THE HISTORY
of the PARISHES of
WHITEFORD,
AND
HOLYWELL.
BYCHTON.
Printed for B. and J. WHITE, Fleet Street.
1796.
Resurgam,
THOMAS PENNANT.
Downing,
April
6th, 2
P. M.
1795.
PLATES.
WHITEFORD PARISH.
FRONTISPIECE,
Bychton,
see page 27.
VIGNETTE,
Downing,
at p. 1.
I. GROUNDS near
Downing,
Page 4
II. FAIRY OAK, Page 6
III. DOWNING, Page 20
IV. COATS of ARMS:—1. Arms and crest of the
Mostyn
family; 2. Crest of the
Trevors;
3. Arms of
Angharad,
heiress of
Mostyn
(see p. 55.) 4. Arms of
Ednowain Bendew,
and the crest transfixed by a dagger; 5. A variation of the arms of
Yswittan Wŷddel;
6. The arms of the
Pennants,
Page 31
V. MOSTYN HALL, with a View of
Porth-mawr,
Page 54
VI. MOSTYN, as in 1684. This, and plate XVI. are
fac similes
of very coarse drawings, Page 58
VII.
1. FRONT of MOSTYN, built 1631, Page 60
2. The late Mr. PARRY'S, MERTYN, see pp. 13, 27.
VIII. 1. A LAMP with the head of
Jupiter Ammon,
Page A. 90
IX. 2. Another, with two GENII, cock-fighting, Page B. 90
X. Another, with a warrior's head, Page C. 91
XI. A
A
HERETA, Page 92
XII. 1. WHITEFORD CHURCH; 2.
Gelli
chapel, Page 102
XIII. MONUMENT of ELIZABETH MOSTYN, Page 107
XIV. PHAROS on
G
rreg,
and a
G
.
goat Page 112
XV. TOOLE of
Roman
miners, 1, 2, Page 122
. A Leaden LAMP. The use of this seems to have been continued amongst the
German
miners, see
Ag
de Re Meta
,
b. 50.
XVI. WATER-WHEEL in the old collieries near
Mostyn,
Page 134
XVII. WHITE OWL,
Br. Zool.
i. No 67, Page 146
A LUSUS NATURAE on a turkey's leg.
PLATES TO HOLYWELL PARISH.
FRONTISPIECE. RIVER BANK Smelting-Works.
XVIII. COPPER and BRASS WORKS, and a View of the Lower Cotton Works, Page 212
XIX. View of the two upper COTTON WORKS, Page 214
XX. BAGILLT HALL, Page 268
XXI. ARMS of the FIVE ROYAL TRIBES, Page 283
XXII. ARMS of the SIXTEEN TRIBES of
North Wales,
Page 290
CONTENTS OF THE ACCOUNT OF
WHITEFORD PARISH.
DOWNING, Tre-eden O
n Page 1
My Birth Place Page 2
Affection of Foster Fathers Page 3
Horrid Murder ib.
Gwibnant Page 4
Grounds, Views, &c. Page 5
Fairy Oak, Tale of Page 6
Downing, the House Page 7
Library ib.
Hall Page 8
Parlor. Portraits ib.
David Pennant and Wife ib.
Major Hugh Pennant Page 9
Pyers Pennant Page 11
Peter Pennant Page 12
John Pennant, of Chelsea Page 13
Epitaph Page 14
Robert Pennant ib.
Epitaph Page 15
My Father and Mother ib.
Elizabeth Pennant Page 16
John Mytton ib.
James Mytton Page 17
Sir Roger Mostyn, Knt. Page 17
Humphrey Lloyd ib.
Sir John Wynne, iunior, Knt. Page 18
Sir Richard Wynne, Bart. Page 19
Charles I. ib.
His Great Grandson ib.
Lord Anson Page 20
Frobenius ib.
Saint Charles Borromeo Page 21
Unknown Portraits ib.
Cabinet of Fossils Page 22
Tyddyn Ucha' ib.
Terming Page 23
Merton Abbot ib.
Complaints of Tegengl Page 24
Downing Ucha' Page 25
Cruel Feuds ib.
Whiteford Wood ib.
A Llys Page 26
Line of Tudor Trevor ib.
Bychton Page 27
Summer-house Page 28
Madoc ap Meilir ib.
Philip ap Yswittan Page 29
Arms Page 30
Bards and Heralds Page 32
Abbot of B
singwerk Page 33
Gipsies Page 35
Our First Marriage with an English woman Page 36
Our First Sheriff ib.
Presents to Sheriffs Page 57
Brandy Page 41
William Pennant, Goldsmith Page 42
His Wealth ib.
Dissipated by his Nephew Page 43
His charitable Bequest ib.
Bequests to his Friend. ib.
Strange Story of John Pennant, who had a Monster in his Heart Page 45
Barbarous Events Page 49
Lletty gonest ib.
Singular Head Page 50
Smuggling ib.
Avon Marsh S
ambr Page 52
Tre Mostyn Page 53
The Rhewl ib.
Mostyn Hall ib.
The old Hall Page 55
Coats of Arms ib.
Falcon, vast flight of one Page 56
Kitchen Page 57
Great Room ib.
Henry VII. Page 58
Square Tower ib.
New House, 1631 Page 59
Arms and Portraits Page 60
Sir Roger, first Baronet Page 61
Curious Epistle Page 63
Billy Bangor Page 64
Busts ib.
Dining-Room Page 65
Bust of the Elder Brutus ib.
of two Fawns ib.
Model of a Man of War ib.
Edystone ib.
Painting of St. Catharine Page 66
The Supper at Emaus ib.
Two Caverns ib.
Daniel Earl of Nottingham ib.
His Countess Page 67
Lady Essex Mostyn Page 68
Sir Roger Mostyn ib.
Late Sir Thomas Mostyn ib.
Admiral Mostyn Page 69
Earl of Northumberland ib.
Charles I. and Queen, Profiles Page 70
Beauties of Charles II. ib.
Arms in stained Glass ib.
Sir Orlando Bridgeman ib.
Arms in stained Glass Page 71
Library ib.
Gloddaeth Library Page 73
Manuscripts ib.
Select Books Page 80
Antiquities in the Mostyn Library Page 85
Isis ib.
A Female rising from the Bath ib.
Jupiter's Eagle ib.
Osiris Page 86
A Phallus Page 86
A Hog-skin Page 87
Patera Page 88
A Speculum ib.
A Strigil Page 89
A Comb ib.
Bracelet ib.
Ring ib.
Arm of a Discobulus ib.
Key Page 90
Lamp, with the Face of Jupiter Ammon ib.
Jupiter and his Eagle ib.
Lamp, with two Cocks fighting ib.
with a Horse Page 91
with a Warrior's Head ib.
Isis, a small Figure ib.
Another ib.
Narbonne Marbles ib.
Torques Page 92
Copper Cake Page 93
Silver Harp Page 94
Tre Lan Page 98
The Church Page 99
Poor Rates Page 100
School ib.
Club Page 101
Catharine Gors Page 102
Nicholas Pennant Page 103
Louis Gold ib.
Pierces, of Ysglan Page 105
Of the Foulkes's ib.
Of Williams Page 106
Elizabeth Mostyn ib.
Elizabeth Mostyn's Epitaph Page 107
Two other Epitaphs Page 108
Vicars of Whiteford ib.
Vault of the Mostyns Page 109
Of the Pennants Page 110
Garreg Page 111
Pharos Page 112
Maen Achwynsan Page 113
Gelli Page 114
Glol ib.
Sarn-Hwlkin Page 115
Tre'r Abbot ib.
Miles Davies ib.
Llyn Helyg Page 116
Plâs Captain Page 117
Lususes Page 118
Entrenchment ib.
Llwybr Hîr Page 119
Ty-maen ib.
Ednowen Bendew ib.
Gorseddau Page 120
Pen-fford-y-waen ib.
Boundaries of the Parish Page 121
Length ib.
Minerals ib.
worked by the Romans Page 122
Their tools ib.
Mineral Tract Page 123
Lead Ores ib.
Carrickfergus Page 124
Gravel Lead Ore ib.
Copper Ore Page 125
Calamine ib.
John Barrow Page 126
Black Jack Page 127
Mi
Distemper Page 128
C
ert Page 130
Lime Stone Page 131
Spars ib.
Petroleum ib.
Advent
ous Bodies Page 132
Shells ib.
Change of Strata ib.
Shale ib.
Alum ib.
Collieries Page 133
Quay Page 134
Engine ib.
Strata ib.
Coal Page 135
Canal Coal Page 136
Free-stone ib.
Burnt Rock ib.
A Fire Damp Page 137
Another in 1751 Page 139
Earthquakes ib.
Quadrupeds Page 142
Birds Page 146
Fishes Page 148
Angel Fish Page 149
Sting Ray Page 150
Herring Page 151
Anchovy Page 151
W
ver ib.
Plants Page 152
A Mu
room a dread
ul Poison Page 154
Water Page 155
Frynnon Oswald Page 156
Bryn-y-Groes ib.
Whiteford Stream ib.
Felyn L
m Page 157
Nature of the Dingles ib.
Chalybeate Springs ib.
Husbandry ib.
Mountain Ground ib.
Sheep Page 158
Hogs Page 159
Soils, Clay ib.
Lighter Soil ib.
Potatoes Page 160
Wheat Page 161
Produce of Wheat Page 169
Sod-kilns ib.
Barleys ib.
Oats Page 170
Grasses ib.
Clover ib.
Rye-Grass ib.
Planting Page 171
Sir Edward Lloyd, a great Planter Page 172
DOWNING.
I NATURALLY begin this little history with the account of
Tre Eden Owain,
the place where I first made my entrance into this busy world. The principal house in this township,
Downing,
was built in the year 1627.
DOWNING.
It certainly had no pretensions to the
English
name of
Downing,
which doubtlessly was a corruption from
Eden Owain,
the
Tre
or township in which it stands. The founder was
John Pennant,
son of
Nicholas Pennant,
a younger son of
Hugh Pennant,
of
Bychton.
He married the heiress of the place, and built a house, which was much too large for the estate. The stones were brought from
Nant-y-bi,
a dingle opposite to the house. There is a tradition, that the stones were rolled along a platform from the top of the quarry, raised on an inclined plane till they reached the building, and there were elevated as the work increased in height, till the whole was finished. The house is in form of a
Roman
H, a mode of architecture very common in
Wales
at that period. On the front is the pious motto frequent on the
Welsh
houses,
Heb Dduw heb ddim, a duw a dig
n,
which signifies,
Without God there is nothing, with God enough.
There were only four generations of this branch;
Thomas,
the last, died in 1724, and was buried in
Whiteford
church, on
June
6th of the same year. He bequeathed his estate to my father, who made the house his residence; his own father being living, and the house much better than our paternal.
M. EARTH P
.
TO pre
all disputes about the place and time of
th, be it known that I was born on
June
14th, 1726, old style, in the room now called the
Yellow Room;
that the celebrated Mrs.
C
ay
n,
of
S
rowsbury,
ushered me into the world, and delivered me to Miss
J
y Perry,
of
Merton,
in this parish; who to her dying day never failed telling me,
Ah, you rogue! I remember you when you had not a shirt to your back.
ANTIENT MODE OF NURSING.
I WAS, according to antient custom, put out to nurse at a neighboring farm-house, called
Pentre,
covered with thatch, and which at present would be deemed a cottage. My nurse's maiden name was
Pennant;
and from the time of this great event she resumed it, notwithstanding she had long used that of her husband,
John Pierce,
a freeholder of above a hundred a year. He and she were fond of this charge, which was ever esteemed a peculiar favor and honor. The affection and connection is still retained in many parts of
Ireland;
but what is unfortunate in more civilized
Wales,
both seem at present almost extinguished.
OF the affection between the foster-father, foster-mother,
AFFECTION OF
OSTER FATHERS, &c.
and foster-brother, the instances were frequent. The fidelity of
Robin ap Inko,
foster-brother to
Jevan ap Vychan,
of the house of
Gwedir,
in the reign of
Edward
IV. was a most noted one. In a fatal feud between
Jevan
and his brother-in-law
Rys ap Howel,
the latter, expecting a fray, provided a butcher to murder
Jevan
in the confusion of the battle, and to him he gave orders in these terms. The butcher not being acquainted with
Jevan, Ap Rys
said,
Thou shalt soone discerne him from the rest by his stature, and he will make way before him. There is a foster-brother of his, one
Robin ap Inko,
a little fellow, that useth to match him behind: take heed of him, for be the encountre never soe hot, his eye is ever on his foster-brother;
—and so it happened.
Robin
suspected the treachery, and seeing the butcher watching his opportunity, came behind him and knocked him on the head in the moment in which he had come behind
Jevan,
and had aimed one at that of his beloved foster-brother. The patrimony of his faithful follower was in the parish of
Llanderfel;
and to this day retains the name of
Tyddin Inko.
IN those days there was great competition for the honor of fostering the children of great men.
HORRID MURDEN.
The parson of
Llanvrothen
near
Traeth-mawr,
had taken a child of
Jevan ap Robert
to nurse. This so grieved the wife of
Rys
(her husband having more land in the parish than
Jevan
had) that she determined to have the poor parson put to death. A woman was sent to his house, who was kindly taken in. At midnight she set up hideous cries, pretending that the parson had attempted to ravish her. This only was a pretence for revenge: the woman had, as the historian says, to her brethren three notable rogues
of the damned crew fit for any mischief, being followers of
Howel ap Rys.
These watched the parson, and as he went one morning to look to his cattle, cruelly murdered him; the sequel is told in the
Welsh Tour,
vol. i. p. 291, and the proper end of the villains.—These extracts are taken from the history of the
Gwedir
family, a curious publication, for which we are indebted to my true friend the Honorable
Daines Barrington.
WHEN I came into possession of
Downing,
by the death of my excellent father
David Pennant,
the house had partly transome, partly sashed windows. By consulting a drawing of it in that state, may be known the changes made by myself. With the estate, I luckily found a rich mine of lead ore, which enabled me to make the great improvements I did. The grounds were much hurt by a vile road running in front and on one side of the house, and through the middle of the demesne, to the hamlet called
Gwibnant,
GWIBNANT.
or
the meandring glen.
The house was planted up almost to the door, which gave it a very melancholy gloom. But I soon laid open the natural beauties of the place, and by the friendly exchange Sir
Roger Mostyn
made with me, enlarged the fine scenery of the broken grounds, the woods, and the command of water. The walks in the near grounds, the fields, and the deep and darksome dingles, are at left three miles in extent, and the dingle not ill united with the open grounds, by a subterraneous passage under the turnpike road. I am not a little flattered by the admiration of those who visit the place. Mr.
Boydel
has published a fine engraving of the house among his
Welsh
feats. I have, as a head-piece to p. 1. of this Work, given it in the prettiest representation.
GROUNDS
DOWNING
MY grounds consist of very extensive walks along the fine swelling lands, beneath the shady depth of the glens,
GROUNDS.
or through the contracted meads which meander quite to the shore.
VIEWS.
The views are various towards the hills, and the antient
Pharos
on
Garreg.
Over the channel of the
Dee,
the
Hilbree
isles, on one of which had been a cell of
Benedictines,
dedicated to our Lady, and dependent on
Chester
and possibly the hermitage called
Hilburghey,
which in the second of
Edward
III. received ten shillings a year from a charity belonging to the castle at
Chester.
The dreary woodless tract of
Wiral,
a hundred of
Cheshire,
stretches eastward as far as its capital, chequered with black heaths, and with corn, a bad return to the prospect of our wooded slope; yet formerly was so well cloathed as to give occasion to this distich:
From
Blacon
point to
Hilbree
A squirrel might leap from tree to tree.
But our sea view is animated with the sight of the numerous fleets entering and sailing out of the port of
Liverpool,
now swelled into a vast emporium, from (a century and a half ago) a most insignificant fishing town.
THE house itself has little to boast of.
HOUSE.
I fortunately found it incapable of being improved into a magnitude exceeding the revenue of the family. It has a hall which I prefer to the rural impropriety of a paltry vestibule; a library thirty feet by eighteen; a parlor capable of containing more guests than I ever wish to see at a time,
Septem, convivium; novem, convicium!
and a smoaking-room most antiquely furnished with antient carvings, and the horns of all the
European
beasts of chace. This room is now quite out of use as to its original purpose. Above stairs is a good drawing-room, in times of old called the dining-room, and a tea-room, the sum of all that are really wanted.—I have
Cowley
's wish realized, a small house and large garden!
THE library is filled by a numerous collection of books,
LIBRARY.
principally of history, natural history and classics. My own labors might fill an ordinary book-room; many of them receive considerable value from the smaller drawings and prints with which they are illustrated on the margins, as well as by the larger intermixed with the leaves; among the latter are several drawings of uncommon beauty, by that eminent hand Mr.
Nicholas Pococke.
These relate either to the
Ferroe
isles, or to
Iceland,
others to the distant
Tibet
or
Boutan.
I was favored, by
John Thomas Stanley,
esq
with permission to have copies made of the first, and by
Warren Hastings,
esq
of the last. Among my own labors,
OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE.
I value myself on my MS. volumes of THE OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE, in xxii. volumes, folio, on which uncommon expence has been bestowed, in ornament and illuminations.
HALL.
IN the hall are some very good pictures by
Peter Pa
ou,
a fine painter of animals and birds: four express the three climates, two of them are of the
Torrid Zone,
one the
Temperate,
and another the
Frigid,
all illustrated by suitable animals and scenery: the two last have much merit. Besides, there is a romantic view in
Otabeite,
and another of part of an isle of ice near the
Antartic Circle,
with three different species of those strange birds the pinguins, and two different species of the petrels; this was taken from an original sketch made on the spot by Doctor
John Reinhold Forster.
PORTRAITS.
THE parlor is filled with numbers of portraits, and other paintings. The greater part of the first are reduced from the originals by
Moses Griffith,
in a most masterly manner. A few excepted, they are family pictures. A very large one covers the end of the room; the figures are three quarters, and dressed in the manner in which
Vandyk
did his; the man has a remarkable good look, long hair, whiskers, and small beard: his wife is by him; between them a boy with a basket of flowers, and by him a gre-hound.
DAVID PENNANT WIFE AND CHILD.
These represent
David Pennant,
sheriff of the county in 1643, his wife
Margaret Pennant,
of
Merton,
and their eldest son
Piers.
This piece is done in a superior style, a good imitation of
Vandyk.
A grand column and a rich carpet is introduced, a flattery of the artist, for in those days we were far from being able to pay for even a performance of that value. It probably was done in the troublesome times, when some painter of merit might have wandered about the country, and have been glad of working for his meat and his drink, and some trifle for other necessaries.
MY great, great grandfather was an officer in the garrison of
Denbigh,
when it was besieged and taken by my maternal great, great grandfather general
Mytton.
My loyal ancestor suffered there a long imprisonment.
Bychton
was plundered, and the distress of the family so great, that he was kept from starving by force of conjugal affection; for his wife often walked with a bag of oatmeal from the parish of
Whiteford
to
Denbigh
to relieve his wants.
NOTWITHSTANDING the zeal of his house for the loyal cause, it suffered very little in respect to the general composition of delinquents; the
Bychton
estate only paid 42
l.
14
s.
whereas
Robert Pennant,
of
Downing,
paid not less than 298
l.
for his estate, which was very far inferior to the other. The occasion was this:
Robert Pennant
had the misfortune to have a hot-headed young fellow in his house, when a small detachment of the adverse party, with a cornet at the head, approached the place. He persuaded the family to resist; the doors were barricadoed, a musquet fired, and the cornet wounded. The house was soon forced, and of course plundered; but, such was the moderation of the party, no carnage ensued, and the only revenge seems to have been the disproportionate fine afterwards levied.
NOTWITHSTANDING his brother
Hugh
is not delivered down to us on canvas,
MAIOR HUGH PENNANT.
I cannot omit the mention of him as a brave and faithful officer in the royal army serving in
North Wales.
He attained the rank of major, and particularly distinguished himself in the isle of
Anglesey.
In 1648, that island, in imitation of several of the
English
counties, rose in order to set the king at liberty, and to restore monarchy to the oppressed kingdom. Numbers of royalists resorted to this island from different parts of
North Wales,
and made a general muster in the middle of the island, under the command of
Thomas
lord
Bulkeley.
The parlement determined on their reduction, and made
Conwy
the place of rendezvous. General
Mytt
n
was the commanding officer; he landed at
Cadnant,
where
Hugh Pennant
was posted, who, after undergoing a severe fire from the rocks and hedges, being left unsupported, was obliged to retreat. Two captains posted at
Porth-aethwy,
made so speedy a flight, that it was said that one of them at lest had previously received the bribe of 50
l.
for his treachery. In the battle which soon after was fought near
Beaumaris, Hugh Pennant
charged the enemy with great spirit, and was very near taking that brave officer colonel
Lothian
prisoner. Some others of the loyal officers conducted themselves with spirit; but, in general, the islanders are allowed by their own historian, a schoolmaster of
Beaumaris,
to have behaved very ill. An
Anglesey
captain was directed to keep the church: he posted his men in it, locked them safely up, and then ran away with the key in his pocket. The historian tells us, that he was called Captain
Church
to his dying day. They certainly had great valor at distant danger. As soon as the enemy appeared marching over
Penmaen-mawr,
at lest four miles from
Beaumaris,
the
Anglesey
people began to bustle; drums beat, trumpets sounded, and great vollies of small shot and great were discharged; at which the enemy, says the sage pedagogue, took little or no notice. Major
Pennant
was probably taken in
Beaumaris
castle, with the royal army, to which place it had retired after the defeat. As soon as he obtained his liberty he resided at
Bryn-shone,
in the parish of
Yskivi
g,
where he died on
March
10th, 1669, and was interred at
Whiteford.
He was married to
Margaret Aungier,
baroness of
Longford,
one of the daughters of Sir
Thomas Cave,
of
Slimford,
in the county of
Northampton,
knight. This lady had four husbands; she paid our country the compliment of beginning and ending with a
Welshman:
her first was Sir
John Wynne,
of
Gwedir,
junior, they lived unhappily together, which sent him on his travels into
Italy,
where he died at
Lucca.
She then took one of the
Milesian
race, for she married Sir
Francis Aungier,
master of the rolls in
Ireland,
afterwards created baron of
Longford.
Thirdly, she gave her hand to an
Englishman,
Sir
Thomas Wenman,
of
Oxfordshire;
and, finally, she resigned her antiquated charms to our valiant major, who in the year 1656 deposited her with his ancestors, in the church at
Whiteford.
THE next is a single figure, a half-length of
Pyers,
PYERS PENNANT.
son of
David Pennant,
with long hair, a long laced cravat, and in a singular gown. His wife is in another frame, a handsome woman, with her neck naked, and long tresses flowing on each side. She was one of the celebrated seven sisters of the house of
Gwysanney,
near to
Mold,
who were all married about the same time, and all became widows, and of them only two of them renewed the nuptial vow. These ladies being much talked of, even to this day, I add their names, and those of their spouses. Let me premise that they were daughters of
Robert Davies,
by
Anne,
eldest daughter of Sir
Peter Mutton,
knight, chief justice of
North Wales,
and owner of
Llanerch,
in the vale of
Clwyd.
Anne,
their first daughter, married
John Thelwall,
of
Plascoch.
Katherine,
Pyers Pe
ant,
of
Bychton.
Dorothy,
married
George Hope,
of
Doddleston.
Elizabeth,
Thomas Humphries,
of
Boddlewiddan.
Margaret,
John Holland,
of
Tyrddan.
Ellen,
George Wynne,
of
Leeswood.
Jane,
Thomas Edwards,
of
Rhual.
Pyers Pennant,
who occasioned this notice, died in 1623.
I CANNOT well ascertain the next portrait, which is of a handsome young man, in long hair, flowing and curling gracefully on his shoulders. He is dressed in the military dress of the time, a laced turn-over, and an elegant buff coat, much ornamented, and a musket with an aukward old lock in his hand, and a sword by his side. I suspect him to have been a son of
Pyers Pennant,
who was slain the ill-conducted expedition to the isle
Rhi,
under the duke of
Buckingham,
in 1627. He probably was in the company of his neighbor captain
Richard Mostyn,
a younger son of
Mostyn,
who fell in the same spot.
PETER PENNANT.
THE portrait of my grandfather,
Peter Pennant,
represents, what I well remember him to have been, a fine person, and of a jovial complexion. He is dressed in a white tye-wig, and a red coat. On the death of his first wife,
Catherine,
second daughter of the
Wynnes,
of
Glynne,
in
Merionethshire,
he went into the army in the reign of Queen
Anne,
and served at the siege of
Brussels.
Disgusted with his colonel, Sir
Thomas Prendergast,
after demanding satisfaction, which Sir
Thomas
declined, he resigned, and passed the remainder of his days at
Bychton;
where he lived in great hospitality, and died in
October
1736, aged 72.
HIS uncle,
John Pennant,
in a full brown wig,
JOHN PENNANT, OF CHELSEA.
and brown g
wn. By his jolly rubicund face he appears to have been a tho
ough
bon-vivant,
yet with much the air of the gentleman. The original, a well painted picture, was given to us by
John Wynne,
of
Coperleney,
in this neighborhood, who, by the inscription on the back, seems to have taken as much pride in being thought the friend of
John Pennant,
as Sir
Fulke Grevil
did in being the friend of Sir
Philip Sydney.
Many a bottle had they emptied during their thirty years friendship. He resided at
Chelsea,
where my father often visited him during the boyish holydays. My father told me he was frequently taken by him to the coffee-house, where he used to see poor
Richard Cromwell,
a little and very neat old man, with a most placid countenance, the effect of his innocent and unambitious life.
I IMAGINE that the coffee-house was Don
Saltero's,
to which he was a benefactor, and has the honor of having his name inserted in the catalogue. I have, when a boy, seen his gift to the great
Saltero,
which was a
lignified
hog. I fear that this matchless curiosity is lost, at left it is omitted in the last, or 47th edition of the catalogue.—What author of us can flatter himself with delivering his works down to posterity, in impressions so numerous as the labors of Don
Saltero?
John Pennant
died in 1709, aged 69, and was interred in the church-yard of
Chelsea,
and had a small monument to his memory erected against the wall of the church, by his wife, daughter to Mr.
Parry,
of
Merton,
a house and small estate which we now possess, above a mile from
Downing.
Her affection provided the following epitaph, which I give more on that account, than for the excellency of the composition.
EPITAPH.
Near this place, under a stone with his name on it, lies the body of
John Pennant,
gent. second son of
David Pennant,
of
Bichton,
in the county of
F
,
esq
who departed this life the 5th of
June,
1709, aged 69. In whose memory this monument was erected, by his mournful widow, who designs to be interred in the same grave:
Had virtue in perfection power to save
The best of men from the devouring grave,
Pennant
had liv'd; but 'tis in vain to flie
The fatal stroke, where all are doom'd to die.
Farewel, lov'd spouse; since want of words appears
T' express my grief, I'll moan thy loss with tears,
Which like
N
le
's cataracts shall rumble down,
And with their briny floods my passion drown,
Here may thy ashes undisturb'd remain,
Till thy wife's dust re-visits thee again;
Then sacred quiet, till the day of doom
Seal the enclosure of our catacomb.
His arms are those of the
Pennants.
Her's those of
Edwyn,
lord of
Tegengle.
ROBERT PENNANT.
ANOTHER of my kindred lies in
Pancras
church-yard. I may be excused for mentioning him, as his epitaph is far from inelegant. This youth,
Robert Pennant,
was son to
Pierce Pennant
by
Katherine,
one of the seven sisters of
Gwysanney,
and was snatched away at the age of twenty-four, in the year 1639. He was attended to his grave, as was then the custom, by a most numerous set of friends, among whom were the two bishops, and numbers of the first gentry of
North Wales,
who happened then to be in town. Thus is delivered his amiable character:
Gentilibus suis compositus
Robertus Pennant,
Filius 2dus
l'yercei Pennant,
de
Bychton,
In Com.
Flint,
Arm.
Et
Katherinae,
sororis
Roberti Davies,
Hic reconditus.
Qui cum omnia obiisset munera
Juvenem quae suis charum reddere poterant
Febre
Londini
correptus,
Desideratus aeque ac notus decessit
Aetatis A
24.
M.DC.XXXIX.
MY worthy father was painted at the age of fifteen,
MY FATHER.
most aukwardly in a long flowing wig. He was brought up at
Thistleworth,
under
Creech,
the translator of
Lucretius;
after that his education was neglected, but he was
abnormis sapiens,
and of the best of hearts. He passed a useful and worthy life to a good old age; and departed, with every expression of piety and resignation, on
January
1st, 1763, aged 78.
MY good and religious mother is painted in oil,
MOTHER.
over the chimney-piece; she is dressed in blue, her neck naked, her tresses auburn, long, and flowing. The painter was Mr.
Fellowes,
an artist of some merit, who lived at
Wrexham
and
Chester.
She was called a beauty, 'in spite of her teeth,' which were not good. She was third daughter of
Richard Mytton,
Esq
of
Halston
(see
Tour in Wales,
i. p. 246) one of fifteen children, by
Arabella,
eldest daughter of Sir
John Houblon,
lord mayor of
London
in 1695, lord of the admiralty in the time of King
William,
and the first governor of the bank of
England.
See more of his history in my account of
London,
p. 455. I have often been assured by some of my aunts, that (with their father and mother) they had often danced to the number of eight couple. My mother was born
September
6th, 1689, and married to my father
December
24th, 1724. The courtship was carried on at
Wynn-stay,
and the nuptials performed at the neighboring church of
Rhiwabon.
That good man Sir
Watkin Williams Wynne,
in a frolic, jumped on the box, and drove the bride and bridegroom to the church-door. This excellent woman died in
London
of the small-pox, in the year 1744. She, near to her dying moment, called me to the bed-side, and presented me with her silver etwee, and looked as if she could have delivered her tender adieu in the
Augustan
style (which I engraved on it) VIVE MEMOR AMORIS NOSTRI, ET VALE!
ELIZABETH PENNANT.
THE portrait of my venerable aunt,
Elizabeth Pennant,
was drawn in water colors, in her old age, by
Moses Griffith,
and does him much credit. It is a very strong likeness, dressed in the old fashion, with a long white handkerchief flung carelessly over her cap; the countenance shews the goodness of her heart. I speak gratefully of a friend, who doated on me and mine. I lost this valuable woman
October
2d, 1775; who, with all the consciousness of a well-spent life, quitted the earthly stage with the utmost tranquillity.
JOHN MYTTON.
MY respected uncle
John Mytton,
of
Halston,
born
September
11th, 1690, closes the list of relations. His countenance indicates the sweet disposition he possessed, and
ll his features are amiable. His dress, a grey tye-wig, a blue coat, with a scarlet mantle flung over one arm. He was bred a merchant, and spent much of his time in
Portugal;
but succeeding his eldest brother
Richard
in his estate, retired to
Halston,
where he ended his benevolent life.
I MUST not forget a shade of my affectionate uncle
James Mytton,
fifth son of the same house, and brother to the last,
JAMES MYTTON.
the kind friend of my youth, with whom I lived long, and strove, to the best of my power, to reap from him every advantage that his good sense, good heart, and polished manners, wished to instil into my susceptible mind.
I CONCLUDE the accounts of the portraits of our family with my own, in a
Vandyk
dress, by Mr.
Willes,
an ingenious artist, who afterwards quitted the pencil and obtained holy orders, to which he did no discredit.
Moses Griffith
furnished this room with other reduced portraits. That from the fine picture of Sir
Roger Mostyn,
knight,
SIR ROGER MOSTYN, KNT.
(of whom more will be said when I arrive at the house) is an admirable performance.
SUPERIOR even to the portrait of Sir
Roger Mostyn
is that of
Humphrey Lloyd,
taken from the original, on board,
HUMPHREY LLOYD.
in possession of the Reverend
John Lloyd,
of
Aston,
in
Shropshire.
This illustrious person was senator, philosopher, historian, and physician. He represented the town of
Denbigh,
in 1653. He is celebrated also as an accomplished gentleman, eloquent, and an excellent rhetorician.
Camden
speaks of his great skill in the antiquities of his country. He married a sister of
John
lord
Lumley:
and formed his brother-in-law's library, which now is the most valuable part in the
British
Museum. He died in 1658, aged 41. He is painted with short reddish hair, rounded beard, and whiskers, a short quilled ruff, black dress, and a triple gold chain; on one side of him are his arms and crest; beneath is this motto:
HWY PERY KLOD NA GOLYD.
Fame is more lasting than wealth.
On the other side is the following inscription:
Aetatis 34. A. D
i. 1561.
Vera effigies incliti Artium Professoris, earumque dumni
Humfredi Lloyd, Cambro-Britanni
et
Denbighensis,
ortus antiqu
R
s
ndalorum
familiâ; qui floruit temporibus
Mariae
et
Elizabeth
beata memoria regin. Obiitq. An. D
i. 156
, et cum patribus in ecclesia parochiali de
Denbigh
sepultus.
He was buried at
Whichchurch,
near
Denbigh,
with a very neat monument. He is represented kneeling at an altar beneath a range of small arches, and dressed in a
Spanish
habit.
SIR JOHN WYNNE, JUNIOR, KNIGHT.
THIS is over the chimney-piece; above him is the portrait of Sir
John Wynne,
knight, who died on his travels at
Lucca,
in 1614. (It is taken from the original at
Wynn-stay.
) He was buried there, in the parish of St.
John's.
I have seen numbers of his letters, which shew him to have been a most observant man. He was eldest son of Sir
John Wynne,
of
Gwedir.
He is in black, has a large ruff, laced turn-over, and others at his wrists, a white girdle stuck with points, and a white belt passing over his shoulders and breast. His countenance is good, his hair short and dark, his beard small and peaked.
THE next is opposite to the other,
SIR RICHARD WYNNE, BART.
a head of Sir
Richard Wynne,
baronet, grandson to old Sir
John,
and last of the male line.
ABOVE Sir
John Wynne
is a very fine head of
Charles
I. by
Vandyk.
He is elegantly dressed in a red jacket,
CHARLES I.
slashed and laced. This was purchased at the sale of the late colonel
Norton,
of
Southwick,
in
Hampshire,
by my worthy friend the late
Pusey Brooke,
esq
and gratefully presented by him to the late Mr.
Edwards,
of
Brynford,
to whom he lay under obligations. It was on his death presented to my father, and decreed to remain an heir-lome in the family.
OPPOSITE to
Charles
I. is another
Charles,
HIS GREAT GRANDSON.
great grandson to the unfortunate monarch. It is a head in oil-colors, after the original by
Hussey.
He was a man uncommonly handsome: his fine brown hair is tied behind, and curled on the sides; his body and arms are clad in armor. In the field he certainly took too great care of his person, but I believe the armor to have been the painter's choice. His highness had given himself the two orders, for both the blue and the green ribbon grace his shoulders.
THIS picture was originally the property of the late Sir
William Meredith,
baronet. He suddenly veered from the
Stuart
to the
Brunswick
line; and thinking it unsafe to have a
Stuart,
even in canvas, presented it to my very worthy mother-in-law,
Elizabeth Falconer,
a true votary of exiled royalty. On her death, the choice of any of her personality having been, in the most friendly manner, offered by her son the Rev.
James Falconer,
D. D. I fixed on this. The period of
Jacobitism
was over; but I remember the time in which I might have been struck out of the commission for having in my possession even the shadow of disaffection.
ANSON.
ANSON, the persevering ANSON, graces the lower end of the room: a head painted when he was a captain, before the year 1742, when he began his celebrated voyage. This was the bequest of my uncle
James Mytton,
who well knew the respect I had to the two illustrious brothers of
Shugborough.
Lord ANSON was fortunate, but his good fortune was the result of merit, not of chance. During his naval administration, and during that more arduous one under
John
earl of SANDWICH, the commerce of BRITAIN in every part was uninterrupted! our colonies protected! our acquisitions secured! and, in the latter war, when we had all the world to combat, our squadrons were every where! The superior genius of the man disposed our fleets so as to gain all those advantages, without neglecting, without weakening the domestic safety of BRITAIN, which must ever acknowlege his salutary strength of mind, and bury his foibles in oblivion. His blemishes were those of the private man: his high qualities, public benefits. In his active days
No navies yawn'd for orders on the main.
DOWNING.
—Published in the Act
1796. by
THE next is a small half-length on copper of Saint
Charles Borromeo,
praying before a crucifix.
SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO.
That illustrious prelate was an ornament to his church. He is represented in his cardinal's dress, with a wan and meagre countenance, the effects of his sincere austerities. Those alone ought not to have given him a place in the kalendar: his genuine piety, his benevolence, his great deeds of charity, furnished him with the fullest clame. Add to this, his courage in facing the pestilence which raged in
Milan,
his native city, in all its horrors. He administered to the distressed every comfort, spiritual and temporal. Like
Marseilles
's good bishop,
he escaped, and received his heavenly reward
November
3d, 1584.
Or unknown portraits I have two. One is of an officer,
UNKNOWN PORTRAITS.
I think by
de Gelder,
a pupil of
Rembrandt
's. It is much in the style of his master. The figure is standing, with a good military countenance. In one hand is a long sword, the point resting on the floor; on his head is a hat and feathers; his body is armed to the waist; below are long skirts of buff; his helmet is on a barrel, the colors-furled, and rests against the wall; his shield and war-saddle near them.
De Gelder
was born in 1645, and died in 1727.
THE other is of a
Low Country
soldier; a small full length; a most graceful figure of a young man leaning on a chair, with an emptied glass in one hand, and on the floor a flagon, and near is his white hat and feathers; his hair long; he is in a buff coat, a broad leathern belt, with a cloak flung carelessly over one arm; he has vast boots, and a long sword hanging down from his side.
A SMALL, but neat inside of a
Flemish
church; and a fine painting of a white grous, hung by one foot from a tree, with some plants near the foot. These are all the paintings I can boast of. The last is by
Rysbrack,
a painter born at
Antwerp
about the middle of the last century.
I MAY conclude with a very neat drawing by
Moses Griffith,
of the antient gardens of
Llanerch,
in the
Italian
taste of the middle of the last century, made by Mr.
Mutton Davies,
after his return from
Italy;
they were fine (in that style), decorated with waterworks, statues, dials, &c. &c. emitting water, to the astonishment of the spectators. The original of the drawing is from an old large picture in my possession.
CABINET OF FOSSILS.
Downing
may boast of a good and numerous collection of fossils and minerals, partly collected by myself, partly by my son in his extensive travels; many of the specimens are elegant, and most of them instructive.
TYDDI
UCHA'.
ABOVE a mile from
Downing
is
Tyddyn Ucha',
a farm-house belonging to our family. In the last century it was inhabited by my grandfather, during the life-time of his father. My uncle
John Pennant,
and two of my aunts, were born there. I have often heard it said, with pride, that once three baronets were entertained there by the hospitable owner. I vehemently suspect, from the size of the house, that at lest two of them must have slept together.
MY father has often told me a ridiculous story of the effect of a jolly evening passed there by some of the convivial neighbors. They had made very free with some ale which had been brewed with malt made of soul barley, unfortunately mixed with the seeds of certain plant, which brought on a temporary blindness. The guests had not gone far before the symptoms seized them, and they were led back to their host, who was in the same condition. They were suddenly alarmed with a violent scream in a female voice. It seems that the
butleress,
or female butler, had, in her repeated visits to the cellar, sipped too plentifully of the
cwrw,
and, terrified with the effect, betrayed herself by giving unguardedly full vent to her fears.
IN those days the neighbors were much addicted to
terming,
TERMING.
i. e.
brewing a barrel of ale at some favorite ale-house, and staying there till it was all drunk out. They never went to bed, even should the
term
last a week; they either slept in their chairs or on the floor, as it happened, then awoke and resumed their jollity. At length, when the barrel was exhausted, they reeled away, and the hero of this
Bacchanalian
rout always carried the spiggot in triumph. Coursing was very frequently the occasion of these
terms;
each gentleman brought his gre-hound, and often made matches, more for the glory of producing the best dog, than for the value of the bet.
AT half a mile distance, south of this house, stands
Merton,
MERTON ABBOT.
in the township of
Merton Uwch Glan;
I gave it the addition of
Abbot,
to distinguish it from the many others of the same name. It was built in the year 1572, and for the time was a tolerable house. This and the
Holywell
estate was conveyed into our family by the marriage of
David Pennat
with
Katherine Pennant,
daughter and sole heiress of
John Pennant,
of
Holywell,
and
Mary,
daughter of
Thomas ap Thomas ap Edward,
of
Merton. John
was fourth in descent from
Nicholas Pennant,
last abbot of
Basingwerk,
and son of
Thomas ap David,
&c. &c. his predecessor in the abbotship.
David Pennant,
who made this valuable acquisition, died in 1666;
Katherine
survived him till the year 1700. This was the only marriage that added much to our estate since the time of
Madoc ap Thomas ap Meiiir,
who sat down at
Bychton
with the heiress of
Philip O' Phicdan,
hereafter to be mentioned.
THE two
Mertons, Uwch Glan
and
Is Glan,
are adjacent townships. They were, at the time of compiling the
Doomsday Book,
undivided, and known by the
Saxon
name of
Meretone,
or the township bordering over the
sea.
COMPLAINTS OF TEGENGL.
THE noblemen of
Tegengl
drew up a memorial, which they presented to
John Peckham,
archbishop of
Canterbury,
containing, among numbers of other grievances, the wrong done to the men of
Merton.
The archbishop (whom in 1281 came down on the christian design of reconciling the differences between
Edward
I. and
Llewelyn
) seemed to pity their sufferings; but it it not probable that the king paid any attention to their representations, as he was then in full march against our gallant countrymen, determined to make an effectual conquest of an enemy who gave him so much serious disturbance.
ABOVE three hundred yards from my house,
DOWNING UCHA'.
on the opposite side of a dingle, stands another
Downing,
the seat of my worthy neighbor and friend
Thomas Thomas,
esq
His good father came into possession of it about the year 1749, by marriage with Miss
Mary Lloyd,
heiress of the place, and descended from
Edwyn,
prince or lord of
Tegengl.
His
Llys
or palace was near
Northop.
My much-lamented friend the Reverend
John Lloyd,
of
Caerwys,
was of opinion that the fat figure on one of the tomb-stones in
Northop
church, represented this chieftain.
MR.
Thomas
was of
Llechweddgarth
in
Montgomeryshire.
CRUEL FE
D
.
(See
Tour in Wales,
ii. 349) descended from
Brochwel Yscythrog,
prince of
Powis,
who bore sable three nags heads erased argent. Before Mr.
Thomas
's arrival, a fierce feud raged between the two houses, as usual in days of yore; which, on his appearance, was changed into lasting peace. I cannot but mention a cruel revenge which the
Montagues
used to take on their neighbor
Capulet,
by the advantage of a stream which ran through their grounds in its way to our kitchen, where it was applied to the purpose of a jack for the turning of a spit. How often has that important engine been stopped before it had performed half its evolutions! our poor
Capulet
swearing, lady crying,
Cogess
fuming, and nurse screaming! But
To hear the children mutter,
When they lost their bread and butter,
It would move a heart of stone.
IN the footway to
Bychton
is the wood,
WHITEFORD WOOD.
the
Sylva
mentioned in the
Doomsday Book.
At the time of that compilation it was valued at 20
s.
only. Possibly the value did not increase greatly in the beginning of the sixteenth century, when my ancestor,
Hugh Pennant
of
Bychton
(eighteenth in descent from their common stock) married
Jonet,
daughter of
Richard ap Howel,
of
Mostyn,
who led his troops to
Bosworth Field.
Tradition says, that (money being wondrous scarce in those days) he was offered this wood as a portion with the lady; which our family rejected, as of no value in a country of forests. I cannot estimate the thousands it would have been worth at present, or in course of time.
A LLYS.
IN this wood are the remains of some antient
Llys,
or palace, as my friend, the late antiquary of
Cherwys,
used to maintain. I can only say, that to judge of the foundations, our palaces in those days were not very splendid.
LINE OF TUDOR TREVOR.
THE line of
Tudor Trevor,
with all its branches, is so frequently spoken of, that I shall here continue his descent. He was son of
Y
ger ap Cadvarch,
earl of
Hereford,
in right of his wife
Rhiengar,
daughter and heir of
Llwdocea ap Karadoc Vreichvras,
or the earl of
Hereford,
grandson to the said
Karadoc,
and great-grandson to
Karadoc Vreichvras,
earl of
Hereford
and
Marchiogen,
in the time of prince
Arthur,
and who had besides the honor of being one of the knights of the rou
ble.
Tudor
married
Angbarad,
daughter to
Howel Dda,
prince of
Wales,
renowned for his wise laws, who quitted his government and retired to
Rome,
and there died in 948, whose death was sore bewailed of all men,
for he was a prince that loved peace and good order, and that feared God.
I am sorry to deprive our ancestor of his title of earl: the
Welsh
had none such among them. Our great men had that of
Arglwydd
or
Lord,
and the chief or monarch that of
T'wisog
or
Prince. Tudor
had in right of his mother immense possessions in
Herefordshire,
and in all that country, then called
Ferlys,
which lies between the
Wye
and the
Severn.
He was also lord of
Whittington,
in
Shropshire
(See
Tour in Wales,
i. p. 250.) and made that castle his residence. Let me observe that many of his estates, being in the marches of
Wales,
he was called of the
Tribe
of
March,
to distinguish him from the other tribes.
THE families descended from this chieftain were exceedingly numerous, but those still existing in the male line are only the following:
Thomas Trevor Hampden
viscount
Hampden, Richard Pennant
Lord
Penrhyn,
Sir
Roger Mostyn,
and the
Mostyns
of
Bryngwyn,
of
Segrwyd,
branches of his family, and Sir
Pyers Mostyn, Eytons
of
Eyton, Wynnes
of
Gwerninvawr, Jones's,
of
Llwynon,
and
Jeffries's,
of
Acton,
existing in my friend the Rev. Dr.
Jeffries,
residentiary of
St. Paul's,
and worthy Rector of
Whiteford,
and the
Pennants
of
Bychton.
ADJACENT to this wood is my paternal seat,
BYCHTON.
I may say the primaeval seat of our family. The date, on a piece of wood over an added window, is 1572. This gives an idea of the house of a gentleman of middling estate in those days. There was a much more antient date on a beam in the barn, which was inadvertently destroyed when I new built it. I lived at this seat in 1761 and 1762; at that time I recollect buying of the tenant, who with great civility quitted it to me, his stock of wheat at 2
s.
the hobbet, consisting of two measures, of forty-one quarts each.
LET me contrast this to a year of scarcity in our country, that of 1637, when I find, by a diary kept by a
Peter Roberts,
of
St. Asaph,
that in the same year wheat was sold at 21
s.
the hobbet, rye at 15
s.
and vetches at 11
s.
Change this into the present value of silver, the hobbet of wheat at this time would be equal to 29
s.
of barley to 20
s.
8½
d.
and vetches to 15
s.
2¼
d.
—a calculation for which I am indebted to the ingenuity of my good assistant, the Rev. Mr.
Henry Parry,
of
Holywell.
SUMMER-HOUSE.
VERY near to the house stood a summer-house, (a building very frequent near the seats of
Welsh
gentry) with a cellar beneath. These were used as retreats for the jovial owners and their friends, to enjoy, remote from the fair, their toasts and noisy merriment. Mine was so near to ruin, that I was obliged to pull it down. I remember oaks of a vast size growing near to the house. This, and I may say the other lower parts of the parish, are finely wooded with that noble species of tree, which grows spontaneously: was this part deserted, it would relapse into its original state, and become an impenetrable forest.
MADOC AP MEILER.
NOW let the whole
Welshman
arise in me! Let me relate how
Madoc ap Meiler
(surnames were not as yet)
ap Thomas ap Owen ap Blydden ap Tudor ap Rhys Sais ap Ednesyd ap Llowarch Ga
ap Llyddocca,
fil. primogen. TUDOR TREVOR, living A.D. 924. (miscalled) earl of
Hereford,
cotemporary with the great king
Athelstan,
and the greater
Edwal Voel,
prince of
Wales,
did take lawful possession of
Alice,
daughter and heir of
Philip o Phicdan,
by
Margaret,
daughter and heir of
Dafydd ap Ririd,
&c. &c. of
Penley
in
Maelwr.
This
Philip o Phicdan
was son (See
Harlcian
Library, No 1792.) to
Philip ap Yswittan Wyddel,
of the house of
Dungannon,
in
Ireland,
one of the
Irish
cavaliers who followed
Gryffydd ap Conan
out of that island, to assist him to regain the throne of his ancestors, about the year 1077, usurped by
Trahaern ap Caradog.
THE great and decisive victory on the mountains of
Carno,
in the county of
Montgomery,
in the same year, was owing to the valor of
Philip.
The usurper was defeated and slain, after the bloodiest contest in our annals.
Gryffydd
was reinstated in his lawful dominions, and reigned with great dignity during fifty-seven years. He was not ungrateful to his
Milesian
general; he bestowed on him great possessions in his new-recovered dominions
Historia Gryffyd ap Conan,
MS. No 39.
G
ddaeth
Library.
, of which one of his sons inherited
Bychton.
It remained in the male line only one generation after
Yswittan,
as we have above said. If we reckon thirty years to a generation, the match between
Madoc ap Meiler
and
Alice
must have taken place very early in the next century, if not in the same. This gives us a priority of landed possession in the parish of
Whiteford
to any other freeholder:
Madoc
being only tenth in descent from
Tudor Trevor.
THIS my ancestor
Madoc
probably lived also by the sword, for I cannot with any certainty prove that before this time he had any landed property. I presume he was content with his acquisition of the fair
Alice,
and the
Bychton
estate (not
Putecaine,
as the barbarous
Normans
made it in the
Doomsday Book
) at which period (
Widfor, i. e. Whiteford
) was
terra unius carucae, et ibi erat cum duobus villanis et
XII.
inter servos, et ancilla ibi piscaria,
and
Sylva,
or the wood above mentioned. But I fear we had been long before robbed of the wood at lest, and possibly of our
piscaria,
&c. either by our own countrymen or the tyrant
Saxons. Madoc
sat down quietly on his lands; his offspring seem to have been much respected, for his son
Jerwerth
married the daughters of two princes; his first wife was daughter of
Owen,
lord of
Tegangl,
and his second the daughter of the lord of
Allington
and
Ruthenland.
We went on begetting sons and daughters for a long space. My son may boast of being sixteenth in descent from the great
Madoc,
or twenty-fifth from
Tudor Trevor;
where, for brevity sake, I take up the pedegree, otherwise I might reach the renowned
K
rda Wlodig,
after passing through five most celebrated descents.
ARMS.
Madoc
assumed the arms of
Yswi
tan Wyddel,
his wife's grandfather, viz.
Fyelde silver three barres wavey azure, on the mydle barr three shieldrakes of the fyrste,
and for his next coat, by the name
Philip Phichdan,
'three boars in palle silver;' these are so defined, and placed quarterly by that able genealogist
John Charles Brooke,
esq
Somerset
herald, whose untimely end I find daily reason to deplore. The three boars were the arms of
Yona
ap Gr
wy,
of
Penley
in
Ma
wr
hundred, in the county of
Flint.
My father had some small possessions in that country, which he sold to improve our estate nearer home. Those probably were derived from
Philip Phicdan,
and devolved to
Madoc
on his marriage with his daughter
Alice.
THE family assumed afterwards their proper arms, those of
Tudor Trevor.
In the year 1580, a patent for a crest, the antelope's head most strangely disfigured with heraldic liberty, was granted to
Pyers Pennant,
one of the four gentlemen-ushers to Queen
Elizabeth,
and to the posterity of his father
Hugh Pennant.
In this patent, which I have in high preservation, the first coat is that of the
Trevors,
the fyelde party par bend, sinister ermen, and ermyne, a lion rampant goulde, langued and armed gules.
The two next are as described above, and the fourth by the name of
Gruffydd Lloyd,
the fyelde azure three flower-de-luces of the fyelde:
and such is the
dictum
of
Robert Cooke, alias Clarentieux,
ROV D'ARMES, 1580.
THE
Mostyns
of
Mostyn
bear as their crest, a lion rampant.
THE
Trevors,
who were the
Pen-cenedl,
or head of the whole line, had for their crest the wivern or dragon on a cap of dignity. The present Lord
Hampden
is its true
Pen-cenedl;
but by heraldic rules, on the descent of the
Hampden
estate to his lordship, from the alliance of his ancestor Sir
John Trevor
with the
Hampdens,
the talbot, the crest of that family, supersedes the antient dragon.
THE dragon was worn as a cogni
ance by all our princes, particularly by
Cadwaledr,
who died in 688. It was adopted by
Henry
VII. who clamed descent from him, and wore it in he battle of
Bosworth.
It took its origin from the legend of
Uther Pen-dragon,
father of king
Arthur,
who is said to have received the addition of
Pen-dragon,
from his wearing that imaginary animal on his helmet.
OUR bards united with the poet the office of herald. At first our pedegrees were preserved by oral communication; afterwards committed to writing, and preserved in the houses of our great men. The heralds office is at present a great repository of these kinds of treasure.
BY the first we are assured of many other illustrious descents from princes' ancestors to our
Tudor Trevor;
from the princes of
Powis;
from
Rywalbon Conwyn,
(who, with his brother
Kynric,
were joint princes of
North Wales;
) from even
Roderic
the Great, and from
Cadwaladr;
and finally from
Vortigern,
the unfortunate king of the
Britons,
who fled from the rage of his subjects, for his invitation of the
Saxons
into
Britain,
and died ingloriously about the year 465, in the darksome
Nant y Gwrtheyrn,
in the county of
Caernarvon
Tour in Wales,
ii. p. 204.
.
THE
English
heralds attempt to add fame to our race, by telling us that the present Sir
Roger Mostyn
is nineteenth in descent from the Conqueror, from
John of Gaunt,
from
Richard Plantagenet,
duke of
York,
father to
Edward
IV. I leave
Arthur Collins,
(vol. iii. p. 129, 131) to adduce the proofs. Why will my ingenious countrywoman, after admitting these honors
British Synonymy,
i. p. 231.
