Part 7

through which we passed, about five miles in extent, seemed to be well planned, and kept in excellent order. This castle has always been inhabited; and, having escaped the fate of all other castles in Wales, during the civil wars, it retained, till very late, much of its original external form.

Mr. Fenton’s description of this noble spot is so correct and energetic, that I shall, in justice to him, as well as to Picton, here insert it. “Picton castle owes its beauties to circumstances that wealth cannot supply, or titles confer; circumstances that age, and an unbroken line of ancestry in its possessors, have given value to, and have made venerable; an ancient structure, that nothing can so much disfigure as an attempt to modernize, and make less so;—a castle (and I believe a solitary instance) never forfeited, never deserted, never vacant; and that never knew a melancholy blank in its want of a master; from whose walls hospitality was never exiled, and whose governors might be said to have been hereditary; a castle in the midst of possessions and forests coeval with itself, and proudly looking down over a spacious domain, on woods of every after-growth, to an inland sea, bounding its property and its prospects beyond them; for such is Picton Castle.”

The ground plan occupies an oblong area, having three large projecting bastions on each side. At the east end was the grand gate, with a portcullis between two similar bastions: this, without any injury to the general aspect, has yielded to a modern entrance, as has the moat and drawbridge, to a terrace, with an open parapet: the additions at the west end are not so fortunate: they injure the appearance, but add to the comforts of the castle, as a modern residence; affording Lord Milford more ample scope for that noble hospitality which he so liberally exercises according to the usage of his ancestors.

Lord Milford possesses a fine cabinet of drawings by eminent masters, collected in Italy by Sir Erasmus Phillips, his uncle. The park is well wooded, but destitute of deer. The gardens, forcing houses, &c. &c. are very extensive, and in high order.

A beautiful walk, which passes near the old encampment, called Castle Lake, leads to Slebech, an ancient commandery of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, but neither trace nor vestige of the old commandery are now to be found. The church is ancient and respectable, but not large; it contains two figures in alabaster, believed to be of the Barlow family.

Returning again to Picton, at the extremity of the park, a good turnpike road soon conducted us to

HAVERFORDWEST,

which is considered as one of the largest towns in South Wales. It is very irregularly built, on the declivity of a hill, which is, in some parts, so very steep, that the ground-rooms frequently overlook the neighbouring roofs; yet there are some good houses. It is considered as a county of itself, and sends one member to parliament. The town was formerly fortified by a strong wall, or rampart, on the western summit; the shell of a once extensive castle is still remaining; this is now converted into a gaol.

The parade, commanding a cheerful view of the neighbouring country, and the ruins of an ancient abbey, extends for a considerable way, by the side of a hill. At the extremity of this walk stands the ruins of an ancient priory of black canons; the remains are now very inconsiderable, but we easily traced the chapel, over one end of which is an arch, still in good preservation, and beautifully enwreathed with the rich drapery of ivy.

The castle, which was built by Gilbert de Clare, first Earl of Pembroke, was a strong edifice; but the keep now only remains; and that has been converted into a gaol. From its elevated situation, it has a commanding appearance, and an air of ruined grandeur, more interesting than the proudest modern edifice can boast.

Haverford is called by the Welsh, Hwlfordh. {82a} Having finished our survey of Haverford, we started early the next morning, proposing to breakfast at

NEWGIN BRIDGE,

where we understood we should meet with every thing comfortable; but, to our disappointment, we found a most miserable, dirty pot-house, destitute of even the common comforts of life. I recollected Shenstone’s complimentary lines on an inn, but could not apply them on the present occasion:

“Whoe’er has travell’d life’s dull round, Where’er his stages may have been, May sigh to think that he has found The warmest welcome at an inn.” {82b}

The road from Haverford to Newgin we found very uninteresting; and the shell of

ROACH CASTLE

did not detain us long. It stands on a rocky eminence, now completely in ruins, with only one tower remaining. “Roach Castle (says Leland) in Rouseland, to the right of the road to St. David’s, shews a round and some double out-works, visible at a great distance. It belonged to the Lords Ferrars, and old Langeville, Knt. of Bucks.”

