Part 5 (1/2)
-”The time draws on When not a single spot of burial earth, Whether on land, or in the s.p.a.cious sea, But must give back its long committed dust Inviolate.”
The Pillar of Eliseg is supposed to be one of the oldest inscribed British columns now existing, and is erected in a field about three furlongs from the Abbey, standing in a delightful valley, to which it gives the name of Valle Crucis, or the Vale of the Cross. The spot on which it stands is a gentle elevation, and is called Llwyn y Groes, i.e.
the Grove of the Cross. The pillar was twelve feet high, and inscribed all round with letters. It stood in its place until some of Cromwell's fanatical soldiers overthrew and broke it.
The pillar remained cast down many years, until Trevor Lloyd, Esq. of Trevor Hall, reared its mutilated remains 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 RESt.i.tUIT T. LLOYD, TREVOR HALL, MDCCLXXIX.
Translated as follows:-
”T. LLOYD, of Trevor Hall, at length, in the year 1779, restored what remains of this ancient Monument, which had been a long time removed from sight, and neglected.”
The Cross, or Pillar, for it seems never to have had the form of a Cross, is now little more than eight feet high. The old inscription, which time has rendered illegible, has been carefully copied by that great antiquarian, Mr. Edward Lloyd, {69a} and informs us nearly of the time of its erection, as under:-
”Concenn filius Cateli-Cateli {69b} filius Brockmail Brochmail filius Eliseg-Eliseg filius Cnoillaine Concenn itaque p.r.o.nepos Eliseg edificavit hunc Lapidem proavo suo Eliseg.”
Of which the following seems to be an 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.”
The characters resemble one of the alphabets in use about the sixth century, at which time this sepulchral pillar was erected. Concenn and Eliseg probably resided at Castell Dinas Bran; and a towns.h.i.+p adjacent bears the name of Eglwyseg, as well as the stupendous and picturesque ma.s.s of rocks that range along the vale, called the Eglwyseg Rocks, from Eliseg. Brochmail, another of the persons mentioned, deserted the protection of the Monks of Bangor at the battle of West Chester, when twelve hundred of those unfortunate unarmed religious were cut to pieces by the forces of Athelfrid or Edilfred, King of Northumberland, A.D. 607.
{70a}
Brochmail, whom I suppose to be the same the Latins called Brochmailus, was a great prince in that part of Britain called Powisland, which was then very extensive, stretching from the Severn to the Dee in a right line, from the end of Broxon Hills to Salop, and comprehending all the country between the Wye and Severn. He resided at Pengwern Powis, now Shrewsbury, {70b} in a house situated where the College of St. Chad now stands. He was a great friend and favourer of the Monks of Bangor, and took part with them against the Saxons, instigated by Augustine the Monk to prosecute them with fire and sword, because they would not agree to the forms and ceremonies of the Church of Rome, and forsake their own established customs. {70c}
I was so fortunate as to meet with two persons who a.s.sisted in opening the tumulus before the pillar was re-erected; and they gave me the following accounts:-On digging below the flat pedestal in which the base of the Pillar had been inserted, they came to a layer of pebble stones; and after having removed them, to a large flat slab, on which it seems the body had been laid, as they now found the remains of it, guarded round with large flat blue stones, and covered at the top with the same; the whole forming a sort of stone box or coffin. The bones were entire, and of very large dimensions. The skull and teeth, which were very white and perfect, were particularly sound. My informants said they believed the skull was sent to Trevor Hall, but it was returned, and again deposited, with the rest of the bones, in its former sepulchre. By this it should seem that Eliseg was not an old man when he was buried here, and it is wonderful that greater decomposition had not taken place in twelve hundred years.
One of the persons who a.s.sisted at the exhumation is now a very old man, and was huntsman to Mr. Lloyd when the tumulus was opened. He says there was a large piece of silver coin found in the coffin, which was kept; but that the skull was gilded to preserve it, and was then again deposited with its kindred bones. I asked if the bones were sound; and he answered (I give his own words,) ”O, no, sir; they broke like gingerbread.”
I have now reached the limits I prescribed for myself on the north side of the Dee, and trust I have noticed every thing most worthy of attention. I purpose next to give a short account of the river, and pa.s.sing Llangollen Bridge, continue my route to Glyndyfrdwy and Sycharth, once the residence of Owen Glyndwr.
THE RIVER DEE.
”On scenes like these the eye delights to dwell, Here loud cascades, and there the silent dell; The lofty mountains, bleak and barren, rise, And spread their ample bosoms to the skies; While still the rus.h.i.+ng river rolls along, The theme of many a humble shepherd's song, And as it rolls, the trout, in speckled pride, Springs playful in the smooth translucent tide.”
The river Dee forms a beautiful and interesting feature in all the most picturesque views around Llangollen. Pa.s.sing from Glyndyfrdwy down the river, it successively a.s.sumes the appearance of the brawling brook over beds of pebbles; the deep tranquil character of the gliding lake, reflecting on its pure bosom the woods and mountains that surrounded it; the rus.h.i.+ng cascade or rapids, over beds of rocks, or through chasms of stone.
”The current that with gentle murmur glides, Opposed by rocks impatiently doth rage; But when his fair course is not hindered, He makes sweet music with the enamelled stones, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge He overtaketh in his pilgrimage; And so by many winding nooks he strays With willing sport to the wild ocean.”
It rises a few miles beyond Bala, a town about twenty miles from Llangollen, on the west, and runs through a pool now called Bala pool, some say without mingling its stream. {73a} There is no river in England which has been so much celebrated by our poets for its sanct.i.ty as the Dee; and Camden describes it as ”riseing on the east side of Merioneths.h.i.+re, and forthwith pa.s.seth entire and whole through Llyntegid, in English, Pimble Meare, or Plenlin Meare, {73b} a lake spreading far in length and bredth; and so runneth out of it with as great a streame as it entred in; for neither shal a man see in the Dee the fishes called guiniad, which are peculiar to the Meare, nor yet Salmons in the Meare, which neverthelesse are commonly taken in the river.” {73c}
The mazy windings of the Dee, embellished as its banks are with the fresh green shrubs and plants, which flourish there in great luxuriance, afford a very delightful walk, independent of the great amus.e.m.e.nt to anglers for which this river has ever been so famous. The trout are as fine as any in the kingdom, and are very plentiful. Many men obtain a livelihood during the season, by fis.h.i.+ng in this beautiful river, which they contrive to manage in their little coracles; a large kind of round basket, covered with skins or tarpawling, and with a board across the centre for a seat. It is amusing to see them waft themselves where they please, with a little paddle in one hand, and a fly-rod in the other, fis.h.i.+ng every corner of the deep pool; and when tired, rowing to land, throwing their boats on their shoulders, and walking with them to another deep pool, where they again commence operations.
Salmon come up the river to sp.a.w.n; and although so many do not reach Llangollen as in former times, owing to the new inventions erected on the river to entrap them in their way from the sea, yet many of them overcome all impediments, and reach their usual haunts. I saw last summer, at the season when the salmon fray, or fry, seek their way to the sea from the river where they have been bred, large shoals of these fish, and at one time more than 40 fis.h.i.+ng rods successfully employed in a small s.p.a.ce of water near the water-mill just above the bridge. This fishery continued in great activity for many days; the bait used being a common ground-worm, here called corbet. A little fresh in the river at length came, of which the fish took advantage, and proceeded on their way, after having lost some thousands of their numbers at Llangollen.