, deny to us BIRTH, by distinction fine as ether, and as imperceptible, allowing us only the advantage of family! And, notwithstanding the lady's justly-favored
Johnson
makes birth and lineage synonymous, yet my cousin will allow us no more of the former than what that great writer defines the
act of coming into the world,
the act which graced our country with its fair synonymist.
I HOPE the reader will not think me too warm, for thus vindicating my clame to
birth,
in common with my worthy brother-in-law. I am jealous that the honors which I possess by means of our marriage with his aunt
Shonet,
ten ascents higher, should receive any abatement: and I trust that the lady concerned will, as a
Welsh-woman,
even applaud my warmth on so very interesting an occasion!
OUR house has always been the
Pen-cenedl,
or chief of the name. We had several branches, all which, excepting those I have enumerated, are extinct in the male line; unless it be in the gentleman who of late years spread our celebrity in the capital, under the title of
Pennant's Parcel Post.
THE first who branched from us was the hospitable, the useful, the valiant
Thomas Pennant,
abbot of
Basingwerk,
son of
David Pennant ap Tudor,
before mentioned. He flourished in the reign of
Edward
IV. and is highly celebrated by
Guttun Owain,
a bard of the year 1480, who records the hospitality of the abbot, in a poem printed in the collection of Mr.
Rhŷs Jones.
The poet is so liberal of his praise as to say,
That he gave twice the treasure of a king in wine.
Er bwrw yno aur brenhin
Ef a roes deufwy ar wîn.
And among his other luxuries I think he enumerates sugar, which a rich abbot of the fifteenth century might easily indulge himself in, for it had been a great article of commerce in
Sicily
as early as the year 1148.
Guttun Owain
also adds:
Tŷ da i'r ŷd, o'r tu draw.
Tŷ brâg sydd, Tŷ
b
ics
iddaw.
A good granary on the other side, a malt-house, and a house of bricks: which last was probably a material in building of recent introduction in our country.
Guttun Owain
and
Tudor Aled,
another noted bard, speak not only of his works of utility; of the water and of the wind-mills he erected; of his having enlarged and beautified the abbey, but also compliment him on his prowess in battle. Neither is
Guttun
silent on a subject, pleasing to every
Welsh
ear, the pedegree of his patron, whom he derives from
Edwyn,
and from
Rhŷs Sais,
a direct descendant from
Tudor Trevor.
IT is probable that our abbot discovered that celibacy did not suit his constitution. He quitted his profession, and became (in the law term) a monk
deraigne,
and married into the great house of
Peurbyn,
a lady of the name of
Angharad.
He became the father of four children. Of them,
Edward
the eldest succeeded to the fortunes which he seems to have secured in the parish of
Holywell. Thomas,
the second son, became vicar of
Holywell.
And
Nicholas,
the third, in due time abbot of
Basingwerk;
he was the last, and became founder of a family, as I shall have occasion to mention. More also will be said of the line of
Edward,
who may be considered as the first of the house of
Bagilt.
WE did not assume the name of
Pennant,
till the time of
David Pennant ap Tudor,
fifteenth in descent from
Tudor Trevor;
it is a true
Welsh
name, taken from
Pen,
a head, and
Nant,
a dingle, our house of
Bychton
being seated at the head of a very considerable one. The name is very common in
North Wales,
applied to places, such as
Pennant St. Melangl, Pennant Mowddwy, Pennant Lliw,
&c. &c. I have found it in
Cornwal,
and again in the great bay of
Douarnenez,
in
Bretagne,
where, among numbers of other
Welsh
names, is that of
Pointe Pennant.
IT has been delivered down to us,
GI
CS.
that in some distant time a gang of gipsies used to haunt this dingle, and that eighteen of them were executed, after which the gipsey race never more frequented the neighborhood. I cannot learn their crime, possibly there was none, for they might have been legally murdered by the cruel statute of the 1st and 2d of
Philip
and
Mary,
which enacts,
that if, within forty days next after proclamation of this present act shall be made, that then he or they which shall not depart and avoid within the said time of forty days, according to the true meaning of this act, shall be judged and deemed, according to the laws of this realm of
England,
a felon and felons, and shall suffer therefore pains of death, loss of lands and goods as in other cases of felony, and shall be tried as is aforesaid, and without having any benefit or privilege of sanctuary or clergy.
Sir
Matthew Hale
tells us, that in
Suffolk,
a few years before the restauration, were executed, at a single assizes, not less than thirteen; but none, on that barbarous law, have suffered since that time. In these humane days the gipsies may wander in peace, provided they behave inoffensively wheresoever they chance to make their transient abode; for the bloody act was repealed in the twenty-third year of his present majesty.
OUR FIRST M
GE WITH AN ENGLISHWOMAN.
David Pennant
was the first of us who married into a
Saxon
family; he took to wife
Anne,
daughter of
John Done,
of
Utkinton,
in
Cheshire,
by
Anne
daughter of
Richard Heaton,
of
Heaton,
in the county of
Lancaster.
He begat many sons and daughters, among them was the famous abbot
Thomas,
and also Sir
Hugh Pennant, Offeiriad,
or priest, whom the great
Lhuyd,
in his
A
aelogic,
p. 257, calls an able poet, in the time of
Henry
VIII.; and I find also, that in 1575 he was at an
Fisteddfod,
at
Caerwis,
secondary student in vocal song, and — he was the only musical man in all our line.
OUR FIRST SHERIFF.
TILL the advancement of
Richard Pennant
to the title of
Penrbyn,
our house was never distinguished by any honors beyond the most useful one, that of justice of the peace. I should blush if a
Pennant
should be found, who through lack of public spirit, sloth, or selfishnese, could decline that great constitutional office! The first sheriff of our house was
Pyers Pennant,
who discharged that trust in 1612. He had the lot of marrying the daughter of a family not famed for placidity, or the milder virtues.
Valdè valde, irritabile genus!
'And from them,
Tom
(a most worthy aunt of mine used often to tell me) we got our passion;'—and frequently added the wise
Welsh
caution,
Beware of a Breed!
THE fruits of this marriage appeared very soon.
Thomas,
the eldest son, in a
furor brevis,
killed his miller: was indicted for the manslaughter, tried, and convicted; but received his pardon, dated in the first of
Charles
I. or the year 1625. This grace preserved him from the ignominious part of the sentence, and the more important advantage of preserving his personality, which would otherwise have been forfeited to the crown.
THIS is sufficient to shew that the offence did admit of every palliation; but a stronger proof than that may be drawn from the following honor having been conferred on him, when we find that in eight years afterwards, in 1633, he was intrusted with the care of the county of
Flint,
by having the office of high sheriff committed to his charge. He died the next year;
cujus animae propitietur
DEUS! This unfortunate man married a grand-daughter of that nuptial-loving dame
Catherine y Berran
(See
Tour in Wales,
vol. ii. p. 29)
Mary,
daughter of
Edward Wynn,
of
Ystrad,
son of
Morris Wynn,
of
Gwydir,
fourth and last husband of our famous
Catherine.
There was no issue from this match; so
Bychton
descended to
David,
the next brother.
IN those days, and long preceding,
PRESENTS TO SHERIFFS.
it was customary for the friends and neighbors of the sheriff to make presents to him to assist in defraying the expences. I have among my papers two long rolls of gifts. To give the whole would be very tedious. I extract only a few of the most remarkable, among which are several in money, which his friends were not ashamed to offer: nor the sheriff to receive. The cash received in 1612, was £. 10. 18
s.
6
d.;
that in 1642, £. 5.
A Note of such Presents as were given previous to the seconde Sessions, 1612.
Sept
27.
Pyers Pennant,
Sheriff.
Imp. From my mother
1 cowe 8 weathers
Evan ap John ap Llewelyn
I weather
Humffrey Thomas ap Edd
VI geesse
Hugh ap Llewelyn
VI geesse
William John ap Llewelyn
II geesse
Katharinge Vth Evan
II geesse
Thomas Barker
III geesse
Piers Griffith
III geesse
Hugh ap Morris
II geesse
From my sone
Harry Conwey
VIII hoopes
Hoopes.—A
h
ope
signified a measure answerable to the present peck.
of wheat
From my mother
VI hoopes of wheat, and a paile full of butter
From my sister
Holande
III hwps of wheat, and a whole brawne
From my brother
Tho. Kyffin,
in goulde
II £ IIIIs
From
Jo
Roberts,
in money
VIs
From
Rice ap Jor ap Llewelyn
IIs VId
From
John ap Jor Gr
II muttons and a dozen chicks
Gregor
II capons
Katheringe Penant
II capons, II dozen of eggs
Thomas Price
I goose
Thomas ap W
ap Meredith
one mutton
M
Pennant,
in gould
XI shillings
S
Thomas Wrighte,
wyf
II geesse
John ap Rie
a couple of chishes
My brother
W
Kyffin
II£
S•
Roger Mosten
I£
From Mr
David Holland,
in goulde
XXXIIIIs
From Mr
Ellis Edwards,
of
Halliwell
VIIs
From Mr
Griffith,
of
Kayarws
XXs
From
Morris
of the mounten
Xs
From my brother
Edward Kyffin,
in gould
Xs
From Mr
Edward Pennant,
of
Bagillt
Xs
From
Richart ap Jevan
Vs
To shew that the sense of relationship was not, in those days, soon worn out, Mr.
Done,
of
Utkinton,
sent a venison, for which the sheriff gave as a fee 6
s.
8
d.
to the keeper. This sheriff was in respect to the donor fifth in descent from the marriage of
David Pennant ap Tudor,
with
Anne,
daughter of
John Done,
of
Utkinton,
as near as I can guess about the year 1440.
1642. A Note of what Presents were sent against the Sessions.
David Pennant,
Sheriff.
My Lady
Mostyn,
2 muttons, a gallon of sacke, and
2£
Mr
Griffith,
of
Cayrwis,
2 sugar loafs.
Mr
Roger Parry,
1£
Mr
Robert Pennant,
1£
Mrs
Conway,
of
Nant,
1£
Mrs
Matthew,
a sugar loaf.
Mr
Vaughan,
3 gallons of sacke.
Mr
Ralph Hughes,
a mutton, 6 rabbetts, a dozen pigeons.
Mr
John Jones,
a sugar loafe.
Mr
David Jones,
a sugar loafe.
Mr
Raphell Davis,
a veale.
Mr
Hugh Pennant,
of
Dooning,
a mutton.
Mr
William Mostyn,
of
Bagillt,
halfe a veale, and a pigg.
Nichlas George,
2 capons.
Edward ap Thomas,
a veale, a pigg, a quart of hony.
William Parry Wynn,
a mutton.
Margaret Price,
of
Brinford,
a mutton.
Th
ap Roi
ap Hugh,
2 capons, and a pigg.
John ab William J
,
halfe a veale, and a q
hony.
Edward Ethel,
a q
veale, and a pigg, 6 q
claret.
John Thomas Evans,
a qr veale.
Jullius Se
sar,
a qr veale, and a q
porke.
Thomas ab Ellis,
a mutton.
Pyers Williams,
2 capons, a qt hony.
William Ethe
l,
a sugar loafe.
John Price,
of
Calcate,
2 hoopes of oates.
Robert Lloyd,
a sugar
oafe.
Thomas Lloyd,
of
Mertyn,
a qr veale, a q
lambe.
Petter Hughes,
2 capons.
Thomas Parry,
of
Mays guin,
2 capons, and a pigg.
John ap Robert Shamber wen,
halfe a veale.
Thomas John Cooke,
half a mutton.
Barbara Parry,
half a lambe.
The Deputie Sheriffe, 2 turkies, and a pottle of sacke.
John Price,
of
Pentre,
a q
veale, a pigg.
Robert Lloyd,
of
Taverne y Gennog,
halfe a lambe.
John Humfrey,
a veale.
M
Kyffin,
a qr veale, a greate cake.
Mr
Roger Holland,
4 hoops of wheat.
Andrew Ellis,
a goose, a q
veale.
Margaret ach Pyers,
2 dozen cakes.
Thomas ap Thomas,
a flitch of bacon, 6 qt claret, a qt veale.
Ellen Foulkes,
a qr veale.
John ap John,
halfe a lambe, a q
of mutton.
John Conway,
a qr veale, a pigg.
Anne Simon,
a qrt of sacke.
Foulke,
the joyner, a pigg.
David,
the weaver, a pigg.
Ellin Lorrance,
2 henns.
Thomas John ap Ric.
a qr porke, 4 eggs.
Ales Owen,
2 henns, 2 piggs, 6 chickins, 30 eggs.
Mar. John Robert,
2 hens, a pigg, three chi.
Edward John ap Robert,
2 henns, a qt porke, a pigg.
John ap Rhytherch,
60 eggs.
Hugh Barker,
a qr of porke.
John ap John ap Robert,
2 capons.
Hugh ap Thomas ap Harry,
2 capons.
IN these numerous lists of presents I was surprised at the omission of brandy;
BRANDY.
probably the fiery dram was not then in fashion in
Wales:
yet nurse, in
Romeo and Juliet,
calls for it amain, under the name of
aqua vitae:
Some
aqua vitae,
ho! my lord, my lady!
It appears to have been chiefly used in those days for medical purposes.
IN captain
Wyndham
's voyage to
Guinea
there was brandy on board for the use of the sick sailors. It was said to have been invented by
Raymundus Lullius,
the famous alchemist, who died in the year 1315.
Charles the Bad,
king of
Navarre,
came to a most horrible end, says
Mezerey,
(i. 954.) who, to restore his strength, weakened by debauchery, was wrapped in sheets steeped in
au d
e.
His valet by accident set fire to them: after the third day he died in the most dreadful tortures, and it is to be hoped thus expiated the crimes of his most execrable life. I am indebted for the origin of brandy to a most elaborate essay on it which I received from Mr.
William Taylor,
of
Norwich,
by favor of my friend Dr.
Atkin.
WILLIAM PENNANT. G
.
I NOW, in gratitude, take up the brief history of
William Pennant,
second son to
Hugh Pennant,
of
Bychton,
by
Sionet,
daughter of
Richard ap Howel ap Moston.
His good deeds towards the poor of our parish, and his good intention towards our family, give him full clame to this token of respect.
William
was a goldsmith and jewelier; he lived at the
Queen's Head,
in
Smithfield;
and by the sign of his shop, and by the several bequests he made to persons about the court, he probably was goldsmith and jeweller to the royal family.
HIS WEALTH.
He made a considerable fortune, and died possessed of the manor of
Moxhall,
in the parish of
Andley,
in the county of
Essex;
the rectories called
Cutcombe
and
Luxborough,
in the county of
Somerset;
the leafe of the manor of
Thornes,
in
Haveringe,
in the
Bower Ward,
in the county of
Essex;
the lease of the manor of
Noxbridge,
in the same county; and in
London,
an estate in
Smithfield
and
Hosier Lane;
and a house called the
Blue Anchor,
in
Candlewick
ward, which last he bequeathed to the famous
Hugh Middleton,
afterwards Sir
Hugh,
the projector of the
New River.
All the other estates he bequeathed thus:—His manor of
M
xhall,
and the two rectories, to his nephew
Hugh Pennant;
and his leases of the manor of
Thornes
to his brother
Pyers Pennant,
of
Mailard Green,
in the county of
Essex,
the gentleman usher before mentioned.
ALL these fruits of
William Pennant
's industry were dissipated by my unfortunate name sake, mentioned in a preceding page,
D
BY HIS NE
.
who luckily died before he had ruined our paternal estate.
HIS bequest in money to the poor of
Whiteford
parish had a better fate.
HIS CHA
.
It was laid out in the purchase of land in the parish of
St. Asaph;
the produce of which annually clothes completely eighteen poor men or poor women, on the feast of
St. Thomas.
On the expiration of the lease of those lands, I trust that double the number will experience the benefit of this charity.
William Pennant
also remembered several of his friends by legacies, at this time appearing to us very singular.
BEQUEST TO HIS FRIENDS.
Besides some small legacies in money, he bequeathed the following articles:—
Item,
I give and bequeath unto Sir
William Fortescue,
K• , one chaine of gold and pearle, weighing about 12 ounces and a quarter; one billament of gold and pearle, being 19 pieces; a round salt of silver, with a cover thereto, weighing 15 ounces, and some what more; six white silver spoons; one feather-bed, bolster, two pillows, two blankets, one blue rugg, a teastern of satten figured, russet and black, and vallance to the same; five curtains of taffety farsanet, on char, and a stool with a back of satten figured russet; ten black — and six stools covered with black wrought velvett; and also a great chest covered with black leather, with an in-lock on it, and all things in it (excepting certain plate therein) hereafter bequeathed.
Item,
I give and bequeath unto —
Fortescue,
the daughter of the sald
William Fortescue,
Kt , and god-daughter to my late wife
Ellinor,
her aunt, one bason and ewer of silver, all gilt, weighing 36 ounces, or thereabouts; one dozen of silver spoons gilt, weighing 22 ounces, or thereabouts; one silver pot hooped, weighing 20 ounces and upwards, with arms on the side thereof; a bell salt without a cover, partly gilt, weighing 6 ounces, or thereabouts. All which particulars are in the said black chest. And I will that the same shall presently after my decease be delivered to the said
Wm Fortescue,
Kt , for him to keep safely in trust and confidence, to and for the use of — —, untill she happen to be married, or untill she shall attain to the age of 21 years, and then to be delivered unto her; and that if the said — — happen to die before she be married, or attain to the said age of 21 years, then I give and bequeath the said legacy to her bequeathed to
Roger Fortescue,
her brother, to be delivered to him at his age of 21 years, and untill that time to remain in trust in the hands of Sir
Wm Fortescue,
Knt , his uncle.
Item,
I give and bequeath unto my loving and kind friend, Mr.
Randall Woolley,
merchant taylor, one ounce of fine gold to make him a ring.
Item,
I give and bequeath unto my loving friend Mr.
John Barker,
living at Mr.
Rob• Holland
's house, the like quantity of fine gold to make him a ring.
Item,
I give and bequeath unto my loving friend Mr.
Richd Locksmith,
Clerk to Mr. Attorney General, one ounce of fine gold to make him a ring.
Item,
I give and bequeath to my loving cousin Mr.
John Lloide,
bencher of the
Inner Temple,
34 buttons of gold; to my cousin
Wm Lloyd,
his brother, 5
l.
of money.
Item,
I give and bequeath to my honorable and late master, the said
John Fortescue,
Knt , one of his Highness' most honorable privy councel, in token of the remembrance of his love and kindness towards me, 20
l.
in money, to buy him a piece of velvet for a gown.
Item,
I give and bequeath to my loving friend the under-named, for the love and kindness that hath passed between us on this earth, as followeth: that is to say; to Sir
Robert Bannister,
knight, clark companion of his majesty's household, one ounce of fine gold, of 3
l.
to make him a ring. To
Thomas Merry,
chief clerk of his majesty's kitchen, one ounce of the like gold to make him a hooped silver pot for his wife.
Item,
to
John Trefearne,
one other of the clerks of the kitchen, one ounce of like gold, to make him a ring; and to
John Crane,
one other of the clerks of the kitchen, the like quantity of gold.
Item,
to Mr.
Lewis Owen,
serjeant of the larder, the like quantity of gold
Item,
to
Lewis Rogers,
the prince's servant, half an ounce of like gold to make him a ring.
Item,
to
John Panton,
servant to the right honorable the lord chancellor of
England,
one ounce of fine gold of the like value.
Item,
to
John Price,
one of the porters of the spiritual court in
London,
the like quantity of fine gold.
Item,
to
John Legate,
of
Hornchurch,
in
Essex,
esquire, one ounce of fine gold.
Item,
I give and bequeath to my loving friend
Walter Meredith,
5
l.
in money, and also a cloak of fine black cloth, with some lace about, and lined through with russet taffety.
THIS will is dated
May
4th, 1607; the codicil two years after, and Sir
Hugh Myddleton
left sole executor.
THE entertaining
James Howel,
STRANGE STORY OF JOHN PENNANT;
in the xliiid letter of his
Epistolae Ho-Elianae,
makes
John Pennant,
third son of
Pyers Pennant
of
By
h
n,
and brother of the worthy
William,
the instrument of presages to our kingdom, of the evil days and evil times which were advancing with rapid pace. The relation is very properly addressed to that mirror of credulity, Sir
Kenelm Digby,
knight.
D A
EN
S HEART
'It was my fortune,' says the solemn historian,
to be in a late communication, where a gentleman spoke of a hideous thing that happened in
High Holborn;
how one
John Pennant,
a young man of 21, being dissected after his death, there was a kind of serpent, with divers tails, found in the left ventricle of his heart, which you know is the most defended part, being thrice thicker than the right, and is the cell which holds the purest and most illustrious liquor, the arterial blood and the vital spirits. The serpent was it seems three years ingendring, for so long time he found himself indisposed in the breast; and it was observed that his eye, in the interim, grew more sharp and fiery, like the eye of a cock, which is next the serpent's eye in redness: so that the symptom of his inward disease might have been told by certain exterior rays and signatures.
GOD preserve us from public calamities! for serpentine monsters have been often ill favored presages. I remember in the
Roman
story, to have read how, when snakes or serpents were found near the statues of their Gods, at one time about
Jupiter
's neck, another time about
Minerva
's thigh, there followed bloody civil wars after it.
THIS portentous story is given most scientifically by Dr.
Edward May,
in a thin quarto pamphlet of forty pages. The title-page will inform the reader of his various other titles, which savor most strongly of quackery.
A MOST CERTAINE AND TRVE RELATION OF A STRANGE MONSTER OR SERPENT, Found in the Left Ventricle of the Heart of
John Pennant,
Gentleman of the Age of 21 Years.
By
Edward May,
Doctor of Philosophy and Physick, and Professor Elect of them in the Colledge of the Academy of
Noblemen, called the Musaeum Minervae.
Physitian also Extraordinary unto her Most Sacred Majesty
Queene
of GREAT BRITAIN, &c.
LONDON: Printed by George Miller, MDCXXXIX.
THE epistle dedicatory is
to the renowned peere of this kingdom,
Edward
earle of
Dorset,
the book itself to Sir
Theodore Maiherne,
knight. In that he lays before him the wonderful case. He tells us that he was sent on
October
7th, 1637, by Lady
Herris,
wife to Sir
Francis Herris,
knight, to dissect her nephew
John Pennant,
who had deceased the night before, to know the cause of his death. The doctor brought with him Master
Jacob Heyden,
surgeon, to assist in the enquiry. Mr.
Heydon
made incision into the left ventricle of the heart, which was full of blood. On thorough examination, the monster was discovered, the head of which was so like to that of a serpent, that Lady
Herris
shivered to see it. To judge by the prints, all the upper part of it was cylindrical; towards the lower part bifurcated, and each fork divided into five long and slender fibrillae. I leave to the reader the perusal of the rest of Dr
May
's most curious disquisition.
THIS is not the only instance of similar appearances in the heart: but we hear no more of serpents; the name was changed to
polypuses,
to which, for their numerous ramifications, they might bear the resemblance. In our Philosophical Transactions are more than one paper on the subject. In Mr.
Lowthorp
's Abridg. iii. p. 70, and tab. p. 120, is an account, and the figure of one found in the heart of a man at
Oxford;
and in Mr.
Martyn
's Abridg. ix. p. 135, is the account of several discovered in numbers of sailors who died immediately on their return from the
West Indies.
This paper was written by the celebrated Dr.
Huxbam;
he quotes
Malpighius, Bartholinus, Tulpius,
and
Pechlin,
as giving incontestible instances of the existence of polypi in the heart, in the strictest sense. This opinion is now exploded. The only uncommon circumstance (my ingenious friend Dr.
Haygarth
assures me) is, that the left ventricle of the heart, and probably the
aorta,
which after death are usually empty, were in these cases full of blood. The
crassamentum,
upon coagulation, had taken the form of the arteries in which it was contained.
I BREAK a little into chronology,
BARBAROUS EVENTS.
to conclude with an event relative to another of my house; of little moment indeed, but merely to give a picture of the barbarous days, even of the beginning of the last century, which I collected from the journal kept by
Peter Roberts,
of
St. Asaph,
before mentioned. He records, that on
July
22d, 1615,
Hugh Pennant,
brother to
Pyers Pennant,
esq
of
Bychton,
died of a broken head given him at
Denbigh,
by
Pyers Hughes:
That in the year 1626,
Rowland Evan,
a vicar of
St. Asaph,
was killed at an ale-house in
Llandrillo Eiderneon:
That on
October
3d, 1628, Mr.
Richard Thelwal
was slain at his own house at
Ruthen:
And that, in 1634, one
Foulkes,
of
Cilowen,
killed his wife, and cut his own throat.
THE mention of ale house tempts me to speak of a house of mine, by the sea-side, in the township of
Bychton,
LLETTY GONEST.
called
Lletty Gonest,
or the
honest house.
It had been formerly in the highest repute for its excellent ale, brewed by a good ale-wife yclep'd
Jane,
of
Lletty,
whom I well remember. She acquired both fame and wealth, both of which I may say she bequeathed to her descendants; who to this day, by their own industry, continue to flourish on the effect of her's.
THE house was originally built by one
Smith,
from
Worcester,
partly for the purposes of distilling, and partly for a warehouse. I am told, that it occasionally had served for the place of confinement for impressed men, at the time in which the colliers had such great trade with
Dublin.
The strong bars in the lower windows favor that notion.
SINGULAR HEAD.
ABOVE the door is a very singular sculpture, cut in bas-relief, in stone, and let into the wall. One part is a strange chimerical figure of a monster with four legs, and the head of an owl, fixing its claws in the side of a human head. The face is averted, and expressing much agony. The eye-lids are drawn up, the eyes the same, the mouth half opened, and the teeth closely fixed together. The face is young, but has a pair of whiskers, and is far from being ill cut. It has the character of one of
Le Brun
's passions, article
Pain.
It evidently never was designed for this place, but seems originally to have been one of those fanciful
gothic
sculptures belonging to some antient church.
SMUGGLING.
IN the reign of King
William,
this house was remarkable for the violent hands laid on a vast seizure of
French
wines, to the amount of sixty pipes, which had been smuggled into the great barn at
Trelacre,
in the parish of
Llanasa,
destined for the use of the
Welsh
gentry in this and the neighboring counties. It must be observed, that in those days port-wine was in very little use in our country. The officers had conveyed this prize with safety as far as
Lletty Gonest,
where they intended to sleep that night. At midnight they were alarmed by the entry of multitudes of colliers, who tied every body in the house neck and heels. They removed the wine into other carriages, and conveyed it into places so secure that it never more could be heard of. Many of the colliers were observed to have rings on their fingers, and fine linen. In fact numbers of them were the gentlemen interested in the wine, and concerned in the re-capture, who mixed with the colliers, to direct them in their operations. A proclamation was issued out for the discovery of the offenders; but such was the fidelity of our people, that they were never detected. The poor tapster, in particular, knew perfectly well who they were, and large rewards were offered to him by the custom-house; but nothing could shake his attachment to his friends. He lived long after, supported by the grateful contributions of the neighboring 'squires.
HIGH above
Lletty Gonest
stands a summer-house, built by my grandfather, to which he often adjourned with his guests, to regale them with the delicious beer, brewed by the famous
Jane.
Many years after, when I became master of the estate, I also had my adjournment, but it was either to eat shrimps or to drink tea. An honest vicar of a distant parish, who had been a most intimate friend of my convivial grandfather, enquired whether I ever went to the summer-house; and was answered, 'Now and then, to drink tea.' Struck with horror at the degeneracy of the grandson, the good man with indignation exclamed,
DRINK TEA! his grandfather would have SCORNED IT!
THE turnpike road designed for the enabling the smelters and others to convey our coal to the places of its destination, from the
Mostyn
and
Bychton
pits, passes by
Lletty Gonest,
and goes along the shore towards
Holywell.
In the space of a mile it passes by three smelting-houses,
Shop-goch,
the property of Sir
Roger Mostyn,
and
Pen-y-Ro
and
Llanerch-y-môr,
belonging to me. The last disputes antiquity with most in the county, the late works at
Gadlis
excepted.
ABOVE the last is the neat house of
Kinsale,
inhabited by my good friend and tenant Mr.
Ralph Richardson,
who for several years had with great success and integrity carried on the smelting business, with the advantage of shipping the produce from the very spot, after a short carriage to the vessels.
A SMALL marsh begins a little beyond
Lletty Gonest,
and widens as it extends southward. It borders on the manor of
Mostyn:
but itself owns no lord but the king. The same may be said of the valuable remainder, as far as the manor of
Coleshill,
in the parish of
Flint.
The minor of
Greenfield,
in the parish of
Holywell,
was long supposed to have been the property of one or other of two clamants, who fell into dispute about the right. The matter was referred to two gentlemen of the law, eminent for their abilities, and not less so for their probity. After examining all the proofs adduced by the rivals, they adjudged that neither had any clame to the lordship; so it is now left to the freeholders under our sovereign lord the king: a rich tract for future inclosures.
A LITTLE beyond
Kinsale
is the end of our parish on this side. The boundary between it and the parish of
Holywell,
is a small
ll called
Avon Marsh Siambr.
AVON MARSH SIAMBR.
Above on an eminence is the old seat of the
Pierces,
a family now extinct, and the property passed into other hands. It bears the name of
Is Glan,
from the name of the township in which it stands.
ABOUT a mile higher up is
Merton,
the seat of the Reverend Mr.
John Foulkes.
He derives his right to it from
Margaret,
daughter and heiress to
Thomas Parry ap William Parry Wynne.
She married
John Foulkes,
of
Pen-yeba
luy,
in the parish of
Shy
iog,
great-grandfather to the present owner, who died in
July,
1667, and was interred in
Whiteford
church-yard.
Tre Mostyn
bounds
Tre Bychton
on the west.
TRE MOSTYN.
This township is considered as containing one fourth of the parish. It reaches to the sea-side: on which, as well as the whole, trees of every kind grow most admirably.
IT is divided from
Tre Bychton,
in the lower part by the turnpike road, which extends from the sea-side to
Henllan,
sixteen miles distant, originally designed for the conveyance of coal from the pits of this township, and that of
Tre Bychton,
to the great lime-works near
Denbigh.
The first act was obtained in 1768, the second in 1770: before which our roads were scarcely passable. If either Sir
Roger Mostyn
's family or our own wanted to get to
Chester,
we were to reach the sea-side; then to
Flint
as we could, and from thence at low water cross the ford of the
Dee,
a way not always unattended with danger.
OPPOSITE to
Mostyn
gates, on this part of the turnpike road,
THE RHEWL.
is a hamlet, called the
Rhewl, yr Heol, platea,
a way or street. On each side are a few houses. The
Swan,
a small ale-house, my property, was noted for its vast trade about the beginning of this century, when the coal trade was in the height of its prosperity:
And
Cw
w da
then unexcised by kings!
Thomas Edwards,
who several years was tenant there, educated a family of numbers of children, at no inconsiderable expence, and is supposed to have acquired by the tap at lest fifteen hundred pounds.
FROM the
Rhewl
opens the principal gates to
Mostyn
Hall,
MOSTYN HALL.
or more properly
Moston
Hall, for such, for many ages, was the spelling of the names of both the mansion and its antient owners. On this approach is a most venerable avenue, which goes for a considerable way in a direct line; then turns short, and terminates with a view of the old part of the old mansion. The park is small, but beautifully broken, and cloathed in various parts with fine oaks, and most magnificent beeches; but amidst the trees is suffered to remain rugged with the vestiges of the antient collieries. The ground slopes finely to the sea, facing the North East. The trees grow with vigor close to the water, unhurt by the rude winds with which they are affailed.
THE house is placed about half a mile from the shore. I find some difficulty in making a description. I shall therefore refer the reader to the first plate of
Welsh
seats, by Mr.
Boydel,
and to my own, as the only method of giving him some idea of the singularity of the structure. That plate attempts the front—
If front it might be call'd, that shape had none
Distinguishable.
For it consists of the most antient hall; a lesser, designed for a sort of
symposium
for servants; and on the outside, annexed and jutting out, is the
quondam
chapel, now converted into a bed-chamber. I have a sketch of the whole as it was in the year 1684, made by a Mr.
Thomas Dinely,
an attendant on
Henry,
first duke of
Beaufort,
then lord president of the council in the principality of
Wales,
and lord lieutenant of the twelve counties; who in that year made a reviewing progress of the militia of
North Wales,
and of course paid his respects to the great man of our country.
MOSTYN HALL.
I CANNOT trace the time of building of this part of the house. It must have been at lest early in the time of
Henry
VI. but probably more antient, for in
Bolton
Hall, in
Bowland, Yorkshire
(the most antique seat we know) is a hall in a lesser scale indeed, but greatly similar; and in that house it is well known that the unfortunate prince concealed himself for a long time. Posterity may find the account in my
Tour in Part of the
Mercian
and
Northumbrian
Kingdoms.
The great gloomy hall is furnished with a
Dais
or elevated upper end,
THE OLD HALL.
and with a long table for the lord and his jovial companions; and another in the side, the seat of the inferior partakers of the good cheer. To this day the similitude of the old times is kept up when the family is at home. The head servants take their dinner at the
Dais,
and the numerous inferior servants fill the long table. The roof is lofty, crossed with long beams. The
nen-bren,
or top-beam, was in all times a frequent toast, whenever the master of the house's health was drank; and '
Jached y nen-bren y ty,
' was the cordial phrase. The chimney-piece is magnificently plain, unless where the arms of the house and its alliances are cut on the stone, and properly emblazoned.
THE first are the arms (a lion rampant, ermin,
COATS OF ARMS.
erminé) of
Jevan Vychan,
of
Pengwern,
near
Llangollen,
(see
Tour in Wales,
vol. i. p. 295.) sixteenth in descent from
Owen Tudor.
By the marriage of
Jevan
with
Angharad,
daughter and sole heiress of
Howel ap Tudor ap Ithel Vychan,
of
Mostyn,
he added that estate to his paternal acres in the reign of
Richard
II.
IT seems (from the
Mostyn
pedegree) that in 1444
Jevan
had farmed the estate. He wisely determined to turn the lease into a perpetuity: and gaining the lady's affections,
Connubio junxit stabili, propriamque dicavit.
THE next are the arms of his spouse, the heiress of
Mostyn:
directly descended from the
Edwyn
lord of
Tegengle
before mentioned (argent a cross engrailed sable, between four
Cornish
choughs.)
THE third are the arms of
Gloddaeth,
(gules a chevron argent between three plates) acquired by the marriage of
Howel ap Evan Vychan,
son of the former, in 1460, with
Margaret,
daughter and heir of
Gryffydd ap Rhys ap Gryffydd ap Madoc Gloddaeth ap Madoc ap Jerweth Goch,
of
Cryddyn,
the hundred in which the house stands.
THE fourth are the arms of Sir
Gryffydd Lloyd. Morfydd,
one of his daughters and co-heiresses, married
Madoc Gloddaeth,
who with her received
Tregarnedd,
in the isle of
Anglesey,
as her portion. That estate followed the succession of the house, till
Gloddaeth
was united with that of
Mostyn,
in which it continued till the year 1750; then it was alienated by the late Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
to the late Mr.
Owen Williams,
of
Anglesey.
THE walls are furnished in a suitable manner with antient militia guns, swords, and pikes; with helmets and breast-plates; with funeral atchievements,
FALCON VAST FLIGHT OF ONE.
and with variety of spoils of the chace. A falcon is nailed against the upper end of the room, with two bells, a greater and a lesser, hung to each foot. On two silver rings are inscribed the name of the owner, Mr.
Kinloch,
of
Kulrie,
in the county of
Angus,
on the Eastern side of
Scotland.
With these incumbrances it flew from its owner on the morning of the 24th of
September,
1772, and was killed near this house on the morning of the 26th. The precise time it reached our country is not known; therefore we are uncertain whether this bird exceeded in swiftness the hawk which flew thirty miles in an hour in pursuit of a woodcock; or that which made a flight out of
Westphalia
into
Prussia
in a day—instances recorded by the learned Sir
Thomas Brown.
THE adjacent kitchen is overlooked by a gallery leading to the antient apartments of the lady of the house,
KITCHEN.
at a period when the odors of the pot and spit were thought no ill savors. From the commanding height of the gallery the good lady might give her orders to her
Coges,
or she-cook, as
Syrus
is humorously described by
Terence
to do to his scullion
Dromo:
—
Let the great eel sport a little longer in the water.—See that you gut the other fishes, and stew the great carp well.—Freshen the salt fish.— Look to the baked meats, good
Douse.
—Crisp the pig nicely.— Pray do not over-roast the surloin again.—Boil the pudding sufficiently, and do not spare plums and suet.—Be sure not to smoke the flummery.—Remember, no onions to-day—neighbor
P.
dines with us, &c. &c.
IN the roof to this gallery are numbers of small roosting-holes, to which the inferior maidens of the family nightly repair to rest from their labors.
AT one end of the gallery is a great room,
GREAT ROOM.
remarkable for a singular event. During the time that
Henry
earl of
Richmond
was secretly laying the foundation of the overthrow of the house of
York,
he passed concealed from place to place, in order to form an interest among the
Welsh,
who favored his cause on account of their respect to his grandfather
Owen Tudor,
their countryman. While he was at
Mostyn,
a party attached to
Richard
III. arrived there to apprehend him. He was then about to dine, but had just time to leap out of a back window, and make his escape through a hole, which,
HENRY VII.
to this day, is called the King's.
Richard ap Howel,
then lord of
Mostyn,
joined
Henry
at the battle of
Bosworth;
and after the victory, received from the king, in token of gratitude for his preservation, the belt and sword he wore on that day; he also pressed
Richard
greatly to follow him to court: but he nobly answered, like the
Shunamitish
woman:
I dwell among mine own people.
The sword and belt were preserved in the house till within these few years. It is observable that none of our historians account for a certain period of
Henry
's life, previous to his accession. It is very evident that he passed the times when he disappeared from
Bretagny,
in
Wales.
Many cotemporary bards, by feigned names, record this part of his life, under those of the LION, the EAGLE, and the like, which were to restore the empire to the
Britons:
for the inspired favorers of the house of
Lancaster
did not dare to deliver their verses in other than terms allegorical, for fear of the reigning prince.
MOSTYN as in 1684.
BEFORE I quit the old house, let me say, that the best view of the
chaotic
additions backward is from the garden, from a very handsome summer-house, built by the first baronet, as appears by his arms quartered with those of his wife,
Bulkeley
of
Baron Hill.
From this spot is seen great part of the buildings, and the appurtenances to the old house, one tacked to the other, as the increase or the wants of the family made necessary.
IN the year 1631, Sir
Roger Mostyn,
knight,
NEW HOUSE, 1631.
gave to the house a very handsome addition; a square mass, consisting of six bed-chambers, a very large eating-room, and a dining-room or drawing-room above, with a large bow-window in the middle of each. In that below are the arms of
Gwynne
and
D'Arcy,
well emblazoned on glass. These are complimentary to two great alliances; the one of Sir
Roger
himself with
Mary,
daughter of the famous Sir
John Wynne,
of
Gwydir;
the other out of respect to the alliance with
Bridget Savage,
daughter of
D'Arcie Savage,
esq
of
Leighton,
in
Cheshire,
by whom the family acquired the great estates they possess in that county. From the principal gate of the park they have the pleasing view of those of
Beeston,
and those above
Parkgate.
OPPOSITE to this window is a fire-place suitable to the room. Above are the arms of the numerous alliances of the house, beautifully done in stucco, dated 1632. Conjoined with them are the arms of
Mary Wynne,
wife of Sir
Roger.
Those of
Gwydir
quarterly with those of
Gryffydd ap Conan.
In the first of the
Mostyn
side are those of
Tudor Trevor,
the stock of the house. The next are those of
Llwdocca ap Carad
c.
3dly, the arms of
Elidir ap Rhys Sais.
4thly, those of
Jestyn ap Gurgant.
5thly, the bearing of
Brochwel Yscythrog.
6thly, the arms of
Edwyn.
7thly, those of
Tudor ap Gronw.
8thly, of
Ithel Vychan.
9thly, are the arms of
Madoc Gloddaeth.
10thly, are those of Sir
Gryffydd Lloyd.
The 11th, of
Goodman;
and 12thly, and lastly, the arms of
Shalmes
orow,
which seem an appurtenance only to those of
Goodman.
This is a mere focal ornament, an abridgement of the thirty-two coats which graced the pedegree of the house in the year 1663. Two
Termini
support the entablature of this genealogical table. The other ornaments are elegant; but unfortunately, as if to dash the mirth of the company, the architect has added, in full view, the monumental cross-bones and bared skull.
HIS lady's neck (in a picture of the same date) is ornamented with a large ruff, single and elevated; her right hand has in it a fan, and rests on an elbow-chair; on a finger of her left hand is a ring, tied to her arm by several black strings.
SHE is dressed in a handsome long gown, with a sash up to her very arms, exactly like the no-waisted fair of the present days. Her shape is contrived to have some degree of elegance, notwithstanding she seems to have been a large woman. I wish our modern
embonpoints
resembled this lady. They seem to emulate in fashion the form of a sack of wool, bulging out on every side, undulating their plump graces, here and there, as motion gives occasion. Over the mouth of the sack seems to have been oftimes flung by accident a light horseman's cap, or any other incongruity, instead of the venerable
coeffure
of the Lady
Mostyn,
at the sober age of forty-nine.
HIS son
Roger,
the first baronet, created
August
3d, 1660,
SIR ROGER, FIRST BARONET.
is the middle figure of a picture of the most ridiculous composition. This distinguished character is represented a kit-kat length, in a strange long flaxen wig, a breast-plate, buff skirts, and antique
Roman
sleeves; a negro holding his helmet. By him is his second lady,
Mary,
eldest daughter of
Thomas,
lord
Bulkeley,
of
Baron Hill.
She is reading, with one hand on a skull, and her little lap-dog placed by her warlike husband. His third wife is doubled up, and concealed behind the frame. This lady shewed such a mercenary disposition, and so mischievous to the children of her predecessor, that one of the family affixed this stigma. I have taken a peep at her, and may pronounce her countenance to be truly symptomatic of her interior.
SIR
Roger
was a zealous loyalist. He raised a regiment in support of the crown, consisting of fifteen hundred men, in twelve hours time, mostly colliers.
Whitelock,
whose sister had been married to Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
of
Kilken,
in this county, knight, father to Sir
Roger,
speaks of him in the following terms; notwithstanding their principles, and the parts they took were widely different. 'Then the parliament forces (in 1643)' says the historian, at p. 78,
took in
Mostyn-house,
belonging to colonel
Mostyn,
the governor of
Flint;
and in
Mostyn
they took four pieces of ordnance and some arms.
THIS colonel
Mostyn
is my sister's son, a gentleman of good parts, and mettle; of a very ancient family, large possessions, and great interest in that country; so that in twelve hours he raised 1,500 men for the king, and was well beloved there, living very nobly.
THIS gentleman's loyalty cost him and the family dear. He spent about sixty thousand pounds in the service of his majesty. His house of
Mostyn
was plundered and stripped, so that he was obliged to retire to a small house called
Plas-ycha,
about a mile distant from
Mostyn.
The first was built by his grandfather, the old baronet before mentioned: within, in coarse stucco, are his arms, with those of
Gwydir,
and the date and initials of his and his lady's name—'1603,
R. M. M. M.
'
SIR
Roger
had a great intimacy with
Pyers Pennant,
his cotemporary neighbor at
Bychton.
Both seem to have been boon companions, as is evident from the
P. S.
to the following curious epistle:
Mostyn,
. . . . . .
1674.
CURIOUS EPISTLE.
Dear
Pyers,
I HOPE you will excuse me for asking for the 4
l.
you owe me for the pair of oxen; for I want the money to make up 20
l.
to send my son to
Oxford
next week.
I am, dear
Pyers,
Your's, &c. &c. ROGER MOSTYN.
P. S.
—How does your head do this morning?—mine aches confoundedly.
AT this time money was so scarce, that 4
l.
was a price for a pair of oxen; and the baronet of
Mostyn
was thought very liberal in sending his heir apparent to the university with 20
l.
in his pocket.
THE other portraits are a head of Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
the gentleman who married
Bridget Savage,
heiress of the
Cheshire
estates.
ONE of the late Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
when a youth. In him was united the fine gentleman, the polite scholar, and the good man. My vision of a certain youth, I do believe, does not issue from the ivory gate.
— when I behold, with ravish'd eyes,
Our pride, our darling, our
Marcellus
rise!
PORTRAITS of
William Vaughan,
esq
of
Corsygedol,
and his brother
Evan Lloyd Vaughan,
esq
of
Bodidris,
successor to his estates, and to his seat in parlement for the county of
Merioneth.
A SMALL full length of the exiled duke of
Ormond,
in a
Roman
dress, with a brown full wig, and a plan of a modern fortification, by
Vauban
or
C
horn,
at his feet.
BILLY BANGOR.
LET not the shades of the great grow indignant, when I mention on the same page our
Billy Bangor,
the wit, the jester, buffoon, and fool (as he probably was misnamed) of our country. His sayings and his pranks are to this day much talked of. His is a half-length, with a pipe in his hand. His look savors not of folly, and is full of sly gravity. The portrait is well painted, I imagine in the beginning of the present century, in which
Billy
flourished.
TWO very good portraits, half-lengths, close the list. They are said to have been two painters, who sate for their pictures to each other. Their countenances are good, their dresses similar.
BETWEEN them is a head of
Charles
II. in his usual black wig. He is well painted, but without flattery. His coarse features well vindicate the question he put to poor
Riley,
the painter, on seeing the portrait done by that artist:
Is this like me?—then, od's fish, I am a very ugly fellow
Anecdotes of Painters,
iii. p. 123.
!
BUSTS.
IN the room are some busts collected by the late Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
when he was at
Rome;
among them is a beautiful head of a young
Faun,
in a
Phrygian
bonnet, placed (by no very uncommon mistake) on a female body, which it never owned.
ONE of the
Cornelii,
with meagre face and lank hair.
Augustus.
A
Seleucus,
with two wings fastened to an imperial diadem, symbols of dispatch and expedition. Two heads of old men, one with short curled hair, and long rounded beard; the other with a long square beard, and long flowing hair. Both have a fillet round the head. Neither of these are determined. One is conjectured to have been
Hesiod;
the other
Hippocrates.
THIS room is in length thirty-five feet three inches; in breadth twenty feet, from the hollow of the bow-window to the fire-place.
IN passing out of this apartment to the great stairs is the entrance into a small and darksome room, mentioned only for the sake of a picture of a hound bitch, most enormously fat, doing great credit to the house: as another, I am in possession of, did to that of
Bychton.
THE dining-room is above the parlor.
DINING-ROOM.
The dimensions are very singular, exceeding in breadth those of the room below about nine inches. On an antient table, made out of one plank (of some unknown wood) seven feet ten inches in length, and four feet ten in breadth, stands a most exquisite bust of the elder
Brutus,
BUST OF THE ELDER BRUTUS;
which seems as if formed in the instant that the love of his country got the better of paternal affection; when with a steady voice he was delivering to the lictors his
Titus
and
Tiberius,
to receive the reward of their treasons.
ON a glass case are two busts in brown alabaster,
OF TWO FAUNS.
of a male and female
Faun,
with the
flammeum
on their heads. Both are of hideous deformity, but well executed. In the case beneath is a very fine model of a man of war of sixty-four guns:
MODEL OF A MAN OF WAR.
and beneath that a most splendid barge. I should have mentioned, that, between the
Fauns,
is also a model of the
Edystone
light-house,
EDYSTONE.
which was burnt down in the year 1755, and succeeded by the present, the work of our able engineer the late Mr.
Smeaton.
PAINTING OF ST. CATHERINE.
ON the left hand of this case is a most charming painting by
Leonardo da Vinci,
of
St. Catherine.
The wheel is placed by her, and in her hand is a palm-branch, the symbol of martyrdom.
Moreri,
and the moderate catholic writers, seem to be incredulous, equally with myself, as to her history. The
Golden Legend,
that flower of martyrologies, is superior to all doubts. She was daughter to king
Costus,
married to our Saviour, and martyred by a wheel stuck with razors, under the tyrant
Maxentius.
The wheel burst to pieces, and at once killed four thousand
Paynims
who attended the execution. Both these subjects have furnished most delightful pictures for the best masters. (See more of her in my
Outlines of the Globe—Arabia,
vol. x. p. 23.)
THE SU
ER AT EMAUS.
OVER the chimney-piece is a good picture by one of the
Bassans,
of the supper at
Emaus,
filled with pots and kettles, and all the characteristic culinary furniture of those famous artists.
TWO CAVERNS.
TWO very good pieces, I imagine of the interior of some great quarries, vast caverns, with pillars of stone left to support the roof. Similar to those are the caves of
Caussie,
in the county of
Banff,
in
North Britain,
drawn by my much-lamented
protège,
the late Mr.
Cordiner,
(see
Introduction to the Arctic Zoology,
tab. i.) and such as those engraven by
Le Bruyn
(ii. p. 189. tab. 250, 251, of the
English
edition) which he saw on the
Wologda,
in the province of the same name.
DANIEL EARL OF NOTTINGHAM.
THE family portraits shall be mentioned as they are placed. At the upper end of the room is
Daniel,
second earl of
Nottingham,
sitting in his robes, with a most enormous black wig, flowing on each side, almost to his waist; his complexion suitably swarthy.
THIS noble peer was painted by Sir
Godfrey Kneller,
and was one of the few pictures which that unprincipled painter, as Mr.
Walpole
says, would not gladly have disowned the moment it was paid for. The earl of
Nottingham
was, as
Dalrymple
represents him to have been, most vehement in his political principles, both in church and state, so that he could hereby not live in charity with those who differed from him. He undertook the defence of the former against the attack made upon it by the famous
Whiston,
in a letter in 1719, addressed to his lordship, which the earl answered; for which his lordship received from the university of
Oxford,
in full convocation, its solemn thanks, for his noble defence of the Christian faith. He died
January
1, 1729-30. His zeal (as Mr.
Walpole
observes) caused him during life to suffer many aspersions. In all probability the following may have been one: a stanza in the translation of the 4th Epistle, lib. ii. of
Horace, Ne sit ancillae tibi amor pudori,
by the Earl of to the Earl of
S.
Did not base
Greber
's
Pegg
inflame
The sober Earl of
Nottingham,
Of sober fire descended:
That, careless of his soul and fame,
To play-houses he nightly came,
And left church undefended!
HIS second lady,
Anne,
only daughter of
William,
HIS COUNTESS.
the last viscount
Hatton,
is the next portrait, sitting, and dressed in white. According to
Collins,
she was a most profitable vessel, for she had five sons and eight daughters, besides ten other children who died young, and seven who were still-born.
LADY ESSEX MOSTYN.
LADY
Essex,
her eldest daughter, in blue, sitting without a cap. One lock graces her neck. She was married to Sir
Roger Mostyn,
the third baronet. There is a good mezzotinto print of her, by
John Smith,
from a different portrait, by
Kneller.
The painter has placed her on a bank, in a rural scene, with flowers in her hands.
THE second daughter, lady
Charlotte,
married to
Charles Seymour,
duke of
Somerset,
in yellow, sitting.
Mary,
countess of
Thanet,
in white, sitting, married to
Sackville Tufton,
earl of
Thanet.
Dorothy,
countess of
Burlington,
wife to the late
Richard Boyle,
earl of
Burlington.
She is in the character of
Diana,
in white, walking, with a spear in her hand.
THOSE two ladies were sisters, daughters to
William Saville,
marquis of
Halifax,
by his second wife,
Mary,
only daughter of the pious earl above mentioned, by his first wife, lady
Essex Rich,
one of the daughters and coheirs of
Robert Rich,
earl of
Warwick.
SIR ROGER MOSTYN.
SIR
Roger Mostyn,
grandfather to the present baronet. He was pay-master of the marines, in the reign of Queen
Anne,
and one of the tellers of the exchequer in that of
George
I. He died on
May
5th, 1739.
LATE SIR THOMAS MOSTYN.
THE late Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
and the general
John Mostyn,
painted when they were children of seven or eight years of age, in one piece. Sir
Thomas
is dressed in a blue silver-laced suit. His younger brother habited exactly like a girl, in stays, a frock, and an apron, with his neck naked: too ridiculous to be attempted by the artist, or permitted by the parents.
Savage Mostyn,
afterward admiral
Mostyn.
ADMIRAL MOSTYN.
His is a very good and spirited portrait. It was painted when he was a lieutenant: his hand rests on a cannon, the sea and shipping in view. His dress a red short waistcoat, a colored handkerchief round his neck, and a colored worsted night-cap, sitting lightly on his well-shaven head. There is a neat etching of this portrait, by
Worlidge.
It is said that he first introduced the uniform into the navy. He died in 1757.
Algernon Percy,
earl of
Northumberland.
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND.
That nobleman was not bred to the sea, yet in 1636 was employed by his majesty, with a fleet of sixty sail, to drive away the
Dutch (Kennet,
iii. 78.) who would persist in fishing on our coasts. When his lordship sound them indisposed to comply, he took some, sunk others, and drove the rest away. Soon after which the States were glad to submit to pay the sum of thirty thousand pounds for permission to continue their fisheries. In the next year the earl was constituted lord high admiral of
England.
Lord
Clarendon
speaks of him when he was appointed privy counsel, as if it was done for ornament! He took, in the consequent troubles, a part adverse to the king. But in 1648, he voted that his majesty's concessions were sufficient grounds for settling the peace of the kingdom. The army soon settled that affair. His lordship retired from the tyranny of the times, became one of the instruments of the Restoration, and died in 1668.
HE is painted as lord high admiral, sitting (a half-length) with one hand on an anchor, with the view of the destroying the busses at a distance.
A BEAUTIFUL small full-length on board, of a very young lady, in the dress of the time of
Vandyk.
The figure is in height only seven inches. It is beautifully copied in oil, after that great master, probably by
Russel,
who is mentioned by the noble author of the
Anecdotes of Painting,
vol. ii. p. 6.
CHARLES I. AND QUEEN. PROFILES.
TWO beautiful half-length portraits of
Charles
I. and his beauteous queen, both profiles, finely painted. They are called
Vandyk
's, but I suspect the artist.
Charles
in black, with one hand playing with his ribbon.
Henrietta
is in white, lightly holding her mantle.
CHARLES I. AND QUEEN.
THERE is besides the same royal pair in one piece, three-quarters length, small, evidently by
Vandyk.