In descending the hill to Newgin, the dark lowering rocks, which form that fine bay, called St. Bride’s, exhibited a grand prospect. In the centre of this bay is situated Newgin, bounded on the south by the island of Skomar, and on the north by Ramsay. The fields adjacent to this place have been frequently inundated by extraordinary overflowings of the sea: at the reflux of the tide, the sands admit of most excellent walking.

The saunter from hence to the city of

ST. DAVID’S,

now properly deserving the name of a village, was rather more captivating than our walk before breakfast: it was occasionally enlivened by the prospect of the wide ocean, boundless to our view on one side, whilst before us the fantastic shapes of the rocks off St. David’s Head, exhibited nature in her most awful and striking attitudes. Above the rest, Caern Thydy lifted its bold promontory, as if to give effect to the rude landscape. About half way between Newgin and St. David’s, the beautiful little village of Solva unexpectedly burst upon our view; studded with neat white-washed cottages, and enclosed on each side with lofty rocks, which here form a picturesque and interesting chasm. These rocks, indeed, I could almost imagine were torn asunder by some convulsive rent of the earth. The cathedral, and dilapidated ruins of the episcopal palace, are situated at the bottom of a steep hill, and scarcely visible in the town: these, and the prebendal houses, were formerly enclosed by a strong stone wall, with four gates, computed at eleven hundred yards in circuit. David, {84} the national saint of Wales, with the consent of King Arthur, is said to have removed the metropolitan see from Caerleon to Menevia, which has ever since been called Ty Dewi by the Welsh, and St. David by the English. What was the condition and extent of this town formerly, it is difficult to say, having been so frequently destroyed. At present it is a very small city, and has nothing to boast but its ruined palace, and old cathedral, dedicated to St. Andrew and St. David, which has often been demolished; but rebuilt, in its present form, by Bishop Peter, according to Giraldus, in the reign of King Henry II.; or, as Willis, in the year 1110, in Rhos Vale, below the town. It is still esteemed a noble pile, consisting of two transepts, measuring in length, from east to west, three hundred feet; and the body with the aisles, seventy-six feet broad.

Behind the choir is a most beautiful chapel, with a rich roof of carved stone, built by Vaughan, in the time of King Henry VIII., as a kind of presbytery, between the choir and Lady Chapel. In the last, whose roof, as well as those of the aisles of the choir and transepts, have been down ever since the civil war, are monuments of three bishops, and in the nave, &c. four or five more. In the north wall of the choir is the shrine of St. David; a kind of altar tomb, with a canopy of four pointed arches, and in front four quatrefoil holes, into which the votaries put their offerings, which were taken out by the monks at two iron doors behind. In the choir are also the monuments of Owen Tudor, second husband of Queen Catharine, Rhys ap Tudor, {85a} Bishops Jorwerth and Anselm, in the thirteenth century, and Edmund, Earl of Richmond, father of King Henry VII. This last monument is said to have prevented King Henry VIII. from removing the see to Caermarthen. Giraldus Cambrensis, who was archdeacon of Brecon, canon of Hereford, and rector of Chesterton, Oxford, was buried here in 1213. {85b} On the north side of the church are some walls of St. Mary’s College, founded by Bishop Houghton, and John of Gaunt, in 1365, valued at one hundred and six pounds per annum. {85c}

It is much to be regretted, that so little regard has been paid to the internal appearance of this noble pile; the whole of it has lately been white-washed, which gives it too much the air of a modern building: the external part, I am sorry to add, has been equally neglected; and the chapels and monuments exposed to the wanton mischief of boys and idle people. The stone, likewise, with which it is built, is of so soft a substance, that it even moulders with the touch of the finger; but possibly it may, by being exposed to the air, like the Bath stone, become more solid; and, when by time it shall have acquired a darker hue, may then better correspond with the original building.

The Bishop’s Palace now stands a monument of desolation; and as we walked over the loose fragments of stone, which are scattered through the immense area of the fabric, the images of former times rose to reflection,—when the spacious hall stood proudly in its original splendor; when the long aisles of the chapel were only responsive to the solemn, slow-breathed chant. In this palace is a very long room, purposely erected for the reception of King John: at the extremity of it is a circular window, of very elegant and curious workmanship.

