent. The town, and the turnpike-roads throughout the district, have lately been greatly improved, and are still improving. The population is about 2000.

“The beach,” says Mr. Bingley, “is one of the most delightful walks I ever beheld. The wide river Mawddach winds among the mountains, forming many and elegant promontories. These rise to great heights on each side, some clad with wood, and others exhibiting their naked rocks, scantily covered with purple heath. The summit of the lofty Cader Idris is seen to rise above the other mountains, in the back ground.” From Barmouth a delightful excursion may be made along the banks of the Maw, or in a boat up the river, for about eight miles. The beach also affords a beautiful drive of six miles. From this place a projecting causeway, called Sarn-Badric, runs 15 miles into the sea, which tradition says, though her evidence alone is but slight authority, once surrounded one hundred cities. The upper part is perceptible at low water.

In the neighbourhood of Barmouth are several gentlemen’s mansions and other pretty residences, of which Bryntirion, the property of Charles Henry Harford, Esq., was the most beautiful: it was destroyed by fire about the latter end of 1840, and has not yet been rebuilt.

The Rev. Mr. Newell, in his Scenery of Wales, observes that while at Cors-y-gedol Arms, at Barmouth, he was introduced to a Welsh harper, whose performance he did not seem much to admire. Mr. Newell then adds, “It is a curious circumstance that we owe Gray’s Bard to a Welsh harper—blind Parry, Sir W. W. Wynn’s harper. In a letter from Cambridge, Gray says:—‘Mr. Parry has been here, and scratched out such ravishing blind harmony, such tones of a thousand years old, with names enough to choke you, as have set all this learned body a dancing, and inspired them with due respect for my old bard, his countryman, whenever he shall appear. Mr. Parry, you must know, has set my ode in motion again, and has brought it at last to a conclusion.’”

The angling stations are, Arthog Chapel, three miles distant, and Llyn Bodlyn, four miles from Barmouth; Llyn Irddin and Llyn Geirw, near to the town; and Llyn Raithlyn, in the neighbourhood of Traws-fynydd.

BEAUMARIS, (_Anglesea_.)

Amlwch 17 Bangor, by the bridge 6½ Caernarvon 12 Conway 14½ Holyhead 27 London, by Chester 258 — by Shrewsbury 243 Mona 14 Snowdon 12

Beaumaris, a most respectable and well-built town, in Anglesea, is a corporate borough, where the assizes for that county are held. The town and liberties are included in the parishes of Llandegvan and Llanvaes: the whole occupying a district nearly semi-circular in form, and presenting to the Menai a bold rocky cliff of three miles, and an indented beach of more than two. This place, like many others on the Welsh coast, has lately become a most fashionable resort for bathing visitors, for which it is admirably adapted, the sands being firm and the water clear. In 1805, hot baths were erected here, and accommodations of the first class abound.

The church, formerly called “the Chauntry of our Lady of Beaumaris,” is considered as a chapel of ease to Llandegvan. It is situated on an eminence in the centre of the town, and consists of a nave, isles, and chancel, covered with lead, and embrasured; having a ring of six bells, a clock, and an organ, all the gift of the late Lord Bulkeley. In the chancel is a beautiful monument of a knight and his lady, in white alabaster, recumbent on an altar-tomb. Mr. Llwyd says, they represent Sir Richard Bulkeley and his lady; the former was appointed Chamberlain of North Wales, and was in great favour with Queen Elizabeth. In the church, a white marble monument, executed by Westmacott, in memory of the late Lord Bulkeley, who died June 3, 1822, stands on the left side of the altar: this beautiful piece of sculpture represents Faith directing the view of the dejected widow towards the bust of her husband and to heaven. Also a beautiful monument of a female kneeling in an attitude of devotion, on a pedestal, by Ternouth, to the memory of Charlotte Mary, first wife of Sir R. B. W. Bulkeley, Bart., and daughter of Lord Dinorben. There is likewise a tablet to the memory of David Hughes, erected in 1812, by some persons who had been educated in the Free School of which he was the founder. There are also several other monuments and tablets, but not possessing any peculiar attraction. On a plain stone near the east entrance into the church is the following quaint inscription to the memory of Meredith Davies:—

Who has been our parish clerk Full one and thirty years, I say, Must here, alas! lie in the dark Bemoaned for ever and for aye.

Near to the church is the Free School, founded in 1603, by David Hughes, Esq., who also endowed alms-houses for six poor persons, to whom he granted annuities; the late Lord Bulkeley added four to this number; they are situated about a mile from the town, near the entrance of Baron Hill Park. Near the castle are the shire hall, and other suitable offices, where the assizes are held. The town-hall is a good building, comprising the assembly-room and a suite of civic apartments. A custom-house and a national school are also included among the public institutions of Beaumaris.

The Williams Bulkeley Arms Hotel is a magnificent establishment, and most admirably conducted. The Commercial and Liverpool Arms Inns are also houses where good accommodation may be had. The market-days are Wednesday and Saturday. Population, 2299.