The king is in a light red jacket, laced with silver; she in white, a favorite dress with her majesty, and presenting to him a wreath of laurel. She appears pregnant. They are charmingly painted. The dress of the king is the same as the portrait I mentioned at p. 19, only mine is red, laced with gold.
BEAUTIES OF CHARLES II.
DISPERSED in different rooms are twelve small heads of
Charles
II. and his beauties.
ARMS IN STAINED GL
.
IN the windows of the dining-room are several honorary memorials of alliances, or of great men, friends of the family, perpetuated by their coats of arms in stained glass.
SIR ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN.
THE first is of Sir
Orlando Bridgeman,
a person eminent for his piety and charity, in the reign of
Charles
I. and his successor. He was employed on the part of the king as one of the commissioners at the treaty of
Uxbridge,
but fell under some censure in shewing a disposition to make concessions in church affairs, which were disagreeable to his majesty. Yet lord
Clarendon,
in his own Life, i. 176. attributes them more to a timidity of disposition than to any ill design. At the Restoration he was successively made chief baron of the exchequer, chief justice of the common pleas; and at length lord-keeper of the great seals. He ended his days in 1674.
THE arms of
Cadifod ap Dyfnwal,
quartered with several coats of arms of the great men in
South Wales.
James
earl of
Derby,
his arms quartered with those of his gallant
Charlotte de la Tremouille.
SIR
Thomas Savage,
baronet, afterwards created viscount
Savage,
by
James
I.; and in 1639, on the death of his father-in-law lord
Darcie,
viscount
Colchester,
became earl
Rivers.
ARMS of the
Mostyns
and
Wynnes
of
Gwydir.
THE
Grosvenours
and
Mostyns,
in memory of the marriage of
Sydney Mostyn,
eldest daughter of the old Sir
Roger Mostyn,
with Sir
Richard Grosvenour,
of
Eyton,
baronet.
Mostyn
and
Whitelock,
occasioned by the marriage of Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
of
Kilken,
knight, eldest son of the old Sir
Roger Mostyn,
with
Elizabeth,
eldest daughter of Sir
James Whitelock,
knight, one of the puisne judges of the king's bench in 1620, and sister to the famous historian.
Francis
earl of
Bedford.
Thomas Egerton,
baron
Ellesmere.
See his origin in my
Tour in Wales,
vol. i. p. 109.
John Williams,
bishop of
Lincoln.
These arms have, quartered with his own, those of the see of
Lincoln,
which shew that they must have been put up before he was removed to the see of
York,
in 1641. Probably all the others were put up at the same time.
PORTH-MAWR.
IN 1570
William Moston
(for till the time of his son, Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
knight, that was the manner in which the name was spelt) meditated a design of building a new house. By what he executed it appears to have been planned in form of a quadrangle, the old house to have been rebuilt, and to have formed the centre, the other three sides to have been the offices. He finished only one, which from the great gate-way in the middle bears to this day the name of
Porth mawr.
THE date is expressed in this manner:
ANNO MUNDI
5552.
W. M.
1570. If I may compare small things with great, my house at
Bychton
was rebuilt, and my house at
Merton Uchlan
was also built in the same year; so it seems to have been an improving age.
LIBRARY.
AT one end of this building is the library, a room most unworthy of the valuable collection of manuscripts and books it contains. Few, if any, can boast of the number or beauty of the first, especially the illuminated; and I suspect that the number, rarity, and value of the antient classics, medallic histories, gems, and variety of every species of polite literature, is without parallel. They are of the scarcest editions, and printed by the most esteemed printers. I am indebted to Mr.
Edward Clarke,
A. M. of
Jesus
college,
Cambridge,
for a select catalogue of the most valuable manuscripts and books. The articles mentioned are attended with our joint notes; but my share must candidly be confessed to have been the smallest. Mr.
Clarke
may be said to be a scholar,
ex traduce.
His mother was daughter to the Rev. Dr.
William Wotton,
famous for having given a translation of the laws of
Howel Dda.
His grandfather, WILLIAM CLARKE, M. A. was still more eminent. He assisted
Wotton
in his labors, by a most learned and elegant
Latin
preface to the
Leges Wallicae.
But his name will be for ever delivered to posterity for his celebrated treatise,
The Connection of the Roman, Saxon, and English Coins,
printed in 1767, by his friend Mr.
William Bowyer.
Neither must I be silent in respect to Mr.
Clarke
's father, who favored the world with a very ingenious account of
Spain,
where he had resided some time under the patronage of the earl of
Bristol,
the
British
minister at the court of
Madrid.
THE late Sir
Thomas Mostyn
may be said to have been the founder of the library. In the old catalogue (for Mr.
Clarke
has formed a most complete new one) is written, in Sir
Thomas
's own hand, the following very unnecessary apology:
Satius est etiosum esse quam nihil agere!
AT
Gloddaeth
is another large library,
GLODDAETH LIBRARY.
consisting chiefly of old
English
history, and very valuable
Welsh
MSS. collected by Sir
Roger Mostyn,
grandfather to the present baronet.
Manuscripts, &c. in the Mostyn Library.
Arms of Illustrious Families of France,
MANUSCRIPTS.
beginning with the Comte
d'Auvergne,
the houses, and castles, and coats of arms, illuminated. Fol. Vel. illum.
Account of the Rebellion in North and South Wales, in the last Century,
quarto. It begins in 1642, and ends in 1656. Part is written in
Welsh.
It appears by several passages to have been written by a native of
Dolgelli.
Biblia Sacra Antiqua.
Quarto, vel. slightly illuminated. In most curious small
gothic
letter.
Of the magnificent MS. '
Boccace des nob. & illust. Femmes,
' Foll. vell. illum. it should be observed that the illuminations, in point of beauty and number, exceed any thing of the kind. The principal illumination or frontespiece is a representation of our first parents in the garden of
Eden.
The Deity is here pourtrayed in the papal robes, with the tiara on his brow, handing
Eve
out of
Adam
's side. Two angels in white surplices support his train, which is of blue and gold. The garden is enclosed by the walls and windows of a
gothic
cathedral.
TOWARDS the end of the volume is a representation of Pope
Joan
's
accouchement
in the public streets of
Rome,
in her way to the
Lateran
church, between the
Coliseum
and
St. Clement
's church, attended by two cardinals, preceded by a white friar, and followed by a numerous concourse of mob. This celebrated Popess (if such there ever was) is said to have been a
German
girl, who had assumed the habit of our sex, went to
Athens
to study, and made such a progress as to be the astonishment of every body. By what steps she rose to the papacy I am not told. She attained it in 853, and discharged all the duties of it under the name of
John
VIII. She unfortunately proved a frail mortal. Her holiness had an intrigue, and the consequences appeared as related. Unable to bear the shame, she died on the spot. This affair gave occasion to a thousand controversies: which side had the right is little worth enquiry. Mr.
Misson
enters deeply into it, see vol. ii. p. of his
Travels.
He takes the affirmative part, and gives us an engraving of the famous chair (see tab. vii. p. 119) on which every pope, after the cruel deception, is obliged to sit. It has in the middle a hole like that of a
selle-percée,
on which the new pope is obliged to sit
sans culottes,
and the youngest deacon to make a report that his holiness has not imposed on the
catholic
world.
THE horrors of the various and barbarous modes of execution exhibited in most of the pages, take away the pleasure of examining minutely this fine MS.
Comedia di Dante,
fol. vell. illum. A most infernal MS. in
gothic
letters; the illuminations coarse, numerous as horrid; on every page devils are represented in all forms. Fancy seems exhausted. Done by the
Fuseli
of the time. Mr.
Addison
somewhere observes that the devils of
Dante
and
Tasso
are made horrible by their horns, claws, and tails;
Milton
's by their evil passions. I wish the reader could compare the deformity of the daemons in this MS. with the greater deformities occasioned by the evil passions which render detestable even the beauteous features of the fallen angels, painted by the admirable
Westall
for Mr.
Boydel
's
Milton.
It should seem as if the ideas of our great poet had transmigrated into our young painter, to give the present times the fulness of his conceptions.
Chroniques de Jean Froissart, en deux livres, avec figures.
Folio, vell. illum.—A very fair and antient manuscript, with the history of every chapter curiously painted in gold and water-colors. It was written in
Froissart
's own time, or near it, and belonged to a
Holland.
The first lord
Buckhurst
made a present of it to Sir
William Cecil.
The arms of the
Hollands
are often painted in the initial letters, and in others the arms of the nobility mentioned in the history.
THE frontespiece to this volume is a battle, with a town at a distance. The
French
appear victorious; their cavalry driving before them that of the fugitive
English.
I compared the text of this valuable MS. with the
French
edition, printed at
Lyons
in 1559, and the famous translation by Sir
John Berniers,
lord
Bourchier,
done in 1525, and find both vary in language, but not in sense, from this manuscript. Another volume of the first and second books, equally beautiful, is to be found in the
Gloddaeth
library; which I thus describe in my
Tour in Wales,
ii. p. 337.
The frontespiece represents the author on his knees, in a blue mantle, presenting his book to
Edward
III. A king of
France,
distinguished by the
fleurs-de-lis
on his robes, holds a queen by the hand, who, from the arms of
England,
and the lions on her robe, seems to be queen
Philippa,
to whom
Froissart
was clerk of the closet. She holds by the hand a little boy, whose robe is also marked with the lions. This must have been
Richard
of
Bourdeaux,
her grandson, afterwards
Richard
II. A lady and several other figures appear in the piece.
—Mr.
Simco,
bookseller, in
Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
had copy of this manuscript. It was dated on the back '
d'environ
1470.'
Decreta sac. Congregationis Concilii,
tom. 7, quarto, in
Italian,
a common hand, ill-written.
De Arte Amandi, Ovid,
vell. quarto.
Eusebii Glossarum Liber,
vell. fol.
gothic
letters.
Evang. de Matthae, cum Expos.
vell. fol. most curious
gothic
letter, slight but elegant illumination.
Ellegia di Madonna Fiametta,
fol.
Histoire des Roys de France,
fol. vell. illuminated.
Histoire des quatre Roys de France, Charles
V, VI, VII,
& Lewis
XI. Fol. vell. illum. only one large illumination, a battle: King
Charles
VII. mounted, driving an
English
body of cavalry before him: a town at a distance.
Herodiani Historiae, &c.
Fol. superb vell. with beautiful enamelled coins—a MS. matchless for elegance of the ornamental part of illumination, and equally so for the medals in rich gold, seemingly real, and as if lying on the paper. To the first letter of each chapter is prefixed one, with the reverse.
Il Nimfale in Versi, di Giov. Bo
accio,
8vo.
Imperatoris Caesaris Maximiliani, de Vita sua, Comm.
Quarto, superb illum. with a portrait of the emperor, and a view of his study.
Maximiliam
I. was born in 1459. He first married, in 1477,
Mary
of
Burgundy.
After her death he married by proxy
Ann
of
Bretagne:
but
Charles
VIII. of
France
actually married her in person, and in consequence added her dominion to that of his successors. The illuminations are very beautiful. His own portrait is the first, sitting in a rich chair, at a table, with his pen in his hand. That of his christening is the next. In another he is instructed in the art of beleaguering. A fourth places him in his study, drawing figures astrological, calculating some great event. From the king to the cobler, every one was in those ages an astrologer.—Consult
Sully,
410 edit. i. 78.81.382.530.
ONE side of the study is filled with books, mostly clasped, with their faces outwards, the leaves gaily painted. Above
Maximilian
are his cross-bows, his bows and arrows, the instruments of the chace; and by them his art in music is expressed by the lute. On the floor is shewn the objects of his various studies. That of artillery, by two golden cannon. Of painting, by the grinding-stone for colors, and the pallet. Of husbandry, by a hoe. Of his skill in the arts of the carpenter and joiner, by the ax, plane, &c. &c. &c. Of the smith, by the iron anvil.—A more curious illumination is not to be found!
IN one or other of them are depicted the deeds of his busy life. His amusements in the chace are given in various drawings; such as that of the bear, the boar, the stag, the chamois, and
ibex.
The scenery of vast rocks and precipices, and the manner of the chasseurs overcoming all difficulties, make this a most curious delineation. There is one shewing him employed in falconry. Tilts ending most fatally, and as cruelly as shows of gladiators, next are exhibited. His marriage, and his being instructed in virtuous gallantry with the ladies of the court, and the maids of honor, all true
Platonic
lovers.
Maximilian
was also great in the field.
Voltaire
tells us that prince introduced the arms of the
Macedonian
phal
nx; and in all the military illuminations, the long pike (eighteen feet in length) is introduced. In the midst of war he preserved his gallantry. A lady is represented at the entrance of his tent, like another
Syfigambis,
kneeling to this second
Alexander,
imploring his pity.—This was the
virago
sister of
Egmond,
duke of
Gueldres,
who, after his death, entered
Venlo,
and defended it valiantly against
Maximilian,
who soon reduced her to submit to his mercy.—Let this close his glorious life. I shall add no more than the conclusion: for in 1519, at the age of sixty, he quitted the mortal stage, the common fate of emperors and their meanest subjects.
La Vie de Mons. Sevin,
fol.—
Francis Sevin,
a learned
Frenchman,
one of the Academy Royal of Inscriptions, &c. at
Paris,
appointed (in conjunction with
l'Abbê Fourmont
) to travel into
Greece
in search of antient MSS. He returned in 1730, and with such success, that he was rewarded with the place of keeper of the royal MSS. He was born in 1699, died in 1741, leaving behind numbers of learned memoirs, printed among those of the academy.
Lactantius Firmianus,
1663. fol. vell. the writing most elegant, like the finest type, in the manner of
Aldus.
One side of the margin is prettily illuminated with a fancy scroll; birds, &c.
Missale Vetus,
12mo. with curious musical notes.
Naldinaldii Florentini, Oratio de Laudib. Urbis,
4to, vell. most elegant writing, a thin octavo.
Officium beatae Mar. Virg.
4to. vell. with superb illum.
Seneca,
fol. vell. From the library of
Samuel Petit,
of which are many others. This
S. Petit
was a celebrated minister of the
Calvinist
persuasion, and of
French
descent, whose parents had fled to
Geneva
from
Paris,
after the infamous massacre.
Sozomeni Historia,
tom 2. fol. vell. most beautifully written, one border finely fancied.
Suetonius Mstus in Pergameno, per Cassium Parmensem, ad Fidem optimorum Codicum,
1469.
S. Thomas de Rege Princip.
8vo. vell. in fine
gothic
letters. Instructions how princes should reign.
Suetonius.
A beautiful MS. on vell. 4to.
Sidonius Apollinaris.
4to. vell.
gothic
letter.
Valerio Maximo Manuscripto,
8vo.
N. B.
—There are moreover a variety of beautiful missals, all on vellum, and superbly illuminated. One as old as the year 1200; and many very curious Bibles.
THIS department is not to be left without mention of the most valuable illumination of a
British
library the pedegree of the family. This is rich in two. One is not less than forty-two feet long; which, after passing through the
British
and
Saxon
race of monarchs, pursues its purpose through the monarchs of
Israel;
reaches
Noah
and his ark, and finishes with
Adam
and
Eve.
Our bards were our heralds and genealogists. This must originally have been composed by one, who, I dare say, was infinitely displeased that he was cruelly stopped in his progress by our first parents, and by the
Mosaic
account denying to him all power of extending his patron's lineage into that of the
Pre-Adamites.
The other pedegree (notwithstanding it is most beautifully illuminated) is scarcely worth mention, being a mere abridgment of the former, and not above twenty-two feet in length.
SELECT BOOKS.
Appiani Historiae Romanae. Folio, Venet. 1477.
Augustarum Imagines. 4to, Venet. 1558.
Apollonius Rhodius. Folio, ap. H. Steph. 1574.
Athenaeus. Folio, Venet. ap. Aldum, 1514.
Aretius in Pindarum. Folio, ap. le Preux, 1587.
Blondi Flavii Histor. ab inclinadone Imper. Rom.
Very scarce.
Folio, Venet. 1483.
Biblia Latina. Folio, R. Steph, 1546.
Biblia Latina. Folio, cura Junii, ap. Wechel, 1596.
Biblia Latina. Folio, R. Steph. 1545.
Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, cum Not. 4to. Venet. 1500.
Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, 8vo, Venet. ap. Aldum. 1502.
C. Plinii Secundi Novicomensis, Epist. Mediol. Folio, 1478.
Celtis Protucius de Mensura Carminum, &c. 4to. Nurem. 1487.
Ciceronis Opera. Folio.
A curious and very old Edition, without date, printed at Rome.
Dionysius Halicarnassensis. Folio, ap. R. Steph. 1546.
Dionysius Halicarnassensis. Folio, ap. H. Steph. 1588.
Diodori Siculi, quae exstant. Folio, ap H. Steph. 1559.
Demosthenis Opera. Folio. Lutet. 1570.
Eustathius in Homerum. Folio. Tom. 4. Rom. 1550. Exemp. nitid.
Epigrammata Graeca, cum Not. var. Fol. ap. H. Steph. 1500.
Edictum Reginae Elizabethae, Londini promulgat. Nov. 29, 1591. & Andr. Philopatri Respons. ad idem.
Very scarce,
8vo. 1593.
Esopus, cum Commentariis varius, 8vo. Davent. 1500.
A very curious Edition, in black letter.
H
meri Isias, Graecè, ex recognitione Micylli & Camerarii.
m e
sdem Odyssea ex Interpret. Didymi, 2 vols. Folio, B
ll, 1541.
Homen Opera omnia, quae exstant. Tom. duob. Folio, ap. Al
um.
Horatius, cum quat. Comment. & Fig. Venet. 1509. Folio.
Il Petrarca. Edit. nitid. & rariss. Venet. Folio, 1473.
atis Opera. Folio, ap. Aldum.
Juvenalis Opera, cum Com. Calderini. Folio. Venet. ap. B
pt. de Tortis, 1485.
Juvenalis Opera, cum Comment. Britannici. Folio, 1503.
Juvenalis Opera. Folio, ap. Herb. 1507.
Justinus Historicus. Folio, Venet. 1497.
Landinus ad Horatium. Folio, Venet. 1483.
Livii Historia. Folio, ap. Aldum, 1566.
Luciani Opera. Folio, ap. Aldum, 1522.
Martialis Opera, cum Not. Calderini, Folio, Venet. 1482.
Novum Testamentum Syriacé. Ant. Plantin. 1575. 8vo.
Novum Testamentum Graecé. Exemp. rariss. Lutet. 8vo. p. Colinaeum, 1534.
Orat
rum veterum Orationes, Gr. & Lat. H. Stephani, Folio, Exemp. ni
d. ap. H. Steph. 1575.
Ovidii Opera, ap. Vincent. Folio, 1480.
Persti Opera, cum Comment. Fontii. Folio, Venet. ap. Re
ld. de Novimag. 1482.
Poliphill Hypnerotomachia.
The curious Edition, Cuts after a great I
master; some say Raphael, vide De Bure.
Folio.
Plinii Junioris Epistolae, per Beroaldum correctae. 4to. Bonon. 1498.
Platina de Vit. Pontificum. Folio, Nuremb. 1481.
Politiani Opera. Folio, Venet. 1498.
Pausanias. Folio, ap. Aldum.
Platonis Opera quae exstant omnia. Gr. & Lat. Folio, Tom.
ap. H. Steph. 1578.
Poetae Graeci Principes. Folio, ap. H. Steph. 1566.
Senecae Opera omnia. Folio, Venet. ap Ber. de Co
is, Edit. rariss. 1492.
Silius Italicus, cum Comment. Pet. Marti. Venet. ap. Bapt. de Tortis, 1483. Folio.
Suetonius. Folio. Mediol. 1475.
N. B.
—To this very scarce and valuable Edition of Suetonius, a note in manuscript, signed
P. A. OR.
or
Pet. A. Orlandus,
has been subjoined, in the beginning of the volume, with these remarkable words:
Caius Suetonius Tranquillus,
tempore
Trajani
et
Hadriani
floruit circa annum ab orbe redempto CXII. historicus emendatissimus et candidissimus inter Histor.
August.
Scriptores clarus. Libros xii. de vitis et gestis xii.
Caesarum
scripsit, quorum editiones primae intra annum 1400. sunt sequentes:
R
ae
1470, in
Aedibus Maximis,
fol.—
Romae,
in
Via Papae,
sine nomine typographi, 1470. — Typographus autem fuit
Uldericus G
llus,
fol.
Venetiis,
1471. — Per
Nicolaum Je
sion.
fol. quae est praesens editio inter omnes clarior et nitidior.—
Mediolari,
1475. per
Philippum de Lavagna.
fol. — Alia editio de anno 1480. sine loco et typographo, fol. sine commento.—Cum commento
Sabellici, Venetiis,
1490, per
Baptistam de Tortis,
fol.—Cum commento
Beroaldi, Bononiae,
1493, per
Benedictum Hectoris,
fol.
Venetiis,
1493.—Per
Bamianum
de
Mediolano,
fol. cum notis
Bercaldi,
et
Sabeilici, Venetiis,
1500.—Per
Bartholomaeum, de Zanis.
fol.—Alia editio antiqua videtur, sed est sine loco, anno, et typographo. fol.
'
P. A. OR.
'
Suetonius. Vit. Caesarum. Edit. nitidiss. & rariss. Folio. Nic. Jensson, 1471.
Terentius, cum Commentariis variis, et Figuris. Folio. Argent. 1496.
Tullii Orationes, &c. Folio, Bonon. 1496.
Thucydides. Folio, ap. Aldum. 1502.
Themistii Opera omnia. Folio. Venet. ap. Aldum.
Terentius, ap. Aldum. 1504.
Virgilius, cum Notis var. & Figuris. Folio, Venet. ap. Bon. 1558. Rariss.
Vetus Testamentum. Folio, Rom. 1587.
Virgilii Opera, cum Annot. Guell. Fol. Plantin. 1575.
A fine Copy.
Virgilii Opera. Folio. Venet. 1544.
Zenophontis, quae exstant. Folio. ap Aldum.
TO this classical list let me add a modern edition of the BIBLE, remarkable for its magnificence, but more so for a singular
erratum.
It was printed by
Basket,
at the
Clarendon
press, in 1717, in two vast volumes. It is adorned with a frontes-piece, and various head-pieces, from paintings by Sir
James Thornhill,
and others, engraven by
Vander Gutch, de Bosche,
&c. The ridiculous mistake is in the running-title to the twentieth chapter of St.
Luke;
in which 'Parable of the vineyard' is printed 'Parable of the
vinegar;
' and on that account the edition is better known by the name of the
Vinegar Bible,
than any other.
Antiquities in the Mostyn Library.
BRONZES.
1.
Isis
nursing the infant
Orus,
a figure six inches in height.
ISIS.
For a description of which see
Montfaucon,
vol. ii. chap. 5. pl. 113. fig. 2.
2. A FEMALE figure rising from the bath,
A FEMALE RISING FROM THE BATH.
adjusting her hair before a mirror, which she holds in her right hand, while the left is employed in arranging her waving tresses. The legs of this beautiful little bronze have been restored. The rest of the figure is remarkable for its symmetry and elegance.
3. THE eagle of
Jupiter,
with extended pinions,
JUPITER'S EAGLE.
retaining the thunder in its claws. This has been suspended as a vow at the shrine of that deity. The same figure often occurs upon the antient lamps, as will be shewn hereafter.
Montfaucon
has given an exact representation of this figure in vol. i. pl. 154. It there forms the principal ornament of a bronze lamp; and over it is this inscription:
L.
TETIUS
ALYPUS.
JOVI. D. D.
.
4. IMAGE of
Os
ris,
the tutelar deity of the
Nile;
according to Mr.
Bruce,
the personified representation of the dog-star. For an account of this god, see
Montfaucon,
tom. ii. chap. 8.
LLUS.
5. THE PHALLUS, certainly intended as a pendant for the ear. With the ancients it was a symbol of secundity.
Herodotus
mentions its having been carried in solemn procession at the sacrifices of
Bacchus. Athenaeus
speaks of one carried in this manner, which was twenty cubits long, and formed entirely of gold. It was moreover adorned with garlands, which were twined round to its vertex, where was a golden star, six cubits in circumference. See
Athen.
lib. v. c. 5. At
Isernia,
a province in the kingdom of the two
S
cilies,
the women annually celebrate the anniversary of their patron saint, by offering at his shrine
ex voto
of wax, representing the male organs of generation, which they style St.
Cosmus
's toes. Sir
W. Hamilton
addressed a letter to the
Dilettanti
society upon this curious circumstance, which he accompanied with different specimens of the usual offerings! This letter gave birth to a very learned and ingenious essay, by Mr.
Knight,
on the ancient worship of
Priapus,
written at the request of the society! and partially distributed for their use! In the course of this work Mr.
Knight
thus expresses himself:
Whatever the
Greeks
and
Egyptians
meant by the symbol in question, it was certainly nothing ludicrous or licentious; of which we need no other proof than its having been carried in solemn procession, at the celebration of those mysteries, in which the first principles of their religion, the knowledge of the God of nature, the FIRST, the SUPREME, the INTELLECTUAL (v.
Plut.
de ls. & Os.) were preserved from the vulgar superstitions, and communicated under the strictest oaths of secrecy to the initiated; who were obliged to purify themselves, prior to their initiation, by abstaining from
venery, and all impure food.
I FIND this detestable worship among the
Gentoos
in
Indostan.
Captain
Alexander Hamilton,
in his account of the
East Indies,
i. p. 381, gives the following relation:
In all this tract between
Gamgam
and
Jagarnaut,
the visible god in most esteem is
Gopalsami,
whose temples are decorated with obscene representations of men and women in indecent postures, also of demons and caco-demons, whose shameful parts are of a prodigious size, in proportion to their bodies. This filthy image is worshipped by the heathens of both sexes; but barren women are his greatest devotees, and bring him the best oblations.
6. THE HOG-SKIN
Mo
o
,
iii part i. tab. 77.
—A vow to
Bacchus.
A HOG-SKIN.
—The custom of preserving wine in hog-skins is still observed in
Spain,
and many other parts of the world. The antients retained the form of it in their domestic utensils, and vessels of libation, long after the
se of it had been superseded by the more convenient
amphora.
PATERA.
7. AN instrument of sacrifice, by some falsely called a
patera. Montfaucon
has proved that these instruments, round, flat, having no cavity to contain the liquor, are not
paterae. Beger
supposes them to be what
Isidorus
calls
apophereta,
which were used as plates to hold fruit and other viands.
Apophereta, a ferendo poma vel aliud, nominata; est enim plana.
See
Montfaucon,
tom ii. pl. 63. fig. 2.
THE
paterae
were very different from those designed for festive purposes. The latter were rich goblets, or a species of tankard.
Montfaucon
has, in vol. iii. part 1. p. 146, to p. 149, engraven several kinds.
Virgil,
in describing
Dido
's royal feast, says,
Implevit mero pateram.
After the fair queen had made a delicate libation, she presented the goblet to the jovial
Trojan, Bitias,
who drank it up at one tip. The Poet describes it most humorously and emphatically:
Tum
Bit
e
dedit increpitans: ille impiger hausit,
Spumantem pateram, et pleno se
proluit
auro.
A SPECULUM.
8. A SPECULUM, or mirror, of some metallic substance, at this day retaining a polish equal to the first telescope reflector. Bishop
Watson,
in his
Chemical Essays,
vol. iii. p. 335, has given a pretty comment on the composition of these
specula.
'Copper,' says the ingenious prelate,
communicates a smell both to gold and silver. The
Roman specula,
which they used as looking-glasses in
Pliny
's time, were commonly made of silver; but the silver was alloyed with much copper; for we find a cunning waiting-maid in
Plantus,
advising her mistress to wipe her fingers after having handled a
speculum,
least her paramour should suspect her of receiving silver from some other lover:
Ut speculum tenuisti, metue ne oleant argentum manus,
Ne usque argentum te accipisse suspicitur
Philolocles.
9. THE STRIGIL, a crooked instrument for scraping the muscles.
A STRIGIL.
It was in high request among the
Romans. Montfaucon
gives the figures of several. Among others, he has pourtrayed a man of rank in the bath, while two boys are seen on each side of him, using the
strigil.
This instrument is very common on all the
Greek
vases, and is always represented among the ceremonies of the bath.
10. A COMB, exactly resembling those now in use. This also formed a necessary article among the bathing apparatus.
A COMB.
11. A SMALL spice-box; of the same nature as those found at
Pompeia.
12. A BRACELET for the arm.
BRACELET.
These are frequently found in
Greek
sepulchres; and in the excavations at
Herculaneum
and
Pompeia.
13. AN intaglio ring, beaded round; the work very coarse,
RING.
and altogether in the
Egyptian
style.
14. ARM of the
Discobolus,
ARM OF A DISCOBOLUS.
in the act of throwing the discus. I find the same sort of fragment mentioned in an old collection of antiquities, engraved at
Rome
in the year 1610; with this exception, that the latter is of marble:
Marmoreum brachium chium Discoboli, libratum pondus in
ras mittentis.
—R. Antiq. Pa. Pet. C. R.
KEY.
15. A SMALL key connected to a beaded ring.
16, 17.
Prefericula,
as
ex voto.
Lamps of Earthen Ware, Penates, &c.
LAMP WITH THE FACE OF JUPITER AMMON.
1. A BEAUTIFUL Lamp, of the
Nola clay,
with an uncommonly fine head of
Jupiter Ammon,
in
mezzo relievo.
JUPITER, AND HIS EAGLE.
2. A DITTO, representing
Jupiter
supported by the eagle, with the thunder in its claw; the exact representation of this lamp is in
Montfaucon,
vol. v. pl. 154. Also in
Bartoli
's
L
cerne Antiche,
part ii. pl. 4. As
Bartoli
's account is short and satisfactory, I shall insert it:
Gieve pertato dell' Aquila. A questa figura di Giove portato in alto dall' Aquila,
cello ad esso consecrato, altro non habbiamo da aggiungere, se non che
Romani dopo morte, nelia consecratione de
o
mperadori usunano questo honore, fingenda che
e l
ro anime dall' Aquila fossino inal
al cielo, & fra le fielle. Tale Ambitione indusse ancora huomini privati ad ins
ire & deficare in to
modo i l
o Defonti, in habito, e culto divino, portati dall' Aquila al' Cielo.
Lamp with the head of Jupiter
on
LCAESA
4. A SMALL lamp in
Nola clay,
L. WITH A HORSE.
with a horse in
mezzo relievo.
5. A BEAUTIFUL lamp, of red clay,
L. WITH A WARRIOR's HEAD.
with a remarkably fine head in relief; representing a warrior, accompanied by an instrument of sacrifice.
6. A FIGURE of
Isis,
one of the
Egyptian
Penates,
ISIS, A SMALL FIGURE.
carved in stone, and covered with hieroglyphics.
7. A SIMILAR figure, formed of blue antique paste,
ANOTHER.
of the same kind which the ancients used in their
Mosaics,
known to
Italians
by the name of
fritta.
This figure is also covered with hieroglyphics.
TO these may be added others, which I have described in the first volume of my
Tour in Wales.
Those which are foreign, are several marbles brought from
Narbonne,
the
Narbo Martius.
NARBONNE MARBLES.
It is one of the most ancient cities in
Gaul,
for it was a flourishing place two hundred and eighty years before the
Christian
era. A
Roman
colony was established there in the time of
Marcius Rex,
from whom it received its addition. It is full of antiquities, which have been used in the various modern buildings. Those in question came from the walls of the archbishop's palace; and were brought here by the late Sir
Thomas Mostyn.
The engraving, with the inscriptions, taken from the 2d volume of my
Tour,
gives a full idea of these funebrial memorials.
TORQUES.
THE golden
torques,
that invaluable morsel in possession of this family, was found by digging in a garden near to
Harlech
castle in 1692. It is well described by
Camden,
as a wreathed rod of gold, about four feet long, with three spiral furrows, with sharp intervening ridges running its whole length to the ends, which are plain, truncated, and turn back like pot-hooks. Whether this was purely
Roman,
or whether it might not have been common to both nations, I will not dispute. The use was that of a baldric, to suspend gracefully the quiver of men of rank, which hung behind, by means of the hook; and the golden wreath crossed the breast, and passed over the shoulder.
Virgil,
in his beautiful description of the exercises of the
Trojan
youth, expresses the manner, in these frequently misconstrued lines:
Cornea bina ferunt: prae
ixo hastilia ferro:
Pars leves
umer
pharetras: ait pectore summo
Flexilis obt
rti per collum circulus auri.
Each brandishing aloft a cornel spear:
Some on their backs their burnish'd quiver bore,
Hanging from wreaths of gold, which shone before.
THE
torch,
or
torques,
worn by the
Gauls
and
Britons,
was a very different affair, a collar of gold, or other metal, worn round the neck. Our heroine
Boadicea
had a great one of that precious metal; and
Virdomaerus
wore round his neck another, fastened behind with hooks, which fell off when the conqueror cut off his head.
AN APOPHERETA.
Illi virgatis jaculanti ex agmine braccis
Torquis ab incisa decidi
unca gula.
Manlius
acquired the addition of
Torquatus,
from a
torques
which he won from a
Gaul,
whom he flew in single combat, in sight of the army; and
Publius Cornelius,
after the slaughter of the
Boii,
took, among other spoils, not fewer than four thousand and seventy golden torques.
THEY were also in use among the
Romans,
who bestowed them as military rewards; and, as
Pliny
pretends, the golden on the auxiliaries, the silver on the citizens. They probably were made in several ways. I have seen a very beautiful one (I think at present in possession of the Rev. Mr.
Prescot,
of
Stockport)
composed of several links of silver wire, most elegantly twisted together: it was long enough to go twice round the neck, and had clasps which fastened it on.
THE custom of wearing the
torques
was continued from the more remote periods of
Britain,
to later times.
Llewellyn,
a lord of
Yale,
was called
Llewelyn aur Dorchog,
Llewelyn, with the golden torques,' on that account; and the common proverb,
Mi a dynna'r dorch a chwi,
I will pluck the
torques
with you,
signifies to this day, a hard struggle of a person before he would yield a victory.
THE next antiquity is, as to material,
British;
COPPER CAKE.
as to its destination,
Roman.
I refer to the cake of copper smelted at the antient
Conovium,
the modern
Caer-bên,
near to
Conwy,
which probably was smelted from the ore of the
Snowdon
hills, where of late years much has been got. This mass is in shape of a cake of beeswax: on the upper part is a deep concave impression, with the words '
Se
o Romae,
To my partner at
Rome:
' across these is impressed obliquely, in lesser letters,
Na
ol.
I cannot explain it, unless
N
stands for
Na
,
the people who paid this species of t
bute, and
sol
for
, that being the stamp-master's mark. These cakes might be bought up by a merchant resident in
Britain,
and consigned
, 'to his partner at
Rome.
' The weight of this antiquity is forty-two pounds; the diameter of the upper part eleven inches; the thickness in the middle two and three quarters.
SILVER HARP.
THE silver harp is purely
British,
both as to the metal, and the use; which, with the commission for holding an
Eisteddfod,
or sessions of bards, at
Ca
wis,
in 1568, is still in possession of Sir
Roger Mostyn.
The harp from time immemorial had been in the gift of his ancestors, to give as a temporary mark of excellency on the chief of the faculties, or those who had excelled in their different ways, poetical or musical. I shall only present the reader with the copy of the patent to Sir
Richard Bulkeley,
knight, and to
William Moston,
and many others.
William Moston
is the gentleman mentioned at p. 72. This commission is in some measure historical: but the reader who wishes for a fuller account of the
isteddfod,
may gratify his curiosity by turning to p. 457, and from thence to p. 478, of the first volume of my
Tour in Wales.
The commission is as follows:
By the Quene,
ELIZABETH, by the grace of God, of
England, Fraunce,
and
Ireland,
Quene, defendor of the fayth, &c.
to our trustie and ryght wel-beloved Sr
Richard Bulkley,
Knight, Sr
Rees Gruffuth,
knight,
Ellice Price,
equior , doctor in cyvill lawe, and one of our counsail in our marches of
Wales, William Mostyn, Jovan Lloyd
of
Yale, John Salisbury
of
Ruge, Rees Thomas, Maurice Wynne, Willm Lewis, Peres Mostyn, Owen John ap Holl Vaughan, John Willm ap John, John Lewis Owen, Moris Gruffyth, Symound Thelwall, Ellice ap Willm Lloyd, Rob Puleston, Harry Aparry, William Glynne,
and
Rees Hughes,
esquiors , and to every of them greating.
—WHERAS it is come to the knowledge of the lorde president, and other or said counsail, in or marches of
Wales,
that vagraunt and idle psons, naming themselfs mynstrells, rithmors, and barthes, are lately growen into such an intollerable multitude wth in the principalitee of
Northwales,
that not only gentlemen, and others, by theire shameles disorders, are oftentimes disquieted in their habitaons; but also thexpert mynstrells and mucisions in toune and contry therby much discouraged to travail in thexercise and practize of their knowledge; and also not a litle hyndred in theire lyvings and pfermts . The reformac̄ on whereof, and the putting of these people in ordr , the said lorde president and counsail have thought verey necessarye; and knowing you to be men both of wysdome and upright dealing, and also of experience and good knowledge in the scyence, have apointed and authorised you to be commissioners for that purpose. And forasmuch as or counsail of late, travayling in some pte of the said principalitee, had ꝑfect understanding, or credible report, that thaccustomed place for thexecuc̄ on of the like comssyon, hath bene hertofore at
Carcyes,
in our countie of
Flynt,
and that
William Most
,
esquio
, and his ancest
, have had the gyfte and bestowing of the sylver harpe apꝑtayning to the cheff of that facultie, and that a yeares warning at the least hath bene accustomed to be geaven of thassembly, and execuc̄ on of the like commissyon. Our said counsail have, therfore, apoynted thexecuc̄ on of this commyssyon to be at the said towne of
Cartyes,
the
Monday
next aft
er
the feast of the blessed
Trynitee,
wch shall be in the yeare of or Lorde God 1568.
AND therfore we require and command you, by the authoritee of these p̄ sents, not only to cause open ꝓclamaons to be made in all ffayors , mr ketts, townes, and other places of assembly wth in our counties of
Anglize, Carnr von, Meyryonneth, Denbigh,
and
Fflynt,
that all on evry ꝑson & ꝑsons that entend to maynteigne theire lyvings by name of color of mynstrells, rithm̄ rs, or barthes, within the Talaith of
Aberfiowe,
comphending the said fyve shires, shal be and appeare before you the said day and place, to shewe theire learnings accordingly: but also that you xx••e , xixen , xviiien , xviien , xvien , xven , xiven , xiiien , xiie , xin , xen , ix, viii, vii, or vi. of you whereof youe Sr
Richard Bulkley,
Sr
Rees Gruffith, Ellice Price,
and
Wm Mostyn,
esquiors , or iiiee , or ii. of you, to be of the nombr to repayre to the said place the day aforsaid, and calling to you such expert men in the said facultie of the
Welshe
musick, as to you shall be thought convenient to ꝓceade to thexecuc̄ on of the ꝑmissn , and to admytt such and so many as by your wisdomes and knowledges, you shall fynde worthy into and undr the degrees heretofore in semblable sort, to use, exercise and folowe the scyences and facultes of theire ꝓfessyons in such decent ordr as shall apꝑtaigne to eche of their degrees, and as yor discrec̄ ons and wisdomes shall p̄ scribe unto them, geaving straight monycons and comaundm
, in or name and on or behalf, to the rest not worthy, that they returne to some honest labor , and due excercise, such as they be most apte unto for mayntenaunce of theire lyvings, upon paine to be taken as sturdy and idle vacaboundes, and to be used according to the lawes and statutes ꝓvided in that behalf, letting you wyth or said counsaill look for advertisemt by due certificate at youre handes of yor doings in thexecuc̄ on of the said ꝑmissn . For seeing in any wise that upon the said assembly the peas and good order be observed and kept accordingly, assertayning you that the said
Willm Mostyn
hath ꝓmised to see furnyture and things necessary ꝓvided for that assembly, at the place aforsaid.
Geven under or signet, at or citie of
Chester,
the xxiiith of
October,
the nynth yeare of or raigne.
Signed her Highnes counsaill in the mr ches of
Wales.
FINALLY, in the library, is a most exquisite drawing upon vellum, of the crucifixion, done with a lead pencil, twenty-two inches by fifteen. It formerly hung in the approach to the chapel, and was brought there by the lady of Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
the second baronet. That lady, as I have before mentioned, was a
Roman
catholic, and placed it where it was originally found, to exalt her devotion. The drawing was made after a pi
ture by
Rub
ns,
as the inscription shews,
P. P. Rubens pin
.
The copyist was
David Legg
n,
a celebrated engraver of his time, about the year 1677, and remarkable for the neatness of his drawings of heads in black-lead
Catalogue of Engravers.
Strawberry-hill.
. On his drawing at
Mostyn
is '
D. L. de
in.
' The expression of agony in the countenance of our dying SAVIOUR, is remarkably striking; and the head, and every part of the drawing, is finished with all the accuracy of the finest miniature painting.
OF the seven churches in the hundred of
Coleshill,
part of the
S
n dis
ros, Wisford,
as it is called in the
Doomsday Book,
is one. The name was changed to
Whiteford,
of derivation unknown. In the
Doomsday Book
notice is also taken of some of the present townships, such as
Tre-Mostyn, Tre-Bychton,
and
M
ton,
under the names of
Mostone, Widford, Putecaine,
and
Mer
tone. M
stone
was then a plough-land,
terra unius carucae.
It had on it four villeyns and eight boors;
(Bordarii)
a wood a league long, and forty perches
(perticatae)
broad, and was valued at twenty shillings.
Widford
is joined with
Putecaine,
the first seems to have comprehended our present
Tre
lan,
or the place where the church-village now stands. These had one plough land, two villeyns, and twelve others between men and maid servants, fisheries, and a wood half a mile long, and forty perches broad; the value was the same with that of
Mostone.
WITH
Mereton
is joined the third part of
Widford,
and the
Berewicha,
or hamlet of
Caldecote,
the last at present a township of the parish of
Holywell.
In this division was a presbyter, a church, and six villeyns. Here was a wood half a mile long, and twenty perches broad. One
Odin
held these of the earl.
THE church stands in the township of
Tre lan.
THE CHURCH.
It is dedicated to St.
Mary;
so popular was that Saint, that thirteen churches in our country were placed under her patronage, and thirteen wakes kept on that day. The living is a rectory, a sinecure, which, with the vicarage, is in the gift of the bishop of
St. Asaph.
The church consists of a nave, with a good plain tower-steeple. It has besides a side aile, built by a
Blithyn Drow,
of the house of
Mostyn,
to whom that part belongs.
DIVINE service is performed every
Sunday,
alternately in
Welsh
and in
English.
At the first the congregation is very numerous, and at all times truly serious and devout. The dress of even the poorest, neat and whole, and very unlike the squalid ragged figures, too frequently seen in the congregations of many a southern county.
OFFERINGS at funerals are kept up here, and I believe in all the
Welsh
churches. A disgusting, and in cases in which the deceased may have died of an infectious distemper, a dangerous custom, often prevales, of the corpse being brought into church during divine service, and left there till the congregation is dismissed.
THAT excellent
memento
to the living, the
passing-bell,
is punctually sounded. I mention this, because idle niceties have in great towns often caused the disuse. It originated before the Reformation, to give notice to the priest to be ready to do the last duty of extreme unction to the departing person, in case he had no other admonition. The canon (67) allows one short peal after death, one other before the funeral, and one other after the funeral. The second is still in use, and is a single bell s
ed. The third is a merry peal, rung at the request of the
s;
if
like, they reioiced at the escape of the departed out of thi
troublesome world.
BELL-CORN is a small perquisite belonging to the clerk of certain parishes. I cannot learn the origin.
HANGING up against the wall is an imperfect table of benefa
tors. The ann
al revenue in interest and land is 68
l.
yet the poor's rates are alarmingly high. In the beginning of the present century poor rates had not taken place. Collections were made in the church for the sick and the aged. Filial piety had at that time f
possession of the breasts of the children, or great affection the part of more distant relations, and the pangs of p
verty were as much as possible alleviated. There was also a laudable p
in them, which made them above suffering their friends to be a burden to their fellow parishioners; all this gradually ceased, and the warmth of natural affection soon quite disappeared. I cannot but mention an instance of the rapid increase of taxes in my days. In the year 1756
William Lloyd,
smith, was one of the overseers of the poor; at that time the annual tax was only 6
.
3
c.
1
d.
He was appointed again overseer in the year 17
, when the tax was increased to 600
l. William Lloyd
is now living, but the books prove the exactness of the assertion.
SCHOOL.
IN the village is the school. It was founded by
Mary Bradshaw,
widow of
Thomas Williams,
of
Mostyn Gate,
who bequeathed by will, dated 1745, the interest of 141
l.
to be paid to the master of the said school, for instructing for ever, annually, fourteen children, who are instructed in reading and writing
English,
and accounts. The present school-house was built by
Pyers Jones,
an opulent farmer of this parish, who also bestowed a very handsome brass chandelier on the church.
IN this and a few other of the mineral parishes,
CLUB
is a
Cymdeithos,
or club, instituted in 1766, for the support of the members in case of illness, or any accidents, provided they are not contracted by intemperance, fighting, or any immoral act. Our club consists of 240 members, each of whom contributes monthly 8
d.
which is put into a box locked with three keys; two are kept by the stewards, and the third by the person to whom the box is intrusted, so that all three must be present at the taking out or putting in of any money. The club has been of late years fortunate enough to have saved three hundred pounds, which is put out on good security, and kept in reserve against any calamitous times, such as seasons of sickness, or uncommon successions of accidents.
IN case of illness a certain allowance is made till the time of their recovery, or till they are deemed incurable. In the last case they are allowed two shillings and six pence for life. In case of death forty shillings is paid for funeral expences, and a sum to the widow proportionable to the time the husband had been member of the club.
WHENEVER the business requires a meeting, the steward must bring with him the tankard of ale, and a very small cup, in order that the members may not exceed the bounds of temperance.
IF any member comes to the club in liquor, he forfeits two-pence; if he speaks ill of government, or abuses any body, or curses and swears, or will not hold his tongue when required by the stewards, he forfeits two-pence for every offence. In a word, every caution is observed to preserve the rules of morality in this our paroc
al society. Finally, there is a great annual meeting on
New-Year's Day,
in which every member attends. Every one appears neatly dressed, carrying a wand gally painted, and make altogether a most respectable figure, ranged in two lines from the porch door to that of the church.
I STEP into the church-yard, and sigh over the number of departed which f
ll the inevitable retreat. In no distant time the north side, like those of all other
Welsh
churches, was, through some superstition, to be occupied only by persons executed, or by suicides. It is now nearly as much crowded as the other parts. The most remarkable inscription is on a head-stone set up by myself.
C
NE
HERE lyeth the
dy of C
M
, otherwise
Go
s.
who during sixty years, to the best of her ab
discharged the duties of a good and faithful servant in the family o
By
,
died August 3d, 1767, aged 106.
THIS
Ante-d
ian
was one of those characters misnamed fools, a mixture of weakness, with much acuteness and strong expressions, often highly diverting to the company. The addition to her name of
G
r
was from her coming from
Cors-y-gedol,
in
Meri
e,
into our service.
WHITEFORD CHURCH. CELLI CHAPEL.
THIS distant uncle was a younger son of
Hugh Pennant,
NICOLAS PENNANT.
and one of twelve children by
Sionet Mostyn
(See p. 26) one of the five daughters of the valiant
Howel ap Richard de Mostyn,
who led his countrymen to
Bosworth-field,
and received the honorable reward I mentioned, at p. 58.
BY the remains of
Nicolas Pennant
are deposited those of my late worthy servant
Louis Gold.
LOUIS GOLD.
What I never with to be done for myself, I did for him, I placed a small brass within the church, with an inscription expressed in the following terms:
This small Monument of esteem was erected by his lamenting Master in Memory of LOUIS GOLD, a
Norman
by Birth, and above twenty years the faithful Servant and Friend of THOMAS PENNANT,
Esq
of
Downing.
In his various services he made considerable savings, which he disposed of by his last will (having no relations of his own) with affection to his friends and to his fellow-servants, with unmerited gratitude to his Master and his family, and with piety to the poor.
Every duty of his humble station, and every duty of life, He discharged so fully, That when the day sh
ll come which levels all distinction of ranks, He may, By the favor of our blessed Mediator, hear these joyful words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." He was born at St.
Hermes de Rouvelle
in
Normandy, August
22, 1717; died at
Downing, August
20, 1785; and was interred in the Church-yard near this wall on the 22d of the same month.
The wealth which
Louis
had acquired was considerable. Above sixteen hundred pounds passed through my hands. He had besides a thousand pounds, which a setter to an attorney prevaled on the good man to sink with the man of the law for an annuity. Death soon put the lawyer in possession of the principal. I lament this; for I had been left by him residuary legatee and sole executor, with a power to dispose of the remainder (all legacies paid) in charitable uses. Thus a thousand pounds were lost to
Whiteford
parish. The interest of the remainder is quarterly divided among the worthiest of our poor, who may annually bless so excellent a benefactor.
Louis
was bred a
Roman
catholic, and notwithstanding he occasionally frequented the prayers of our church, he chose to be buried according to the rites of those of
Rome,
which were performed in a room in my house. He left twenty pounds to the gentleman who performed the service. I fixed on the Reverend
Philip Jones,
who had in this neighborhood near fifty years discharged his function in a manner truly exemplary. I took up the old custom of attending a faithful friend to his grave, a respect the excellency of his conduct clamed from me.
NEAR to the tomb of
Nicolas Pennant,
is another in memory of
Hugh Pennant,
son and heir of
Robert Pennant,
of
Downing,
(see p. 9.) who was buried
August
16th, 1675, with this best of characters:
He lived honestly, and hurt nobody. He gave every one his due.
NEAR to this place, tumbled on the ground,
PIERCES OF YSGLAN.
is a stone in memory of a
Pierce
of
Ysglan,
in this parish, a respectable family now extinct, descended from
Ednowen Bendew.
The crest of this family is a boar's head marked with a crescent, a sign of its having been a second branch. On a board I have of the arms of the house, I see it had been allied with numbers of reputable families, among others I venture to reckon that of
Bychton.
I MIGHT mention other tombs of the men of property in our parish, who in less luxurious times lived in hospitality, till, infected with those fiends luxury and ostentation, they soon became swallowed up in the greater estates.
BENEATH the venerable shade of two great yews,
OF THE FOULKE
's.
our
Baucis
and
Philemon,
is the tomb which preserves the memory of
Margaret Parry,
heiress of
Merton,
(see p. 52.) the seat of our hospitable vicar, the Rev. Mr.
John Foulkes.
The epitaph gives the descent:
Hic jacet corpus
Margarettae Parry,
filiae
The Parry,
filn̄ heredis
Gu
.
Parry,
et nuper uxor
Joh. Fo
lkes,
quae sepulta est 8 die
Julii,
1667.
Hic jacet corpus
Guilidmi Parry Wynne,
de
Mertyn isgl
,
Junii,
et sepultus 19 die
Junii,
1658. Id.
THIS at present is the tomb of the family of Mr.
Foulkes,
of
Merton.
On the top are cut, as I suppose, the arms of the family from whom he derives his right, quarterly for his first coat a stag, by which I imagine that the bearer derived his descent from
Hedd Molwynog,
lord of
Uwch Aled,
and one of the fifteen tribes, and cotemporary with
Dafydd ap Owen Gwynedd.
If the reader will give himself the trouble of turning to p. 56 of the second volume of my
Welsh Tour,
he will find a recital of the great deeds of the house.
O
WILLIAMS.
THE next is the place of interment of
Peter Williams,
of
Merton Ysglan,
who died
January
19th, 1671.
HIS arms shew him to have derived his descent from the above-mentioned
Ednowen Bendew,
quarterly with those of
Edwyn,
lord of
Tegengl.
The family fell to decay, and the part of the estate which lay in our parish was purchased by my father, and the name changed to that of
Kinsale
(see p. 52.) from the late owner having made that place his residence.
THE following quaint rhyme, on another grave-stone, may conclude with much propriety this part of the funebrial subject.
Vita caduca vale,
Vita perennis ave!
EERE TO THIS LYETH THE BODY OF ELIZABETH MOSTYN ONE OF THE CO
S OF RICH ALDERSAY OF THE CITIE OF CHESTER GE
Y WIFE TO WILL MOSTYN ARCH BANG A RECTOR OF CHRYSILTON BY WHOME HE HAD ISSVE THREE SONNES AND TWO DAVGHTERS SHE DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE 10• OF APRIL ANNO DM 1
Monument of Elizabeth Mostyn.
)
I STEP within the church with reverential awe. Many pious men I have seen offer up at short ejaculation in our
Welsh
churches (even when alone) to the Almighty Being, to whose service they were founded, and in whose praise we all unite. A few monumental marks of respect are to be seen, and three on the north wall not inelegant.
ALL are small. The first has the figure of a man and woman kneeling on opposite sides of a desk. Two sons are behind the man, and three daughters behind the woman, in the same attitudes. They are most neatly engraven on a tablet of white marble, and the whole included in a very neat frame. The inscription gives their brief tale:
Neere to this lyeth the body of
Elizabeth Mostyn,
one of the Coheires of
Rich. Aldersey
of the Citie of
Chester,
Gent. Wife to
Will. Mostyn,
Arch.
Bang.
and Rector of
Chrysilton.
By whom he had issve three sonnes and two daughters. She departed this life the 10th of
April,
Ann. Dni. 1647.
TWO of the sons were heads of two families, those of
Bryngwyn,
in
Montgomeryshire,
and those of
Segroit,
in
Denhighshire.
THE next records the death of a son of
Gwydyr.
The arms of the house, three spread-eagles and three lions, are cut on the tablet. Above is the crest, and on the entablature, MORTUUS VIVO. The inscription follows:
Here lyeth interred the body of
Ellici Wynn,
the 9th son of Sir
John Wynn,
of
Gwydyr,
Knight and Baronet, aged xx, who died the xxth of 9
ber,
and was buried the xxiii of the said month, Ao. Domini 1619. Omnis caro foenum.
Conjoined with the last is the tablet of one of our vicars, neat, like the others, only his arms are cut on the stone; the epitaph beneath:
Near this place lieth interred the body of Mr.