According to Le Neve, Dubritius, Archbishop of Caerleon, is called by this title, as Archbishop of Wales, at the first establishment of the Christian religion in the British islands. Godwin fixes no time of his coming in, but only says, that he, waxing old, resigned his see to David, a disciple of his; that he died, and was buried in the Isle of Bardsee, Nov. 14, 522.

David removed the see, as before stated, from Caerleon to Menevia; and, by the time Godwin allows him to sit, viz. sixty-five years, and to die in 642, we may suppose he came in in 577. It is said he lived to a great age, viz. 146 years; and dying in 642, as is aforesaid, was buried in the cathedral which himself had caused to be built; and his successors shewed so great a respect to his memory, as to call the see by his name, which it still retains, they for a long time afterwards styling themselves Archbishops of St. David’s; of these, (including David), there were twenty-five, with Sampson, who, by reason of a contagious sickness in his diocese, retiring into Bretagne, and taking his pall with him, his successors, either for want of that, or by some other occasion, lost their title of Archbishop; but yet for several years they held the archiepiscopal power of consecrating bishops, which was exercised under twenty-two of them, down to Bishop Bernard, who was consecrated in 1115. He, by command of King Henry I., resigned this power to the see of Canterbury. From this period, down to the time of Bishop Vaughan, it had many benefactors; amongst whom, as most prominent, stand the names of Peter de Leia, Bishops Gervase, Beck, Martin, Gower, and Vaughan.

“During this interval,” says Mr. Rees, “St. David’s acquired the highest celebrity; and the shrine of the founder was resorted to by the greatest monarchs of the age. In the list of these royal visitors, are to be included the names of William the Conqueror, who made his pilgrimage in 1079; King Henry the Second, who honoured Bishop David Fitzgerald with his company in 1171; and King Edward the First, and Eleanor his queen, who made their pilgrimage in 1284, when Bishop Beck held the see. The pilgrims of inferior rank who resorted here were innumerable, and their offerings served greatly to enrich the ecclesiastics, who spared no pains to enhance the merit of the penance, by which the poor votaries thus soothed their consciences, and emptied their pockets.” {87}

Giraldus gives us a true description of the country round St. David’s, representing it as “a stony, barren, unimprovable territory, undecked with woods, undivided by rivers, unadorned with meadows, exposed only to wind and storm.” Such, indeed, is the state and situation of St. David’s; and, the environs having no hedges to divide the property of the farmers, the sheep, and even the geese, are all tethered together.

In this now dilapidated city was born Asserius, Bishop of Sherbourne, who wrote a life of King Alfred, and is supposed to have been instrumental in inducing that Prince to found the University of Oxford.

The walk to St. David’s Head, though barren, represents a view striking and awful; sublimity gives place to elegance: yet what is it to view?—a boundless waste of ocean;—not a glimpse of smiling nature,—not a patch of vegetation, to relieve the aching sight, or vary the objects of admiration. The rocks on this shore are shaken into every possible shape of horror; and, in many parts, resemble the convulsions of an earthquake, splintered, shivered, and amassed. On these rocks stood the famous rocking stone, or _Y mean sigl_; which, “though twenty yoke of oxen could not move it, might be shaken with the slightest touch.” We understood it was thrown off its balance, by order of the farmer, to prevent the curious from trampling on his grounds. “A mile strait west from St. David’s, betwixt Portclais and Porthmaur,” {88} is the shell of Capel Stinen, St. Stinan’s or St. Justinian’s chapel.