Richard C
tmor,
late Vicar of
Whitford,
and Rector of
Aber,
who died the xxvii day of
July,
MDCLXXXIIII, and was buried the 3o , aetatis suae 42.
Richard Coytmore
was one of the nineteen vicars who filled the living, from the year 1537. The following is the list of all the vicars, from that date to the present time:
David Lloyd,
1537.
L
wis ap John Al'gwin,
1562, deceased.
Hon. Mostyn,
1586, d.
Rice Hughes,
1591, resigned.
Tho. Kyffin,
1598, res.
Ed. Kyffin,
1601, res.
S
Meredith,
1608, res.
Lewis Lloyd,
1617, d.
Wil. Mostyn,
1638, d.
Rice Powel,
1642.
Humf. Mostyn,
1653, depr.
Wil. Smith,
1661.
Rob. Edwards,
1666, res.
Wil. Roberts,
1666, resigned.
Rich. Coytmore,
1668, d.
Hugh Price
1686.
Edw. Davies,
1697, d.
Gr. Griffith,
1730, d.
John Foulkes,
1765.
THE vault of the
Mostyn
family is at the end of this aile.
VAULT OF THE MOSTYNS.
The last who was buried there was Sir
Roger Mostyn,
the first baronet, who died in 1651. His second lady,
Mary,
eldest daughter of
Thomas,
lord viscount
Bulkley,
was buried in the same vault. Her epitaph is preserved in our parish-register, and is as follows:
Nobilis Heroina ac Domina D.
Maria Mostyn,
Illustri
Buckleiensis
familia oriunda,
Honoratissimo viro
Rogero Mostyn, de Mostyn,
Equiti et baronetto connubio juncta,
Praestantissimarum virtutum cumulo
Supra invidiam laudemque adornata, utque
Pudicitiam et formam,
Gravitatem et dulcedinem,
Comitatem et honorem,
Humilitatem et magnitudinem,
Humanitatem et pietatem,
Gratissima concordia consociavit.
Quum nondum annos 34, etiamum numerâsset,
Quumq. dolendos non unius morbi cruciatus,
Victrici patientia per biennium sustulisset
Dignissimo conjuge
Charissimis que (egregiae indolis) natis quatuor,
Quae supersunt (castissimi amoris pignora) relictis,
Non sine summo omnium (quibus aut ipsius virtus
Ejusve fama innotuerat) luctu planctuque
In pacem aeternam sibi feliciter migravit, die 16o
Octobris,
Et sepulta 28 die ejusdem mensis, Anno Dom. 1662.
R. E.
vic.
THE disgraced lady mentioned in p. 62, is also commemorated here.
Valde generosa virtuosaque ac Domina
D.
Lumlaea Mostyn
in felicitatem
Sanctorum octavo die
Octobris
migravit,
Sepultaque decimo octavo die mensis
Ejusdem Anno Domini 1680.
HIS son and successor Sir
Thomas Mostyn
married
Bridget,
daughter and sole heiress of
Darcie Savage,
of
Leighton,
esq
who transferred to the house of
Mostyn
the great
Cheshire
estates. This lady was a
Roman
catholic. Tradition is warm in her praise, and full of her domestic virtues, and the particular attention that she shewed in obliging her domestics, of each religion, to attend their respective churches. Her husband and she
were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided.
They died within a day or two of each other, at
Gloddaeth,
in
Caernarvonshire,
and were interred in the neighboring church of
Eglwys Rhôs.
They are here mentioned as the first of the family who were interred out of the antient vault of the house of
Mostyn.
OF THE PENNANTS.
I TURN mine eyes towards the ALTAR, towards the
aeterna domus
of our race. The recent visitation of Heaven! The unclosed wound!—arrest my pen.
O PRAECLARUM DIEM, CUM AD ILLUD DIVINUM ANIMORUM CONCILIUM, COETUMQUE PROFICISCAR, CUMQUE EX HAC TURBA, ET COLLUVIONE DISCEDAM! PROFICISCAR ENIM NON AD AMICOS SOLUM, ET PARENTES DILECTISSIMOS, SED ETIAM AD
SARAHULAM,
ANIMULAM NOSTRAM, QUA NEMO MELIOR NATA EST, NEMO PIETATE PRAESTANTIOR: CUJUS A ME CORPUS CREMATUM EST▪ QUOD CONTRA DECUIT AB ILLA MEUM. ANIMUS VERO NON ME DESERENS SED RESPECTANS, IN EA PROFECTO LOCA DISCESSIT, QUO MIHI IPSI CERNEBAT ESSE VENIENDUM. QUEM EGO MEUM CASUM FOR TITER FERRE VISUS SUM; NON QUOD AEQUO ANIMO FERREM: SED ME IPSE CONSOLABAR, EXISTIMANS, NON LONGINQUUM INTER NOS DIGRESSUM ET DISCESSUM FORE.
Cicero
de Senectute.
APUD
BRIGHTHELMSTONENSES,
XVI. KAL.
MAII
E VIVIS FLEBILIS DISCESSIT.
VIXIT ANNIS XIV. MENSIBUS X. DIEB. XXVII.
EXUVIAS SACRAS
PARENTES INFELICISSIMI
(PIETATI HEU VANAE INDULGENTES)
APUD
VIDFORDENSES
CINERIBUS PATRUM
MA
I
KALENDIS
COMMISTAS ESSE VOLUERE
MAY 1, 1794.
.
ON a brass plate, now covered with the
Downing
seat, is a memorial of
Morris Kyffin,
of
Maenan,
who died (a youth)
June
2d, 1610, at
Bychton,
on a visit to his sister
Jane,
wife to
Pyers Pennant.
THE next township to the village is in
Whitford Garn.
GARREG.
In this township is
Garreg,
or
The Rock,
the highest land in the parish; it is a large inclosed hill, the property of Sir
Roger Mostyn.
Part of it is a fine turf, and excellent sheep-walk; the summit, and part of the sides, rocky. From
Whiteford
to the top is a continual ascent. From this height the traveller may have an august foresight of the lofty tract of
Snowdon,
from the crooked
Moel Shabog,
at one end, to the towering
Penmaen-mawr
at the other; of the vast promontory of
Llandudno,
and part of the isle of
Anglesea,
with the great bay of
Llanddulas,
forming an extensive crescent; the estuaries of the
Dee
and the
Mersey;
and to the
North
(at times) the isle of
Man
and the
Cumberland Alps,
the frequent presages of bad weather.
PHAROS.
THE
Romans
took advantage of this elevated situation, and placed on its summit a
Pharos,
to conduct the navigators to and from
Deva,
along the difficult channel of the
Seteia Portus.
The building is still remaining. It is tolerably entire; its form is circular; the inner diameter twelve feet and a half; the thickness of the walls four feet four inches. The doors, or entrances, are opposite to each other; over each is a square funnel, like a chimney, which opens on the outside, about half-way up the building. On each side is a window. About four feet from the ground are three circular holes, lined with mortar, as is frequent in
Roman
buildings; and penetrate the whole wall, for purposes now unknown.
TO the building is very evidently a broad and raised road, pointing from the east; and near its upper end are the marks of a trench, which surrounded and gave protection to this useful edifice. It certainly had in later times been repaired, or perhaps applied to some other use, for in one part is a piece of timber which could not have been aboriginal.
THE curious cross called
Maen Achwynfan,
MAEN ACHWYNFAN.
or the stone of lamentation, stands in a small field opposite to the gate which opens from the turnpike-road into
Garreg.
It takes its name, in all probability, from the penances, which were often finished before such sacred pillars; attended with weeping, and the usual marks of contrition: for an example, near
Stafford
stood one called the
weeping cross,
a name analogous to ours. This is of an elegant form and sculpture; is twelve feet high, two feet four inches broad at the bottom, and ten inches thick. The base is let into another stone. The top is round, and includes, in raised work, the form of a
Greek
cross. Beneath, about the middle, is another, in the form of St.
Andrew
's: and under that, a naked figure, with a spear in his hand. Close to that, on the side of the column, is represented some animal. The rest is covered with very beautiful fret-work, like what may be seen on other pillars, of antient date, in several parts of
Great Britain.
I do not presume (after the annotator on
Camden
has given up the point) to attempt a guess at the age; only must observe, that it must have been previous to the reign of gross superstition among the
Welsh,
otherwise the sculptor would have employed his chizzel in striking out legendary stories, instead of the elegant knots and interlaced work that cover the stone.
THOSE, who suppose it to have been erected in memory of the dead slain in battle on the spot, draw their argument from the number of adjacent tumull, containing human bones, and sculls often marked with mortal wounds; but these earthy sepulchres are of more antient times than the elegant sculpture of this pillar will admit. This likewise (from the crosses) is evidently a
Christian
monument. The former were only in use in pagan days.
GELLI.
THERE is likewise, near to it, an antient chapel, now a farmhouse, called
Gelli,
or the
Hazel-grove,
the name of an adjacent tract. This might have relation to the cross; as well as a place for performance of divine service to the abbot of
Basingwerk,
who had a house at no great distance. This tract (mis-spelt by the
English, Geteley,
) with the wood (at that time on it) was granted by
Edward
I. to the abbot and convent, on the tenth of
November,
at
Westminster,
before the death of our last prince. He also gave him power to grub up the wood; which by the nakedness of the place appears to have been done most effectually.
FARTHER to the west is another inclosed mountain called
Glol.
my own property; part is covered with hazels and large white-thorn trees (perhaps a continuation of the
Gelli,
) part is very
cky, part a fine sheep-walk. In many places were several druidical circles, which I believe are now injured by the removal of the stones for various uses. In the rougher parts of this inclosure are often seen vipers, which always prefer the dry and sunny parts of a country.
ON
Sarn-Hwlkin,
a little common to the east of
Glol,
SARN-HWLKIN.
was a very long but low
tumUlus,
supposed by the vulgar to have been a
giant's grave,
from a tradition that one of our sons of
Anak
had been there interred. It probably did cover the remains of some
British
heroes of the common size, who there found their grave, after some fierce action, I have before supposed to have happened before the place.
THE township of
Tre'r-Abbot,
TRE'R-ABBOT.
one of the eight which compose our parish, joins to this part of
Tre-Mostyn.
In it stands the house of the same name, originally the country-seat of the abbots of
Basingwerk,
but long since the property of the
Davies's,
lately sold to
Edward Jones,
of
Wepre,
esq
From the proof that gentleman has given of his literary abilities in drawing up the resolutions of the
Holywell
association, in
December
1792, I must lament they are not oftener exerted, the occasion alone excepted.
THIS township was once exempted from the payment of tythes by a
modus,
originally granted by the abbot of
Basingwerk,
but which by negligence has been totally lost.
THE house, in Mr.
Miles Davies,
MILES DAVIES.
produced a very extraordinary genius indeed! The talents of this eccentric gentleman were poetical. He lived about the year 1716, and published three volumes of his
Athenae Britannicae.
In his
Martii Calendae sive laudes Cambro Britanniae,
is a
Latin
poem on
St. David's Day.
I never could get the sight of the books, but was indebted to the Rev.
William Cole,
late of
Milton,
near
Cambridge,
for the following extract; which will, I dare say, content the reader, as it does me.
Roberto
atque
Mansel, Buckley, Vaughan,
et
Trevor
et
Hanmer,
eumque
Salesbury,
Stradlinque, Corway, Kemys, An
will,
Morganius Theliolque Moston.
Bennet,
beata Oecumenicon Notâ,
Davidis
ortu, est
Davisius
nepos
Wynne
atque
Griffith,
atque
Pennant,
Ll
d
quoque
Powell,
et
Ellis Humphreys, &c.
HAVING reached the farthest part of our parish, to the north-west, I return along the great heath
Mynydd Tegen,
or
Tegen-Mountain,
which yet preserves the antient name of
Tegengl,
which comprehended the three modern hundreds of
Coleshill, Prestatyn,
and
Rudland.
It had been the property of
Edwin,
descended from
Roderick
the Great, and called prince of
Tegengl.
His
Llys,
or royal residence, was, in 1041, near
Llaneurgan
or
Northop.
This common, for I cannot call it mountain, stretches along the whole of the higher parts of our parish, and is covered with the
erica vulgaris,
or common heath. It feeds numbers of sheep, and is part of the mineral tract of
Flintshire.
LLYN HELYG.
THE manor of
Mostyn,
of which Sir
Roger Mostyn
is lord, includes the greater part of the mountain, and reaches to the sea. It was derived from the heiress of the house, descended from her ancestor, prince
Edwin.
A LARGE piece of water, now well stocked with fish, made by Sir
Roger Mostyn,
baronet, grandfather to the present owner, lies near that end of the heath. In the winter it is the resort of ducks and teal.
ON the east-side of
Mostyn
pool, in
Tegen
mountain,
PLAS CAPTAIN.
is a grave bounded at each end by a rude stone, above four feet high. It contains the remains of captain
Edward Morgan,
of the adjacent house of
Plâs Captain,
and of the respectable family of the
Morgans,
of
Gwlgray,
in the adjoining parish of
Llan Asaph.
Some years ago a person of strange curiosity opened the grave, and found the skeleton. On the head was a red cap, I think of velvet, and round his neck a silk handkerchief. By him lay his sword, and his helmet; and beneath the skeleton two bullets, which had fallen out of the body on its dissolution; all which verify the report of his having been slain in battle, or in some skirmish during the civil wars, and that he was interred, according to his wish, under the spot on which he fell. In a collection of pedegrees lent to me by
Thomas Gryffith,
esq
of
Rhual,
I find this short memorial of the captain, in the pedegree of his family: 'Capt.
Edward Morgan,
slain at
Cheshire
raise.' If he was slain in that county, I cannot suppose that his body would have been carried so far; nor can I account for this relation, or for the body being found here, unless that the above is a mistake, and that he fell in some skirmish near to his own house.
AT a small distance from
Plâs Captain,
is
Plâs-mawr,
at present the property of Sir
Edward Price Lloyd,
bart. of
Pengwern,
in right of his worthy grandmother,
Frances,
daughter and heiress to
Bell Jones,
secretary in the civil board of ordnance in the Tower. He erected a handsome monument in
Whiteford
church in memory of his father
Robert Jones,
and others of his predecessors. He died, and was buried in the chapel of the Tower, aged 49, near the remains of his wife
Frances,
who died
November
24th, 1723, aged 48.
ABOUT a mile farther, the turnpike, which is named the
Flint
road, cresses the upper road from
Newmarket
to
Holywell.
IT is the first turnpike known on the
Holyhead
road. The act was obtained in 1755, and contained, besides the district of
Flint,
those of
E
mere, Chester,
and
Mold.
The part in question is called
Llwybr-hir,
or the
long-path,
for it extends along the mountain westward, as far as
Brick-kiln.
USUSES.
ON the right hand, as you pass towards that hamlet, on a rocky elevated part, called
Gelli,
is a multitude of loose stones, lying on the surface. They are of the lime-stone kind, mere
l
es,
assuming most singular forms; some are excavated, and often perforated. This must have been done when they were in a soft state, for since their formation nothing has fallen on them but the rain of heaven, and that could not effect the phenomenon.
ENTRENCHMENT.
SCATTERED over this part of the mountain are several rounded
tumuli;
and to the le
t, at some distance, is a work, probably coeval with them. On the slope of the west part of the race-ground is an entrenchment of a circular form, about a hundred and sixty-three feet in diameter, surrounded with a low bank, and on the outside of that with a ditch; in one part very shallow, in the other more deep. This circle could not have been designed as a post, or place of retreat from an enemy. Its entrenchment is weak, and it might easily be commanded from above by the rising-ground. Possibly it might have been for some religious purpose, or for a place of council, or for haranguing the people, who might assemble round the outside, and readily hear what was delivered to them.
ON returning along
Llwybr-hîr,
I rejoin the
Newmarket
road,
LLWYBR-HÎR.
at the pla
d had left it, near a great inclosure belonging to Sir
Roger M
,
called
Ty-maen.
Within, near to the road,
TY-MAEN.
is a great mount, now planted with fir-trees, the site of a castelet, probably a seat of
Owen Bendew,
EDNOWEN BENDEW.
which my friend and fellow-traveller, the late Rev.
John Lloyd,
supposed to have been one of the habitations of that chieftain.
Owen
was lord of
Tegengl
in 1079, and one of the fifteen tribes of
North Woles.
He was distinguished by the name of
Pendew,
or
Bendew.
I have consulted
Davies
's, and all our dictionaries, and can find no other translation of the word than
Thick-scull.
Of him are descended, as the MS. of the Rev.
Lewis Owen
(my authority) say, many worthy families, among them
Ithel ap Rotpert,
archdeacon of
Tegengl,
who was living in the years 1375 and 1393, and the
Bithels,
and a great many families besides. I might venture to mention the living descendants of the great
Bendew;
for the unfortunate idea of character impressed by the
cognomen
is entirely worn out. They are only to be known by their arms, argent, three boars heads couped, a
chevron
sable.
THE extinct families were the
Wynnes,
of
Galedlom,
and
Caerwis; Piers
of
Llanasaph
and of
Merton Ysglan,
and the
Williams's
of
Merton,
both of the parish of
Whiteford;
the
Parrys,
of
Coleshill
and
Basingwerk;
the
Ffachnalts,
of
Ffachnalts,
in the parish of
Mold;
and the
Griffiths,
of
Pant
y Llo
wndŷ,
in
Llanhasa
parish, and
Griffiths
of
Caerwis
hall; all of whom are now extinct, unless it may be in the female line.
GO
SEDDAU.
A LITTLE farther on the left, on the common, are two raised mounts of a conoid shape, called
Gorseddau,
a name common to all of the same kind. According to our learned
Rowlands
(see p. 69) it is derived from the custom which the
Druids
had of fitting aloft on them, when they pronounced their sentences, and made their solemn orations to the people. '
Multa,
' says
Caesar, 'de Decrum immortalium vi et potestate disputant, et juventute tradunt.
' The custom of promulging the laws in the
Isle of Man
from their
Tinwald,
a larger but similar mount, has its origin in
Druidism.
A certain officer takes the place of the
Druid,
and makes known to the people, who stand beneath, the institution of the new law.
PEN-FFORDD Y WAEN.
ON the mountain opposite to the place called
Penffôrdd ŷ Waen,
are other remains of the antient
Britons,
one or two
tumuli,
and near one of them an upright stone; and a little farther is another, its
tumulus
possibly destroyed. These are the
Meini Gwŷr, Meini Hirion,
and
Lleche,
differently denominated in different places. These were sometimes memorials of great events, sometimes monumental, as in the present case. There are illustrations of both in the book of
Genesis,
ch. xxxv.v.v. 14, 20. On the pillar which
Jacob
erected, after he had the gracious favor of conversing with the Deity face to face, he made a libation of oil: on that raised on the grave of his wife
Rachel,
he omitted that respect.
I NOW advance towards my conclusion, and shall attempt the more interesting topics of the rural oeconomy of my native parish, and its mineral and commercial advantages. In respect to size and population, it may rank among the most important in this division of our principality.
IT is bounded on the east by the
Chester Channel,
BOUNDARIES OF THE PARISH.
the
Seteia Aestuarium
of
Ptolemy.
Its inhabitants at that time were the
Ordovices;
but whether in so long a period any of the antient blood at present runs in our veins, is extremely uncertain. The southern boundary of this parish is that of
Holywell;
the northern, those of
Llan Asaph, Newmarket,
and
Cwm;
and the western, those of
Tremerchion
and
Caerwis.
THE whole length of the parish, from its eastern extremity,
LENGTH.
not far from
Holloway
turnpike-gate, to the extremity of the township
Tre'r-Abbot,
is about four miles two furlongs. Its greatest breadth, from the sea-side near
Llanerch-y-môr,
to
Foel-da,
adjoining to
Yskiviog
parish, is near three miles four furlongs. The northern part, which is its length, is in general a rapid descent of two miles three quarters and 136 yards, reckoning from
Pen-y-ffordd Waen,
to
Llanerch-y-môr.
All beyond to the south and to the west is
Tegen
mountain, or the old
Tegenia,
a large extent of plain swelling into gentle risings, covered chiefly with heath, and mixed with grass, unless where the lime-stone stratum appears above the surface.
BEING on the spot,
MINERALS.
I shall give first some account of our minerals, the source of wealth to the land-owner, and of wealth, but oftener poverty, to the adventurous miners, who, like adventurers in a lottery, to which miners may truly be compared, are tempted by the good fortune of others to risque and frequently lose their all. If they are successful, they never th
k of a future day, but enjoy their fortune in good living, forgetfull of the pains it cost them, till all is gone, and they are again compelled to take to hard labor. After a life of dissipation they sink under the fatigue, lose their health, and early become a burthen to the community, by adding to the load of paupers under which it groans.
WORKED BY THE ROMANS.
THE want of gun-powder, in early times, with the
Romans,
was a great impediment. Instead, we find that great fires were used; the rock intensely heated, and cracks formed in it by the sudden infusion of water;
Pliny
says of vinegar. The wedge or pick-ax was then insinuated into the apertures, and the stone or ore forced out. Miners often discover the marks of fire in antient mines. I am in possession of a little wedge, five inches and a quarter long, presented to me by the late Mr.
Smedley,
of
Bagillt Hall,
discovered in working the deep fissures of
Dalar Goch
rock, in the parish of
Diserth,
in this county. This little instrument affords a proof of its antiquity, by being almost intirely incrusted with lead ore. It had probably lain in the course of some subterraneous stream, which had brought along with it the leaden particles, and deposited them on the iron.
THEIR TOOLS.
PICK-AXIS of an uncommon bulk, and very clumsy, have been discovered in the bottom of the mineral trenches; these seem to have been the same with the
fractaria
of the
Romans,
pick-axes of enormous size, used by the miners in the gold mines of
Spain.
Buckets of singular construction, and other things of uses unknown at present, have been found among the antient mines.
1 2. Antient
wedges
3. a
eaden
I AM also indebted to Mr.
Edwards
for a plate of lead of the shape of the sole of a shoe, with an elevated rim round the sides, and furnished also with a hooked handle to hang it in the fissures of the rocks of the mines, evidently designed to have placed on it a lamp, to give the miners light in their subterraneous operations. This and another were found at the depth of sixty yards in a
Roman
mine.
OUR mineral tract is from
Pen-yr-allt,
or
Bryn-digri,
MINERAL TRACT.
in a line to the western borders of
Holywell
parish. Its extent to north and south is very narrow. The turnpike road by
Kelyn
and
Peny-ffordd Waen,
as far as
Creecas,
describes its course east and west. This part goes under the name of the
Whiteford Rake,
and is nearly the summit of the parish in this part. The veins on the east side, when they dip into the fields, scarcely ever bear.
THE veins run either north or south, or east or west: the last are generally found most profitable. It is singular, that the ore got in the first scarcely ever produces silver worth the refiner's labor.
THE ores differ in quality.
LEAD ORES.
The lamellated or common kind, usually named potter's ore, yields from fourteen hundred to sixteen hundred and a quarter of lead from twenty hundred of the ore: but the last produce is rare.
THE quantity of silver produced from our lead is also variable. The upper part of a vein of lead ore is always richest in silver; the bottom, in lead. Our refiners will assay any lead that with yield ten ounces in the ton of lead and upwards. The usual produce is fourteen ounces: sixteen have been gotten; but acquisitions of that kind within this circuit are extremely uncommon.
CAR
CKFER
ON the side of the
Whiteford Rake
are the ruins of a large bu
ding called
Carrickfergus,
probably from being sounded by some adventurer from that town, for the purpose of smelting the ore got in its neighborhood. It is near a century old, and erected when the furnaces were constructed in a manner very different from those of the present times; for by the remains of the chimnies they seem to have been formed like those of the modern iron-furnaces.
THE depth of our lead-mines are various. Rich veins have been discovered to the depth of ninety yards.
THE veins are found either in the lime-stone rock or that of chert. These frequently go to unknown depths; the ore is pursued extremely far indeed; and when it ceases, the unprofitable is usually found to consist of spar.
GRAVEL LEAD-ORE.
GRAVEL ore, or lumps, from forty tons weight to the size of a hazel-nut, are often discovered in what the miners call
flats,
or loose ground full of gravel, tumblers, and the like. It is rounded and smoothed on the surface, as if it had been rolled in violent waters: but within is pure, lamellated, and rich. It is a potter's ore, reduced to this form by accident.
THERE is no ascertaining the quantity of lead ore which is annually taken up in our parish, nor yet that of lead exported. It is included in the custom-house books at
Chester,
in the general account of the produce of the mineral parts of this county, and that of
Denbigh.
The number of tons exported in 1792, is as follows:
Foreign.
Coastways.
540 tons of lead.
4497.
150 ore.
761.
ABOUT fifty years ago about seventeen hundred weight of copper ore was discovered in a tenement of my father's called
Catherine George's;
which on being assayed was found to be very rich:
COPPER ORE.
but none has been discovered since, notwithstanding the ground has been diligently searched.
LAPIS CALAMINARIS, or calamine,
CALAMINE.
is found in very great quantities almost the whole way I have mentioned, but increases in plenty as we advance eastward. It is found in veins like lead ore, often by itself; sometimes mixed with ore, which renders the breaking and separating a work of labor and expence; what is found in these parts is generally of the cavernous, boney, or cancellated kinds. This mineral was the
Cadmia
of
Pliny,
lib. xxxiv. c. 10; and the
Stone-cadmia
of
Strabo,
lib. iii. 248. The
Romans
knew its uses in making of brass; therefore cannot be supposed to have overlooked so necessary an ingredient. The remains of the brass-founderies, discovered in our kingdom, shew, that they were acquainted with it. The knowlege of this mineral in after-ages was long lost. Before the reign of
Elizabeth,
much was imported from
Sweden;
but at that period it was discovered again in the
Mendip-hills;
and, fortunately, at the same time that the working of the copper-mines in those of
Cumberland
was renewed. Our county abounds with it; but, till within these sixty years, we were so ignorant of the value, as to mend our roads with it; which have of late years been turned up in a hundred places most successfully to recover the lost wealth. It was
John Barrow,
JOHN BARROW.
a miner, from the
Mendip-hills
(whom I well remember living in this parish) who first made us acquainted with this valuable mineral, having long worked in the calamine mines of his own country.
IT appears that this mineral tract (which is called the
Pantvein
) has yielded ore from very early times. In the last century there have been no very rich veins: but then it is almost always yielding something, and of later years has been particularly productive of calamine. In the beginning of this century Sir
Thomas Grosvenour
had a good mine of lead ore on the side of the road. My grandfather had another. The benevolent, charitable Mr.
Edwards,
of
Brinford,
had another. The Mr.
Jones,
of
Celyn,
had another. The last is said to have put a trap-door to the top of the shaft, and to have locked it, and made use of the treasure below as a bank, which he had recourse to according to his wants. All these mines are on the same vein, which is an east and west, Sir
Thomas Grosvenour
's mine was included in the vast mineral grant, possessed by his ancestor, see
Tour in Wales,
i. p. 76. All the other freeholders work on their respective freeholds. Sir
Roger Mostyn
on his manor of
Mostyn,
and on his freehold.
A MR.
Francis Leicester,
of
Vauxhall,
gives an account of this vein in a small pamphlet, called 'The
little
Mine Adventure,' published in 1702. He styles himself the present lessee, and gives, I believe, a good plan of the vein in an annexed map.
BLACK JACK,
Zinc, Pseudo-galena,
BLACK JACK.
is met with in large quantities near the eastern extremity of the parish. It is found to answer the purposes of calamine. It has hitherto been only exported to
Bristol;
and is sold there at the rate of 4
l.
10
s. per
ton, delivered. We have it in a metallic form, of a blueish grey color, and again of the colors of the dark semi-pellucid ambers.
Cronsted,
ii. p. 779.
Magellan
's ed. calls the first,
Zincum ferro sulphurato mineralisatum;
the other,
Zincum calciforme cum ferro sulphuratum.
THIS semi-metal, and its ore, has been long known in
India,
and imported from thence in a metallic state, under the name of
tutenag,
as early as the year 1647. It had even been fused in the
Goslar
mines, as early as 1617. Yet the secret of its being an ingredient in making brass, did not reach us till the year 1738; when it was communicated to us by Mr.
Von Swob.
I refer to the learned Bishop
Watson
's entertaining and instructive works, for a full account of this useful mineral. Let me here inform the reader from the same authority, (iv. p. 2.) that by the accident of the
Dutch
taking a
Portuguese
ship laden with calamine, we learn the origin of the name, it being derived from the
Arabic, calaem,
the same mineral as our
calamine,
which is plentifully found in the peninsula of
Malacca,
and probably in other parts of
India.
MILL-DISTEMPER.
A MOST excruciating, and often fatal disorder, frequently attacks the miners who work in the hard veins of lead ore, or of black jack, or of such as are solid and lodged between sides, or immersed in the rock. The disorder is called the
Felyn,
from
Felyn,
a mill. It may be translated into
Mill-distemper,
because it was at first most frequent in the smelting-mills; but for a considerable time past has ceased in those buildings; and that happiness may be dated from the period in which lime has been used as a flux for the lead ores.
IN the mines it arises from the workmen being obliged to use the pick-axe in the hard veins to get the ore out. The minute particles fly about, and are taken down into the stomach, and into the lungs. This occasions a most obstinate costiveness, attended with most dreadful pains, which have been known to last fourteen, and even twenty-one days, and attended with a strong symptomatic fever.
William Spencer,
a miner, worked in
Meilwr,
(a mine near
Holywell
) in a close confined situation, and where the ore was of a particular hard nature. He was attacked annually, during fifteen or sixteen years, (usually in the spring) with an acute pain in the pit of his stomach, extending itself downwards, with a griping pain in the bowels; and attended with a violent reaching, vomiting, costiveness, and tenesmus. His bowels and abdominal muscles were much contracted, his pulse feeble and low, he was subject to cold clammy sweats, and an unusual coldness of his extremities. In the efforts to vomit, he sometimes parted with a quantity of bile; and in each evacuation I observed a deposition of a number of particles of lead, by parting with which he found great relief. The costiveness continued sometimes eight, nine, or ten days, notwithstanding the repeated use of purgatives, (chiefly castor-oil, in large doses, which I found to be the most effectual remedy). When this was got the better of, and a stool procured, I observed in each evacuation a quantity of lead, by which, from the relief he obtained, his pulse became better, the contraction of his bowels disappeared, and likewise the cold clammy sweats. In three or four days, and in the two last attacks, he felt a similar acute pain in the lower part of his belly, attended with a scantiness, pain, and difficulty in voiding his urine. I consequently suspected that some leaden particles might have found their way into the bladder, and gave him some diuretic medicines, as balsam of
copaiba, gum-arabic,
and oil of juniper. In the course of twenty-four hours his urine was voided much easier, and in greater quantity, and he parted with as much pure lead by urine as would lie on a shilling. He in the latter part of his days became asthmatic, and weak, and died
Nov.
30, 1754, in the 51st year of his age.
I AM obliged to Mr.
William Denman,
of
Holywell,
surgeon, for the above account of the sad disorder; but more materially to his skill, and my excellent constitution, for a speedy recovery in the last spring (
April
6th, 2 P. M.) from the consequences of a knee-pan snapped in two transversely, by no other violence than by stepping down two steps instead of one. After a strict recumbency of near seven weeks in possession of high spirits, fulness of faculties, and enjoyment of my favorite amusements, I rose from my bed, with the grateful prospect of p
ng the remainder of my days with my prior activity little impaired; thankful to PROVIDENCE for graciously adding this blessing to the numbers of others it has showered on me during my long and various life.
CHERT.
CHERT, which I have mentioned before, as being often the lodgement of the mineral veins, is the
petrosilex,
and
lapis corneus,
of
Cronstedt,
i. 189. It is of a flinty nature, and the only one of that class we have in our county. Nodular flints, the attendant on chalks, are quite unknown here. This is in the neighborhood of lime-stone, as flints are concomitant with chalk. It is an opaque stone, sometimes plain, often varied with stripes. I have spoken of it as a matrix of the ores. I now consider it as useful in manufactures. It is frequently cut out of its quarries in great masses, and sent to the pottery countries of
Staffordshire,
first, for the purposes of forming stones to grind and comminute the calcined flints, which are the great ingredients in the stone ware; and I think it is itself calcined, and being homogeneous with the purer flints, serves also for the same purposes. Much of it is found in the midst of our hills, sinking, as I have said, to depths unknown. In Sir
Roger Mostyn
's land, near
Pen-yr-allt,
where the upper part of the parish hangs abrupt over the lower, it forms the broken precipitous front, and has been of late quarried out for exportation. Bishop
Watson,
(ii. 263) says, that it sells in
Derbyshire
at eight shillings ton. The duke of
Rutland
contents himself with five shillings
per
ton, as lord of the rock. The workmen have three shillings for raising. I leave the reader to consult the right reverend author for the process of calcining, &c. The knowlege may be of use to my countrymen, whether it is any way related to the
Petunse
of the
Chinese,
p. 273. It may not be wrong to consult our late legatine voyagers to
China
for that purpose.
OUR lime-stone is a genuine marble, often pure,
LIME-STONE.
often filled with
entrochi
and shells, composed entirely of homogeneous matter. I have mentioned the immensity of the beds: but it is often found mixed with calamine and ore. Its uses cannot be unknown to any, whether in building, whether for the purposes of agriculture. I am sensible its application is not extended as far as it ought to be; (but more of that under the article
Rural Oeconomy.
) Here I may say that it is the common flux used by the smelters in the fusing the lead ores; which has taken off much of the noxious effect it formerly had on the smelters, who were engaged in the operation, and on the cattle who fed on the grass within reach of the smoke.
ON the west side of
Celyn
rake, is a large stratum of a deep grey lime-stone, which, when calcined, makes, mixed with common lime, an excellent cement or terras, for works constructed in water. It is nearly equal to the
Aberdour
stone from
South Wales,
of which much has been imported for the uses of our great buildings on the
Holywell
stream.
OF spars we have in abundance the white opaque kind;
SPARS.
but I think none of the fine refracting spars, or the
Crystallum Islandicum,
which is frequent in the neighboring parishes.
PETROLEUM, rock-oil,
PETROLEUM.
or what the
Welsh
call it
y menin tylwith têg,
or fairies butter, has been found in the lime-stone strata in our mineral country. It is a greasy substance, of an agreeable smell; and I suppose ascribed to the benign part of those imaginary beings. It is esteemed serviceable in rheumatic cases, rubbed on the parts affected. It retains a place in our Dispensary.
ADVENTI
OUS
.
I SHALL just mention two or three adventitious bodies discovered at vast depths in our mines. We have been often surprised with finding great rude logs of timber, at the depth of twenty-five or forty-five yards under ground. They are quite rough, and totally freed from any suspicion of having been used in the mines, even had they not been met with in new or unworked ground, in blue clay, and amidst tumblers. They are firm and strong when first taken up, and of a black color, as if they had been burnt.
SHELLS.
SHELLS, especially
conchae anomiae,
are very common, sometimes loose, but more frequently immersed in the lime-stone.
CHANGE OF STRATA.
I NOW quit the heights, and go down a steep descent, about half a mile, into the lower part of the parish. The mouth of a level, and a shallow shaft near it, discovers the change of strata. The chert and the lime-stone quite disappear, and in their place appear first the beds of shale,
SHALE.
black, shattery, and soon dissoluble when exposed to the weather. It is the symptom of approaching coal, and the covering.
Cronstedt,
i. 259, calls it a pyritaceous
schistus,
and gives it other epithets, according to its contents. It is often found in beds of immense thickness, and often filled with inflammable air, which frequently bursts out to the great inconveniency and danger of the workmen. It is also impregnated with bitumen, which adds to its powers. In many parts of the kingdom it is found to contain quantities of alum;
ALUM.
and to be worked for the purpose of extracting from it that useful article. The trial is worth making. In our parts we have the same advantages of coal for the process, and water-carriage for the exportation, as
Whitby
has. Coals begin to appear in their unprofitable beds, at a small distance to the east; half a mile further, in great bodies, and of an excellent quality.
THE collieries of
Mostyn
and
Bychton
have been worked for a very considerable space;
COLLIERIES.
and in the last century supplied
Dublin
and the eastern side of
Ireland
with coals. They were discovered in the township of
Mostyn,
as early as the time of
Edward
I. as appears by an extent of that place, in the twenty-third year of that reign.
I REMEMBER many fluctuations in their state. They are now in the most flourishing which I ever remember, inferior only to that in which they were in the latter end of the late, and the beginning of the present century. The rise of the collieries at
Whitehaven,
which interfered with our trade to
Dublin,
was one cause of their decline; but another great cause was a natural one, the loss of the channel of the river
Dee.
We still load a few small vessels for the neighboring coasts of
North Wales.
But our present prosperity arises from the great works of copper-plates, bolts, and sheathings for ships, and the works of brass established of late years near the town of
Holywell.
To them may be added the consumption occasioned by the increase of population, by the accession of the cotton manufactures; and, finally, th
vast quantities used for burning of lime, the effect of the happy inprovement in agriculture, annually increasing for numbers of years. I do not mention our obligations to the numerous smelting-houses for lead, as they have been established among us, during time immemorial.
QUAY
I REMEMBER a quay beneath the
Mostyn
collieries, built by the grandfather of the present Sir
Roger Mostyn,
at which small vessels used to take in their lading.
ENGINE.
And I also remember on the shore the walls which supported the wheels and other machinery of a water-engine for draining the colliery. Of this I have a drawing by Mr.
Dinely,
whom at p. 54, I have related to have visited
Mostyn,
in the year 1684.
THIS engine seems to have been formed on the model of some of those used in the
German
mines in the time of
George Agricola.
See the representation of several from p. 148 to p. 158, in his Treatise
de Re Metallica.
This celebrated author florished in 1550.
Anent Water Wheel
Mostyn
THE beds of coal dip from one yard in four, to two in three;
COAL.
they immerge between the estuary of the
Dee,
are discovered again on the south-side of
Wiral,
in
Cheshire,
as if corresponding with some of the
Flintshire.
They remain as yet lost on the northern part of the same hundred, but are found a third time in vast quantities in
Lancashire,
on the opposite side of the
Mersey.
Their extent from west to east, in this country, may be reckoned from the parish of
Llanasa,
through those of
Whiteford, Holywell, Flint, Northop,
and
Hawarden.
Our coal is of different qualities, suited to the variety of demands of the several sorts of founderies in the neighborhood. Sometimes is also found the peacock-coal of Dr.
Plot,
remarkable for the beauty of its surface, glossed over with the changeable brilliancy of the colors of that beautiful bird.
CAN
L C
L.
THE beds of canal are inferior indeed in elegance to those of
Lancashire,
but greatly coveted by the lime-burners.
COALS were known to the
Britons,
before the arrival of the
Romans,
who had not even a name for them; yet
Theophrastus
describes them very accurately, at lest three centuries before the time of
Caesar;
and even says that they were used by workers in brass. It is highly probable that the
Britons
made use of them. It is certain they had a primitive name for this fossil, that of
Glo;
and as a farther proof, I may add, that a flint-ax, the instrument of the
aborigines
of our island, was discovered stuck in certain veins of coal, exposed to day in
Craig y Parc,
in
Monmouthshire;
and in such a situation as to render it very accessible to the unexperienced natives, who, in early times, were incapable of pursuing the veins to any great depths. The artless smelters of antient times made use of wood only in their operations, as we find among the reliques of their hearths.
FREE-STONE.
AT a short distance from the shale appear the beds of free-stone, first on the side of the dingle
Nant y bi,
and from thence above the coal, terminating in the cliffs in the parts of
Tre Bychton
and
Tre Mostyn,
which are washed by the sea.
BURNT ROCK.
IN the township of
Tre Mostyn,
near the shore, is a cliff of a very singular appearance, looking like the semi-vitrified lava of a volcano. The stratum is in front universally changed in its disposition, and run into a horrible mass of red and black; often porous, in all parts very hard. In it is a hollow, a vein in which was lodged the pyritical matter that took fire, which continued burning by its own
phlogiston,
(see Bishop
Watson,
i. 167, to p. 200.) and caused the phenomenon. Its fury chiefly raged towards the front, and diminished gradually in the internal part of the bed; which, at some distance within land, appears only discolored. The stratum is a sand-stone of the common sort (
Da Costa's Fossils,
133.) I am informed, that these appearances are not uncommon in
Derbyshire;
and that Mr.
Ferber,
an ingenious
Swede,
and Mr.
Whiteburst,
our ingenious countryman, have taken notice of them in their writings.
I SHALL here introduce the mention of damps found in collieries, which are not unfrequent,
A FIRE-DAMP.
and sometimes act with amazing fury, and fatal consequences. There are two species, the suffocating, and the fire. The last is very rare in the lead-mines, unless in those parts where the
shale,
or stone attendant on coal, begins. The first kills instantaneously, by its mephitic vapor, and is a disaster common to neglected vaults, and draw-wells. The other is inflammable, and burns and destroys in a dreadful manner, as the colliers, through negligence in not setting fire to the vapor before it gets to a head, do often experience. The most tremendous instance was on
February
3d, 1675, in a coal-work at
Mostyn,
which I shall relate from the
Philosophical Transactions;
and so conclude the account of our mineral concerns.
THE damp had been perceived for some time before, resembling fiery blades, darting and crossing each other from both sides of the pit. The usual methods were taken to free the pit from this evil. After a cessation of work for three days, the steward, thinking to fetch a compass about from the eye of the pit that came from the day, and to bring wind by a secure way along with him, that, if it burst again, it may be done without danger of men's lives, went down, and took two men along with him, which served his turn for this purpose. He was no sooner down, but the rest of the workmen that had wrought there, disdaining to be left behind in such a time of danger, hasted down after them; and one of them, more indiscreet than the rest, went headlong with his candle over the eye of the damp pit, at which the damp immediately catched, and flew up, to and fro, over all the hollows of the work, with a great wind, and a continual fire; and, as it went, keeping a mighty great roaring noise on all sides.
THE men, at first appearance of it, had most of them fallen upon their faces, and hid themselves as well as they could, in the loose slack, or small coal, and under the shelter of posts; yet nevertheless, the damp returning out of the hollows, and drawing towards the eye of the pit, it came up with incredible force; the wind and fire tore most of their clothes off their backs, and singed what was left, burning their faces and hands; the blasts falling so sharp on their skin, as if they had been whipt with cords. Some that had less shelter were carried fifteen or sixteen yards from their first station, and beaten against the roof of the coal, and sides of the posts, and lay afterwards a good while senseless, so that it was long before they could hear or find one another. As it drew up to the day-pit, it caught one of the men along with it that was next to the eye; and up it comes, with such a terrible crack, not unlike, but more shrill, than a cannon, that was heard fifteen miles off, with the wind, and such a pillar of smoke as darkened all the sky over-head for a good while. The brow of the hill above the pit was eighteen yards high, and on it grew trees of fourteen or fifteen yards long; yet the man's body, and other things from the pit, were seen above the tops of the highest trees, at lest 100 yards. On this pit stood a horse-engine, of substantial timber, and strong iron-work; on which lay a trunk, or barrel, for winding the rope up and down, of above 1000 pounds weight; it was then in motion, one bucket going down, and the other coming up full of water. This trunk was fastened to that frame with locks and bolts of iron; yet it was thrown up, and carried a good way from the pit; and pieces of it, though bound with iron hoops and strong nails, blown into the woods about; so likewise were the two buckets; and the ends of the rope, after the buckets were blown from them, stood awhile upright in the air like pikes, and then came leisurely drilling down. The whole frame of the engine was stirred and moved out of its place; and those men's clothes, caps, and hats, that escaped, were afterwards found shattered to pieces, and thrown amongst the woods a great way from the pit.
ANOTHER of these damps happened in the same lands within my memory. In the year 1751,
ANOTHER IN 1751.
one man was beat to pieces in the bottom of the pit. Two others were taken up alive, but died soon after; and two others survived, but were most dreadfully burnt: and one who is now living, remains a dreadful evidence of the effects of the damp. All his fingers burnt off, and his visage terribly disfigured.
I SHALL here describe agitations of the earth derived from other causes, which,
EARTHQUAKES.
dreadful as they have been in distant countries, have here occasioned little more than a momentary alarm. I have at this house felt four shocks of the earthquake. I shall relate their effects, from the
Philosophical Transactions,
in which they are recorded. On
April
2d, 1750, between the hours of ten and eleven at night, I was greatly alarmed with a violent shock of an earthquake. I, who was in bed, was frequently moved up and down; and the bed, having castors, was removed some small space from its proper situation.
DURING the shock, a great noise was heard in the air; and, some nights before, lights were seen in the sky; such as were previous to the earthquake in town.
I HAVE summed up the remainder in a letter to Sir
Joseph Banks,
baronet, K. B. which had the honor of being read before the ROYAL SOCIETY, on
January
25th, following, and afterwards printed in the
Transactions,
vol. lxxi. p. 193.
Downing,
Dec.
12, 1781.
Dear Sir,
It is very singular, that in three days after my return home, I should be reminded of my promise by a repetition of the very phenomenon on which I had engaged to write to you: for on
Saturday
last, between four and five in the evening, we were alarmed with two shocks of an earthquake; a slight one, immediately followed by another very violent. It seemed to come from the north-east, and was preceded by the usual noise. At present I cannot trace it farther than
Holywell.
THE earthquake preceding this was on the 29th of
August,
1780, about a quarter before nine in the morning. I was forewarned of it by a rumbling noise, not unlike the coming of a great waggon into my court-yard. Two shocks immediately followed, which were strong enough to terrify us. They came from the north-west; were felt in
Anglesea,
at
Caernarvon, Llanrwst,
in the vale of
Clwyd
south of
Denbigh,
at this house, and in
Holywell;
but I could not discover that their force extended any farther.
THE next, in this retrograde way of enumerating these phenomena, was on the 8th
September,
1775, about a quarter before ten at night. The noise was such as preceded the former; and the shock so violent as to shake the bottles and glasses on the table round which myself and some company were sitting. This seemed to come from the east. I see in the
Gentleman's Magazine
of that year, that this shock extended to
Shropshire,
and quite to
Bath,
and to
Swansea
in
South Wales.
THE earliest earthquake I remember here was on the 10th of
April,
1750. It has the honor of being recorded in the
Philosophical Transactions;
therefore I shall not trouble you with the repetition of what I have said.
PERMIT me to observe, that I live near a mineral country, in a situation between lead-mines and coal-mines; in a sort of neutral tract, about a mile distant from the first, and half a mile from the last. On the strictest inquiry I cannot discover that the miners or colliers were ever sensible of the shocks under ground: nor have they ever perceived, when the shocks in question have happened, any falls of the loose and shattery strata, in which the last especially work; yet, at the same time, the earthquakes have had violence sufficient to terrify the inhabitants of the surface.
TO this observation I may add, that no eruptions of water were ever observed to follow the shocks; no water from the vast reservoirs of that element, formed in the deserted pits, which have often burst through the hollow which contained them, and more than once drowned the unhappy colliers who have been working beneath.
I HAVE seen in prints an observation of some gentleman learned in earthquakes, that the cause of those I have mentioned, which leave the shattery strata of the coal-mines unaffected, to have been electricity, which in these instances moved equally and gently, so as not to cause any concussion, or to go perhaps far below the surface, so that they leave the worked depths totally untouched.
NONE of these earthquakes were local; for, excepting the first, all may be traced to very remote parts. The weather was remarkable still at the time of every earthquake I have felt.
I remain with true regard, &c.
T. P.
QUADRUPEDS.
THE quadrupeds of this parish are common to many parts of
England.
Yet I shall give a catalogue of them in our antient tongue, and affix to them those in the
English.
1. IN respect to the
March, Ceffyl,
the horse, the
caseg
or mare,
dispaidd-farch
or gelding, there are abundance in our parish, used chiefly in the carriage of coal, and our mineral wealth; but as to fine large black horses used in the coach, and by the richer farmers, scarcely any are bred in our parish, but numbers are bought from those of
Northop, Mold,
and
Hope,
in our county, which are far from a disgrace to the gentleman's equipage.
2. THE
mûl,
or mule, is very rare with us; but the
3.
Asyn,
or ass, is in great plenty, used by the poor to carry coal, to ease themselves of part of the expence of turnpike. It formerly was applied for the carriage of ore; but since the improvement in our roads, has been quite lain aside for that purpose.
4. THE
tarw,
bull;
buwch,
cow;
ych, eidion,
ox;
llo,
calf, or whatsoever goes under the general adopted name of
cattal,
or more properly
gwarthag,
or cattle, produces nothing worthy of note in
Whiteford
parish. Neither cheese nor butter for sale made from their milk, excepting for family consumption. There is only one ox-team in the parish; but that is a remarkably fine one. It is the property of Sir
Roger Mostyn,
and used on his noble demesn, which is kept in admirable order. I must not conceal, that Sir
Roger
would be the best farmer in the parish, if he was permitted to have his own way: but no one can be ignorant of the tenacity of servants to old customs, and the difficulty of overcoming ingrafted obstinacy.
5. THE
hwrdd, maharen,
or ram;
dafad,
ewe;
oen,
lamb. Sheep in general are not greatly cultivated in our parish: many indeed are turned out by the farmers on
Tegen-mountain,
but the gentry chiefly buy their stock for the table from
Llangollen
and other places.
6.
Bwch,
the he-goat;
gafr,
the female;
myn,
the kid, are very little favored, even in the county at large. I keep a few on my mountain
Glol,
for the sake of any invalids who may want their restoring milk.
7.
Hydd,
the buck or fallow-deer;
ewig,
the doe;
elain,
the fawn,
Br. Zool.
i. No 7. are kept in
Mostyn
park, and give a venison of uncommonly good flavor.
8.
Baedd,
the boar;
hwch,
sow;
mochyn,
hog, have nothing in the breed particularly worthy notice.
9. OUR
ci,
dog; and
gast,
bitch; are under the same predicament.
10.
Llwynog,
dog-fox;
llwynoges,
bitch-fox,
Br. Zool.
i. No 11; are too frequent.
11.
Cath-goed,
the wild or wood-cat,
Br. Zool.
i. No 12. has been frequently seen in our woods, but I believe are now extirpated. The last which was killed was about eight years ago.
12.
Pry-llwyd, pry-penbrith,
the badger,
Br. Zool.
i. No 13. An animal found in our parish: but neither here nor in other parts of the kingdom a common animal.
13.
Ffwl-bard,
polecat, fitchet,
Br. Zool.
i. No 14. Common and destructive.
14.
Bela-graig,
the martin,
Br. Zool.
i. No 15. The kind intended is the martin with a white throat, a sweet-scented, elegant animal, which in my younger days I have kept tame. They inhabited our woods. The last time in which I have known one taken, was about fifteen years ago.
15.
Bronwen,
the weesel,
Br. Zool.
i. No 17. Not unfrequent.
16.
Carlwm,
stoat or ermine,
Br. Zool.
i. No 18. More common than the former. I have seen this animal more than once in my grounds, wholly changed (tail excepted) to a snowy whiteness; and also partly white, partly brown.
17.
Dyfr-gi,
the otter,
Br. Zool.
i. No 19. This animal is seldom seen in this parish. It is certain that they have passed to and from
Cheshire,
over the channel, at low water.
18.
Ysgyfarnog,
the hare,
Br. Zool.
i. No 20.
19.
Gwiwair,
the squirrel,
Br. Zool.
i. No 23. This elegant animal enlivens our woods in numbers.
20.
Pathew,
the dormouse,
Br. Zool.
i. No 24. Very rare in our parish.
21.
Llygoden Ffrengig,
the black rat,
Br. Zool.
i. No 25.
Ffrengig
signifies
French,
as if it had been imported from
France;
which originally it might have been, with every animal we possess, before the separation of
Gaul
from
Britain,
by the convulsion which formed the Streights of
Dover
See more in my
Introduction to the Arctic Zoology,
p. iii.iv.v.
. Whether our ancestors had any tradition of its being of a later importation, (as the distinction might imply) is unknown to me. They have long since been extirpated by the
Brown Rat.
The last I have seen in this parish, was at my old house at
Bychton.
They are still found in our capital: the specimen of one taken there is preserved in the collection of
British
animals near the
Pantheon.
22. THE
Brown Rat
is a modern importation, and has no name in the
British.
It is a pest to all countries it has settled in, (see
Br. Zool.
i. No 26, and
Hist. Quadr.
ii. No 375.)
23.
Llygoden y dwr,
water rat,
Br. Zool.
i. No 27. Once very common in the meadow below my house.
24.
Llygoden ganoleg, Llygoden y maes,
field mouse.
Br. Zool.
i. No 28.
25.
Llygoden,
common mouse, No 30, has sometimes been found white in our parish.
26.
Llygoden gwtta'r maes,
short-tailed mouse, No 31.
27.
Llygoden goch, Chwistlen, Llyg,
shrew, No 32.
28.
Wadd, Twrch daear,
mole, No 34. Sometimes white in my grounds.
29.
Draenog, Draen y coed,
urchin, or hedge-hog, No 35— humbly petitions mankind to desist from all farther persecutions; declaring themselves innocent of the various charges brought against them, particularly for that of sucking cows; resting their a
quittal on this simple plea—the impossibility. They could not effect it, by reason of the smallness of their mouths; nor the cows permit, by reason of the sharpness of their teeth.
30.
Moel-
n,
seal, No 3. By storms one was once taken on our shore.
31.
Ystlum,
the common bat, No 41.
DS.
THE
Buzzard
and the
Kestrils
annually build in the tall pines near my house. I believe them to be the lest noxious of the rapacious tribes, I therefore spare them; they animate the air, as well as other birds do the woods. Both feed principally on mice. The evolutions of the last, and their beautiful suspension in the air, are pleasing spectacles, and contribute to grace the scenery.
THE owl tribe, in my opinion, do not render night hideous. Their hootings, and their other notes, break finely into the stillness of the evening; and their f
rm and sapient looks, are a singular variation among the feathered tribe. The white owl, that useful species, is gratefully spared, as it is most particularly inimical to mice. Its chase after the different kinds of field-mice is very amusing, while it skims along the meadows. The beauty of its pl
mage is admirable; let that be the excuse for giving the figure of a bird that is not extremely rare.
THE WHITE OWL.
usus o
atur
. Published
THE
long-tailed tit-mouse, Br. Zool.
i. No 166, with its numerous brood, passes annually through my garden. They flit from tree to tree, as if on their progress to some other place, never making any halt.
THE
Nut-cracker, Br. Zool.
ii. App. tab. iii.
Latham,
i. p. 400, is an accidental visitant of this island. One was killed in the garden at
Mostyn
in 1753. On the continent it extends from
Germany
to
Kamtschatka,
and inhabits the vast forests of pines. It also nestles on lofty towers, and, like the jackdaw, is very noisy. In size it is about equal to that bird. Its colour is rusty brown, prettily marked with triangular spots of pure white. It feeds on nuts (which it breaks with its bill) also on fir-cones, acorns, berries, and insects. Its bill is as strong as that of the wood-pecker, which enables it to pierce the bodies of trees, and make great havock among the timber.
VAST numbers of water-fowls frequent our shores in the winter time, chiefly ducks and wigeons. In very severe weather, variety of others emigrate here; but none excepting those which accidentally visit every other maritime part of
Great Britain.
I SHALL conclude this mention of the birds with an account of a singular accident discovered in a turkey which was killed for my table. The cook in plucking it found herself much wounded in the fingers. On examining the cause, it was found, that from the thigh-bone of the bird issued a short upright process, and to that grew a large and strong talon, with a sharp and crooked claw, exactly resembling that of a bird of prey. Every head was set to work to explain the cause of this wondrous phenome
n. The effects of fright, of conceit on the minds of the female, human and brute, in the state of pregnancy, was then considered, and all the various instances of monstrous productions. I have heard of a duckling, which, to the surprize of a g
ave family,
ad
from its n
st with a long serpentine tail instead of its natural rump. This was readily resolved into a fright the mother-duck took, at finding, when it went once to lay, a snake coiled up in the nest, as was a real fact. I consulted the learned, but found the doctrine of terror and fancy totally exploded. I then consulted the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at
Brobdingnag;
and, to my inexpressible satisfaction, found that the opinion of that illustrious body coincided with my own: so I put down this uncommon accident as no more than a
Relpium Sca
cath,
or, in the modern phrase, a
lusus naturae.
FISHES.
THE tides recede here so very f
r as to deny us any variety of fish. The species most plentiful are of the flat kind, such as flounders, a few pla
ce, small soles, and rays. Dabs visit us in
November. Smear Dabs, Br. Zool.
iii. No 106, also visit our sea; and in the last year was taken that rare species of flounder the
whiff,
the figure of which is given in the
British Zoology,
No 111.
THAT turbots of a large size are found in our neighborhood, is evident; twice in my life I had one brought to me which weighed twenty-two pounds. There have been a few others taken here of the same size, but the instances are rare.
VARIOUS other fishes are taken off our coast accidentally.
ANGEL FISH.
Among them is the Fishing Frog, or Angler,
Br. Zool.
iii. No 51. And once a large
Angel
or
Monk (Br. Zool.
iii. No 39.) fish got into my fisherman's nets. The man was very poor, I therefore thought he might get a little money by exhibiting it at
C
ester.
I gave him a few instructions, and drew up for him a curious advertisement; but the rogue went beyond his instructions, for as soon as he arrived in the city, he sent the bellman about to notify his arrival, and that of his wonderful monster; signifying that Squire
Pennant
had consulted all his books, and could not find the like. His success was great, for he got ten pounds by the curiosity of the good people of
Chester.
When the smell grew intolerable, he sold it to another poor person, who stuffed the skin, and distended it to a most dreadful form, and carried it to
Worcester,
and the internal parts of
England,
where I doubt not his success was equal to that of poor
Thomas H
d
field.
'
Advertisement.
'TO THE CURIOUS.
July,
1761.
To be seen at the upper
White Bear,
in
Bridge-Street,
in this
City, (now in its Road to the ROYAL SOCIETY) THE STUPENDOUS SEA MONSTER,
Taken alive on the Coasts of North Wales.
IT is the most amazing prodigy the great deep ever produced, being headed like a bull-dog, mouthed like the ravenous sha
ke, and armed with a four-fold row of teeth. It has a breast like the human kind, wings like those of an eagle, and a tail very like that of a fish. It could fly, walk, and swim, and was so fierce as to keep three men at bay for two hours, before it could be taken.
THIS amazing monster has given the greatest satisfaction to all that have viewed it; and may now be seen at the small expence of three-pence.
N. B.
—THE Proprietor of this wonder is willing to oblige persons, by bringing it to their houses, on paying double price.
STING RAY.
THAT rare species of fish the
Sting Ray, Br. Zool.
iii. No 38, is sometimes taken in our channel. It is greatly dreaded by our fishermen, on account of the dangerous spine issuing from the tail, with which it might give a mortal wound. From the
British Zoology,
I shall add, that the terror of its weapon supplied the antients with many tremendous fables relating to it.
Pliny, A
ian,
and
Oppian,
have given it a venom that affects even the inanimate creation. Trees that are struck by it instantly lose their verdure, and perish, and rocks themselves are incapable of resisting the potent poison.
THE enchantress
Circe
armed her son with a spear, headed with the spine of the
trygon,
a species of sting-ray, as the most irresistible weapon she could furnish him with, and with which he afterwards committed parricide, unintentionally, on his father
Ulysses.
But we need not dive into antiquity for the fatal application of the spine of some of the ray genus. The inhabitants of certain parts of
South America,
and of some of the new-discovered islands in the
Pacific Ocean,
still head their spears with the spines of the congenerous kinds, which prove far more tremendous than those pointed with iron, in use among the
European
warriors.
THE
Herring
in this sea is extremely desultory.
HERRING.
At times they appear in vast shoals, even as high as
Chester;
arrive in the month of
November,
and continue till
February;
and are followed by multitudes of small vessels, which enliven the channel. Great quantities are taken, and salted; but are generally shotten and meagre. The last time in which they appeared here in quantities was in the year 1766 and 1767.
A few
Anchovies, Br. Zool.
iii. No 163,
ANCHOVY.
have been taken off this parish, particularly in 1769.
Ray,
in his Philosophical Letters, p. 47, saw some at
Chester
in the year 1669.
THE
Argentine, Br. Zool.
ii. No 156, a very rare fish, not much above two inches long, has also been taken in our channel.
In my father's younger days,
Cod-fish,
of considerable sizes, and in vast quantities, were taken on the back of the
Hyle
sands, but have deserted the place beyond my memory.
THE
Weever, Br. Zool.
iii. No 71, is very common here,
WEEVER.
and equally dreaded in these parts as they are on the different shores of
England. Pliny,
lib. ix. c. 27, 48; and
Aelian,
lib. ii. c. 50 mentions this species, its dorsal spine, and its dangerous effects, under the name of
Draco;
and
Pliny
again under that of
Araneus.
OUR shore is not productive of any variety of
crustacea,
or of shells. We have the
cancer maenas,
or the common crab; and the
cancer crangon,
or shrimp. The last is here so peculiarly delicious, that had
Apicius
failed from
Minturnae
to the
Flintshire
shores, to have feasted on them, at he did to those of the
Sinus Hipponensis,
in
Africa,
to indulge on the congenerous
locustae
Rondel. Pisc.
p. 535.
of that sea, he would not instantly have returned indignant, as he did from thence, at finding himself deceived in the report of their excellency, but remained on our coast, wallowing in epicurism the whole of the happy season.
AS to shells, we have only one species, we can call new, the
trochus ulvae, Br. Zool.
iv. No 12
. tab. lxxxvi. fig. 120. It is very small, not exceeding the size of a grain of wheat, consists of four spires, the first swelling: the color deep brown. These are found in great numbers, lodged in the
ulva lactuca,
on our shores.
PLANTS.
AMONG the rarer plants of our parish, are the
lithospermium arvense, Syst. Pl.
i. 385. Corn Gromwell, or bastard Alkanet,
Gerard,
610.
Anchusa sempervirens, Syst. Pl.
i. 389. Never-dying borage,
Gerard,
797.
Phellandrium aquaticum, Syst. Pl.
701.
Flor. Scot.
i. 163. Common water hemlock,
Gerard,
1063.
Campanula latifolia, Syst. Pl.
1458. Giant throat-wort,
Gerard,
448.
Chlora perfoliata, Syst. Pl.
ii. 161.
Flor. Scot.
p. 200. Yellow centorie,
Gerard,
547. Elegant, and rather scarce.
Trifolium fragiferum, Syst. Pl.
559. Strawberry trefoil,
Gerard,
1208.
Tragopogon pratense, Syst. Pl.
iii. 611.
Flor. Scot.
426. Purple goat's beard,
Gerard,
735.
THE Rev. Mr.
Lightfoot
discovered in our dingles, in the month of
May,
a variety of the
Anenome Nemorosa, Syst. Pl.
ii. 637. with the leaves dotted on the back like the fructifications of a polypody: precisely corresponding with the figure of a supposed fern, in Mr.
Ray
's
Synopsis,
124, after No 24; and fig. i. tab. iii. at p. 128.
THE
arenaria saxatilis, Syst. Pl.
ii. 364. is found on our mountain in plenty, and chears the ground with its white flowers, in
May.
I do not find it in Mr.
Hudson,
nor any of our
British
florists. It is found in
Sibiria, Fl. Sib.
iv. 157. tab. 63; and in
Switzerland, Haller,
p. 383, No 867.
THE
geranium phaeum, Syst. Pl.
iii. 32. has also been discovered in the hanging wood above my garden.
THE picturesque dingle
Nant-y-bi
abounds with what the botanists name the
cryptogamous plants.
The idea of cryptogamy inspired
Timaeus
with ideas of loves of other kind; and makes our
Nant
the tender scene of courtship for all the nymphs and swains of
Whiteford
parish, which he candidly admits does always terminate in honest matrimony in the parish church. I leave to the learned in
German,
to peruse his very graphical account
The learned
J. C. Timaeus,
of the
Lunebourgh
College, at
Hamburgh,
did me the honor of translating into
German
my
Literary Life,
and illustrated it with notes; and gives a letter from Doctor
John Reinhold Forster,
and another from my friend
Zimmerman,
containing certain important anecdotes,
viz.
That I dine at one, drink constantly two glasses of ale and two of wine after dinner, and then take a nap in my elbow-chair.—I confess the ale, and its quantity: but as to the wine, I do not limit myself but by the bounds of temperance. My hour of dining is half an hour past two; and, excepting in the very depth of winter, I constantly take a walk after I rise from table. As to the nap, which may sometimes surprize me, let me only plead—
Aliquando bonus dormitat, &c. &c.
. Perhaps the quotation of two lines from Dr.
Darwin
's elegant poem, book ii. line 361, 'On the Loves of the Plants,' may prove full as pleasing. He makes
Muscus,
one of the classes in question, thus address itself, just in the manner our amorous couples may be supposed to do:
Rise, let us mark how bloom the awaken'd groves,
And 'mid the banks of roses
hide
our loves.
THE rarest plants of the dingle, of the cryptogamous kind, are the
Polypodium creopteris, Lin. Soc. Trans.
i. 181.
Bryum extinctorium, Fl. Scot.
ii. p. 718.
Dillen. Musc.
tab. 95. fig. 8. So called from having a membranaceous calyptra hanging lower than the capsule, like an extinguisher upon a candle.
Bryum callistomum, Dicks. Fasc.
iii. tab. 10.
Jungermannia ciliaris. Hudson Fl. Angl.
i. 515.
Lichen concentricus, Lin. Soc. Trans.
ii. 284. Discovered by my excellent botanical assistant, the Reverend
Hugh Davies Aber, Caernarvonshire.
Lichen quercinus, Dicks. Fasc.
i. p. 9.
Agaricus piperatus, Fl. Scot.
ii. p. 1013.
Fl. Angl.
i. 613. A most acrid fungus, and the most suspicious of the whole class; yet is eaten in great quantities by the
Russians.
They fill large vessels with them in the autumn season, or pickle them with salt, and eat them in the ensuing Lent.
A DREADFUL POISON.
Haller
gives a dreadful account of the fatal effects.
The maladies they occasion are a swelling of the abdomen, restlessness, heart-burns, vomitings, colics, difficult breathings, hiccoughs, melancholy, diarrhoeas, accompanied with a
tenesmus,
and gangrenes. To which dreadful complaints, the acrimonious quality of some
fungi
brings on besides inflammations in the mouth, with bloody lotions and bloody stools. Lastly, it is certain that some species have an intoxicating quality, followed often by deliriums, tremblings, watchings, faintings, apoplexies, cold sweats, and death itself. Some have fancied that skilful cookery would deprive them of their bad effects, and that oils would sheath their noxious qualities; but these are fatal deceits, not to be trusted. Notwithstanding this, nothing can prevail on the northern nations from depriving themselves of so favorite a food.
Agaricus deliciosus.
Orange agaric.
Hudson Flor. Angl.
ii. 613.
Boletus suberosus.
Cork boletus.
Hudson Flor. Angl.
ii. 624.
Flor. Scot.
ii. p. 1032. So called from its being light, tough, and spongy like cork, and is sometimes cut and shaped by the country people, and used as corks for their bottles; but must not be suffered to touch any liquid, for moisture soon renders them soft and useless.
Helvella mitra.
Curled helvella.
Hudson Flor. Angl. Fl. Scot.
ii. p. 1047, is nearly allied to the
Phallus esculentus,
and like that is esteemed to be of the eatable kind.
THE
peziza
described by
Ray, Syn. Stirp. Brit.
i. 18. No 5. is found near my house; it is a fungus of the cup-form, and of a most brilliant scarlet color.
THE waters of this parish are very numerous,
WATERS.
as is the case of all mountanous tracts. Here indeed we must confine them to the steep slope that falls rapidly to the sea. It abounds with little springs, which accumulating in their course, form streams of power sufficient to turn some corn-mills of considerable size.
FFYNNON OSWALD.
THE largest independent rivulet is that which gushes from
Ffynnon Oswald,
or the well of
Oswald,
in the township of
Merton Ychlan.
It takes its name from the
Saxon
monarch, martyr, and faint,
Oswald
king of the
Northumbrians,
who was defeated and slain on
October
5th, 642, near
Oswestry,
by the pagan
Penda;
king of the
Mer
ians,
who hung his limbs on stakes dispersed over the field, as trophies of his victory. Some of the tradition reached our parish: for there is near to the well a certain field called
A
lod Oswald,
or
Oswald's limb,
as if one of them had found its way to this place. (For a farther account of the legend, I refer to article
Oswestry,
vol. i. p. 258, edit. 1784, of my
Tour in Waies.
) This stream divides the parish of
Whiteford,
for a certain way, from that of
Holywell.
BRYN-Y-GROES.
POSSIBLY
St. Oswald
had near his well a cross; for not remote, on an eminence named
Bryn-y-Groes,
or
the Hill of the Cross,
stood one of those marks of piety, of which still remains the shaft.
WHITEFORD STREAM.
THE stream of most utility rises from a spring a little beyond the village of
Whiteford.
It runs by my house, and is no small ornament to my ground. It turns my two mills, which, with much patriotism and little wisdom, I erected. The first is near the
Gwibnant
or
Wibnant,
and made in form of a chapel. My great folly is about half a mile lower: is an excellent mill, and does much business for the lessee. This stream is much augmented by another, which rises at a place called
Saith Ffynnan,
or
the Seven Wells,
and murmurs through the romantic
Nant-y-bi,
and unites with it at the
Wibnant.
It concludes its course near
Llanerch-y-môr
smelting-house, to which it is of great use, by setting in motion some stampers for comminuting the slags before they are committed to the hearth for the extraction of the remaining lead.
THE last stream runs through
Felyn Blwm,
or
the lead-mill,
FELYN BLWM.
a great romantic dingle which divides this parish from that of
Llan-Asaph.
Near its fall into the sea is a considerable mill, the property of Sir
Roger Mostyn.
This dingle probably takes its name from the number of antient smelting-hearths for lead found in it, in use in the primaeval artless times of smelting.
ALL our dingles run parallel to each other,
NATURE OF THE DINGLES.
and begin at some distance from the first or steepest descent from the mountain. The sides of all are cloathed with oaks, and each has its rill at the bottom. These great ravines, I may call them, were evidently formed on the running down of the waters of the deluge on its subsidence, when they found their way to what the ALMIGHTY determined should ever remain a circum-ambient sea.
NUMBERS of the small springs which arise in the lower part of the parish shew symptoms of the internal contents.
CHALYBEATE SPRINGS.
In the neighborhood of the coal, they are covered with a dirty yellow ochreous scum; and are more or less chalybeate. One, which rises before my house, is strongly so, and proved very beneficial to the only person I know who made a fair use of it.
IN respect to the husbandry of this parish;
HUSBANDRY.
it may be divided into several parts. I shall first pay attention to the higher or the mountanous. That tract is very extensive,
MOUNTAIN GROUND.
covered in general with heath mixed with coarse grass. The climate very cold in comparison of the lower parts. We often find during winter a severe frost reign there, when the ground has been quite soft, and the air mild, in the lower parts.
THE soil in general a poor loam, and in many parts very thin; in others, the lime-stone pervades the stratum, and forms large tracts of rock. There are certain parts fit for agriculture, as has been found by the surreptitious inclosures made in a few parts, which yield corn, such as barley and oats, in a kindly manner. I wish experiments were made of planting part; which, if put under the care of a woodman, might be a national benefit, as well as a private one to the lord of the manor. The neglect of appointing woodmen would render the planting of no effect, by reason of the variety of trespasses; as we free-holders of the lower parts, who make our woods the glory of our estates, do daily and cruelly experience.
OUR mountains support some black-cattle; the greater part of which are left out the whole year to take their chance. Still the high country is a nursery. Many are sent lean to market, and drove to more genial soils. Most of our farmers fatten cattle, and either sell them to the butchers for the
Holywell
market, or to those of
Chester
and
Leverpool.
SHEEP.
THE sheep are numerous. They likewise are left to themselves; and become in hard weather great nusances by their trespasses on the cultivated lands of us low-landers. As may be imagined, they produce little wool. Their fleeces are coarse, yet of that a small quantity is sold into
Merionethshire,
and the rest manufactured at home, and made either into cloth for the country people, or into flannel for the women, or knit into stockings, all for home consumption. In respect to mutton, much is brought to market from the mountains, but that is only during the vigorous part of the summer, and after the frost or rainy season: but the greatest part of the sheep bought by the gentry for the table, is purchased at the distant country fairs.
NUMBERS of hogs are bred in our parish;
HOGS.
and numbers are sold at the fairs, and driven to distant parts.
THE soil of the lower part of the parish is in general a very stiff clay, which continues quite to the edge of the cliff,
SOILS.
CLAY.
above the shore. In many places are spots of gravel, but of very small extent. We have also beds of pure sand, but that useful article is in most parts scarce.
FROM the
Rhewl
to
Avon Marsh Siambr
is a thin vein of very rich marle, saponaceous to the touch; prettily veined with red, grey, and white. It is got in too small quantities for use. On the edge of the mountain, especially on the tenement of
Plâs Captain,
is a larger vein of a coarser kind. The tenant,
Thomas Blore,
a
Cheshire
man, conversant in this species of manure, has made a judicious application of it on his farm, and as long as it lasted reaped the reward of his industry.
BEYOND the space between the boundary and the mountain is a tract of light soil, which may be said to begin under
Kelyn,
LICHTER SOIL.
in the township of
Uchlan,
and continue in a direct line by
Tyddin Ycha,
to
Plas Ycha,
in the township of
Mostyn.
This is extremely well adapted for that useful root the turnep; and it has been tried with success. But the farmer is obliged to give up the cultivation, by reason of the depredations the poor make on the crops. They will steal the turneps before his face, laugh at him when he fumes at them; and ask him, how he can be in such a rage about a few turneps? As a magistrate, I never had a complaint made before me against a turnep-stealer. Our farmers, and our coal-adventurers, have not yet 'plucked the old woman out of their hearts,' for the last suffer likewise in a great degree in their trade, yet hardly complain. Incredible as it may appear, numbers of them are in fear of being cursed at St.
Aelian
's well, (see my
Tour in Wales,
vol. ii. p. 337) and suffer the due penalty of their superstition.
AT uncertain seasons clouds of ring-doves, wood-pigeons or queests, winter-migrants from
Scandinavia,
have visited our turnep-fields, and done no small damage to the crops.
POTATOES.
EVERY cottage has its garden; and if that is not large enough, any landlord or neighbor allots him a piece in one of his fields, for the purpose of a potatoe-garden, and this spot is prepared and manured by the landlord, and for which not more than 18
d.
per rood is demanded. The last comfort is not of long date, for I can remember the time in which it was almost unknown to the poorer people; neither did the rich extend the culture beyond the garden. How singular does appear to us the following quotation from old
Gerard,
p. 928, who speaks of it as
being also a meate for pleasure, equall in goodnesse and wholesomenesse vnto the same, being either rosted in the embers, or boyled and eaten with oyle, vinegar, and pepper, or dressed any other way by the hand of some cunning in cookerie.
—At present our gardeners, and a few others of the parish, raise sufficient to supply their neighbors, and to carry for sale to the adjacent market. The stiff soil of the parish is unfavorable to the culture. If we want potatoes in any quantities, we must import them from the vaie of
Conwy,
from
Cheshire,
and
Lancashire.
In the present time of scarcity, (
May
1795) the cultivation has been unusually encreased in
Whiteford
parish. Before this season, I never raised more than was necessary for the use of my family: this year I increased my potatoe-ground many-fold, even before I had read the speech made by Sir
John Sinclair.
Thousands have done the same in a similar state of ignorance, some from benevolence, some from view of gain, and others on the principle of self-preservation. I may predict also, from the former motives, that wheat will be in the next season sown fourfold. Admonitions surely are unnecessary. In the next year we may rejoice in plenty, even in superfluity, and have the happiness of seeing the poor man exult in our success.—But the
halcyon
days are arriving fast. Let us comfort ourselves with the fair prospect before us, and devoutly pray for the accomplishment of those hopes delivered to us in the following prophetic effusions:
Let us cut off those legal bars
Which crush the culture of our fertile isle!
Were they remov'd, unbounded wealth would flow,
Our wastes would then with varied produce smile,
And
England
soon a second
Eden
prove?
WHEAT grows remarkably well in our clayey land;
WHEAT.
it is the red kind, that the farmer prefers for seed; it is the hardiest, and the surest of finding sale; the white and the grey being in our country less in request. We raise much more than the parish would consume. The rest is exported to
Leverpool,
to supply the county of
Lancashire
with bread, that vast county not being productive of much wheat. The demand, therefore, from the numerous populous towns is very considerable, and at times occasions a great rise in the price, and a consequential clamor at home. The complaints are the draining of our county of grain, and the imaginary evil of great farms. Grain is one of the articles of commerce of the parish; and weaving the support of thousands and thousands of poor in the great county I have mentioned. We feed them, they supply us with various species of cloathing. As to food, let me add, that the farmers of that county even make us a return in that article; for they supply us with potatoes, as we do them with wheat. We all depend upon one another: so true is it, that
GOD never form'd an independant man
Without such means of sale, or, we may call it, exchange of commodities, the great farmer would cease to plough, would cease to form those magazines of corn, on which, at all times, our markers depend, and which are the great preservative from famine in these kingdoms. At times, bad seasons occasion bad crops, and of course enhance the price. An inordinate lust of gain may sometimes occasion criminal confederacies; which, criminal as they are, have hitherto baffled every attempt of the legislature to prevent. The poor are now left quite defenceless against the iniquitous race of
forestallers,
&c. &c. by the repeal of the 5th and 6th
Edw.
VI. It is much to be lamented that those humane laws are not revived, modified in any manner adapted to the times. A middle man in great contracts is often requisite: it is not that description of men at whom I aim, but those who in small bargains tempt the farmer, by offers of exorbitant prices, and contribute to the distresses of the poor, and discontents of the country, to a degree unspeakable. At present a calamitous war assists that evil; but surely we cannot grudge food to our brave countrymen, who are fighting for all that is dear to us. Among them we may have neighbors, sons of tenants, our own sons, or different relations: to whom, if we think a moment, we should be ashamed to deny a share in the produce of the labor of their native country, in which it is possible they themselves might have bore a share.
SUPPOSING all farms are reduced to an equality, and all made small ones, the ground must be divided into little portions for the support of a miserable team, or of a few cows, or for raising small quantities of corn. No magazines could be formed against evil days; the produce of the dairy would be small, and the provision for fodder serve for little more than to support the live stock. A few hobbets
A hobbet consists of 84 quarts. A measure is half a hobbet. A peck is half a measure. These measures are used in all the
Flintshire
markets; they extend also to other
Welsh
counties, and even
Herefordshire.
of corn would be sent to market to pay the rent; the rest might serve to maintain the family till the return of the harvest: and if the stock should be consumed before that season, how would they wish for the restoring of the great farms! Many of the little farmers are also day-laborers: to whom could they apply for work, the very support of them and their families? NEVER HAS THERE BEEN A FAMINE IN ENGLAND SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF GREAT FARMS. Unavoidable scarcities will happen, from causes inevitable. But there has not been an instance, for numbers of centuries, of the poor running into corners to die for want of food; of their seeing their infants perish before their eyes; and perhaps a plague might ensue, the consequence of famine, to thin the land of multitudes of the miserable survivors.
I SPEAK disinterestedly, for I have not on my estate a single great farmer. I find no merit in this assertion; had it been otherwise, I should have supported him in all that was right, in common with my poorest tenant, and my poorest tenant perhaps in preference to him.
I WOULD never grant a lease to a great corn-tenant. I would preserve a power over his granary, which legislature will not or cannot assume. Should he attempt by exportation to exhaust it, in years of scarcity, and not leave a sufficient supply for the country which produced the grain; should he attempt a monopoly; should he refuse to carry a proper quantity to the next market; or should he refuse to sell to the poor, who cannot attend the market, corn in small quantities, I would instantly assume the power of the landlord, and expel him from my estate: a just punishment for the tenant, who, through rapacity, declines to comply with my desires, excited with no other view than to promote the good of the public.
THE necessity of great farms is admitted; but let it be remembered, that their support rests upon the laborers, who are equally requisite to the great farmer as beams are to a building. Let not the rapacity of the miscalled great man direct all his force to the support of the opulent farmer, for the sake of increased rent. He will (as sad examples prove) depopulate his country by removing the sturdy laborers to the ground of wiser landlords, and leave his own weakened by their desertion; while the fields of the former laugh and sing, but round his own,
ingens
it solitudo.
I COULD wish (was it in my power) to add even to the cottages of my laborers two or three small fields, that they might have the comfort of a cow, to supply their families with milk. They are too useful a class of men to be neglected: to be left to the precarious possibility of getting any of that invigorating fluid, so necessary for their infants, and even for the support of their own strength, to sustain them through their labor. Give them a dry
stated
cottage, with an upper floor, and a kind landlord, and a
British
laborer need not envy
Caesar.
BEFORE I take leave of the subject, let me define the size of a great and a small farm in this parish. Our greatest farm is rented at £. 110
per ann.
at the rate of about 14
s. per
acre. Our small farms have from 20 to 10 acres; and the rent
per
acre from 12
s.
to 7
s.
There may be in every parish instances of the exorbitant raise of rent: an evil most frequently originating in the luxury of the landlord. Our rents are moderate, because our gentry would blush to add one dish to their table at the expence of the tenant. Mr.
Wedge,
in his
Survey of Cheshire,
p. 72, speaks humanely and sensibly on the affected maxim of
high rents being a spur to industry.
This (for I must help Mr.
Wedge
with a simile) resembles the practice of the prudent planter, who wishes to quicken the industry of his negroes by the invigorating application of the cart-whip to their velvet skin.
IN respect to leases, the utility is not perfectly agreed on. In our parts of
North Wales
I have known lease-tenants of very moderate rent continue on their farms their whole term without success: and I know in this parish, and within a small distance, several rack-rent tenants, with large farms, the most prosperous of any in the country. They improve boldly, and reap amply the fruits of their industry. They have confidence in their landlords, nor can they recollect more than one instance (and that indeed disgraceful enough
Survey of North Wales,
article
Denbighshire,
p. 17.
) in which they found it misplaced. They are masters of the knowlege of the soil, and the nature of the climate of their own country. The appearance of their tenements does them credit. When they heard of a person sent among them to inculcate the principles of good farming, they smiled at the design, but spoke with gratitude of the kind intent of the
Board of Agriculture. Denbighshire
has long had its little board, for
North Wales
does not neglect its own interests. An agricultural society has, for a number of years, been estabished in the vale of
Clwyd.
None who have visited that beautiful tract can deny the general excellency of its culture.
IN
Cheshire
the antient practice of leasing is growing fast out of use: and agriculture will increase in that county in proportion.
MR.
George Kay,
of
Leith,
the missionary to whom was committed the inspection of every farm in the six counties of
North Wales,
favored me with a call some time in the last summer, and delivered to me his credentials from Sir
John Sinclair.
I was really at the time out of spirits. At the same time, a report was circulated, that the object of the mission was to ascertain the reality of our land-tax; which was much credited by my countrymen. I was certain that the report was entirely unfounded; but I did not chuse to trouble myself with militating against what I knew must speedily become self-confuted. I treated Mr.
Kay
with all civility. He left me, and I believe, through all his journey, (one place excepted) had no reason to complain of the reception he met with. Sir
John Sinclair
is a man of honor. He had not the lest occasion to give himself the trouble of making to me so earnest an asseveration of the purity of his intentions, as he did in his last favor. He is above taking clandestine means of getting at any kind of information.
WE lament that Mr.
Kay
did not see, in any one of our six counties, a single custom that could be useful to others
Hints for Improvements in North Wales,
p. 40.
. From the state of numbers of our farms, I suspect that we had previously adopted many methods of agriculture from
English
counties, which must have occasioned his remark. I would fain pay that compliment to his candour. On the whole, I fear that the mission has passed most unprofitably to both
visitor
and
visitè.
Nothing seems to have been learned by the one, and nothing taught by the other.
WE thatch our hay-ricks with admirable neatness, and in that manner preserve the hay for years. I do not know a better expedient, even could the landlord afford to every little farm a hay-barn, or give them a moveable canopy, which is liable perpetually to be out of order. Necessity in every country causes different modes of oeconomy. Send
Shenkin ap Morgan
on a survey of
Cathness,
and he would at first stare at the
bykes
Tour in Scotland,
1769. 3d ed. p. 201.
, but would admire the ingenuity of the contrivances, and acknowlege the wisdom of the farmer in the preservation of his grain, where other means were wanting.
THERE are, certainly, both beyond the
Tweed,
and beyond the
Dee,
many thousands of acres, of which a tenant should be courted to attempt the cultivation, and be bribed by leases to settle upon them. In
North Britain
the practice is common. In
North Wales,
our mountain landlords rarely grant leases, possibly from their not finding the necessity.
IN all the mineral part of
Flintshire
are numbers of small farms, tenanted by carriers, who entirely support themselves by the carriage of the lead ore, and calamine or coal. These are reckoned the most slovenly farmers we have. They apply themselves to carriage to such a degree, as to neglect their tenements. The minerals are the great natural staple of this, and most of the parishes; so that these species of farms are quite indispensable.
LET not the little farmer, or the cottager, repine at the wealth of the great farmers. It is not many weeks since their empty stomachs have been filled from the hoards of the latter. Had they not been able to form a stock, or to enable by sale others to do so, what would have become of you? The good, the benevolent, have been able to purchase from them the food that has contributed to preserve, for many months, you and your's from cruel want. The instances of the recent charities have not been equalled. I may speak of the universal charities. But I will recal to your minds those of your several neighborhoods. In public calamities little souls lie squat in their holes: great souls arise, and are called forth to action; some from a generous sensibility, others from selfish motives. I cannot but confess myself to be among the latter. I am selfish enough to wish to put out my money at lest on reversionary interest, but that on security incontestible.
HE THAT HATH PITY ON THE POOR LENDETH TO THE LORD; AND LOOK WHAT HE LAYETH OUT, IT SHALL BE PAID TO HIM AGAIN!
With what animated benevolence of sentiment doth Sir
Thomas Broune
comment on this pious exhortation! 'There is,' says the great physician of
Norwich,
more rhetoric in that one sentence than in a library of sermons; and, indeed, if those sentences were understood by the reader, with the same emphasis as they were delivered by the Author, we needed not those volumes of instructions, but might be honest by epitome.
THE produce of the wheat of this parish is from seven and eight fold, to twelve or thirteen,
PRODUCE OF WHEAT.
according to the pains taken with the ground, or the nature of it. Our general manure is lime, burnt in sod-kilns. The lime-stone, broken small,
SOD-KILNS.
is placed within a thick circular wall of sods, and the strata of stone, broken small, interlaid with beds of coal, which is set on fire by wood placed in certain holes left at the sides. These holes serve likewise to admit the air, which promotes the fierceness of the fire within. The lime-stones are piled in a conic form, to a great height above the top of the sod-wall, and then covered thickly with sods. I must mention that the holes are four in number, placed opposite to each other, and have a gutter cut from one to the other, which is left hollow by means of flat stones over them, to promote the current of air. A circular gutter also runs close to the interior side of the sod wall. A common-sized kiln will require about sixteen tons of stone: but there are larger, and those often of an oval form.
SOMETIMES the lime-stone is burnt in common kilns, then taken and carried to form a compost with earth, which had been deposited in some adjacent place, and which usually had been dug out of old ditches. The lime is intimately mixed with it, and left a considerable time to mature, after which it is applied to use.
OUR best barley is raised in the light soil which we have mentioned at p. 159.
BARLEY.
In general our farmers prepare the ground for barley by giving it a fallow in
December
or
January,
and again harrow and plough it the latter end of
April
or beginning of
May.
In the stiffer lands the crops are frequently very unfavorable. The quantity raised is not equal to the consumption. It is the principal grain used by our common people. The produce from the hobbet is about equal to that of the wheat.
OATS.
OATS are chiefly sown in the mountain inclosures, or on the lands adjacent to the mountains. The produce is by no means equal to our demand.
GRASSES.
THE artificial grasses are but two. Clover (the red sort) which we sow immediately after the barley.
CLOVER.
When the clover is sowen by itself, or without any other grass-seeds, the quantity to each acre is eighteen or twenty pounds. It is not a favorite grass, but we do not know how to remedy ourselves. It wears out in less than three years, after which we renew the ground with a crop of wheat, managed as before related. The clover-seed is procured from the vale of
Clwyd,
and other places where the plant is cultivated for the sake of the seed.
RYE-GRASS.
RYE-GRASS is sowen in our poor land; which, if not harvested early, is little better than a fodder of straw.
I VALUE myself on being the first in this parish who introduced on my estate the husbandry of draining and flooding, which I did last autumn, and throughout the winter, on a great number of acres. I did intend to desist from working after
Christmas,
had I not been induced to continue it throughout the season, in consideration of the numbers of poor people who were in the deepest distress for want o
employ. The season was so rigorous, that the laborers were obliged to break into the unfrozen ground with the pick-ax, before they could use the spade. This, and the short days, made the work very expensive: but I was far over-paid by the consideration of having given food to multitudes, who in themselves or their families must otherwise have labored under the greatest difficulties. The undertaker was Mr.
Henry Harrison,
who followed the most approved practice. I flatter myself that in the ensuing year I shall experience the effects of his skill.
To clear the free-holders of
Whiteford
parish from any inattention to that important article of husbandry, planting,
PLANTING.
I bring the brief, but irresistible, defence of—the impossibility. The dingles are filled with oaks. I believe there is not one of us have any waste ground for the purpose. All our tenements consist of arable or pasture land, too valuable to be spared for any other purpose in this populous parish. Sir
Roger Mostyn,
on his coming to his estate, planted the little that had been cleared by his predecessor. Besides
Mostyn
or
Whiteford
wood (see p. 25) many of our very hedges are filled with oaks: possibly they do not benefit our land by their shade, but a few of us are true
druids;
and should we apply the ax, we should imagine that we heard the groans of the
Hamadryads
at every stroke.
I AM, in particular, so very avaricious of my woods, that at this instant of writing, I, with true reluctance, sign to my son the death-warrant of a few stag-horned trees, that have far outlived the best of their days. They, in all probability, would have had a respite, could I move from my couch to take a look at my antient favorites. But the void space shall be instantly inclosed, and, I may promise, that in a short time it will be filled with the best of successors, self-sown, from some of their own descendants, their eldest and most sturdy progeny.
SIR EDWARD LLOYD, A GREAT PLANTER.
IF we of
Whiteford
parish are deprived of the possibility of planting within its limits, yet we can boast of a
Flintshire
gentleman, who probably will be found to have contributed as a planter more to the benefit of his heir and of the state, than any other in the principality, in this age, or any past. I mean Sir
Edward Lloyd,
bart. of
Pengwern,
in the parish of
St. Asaph,
who finished his long and useful life on
May
the 26th of the present year. On his
Flintshire
estates he has planted a hundred and sixty-two thousand trees; and on his estate at
Pant-glâs,
in the county of
Caernarvon,
more than three hundred and twenty thousand. Most of the trees are oaks, which in future times may float on the ocean, guardians of
Britain,
in distant wars, excited, either by the ambition of foreign states, or by the incendiary machinations of domestic male-contents.—Even at present what have we to dread! The maritime genius of our island at length begins to smile on her again, and vigor and activity once more will fill every sail. The great spirit of old
Sandwich
has transmigrated, leaving behind the frailties of its mortal state, purified and congenialized to the breast it has taken possession of, on its return to the wonted Board, to resume its well-known powers.
Haud segnis strato surgit
Palim
rus,
et omnes
Explorat ventos: atque curibus aera captat.
HISTORY OF
HOLYWELL PARISH.
LONDON▪
HISTORY OF
HOLYWELL PARISH.
AT
Avon-marsh Siambr,
(see p. 52.) we quit the parish of
Whiteford,
and enter the township of
Greenfield,
in the parish of
Holywell,
along a most excellent road. On the left is a continuation of the marsh. Above which is a low cliff, of the same nature as those which front the shore of the parish of
Whiteford.
LET me preface this little history with saying that
Avon Marsh Siambr
is six miles distant from the rill which divides
Holywell
parish from that of
Flint;
that its greatest breadth is three miles from the turnpike road in
Greenfield,
to the borders of the parish of
Skyviog;
TOWNSHIPS.
and that the parish consists of the townships of
Holywell, Greenfield, Bagillt Vawr
and
Vechan, Whelston, Coleshill Vawr
and
Vechan, Brynfordd,
and
Calcoed.
Its boundaries on the east are
Flint,
and part of
Northop
parishes; on the east
Halkin;
on the south-east
Skyviog;
on the west
Whiteford;
and on the north the estuary of the river
Dee.
S
ABOVE
Avon-marsh Siambr,
on the rising ground, stands
S
cky
,
a small house, which, with the estate belonging to it, has been of late years purchased by
James Potts,
publican in
Holywell,
and the house much improved. It originally belonged to a
Mostyn,
a younger branch of the
Mostyns
of
Trelacre; T. M.
signifying the name of
Thomas Mostyn,
cut above the arms on the monument. A daughter of this gentleman, or one of his descendants, and heiress of the place, transferred the estate into the very antient family of the
Blounts,
of
Orlton,
in the county of
Hereford,
and with them it remained till the purchase by the present possessor.
RIVER DEE COMPANY.
THE rights of the freeholders over the marsh extend a certain way to the east. These were settled by commissioners, in the year 1787, and a plan made, asserting the clames, as well of the freeholders, as of the
River Dee Company.
These were founded on acts of parlement, originating in the years 1732 and the following, from that of the 11th and 12th of
William
III. entitled,
An act to enable the mayor and citizens of
Chester
to recover and preserve the navigation of the river
Dee.
It is possible that Mr.
Andrew Yarrenton
might be the primary cause of the improvements, by a survey he had made, in the year 1674, of the river
Dee
and its estuary.—I refer my reader to the account I have given, at p. 200 of my
Welsh Tour,
vol. i. for farther particulars.
THE other acts were passed in the years 1740, 1742, and 1752, and the works were begun with vigor. The project was carried on by subscription; and the adventurers were to be rewarded by the lands they were empowered to gain on both sides, from the
White Sands,
or the sea from
Chester;
and between the county of
Cheshire,
on the north side, and the county of
Flint
on the south side; being sands, soil, and ground not bearing grass. The tract, as appears by the chart attending the award made in 1787, and preserved among the records by the clerk of the peace for the county of
Flint,
terminate on our side at the
Point of Air,
in the parish of
Llanasaph:
on the
Cheshire
side at the
Little Meels,
at the extremity of the hundred of
Wiral.
THE adventurers in the River
Dee
Company have gained a considerable quantity of land from the ravages of the sea, beginning from the walls of the city of
Chester,
and extending above five miles, even beyond the lower ferry.
THE report of the quantity of embanked land made from the beginning, by the River
Dee
Company and others (according as it is made to me by Mr.
Wedge,
agent to the company) is as follows:
Acres inclosed by the company,
3,500
On
Blacon-marsh,
belonging to
John Crewe,
of
Crewe,
esquire, about
300
On the south side of the river, belonging to the free-holders of
Hawarden,
as Mr.
Wedge
believes, about
2,200
Total statute acres
6,000
Marshes uninclosed,
August
13th, 1795, about
2,000
MR. WEDGE informs me that the grass which is found to answer best in these sandy inclosures is
medicago sativa, Lucerne.
LUCERNE GRASS.
It will not however grow to any perfection on land where there is not a depth of at lest two feet of dry sand or soil beneath the surface, and succeeds (like most other grass
) in proportion to the quality of the soil. All kinds of stock are
of it; it is of a very feeding nature, and is both grazed
rvested. Close grazing will destroy it; but if properly attended to, and assisted with manure about every f
ye
r, the plants will continue strong for upwards of thirty years. It may be grazed (sparingly) with safety in the spring, until the first week in
May,
and also in autumn, in the months of
October
and
November,
after the second crop is out. The hay, being of a dying nature, seems to be much better adapted for feeding stock, than either for horses or milking cows. I know no kind of hay that stock will feed faster upon than
Lucerne,
if it is well harvested; as grass, it will answer best for soiling stock, when housed.
LAST E
BANKMENT.
NO attempts to embank were made farther to the west, till the summer of 1794, when about forty statute acres were inclosed by the same company, on the white sands bordering on
Greenfield
marsh. Early in the next winter a fierce tide destroyed part of the embankment: but it now seems to be restored in the most effectual manner
While this confident paragraph was in the press, on the morning of
October
29th, a fiercer tide, assisted by a fiercer wind, has almost ruined the inclosure, and made such breaches as may probably deter the company from any further attempts to restore it.
.
PROJECTS.
NEAR the extremity of this marsh the turnpike gates cross the roads leading to
Flint
and
Holywell.
A grand and beneficial project was some years ago formed, of making two canals. The one to be carried over the marsh (assisted by the
Holywell
stream) down to or near the perch or anchoring-ground; with a lock capable of receiving vessels of a hundred tons burden.
ANOTHER canal was designed to have branched from this eastward as far as
Pentre r
k,
near
Flint-castle,
for the purpose of carrying the coal which was or may be discovered on that tract, either to the various mineral works, or into the lock for exportation. I trust, if ever the plan is resumed, that it may extend a little farther, to the collieries belonging to Sir
Roger Mostyn
and myself, and others which may be discovered hereafter. Nor see we any reason for our exclusion by so impolitic a partiality! The more choice of shops, the cheaper the goods. Both of the plans were taken by the able engineer, Mr.
William Jessop,
in the year 1785, and declared to be practicable. The expence indeed would have been very great; but alas! the aspect of the times forbids us to flatter ourselves with the resumption of the great design.
THE
Mark,
or place where the vessels lie to receive or discharge their lading, is about two miles from the turnpike gate.
THE MARK.
The channel of the
Holywell
river is to be seen at low water meandring to it, and might prove a useful means of improving the commerce of the country. At present the vessels must, on the recess of the tide, lie dry, and in hard gales, before they get afloat, are subject to much danger. The sands also shift, and make the
Mark
or anchoring-ground often precarious.
THE River
Dee
Company have power to inclose as far as the channel of the
Dee,
which in
Holywell
parish is supposed to extend as far as three miles from the turnpike road. In a late act of parlement for ascertaining the rights of the parish, and those of the company, in the spring of 1791, the agents for the company, after the act to confirm a line of boundary between the property of the company and the part of the marsh which was common, had been twice read, introduced clauses to render their property extra-parochial, and consequently to exempt the occupiers from contributing to the church and poor, and other parochial rates of
Holywell, Whiteford,
or any parishes concerned; and also to exempt future householders from being liable to execute any offices within those parishes; and at the expence of others, artfully attempting to exonerate their tenants from bearing any part of the burdens. But the design was discovered, and the offensive clause omitted.
THE company have obtained a grant of all their lands from the parish of
Hawarden
to that of
Whiteford,
under the following circumstances:
Lands derelict by the sea belong to his prerogative; and being consequently extra-parochial, the tythes are due to the king; and if he grants them, his patentee shall have them.
Such is the opinion of Sir
John Comyns,
as conveyed to me by the favor of
Edward Jones,
esquire, of
Wepre
hall.
WAT'S DIKE.
ON passing the turnpike gate, a small walk brings us to the site of the abby and castle of
Basingwerk,
a place of importance in the wars between the
English
and
Welsh.
The land towards the sea is steeply sloped. The west side was protected by a deep gully, formed by the river. The south east by the vast ditch, which had hitherto been mistaken for that made by
Ossa,
king of the
Mercians.
I owe the detection of the error to Mr.
John Evans,
of
Llwyn y Groes,
who proves it to b
one termination of another stupendous work of the same kind, called
Wat's Dike,
which appears by his ma
nificent map of NORTH WALES, published this year, to have first become visible near
Maesbury
mill, in
Oswestry
parish, where it is lost in morassy ground; from thence it takes a northern direction to
Hên ddinas,
and by
Pentre'r Clawdd,
to
Gobowen,
the site of a small sort, called
Bryn y Castell,
in the parish of
Whittington:
then crosses
Prys Henlle Common,
in the parish of
St. Martin;
goes over the
Ceir
g,
between
Brynkinallt
and
Pont y Blew
forge, and the
Dee
below
Nant y Bela;
from whence it passes through
Wynnstay Park,
by another
Pentre 'r Clawdd,
or township on the ditch, to ERDDIG, the seat of
Philip Yorke,
esq
where there was another strong fort on its course: from
Erddig
it goes above
Wrexham,
near
Melin Puleston,
by
Dolydd, Maesgwyn, Rhôs ddu, Croes oneiras,
Mr.
Shakerley
's
Gwersyllt;
crosses the
Alun,
and through the township of
Llai,
to
Rhydin,
in the county of
Flint;
above which is
Caerestyn,
a
British
post: from hence it runs by
Hope
church, along the side of
Molesdale,
which it quits towards the lower part, and turns to
Mynydd Lychdyn, Monachlog
near
Northop,
by
Northop
mills,
Bryn-moel, Coed y llys, Nant y Flint, Cefn y Coed,
through the
Strand fields
near
Holywell,
to its termination below the abby of
Basingwerk.
I have been thus minute in giving its course, because it is so often confounded with
Offa
's ditch, which attends the former at unequal distances, from five hundred yards to three miles, till the latter is totally lost.
IT is observable, that there are numbers of small artificial mounts, the sites of small forts, in many places along its course, as well as that of
Offa
's. These were garrisoned, and seem intended for the same purposes as the towers in the famous
Chinese
wall, to watch the motions of neighbors, and to repel any hostile incursions.
IT is remarkable that
Wat
's dike should have been overlooked, or confounded with that of
Offa,
by all writers except by
Thomas Churchyard
the poet, who assigns the object of the work: that the space intervening between the two was free ground, where the
Britons
and
Saxons
might meet with safety for all commercial purposes.
B
INGWERK CASTLE.
VESTICES of the fortress appear in the foundation of a wall on the edge of the ditch, and on the road side, near the turnpike gate, opposite to the ruins of the abby. Lord
Lytteiton
Hist.
He
ry
II. 3d edit. ii. quoted in 338.
Coll. Curious Discourset,
i. 202.
says, that the founder was an earl of
Chester.
I imagine that it must have been
Richard,
son of
Hugh Lupus,
and second earl of
Chester,
and that the abby was fortified by reason of a danger he had incurred near the abby: for even religious
tutions had no exemption,
tempore necessitatis, l
lli
citum est,
hospitari et in castellari in ecclesia
Innocentius de
mmu
itate ecclesia.
.
THE first notice I find of it is in the life of St.
Werburg,
by
Bra
s
aw;
who informs us, that
Richard,
on his return out of
Normandy,
where he had been educated, began his reign with an act of piety. He attempted, in 1119, a pilgrimage to the well of St.
Wene
rede;
but, either in going or returning, was attacked by the
Welsh,
and obliged to take shelter in
Basingwerk.
He applied to St.
W
burg
for relief; who miraculously raised certain sands between
Flintshire
and
Wiral,
and thus gave means to his constable to pass to his assistance: which sands, from that time, were called the
Constable's Sands. Bradshaw
styles the place of his retreat an abby; a proof that here had been a religious community before the time usually assigned for the foundation of this house. I must also draw from Lord
Lyttelton
's authority (for I can find no other) that this castle was demolished by the
Welsh
in the reign of
Stephen
Hist. Henry
II.
.
HENRY II. in 1157, after his escape from the ambuscade of
Eulo,
left
Basingwerk
restored, well fortified, and manned
M. Pa
129.
, in order to secure a retreat on any future disaster. He did the same by the castle of
Ruddlan.
In his days the inland parts of our county were a dangerous wild of forest. After his defeat he never trusted himself among our woods; but made his marches along the open shores.
THE same monarch left another species of garrison
Pow
l.
208.
; for he established here a house of knights templars, a military order introduced into
England
in the preceding reign. They were first instituted in the Holy Land for the protection of pilgrims; and possibly
Henry
might have the same in view in fixing them here, to secure the
English
devotees in performing their vows to our neighboring saint, who seems about this time to have come into reputation. It is singular, that these religious knights were allowed at their institution only one horse between two; yet so greatly did they flourish, that about the year 1240, or a hundred and fifty years after their institution, the order had acquired, in different parts of
Christendom,
nineteen thousand manors.
THIS castle was but of very short duration; for in 1165, the gallant prince
Owen Gwynedd
laid siege to it, took
Powel.
223.
and levelled it to the ground; after which the name occurs no more as a fortress. I think at this period it belonged to
Hugh de Bello Campo,
or
Beauchamp,
on whom this and
Ruddlan
castle had been bestowed by the
English
monarch
Annales Waver
ienses,
159.
.
ABBY.
THE abby
Called also by the
Welsh, Maes-glas,
or
Greenfield.
, of which there are some considerable remains, was founded in 1131 (according to the opinion of Bishop
Tanner
) by
Randal
the second earl of
Chester:
according to Bishop
Fleetwood,
by
Henry
II. For my part, I believe it to be of greater antiquity; but do not pretend to derive its origin. No light into the matter can be collected from the charters preserved by Sir
William Dugdale.
There are three of them, either serving to confirm the antient donations, or confer new: in each is mention of the earl as a benefactor; but there is not the lest hint of his having been the founder. I must attribute that honor to one of the princes of
Wales;
for both
Lhewelyn ap Jorwerth,
and his son
David,
in their respective charters recite, that they give and confirm the several donations to GOD, St.
Mary,
the monastery of
Basingwerk,
and the monks, which had been bestowed on them by their predecessors for the salvation of their souls.
RANDAL was certainly a great benefactor; for it appears, that before his days the monks had only a chapel here. From that period it became considerable; and about that time part of the present buildings were erected, for the conveniency of its inhabitants, who were of the
Cistercian
order.
GIRALDUS calls it
cellula de Basingwerk
I
in. Camb.
lib. ii. c. 10.
. He lodged here a night in the train of Archbishop
Baldwyn,
on his progress through
Wales
to preach the crusade. He took with him our eloquent countryman, on account of his skill in the
Welsh
language.
THE architecture is mixed. Here appears what is called
Saxon;
having the round arches and short columns in some parts; and the Gothic narrow slips of high-pointed win lows in others. The first species had not fallen out of use, and the last was coming into fashion, in the days of the first great benefactor.
THE church lay on the east side; but is now almost destroyed. The refectory is pretty entire; and on one side has a great recess, with two round arches. The pillars which support them are very curious, formed of circular stones of the form of cheeses, set close one upon the other.
ABOVE were the cells for the lodgings of the monks, with a small window to each.
THE chapel of the knights templars is a spacious building. The windows are long, narrow, and pointed; the pilasters between them on the inside slender and elegant.
WHATEVER monuments or inscriptions might have been in the church, are totally destroyed, unless that which may be found in one of the out-houses. It preserves the memory of a pious emigrant of the last century,
George,
youngest and eighth son of
William
second Lord
Petre,
who, plagued with the fanatical persecutions in the reign of
Charles
I. quitted his country, died at
Wexford,
and was brought to
Basingwerk
for interment. The following is the inscription:
IESUS *
* MARIA. HERE . LYETH . TH . Y . BODY . OF . GEORGE . PETRE . LATE . OF . GREENFIELD . IN . FLINT SHIRE, Esq. . SONE TO . W . LORD . PETRE BARON . OF . INGLESTON . IN . ESSEX . & MARRIED ANE . Y
E
. RELICT . OF . IOHN MOSTOIN . Esq. . BEING . Y
E
DAUGHTER OF . HENRY . FOX, . Esq, WHO . FOR . Y
E
. ROMANE . CATHOLIQUE . FAITH . & . LOYALTY . TO . HIS . MA
TIE
. LEFT . HIS . COUNTRY . & . SPENDING . HIS . TIME . W
T
. GREAT . EDIFICATION . OF . HIS . NEIGHBOVRS . DIED . AT . WEXFORD Y
E
26 DAY OF SEP. AN . DU. 1647 AGED 34.
THERE are some remains of offices, used at present by a tanner. Within less than fifty years, much of the habitable part was standing; and sometimes used by the worthy family, the
Mostyns
of
Trelacre.
A lady of the family now living was born within these walls.