From this spot is an extensive view of Whitsand Bay, called by the Welsh _Porth Maur_, or the Great Bay; in which stand the six rocks, called the Bishop and his Clerks. Half a league from hence is

RAMSEY ISLE,

half a mile long, and three quarters broad, and divided into two considerable farms. The whole island is well stocked with rabbits; and, during the spring, the Razorbill, Puffin, and Harry birds, resort here in flocks. It has undergone many changes from the continual wearing of the waves. There is a tradition, that the embarkation for Ireland anciently took place at Ramsey; but sailors doubt the truth of this circumstance, from the circumstances of the tides. Our walk from St. David’s to

FISHGUARD

afforded us little room for observation; the eye, however, kept in view a wide range of the unbounded ocean; till, dim with exertion, it by degrees reposed on the dark lowering rocks, which, disregarding the angry roar of the waves, seemed to project their broad sides, to augment the idle tumult. Quitting the turnpike road, in search of the place where the French effected their landing, in the year 1797, we passed a neat house, called Caergwent, belonging to Mrs. Harris. The kind attentions of a farmer, in the neighbourhood of this memorable spot, claim our warmest acknowledgments. Having finished a most comfortable meal at Mr. Mortimer’s house (which, during the confusion, was considered the head-quarters of the French, commanded by General Tate), he explained all the minutiæ respecting this circumstance; and very obligingly pointed out the situation of their camp, and related many entertaining and interesting anecdotes. Deeply impressed with gratitude towards Mr. M. for his civilities, we soon arrived at Goodric sands. This spot was very judiciously selected by Lord Cawdor, as a proper place for the French to lay down their arms; for, had they resisted, a cannonade of grape-shot, from a neighbouring fortress, would have instantly played upon them. Fishguard stands on a steep rock, with a convenient harbour, formed by the river Gwain; though its situation and bay are interesting, it is by no means a desirable place to remain long at.

Several druidical monuments {90} engaged our attention, as we drew near

NEWPORT,

called by Giraldus, Llanhever, or the Town on the river Nevern. The fragments of the castle are too insignificant to invite the curiosity of the passing traveller: it was demolished by Llewllyn, Prince of South Wales, when possessed by the Flemings.

The country beyond Newport presented a more pleasing countenance: wood, water, hill, and vale, all unite, even to induce the plodding citizen to pause, and wish to spend the evening of his days in the vicinity of its enchantment. In this interesting situation, we found the village of Velindre:—we here particularly observed the slaty quality of the hills, and could not avoid condemning the folly of the inhabitants of Velindre in building their cottages of mud, and sparingly covering them with straw, when nature herself seemed to place comforts, if not luxuries, before their view. But, perhaps, these reproaches were ill-grounded; for thus veiled in obscurity, they were happy, as they knew not enough of the world seriously to regret the want of these conveniences: their situation, indeed, seemed to verify the philosophical sentiment of Gray:

“Since ignorance is bliss, ’Tis folly to be wise.”

For though they suffer the extremes of filth and penury, yet they enjoy the two inestimable blessings, health and felicity. The broken towers of

KILGERRAN CASTLE

soon attracted our notice. The relics of this ruin stand on a point of rock, impending over the river Tyvi, whose beauty time had only impaired to heighten its grandeur. Two imperfect circular towers, and the fragments of a wall, now only remain.

The river Tyvi, I imagine, abounds with fish, as we observed at every door in the village of Kilgerran a coracle. {91} The construction of this little water conveyance is remarkably simple, and intended solely for the use of fishing: a thick skin, or coarse pitched canvas, is stretched over wicker-work. This singular fishing-boat conveys only one man, who manages it with the greatest adroitness imaginable; the right hand being employed in using the paddle, the left in conducting the net, and the teeth in holding the line. Two coracles generally co-operate, to assist each other in fishing: they usually measure about five feet long, and four broad, and are rounded at the corners; and, after the labours of the day, are conveyed on their backs to the little cots of the fishermen, being looked upon as a necessary appendage to the cottage door.

Description can scarcely suggest the full magnificence and beauty of the saunter from hence to Cardigan: the valley, about two miles in extent, seemed to possess all that nature inherits; sloping hills, two hundred feet high, covered with wood, from the water’s edge to their highest summit, and at the most acceptable distances, and truly happy situations, interrupted by a bold, naked, and projecting rock; whilst the broad and translucid stream of the Tyvi reflects, as in a mirror, the blackness of the impending shades. The retrospect commands the romantic ruins of Kilgerran castle, whose mutilated walls close this delicious landscape. The whole valley bears a strong resemblance to the situation of the celebrated Piercefield. As this spot is entirely lost by keeping the turnpike road, it is advisable for travellers in general, to hire a boat from Cardigan to Kilgerran: this, our humble, and less encumbered mode of travelling rendered unnecessary.