GREENFIELD HOUSE,
GREENFIELD HOUSE.
which was built by that worthy friend of mine, the late relict of Sir
George Mostyn,
baronet, of
Trelacre,
was built as a dower-house for her, and the widows of the family. It is a neat brick house on the west side of the turnpike road, opposite to the ruins of the abby, commanding a fine view of the estuary, and the
Cheshire
shore. It is at present in the hands of the great copper companies, being leased to them with part of the stream on which their works stand.
DURING the preparations for the conquest of
Wales
by
Edward
I. the abby was under the protection of the
English.
There are extant two orders for the purpose, providing that they had no commerce with what are styled the
Welsh
rebels
Ayloffe's Rotuli Walliae,
68, 82.
. I imagine that the convent was firmly attached to the victor; for I have been informed that there are, among the lists of summons in the Tower, writs for calling the abbot to parlement, in the 23d, 24th, 28th, 32d, and 34th of
Edward
I.
ACCORDING to the valuation of its revenues in 1534, the gross sum at the dissolution was, according to
Dugdale,
150
l.
7
s.
3
d.;
to
Speed,
157
l.
15
s.
2
d.
In 1553, there remained in charge 4
l.
in annuities
Willis's Abbies,
I. 312.
.
THE particular endowments, as I collect from
Dugdale
Monasticon,
I. 720,
&c.
, were these:
Henry
III. by charter, grants and confirms ten
librates
in
Longenedale
in
Derbyshire,
with the church of
Glossope,
and all its appertenances, to be held by them as freely as
William Peverel
held the same in the time of
Henry
his grandfather. The same charter confirms the donations of
Ranulph
earl of
Chester,
and other barons,
viz. Holywell, Fulbrook,
the chapel of
Basingwerk,
the antient residence of the monks, with the mills and their appertenances; likewise
Holes,
and a moiety of
Leeche,
and one hundred shillings of the revenues of
Chester,
the gift of the said earl.
Calders
with its inhabitants, and finally,
Kethlenedei,
the gift of
Robert Banastre.
LHEWELYN AP JORWERTH, prince of
Wales,
and cotemporary with
Henry
III. confirms all the donations of his ancestors; particularly the site of their house, the mill before their gate, and the land before their doors; which last was granted to them by
Ranulphus,
and his brother
Aeneas.
The same grant gives them also the land of
Meredeth Wawor,
in
Holywell; Fulbrook;
a community of pasturage on the mountains;
Hanot de le Wecch,
and
Creicgraft,
with all their appertenances. His son and successor,
David ap Lhewelyn,
by another charter, confirms the donations of his father, and adds the lands of
Huttred,
brother to
Meredeth Wawor
of
Holywell;
the church of
Holywell,
and the chapel of
Colsul;
and the land and pasturage of
Gelli,
before granted by his father. He likewise empowers them to buy and sell every thing toll-free in all his territories, for the use of their house. Also, the fifth pan of the fish taken in his fisheries at
Ruddlan;
and the tenth of the fish belonging to him in other parts. He confirms to them all the village of
Wenhewm,
with all its inhabitants and appertenances, being the gift of
Howen de Porkenton,
and confirmed by
Helyso.
He at the same time confirms the lands and pasturage in
Penthlin,
the gift of his father.
DAVID also bestowed on the monks of
Basingwerk, Folebroc, Feilebroc,
or as it is now called
Fulbrock,
seated near the western extremity of the parish; which is mentioned in the confirmation of the grant to that convent by
Henry
II. and again in the confirmation of the charters renewed to it by
Llewellyn ap Jorwerth
and his son. The monks had a grainge on these lands, and right of pasturage on the mountain, in common with the neighboring inhabitants
Dugdale's Monast.
I. 720, 721.
. The
Grange
is at present a farm-house, the property of Sir
Pyers Mostyn,
and still retains its antient name.
THIS charter is dated from
Coleshill
in 1240, and witnessed by
Hugh
bishop of St.
Asaph,
and his chancellor, the famous
Ednyfed Vychan,
and others.
TANNER
Notitia,
711.
mentions the tithes of
Blackbrook,
and the wood of
Langdon;
lands in
Chanclesworth;
the manor of
West Kirkby
in
Cheshire;
the silver mine near
Basingwerk;
free warren in
Gethli, Menegrange, Ouregrange, Beggerburgh,
and
Holywell.
THE abby also was possessed of the hospital or chapel of
Sponne
near
Coventry,
which had been originally founded by
Hugh Ceveilioc
earl of
Chester,
who probably bestowed it on these monks
Dugdale's Warwickshire,
I. 197.
.
THE revenues of the abbot amounted in the whole, reckoning those arising from the mills, lands, cows, and sheep, to 46
l.
11
s.
IN the grant to the abby of
Basingwerk,
of the lands in the
Peak of Derbyshire,
there is a clause reserving the venison to the king, with the consent of the abbot and convent; for the preservation of which two foresters were appointed by the king: but the grantees were allowed to kill hares,
e, and wolves
Sebrig
MSS.
.
IN 1540, the house and lands in the neighborhood were granted to
Henry ap Harry,
of the tribe of
Ednowain Bendew;
whose only daughter
Anne,
by her marriage with
William Mostyn,
esquire, of
Trelacre,
conveyed it into that family, in which it now remains.
I CANNOT recover the names of any more than two of the abbots.
Thomas ap Dafydd Pennant
presided over the house in the time of
Guttun Owain,
a bard who flourished in the year 1480. Beside that, and another eulogist mentioned in p. 34, I may add a third,
viz. Thomas ap Rhys ap Howel,
of
Stokyn,
who published an
awdl
or ode in his praise. It is to be found in the
Sebright Collection,
vol. i. p. 37. among a collection of poems and prophecies delivered by the bard when the
awen,
or
furor poeticus,
had full possession of him.
I SHALL not here repeat what I have said of this celebrated abbot, in pp. 33, 34, but refer to them for his history. I shall only add here, that the ruins of a noble oak, still to be seen near the remains of the abby, is supposed to have been his cotemporary.
I HAVE spoken of his son and successor
Nicholas,
at pp. 24, 34; and shall again, in the article
Bagillt,
resume the subject.
THE whole road from the abby to St.
Wenefrede
's well, is most remarkably picturesque, along a narrow but deep valley, bounded on one side by hanging woods. In former times the sacred stream hurried to the sea unconfined by the busy manufactures. During the reign of pilgrimages nothing but the corn-mills, the property of the monks, found employ for its waters.
BEFORE I advance up the valley, let me observe, that notwithstanding it has the common causes of health, a rapid stream, and the greatest part of the year a brisk wind (usually from west to east) yet it is visited with the usual diseases of the country, in a degree even greater than other parts; nor has the
angina maligna,
hereafter to be spoken of, spared the children of this little tract.
COMMERCE found its way to the valley about fifty years ago.
WHITE AND RED LEAD WORKS.
I can remember the building of the works of white and of red lead under the conduct of Messrs.
Smedley.
But prior to these, a little above, was a tilting-mill, and an iron-wire mill.
IRON-WIRE MILL.
The first lessees were
Hart
and Co. from
Yorkshire.
They were succeeded by Mr.
Barker
and Sir
James Creed,
who erected a new one on the lower part of the stream. On Mr.
Barker
's death the remainder of the term was purchased by Mr.
John Norman
and Mr.
Rouben Chambers.
Under a new leafe Mr.
John Chambers
converted the old mill into a steel-wire-mill; before which his mother used it for a warehouse for a coarse-paper-mill.
PAPER MILLS.
The
Parys
mine company succeeded to both the premises, and covered them with their important edifices.
IT must be observed, that the antient corn-mills, belonging to the abby, stood where the paper-mill was, the
molendina quae juxta portam abbatiae habent
Dugdale Monast.
I. 721.
.
SNUFF MILLS
ON this stream had been three snuff-mills; the oldest was occupied by Mr.
Edward Jones,
tobacconist, now living. It joined the old and uppermost corn-mill. It was taken down by the cotton company, who on the site built part of the new corn-mill, near the
Holywell
spring.
PETER PARRY, tobacconist, had two snuff-mills, one on the land of
John Pierce,
joiner, deceased, a little below the crescent cotton-mill. It was purchased by the brass battering-mill company, for the sake of giving their pool a little greater depth of water, which built another for
Peter Parry,
below their brass-works.
OLD SMELTING-WORK.
AN antient smelting-work stood in my memory on the site of the old cotton-mill, and part of the garden. They were erected before the year 1733, by lease from
Roger Pennant,
esq
of
Bagillt.
I do not recollect the names of the lessees, but the company was known by that of Madam
Kaye
and Co. The smoke did such injury to the fine woods belonging to Sir
George Mostyn,
of
Trelacre,
bart. as to occasion many law-suits between Sir
George
and the company; so that there ensued a total cessation of the smelting-trade in these works. Whether the suit came to a decision, does not appear. The suit must have commenced before
March
26th, 1733, from which day all proceedings, which used before to be in
Latin,
were to be carried on in the
English
tongue. Just before that period poor Sir
George
suffered a nonsuit, for using the word
propè
instead of
juxta;
and was foiled a second time, by using in the proceeding the title of Sir
George Mostyn,
instead of
George Mostyn,
esq
his elder brother being living, and at that time an ecclesiastic in the church of
Rome:
and it is said that he suffered a third repulse, by stating that the works were in the township of
Greenfield,
instead of
Holywell,
or
vice versa.
HOW the affair ended I cannot learn. The building reverted into the hands of the heirs of the lessors.
Edward Pennant,
esq
granted a lease of it, in 1758, to Mr.
Champion,
partner and agent in the
Wormley
company, near
Bristol,
who there calcined
black-jack.
He was the first who engaged in such a concern in this country, and probably in
Great Britain,
which he carried on under the protection of a patent.
A PIN-MILL was built in 1764, for the use of
James Eden,
PIN-MILL.
pin-maker, who occupied it about two years, and then failed. The next occupier was Mrs.
Chambers,
who converted it into a coarse-paper mill, and continued the use of it till 1783, when it fell into the hands of the cotton-company, which turned it into a smithy: and, finally, three corn-mills,
THREE CORN-MILLS.
formed with the above the sum of the works upon the stream, in my early days. The lower of these two, reckoning from the well, was pulled down.
IN the year 1766 began the memorable epoch in the annals of our famous stream, when the late Mr.
Patten
of
Warrington,
FAMOUS EPOCH OF COMMERCE.
and Co. built the first battering-mill for copper and brass. In about ten years from that time, Mr.
John Smalley,
now deceased, introduced the first manufacture of cotton. By his successors, and by the great copper-companies, those
behemoths
of commerce, our little
Jordan
was soon drunk up. By their skill and industry they succeeded, to the benefit of the state, and to their private emolument.
Tho. Williams,
esquire
Member for
Marlow.
, that useful and active character, with unparalleled speed, covered the lower part of the stream, or that next to the sea, with buildings stupendous in expence, extent, and ingenuity of contrivance. These great works are under the firm of the PARYS MINE COMPANY.
PARYS MINE COMPANY.
The buildings were completed in the year 1780, and held under lease from Sir
Pyers Mostyn,
bart. owner of the whole stream, excepting a small part. To Mr.
Samuel Williamson,
chief agent of this part of the works, I am indebted for the account of the works carried on here. These are entirely confined to the manufacture of copper.
IN this department is a great forge for heating the cakes of copper, previously to their being beat into pans, or rolled into sheathings, &c. &c. The wheels and machinery are set in motion by the water from a large pool, parallel to the road, which is filled from the stream, and let out by another channel to effect its purposes.
THESE may be called the great magazines for the supply of the royal navy with the various necessaries in copper, such as sheathings, bolts, and nails. Some of the bolts are twenty feet long, and so hardened by rolling and battering, as to be capable of being driven almost to their heads, in the entrance forward, and run abaft of the ships where the beds of timber are the thickest; which work is facilitated by boring with an anger two-thirds of the length.
SOME of the nails are a foot in length, and from that size to that of a sadler's cack.
RUDDER bands and braces are here made of an enormous size; some, designed for the largest first-rates, weighed one ton fourteen hundred.
THE number of men employed in these works is ninety-three. This is intended when they are in full employ: the same must be understood of all the rest.
THE head of water to this mill is about twenty-one feet and a half, and the superficial surface of the pool about 112,028 feet.
THE trade of these works is not confined to the royal navy. The merchant ships are from hence supplied with considerable quantities of sheathing, bolts, and nails, as are many of the ships in the service of the
East India
Company.
FROM hence braziers are furnished with copper vessels of all kinds, and the materials for all the copper branches of their business.
THE works on this river are supplied with their copper from the
Parys
mine and
Mona
mine companies; the ore of which is smelted chiefly at
Ravenhead,
and
Stanley,
in
Lancashire.
THE
Cornish
ores are smelted at
Swansey, Neath, Bristol,
and in
Cornwal.
THE Duke of
Devonshire
's ores, at
Whiston,
in
Derbyshire.
THE number of vessels immediately employed by the copper-companies on this river, to convey the several manufactures, or the materials to and from
Leverpool,
and the other places connected with them, amount to between thirty and forty, from thirty to fifty tons burden.
MR. WILLIAMS has, besides the works on the
Holywell
stream, two near
Marlow,
in
Buckinghamshire,
upon as large a scale as those in
Greenfield.
There are also in this kingdom others belonging to different proprietors, at
Congleton
and
Macclesfield,
in
Cheshire,
at
Swansey,
and
Bris
,
and in
Cornwel,
and a number in the vicinity of
London.
THE COMPANY'S COIN.
I MUST not be silent on the subject of the most beautiful coin or token in use by this great company, as it exceeds in elegance any which has been yet emitted. On one side is the head of a
Druid,
emblematic of the isle of
Mona,
the antient seat of the venerable order, and which now produces the material of the coin. On the reverse is the cypher of
Parys
mountain, with a promissory legend to pay one penny, or one half-penny, as it happens to be, in
London, Anglesey,
or
Leverpool,
to bearer on demand.
VAST quantities of these coins are counterfeited at
Birmingham,
and may be had by public order in any number.
BRASS MELTING-HOUSES.
ABOVE these works is a great cluster of vast square chimnies, the discharge of the tremendous volumes of thick black smoke, rising from the making of brass. These are the brass melting-houses belonging to the
Greenfield
copper and brass company, under the direction of Mr.
Donbavand,
where they have six large melting houses with twenty-four fires, each fire contains nine pots, with metal, fluxes, &c. Here they make plate-brass for the purpose of being manufactured at their battery-mills, plate-brass for wire for the pin-manufacturers, and ingot-brass for the various founders, &c. At this place they have a mill, places to calcine, buddle, and grind the
lapis calaminaris,
&c. for the purpose of making brass; also a copper forge, not used at present: the head of water is about 21½ feet, superficial surface of the pool about 23,664 feet. The number of the men employed in these works, is about fifty. The materials for the making of brass are all at hand. The copper shot and clippings are from the adjacent works, the calamine from our own mines, and the charcoal from our woods. The art of making brass in early times, is mentioned before at pp. 123, 124. The first patent for the calamine stone, and the use thereof, was granted to
William Humsrey,
and
Christopher Shutz,
dated the 17th of
September,
1565, at which time the long lost art in these kingdoms began to revive.
IN digging the foundation for the brass melting-houses,
HYPOCAUST.
Mr.
Donbavand
discovered an antient
Roman
hypocaust, furnished with various flues, with the superincumbent tiles of a fine red color. These artificial hot baths and sweating-rooms were the greatest luxuries of the
Romans.
This proves that they had a stationary settlement in this place, probably of merchants concerned in the mineral works, which they certainly had on the adjacent mountains, of which I have given an account in p. 122 of this book.
NOT far from this work, on the east-side of the river,
WIRE-WORK.
is the great manufactory of brass wire of every denomination. Also here are drawn the square materials for making copper nails, which are formed by the common process of beating and heading. This work has a head of twenty-three feet, which is capable, by means of an extensive pool, that may be formed above, of having a very large work built on the now vacant spot.
AT a small distance to the south,
COTTON-WORK.
a most magnificent cotton-work soars, like the tower of
Babel,
above all the lower buildings. I shall here only say, that about ten weeks before its completion, nothing but a void appeared before me: at the expiration of that space, in another ride I took, I cannot express my astonishment at seeing the enormous mass risen, as if by magic, out of the ground. It was erected in the summer of 1785: is thirty-six yards long, ten yards wide, and six stories high, and is worked with a water-wheel eighteen feet high, and seven feet wide, with a fall of water of sixteen feet.
NE
POLLING MILL.
AT some distance beyond this is the NEW ROLLING MILL, erected in 1787
This is superintended by Mr.
Joseph Thomas,
to whom I am indebted for the account.
. The largest and most commodious building, for the purpose it is applied to, of any in the kingdom. Its area within the walls measures eighty-six feet in length, by sixty-nine in breadth, floored with iron flags. Its height in the center is twenty-eight feet and an half. The roof is single, and covered with copper, supported in the center by two pillars, eleven feet and a half distant from each other; on their tops are transverse timbers supporting one end of each beam which more immediately sustains the roof, the other end resting on the wall.
THE water-wheels are of cast-iron, upon a curious construction. They are three in number, each of which receives its supply of water, at a height of about forty-five degrees, from an iron-pipe fixed in the bottom of the penstock, and so fitted to the buckets of the wheel, that scarce any water is wasted (of which we are studiously careful.) Wheels so receiving their water are called
breast-wheels,
of which kind I believe all the wheels on this stream are, excepting that belonging to the corn-mill, and another at this company's brass-works, which is used for grinding calamine; the water by that mode of delivery communicating the most powerful impulse, and the most steady motion. The iron-wheels here are twenty feet diameter, and they will, when unclogged with heavy weights, perform twenty revolutions in a minute. Now if we suppose a wheel of that diameter moving upon a plane with the same rapidity with which it revolves on its axis, it will, in a year, describe a line nearly equal in length to five circles of our globe at the equator. The yard and reservoir of water pertaining to this noble manufactory are suitable to its magnitude, and by much the most spacious on the
Holywell
stream.
THE number of men employed here are about forty-six.
REMARKS.
1st. IT is a certain fact that the people constantly employed in the copper-manufactories are as healthy, and arrive to as great an age, as the generality of people employed in other occupations not connected with fire or metal; but they are scrupulous observers of the antient law, which forbade to eat with unwashen hands; and they find it highly necessary to perform a careful ablution of the whole body at lest once a week, to rub off the copper dust, which adheres to their bodies, and occasions violent eruptions of a green color, evincing, by the tinge, their origin. The pain and symptoms are easily removed by washing with clean water; but if that is neglected, the consequences become serious, and even to require chirurgical assistance.
2d. YOUNG dogs, which have acquired a habit of licking copper sheets or bars, have never been known to survive long. The metallic virus by that means conveyed into the intestines soon destroys the animal by violent purging.
3d, YET it may deserve notice, that the writer of these hints having formerly kept a great number of poultry running about the yard, he observed that the fowls preferred drinking the water from a shallow copper pan that lay out of doors, and was generally full of rain-water, tinged of a deep green color, to fresh clear water, of which there was abundance. No ill effect was ever known to have happened to them from the green water, though a succession of poultry resorted to it for years.
THE writer of this having been employed on the spot, from the first opening of the ground for the foundations of the mill and other buildings, found frequent proofs that the surface of the land had formerly been about fourteen or sixteen feet lower than at the time the buildings were erected. His inducements to form that opinion were,
1st. THAT though the soil contained many large pebbles throughout its whole depth, yet at the depth of twelve to sixteeen or eighteen feet, grey pebbles of large size were every where found in great abundance, and mixed with sand or gravel, just as they appear on the shelving shores of many rivers.
2d. AT the depth of fifteen feet, under the wood where the warehouse now stands, the head of a battle-axe was picked up. The writer not chancing to be on the spot when it was taken up, could gather no information whether any part of the handle remained, but supposes not. He was shewn the spot where it lay, and measured fifteen feet to the surface.
3d. AND the most decisive proof is, that, after cutting down an oak-tree of pretty large girth, and afterwards clearing away the root, in digging still deeper, for the foundation of the present warehouse, the workmen found a lime-kiln, of very small dimension, perhaps it would contain half a ton of lime-stone, but perfect, and having calcined lime in its bason. It was constructed of the same kind of red sand-stone as that now below
Wepre.
The bottom of that kiln now forms the lowest foundation of the north-east corner of the warehouse, which is nea
ly level with the surface of the cotton-mill-pool below it.
IMMEDIATELY above the last are the works under the super-intendency of Mr.
Daniel Donbavand,
GREENFIELD COPPER AND BRASS COMPANY.
who with great civility informed me of their origin, and consequent improvements. These are on the site of the brass-battery-mills, built in the year 1765, and set to work 20th
Sept.
1766. The first brass made at
Greenfield,
was on the 20th
August,
1766, then held by Mess.
Patten
and Co. Since
January
1786 they have been in the hands of
Thomas Williams,
esq
and Co. under the firm of
The Greenfield Copper and Brass Company,
who have very much improved them by various erections, so as to enable them to finish goods for
Africa, America,
and most other markets,
viz.
brass
Neptunes,
or large pans, in which the negroes make salt; pans for getting the gold out of their rivers, and for various other purposes; kettles; brass and copper rods; bright and black
manillas
—the first are rings for ornaments to the arms and legs, the last for the current money of the country. The last are not unlike the golden bracelets of the antient
Britons,
the ends turned up and flatted; and add to these various sorts of
latten,
brass, &c. for mathematical instruments, &c. &c.
THE word
latten
is applied to works in brass, with which, for certain purposes, is an admixture of any other metal. Sometimes it is made a synonym of brass itself.
Watson's Essays,
IV. 70. and in the same page: and
Stringer,
in his
Opera Mineralia Explicate,
p. 34. gives us the qualities of the said
latten,
as explained in the patent of 7th
Elizabeth
to
Humphrey
and
Shutz,
abovementioned, which was granted to
Shutz
for
his great cunning, knowlege and experience, as well in the finding the calamine stone, called in
Latin, lapis calaminaris,
and in the right and proper commodity thereof, for the composition of mixed metal, commonly called
latten,
and in reducing it to be soft and malleable, and also in apting, manuring, and working the same for and into all sorts of battery wares, cast-work, and wire, and also in the mollifying and manuring of iron, and drawing and forging of the same into wire and plates for the making of armor, and also for divers other needful and profitable uses.
THE word
latten
is also used for a distinct metal, as appears by two patents, one of the 30th
Henry
VI. to his chaplain and controller of all his mines of gold, &c. in
Devon
and
Cornwal,
(see
Stringer,
p. 20.); the other in the patent of 10th
Elizabeth,
(see
Watson,
iv. 70.) both which mention mines of
latten.
But, as the Bishop observes, whatever the name did mean, it is now lost. I can only say, that calamine does appear in so many, and so different forms, that the application might have been to one of them, since the qualities seem to have been the same.
THE head of water to these mills is about 21½ feet; and the superficial surface of the pool or reservoir, about 70,696 feet.
BRA
WORKES
ALL the pools belonging to the several works are well stocked with trout brought from the river
Wheeler,
which flows beneath
Caerwis.
They grow to a vast size: I have heard of one which had been taken in the brass mill-pool, which weighed between eleven pounds and twelve pounds, but those over-grown fish do not equal in flavor those of an inferior size. The three-spined stickle-back, (
Br. Zool.
iii. No 229.) a little fish, seldom of the length of two inches, abound in this stream, but especially in the stiller parts, where the water has been confined for the use of the works. Eels are the only fish, besides these, found in these waters.
THOSE beautiful birds, the kingfishers, are very frequent about these waters, and almost dazzle the eye in their frequent transitions from place to place.
THIS work was erected in the spring of 179
,
CRESCENT-MILL.
is twenty-six yards by ten wide, and is six stories high. It is worked by a water-wheel, fifteen feet high, and ten feet wide, with a fall of water of thirteen feet and a half. This work makes a noble figure on the stream, is ornamented with a handsome cupola, with a fine gilden crescent on the top, from which it receives its name.
A CORN-MILL stood on part of the site of this mill.
CORN-MILL.
On the stream had been, within these few years, a tilting-mill, under the direction of Mr.
William Smalley,
which has since been removed to
Avon Wen,
below
Caerwis;
and a wire-mill on an extensive scale has been erected on the
Wheeler,
at a small distance from the tilting-mill, in the beautiful vale of
Maes Mynnan.
OLD COTTON-MILL.
A LITTLE beyond the crescent-mill, is the
Old Cotton Mill,
or that which was first known on the stream. It was erected in the spring of the year 1777, by Mr.
John Smalley,
of
Preston,
in
Lancashire.
He died
January
28th, 1782, aged 53, and was interred in
Whiteford
church-yard. On his tomb mention is made of his having at
Holywell
established the cotton-works. This mill is small and low, is 33 yards long, 8 yards wide, and only three stories high, and is worked by a water-wheel 15 feet high, and 5 feet wide, with a fall of water of 11 feet 6 inches.
MR.
John Smalley,
senior, had long been engaged in a cotton-work at
Cromford,
near
Mat
ck,
in
Derbyshire,
unhappily within the baleful influence of a tyrant rival, which forced him to seek the protection of St.
Wenefrede,
under which he prospered, and his children still prosper, blessing the benefit of the change made by their injured parent.
GREATEST COTTON-MILL.
A LITTLE way above this mill is the largest and most magnificent of any on the water. It was erected in the autumn of the year 1783, in the space of six weeks from laying the foundation-stone. It is 40 yards long, 10 yards wide, and 6 stories high, and is lighted by a hundred and ninety-eight sash windows, which nightly exhibit a most glorious illumination. It is worked by a water-wheel 20 feet high, and 7 feet wide, with a fall of water of 20 feet.
ALL the cotton-mills on the river go under the name of the
Cotton Twist
Company. It is to Mr.
Christopher Smalley,
one of the partners, and eldest son to the founder of these great manufactories, I am obliged for the account of what relates to them.
THE cotton-twist company have between three and four hundred apprentices, which they clothe and feed themselves,
MANAGEMENT OF THE CHILDREN.
in commodious houses built for that purpose, the boys and girls in separate houses. These houses are white-washed twice every year, are fumigated three times a week through every apartment, with smoak of tobacco; besides this the sleeping-rooms are washed twice a week, and the bed-stocks are frequently sprinkled with rectified oil of tar. All the windows in the sleeping-rooms open at the tops, by which a thorough draft of air is admitted during the whole time the children are at work. To these and other precautions the good state of health of so many children may be justly attributed; for though the number of apprentices have not been less than 3
0 for these seven years past, they have only buried seven. Their food for dinner is beef or pork and potatoes three or four times a week, the other days herrings and potatoes, or soup and bread and cheese, as much as they please to eat. Their breakfasts and suppers in summer is milk and bread; in the winter, when milk cannot be had, they drink porridge or broth, with bread and cheese. A surgeon is appointed to superintend their health; and a
Sunday
school is regularly attended by a master at each house.
OUR little children sleep three in a bed,
THEIR BED.
the larger sizes only two; and those who work in the night are so far from succeeding each other in the same beds, that they do not even sleep in the same rooms.
The number of men employed at
Greenfield,
are
above 100
women and children,
above 500
At
Northop,
49
At
Denhigh,
140
At
Sky
g,
36
At
Newmarket,
above 100
Apprentices,
above 300
Total
1225
COTTON wool is produced in the
East
and
West Indies,
and also in many other places. The Isle of
Bowbon,
in the
East Indies,
furnishes the best; the next to this in quality, grows in the
Portuguese
settlements in
South America,
from whence it is exported to
Lisbon,
and imported from thence to
England
in
British
bottoms, duty-free. If in foreign bottoms, a penny
per
pound is paid. About fifteen years ago, not more than five hundred bags were cultivated in the
Brazils;
but of late years, on an average, fifty thousand. The
Dutch
settlements, say
Berbice
and
Surinam,
supply a considerable quantity of good cotton, and comes to this country better cleaned than any other.
THE cotton-plant grows naturally in
China
and
India.
The cultivation travelled westward into
Arabia, Persia,
and the
Levant.
It is also cultivated in the province of
Valencia,
in
Spain,
with vast success. On the plains of that rich province, in good years, about four hundred and fifty thousand
arrobas
(of 26 lb. each) are harvested. I suppose all this to be manufactured in
Spain,
at lest I do not hear of any being imported into our kingdoms.
COTTON twist is spun here of 130 hanks to the pound. Each hank is 840 yards long, so that one pound of cotton thread thus fine will be 62 miles 80 yards long. The new principle (for it is not yet 30 years old) by which cotton wool is made so perfect a thread, is by the use of iron-rollers moving horizontally; their speed is governed by brass wheels of different sizes and numbers, calculated to produce what fineness is wanted; the twist required is given by the flier and spindle. The cotton-twist made here is sent chiefly into
England
and
Scotland,
to be woven into ginghams, muslins, muslinets, dimities, nankeens, fine callicoes, fustians, &c. &c. which goods, when finished, are either admitted or smuggled into every part of the known world. It is introduced into every part of the
Russian
dominions, and even into the distant
Kamtschatka.
A NUMBER of machines called
Mules
are also used here with success:
MULES.
this machine is a compound of the water-engine and the spinning-jenny, and being of a mixed breed, was, I presume, the reason of its being so named. It is a machine particularly adapted to the spinning of fine yarns, and far exceeds every other yet discovered for that purpose.
THE last mill on the river is a corn-mill:
CORN-MILL.
a large building erected by the cotton-twist company, instead of the old one; and of another which stood a little lower down, on the site of which stands part of the great cotton-mill.
THE length of the stream, from the fountain to the marsh,
LENGTH OF THE STREAM.
is one mile and two hundred and thirty-four yards. The following are the number of falls, from the level of the marsh to the spring-head:
 
Heads.
Surface of Pools.
 
Feet.
Feet.
Parys
Mine Company, Copper forge,
10¾
54,842
Old Copper forge
Greenfield,
Copper & Brass Co ,
21½
23,664
Parys
Mine Company, Copper rolling-mill,
21¾
40,068
Parys
Mine Company, Copper wire-mill,
23
 
Lower cotton-mill, Cotton & twist Co
28
131,670
Greenfield
Copper & Brass Co Copper rolling-mill,
21½
112,028
Greenfield
Copper & Brass Co Brass battery mills,
23
70,696
Cotton Twist Company, Crescent cotton-mills
13½
 
D' Old cotton-mill,
11½
 
Do Upper cotton-mill,
20
 
D' Corn-mill to springhead,
7½
 
Total feet
202¾
 
LET me conclude with remarking the vast population these companies have brought to the townships of
Holywell
and
Greenfield.
In respect to the first, there is no great increase of building; but the latter has of late years received such an addition in works and in houses, that almost the whole is a continued series of edifices of different kinds, from the upper corn-mill quite to the sea-side. Among them are a hundred and seventy-seven houses for workmen of different occupations, of which few indeed have been erected beyond my memory.
THE origin of this useful stream is discovered at the foot of the steep hill, beneath the town of
Holywell,
or
Treffynnon,
ST. WENEFREDE'S WELL.
to which it gave the name. The spring boils with vast impetuosity out of a rock, and is confined in a beautiful polygonal well, covered with a rich arch, supported by pillars
Mr.
John Ingleby
has engraven a print of this elegant building, from a drawing by himself, which is sold by Mr.
Cairus,
bookseller,
Holywell.
. The roof is most exquisitely carved in stone. Immediately over the fountain is the legend of St.
Wenefrede,
on a pendent projection, with the arms of
England
at the bottom. Numbers of fine ribs secure the arch, whose intersections are coupled with a sculpture.
SOME are mere works of fancy; grotesque figures of animals: but the rest allude chiefly to the
Stanley
family. This building, and the chapel over it, rose from the piety of that great house, which left these memorials of its benefactions: there are besides some marks of the illustrious donors; for example, the profile of
Margaret,
mother to
Henry
VII. and that of her husband the earl of
Derby,
cut on the same stone.
THE compliments to the
Stanleys,
are very frequent. The
wolf
's head is the arms of the earls of
Chester:
it is inclosed in a garter, in respect to Sir
William Stanley,
knight of that order, who had been chamberlain of that city, and justiciary of
North Wales.
The tun with a plant issuing out of it, is a
rebus,
the arms of his wife
Elizabeth Hopton,
allusive to her name. This proves, that the building was erected before 1495, in which year Sir
William
lost his head. The other badges of the same house are, the stag's head; the eagle's leg; and the three legs, the arms of the isle of
Man.
WE also find, that
Catherine
of
Arragon,
widow to prince
Arthur,
and afterwards the unfortunate wife of his brother
Henry
VIII. was a benefactress to this building; at left her arms appear here: three pomegranates in a shield, surmounted with a crown; the badge of the house of
Granada,
in memory of the expulsion of the
Moors,
by her father
Ferdinand
Sandford's Gencal.
475.
. The eagle seems also to belong to her, being one of the supporters of the arms of her family.
OVER one of the lesser arches, on each side of the well, are the dragon and gre-hound, the supporters of the arms of
England
during the reign of
Henry
VII. and part of that of
Henry
VIII. The first was born by
Henry
VII. as a badge of the house of
Tudor,
which derived itself from
Cadwalader,
last king of
Britain,
who bore on his ensign a red dragon.
Henry,
in imitation of him, at the battle of
Bosworth
carried on his standard a red dragon, painted on white and green silk; which afterwards gave rise to the office of
Rouge-dragon
among the heralds.
ON one side of a wall that supports the roof, was painted the tale of the tutelar saint; at present almost defaced: over it is inscribed,
in honorem Sanctae Wenefredae,
V. & M.
IN another wall is an elegant nich, in which stood a statue of the Virgin
Mary;
pulled down, as I have been informed, in the year 1635.
I HAVE also heard, that there had been another of St.
Wenefrede.
To grace the image on high festivals, it is probable, that
Isabel,
countess of
Warwick,
widow to the great
Richard Beauchamp,
left to St.
Wenefrede,
in 1439, her gown of russet velvet
Dugdale's Warwickshire,
I. 414.
.
OVER this spring is a chapel,
CHAPEL.
of the same date with the other building: a neat piece of gothic architecture; but in a very ruinous state. The east end is a pentagon, and had five windows with elegant tracery. The top arched, and crossed with neat slender ribs. It had been open to the body of the chapel; but the fine arch which formed the division, has been bricked up a great number of years ago. On one side of the body is an oblong recess, divided from it by three arches, supported by pillars; and within is a window impending over the well. Under the centre window must have stood the altar. The whole length of the chapel is fifty-two feet: the breadth is twenty. The recess is twenty-six feet long, and eight broad. The roof is neat wood-work. This had been a free chapel, in the gift of the bishop, with the reserve of a stipend to the chapter; but the rest of the offerings were to be expended on the chapel. In
Richard
III.'s time, the abbot and convent had from the crown ten marks
yerely, for the sustentacione and salarie of a prieste, at the chapelle of St. Wynefride
Harl
n MSS.
No 433.338.
. The chapel is the property of
Daniel Leo,
esquire, in right of his wife
Laetitia,
sister to the late
John Davies,
esquire, of
Llanerch.
THE following order, for putting the chapel over the well into possession of a clergyman of the church of
Rome,
was addressed to Sir
Roger Mostyn,
baronet, by the queen of
James
II.
Sir ROGER MOSTYN.
IT having pleased the king, by his royall grant, to bestow upon me y
antient chappell adjoining to St.
Winifride
's well; these are to desire you to give present possession, in my name, of the said chappell, to Mr.
Thomas Roberts,
who will deliver this letter into y
hands. It being also my intention to have the place decently repaired, and put to a good use, I further desire, that you will affoard him your favour and protection, that he may not be disturbed in the performance thereof. You may rest assured, that what you do herein, according to my desire, shall be very kindly remembered by
MAY ye 8th, 1687.
WHITEHALL.
Your good frind, MARY: REGINA.
FREE SCHOOL.
IN this chapel is kept the free-school for sixteen boys, with a settled salary, from money laid out at interest, of 10
l. per annum.
The vicar appoints the master, which, as far as I recollect, has been a clergyman, excepting in one instance.
SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
BESIDES the
Sunday
school, where the cotton-company's apprentices are instructed, there is another parochial one kept in the chapel over the well. This is supported by a general subscription through the parish; and about seventy poor children are instructed by proper masters, in reading, writing and arithmetick. The copper and brass companies are handsome subscribers, but they send only a few adults, to be instructed in matters, their more advanced years make them capable of learning.
THIS room has been used as the hall for holding both the great and the quarter sessions. I remember
Matthew Skinner,
esquire, chief justice of
Chester,
holding the assizes there; and I also recollect a quarter sessions: the hall having been properly fitted up for the purpose. But the distance from the center of the county was found so inconvenient, that after these instances they were removed to
Flint,
and finally to
Mold,
where they still continue.
THE window in this chapel impends a vast height over the bathing well.
CHAPEL WINDOW.
Several persons (not in their sober senses) have leaped into the water, without receiving any other damage than the smart caused by the dashing on the surface from their exalted station. Within my memory, one
John Blackwall,
of
Llanasaph,
took a far more desperate leap into the same water, from the church-yard wall, almost adjoining to the chapel. The leap would have been great, had it been on level ground. Here, had he not reached the water, the consequence would have been, that of being dashed to pieces on the flags.
THE bathing-well is an oblong, 38 feet by 16, with steps for the descent of the fair-sex, or of invalids. Near the steps, two feet beneath the water, is a large stone, called the
wishing-stone.
It receives many a kiss from the faithful, who are supposed never to fail in experiencing the completion of their desires, provided the wish is delivered with full devotion and confidence.
ON the outside of the great well, close to the road,
LITTLE SPRING.
is a small spring, once famed for the cure of weak eyes. The patient made an offering to the nymph of the spring, of a crooked pin, and sent up at the same time a certain ejaculation, by way of charm: but the charm is forgotten, and the efficacy of the waters lost.
THE well is common; for I find by a decision of the court of chancery, on a law-suit respecting the lordship of
Holywell,
between Sir
John Egerton,
knight, and
John Eldred;
chancellor
Ellesmere
decrees,
That on calling to mind, that within the said manor there is a fountain or well of antient and worthy memory, he doth not think fit that the petitioner, or any other, should have the property thereof, notwithstanding the general words of the grant of the manor: and therefore his lordship doth order, that notwithstanding the said grant, that the well shall-continue as now it is, or heretofore hath been; saving to the petitioner, and his heirs and assigns, the benefit of the stream and watercourse, with the appertainances.
THERE are two different opinions about the origin of this stream. One party makes it miraculous: the other asserts it to be owing only to natural causes. The advocates for the first, deliver their tale thus:
OF SAINT WENEFREDE.
IN the seventh century lived a virgin of the name of
Wenefrede,
of noble parents; her father's name was
Thewith,
a potent lord in the parts where
Holywell
now stands; her mother's
Wenlo,
descended from an antient family in
Montgomeryshire,
and sister to St.
Beuno. Beuno
assumed the monastic habit, retired to
Clynnog,
in
Caernarvonshire,
where he built a church and founded a convent. After completing this work of piety, he visited his relations in
Flintshire;
and obtaining from his brother-in-law a little spot at the foot of the hill on which he resided, erected on it a church, and took under his care his niece
Wenefrede.
It is probable that the saint used occasionally to make some residence in this country; for near the entrance of the dingle, opposite to the great cotton-work, are two small fields, called to this day
Gerddi Saint Beuno,
or the gardens of St.
Beuno.
A NEIGHBORING prince of the name of
Cradocus,
son of king
Alen,
was struck with her beauty, and at all events determined to gratify his desires. He made known his passion to the lady; who, affected with horror, attempted to escape. The wretch, enraged at the disappointment, instantly pursued her, drew out his sabre, and cut off her head.
Cradocus
instantly received the reward of his crime: he fell down dead, and the earth opening, swallowed his impious corps.
Higden,
in his
Polychronicon,
adds, that even the descendants of this monster were visited with horrible judgments, to be expiated only by a visit to this well, or to the bones of the saint at
Salop.
Ad
Basingwerk
sons oritur
Qui satis vulgo dicitur.
Et tantis bullis scaturit
Quod mox, injecta, rejicit.
Tam magnum flumen procreat
Ut
Cambriae
sufficiat.
Aegri qui dant rogamina
Reportant medicamina.
Rubro guttatos lapides
In scatebris reperies
In signum sacri sanguinis,
Quem VENEFREDE virginis
Guttur truncatum fuderat.
Qui scelus hoc patraverat,
Ac nati, ac nepotuli
Latrant ut canum catuli
Donec sanctae suffragium
Poscant ad hunc fonticulum:
Vel ad urbem
Salopiae
Ubi quiescit hodie
Gale's Script.
III. 190.
.
THE severed head took its way down the hill, and stopt near the church. The valley, which, from its uncommon dryness, was heretofore called
Sych
nant,
now lost its name. A spring of uncommon size burst from the place where the head rested. The moss on its sides diffused a fragrant smell
Life of St.
Wenefrede,
from which the materials for this part are mostly taken.
. Her blood spotted the stones, which, like the flowers of
Adonis,
annually commemorate the fact, by assuming colors unknown to them at other times.
Luctus monumenta manebim
Semper
A
ioni,
mei: repetitaque mortis imago
Annua plangoris pe
get simila
i
nostri.
For thee, blest maid, my tears, my endless pain
Shall in immortal monuments remain.
The image of thy death each year renew;
And prove my grief, to distant ages, true.
ST. BEUNO took up the head, carried it to the corps, and, offering up his devotions, joined it nicely to the body, which instantly reunited. The place was visible only by a slender white line encircling her neck, in memory of a miracle, which surpassed far that worked by St.
Dionysius,
who marched in triumph after decapitation, with his head in his hands, from
Mont martre
to St.
Dennis
's
Histoire de l'abbaye de St.
Denys,
76.
; or that of St.
Adelbertus,
who, in like circumstances, swam across the
Vistula.
To conclude: St.
Wenefrede
survived her decollation fifteen years. She died at
Gwytherin
in
Denbighshire,
where her bones rested till the reign of king
Stephen,
when, after divine admonition, they were surrendered to the abby of St.
Peter
and St.
Paul
at
Shrewsbury.
The memory of the two great events, that of her first death is celebrated on the 22d of
June:
that of her translation the 3d of
November.
THE first
Sunday
after St.
James
's day is also kept in honor of certain saints;
DYDD SUL Y SAINT.
(probably St.
Wenefrede
and St.
Beuno
) not with prayers or with holy masses, but in every species of frolick and excess. It originated in the
Romish
church: but I clear that congregation from being concerned in any part of the orgies; which are, I fear, celebrated by persons of our own religion only, who flock here on that day for most unsaintly ends. The day is called
Dydd sul y Saint,
or the
Sunday of the Saints.
I wish I could trace the primaeval ceremonies, and whether one might not have been the
Druidical
custom, the
Deiseal,
or
Deisol,
or turning from the east to the west, according to the course of the sun. In some of the western isles the custom is still preserved with great devotion.
Deas
signifies the right hand, and
sul
the sun, from the ceremony being performed with the right hand always next to the circle, cairn, or whatsoever they surround
See more in the learned
Porlase's Antiquities of Cornwall,
124 to 126.
. It is possible that this custom might have been applied to our saint, and the words
Deiseil,
or
Deisol,
corrupted for that purpose for
Dydd-sol,
for giving particular sanction to the
Sunday
in question.
A FRATERNITY and gild was established in honor of our saint at
Shrewsbury.
It had its common seal, which,
AN ANTIENT SEAL.
through the kindness of my friend, Mr.
Henry Levingston,
is now in my possession. It is of copper, of the form expressed in plate VI. of Vol. I. of my
Tour in Wales.
In the center is a representation of the martyrdom; above is a cross in form of a T, placed between the letters
T. m.
which mark the time when the fraternity was instituted, during the abbacy of
Thomas Mynde;
who was elected in 1459, and died in 1499, a period in which these religious societies were much in fashion. The T or cross refers to the church of St.
Cross
within this monastery. Beneath are probably the arms of the house, a sword and a key, symbols of its tutelar apostles; and round the margin is this inscription:
Sigillū cō e Ffraternitat beate Wenefride virginis
ī
eccia
sc̄ e cruc ī : fra monaster. sc̄ i Petri Salopie.
A bell belonging to the church was also christened in honor of her. I cannot learn the names of the gossips, who, as usual, were doubtlessly rich persons. On the ceremony, they all laid hold of the rope; bestowed a name on the bell; and the priest sprinkling it with holy water, baptized it in the name of the Father,
&c. &c
Stovely
's Hist. Churches, 130.
. He then clothed it with a fine garment: after this the gossips gave a grand feast, and made great presents, which the priest received in behalf of the bell. Thus blessed, it was endowed with great powers; allayed (on being rung) all storms; diverted the thunder-bolt; drove away evil spirits. These consecrated bells were always inscribed. The inscription on that in question ran thus:
Sancta
Wenefreda,
Deo hoc commendare memento,
Ut pietate sua, nos servet ab hoste cruento.
And a little lower was another address:
Protege l'rece pia, quos convoco, virgo
Marta.
AFTER her death, her sanctity, says her historian, was proved by numberless miracles. The waters were almost as sanative as those of the pool of
Bethesda:
all infirmities incident to the human body met with relief; the votive crutches, the barrows, and other proofs of cures, to this moment remain as evidences pendent over the well. The saint is equally propitious to Protestants and Catholics; for among the offerings are to be found these grateful testimonies from the patients of each religion.
THE Holy Father gave all encouragement to the piety of pilgrims to frequent this fountain. Pope
Martin
V.
Selden
's notes on
Michael Drayton,
289.
in the reign of
Henry
V. furnished the abby of
Basingwerk
with pardons and indulgences, to sell to the devotees. These were renewed again in the reign of queen
Mary,
by the interest of
Thomas Goldwell
bishop of St.
Asaph
Powel
's notes on
Gi
ald. Cambr.
874. Mr.
Addison
says he saw his picture at
Ravenna,
in the convent of
Theatins,
among the eminent men of that order.
, who fled into
Italy
on the accession of
Elizabeth.
Multitudes of offerings flowed in; marks of gratitude from such who had received benefit by intercession of the virgin.
THE resort of pilgrims of late years to these
Fontanalia
has considerably decreased; the greatest number are from
Lancashire.
In the summer, still a few are to be seen in the water in deep devotion up to their chins for hours, sending up their prayers, or performing a number of evolutions round the polygonal well; or threading the arch between well and well a prescribed number of times. I am sorry to say that this excess of piety has cost several devotees their lives. Few people of rank at present honor the fountain with their presence. A crowned head in the last age dignified the place with a visit. The prince who lost three kingdoms for a mass, payed his respects, on
August
29th 1686, to our saint; and received as a reward a present of the very shift in which his great-grand-mother
Mary Stuart
lost her head
The late Doctor
Cooper
of
Chester
's MSS.
. This prince gave, in the course of his progress, as marks of his favor, golden rings, with his hair platted beneath a crystal. I have seen one, which he had bestowed on a
Roman Catholic
priest of a nighboring family. The majority of devotees are of the fair sex, attracted hither to commemorate the martyrdom of St.
Wenefrede,
as those of the East did the death of the
Cyprian
favorite,
Whose annual wound in
Lebanon
allur'd
The
Syrian
damsels to deplore his fate
In woeful ditties all the summer's day:
While smooth
Ada
s
from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of
Tha
yearly wounded.
WE, whose ancestors, between two and three centuries ago, abridged our faith to the mere contents of the Old and New Testament, and to the creed called the
Apostles,
do not think the belief in the above, and other legends, requisite. I refer the reader to the arguments used by the antiquary Doctor
Powel,
in his notes on the Itinerary of
Giraldus Cambrensis,
and to Bishop
Fleetwood
's annotations on the life of the saint, for proofs against the truth of the tale: but with Protestants, and temperate Catholics, it carries with it self-confutation.
THE waters are indisputably endowed with every good quality attendant on cold baths; and multitudes have here experienced the good effects that thus result from natural qualities, implanted in the several parts of matter by the divine Providence, in order to fulfil his will. Heaven for a short period deigned to convince a dark and obdurate age with a series of miracles; which were delivered down to succeeding times, as incontestible proofs of the reality of the divine mission. Without them, a sufficient ground of trust and reliance upon the Supreme Being has long since been established. Second causes innumerable are dispersed throughout the universe, subordinate to the FIRST. Every element proves to us a medicine or a bane, as suits His unerring dispensation. We cannot want, we cannot have the mediation of poor departed mortals. The supposition would be bestowing on them the attributes of the Deity; omnipresence and omniscience.
SOME eminent botanists of my acquaintance have reduced the sweet moss, and the bloody stains, to mere vegetable productions, far from being peculiar to our fountain. The first is that kind of moss called
Jungermannia Asplenioides,
Fl. Angl. 509,
Tour in Wales,
vol. i. tab. 6. imperfectly described and figured by
Dillenius,
in his history of mosses; which induced us to give a new engraving of it. This species is also found in another holy well in
Caernarvonshire,
called
Ffynnon Llanddeiniolen,
in a parish of the same name.
THE other is a
Byssus,
likewise odoriferous: common to
Lapland,
and to other countries besides our own. It adheres to stones in form of fine velvet.
Linnaeus
calls it
Byssus Jolithus
S
. P
i
. 3
.—
Fl. Lap.
369. No 528.
, or the violet-smelling. He says, the stone to which it adheres easily betrays itself by the color, being as if smeared with blood; and if rubbed, yields a smell like violets.
Micheli,
in his
Genera
of plants, mentions the same
Gen. 210. tab. 89. fig. 3.
; and
Schwenckfelt
discovered it among the vegetables of
Silesia.
He calls it a
muscus subrubeus,
and informs us, that the smell is grateful to the heart; and that if put among clothes, it gives them a good scent, and serves to drive away moths
C
. Su
&
S
ae,
3
2.
.
Linnaeus
says
As quoted by Baron
Haller,
No 2090.
, that it is of use in eruptive disorders. The
Conferva Gelatinosa,
Syst. Pl. iv. 591. Fl. Scot. ii. 986, is found in the same well.
TO THE
W
WHEEL.
A SPECIES of moss is apt to vegetate on the oaken wheels of several of the mills of this stream. These give shelter to multitudes of
animal
ae.
These, it is probable, eat into the timber, and occasion the ill same our river has obtained of having a corrosive quality. Mr.
William Chambers,
of
Holywell,
has assured me that he has seen the penstock and contiguous parts, which lie always under water, in some parts pierced with a few holes, in others eaten quite thorough; and that the planks appeared, after the moss was separated, as if consuming by the wet rot. He adds, that the moss first adheres to the oaken planks, and then it is that the small grubs eat into them; and in some parts quite penetrate, so that the moss becomes seemingly the nursery or receptacle of the grubs. The method used to preserve the wheels, was by scraping the moss off annually.
THIS account is corroborated by Mr.
Robert Tart,
a very intelligent master-carpenter, who says, that the wheels made of the best oak are destroyed remarkably soon by the
Holywell
stream. A wheel which ought to have lasted thirty years, has here been known to become unfit for use in about twelve. Mr.
Tart
recommends wheels made of pine or red deal, and that the surface of the wheels be paid with pitch, tar, and ruddle; but even this has proved ineffectual, for the water occasions the mixture soon to peel away. Mr.
Donbavand
was so sensible of the evil, as to substitute, instead of timber, wheels of cast-iron in the works which he superintends.
EDWARD DAVIES, an experienced wheel-wright, aged seventy-five, confirms the above; and adds that red deal perishes in the same manner, but in a much slower degree, by reason of its resinous quality. There have been formerly instances of oaken planks, which had laid long under water, being found as full of holes as if they had been eaten through by
Norway
rats; and were kept as curiosities by the late Messrs.
Barker,
of
Brynmadin,
or
Gadlys.
ON examination of the
animalcula
which occasion this damage, we found them to be the
erucae
or caterpillars of a certain insect, which deposite its eggs in the moss, the
Hyp
um riparium, Flora
cot.
ii. 760. we found them in the state of
erucae,
about a third of an inch long, and of a whitish color.
WE found others arrived to the state of
pupae
or
chrysalides,
of the same length as the caterpillar, and of a deep brown color. Whether these destructive insects are
ephemerae,
or
phryganeae,
of the class of insects which, by a wonderful direction of nature, deposite their eggs in waters of different depths, I cannot ascertain. It is certain that these genera, before they assume the insect form, remain under the water. They from the egg become caterpillars; these caterpillars rest a certain time in shape of
pupae,
then burst out into flies or insects, after that instantly quit the watery element. In a still day they may be observed to make their appearance, preceded by a bubble: the insect immediately follows, and either takes to the air, or runs along the surface of the water, before it rises into its new habitation.
CHURCH.
ABOVE the well stands the church, dedicated to St.
Wenefrede.
The parish wakes are celebrated in
November,
the time of her translation. The living, before the dissolution, belonged to the abby of
Basingwerk;
and is a vicarage in the gift of
Jesus College, Oxford,
which nominates; and
Daniel Leo,
esquire, the lay-rector, presents. It was given away by
Robert Davies,
to the college, by deed dated 1626, expressing, that as often as it became vacant, the said
Robert Davies
and his heirs shall freely, and
charitatis intuitu, et absque aliqua morosa cunctatione,
present a native of
Wales,
rightfully and canonically nominated by the college.
IN a letter, dated 26th
October,
1676,
Mutton Davies,
grandson of the donor, earnestly recommends to the college Mr.
J. Humphreys;
adding,
That by this I do not take upon me in the lest to detract from the gift my grandfather made the college, but I glory in the honor to be descended from one who had the happiness to pay such respect to the society.
In another letter, dated
January
following, after thanking the society for consenting to his request, he adds,
I should be as ungrateful as disingenuous should I convert your condescension herein to the disadvantage of your society, by attempting hereafter to insinuate a right, when I ought to commemorate a free obligation, which induces me (out of some congruity to my apprehension) to send my eldest son to deliver this unto your hands, and to gain him the honor of being known unto you, which my ill-fortune hath denied me hitherto, though I covet it very much.
THE list of the vicars of
Holywell,
from the year 1537 to the present time, was communicated to me by my most worthy friend,
Lewis
lord bishop of
St. Asaph.
It is entitled, vicars of
Holywell, Tre-fynnon,
or
Ffynnon Gwen-frewi.
Maurice ap David,
1537, d.
Howel ap David, Feb.
1542.
Hugh ap Day, Feb.
15th, 1555.1560.
Owen Hughes,
succeeded 23d
March,
1593.1604.