Near Kilgerran are Castle Maelgyn, and Pentre, the seat of Dr. Davies; both handsome modern mansions, surrounded by pleasing gardens and plantations.

At Lechryd, not far from Kilgerran, extensive tin-works are carried on by Sir Benjamin Hamet. Having already examined works of this nature at Neath, we preferred the romantic vale of Kilgerran; as to accomplish both would have occupied too much time. We entered the town of

CARDIGAN,

over a handsome stone bridge, built over the Tyvi, which is here of considerable width. In front of this stands, on a steep eminence, the castle, consisting chiefly of its outer walls, which prove it to have been once a considerable building. This place, considered the principal town of the county, is called by the Britons Aberteivi; which name it receives from standing near the mouth of the river Tyvi. It was fortified, together with the castle, by Gilbert, son of Richard Clare, and demolished by Rhees ap Gryffith.

Cardigan had once a strong castle; but it was destroyed in the civil wars, and an elegant mansion erected on its site by Mr. Bowen: the cellars of which were anciently the dungeons of the keep. At the end of the bridge is a chapel, said to be erected on the spot, where Giraldus preached the Crusade.

The town is large and regular; its chief trade consisting in lead, exported to Ireland. It sends one member to Parliament, and gives the title of Earl to the family of Brudenell. The Church is large, and well built, with a handsome tower. The new gaol, finished in the year 1797, is conveniently situated, and appears to be a well-planned building. One mile from Cardigan is

ST. DOGMAEL’S ABBEY,

called, by Leland, {94} a “Priory of Bonhommes.” The Monasticon places this house amongst the Benedictines; but it was that strict and reformed sort of Benedictines, called the Order of Tiron, founded by Martin of Tours, who conquered the country of Cemmeis, about the time of King William the Conqueror. Part of the ruins is now converted into a chapel, for the convenience of the vicinity. St. Dogmael’s is now a mere fishing village.

At the second mile-stone, in our road from Cardigan to the village of

LLANARTH,

we halted a short time, to take a retrospect of the country we had passed. From this spot, the town and castle of Cardigan, standing on an eminence, in the centre of a broad valley, and encircled with hills, beautifully introduced themselves to our view. From hence to

ABERAERON,

grand sea prospects continued to enliven our route;—whilst the faint and still fainter hues of the coast of Ireland appeared just visibly skirting the distant horizon. Aberaeron is situated in a vale, near the conflux of the river Aeron with the sea: from whence it receives its name; Aber signifying the mouth of any thing.

The entrenchment, mentioned by Sael, in his Collection of Tours, about a mile from Aberaeron, is now almost washed away by daily encroachments of the sea. We lamented that the druidical sepulchral monuments, mentioned by the same author, were inadvertently passed unnoticed by us.

In this day’s journey we still continued to indulge the sublime emotions, which an unconfined view of the ocean always inspires; a serene day, with partial gleams of sunshine, gave magical effects to the scenery; and the sea was enlivened with many a vessel, passing each other in various directions, and contributing to render the terrific ocean beautiful. Before us, the towering mountains of Merionethshire glittered in all those colours of beauty, which constitute the sublime; and we appeared only to climb one hill to view others still rising in endless perspective: over the whole was diffused the rich glow of evening; and the distant mountains were variegated by the parting tinge of lingering day. A neat Church, backed by romantic hills, animated the village of Llanrysted. Three miles from

ABERYSTWITH,

we paused at Llanryan bridge, to admire the rich banks rising on each side of the river Ystwith, over which this bridge is thrown; it is built in the style of the celebrated Pont-y-prid, in the vale of Glamorganshire. We entered the town of Aberystwith over a temporary wooden bridge. {95} In the year 1796, a stone bridge experienced the same fate with many others in Wales, occasioned by a sudden thaw: Mr. Edwards, from Dolgelly, has lately erected another, by contract, consisting of six arches.