Robert Price,
1608. On his death,
Evan Lloyd,
A. M.
July
1635, on the presentation of JESUS College.
John Humphreys,
1677. On his resignation,
William Ball,
A. M.
May,
1682, on being removed, was succeeded by,
Edward Parry, Aug.
1692. On his death,
Eliseus Price,
A. M.
Feb.
1711. Collated to
Skyviog July
4th, 1704.—
Ellis Price
was recommended to the college by Sir
Roger Mostyn,
baronet, and, excepting
John Humphreys,
was the only incumbent who was not a fellow of
Jesus College.
Benjamin Havard,
B. D. 21st
Sept.
1763.
John Lloyd,
B. D. 22d
March,
1773. Collated by the bishop to
Kilken,
21st
Aug.
1782.
AN account of the tythes will be given in the Appendix, with those of
Whiteford
parish.
THIS vicarage even wants a globe, unless we call the garden to the house by that name. Neither has it any other endowment, unless the share of tithes mentioned in the Appendix, and an acquisition of Queen
Anne
's bounty of two hundred pounds. This, in the time of the Rev.
Ellis Price,
vicar, received the addition of two hundred more, which lay at interest till the last year, when, on the donation of a hundred and fifty pounds from
Jesus College,
the whole was laid out in the purchase of a portion of the waste lands in the parish of
Kilken.
An act had been passed in the year 1793, for the purpose of inclosing the common, dividing it among the freeholders, and selling certain portions to defray the expences of the act, &c &c. &c. One part was bought with the above sums, and settled on the minister of
Holywell
and his successors, in addition to their income; and say the activity of the present vicar, the ground has already been inclosed, drained, ploughed and sown! The other support of the vicars is the antient one,
oblationes altaris,
among which are reckoned the offerings at burials for the pious use of the priest, and the good estate of the soul of the deceased.
(See
Kennet's Parochial Antiquities. Glossary.
) Those of
Holywell
parish amount,
communibus annis,
to eighty pounds.
THE vicarage house, about the middle of this century, became so ruinous as to be uninhabitable. In a few years it was rebuilt by the piety of two brothers,
Thomas
and
John Barker,
of
Brynmadyn,
agents to the great smelting-company at
Gadlys,
who bequeathed to the vicar of
Holywell
400
l.
for the purpose of building a new glebe house at
Holywell,
for him and his successors, on the same spot as that on which the old one stood. It was finished in the year 1760, and, with the adjacent premises, has been considerably improved by the present vicar, the Reverend
John Lloyd,
and made a most comfortable residence.
NOT far distant, at the very foot of the hill, above the well,
CHURCH.
stands the parish church, placed in that inconvenient situation, out of respect to the guardian saint. It has only one bell, and that not to be heard at any distance; so that the congregation is assembled by a walking steeple, a man with a small bell, who sounds the notice through every street.
THE present church was rebuilt in 1769, on the site of the old, and of the same length and breadth,
viz.
the length sixty-eight feet, the breadth fifty-six. It is difficult to ascertain the antient architecture of this church. Near the entrance, at the west-end, is a door-way, with an obtuse
gothic
arch. The pillars, plain themselves, and with plain capitals, which support the gallery on each side of the nave, are original; and by the specimens given by Dr.
Ducarel,
in his
Norman Antiquities,
tab. xiii. appear to have been in use among the
Saxons
and the
Normans.
The arches, which might have confirmed my suspicion that the church was built in the
Norman
reign, are taken away, but the style continued till about the year 1200. The church has a nave and two ailes, over which are two handsome galleries; and the whole is supposed to contain three thousand people. It is plain, neat, and calculated for use.
SHOULD it be ever thought necessary to commemorate the repair of the church by an inscription, I would venture to recommend the energetic lines inscribed, on a similar occasion, on a church at
Bristol,
adapting the date and third line to the circumstances of that of
Holywell.
Haec compta DEI domus
modo collapsura,
Jam
quatu
r
novis columnis
suffulta et decorata,
Stabilimen et ornamentum
recepit, A. D. 1731.
Firmiùs stabiliatur precibus
sacramentis, evangelis,
et puritate morum;
Clariùs ornetur quotidiano
coetu Christianorum.
UNDER the chancel are the vaults of the
Mostyns
of
Trelacre,
the
Pennants
of
Bagillt,
and the
Pantons
of
Bagillt.
The late
Edward Pennant,
esquire, on the purchase made by me of part of his estate, promised to me his share of these
eternae domus.
He died, and the posthumous gift was in the handsomest manner transferred to me by
Roger Barnston,
esquire, who afterwards possessed the remainder of his fortunes.
IN the chancel is a neat
caenotoph,
in memory of
Mary,
MONUMENTS.
mother to the late
Edward Pennant,
esquire. The inscription does this lady no more than justice:
She was prudent, pious, and charitable; in the midst of misfortunes shewed a great example of meekness and humility, of patience and resignation to the will of GOD.
With the best and most affectionate intent to improve the affairs of her son, she engaged in a partnership with a smelting-company in the neighborhood. The company failed; and the creditors, in an unrelenting manner, pursued the good lady till she was obliged to take shelter in the isle of
Man;
where she died, on the 28th of
February,
1750, aged forty, and was interred in the church at
Douglas.
ON the wall of the south aile is a small monument in memory of the Reverend
Robert Edwards,
a younger son of
Brynford,
rector of
Halkin,
who died
May
13th, 1694. Above the inscription are the arms of the house,
viz.
field vert, a cheveron between three wolves heads argent, erased, with the lion, the arms of
Tudor Trevor,
empaled. The first denotes the descent of the family of
Brynford
from
Ririd Vlaidd,
lord of
Penllyn,
&c. killed in battle at the latter end of the reign of
Henry
II.
ON the wall at the end of the same aile, is a flat stone, with twelve quarterings, all faithfully copied from those over the chimney-piece in the dining-parlor at
Mostyn.
This belonged to the
Mostyns
of
Calcoed,
who, by virtue of their descent (of which more in another place) have a right to the first coat. The rest appertain only to Sir
Roger Mostyn,
especially those of
Edwyn,
gained by the marriage of
Jevan
with the heiress of
Mostyn;
those of
Gloddaeth,
gained by the heiress of
Gloddaeth;
and those of
Tregarnedd,
gained by the heiress of
Ednefydd Vychan:
to each of which none could have a right but the
Mostyns
of
Mostyn,
and their heirs. On one side is a shield argent, with four bars azure; in the first, three shieldrakes; in the second and third, two; and in the fourth one: these evidently variations of the coat, (see p. 30.) Beneath is
Hodie mi, cras tibi.
On the other side, beneath the arms of
Philip Phycdan,
is
Virtus semper vivit.
THE same errors reign in the arms of
Thomas Mostyn,
of
Stokyn.
They are almost the same with the preceding: the date is 1658. I shall not repeat here what I have said at p. 186, of the possessors of
Stokyn.
ON a pillar in the north aile are the very same arms over the seat of the
Williams
's of
Trellynian,
with this motto:
H XPE M
Labe meâ morior, sanguine vivo tuo.
THE arms of
Trellynian
are those of
Idnerth,
lord of
Maes
rook,
a boar's head in chief, on the arms of
Edwyn,
lord of
Tegengl.
Probably the pillar and the seat had been transferred to the
Williams
's by some descendant from the house of
Tudor Trevor;
perhaps a
Mostyn
of
Hen-Blâs,
in
Brynford,
now the property of Sir
Roger Mostyn.
A FOURTH flat stone, smaller than the preceding, is placed in the wall of the north aile: on it is inscribed the following epitaph:
Resurrectio mea XTUS.
Hic jacet corpus
Johannis Pennant,
de
Holywell,
Arn
ge
; que obiit
xxx. die
Augusti,
1623.
JOHN PENNANT was second in descent from
Nicholas Pennant,
last abbot of
Basingwerk;
and was married to
Margaret,
daughter of
Hugh Mostyn,
younger son of
Pyers Mostyn,
of
Trelacre.
His arms are the three shieldrakes quarterly with those of Sir
Robert Pounderling,
constable of
Desert
castle, and of Sir
Griffith Llwyd,
mentioned before at p. 31. He was great-grand-father to
Mary Pennant,
who conveyed into our house the
Holywell
and
Merton Abbot
estates, by her marriage with
David Pennant
of
Bychton.
IN rebuilding the church was found the headless figure of a priest, in his sacerdotal habit, and with a chalice in his hand. He is supposed to have been
Thomas,
second son of
Thomas ap David,
abbot of
Basingwerk;
whom I find in the
Bagillt
pedegree to have been vicar of
Holywell.
THE steeple is plain and square, very strongly built, but without any mark to denote the time of its being built.
THE church-yard is the worst in the whole diocese.
CHURCH-YARD.
A small part is a gentle slope, but the greater almost precipitous; so that after any continuance of wet weather, a fall may happen productive of the most indecent and horrible spectacles.
THE number of inhabitants in this parish may be from 7 to 8000. There are about 1000 houses in the whole parish,
NUMBER OF PEOPLE.
of which upwards of 400 are in the town.
Greenfield
contains about 1
houses. This is the township which has received the greatest increase, by reason of the sudden and vast accession of inhabitants, by reason of the manufactures which settled here nearly at the same time. In these evil days about twenty of the houses are empty.
INCREASE.
THE increase of inhabitants may be collected from the following abstract from the
Holywell
registers. Let it be observed, that the number allowed to each house is greater than common, from the consideration that in manufacturing places the number of poor employed in them are crowded into far less space than in any other towns.
Year
1670.
17
.
1760.
1770.
1780.
1787.
1790.
1794.
Baptisms,
29
72
88
122
1
2
164
198
193
Burials,
27
52
76
90
111
122
151
156
IN bishop
Tanner
's MS. notes on the diocese of St.
Asaph,
presented to me by my respected friend the late Reverend Doctor
William Wynne,
I find that in the year 1686 the number of families was 274, of which 41 were recusants.
POORS RATES.
IN respect to the poors rate, I have a very curious memorandum, extracted out of the old vestry-book of the parish, by Mr.
Samuel Small,
who, with his usual friendship, communicated it to me; and every thing else which he thought would promote my design.
IN 1721.
1722,
May.
—Vestry ordered the church and poors ley to be assessed separately, and that £. 14 be raised for the church, and £. 24 for the poor, both for the year 1721.
(till then the leys were promiscuous, and denominated a church rate). That book began in 1715, and ended in 1763.
ANOTHER memorandum.—1723,
June
4. Ordered,
IN 1723
that church and poors leys be assessed separately; and that £. 14 be raised for the church, and £. 21 for the poor, both for 1723.
IN the present year the rates,
IN 1793
equalized according to the actual rents, amount to fifteen hundred pounds!!!
IN this parish are three clubs, or friendly societies,
CLUBS OR FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.
instituted on the same plan as those in
Whiteford
parish (see p. 101.) The first, or the Old Club, was formed on
March
7th, 1751: so that it is prior to our's by fifteen years. It consists at present of 214 members.
CLUB the second consists of 170 members, and was formed
January
27th, 1759.
CLUB the third is composed of 160 members, and commenced on
January
21st, 1775. Each of these clubs have their rules, but so similar to those of
Whiteford
parish, that I shall not repeat them. I shall only remark,
ne quid detrimenti ecclesia capiat,
that there is an article which excludes every one who is not of the true church of
England
by law established, unless with the approbation of the majority.
THE UNION CLUB was established in
April,
1789.
UNION CLUB.
It is composed of forty-two members, in general the most respectable inhabitants of the parish, untainted with despotic or jacobinical principles. Every
Christmas
they shew exemplary charity to their poor neighbors; and under their influence above 160
l.
was raised the late season of scarcity, and distributed among the objects most worthy of relief. My son and I are proud of being members of this society, as well as all the preceding.
OLD
-C
.
LET me here mention (from the principle
Haec olim me
nisse
ava
is
) a society long extinct, which consisted of the gentlemen of the neighborhood, and the most respectable men of business, tradesmen, or mine adventurers, who met, during summer, once a week, to dine at the house of
Bryn Celyn,
and after dinner descended to the bowling-green just beneath, to amuse themselves with the innocent recreation. Adjoining, in a room of retreat, in the intervals of play, the persons out, took their pipe and ale, or perhaps a small bowl of punch: for in those plain days wine was seldom called for, unless by the few with whom other liquors might disagree
In these days, alas! our native liquor is banished from most tables!
Ah! redeant SATURNIA regna!
.
IN the town are three places of worship besides the church, two for the
Roman Catholics,
and one for dissenters. The last was built on my ground, by lease dated
April
16, 1788, and is maintained by voluntary contributions. Of the former, one supports a secular or parish priest. The other a gentleman of the late order of Jesuits. Both of their cures are endowed with lands vested in trustees. Each of their houses had been a species of hotel, probably designed for the reception of pilgrims of better rank. One was called the
Cross-keys,
the other the
Star.
I remember at one or other of them
Edward
duke of
Norfolk,
and other visitants of distinction.
BRYN Y CASTELL.
ABOVE the church is a hill called
Bryn y Castell,
narrow and very steep on the sides, projecting at the end over the little valley. On this might have stood the castle of
Treffynnon,
or St.
Wenefrede,
built by
Randle
III. earl of
Chester,
in the year 1210
Powel,
262.
. There are not at present any vestiges left.
IT is singular that no mention is made in the
Doomsday-Book
of either chapel, church, or well; yet townships now of less note are named; such as
Brunford, Caldecote,
and others. Notwithstanding bishop
Fleetwood
's opinion, I think the legend of St.
Wenefrede
was known previous to that survey; for the very name of
Holywell
is
Saxon,
probably bestowed on it before the Conquest, on account of the imputed sanctity of the well.
THE spring is certainly one of the finest in these kingdoms; and, by the two different trials and calculations lately made for my information, is found to fling out about twenty-one tons of water in a minute. It never freezes. In respect to the equality of the water in droughts, or after the greatest rains, I find I must place it among the vulgar errors. From the authority of Mr.
Christopher Smalley,
and other respectable manufacturers on the stream, I discover that the variation is extremely great, and that there is a decrease in summer of more than one-third, and in great droughts of still more, and after violent rains the increase is in like proportion: some even say it is one-half. As long as I remember, the fountain, after heavy falls of wet, became of a wheyey color. This is increased to a great degree, grows more turbid, and even deposits a mud upon the stones.
THE town was also very inconsiderable till the beginning of this century; the houses few, and those for the most part that
; the streets unpaved; and the place destitute of a market. The flourishing mines, that for some time were discovered
, made a great change in the appearance, and introduced the effects of wealth. The effects of the manufacto
make less appearance in the town than in the valley beneath,
from the well to the sea-side, is a continued succession of
s.
THE monks of
Basingwerk
obtained for it the grant of a
a market. The first has been dropt beyond the memory of
. The market was also lost, till it was renewed by letter
ent, dated
Jan.
20th, 1703, granted to Sir
John Eger
et. The patent also contains a grant of three fairs,
viz.
on the 23d of
April,
the
Tuesday
in
Easter
week, and the 2d of
er.
The market has been the most flourishing in
North Wales,
but the fairs never could be established.
THE market is the best in the county for butcher's meat. That for corn is now much reduced, by reason of the greater farmers, or the badgers or purchasers for exportation, lessening the great stock which used to supply the markets at reasonable rates. Every great farmer seems now to have taken the early part of his education in Change-Alley, and is as expert in prices of corn, as any academy of that noted place is in those of stocks. That there never can be a deficiency for the use of the natives of
Flintshire,
either from their own lands, or the vale of
Clwyd,
is evident from the following table of exportation, from
September
1, 1794, to
August
5th, 1795; communicated to me by the friendship of the gentlemen of the custom-house in
Chester,
from which appear the following truths:
 
Wheat. Qrs. B.
Wheat Flour Q
. B.
Rye. Qrs. B.
Barley. Qrs. B.
Malt. Qrs. B.
Oats. Qrs. B.
Oatmeal. Qrs. B.
Beans. Q
s. B.
Bean Flour. Qrs. B.
From Rudland
1,064 1
1 0
0 0
3 2
0 0
930 0
0 0
29 2
0 0
From Weppra
78 0
0 0
17 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
From Bagillt
30 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
From Chester
4
0 2
469 6
9 3
123 6
612 4
2 4
646 4
0 0
11 0
Total
1,652 3
470 6
26 3
127 0
612 4
932 4
646 4
29 2
11 0
THIS is the sum of the corn exported from
Flintshire
or
Chester;
for I find that none had for several years past been sent from
Rudland
to any place westward of that port.
THE following table will shew the particular places to which the above is exported, and the quantity delivered at each place.
 
Wheat. Qrs. B.
Wheat Flour. Q
s. B.
Rye. Qrs. B.
Barley. Qrs. B.
Malt. Qrs. B.
Oats. Qrs. B.
Oatmeal. Q
s. B.
Beans. Q
. B.
Bean Flour. Q
B
P
r
th
10 0
22 6
9 3
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
tis
0 0
157 4
0 0
3 6
270 4
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
von
0 0
154 0
0 0
5 0
269 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
erpool
1,642 3
94 4
17 0
115 0
63 0
0 0
646 4
0 0
11 0
P
llhely
0 0
41 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
C
ester
0 0
0 0
0 0
3 2
0 0
030 0
0 0
29 2
0 0
Holyland
0 0
0 1
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
ay
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
10 0
2 4
0 0
0 0
0 0
Total
1,652 3
469 7
26 3
12
612
952 2
6
6 4
29 2
11 0
TO conclude, I shall give the prices of the different kinds of corn during this noted year of scarcity, famine it cannot be called, for the evil has been very remote from that dreadful judgment, by reason of the innumerable resources
Britain
has within itself, both from the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
 
Cheapest.
Middle.
Dearest.
41 Q
per
Me
re.
 
£.
s.
d.
£.
s.
d.
£.
s.
d.
 
Wheat
0
8
0
0
13
6
1
0
0
per
Measure.
Barley
0
5
0
0
7
0
0
9
0
Do
Oats
0
2
4½
0
3
0
0
4
3
Do
Beans
0
7
3
0
9
0
0
10
6
Do
THE situation of the town is pleasant and healthy. On the back is a lofty hill, at times extremely productive of lead-ore. Towards the sea is a pretty valley, bounded by woods: the end finishes on one side with the venerable abby. To such who require the use of a cold-bath, few places are more proper; for, besides the excellence of the waters, exceeding good medical assistance, and comfortable accommodations, may be found here; and the mind entertained, and the body exercised in a variety of beautiful rides and walks.
ROADS.
THERE are seven roads out of
Holywell,
leading to different places. The first, or that from the lower part of the town to the sea-side,
TO THE SEA.
I have already mentioned.
TO RUDLAND AND ST. ASAPH.
THE second passes through
Whiteford
street, and is that to
Rudland, St. Asaph, Conwy,
and
Holyhead,
and also is the coach-road to
Denhigh.
Its extent in this parish is only one mile, ending at the late Mr.
Henry Steeple
's wall, where the parish of
Whiteford
begins. Above the west end stands the
Grange,
which was called
Feilebrock
(and also
Fulibrock.
) The
Grange
still remains a farm-house in a most ruinous condition. It is the property of Sir
Pyers Mostyn,
but formerly belonged to the abby of
Basingwerk,
having been granted to them by
Meredeth Wawor,
of which
Dugdale,
(i. 721) gives the following account, in the charter of
David ap Llewelyn,
prince of
North Wales:
Terram etiam
quam
Meredit Wawor
in villa de
Haliwell
et extra villam habuit et terram quam
Huttredus
frater ejus secum excambiavit in ipsa villa pro sua parte terrae in
Quitfordia
et grangiam illorum quae appellatur
Feilebroc
cum omnibus pertinentiis et asiamentis suis et communitatem pasturae montium cum caeteris.
THE
Holywell
level was begun in 1774,
.
under leases granted by Sir
Pyers Mostyn,
baronet, myself,
Peter Parry,
esquire,
Edward Jones,
esquire, and Mrs.
Mary Williams,
of
Trelunniau.
I and my two sons made the voyage of this important venture on
September
21st, 1795, and took boat, or rather punt, at the entrance into the work in
Coed Cae Dentir,
a field belonging to Sir
Pyers,
on the north side of a small dingle opening into the road opposite to the great cotton factory. Under the pilotage of the honest
Thomas Edwards,
agent to the mine, we entered the mouth, lighted by candles, stuck on each side of our vessel. The first forty yards of our way was arched with stone, and so low as to oblige us to stoop. When the arch ceased, the roof was the natural rock, of that species called
shale.
.
The height begins now to be six feet; the breadth four; the depth of the water, included in the height, is two and a half. After passing in the shaley stratum about two hundred and twenty-six yards, we find it is succeeded by that of
ch
rt,
C
.
at which spot the level enters my ground, in the field called
Coed Cae porfa.
There the height to the surface is eighteen yards. Several shafts have been sunk for air between this place and the mouth of the level. In a field of mine, called
C
dlas
r,
was early discovered, at the depth of thirty-one yards, a strong string of ore, which raised the hopes of the adventurers to the highest degree; and the mineral stock rose in proportion. But alas! in a little time, both spirits and stock fell; for the promising prospect suddenly vanished, an accident too frequent with miners to occasion surprize. The chert continues to a little beyond the turnpike-road, when we again enter the land of Sir
Pyers Mostyn,
in a field called
Brocknallt,
where it stops. Hitherto the level has preserved a strait course:
LIME STONE.
but in this field (where the lime-stone stratum begins, and is continued to the end of the present working, above five hundred yards) it takes a bend parallel to the road, and so continues as far as
Brocknallt-pella,
and then makes another curvature, and near a small but pretty cave crosses obliquely the turnpike-road.
A CAVE.
The cave is furnished with a table and benches, at which the visitants never fail experiencing the hospitality of their worthy conductor. Out of this cave is a passage, or sump, or short shaft, sunk for the purpose both of searching for ore, and also for conveying of air, which began to be wanted, into the level. This sump communicates with several others, till it reaches a shaft. The action of the air is various, sometimes it descends through the shaft;
VE
TILATOR.
at other times rushes up the mouth of the level; but in each case passes into the mouth of a square wooden conductor, which enters the lower part of the sump, and is continued on one side of the level, almost to the end of the present working.
IN proceeding farther we were alarmed with the awful sound of a cataract. On arriving at the spot from whence it issued, the noise seemed to have derived its greatest force from the confined arch of the level;
CASCADE.
for we discovered it to proceed from a small but elegant cascade, which, in our sight, tumbled down a small hollow, and served to augment the water of the level, which was also increased by several strong springs rising from the sides and bottom with strong ebullitions.
OTHER SUBTERRANEOUS WATERS.
Similar noises are said to have been heard in
Coetiau'r Odyn.
It is possible that this subterraneous water may be one of the feeds of St.
Wenefrede
's well, as the field is nearly in a descending line with it. I have also heard, on good authority, of another large stream of water running through a great subterraneous cavern, in working
Portaway
mine, in
Pantasa,
in the parish of
Whiteford,
but its discharge has never been yet discovered.—But to return. After passing this fall, we reached the end of our voyage, at the length of 1167 yards from the mouth, and at the place where two miners were pursuing the working of the level, and had got within ten yards of the shaft in which the miners are working in the rich vein, beneath the field called
Coed Cae Plwm,
or the wood or field of lead. The height from the sole of the level to the surface at this place is ninety-three yards and a half; the depth of the shaft, which is now so flattering to our hopes, is fifty yards; so that there are forty-three yards and a half from its sole to that of the level, which all the way is found to be filled with ore!!!
BUT we have more than one
string
to our bow.
OTHER
Coetiau'r Odyn
vein runs entirely from
Coe
iau-maur
fields through my ground, as does
Maes Whiteford,
giving Mr.
Jones
of
Wepre
a small chance in our mineral lottery. Then comes
True Blue,
which is shared between Sir
yers Mostyn
and myself; and the once rich vein of
Brocknallt
is entirely his. All these run north and south, and have in general been very productive, but especially those belonging to the house of
Tre
a
re.
CONTINUANCE OF.
LET me observe that in the depth of the level we saw the descending course of all these veins (excepting
Coe
dyn
) some of them which were tried at that depth proved bar
. How far lower the veins descended, may probably ever remai
cret, unless some bold adventures should have the spirit to attempt a level from the marsh, which we (at p. 218) proved to have, from the we
, a fail of 2
2 feet.
FERTILE TRAC
.
THE whole tract below the east side of this road, is a most fertile and well cultivated bottom, sloping on each side. Its rural oeconomy may vie in excellen
e with the most boasted of our island. The prospect is charming, of the whole length of the
Chester
channel, bounded on the opposite by
Wiral,
and a distant view of part of
Lancashire.
FROM the other side of the road the ground rises steeply; on the summit is a tract of inclosed land, backed by the mountain or common.
PEN-Y-BAL ROAD.
I RETURN into the town, and at the end of
Whiteford-street
ascend the steep road called
Pen-y-Bal,
of very laborious ascent. I remember it the only coach approach on this side. The present fine road, then with great propriety called
Holloway,
was too narrow for any carriage beyond the then wretched carts of the country. I well remember that whenever our family wanted to visit
Holywell,
it was obliged to be dragged up to
Pen-y-fordd-waen,
to cross the mountain, and with locked wheel, and with great peril, go down the almost precipitous way.
FROM the summit of
Pen y-Bal,
to the west,
CALCOLD.
is a narrow tract of common. A little beyond, in a small wood, stands
Calcot
or
Calcoed,
in the township of the same name. In the
Doomsd
y Book,
it is called
Caldecote,
and is there united with
Meretone
and
rtia parte de W
dford.
The founder of this house was
Henry Moston,
doctor of civil law, second son of
Pyers Moston,
of
Trelacre.
He purchased
Ca
lcot,
as it was then spelt, of
George
and
Thomas Manley,
of
Chester,
in the year 1595, for the sum of 467
l.
After four generations, the succession ended in the male line in
Samuel Mostyn,
esquire, who died
May
16th, 1760, aged 79, and was buried at
Northop
on the 19th: who settled his estate on his nephew Mr.
John Ellis,
who assumed the surname of
Mostyn.
ON the mountain to the east of the common way to
Calcoed,
NAID-Y-MARCH.
are two stones, about three feet high, and about twenty-two feet distant from each other. They are called
Naid-y-March,
or the horse's leap, from a vulgar notion of the derivation of the name. They are of the very antient
British
origin, and probably the place of interment of some hero whose body was deposited between stone and stone. The distance might be intended to give an idea of his mighty size; as
Alexander
is supposed, on his return out of
India,
to have buried various suits of armor, of gigantic dimensions, to impose on future times an exalted notion of the troops he had led to this distant country.
I DESCEND again into
Holywell,
HALKIN AND BRYNFORD ROADS.
and at the south end of the
High Street
turn to the right, up the road which leads to
Halkin
and
Brynford;
the latter branches from that to
Halkin
on the right. Above the road is the old house of
Brynford,
FORD HOUSE.
at present the property of
Richard Garnons,
esquire. It had been that of the
Edwards
's. Their descent is given at p. 239. I remember it inhabited by
Thomas Edwards,
esquire, a most respectable old gentleman, blind with age, of great charity and benevolence; and who, most grateful to Providence, increased his charities in proportion to the increase of his abilities, in obedience to the direction of Heaven, to observe its frequent injunctions to the performance of that virtue.
PEN-Y-BRYN MINE.
OPPOSITE to the house, on the other side of the road, was formerly a profitable lead-mine, called
Pen y Bryn,
belonging to lord
Kilmorey.
REFRACTING SPAR.
It was remarkable for the quantity of refracting spar,
spatum Islandicum,
of great purity and trasparency; and often elegantly infected with marcasite finely disposed in lines.
THIS road ends on the mountain on the borders of
Skyviog
parish, the boundary of
Holywell
parish on this side.
PISTILL.
I RETURN to the turnpike road, and continuing my way, pass on the right by
Pistill,
a neat small house, the property of
Peter Parry,
esquire, of
Twissog,
in the county of
Denbigh.
IN order to proceed towards the rich mineral country I am entering on, I shall continue the enumeration of veins from
C
etiau'r Odyn
(see p. 241.)
MEI
AND OTHER MINES.
THE next to that, eastward, is
Caleb Bell,
a north and south vein, which is traced from the east side of
Pen-y-Bal,
descends from the mountain, towards the late
John Denman
's, but as yet has not been traced to the road. This has in old times been very rich in several places.
THE old vein, or
Pant Ithel,
is another rich vein, which first appeared in
Pantasa,
and yielded great quantities of ore and calamine. From thence crosses
Butler's fields,
and
Pen-y-Bal,
and then to
Coetia fawr;
from thence to
Pant Ithel,
where it descends near
ynford
house, and crosses the road into
Highgate
tenement, the property of Mr.
Williams
of
Trelunnian.
It then enters into my tenement called
Meilwr,
and was the first place in which ore was found in the level; the lease of which was granted by my father, on
December
the 20th, 1754.
THE next is the
Highgate
vein, which about
Pistill
had branched into many strings. As they advance from
Pistill
eastward, they enter
Highgate
tenement, and become very productive, both in Mrs.
Williams
's land, and also my own, which for many years poured on me in great abundance its mineral wealth. I never considered this species of riches but of the most precarious nature, liable instantly to fail: I therefore secured them on the best of tenures, and purchased with them the moiety of the
Bagillt-Hall
estate, which has turned out to me uncommonly fortunate. I also was enabled by another part to improve my house at
Downing
to what it now is.
EVERY thing has its end. The vein or veins at length grew poorer. A great fire-engine was erected a few years ago, in hopes of clearing the water, and getting at the ore which was supposed to have been left in the soles.
THE level begins at the bottom of the north side of
Nanthill-brwc,
and runs south-west. How uncertain is mineral knowlege, even among the most knowing! The object of the lessees was the working up to a certain rich vein, named the
hard shaft,
in the lands belonging to
Brynfordd.
An object that never yet has been obtained. But in pursuit of that object they most unexpectedly met with the veins which produced so much wealth to Mr.
Williams
and myself. Perhaps I fall short in my estimate if I say, that to lessors and lessees, the total amount must have exceeded a hundred thousand pounds.
THE next vein to the
high-gate,
is a string within five yards of the
high gate,
which his been very productive. Into the field called
Coetia Yscubor,
the
hard shaft
vein is expected to enter, and cross the whole breadth, into the ground of
Pen y pylle.
And at the very corner of the same field, another vein crosses into the same land, and has been tolerably rich.
I NOW quit my mineral territories in this part of the country; and cross over the road to
Pen y pylle,
the seat of
Hugh Humphreys,
esquire, descended from
Edwyn,
prince of
Tegengl.
That gentleman has had large share of the mineral wealth. The vein
Rest y cegin
passes under his very house and garden. The mine-hillocks fill the land: but by his judicious walks and plantations, which now cover them, he has turned them into beauties. The vein continues to his grounds, below his house, and may probably be a source of new wealth.
THE
Lucky Venture,
is the last vein I can mention in this parish, which ranges from the mountain, and crosses the road into a corner of a field of Mr.
Humphreys,
and immediately from thence into the land belonging to
Edward Jones,
esquire, of
Wepre,
in which abundance of ore has been got. Much has also been got in the very road, in a pit sunk by earl
Grosvenor,
a privilege clamed by his lordship, in virtue of his great mineral grant?
THIS township ends at about a mile distance from
Pen y pylle,
where it is separated by
Rh
d
,
a little
ll, from the parish of
Halkin.
I RETURN again into the town,
GADLYS ROAD
and after crossing the east end of the
High Street,
take the road leading toward
Gadlys.
On the right I see a trifling monument of my respect to a town which has for a long series of years shewn every mark of esteem for the landlord of many, and the friend of all. In an adjacent field of mine, called
Roft T
b,
was a valuable spring, which running to waste, occasioned a great loss of time, to rich and poor, in procuring water. I (by the assistance of Mr.
Denbavand
) caused, in the year 1794, a pillar to be erected, into which the water was collected, and raised to a height convenient to be received into vessels placed there, to supply, with ease and expedition, the wants of the inhabitants.
AT the bottom of the descent from
Holywell
is a beautiful dingle, named
Nant-hil-brwe,
which winds on the right to
Meilwr
tenement, and on the left quite to the marsh, the greater part of the way ornamented with hanging woods. On crossing a bridge near a large mill, the property of
Paul Panton,
esquire,
BAGILLT TOWNSHIP.
enter the township of
Bagillt;
and in less than half a mile pass by the house of that worthy friend of mine. Our intimacy began in early youth,
HOUSE THE PAN
.
and has been ever since retained. With joy I see his eldest son rising with progressive goodness, and rare abilities. I see with pleasure my eldest son, with true judgment, cultivating with him a friendship. May it continue through a long life of human felicity, pleasant to themselves, and useful to their neighbors and country!
TO Mr.
Panton
senior I hold myself greatly obliged for the account of his family, maternal and paternal.
THE GRIFFITH O
BAGILLT
THE house and estate of
Bagillt
was conveyed into Mr.
Panton
's family, by the marriage of his father with
Mary,
daughter of
Edward Griffiths,
esquire, descended from the
Griffiths
of
Caerwis-hall,
who derived themselves from
Ednowen Bendew,
one of the fifteen tribes of
North Wales.
His ancestors had long been settled at this place, and have as antient deeds to shew for their lands as any in
Wales,
as will appear by the following will:
CU
IOU
WILL.
IN the name of God, Amen.—The 11th day of
November,
in the year of our Lord God 1331, I,
John ab Griffith ap Cona,
being of good and whole mind and memory, and sick in body, make, ordain, and declare my last will and testament in manner and form following:—First, I bequeath my soul to Almighty God, and his mother
St. Mary,
and my body to be buried in the parish church of
Holywell:
also I bequeath to the said parish church, to buy a banner withall 4
s.:
also I bequeath to the Fryers of
Rudland,
20
d.
and to the friars of
Denbigh,
12
d.:
also I bequeath to the
Rhode
work of the
Mold,
2
s.:
also I will that a trental be given to pray for my father's soul, my mother's soul, my brethren's souls, and all Christian souls. Also I will that a man be hired to go to
St. David's
on pilgrimage for my soul. Also I bequeath to Sir
Rys,
my curate, 2
s.
Farther, I bequeath to my son
Thomas,
a young heifers, of 3 years old: also I bequeath to my son
Richard,
16
s.
8
d.
which is in the hands of
Harry Vaughan.
Moreover, I will that
Anne
my wife shall occupy, with my children, my house, and all the lands thereto belonging, as long as she shall be unmarried, and keep herself a good woman, and no longer. Also, my will is, that a close, called
Gwern Onnen,
be restored to
Jonet wch Rhys,
or her son, they paying to my heirs 6
l.
of lawful money of
England.
—Furthermor I will that Sir
Robert ap Meredith,
chaplain, and
Morris ap Llewelyn,
my feoffees of trust of and in all my lands and tenements, shall stand and be feoffees of the same, to the use and behoof of my children, and thereof to make them an estate when they shall come to their lawful age, and at their lawful desire. And all the residue of my goods, not bequeathed in this my last will and testament, I give and bequeath to my children, whom I make and ordain, my sons
Thomas
and
Richard,
my full and lawful executors.—In witness whereof all and singular the premises Sir
Richard
my curate,
Rynallt ap Griffith ap Cona
my brother, and
Morris ap Llewelyn,
and divers others.—And further my will is, that
John ab Harry ab Kenrick,
Sir
Robert ap Mered
th, Edward Pennant ap Rys ap Llewelyn,
and
Ellys ap John ab Ithel,
be overseers, as well of my children, as of this my last will and testament, till they come to lawful age, and all this at the oversight of my lord abbot.
THE close distinguished in this will by the name of
Gwern Onnen,
still retains the name, and runs from
Roft Tob
towards the woods that lead to
Meilwr.
THE licence for Mr.
Panton
's great-grandfather's marriage (by his mother's side) in
Cromwell
's time, is a curiosity worthy of the reader's perusal. I think that the same form is introduced into
France,
since the abolition of religion in that kingdom. It probably was taken from the model left by our fanatical rulers in the last century. I have another of a similar marriage in our family, attested by —
Evans,
a justice in
Northop
parish.
KNOW all men, that upon the eleventh day of
February,
CU
.
in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and fifty-five,
Richard Griffith,
sonne and heire app
̄ nt of
John C
ff
,
late of
Bagilt,
in the county of
lint,
esqr , deceased, and
Martha Pennant,
the daughter of
Edward Pennant,
esqr , of
Bagillt
aforesaid, came before me
Ralf Hughes,
esq• , one of the justices of the peace of the county of
int,
and desired to be joyned together in matrimony; and being sufficiently satisfied that the said intended marriage was published on three several Lords dayes, at the tyme of morning exercise, within the parish church of
Holywell,
within which parish the said parties reside, and that noe
son gaynesayed or
tended any cause why the said parties might not be joyned togeather in matrimonie, both of them being of full age and discretion, and the parents of both parties consenting thereunto;—and after both parties had pronounced before me, in the presence of divers credible witnesses, the words of solemnization mentioned in an act of parliament, intitled, an act touching marriages, and dated the xx
day of
August
165
, I did pronounce and declare the said
Richard Griffith
and
Martha Pennant
to be lawful husband and wife. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and sale, the day and yeare first above written, 1655,
RA. HUGHES.
L. S
Witnesses hereunto,
Thomas Griffith,
Roger Jones,
John Mostyn.
THE antient smelting-house of
Gadlys
stood a full mile distant from this house, about a mile distant from the shore, and on the land of
Robert Hughes,
esquire, of
Halkin.
The lease expired in 1786, and the works were pulled entirely down, after standing the term of the agreement, which was forty-four years.
THE respectable company, long known by the name of the
Governor and Company for smelting down Lead with Pit Coale and Sea Coale,
by the royal charter, granted in the 4th of
William
and
Mary,
began business in this county about the year 1700. They flourished with a most fair reputation for a great number of years, till their decline, either through want of ore, or other inevitable causes, induced them to remove their antient furnaces to some works, built by the late Messrs.
Smedley,
on the bank above
Bagillt.
Those they purchased; and continued smelting, under the direction of their agent, Mr.
William Smith
To whom I am much indebted for information respecting the
Gadly:
company.
, till they sold them to Messrs.
Griffith
and
Astet,
of
London.
This company was often called the
Quakers Company,
from the number of persons of that mild persuasion being of it.
DURING the prosperity of the works (which was very long) they produced vast quantities of lead and bullion; of the latter they extracted from the lead, between the year 1704 and 1744, not less than 430,604 ounces. Queen
Anne
and her successor commanded that all specie coined from the silver should be struck on the reverse with the plume of feathers, as a mark of its having been the production of the principality
Leake on Coin,
287.
.
James
I. gave the same directions respecting the coin made from the silver of the mines worked by Sir
Hugh Middleton,
in
Cardiganshire;
and in 1637,
Charles
I. caused the same marks of
Welsh
silver to be placed on the coins of the mint at
Aberystwith,
obtained from the mines of the same county
Leake on Coins,
302.
. Other coins from the company's works were called
quakers money,
from the cause above assigned. In an antient map of
Denbighshire
and
Flintshire,
by
W. Williams,
published in 1720, is an engraving of a crown, with the feathers, the
insignia
of
Wales;
and also another, of the seal of the corporation, with its crest and arms. The supporters are two miners; and the motto the apt one,
Spectatur in igne.
And above them is a view of the works, faithfully given, as they appeared before they were reduced to a single chimney.
THE company were for a long series of years the greatest mine-adventurers in
North Wales,
and had very considerable mines in every part of
Flintshire.
The company disposed of their remaining property in the county, and totally withdrew from it at
Michaelma
,
1792; but still they carry on very extensive mines and smelting-works in
Cumberland
and
Northumberland,
under the commissioners of
Greenwich
hospital, on the forfeited estates of the earl of
Derwentwater.
GADLYS takes its name from the
Welsh, Câd,
an army, and
Llys,
signifying the royal head quarter, or palace. Near the works stood a large mount, on which might have been a castelet, the residence of some of our princes.
BETWEEN this place and
Pentre Bagillt
is another eminence of antient celebrity,
Bryn Dychwelwch,
so named from
Bryn, a hill,
and
Dychwelwch, return!
being traditionally said to have been the place from which
Henry
II. gave his order for retreat, when he was engaged with the
Welsh,
in 1157, with his whole army, in
Coleshill,
in the same difficulties as he had just before experienced in the depth of
Coed Eulo.
BATTLE OF COLESHILL.
In this action his forces were again defeated, and
Eustace Fitz John,
a baron first in rank, wealth, and abilities among the
English;
and
Robert de Courci,
another great baron, with numbers of others, were slain.
Henry de Essex,
hereditary standard-bearer, and a man of approved valor, was seized with a panic; and flinging down the standard, cried out, that the king was killed! The route would have been general, if the king had not valiantly rallied his forces and repulsed the
Welsh;
but in the end he thought it prudent to withdraw his army, and encamp in a secure station. He afterwards attempted, by decamping from the shore, and endeavoring to get into the interior part of the country, to cut off
Owen
's retreat into the mountains
See
Powel,
p. 207.
. But the wise prince, penetrating into his views, retired to a plain near
St. Asaph,
still called
Cîl Owen,
or
Owen's Retreat,
and from thence to a strong post named
Bryn-y-Pin,
defended by great ramparts and ditches. This camp lies in the parish of St.
George,
on a lofty rock above the church, and is now called
Pen y Pare.
I RETURN from this length of road to the skirts of the town of
Holywell,
and enter the road to
Wall-wen,
ROAD TO FLINT.
on the borders of the marsh, a branch of the
Flint
turnpike district, tacked to it by act of parlement in 1771, which had been obtained in that sessions, for enlarging the term and powers of the
Mostyn
district, and particularly adding this road, under the description of
from
Wall-wen
to the then dwelling-house of
Edward Parry.
This act will not terminate till 1812.—After a very short space, pass by a noble malt-kilo and granary, the property of Mr.
Richard Sankey,
MALT KILN.
who more than once gave a very seasonable relief to the country in the late time of scarcity, by large importations of barley, and that with very small profit to himself.
E
Would not repositories of grain, established and filled by parlementary sanction, be stronger prevertatives of that evil than any other? I would have no part of our wastes lie uncultivated. Our wastes have very properly the synonym of
commons;
for rich and poor, bordering on them, have in them proportionate rights
The legislature, at this very time, seems to have this subject in consideration; much care and attention must be paid to it. The poor may, by various means, be tempted to sell their new acquisitions. There will always be
harpies
at hand to take advantage of distress, by which means every ease to the parishes will be defeated. Those little possessions should, if possible, be entailed on the parish, or allotted as alleviations of parochial taxes, those growing evils, in a manner the wisdom of the legislature may contrive.
. If the poor man is to lose his benefit of feeding a few geese, or a few sheep, ought he not to have recompence by the
greniers d'abondance,
granaries of plenty, so useful to
France
before the miseries in which rich and poor have been involved by the chime
as of bram-sick politicians? If our wastes are to be generally inclosed, ought not the produce to be safely lodged in proper houses of reception, and from the boasted plenty which is to ensue, be ready, by the resource at hand, to chase away the
daemon
rapacity, which has had too great a power over the dealers in the subsistence of the land. All that human wit could invent, should be practised to prevent their eluding the attempt to reduce grain to a price which might afford an honest profit to the farmer, and yet enable him to supply the poor laborer at a rate which might give him power, not only to feed his family, but to cloath them with decent rayment, an article co-essential to their comfort, and to their health.
AS a house of industry is now in contemplation by the parish of
Holywell,
is there not a possibility of allotting certain portions of the waste lands for sale, to raise a fund to carry on the work, or to give in mortgage to such persons who may be willing to advance money for so salutary a purpose?
THE town of
Shrewsbury,
and I may say of every manufacturing county, have succeeded to admiration in their attempts, and should be examples to us. This neighborhood is now filled with men of business, capable of the conduct of such works: besides, the cotton and twist company have it in their power to expend annually above £. 1800 in the town, in picking the cotton; but from the dislike of the poor to that employ, are obliged to send the materials to distant places (see p. 216.) whereby the town and neighborhood lose the expenditure of that great sum among them. We squires are less qualified for operations which require vigor and activity, but we can contribute countenance and power, equally essential to the support of the design. I know the poor will be averse to it at first: but when they recollect how long they had starved under the careless care of overseers, and that they will be placed under the immediate attention of visitors consisting of their neighbors, and that they will not be removed beyond the reach of their friends and relations, whom they may see at proper times, I trust they will be satisfied. To banish the poor from the possibility of the occasional comfort of their dearest relatives, would be unspeakable cruelty. I, therefore, must ever condemn a county house of industry, in which that essential consolation is made difficult or impossible, to the inmates from distant parts.
VITRIOL-WORKS.
ON gaining the summit of this road, appears a vitriol-work, the property of Mr.
Donbavand,
placed under the care of Mr.
John Jones,
of
Holywell,
an able chymist. His operations are directed to three articles: blue vitriol, or vitriol of copper, which is made by dissolving copper in oil of vitriol or acid of sulphur. After the solution has taken place, the produce is dissolved in boiling water, evaporated down to a given weight, and put in coolers to evaporate.
THE use of this species of vitriol is in dying cottons of a green or olive color, and hats and woollen cloths black; and also for making green verditer for painting in oil or water-colors,
VERDITER.
by precipitation with whiting.
SUGAR OF LEAD
THE last article is sugar of lead, or
saccharum saturni,
which is lead dissolved in distilled vinegar. When the vinegar is saturated with the lead, it is boiled down to a given weight, and, like the blue vitriol, is put in coolers to crystallize. For the purpose of making the wort for the vinegar, twelve hundred hobbets of barley or malt had been employed in a single year; but in the late season of scarcity the proprietor totally desisted from this branch of business.
SUGAR of lead is used in the cotton printing business, for fixing the colors in the stuff dyed or printed. Such I believe to be the sole application of it from these works; but from others nearer to the capital I fear a most criminal one is frequently in practice, (for it is a most dangerous poison) I mean that of using it in the refining of white wines, or in restoring the sweetness to such which are grown sour: for this drug is the sweetest of all sweet things. It occasions to the drinkers of wines thus restored, or rather thus endowed with the powers of poison, numbers of maladies they cannot account for, such as colics, obstinate costiveness, and paralytic affections of the limbs. Finally, we may add death itself. The fatal dinner at
Salt Hill,
on
March
27th, 1773, which ended in the destruction of several gentlemen, supposed to have been caused by wine impregnated with this fatal drug, has been much talked of. I believe that not to have been the case. The gentlemen did not sicken till after several days. One (Mr.
Pote,
who had drank as the rest did) never was infected. It happened that he walked in the garden during the time a most miserable object, a pauper, had been examined, from whom the pestilential
miasmata
of a fever, probably of the nature of the jail-fever, had diffused themselves among the company present; for all, except Mr.
Pote,
sickened
Gent. Mag.
1773. p. 201.
. In this instance the vintners may be cleared; but since it is probable that numbers of people fall victims to their art, I wish legislature would frame a law to condemn them, not to the halter, but to the more apt punishment of swallowing a competent draught of their own
Stygian
liquor.
Nec lex est justior ulla!
—Bishop
Watson
(iii. 369) says, that in
Germany
such adulteration is punished with death. In
Henry
VIII.'s time, a cook was boiled to death, (I hope in his own kettle) for poisoning a number of poor at
Lambeth,
with the broth allotted by a pious prelate for their support.
I MUST not forget that in
October
last Mr.
Hugh Roberts,
RIBBON WEAVERS.
of
Little Moorfields,
established on my ground, opposite to the vitriol-works, a colony of ribbon-weavers. Sixteen looms are already employed, and others continually expected.
THE
.
FROM the summit to the shore is a most steep descent. About a quarter of a mile lower, on the right, stands the house of
Bagillt-Hall,
erroneously so named, it not being possessed of any m
nerial rights, nor does it stand even in the township of
Bagillt;
the whole road from the town of
Holywell
being in the township of that name, divided from the former by the bottom of the dingle which we crossed by Mr.
Panton
's mill.
THE house was large, had a great and handsome hall, and a good parlor, the last wainscotted with good oak, much carved about the chimney. The rest of the house consisted of a number of rooms irregularly disposed. Near it stood, as usual with our old seats, a summer-house.
THIS place is beautifully situated, the grounds slope towards the sea, and command a fine view of the
Chester
channel, and as far as
Beeston
castle, and its adjacent hills.
A FEW years ago I was obliged to pull down great part of the building. It was very old, and going fast to ruin; and the repairs would have been uselessly expensive, for the thick smoke of a great smelting-mill for lead, and of a great calcining-house for calamine, just beneath, must have ever deterred my descendants from making it their residence.
HALL
LET me not forget that
Nicholas
had also two sisters, one named
Agnes,
wife of
John Griffith ap Twna;
the other
Margaret,
wife of
Gruff. Lloyd ap John of Griffith ap David.
THE house of
Bagillt
was probably built by
Henry,
second in descent from the abbot, for he is styled in the pedegree,
of
Holywell
and
Bagillt,
whereas his father
Edward
is designed of
Holywell
only.
FROM
David,
fifth brother of
Henry,
PENNANTS OF H
NDRE-FIGILLT.
sprang the family of the
Pennants
of
Hendre figillt,
in the parish of
Kilken.
He married
Deili,
daughter and heir of
John ap Deio ap Jevan,
of
Halghton.
In
Kilken
church-yard are several inscriptions of this branch of the family. The oldest informs us that
Angharad Pennant
was buried on
September
25th, 1588. The last who is mentioned in the pedegree of the house is
Peter,
who married
Barbara,
daughter of
John Eyton,
of
Leefwood,
and was cotemporary with
David Pennant,
of
Bychton,
who was living in 1664.
C
PEN-Y-GARTH.
THERE were other branches of the house of
Hendre-figillt,
one settled at
Pen-y-Garth,
in the parish of
Mold,
but is now extinct. Part of the lands are now in possession of Mr.
Thomas Williams,
of
Dolevechles,
a respectable freeholder, in the parish of
Kilken,
in right of his great-grand-mother,
Mary Pennant,
a daughter of
Pen-y-Garth.
She was buried at
Kilken, September
1st, 1693. As to the house and estate of
Hendre-fig
lt,
it has long since passed into the family of
Kilken,
and is at present possessed by
Mostyn Edwards,
esquire.
LORD PENRHYN.
MY respected, but remote kinsman,
Richard Pennant,
baron
Penrhyn,
sprung from this branch of our family. He is ninth in descent from the abbot, and third from
Gifford Pennant,
second son of
Edward Pennant,
of
Bagillt,
by
Catherine,
daughter of
Edward Kynaston,
of
Otely,
in the county of
Salop.
He went to
Jamaica,
in the time of
Oliver Cromwel;
had a grant of lands there
November
5th, 1665; settled in the parish of
Clarendon,
and died in 1677. His lordship's property in that island is immense, and his addition to it in the county of
Caernarvon,
in this his native island, is very considerable, by his marriage with
Anne Susanna,
daughter and heiress of the late general
Warburton,
of
Winnington,
in
Cheshire.
With singular fortune, by this match his lordship possesses
Penrhyn,
the seat and estate belonging to the family of
Angbarad,
his distant ancestress; from whom lady
Penrhyn
is by her grandmother also descended. All these fortunes they enjoy with dignity, and with utility to their numerous tenantry. I particularly allude to those about
Penrhyn,
where he has made his vast slate-quarries an object of admiration to travellers, profitable to himself, and the source of opulence to the surrounding country. I had not, at the publication of my
Welsh Tour,
opportunity of informing myself about these important works; I, therefore, give a brief sketch of their history.
WHEN his lordship came to possession of his fortunes in part of the island, he found great appearance of neglect and poverty among the tenantry; the slate-quarries, one great staple of the country, in a very low state; and the export of that valuable article did not annually exceed a thousand tons; and there were not four carts on his estate, and only three in all
Nant-Frankon,
and the roads scarcely passable for a horse. By his judicious management a happy reverse took place. The carriages have encreased to the present time, to rather more than a hundred broad-wheel carts and waggons.
PORT
Penrhyn,
formerly
Aber-cegid,
is now highly improved by quays for the reception of vessels; so that those of two hundred tons burden can lie close to them, and take in their cargo. Vessels of above three hundred tons can enter the port, but cannot get close to the quays.
BEFORE the country experienced his lordship's improving talents, not above a thousand tons have been exported in the year. In 1794 the export amounted to fifteen thousand. In 1795 there was every reasonable hope that it would have increased to twenty thousand, but the tax on the slates has given it a check; though it is expected that the return of peace, and a modification of the duty, will restore the progress of the trade.
THE state-quarries are a few miles from the port, near the entrance into
Na
t-Frankon.
From four to five hundred men are employed in them. They live in very elegant cottages, prettily disposed in groups. Here is a butcher and a shoe-maker, but no corrupting ale-house is permitted. His lordship has built a market house, so that the workmen need not wander for the necessary provisions. Let me not forget that he erected an elegant pavilion, called
Ogwen Bank,
with a kitchen, stables, &c. which lord and lady
Penrhyn
often visit, either to examine into this creation of theirs, or to amuse their guests.
HIS lordship was elected member for
Petersfield,
in the first parlement of his present majesty; and in 1767 vacated his seat to be elected for
Leverpool.
He was returned in 1768, 1774, and again in 1784. In that arduous situation, his lordship discharged his trust with zeal, abilities, and fidelity.
EDWARD PENNANT, the last owner of
Bagillt,
and last of the male line (lord
Penrhyn
excepted) died at
Marseilles,
on
March
2d, 1
8; and was there interred. In 1766 he disposed of to me by sale all the estates in the township of
Holywell.
And soon after he retired into
France,
he bequeathed the remainder of his fortunes to his cousin
Thomas Cratchley,
who dying, left them to
Roger Barnston,
esquire, of
Chester.
M
. H
S OF
.
FROM
Bagillt-hall
I descended into the township of
Bagillt,
through the turnpike-gate at
Wall-wen.
Immediately on the left hand, in
Holywell
township, is a small house, and small patrimony, the property of the Reverend
Thomas Hughes,
a curate of twelve years standing, of good morals, decent, and modest. His family, and two other families not remote from him, had long possessed respectable freeholds of fifty pounds a-year each.
Time and chance happeneth to all men.
Our humble curate is far distanced by the other two. He remains a drudge in his profession,
honestâ pauperie,
resulting from fraternal affection, in exerting every nerve to support two sisters, who rest on him for the poor pittance he can afford to give.
AFTER passing the turnpike-gate, I find myself on the continuance of the turnpike-road from
Greenfield
to
Flint.
The distance from the
Greenfield
gate to
Flint
is only four miles. Let me add, that within little more than one mile from the fountain of
St. Wenefrede,
at
Holywell,
to the gate just mentioned,
Britain
may be challenged to shew, on an equal space, a similar assemblage of commercial buildings, or of capitals employed in erecting and in carrying on their several objects. I refer the reader back to p. 203, for an account of those upon the
Holywell
stream. I resume the chain of commerce, from the copper-forge, the lowest link, which reaches to the very road.
A LITTLE to the right of the turnpike-gate, the little rill
Nant-hil-brwe
divides the small township of
Whelstone
from that of
Holywell.
This tract, of which I have the tythes, is one of the portions of
Bagillt
township, which is very large, and subdivided into two others,
Bagillt-sawr,
and
Bagillt-fechan.
ON the side of the rill stand the works called the
River Bank,
established on my land, by lease dated
September
22, 1785,
RIVER BANK WORKS.
granted to Messrs.
William Roe
and
Edward Hawkins.
These buildings are employed for the double purposes of calcining calamine for the brass-works at
Cheadle
and
Macclesfield,
and for the smelting lead-ore. It has the advantage of a small stream, which improves the operation of the latter.
IT turns two wheels, one of which is twenty-four feet in diameter, and from the size and breadth makes a noble appearance. At each end of these wheels is a balance-wheel; one of them sets the great refining bellows in motion, the other that of the slaghearth.
HERE is also a curious contrivance for saving the calx of the lead-ore, which would otherwise have gone away in smoke. It besides lessens the bad effects on the grounds above. For this purpose two brick flues have been constructed, one from each furnace; each of them is horizontal, and is supported by three arches, and over each is a channel to contain a small current of water, for the purpose of turning the wheels, and also to condense the smoke in its passage. These flues converge, and meet a little beyond the third arch, and terminate in the condensing room, to the walls of which the calx adheres. This room is opened three times a-year: the calx is taken out, and re-smelted with some profit.
THE two flues, in issuing out of the building, are united in one, and are continued, forming a right angle for a very considerable way. Out of the end rises a vertical flue, forty-three feet high, out of which the smoke issues. The length of the horizontal flues which pass over the arches is fifty-seven feet; of the single one which passes from the room which catches the calx, is two hundred and ten feet.
BAGILLT UPPER WORKS.
ABOUT three quarters of a mile farther on the bank, above the road, stands a large smelting-work, originally built by virtue of a lease granted, in 1727, by
Roger
and
Edward Pennant,
esquires, of
Bagillt,
to
Francis St
l
y
and
Nicholas Twig.
It was afterwards rebuilt, and passed through various hands; the
Smedlies,
father and sons;
Henry Vigars,
of
Eaton,
whose widow sold it to the
Gadlys
company. That expiring corporation possessed it only from about
Michaelm
s
1783, after descending from their ancient works at
Gadlys.
In 1792 it again changed masters, and was sold by the company to Mr.
John Griffith
and Mr.
Robert Aslett,
of
London.
BELOW them, on the road-side,
LOWER WORKS.
were works of greater antiquity. Those were in possession of two lessees before the year 1717. The first was Mr.
Thomas White;
the last was a gentleman well known by the name of Major
Roberts.
He was of the antient house of
Plashewydd,
near
Ruthin.
His lease was surrendered, and a new one granted, in 1717, by
Roger Pennant,
esquire, to Mr.
Benjamin Perrin,
father to our respectable countryman, Sir
Richard Perrin,
baron of the exchequer. I remember them standing; but soon after they became a heap of ruins, and at present their place is scarcely known.
A MR.
Warren
came into this country in 1794, and built,
D
E BANK.
on the land of
Roger Barnston,
esquire, a smelting-house, on a new construction. But it was scarcely warmed, when it was disposed of to a Mr.
Langworthy,
mineral agent to earl
Grosvenor!
THE collieries near these works have been very considerable.
COLLIERIES.
I remember, about forty years ago, there was between twenty and thirty thousand tons of coal upon bank, the greatest quantity, perhaps, ever seen together. The pits were then worked by the
Gadlys
company. The company had imprudently given their agent, one
Lancester,
an unlimited order for raising the coal. This he found so profitable to himself, that he never desisted till the discovery was made of his selfish views. To expedite the working, he engaged numbers of colliers from
Newcastle,
and was the first in this country who made use of horses under ground. The coal might have lain on the bank to this day, if a dispute had not rose between the city of
Dublin
and the coal-adventurers at
Whitehaven.
This occasioned the citizens of
Dublin
to purchase this great stock, which was all carried away before the differences were settled.
FOR a considerable time after this glut of coal, the collieries declined greatly, and became very low, till they were revived of late years by the spirit and perseverance of Mr.
Roger Ellis,
of
Cornish,
in the parish of
Flint,
who has erected a powerful fire-engine on the road-side, between
Greenfield
turnpike-gate and
Flint,
and raises great quantities of that important requisite.
NANT-Y-MOCH.
QUIT the township of
Bagillt,
after crossing a little rill, issuing out of
Nant-y-moch,
or
the dingle of the hogs.
Here we enter the township of
Coleshill-fawr.
On the right, on an eminence, are the smelting-works, built by the grandfather of the present Sir
Richard Perrin,
whose father continued the works, and lived at
Farm,
till he took up his residence at
Flint.
About the year 1755, a new company was formed by
Paul Panton,
esquire, under the firm of himself, the Reverend
Thomas Ince,
and
Charles Pigot,
esquire.
COLESHILL.
THE
Doomsday-Book
informs us, that at the time of the compilation of that record,
Coleselt
was held by
Robert de Roelent,
or
Ruddlan,
a valiant
Norman,
nephew to
Hugh Lupus,
earl of
Chester. Edwyn
held it of
Robert,
and as a freeman. There was one taxable hide of land, a land of one
caruca,
or a plough-land. On
C
l
silt,
was one
Radman,
four villeyns, and two boors. The
Radman
was the same with the
Rod
or
Rad-knights,
who by the tenure of their land w
re bound to ride with or for their lord, and to guard him
lady as often as they were required.
THIS township took its name from the abundance of coal which is produced. At present it gives name to one of the hundreds of the county. In the
Doomsday-Book
this township is placed in the hundred of
Atiscros,
a name which would have been lost, was it not retained in a tract called
Croes-ati,
a certain space round a cross, not remote from
Flint,
the pedestal of which I remember standing.
BENEATH the smelting-work is a neat building for the purpose of calcining calamine, held by lease granted by Mr.
Panton,
A CALCINING-WORK.
June
24th, 1794, to Mr.
Thomas Davies,
of
Smethwick, Staffordshire,
and the company known by the name of the
Smethwick
Brass Company.
Paul Panton,
esquire, is lord of the manor of
Coleshill,
and,
MANOR OF COLESHILL.
till the marriage of his father, the family inhabited the manor-house, which of late years has been considerably enlarged and improved.
THE
Pantons
were a
Denbighshire
family,
PANTON FAMILY.
possessed of large property in
Llanvair-Talhaiarn, Llanyfydd, Henllan,
and other parishes.
John Panton
quitted
Plâs-Panton,
the antient residence, a great house, called
New Plâs-Panton.
(See its unfortunate history in the
Tour in Wales,
ii. p. 52.) He married
Alice,
fourth daughter of Sir
William B
th,
of
D
ham-Masse,
in
Ch
sire.
He was secretary to the
rd chancellor
Ellesmere,
and represented the borough of
Denhigh,
in the
9th and 43d of
Elizabeth;
and the borough of
Harwich,
in the 1st of
James
I. He disinherited his son
Thomas,
and left his large possessions to his only daughter
A
thea,
who married the lord
and
-de-la-Vine,
in
Hampshire
Gwill
m's H
aldry,
427.
Dugdale
Baron.
ii. 303.
.
Thomas,
the disinherited son of this
John,
by his industry and skill in agriculture, became enabled to purchase this lordship, in 1617, of the first earl of
Bridgewater,
son of the lord chancellor
Egerton.
At the time when paper credit was little known, to him was intrusted cash to be conveyed to
London,
which, by a letter of
Pyers Pennant
's, I find he did in person. The manor has continued in the family from his time. In 1753, the present gentleman improved it greatly, by an embankment from the
sea,
which in parts is productive of most excellent wheat, &c. &c.
THE first I find of the line of the
Pantons,
is
Jevan Panton,
twelfth in descent from
March-weithian,
one of the fifteen tribes of
North Wales.
His wife was daughter and heir of
Bennet,
fourteenth in descent from
Marchudd,
another of the fifteen tribes. Their history, and their several descendants, are given in the Appendix to this Work.
ALL the coast of
Whiteford
and
Holywell
parishes are more particularly subject than the drier parts to pleurisies,
DISEASES.
intermittents, and fevers of the putrid kinds. The last chiefly in the places where the poorer people are obliged to crowd into small apartments, by which the air soon becomes soul, and produces this species of fever.
A CRUEL kind of quinzy has of late years infested these parishes, and others adjacent. In 1794 it raged particularly in the township of
Greenfield,
and parish of
Halkin,
and made dreadful havock among children from the age of three to that of five. The average loss was four or five in seven. In this visitation the disease did not attack adults; not that instances are wanting in other places of its attacking grown-up persons. In
September,
1771, a Mr.
Poole,
his wife and mother, were buried in one vault in
Bunhill-fields.
His daughter fell a victim also, and made the sum of the family, who died at the same time, and by the same malignant disorder.
THE name given by the learned to this fatal disease, is
angina maligna,
and
cynanche maligna. Cynanche,
because the patients are often observed to protrude their tongue far out of their mouth, like an over-heated dog.
THE symptoms are too terrible for description. They may uselessly affect parents, who may safely trust to the medical people for the knowlege of them, for they are by no means equivocal; but, if any one's curiosity is excited, it may be satisfied by the perusal of the works of the late Dr.
Fothergill,
p. 198. and Dr.
Huxham
's Essays, p. 286. It seems to have been one of the
Nova Cohors Febrium.
It was first observed in
Spain,
in 1610, from whence it spread into
Malta, Sicily, Otr
nto, Apulia, Calabria,
and, finally, in 1618, it broke out at
Naples.
It also appeared in the
Archipelago,
when
Tournefort
(see his
Travels,
i. p. 132.) was in
Milo,
in the year 17
0. In
Spain
it got the name of
garrotillo,
from the horrible noise made by the patients, like that of persons strangled by a rope.
THIS fatal disorder reached
England
in 1739. Its first victims were two sons of Mr.
Pelham,
on the 27th of
November
of that year. After this it seemed to disappear, but began again in 1742; and with great fatality in 1746, when several of the inhabitants of
Brom
y,
near
Bow,
lost most of their children. From Dr.
Huxham
we learn, that in 1751 it visited
C
wall;
and from the latter part of that year, to
May
1753, carried off numbers of children, and some adults.
IN the year 1743 it appeared in
North Wales.
From
March
5th to
March
10th, our late worthy vicar, the Reverend
Griffith Griffith,
buried three children. It was too much for his paternal feelings, and ever after greatly hurt his mind. And in the year 1744/5 that calamity visited the county of
Caernarvon;
and from
January
28th to
February
9th, the late Sir
Thomas Mostyn,
baronet, at
Gloddaeth,
in
Caernarvonshire,
lost four. These were observed to have been the only instances of the disease in their respective neighborhoods.
I CANNOT trace the progress of this disease any farther northward than my own country. If it has not made any advances towards the colder climates, it may be deemed a malady of the warm and temperate parts of
Europe.
THAT it has found its way to the New World, appears from the following instances. In 1746 it visited many parts of
North America,
from
Philadelphia
to
New-York
and
New-England,
and with a rage unknown in
Great-Britain;
for in
New-England
it depopulated whole villages. And that it either continues on the continent, or has re-visited it, is evident from its having appeared in
New York,
in the year 1771.
THE
cynanche trachialis,
or
croup,
has appeared here too frequently. A few years ago it destroyed not fewer than six children in the family of a respectable farmer in a neighboring parish.
THE smelting-works at
Flint
are at a very small distance from the eastern boundary of
Holywell.
FLINT SMELLING-WORKS.
The division of the parish of
Flint
from that of the latter, is by a rill not far from the town of
Flint.
The works are of great antiquity. They are here mentioned as the last link of the chain of metallic operations along the shore. There is no limiting the antiquity of the smelting-works; for we have proofs of very considerable ones having been near the town of
Flint,
at a place called
Croes Ati,
which is evident from the quantity of scoria of lead, bits of lead-ore, and fragments of melted lead, discovered in several places. I refer the reader, for a full account of them, and of the various antiquities met with on the spot, to p. 52. vol. i. of my
Welsh Tour,
which evince that they had been
Roman
works; so that it is probable there had been a succession of smelting-hearths in one part or other of this county, even to the present day.
TO return to the works in question. They are frequently known by the name of the
salt-works;
which possibly implies that the site had been occupied by works of that nature, prior to the existence of the smelting-works. They have been occupied by several companies: at present by Mr.
Richard Ingleby,
of
Halkin.
—May success be his reward, for the seasonable and useful importation of barley in the late time of scarcity; a critical relief to the numerous miners on the adjacent mountains, in which he had no more interest than in the rest of the human race!
APPENDIX.
The Five Royal Tribes of
Cambria,
from the '
British Antiquities revived:
' By ROBERT VAUGHAN, Esquire, of
Hengwrt,
in
Merionethshire.
I.
GRYFFITH AP CYNAN,
King of
North Wales,
is the first registered in our books. He was the grand-child of prince
Jago ap Edwal,
whose son
Cynan
was forced to fly into
Ireland
for safety, where he married
Ranullt,
daughter of
Auloedd,
king of
Dublin, Man,
and the
Isles,
and the relict of
Mathganyn,
king of
Ulster,
and had issue by her this
Griffith.
—
Most of his descendants give the coat of his son
Owain Gwynedd, viz. vert, three eagles displayed in fess or.
He beareth gules, three lioncels passant in pale barry argent, armed azure.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
WYNNES,
of
Pengwern, Merionethshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
WYNNES,
of
Gwyd
, C
r
shire.
of
Wynnsta
, D
shire.
of
Bod
an,
and
e
dd
, Caernarvorshire.
of
Convey, Caernarvonshire.
of
Maes M
D
ighshir
.
of
Ystym
g
d.
of
Clynenney, Caernarvonshire.
LLOYD,
of
Rhiw
d
g, Merion
hshire,
now
Dolbe
.
POWELL,
of
Penmachus, Caernarvonshire.
DAVIES,
of
Tal-llyntardeni, Merionethshire.
PRYSE,
of
Yscarweddan, Merionethshire.
ANWYL,
of
Park.
II.
RHYS AP TEWDWR MAWR,
(the second Royal Tribe) who took upon him the government of
South Wales
A. D. 1077. —
Gules, a lion rampant o
, within a bordure indented.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
WYNNES,
of
Dole Bachog.
of
Llan Erfyl, Montgomeryshire.
ST. OWEN AP GWILIM,
of
Tal-y-llyn, Merionethshire.
WYNN,
of
Coed-llai,
or
Leeswood, Flintshire.
OWEN,
of
Cefn Hafod.
LLOYDS,
of
Pl
s uwch Cla
dd, Denbighshire.
POWE
,
of
idio.
EVANS,
of
Ire Gastell.
JONES,
of
Hain.
III.
BLETHYN AP CYNFYN,
(the third Royal Tribe) was King of
North Wales,
and Prince of
Powys
Blethyn ap Cynfyn bób owys,
Ei hûn bioedd hén Bowys.
. And after the death of
Meredith ap Owain ap Edwyn,
(prince of
South Wales
) he became King of all
Wales.—Or, a lion rampant gules, armed and langued or.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE
The curious reader, who wishes for more information concerning this tribe, and its descendants, may consult a tract on the subject, lately published by my worthy friend
Philip Yorke,
esquire, of
Erddig,
a gentleman to whom the thanks of his country are due, for the great zeal he displays to illustrate its antient biography.
.
KYNASTON,
of
Hardwick, Shropshire.
VAUGHANS,
of
Golden Grove, Caermarthenshire.
LLOYD,
of
Cwm-bychan, Merionethshire.
of
Blaen Glynn, Merionethshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
KYNASTONS,
of
Hordley.
of
Ottley.
K
ONS,
of
Morton.
of
Llwyn-y-Mapsis.
of
P
rt-y-Byrsley.
WILLIAMS,
of
H
mbroke, Huntingdonshire,
of whom
Cromwell,
the Protector.
NANNEYS,
of
Nanney, Merienethshire.
MAURICES,
of
Ll
ran, Shrepshire.
KYFFINS,
of
Bodfach, Montgomeryshire.
of
Ma
nan, Caernarvonshire.
of
Glasgoed, Shropshire.
TANATS,
of
Abertanat, Montgomeryshire.
MEREDYDD,
of
Glantanat, Montgomeryshire.
POWELS,
of
Whittington, Shropshire.
JONES,
of
Treweithian.
MAESMOR,
of
Maesmor, Denbighshire.
HUGHES,
of
Gwerclas, Merionethshire.
IV.
ETHELYSTAN GLODRYDD,
(the fourth Royal Tribe) Prince of the
The country between these two rivers was anciently called
Ferlys;
and it had its own princes, independent of the princes of
South Wales.
country between
Wye
and
Severn.
He was the son of
Cyhelyn ap Ifor,
by
Rhiengar,
the daughter and heir of
Gronw ap Tudor Trevor,
from whom he had derived to him the title of the earldom of
Hereford. Athelstan,
King of
England,
was his god-father.—
Ethelystan,
(or, as he is sometimes called,
Elystan) b
e two coats quartered, azure, three
heads caboched sable, langued gules, tusked or.
His mother's
,
parted per bend sinister ermine and ermines; over all a lion rampant or.
DESCENDANT EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
CLYN,
of
Clyn, Shropshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
PRICES,
of
Cery, Montgomeryshire.
of
Bodfach, Montgomeryshire.
of
Newtown, Montgomeryshire.
of
Penarth.
of
Park.
of
Pilale, Radnorshire.
of
Llanbister.
OLIVERS,
of
Nevoddwen,
of
Llangyniw.
LLOYDS,
of
Cery, Montgomeryshire.
of
Mochdre.
WYNNS,
of
Gellidywyll.
of
Llanfendigedd.
OWEN,
of
Rhiw Saeson, Montgomeryshire.
PHILIPS,
of
Llan Ddewi.
VAUGHANS,
of
Bugeildy.
of
Pant-y-Garreg.
MEREDYDD,
of
Llanasan.
OWEN,
of
Morbend.
MORRIS,
of
Cery, Montgomeryshire.
JAMES,
of
Croesgynan, Montgomeryshire.
MATTHEWS,
of
Bl
dwell, Shropshire.
of
Mochdre.
POWELL
Of this family was
Richard Powell
of
Ednop,
(or, as it is sometimes written,
Edenhope
) the poet, author of the
Pentarchia,
a short history, in coarse Latin verse, of the royal tribes of
Cambria,
and their descendants. The above-mentioned poem was composed about the year 1623. Prefixed to it is a dedication to the then Prince of
Wales,
afterwards
Charles
the First.
,
of
W
yn
and
Ednop, Shropshire.
V.
JESTYN AP GWRGANT,
(the fifth Royal Tribe) was Prince or Lord of
Glamorgan;
he descended from
Tewdrie,
King of
Gwent,
in King
Arthur
's time. He lost his country to
Robert Fitzhamon,
and his twelve knights; whom by the procurement of
Einion ap Cadisor ap Collwyn,
he had hired to come with an army to assist him against
Rhys ap Tewdwr,
Prince of
South Wales,
and
Blethyn ap Maenyrch,
Lord of
Brecknock.
As a judgment upon him, for his disloyalty to the said
Rhys,
his sovereign, God was pleased suddenly to punish treachery with treachery.
Rhys
and
Blethyn,
after a very bloody battle
This battle took place in the year 1090. Our valiant Prince
Rhys
had the honor of falling in the field, fighting in the defence of his country, at the great age of ninety-eight years.
Wynne's Hist. Wales,
p. 112.
(not far from
Brecknock
) were slain in the field.—
Gules, three cheveronels in pale argent.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
WILLIAMS
Lord
Williams,
of
Tame,
was made Lord President of the
Marches of Wales
in the first year of Queen
Elizabeth;
and died, I believe, the same year, at
Ludlow Castle,
where the courts of the Marches were then held.
,
of
Tame.
Earl of
Abingdon.
NEWTONS,
of
Heathley.
JONES,
of
Craflwyn, Caernarvonshire.
of
Dôl in Edeirnion, Merionethshire.
of
Dôl-y-Môch, Merionethshire.
MYTTLEY,
of
Myttley.
PRINCE
Griffith ap Cynan, Rhys ap Tewdwr,
and
Blethyn ap Cynfyn,
made diligent search for the arms, ensignes, and pedegrees of their ancestors, the nobility and kings of the
Britons.
What they discovered by their pains, in any papers and records, was afterwards, by the bards, digested and put into books. And they ordained five royal tribes, (there being only three before) from whom their posterity to this day can derive themselves: and also fifteen special tribes, of whom the gentry of
North Wales
are, for the most part, descended. And in our books we have mention of the tribe of
March,
&c. besides other tribes called
Gwehelyth,
and
Gwehelaethau.
The Fifteen Tribes of
North Wales;
from a
. in the Possession of the Reverend
L. Owen.
I.
HWFA
Commonly called Lord of
Llys Llison,
in
Anglesey.
AP CYNDDELW
(the first of the fifteen tribes) lived in the time of
Owain Gwynedd,
Prince of
North Wales.
Some books of pedegrees allege that he was steward to the said Prince
Mon. Ant.
p. 131.
. His office, by inheritance, was to bear the Prince's coronet, and to put it upon his head when the Bishop of
Bangor
anointed him, (as
Nicholas,
Bishop of
Bangor,
affirmeth). His house, I believe, was
Presaddsed,
in
Anglesey.
What lordships he had besides that, are mentioned, in the Extent of
North Wales,
to be divided among his five sons,
viz. Methusalem, Cysnerth, Jeuan, Jorwerth,
and
Blettrws.
Many of the gentlemen of
Anglesey
hold lands from him by lineal descent, but who his heir is, I know not. Sir
Howel-y-Pedolau
Or.
of the horse-shoes.
was a famous man in his time, and descended from him, being the son of
Griffith ap Jorwerth ap Meredydd ap Methusalem ap Hwfa ap Cynddelw.
Sir
Howel
's mother was King
Edward
the Second's
OF NORTH WALES
nurse; and he being the King's foster-brother, was in great favor with him, who knighted him. He was a very strong man, insomuch that he could break or straiten horse-shoes with his hands.—
His arms he beareth gules between three lioncels rampant, a cheveron or.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
OWEN,
of
Bodeon, Anglesey;
and
Orielton, Pembrokeshire,
of
Penrhos, Montgomeryshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
WILLIAMS,
of
Llanbeder.
BOULD,
of
Tre'r Ddôl.
OWEN,
of
Porkinton, Shropshire.
of
Llanvaethley.
MORRIS,
of
Tre Jorwerth.
WYNNES,
of
Bodychen, Anglesey.
of
Bodowyr, Anglesey.
GRIFFITHS,
of
Chwaen, Anglesey.
LEWIS,
of
Presaddfed, Anglesey.
II.
Llowarch
was Lord of
Cwmmwd Menai,
in
Anglesey.
LLOWARCH AP BRAN,
(the second of the fifteen tribes) lived in the time of
Owain Gwynedd,
and was the Prince's brother-in-law, for both their wives were sisters, the daughters of
Grono ap Owain ap Edwyn,
Lord of
Tegaingle,
(as
Griffith Hiraethog,
and Sir
Thomas ap Jevan ap Dei
ws,
and also an old parchment MS. written about four hundred years ago, do testify.) What office he bore under the Prince, I do not know. Some say he was
Owain
's steward, as in a book of Sir
Thomas ap Williams
of
Trefri
,
I found. I believe he dwelled in the township which from him is called
Tref Llowarch,
which hath in it
Caer Gybi,
(or
Holyhead)
and three parcels of land, bearing the name of his three sons,
viz. Gwely Jorwerth ap Llowarch, Gwely Cadwgan ap Llowarch,
and
Gwely Madoc ap Llowarch,
as in the Extent of
North Wales
is manifest. He had a grand-child by his son
Jerwerth,
called
Meredydd,
who, for his good services, had the freehold of the township of
Eskyniok
given him and his heirs for ever, by Prince
Llewelyn ap Jerwerth;
whose posterity,
viz. Jeuan
Or the
Irishman.
Wyddel,
and
Tudur ap Howel ap Tudur,
held the same by the grant aforesaid, in the twenty-sixth year of King
Edward
the Third, as is to be seen in the Extent Book of
North Wales. Jeuan Wyddel
's mother was the daughter of the Lord
Cywchwr
in
Ireland,
descended of the Earl of
Kildare,
of whom the gentlemen of
Mosoglen, Bodowyr, Porthamal,
and many others are descended.—
He beareth argent, between three crows with ermine in their bills, a cheveron sable.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
LLOYDS,
of
Rhiwgoch, Merionethshire.
of
Maes-y-Neuoedd, Merionethshire.
of
Hendre 'r Mûr, Merionethshire.
LLOYDS,
of
Bryn Hir.
of
Coed-y-Rhygyn.
of
Llandecwyn.
of
Cefnfaes.
of
Cae Adda.
WYNN,
of
Mosoglen.
PRICE,
of
Bodowyr, Anglesey.
PARRY,
of
Bodafon, Anglesey.
GRIFFITH,
of
Celynnog fawr, Caernarvonshire.
MEREDYDD,
of
Monachdy Gwyn.
of
Hafod Lwyfog.
of
Porthamal.
OWEN,
of
Ruthin, Denbighshire.
III.
GWEIRYDD AP RHYS GOCH,
of the hundred of
Tal-Ebolion
in
Anglesey.
He dwelt at
Caerdegog,
the hamlets and tenements whereof bear the names of his children and grandchildren, as
Gwely Madoc ap Gweirydd, Gwely Llowarch ap Gweirydd, Gwely Howel ap Gweirydd,
and
Gwely Meuric ap Gweirydd,
whose great grand-child
Howel ap Jeuan ap Ednyfed ap Meuric ap Gweirydd,
enjoyed
Gwely Meuric,
in the twenty-sixth year of
Edward
III.—
According to other authors,
he bore argent, on a bend sable, three leopards' faces of the first.
He beareth argent on a bend sable, three lions' heads caboched of the first.
He lived in the time of
Owain Gwynedd,
and of his son
David ap Owain.
DESCENDANT EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
FOULKES,
of
Gwernygron, Flintshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
LLOYD,
of
Gwaredog, Anglesey.
WYNN,
of
Bodewryd, Anglesey.
HUGHES,
of
Beaumaris, Anglesey.
IV.
CILMIN TROED-DU
For a further account of
Cilmin Troed-Du,
or
Cilmin with the black foot,
see
Tour in Wales,
Vol. ii. p. 213.
lived in the time of
Merfyn Frych
Merfyn Frych
reigned from the year 818 to 843.—
Powel's History of Wales.
, King of
Man,
being his brother's son, with whom he came from the north of
Britain,
when
Merfyn
married
Esyllt,
the daughter and heir of
Conan Tindaethwy,
king of the
Britons.
What offices he bore, I have not been able to find out. His posterity were wise and discreet men, in all their ages; and many of them were learned in the laws in the time of the kings and princes of
Wales,
and were judges; as
Morgeneu
Or
Judge.
Ynad ap Gwrydr,
and
Cyfnerth
his son, whose Law-Book is yet extant, fairly written on parchment;
Morgeneu Ynad ap Madoc; Morgan Ynad ap Meuric,
and
Madoc Gôch Ynad. Robert ap Meredydd ap Hwlkin Llwyd,
a wise and couth gentleman, lived in the time of
Henry
the Seventh; and of him are descended the
Glynns
of
Nanlley.
His house, I believe, was
Glynllifon,
whence some of his descendants took the name of
Glynn.—He beareth quarterly
1,
argent, an eagle displayed with two heads sable;
2,
argent, three fiery ragged sticks, gules; the
3d
as the second; the
4th
as the first. Over all, upon an escutcheon of pretence argent, a man's leg coupé a la cuisse, sable.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
GLYNNS,
of
Hawarden Castle, Flintshire.
of
London.
HUGHES,
of
Bodryn.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
GLYNNS,
of
Glynllifon, Caernarvonshire.
of
Lleyar, Caernarvonshire.
of
Nanlley, Caernarvonshire.
V.
COLLWYN AP TANGNO
is said to be Lord of
Efionydd Ardudwy,
and part of
Llŷn:
and it is true, that his progeny have, and do to this day, possess and enjoy the greatest part of the said country. His grand-children
Asser, Meirion,
and
Gwgan,
the sons of
Merwydd ap Collwyn,
lived in the beginning of
Griffith ap Cynan
's time, as by the Life
Written in the
British
tongue, by a very antient bard.
of the said
Griffith
is manifest, whereby may be known what time
Collwyn
lived and flourished. It is said that he lived some time in
Bronwen
's tower at
Harlech,
calling the same town after his own name
Caer-Collwyn.
But his said grand-children, when
Griffith ap Cynan
challenged the principality of
Wales,
lived in
Llŷn,
as in the said book of his life is extant. His posterity were always the noblest and best men in
Efionydd
and
Ardudwy,
next to the princes and their issue. His heir, from eldest son to eldest son, is hard to be known, in regard that by the
British
laws every man's inheritance was to be divided among his children, and the youngest son had the principal house; whereby every one having an equal portion of his parent's land, his posterity was forgotten.—
He beareth sable, between three flower-de-luces a cheveron argent.
SIR
Howel-y-Fwyall
Of the Ax.
, descended of
Collwyn,
was a noble warrior, and was in the battle of
Poictiers
with the
Black Prince,
when the
French
King was taken prisoner: where, with his poleax, he behaved himself so valiantly, that the prince made him a knight, and allowed a mess of meat to be served before his ax or partizan for ever, to perpetuate the memory of his good service: which mess of meat, after his death, was carried down to be given to the poor for his soul's sake; and the said mess had eight yeoman-attendants found at the king's charge, which were afterwards called
Yeomen of the Crown,
who had eight-pence a day of standing wages, and lasted to the beginning of the reign of
Elizabeth:
(as by the relation of Serjeant
Roberts,
of
Hasod-y-Bŵch,
near
Wrexham,
and
Robert Turbridge,
of
Caerfallen,
near
Ruthin,
esquire, is recorded in the history of the noble house of
Gwydir,
wherein you may find this relation more at large.) Besides, he had the constableship of the castle of
Crickieth,
where he kept house; and the rent of
Dee-mills
at
Chester,
for the term of his life. His father was
Griffith ap Howel ap Meredydd ap Einion ap Gwrganen ap Merwydd ap Collwyn.— His arms
Sir
Howell-y-Fwyall's.
were sable, between three flower-de-luces a pole-ax argent.
DESCENDANT EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
WILLIAMS,
of
Aberarch, Caernarvonshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
BODWRDA,
of
Bodwrda, Caernarvonshire.
BODVELS,
of
Madryn, Caernarvonshire.
JONES,
of
Castell March, Caernarvonshire.
WYNN,
of
Pant-du.
of
Pennardd.
of
Bodsanan.
WYNN,
of
Pen-y-Berth.
of
Pen Coed.
LLOYD,
of
Bodfan.
of
Gardd.
of
Dol-y-Penrhyn.
RHYDDERCHS,
of
Tregaenan.
VAUGHANS,
of
Plâs Hên, Caernarvonshire.
of
Perkin, Merionethshire.
OWEN,
of
Plâs-du, Merionethshire.
of
Maentwrog, Merionethshire.
ELLIS,
of
Ystymllyn, Caernarvonshire.
VI.
NEFYDD HARDD,
of
Nant Conwy,
lived in the time of
Owain Gwynedd,
who gave
Idwal
his son to be fostered by him; but
Nefydd,
for what cause I know not, caused
Dunawt
his son to kill the young prince, at a place called of him
Cwm Idwal.
Wherefore
Nefydd
and his posterity were degraded, and of gentlemen were made bond-men of
Nant Conwy.
His son
Rhûn,
to expiate that foul murder, gave the lands whereon the church of
Llanrwst
was built, whose grand-child, (and
Madoc Gôch ap Jorwerth ap Gwrgynon ap Cyfnerth,
his son) were stewards to
Llewelyn ap Jorwerth,
Prince of
Wales,
(as
Griffith Hiraethog
says.) He dwelled at
Crygnant,
as I take it, near
Llanrwst.
—
Other books say, that
he bore argent, a cheveron inter three javelins sable, pointed upwards gules.
He beareth argent, three spears' heads imbrued, sable pointed upwards.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
EVAN MORGAN
This family produced the learned Dr.
W. Morgan,
Bishop of
St. Asaph,
who translated the Bible into the
Welsh
tongue.—
Tour in Wales,
ii. 350.
,
of
Gwibernant, Caernarvonshire.
EVANS,
of
Llanrwst.
DAVIES,
of
Coed-y-Mynydd.
VII.
MAELOC CRWM,
of
Llechwedd-isaf,
and
Creuddyn
Both these places are in
Caernarvonshire.
, lived in the time of Prince
David ap Owain Gwynedd,
about the year of our Lord 1175, (as Sir
Thomas ap Williams'
book averreth). What offices he bore, I have not learned. The most famous men descended of him were, Sir
Thomas Chaloner,
and others of that name, descended of
David Chaloner,
of
Denbigh,
whose ancestor
Trahaiarn Chaloner
was so called, because his grandfather
Madoc Crwm
of
Chaloner
had lived in a town in
France
called
Chaloner,
whence he took that name.—
He beareth argent, on a cheveron sable, three angels or.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
CHALONERS,
of
Gisborough, Yorkshire.
DESCENDANT EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
THOMAS,
of
Caer Pill.
VIII.
MARCHUDD AP CYNAN,
Lord of
Abergeleu:
His house was
Bryn Ffenigl.
He lived, (as Sir
Thomas ap Williams'
book saith) in the time of
Rodri Mawr
Roderic the Great.
, king of the
Britons,
about the year of our Lord 849
Dr.
Powell
says 856.
. Of him was
Ednyfed Fychan
descended, who being general of the prince's
Llewelyn ap J
rwerth.
host, was sent to the
Marches,
to defend the frontiers from the approach of the
English
army, which was ready to invade them, under the command of
Ranulph,
earl of
Chester,
(who met them) and killed three of their chief captains and commanders, and a great many of the common soldiers. The rest he put to flight, and triumphantly returned to his prince; who, in recompence of his good service, gave him, among many gifts and honors, a new coat of arms; for the coat, which he and his ancestors had always given before, was the coat of
Marchudd,
being
gules, a Saracen's head erased proper, wreathed or.
—The new coat was thus displayed,
gules between three Englishmen's heads couped, a cheveron ermin.
—From the death of the last
Llewelyn, Ednyfed
's posterity were the greatest men of any in
Wales,
(as by the works of the bards and records is very manifest.) If I should go about to reckon all the famous men descended of him, it would require more time than I can well spare. Let it be sufficient to remember
Henry
the Seventh, king of
England, Henry
the Eighth,
Edward
the Sixth, Queen
Mary,
and Queen
Elizabeth,
all of whom were descended lineally and paternally of
Ednyfed Fychan,
who likewise was descended of
Marchudd.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
WYNNS,
of
Melay,
now Lord
Newborough.
of
Garthewyn.
FOULKES,
of
Eriviet.
LLOYDS,
of
Plâs Madog,
in
Llansannan;
now of
Plâs Power.
Of this family was
Edmund Price,
Archdeacon of
Merionydd,
who collected the Psalms into
Welsh
metre.
PRICE,
of
Maentwrog, Merionethshire;
now of
Gerddi Bluog.
MORGAN,
of
Gwlgre, Flintshire.
GRIFFITH,
of
Garreg Lwyd.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
WYNNS,
of
Dyffryn Aled, Denbighshire.
of
Trefarth.
ROBERTS,
of
Gwasane, Flintshire.
LLOYD,
of
Gydros.
LLOYD,
of
Dôl.
of
Trebul.
HUGHES,
Bishop of
St. Asaph.
SMITH,
Chancellor of
St. Asaph.
VAUGHANS,
of
Hen Blâs
and
Bronheulog.
LLEWELIN,
of
Llanelian.
JENKIN,
of
Efenechtyd.
COL. JONES,
the Regicide
Vide
Tour in Wales,
ii. p. 123.
.
WILLIAMS,
of
Cochwillan, Maenol, Marl, Meillionydd,
and
Ystumcolwyn.
HOWEL M
ELINYDD.
CONWAY,
of
Nant.
GRIFFITH,
of
Festiniog.
HUGHES,
of
Cefn y Garlleg.
IX.
HEDD MOLWYNOG
He lived at a place called
Yr Henllys,
in the parish of
Llanfair Talyhaern.
, of
Uwch-aled,
(as Sir
Thomas ap Williams'
book hath it) was steward to Prince
David ap Owain.
His lands and lordships were
Llanfair Talybaern, Dyffryn Elwy,
and
Nanbaled,
the which his three sons,
viz. Meuter, Gwillonon,
and
Gwrgi,
divided, and their posterity have enjoyed, and do still enjoy, some part of them.
Rhys ap Jeuan ap Llewelyn Chwith
of
Chwibren,
was an esquire of the body to King
Edward
the Fourth (as the book of
Evan Lloyd Jeffrey
hath it): he and his cousin-german,
David Jenkin,
were very turbulent in the
Lancastrian
war.
Meuric Llwyd,
of
Llwyn y Maen,
near
Oswestry,
was a valiant captain under the earl of
Arundel,
who by his prowess atchieved a very noble coat of arms,
viz. The field argent, an eagle displayed with two heads sable.
And here, I think,
Jolo Gôch
Oliver the Red.
,
Owain Glyndwr
's bard, whose mother was the Countess of
Lincoln,
(as
Griffith Hiraethog
saith) may well bear a place among the worthy descendants of this tribe; who, for his lofty strain, and singular skill in
British
poetry, was and is as famous and renowned as any that hath been these four hundred years.—And also
This celebrated poet lived about the year 1490.
Tudur Aled,
another learned bard, and a doctor of the chair in his profession: but their learned works will make them famous and ever glorious.—
He beareth sable, a hart passant argent, attired or.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
LLOYDS
These
Lloyds,
descendants of
Hed Molwynog,
were the first persons that bore that name in
North Wales.
,
of
Havodunnos, Denbighshire.
of
Llwyn-y-Maen,
near
Oswestry.
of
Llanforda.
of
Dre-newydd,
in
Whittington
parish.
of
Blaen-y-Ddôl.
PARRY,
of
Llangerniw.
WYNN,
of
Bryn Cynrick.
GRIFFITHS,
of
Bodychwyn.
of
Hafod-y-Garreg.
of
Blaen Iâl, Denbighshire.
of
Plâs Newydd.
X.
BRAINT HIR,
of
Is-dulas,
lived, as I conjecture, about the time of the sons of
Roderic
Others say that he lived about the year 650, in the time of
Cadwallon,
whose nephew and chancellor he was.
the Great.
His posterity did not much increase, for there are not many, at present, known to be descended from him, yet some there are.—
His arms are vert, a cross flowery or.
DESCENDANTS.
VAUGHANS,
of
Pont-y-Gwyddel.
Mrs.
Gifford,
of
Nerquis.
XI.
His court is lord to be
Liŷs Llyweni.
MARCHWEITHIAN
was called Lord of
Is-aled;
his lands were
Carwed Fynydd, Dincadfael, Prees, Beryn, Llyweni, Gwytherin,
and many other townships within the hundred of
Is-aled,
as appears by the extent of the lordship and honor of
Denbigh,
made in the eighth year of
Edward
the Third; at what time,
Cynwric Fychan,
being the ninth in descent from
Marchweithian,
lived; whereby some aim may be made at the time he flourished.
THE families and houses descended of him are many, but the most eminent are these,
Berain,
formerly incorporated to the house of
Llyweni,
by the marriage of Mrs.
Catherine,
of
Perain
See her singular story in
Tour in Wales,
ii. p 29.
, the daughter and heir of
Tudor ap Robert Fychan,
of
Berain,
esquire, with
John Salisbury,
the son and heir of Sir
John Salisbury,
of
Llyweni,
knight; after whose death she married
Richard Clough,
esquire, of
Denbigh,
a rich merchant; after whose decease she married
Maurice Wynne,
of
Gwydir,
esquire, and had issue by both: and last of all she married
Edward Thelwall,
of
Plâs-y-Ward,
esquire.—Mr.
Robert ap Rees,
descended of this tribe, and ancestor to the family of
Rhiwlas,
was chaplain to Cardinal
Wolsey,
and a very great man in the reign of
Henry
the Eighth.—
Ellis Price,
of
Plâs-Yolyn,
doctor of the law, who, I believe, was one of the scholars of
Cambridge,
that disputed with
Throgmorton,
and other scholars of
Oxford,
at
Cambridge,
in the year of our Lord 1532, and got the best; (as
James Caius,
in the first book of
The Antiquities of Cambridge,
affirmeth.)—
He bore, in a shield gules, a lion rampant argent, armed azure.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
PRICE,
of
Rhiwlas, Merionethshire.
of
Boch-y-rhaiadr, Merionethshire.
WYNN,
of
Llangynbafal, Denbighshire.
PANTON,
of
Coleshill
Manor,
Flintshire.
PARRY,
of
Tywysog,
and
Pistill.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
PRICE,
of
Giler, Denbighshire.
of
Tyddyn Sieffrey.
of
Cwmmein.
of
Fedw dêg.
of
Llanrwst.
of
Dugoed,
in
Penmachno.
WYNN,
of
Voelas, Denbighshire.
of
Plas Newydd Yspytty.
of
Hafod-y-Maidd.
FOULKES,
of
Llŷs Llywarch.
of
Carwed Fynydd,
and
Meriadog.
VAUGHANS,
of
Pant Glâs.
of
Blaen-y-Cwm.
of
Llysfaen.
WILLIAMS,
of
Aberconwy.
of
Hafod Garregog.
DAVIES,
of
Llathwryd.
GETHIN,
of
Cerniogeu, Denbighshire.
XII.
EDWIN,
commonly called King of
Tegaingle
Or
Englefield:
it is a division of
Flintshire,
consisting of three hundreds,
viz. Rhuddlan, Coleskill,
and
Prestatyn.
, was the twelfth tribe, whose son
Owain
had a daughter called
Angharad,
married to
Griffith ap Cynan,
king of
Gwynedd,
or
North Wales.
Many worthy and noble gentlemen in
Flintshire
and
Denbighshire
are descended of him, as the Bishop of
Bangor,
now living—(I believe he means
William Roberts,
D. D. who was consecrated Bishop of
Bangor,
in
September
1637, and died at
Llandurnog, August
12th, 1665, aged 80.)
Thomas Owen,
judge of —, father of Sir
Roger Owen,
late of
Cundover,
knight.
For a fuller account of
Howel Gwynedd,
see
Tour in Wales,
vol. i. pp. 84, 85.
Howel Gwynedd,
a very valiant and stout man, who, siding with
Owen Glyndwr
against
Henry
the Fourth, did much annoy the
English;
but on a time, being more secure than he ought to have been, he was taken by his adversaries of the town of
Flint,
who, upon a place called
Moel-y-Gaer,
cut off his head: and long time before, one
Owain ap Uchtryd,
being grandson to
Edwin,
kept by force of arms all
Tegaingle
under subjection, notwithstanding all the power of the king, lords, and country to the contrary; and the third year, having his pardon, he delivered the owners their lands.—
He beareth argent, between four Cornish choughs armed gules, a cross floury engrailed sable.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
LLOYDS,
of
Pentre Hobyn,
now of
Trefor.
WYNNS,
of
Copparleni.
PARRIES,
of
Llaneurgain.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
MOSTYNS,
of
Mostyn,
&c.
Flintshire.
LLOYDS,
of
Farm, Flintshire.
WYNNS,
of
Nhercwys, Flintshire.
EDWARDS,
of
Stansty.
of
Rhual.
of
Galit-y-celyn,
and
Crogen Iddon.
of
Llangollen Fechan.
EVANS,
of
Coed Llai,
and
Treuddyn.
HUGHES,
of
Diserth.
JONES,
of
Gwernaffield,
and
Mold.
OWENS,
of
Coed Llai, Gwasane, Caerfallwch, Treuddyn, Arddunwynt,
and
Hope.
PRICE,
of
Llwyn Ynn.
BROMFIELDS,
of
Bromfield.
XIII.
EDNOWAIN BENDEW
was Lord of
Tegaingle
in the year of our Lord 1079, (as the book of
Ednop
saith.) He is said by
Peter Ellis,
the counsellor, to be the chief of the fifteen tribes. Of him are descended
Ithel ap Rotpert,
Archdeacon of
Tegaingle,
the
Bithels,
and a great many worthy families besides.—
He bearthe argent, between three boars heads, a cheveron sable.
THE residence of
Ednowain
is supposed by some to have been at
Ty-maen,
in the parish of
Whiteford,
(see p. 119.)
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
LLOYD,
of
Wygfair, Flintshire.
FOULKES,
of
Mertyn, Flintshire.
GRIFFITH,
of
Rhual, Flintshire.
HUGHES,
of
Halkyn, Flintshire.
of
Bagillt, Flintshire.
GRIFFITH,
of
Plâs isa', Caerwys, Flintshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
WYNNS,
of
Galedlom,
and
Caerwys, Flintshire.
PUGHE,
of
Skeifiog, Flintshire.
PIERS,
of
Llanasaph, Flintshire.
PARRY,
of
Coleshill,
and
Basingwerk, Flintshire.
GRIFFITH,
of
Pant y Llongdu, Flintshire.
of
Caerwys Hall, Flintshire.
EVANS,
of
Llaneurgain, Flintshire.
JONES,
of
Skeifiog, Flintshire.
WILLIAMS,
of
Clommendy Skeifiog, Flintshire.
HUGHES,
of
Coed-y-Brain, Flintshire.
XIV.
EFNYDD,
commonly called the son of
This
Gwenllian
was stiled the h
iress of
Dyffryn Clwyd,
in regard that she possessed a very great portion of it.
Gwenllian,
the daughter of
Rhŷs ap Marchon,
who was lord of seven townships in
Dyffryn Clwyd,
called
Ruthin land, viz. Tr
-ben-y-Coed,
and
Fereel dyd, y Groes
wyd, Pant Meugen,
and three more, all freehold land. He had no children besides
Gwenllian
aforesaid, who by the interest of
B
te
n op Cy
yn,
king of
Wales,
was given in marriage to this
Efnydd
's father, being nearly related to the said king, who gave him likewise seven townships,
to wit, Almar, Tref-alen
(or
Alynton), Gre
ford
in
Bromfield, Lleprog-fawr, Lleprog-fe
han,
and
Tref-y-nant,
in
Tegaingle,
&c. He had a daughter called
Hunydd,
who was the wife of
Meredydd ap Blethyn,
prince of
Powys.
Of him was descended
John Almor,
one of the marshals of the hall to king
Henry
the Seventh, father of
John Almor,
serjeant at arms to king
Henry
the Eighth, (as I think)
who bare azure, a lion rampant or, armed and langued gules;
and of Sir
William Meredith,
who lived in
Yorkshire,
or somewhere else in
England.—He bare a lion rampant saliant or,
wherewith he quartered his mother's coat,
being azure, between three nags heads erased argent, a fess or.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
SIMUNT,
of
Coed Llai, Flintshire.
PRICHARD,
of
Caergwrley, Flintshire.
ROGERS,
of
Flint.
MEREDYDD,
of
Trefalen.
of
Pentre Bychan.
of
Stansty.
ALMORS,
of
Almor.
ALYNTONS,
of
Alynton.
LLOYDS,
of
Gresford,
and
Alynton.
XV.
EDNOWAIN AP BRADWEN
Of
Lŷs Bradwen,
near
Dolgelley.
Vide
Tour in Wales,
vol. ii. p. 99.
et seq.
is by writers called Lord of
Meirionydd:
but surely the princes and their issue were always lords of
Meirionydd;
howbeit it might be, that he (as others) took the same to farm, and therefore might be called lord thereof. And yet he and his issue were possessed of all
Tal-y-Bont,
save
Nanney,
and the prince's demesnes, and for the most part of
Ystumanner
in the like manner. The offices he bare under the prince, I know not. Some books of pedegree say that he lived in
Griffith ap Cynan
's time, but I think he was not so antient
He lived in the time of
Llewelyn ap Jorwerth,
probably about 1194.
. The ruins of his
Llŷs,
or palace, are to be seen in the township of
Cregenan,
in
Tal-y-Bont Iscregenan. Llewelyn ap Tudur ap Gwyn ap Peredur ap Ednowain ap Bradwen,
lived in the time of
Edward
the First, and did him homage with the lords and gentry of
Wales,
as by the said king's records is manifest.
Aaron,
his grandchild, by his son
Ednyfed,
had two sons more eminent than the rest of his children,
Ednyfed
and
Griffith;
of the last of whom
William David Lloyd,
of
Peniarth,
esquire, lately deceased, was descended: whose inheritance is come to
Margaret,
the mother of
Lewis Owen,
of
Peniarth,
esquire, now living.
Ednyfed ap Aaron
is said to have entertained
Owain Glyndwr,
when he was overcome by king
Henry
the Fourth, the usurper, but secretly in a cave, by the sea-side, in the parish of
Llan Gelynin,
which of him is called
Owain
's cave.
Ogof Owain.
Of this
Ednyfed
was descended
Morgan ap Griffith ap Eineon,
a courageous stout man, who, as it is reported by his kinsmen, by chance, in the streets of the city of
London,
late in the night, met with King
Henry
the Eighth, with a small guard about him, coming to see what rule was kept in the city; and when neither would yield to the other, they drew and fought hardly, until a person, who accompanied
Morgan,
bade him take heed what he did, for that he feared it was the king with whom he fought. Whereupon
Morgan
crying mercy, yielded, and craved pardon; and the king did let him go, saying, that he was a lusty man, and ever after he was called
Lusty Morgan.
This is a report, I cannot tell how true.
Morgan his, mawr gan Harri,
Mae Llundain dan d' adain di.
—
He bore gules, three snakes enowed in a triangular knot argent.
DESCENDANT EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE
OWENS,
of
Cae'r Berllan, Merionethshire.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
LLOYDS,
of
Nant-y-Mynach,
and
Peniarth.
OWENS,
of
Peniarth,
and
Morben.
GRIFFITH,
of
Garth,
and
Cloddiau Cochion.
Out of our ancient books of pedegrees, we are enabled to add another
Tribe;
by no means inferior to any of the foregoing, in the respectability and number of its descendants.
XVI.
TUDOR TREVOR,
the tribe of
So called, because a great number of the gentlemen in the
Marches
of
England
and
Wales
are descended from him.
March,
called likewise in our books
Llwyth Maelor
(or the tribe of
Maelor,
) was the son of
Ynyr ap Cadfarch,
descended of
Cadell Deurnllug,
King of
Powys.
He is said to have been the founder of, and to have resided at,
Whittington Castle,
which continued in his posterity for many generations after. His mother was
Rhiengar,
daughter to
Lluddocca ap Caradoc Vreichfras,
earl of
Hereford,
who was one of the knights of king
Arthur
's Round Table.
Tudor
had large possessions in
Herefordshire,
in right of his mother, as well as in that country called
Ferlys,
which lies between the rivers
Wye
and
Severne.
He was cotemporary with
Howel Dda,
king of
Wales,
whose daughter
Angharad
he married, by whom he had three sons and one daughter.
Powell,
of
Edenhope,
in his
Pent
chia,
describes his arms in the following manner:
Em in
is fulgens
Theodor.
parma
T
e
,
Dat rapidum fulvumque sinistro verte leonem:
Mos
ni
sunt nota satis, simul arma
T
e
is.
Which may be thus expressed in plain
English:
Parted per bend finister ermine and ermines, over all a lion rampant or;
the well-known arms of the
Mostyns,
and also of the
Trevors.
DESCENDANTS EXTANT IN THE MALE LINE.
Viscount
Hambden,
and Baron TREVOR.
MOSTYNS,
of
Mostyn,
Baronets.
of
Trelacre,
Baronets.
of
Bryngwyn.
of
Segroit.
PENNANT,
of
Bychton.
RICHARD PENNANT,
Baron
Penrhyn.
JEFFERIES,
of
Acton.
EDWARDS,
of
Chirk.
WYNNE,
of
Gerwyn-fawr.
JONES,
of
Llwyn-onn.
DESCENDANTS EXTINCT, OR IN THE FEMALE LINE.
TREVOR,
of
Brynkinnallt.
of
Pentre Cynric.
TREVOR,
of
Daywen.
of
Trefalen.
of
Plâs-têg.
of
Oswestry.
LLOYDS,
of
Halton.
YOUNG,
of
Bryn Yorkin.
DYMMOCK,
of
Willington.
PUGHE,
of
Llan-y-Mynach.
LLOYDS,
of
Plâs isa' y Clawdd.
of
Dal-y-wern.
HERE it may not be improper to mention, that though the tribes are generally considered as the nobility of
Wales,
yet are there many ancient
Welsh
families of high respectability, who derive not their descent from any of them. Such are the
Middletons,
of
Chirk
castle and
Gwaunynog;
the
Vaughans,
of
Glan-y-llyn,
afterwards of
Llwydiarth
and
Llangedwyn,
but now extinct, who are descended from
Ririd Flaidd,
lord of
Penllyn,
&c. The
Vaughans,
of
Cors-y-gedol;
and the
Wynnes,
of
Dolegwyn,
whose stock was
Osbwrn Wyddel,
(or the
Irishman.
) The
Eytons,
of
Leeswood;
the
Wynnes,
of
Tower;
the
Davises,
of
Gwasane
(whose representative in the male line is
Peter Davies,
esquire, of
Broughton;
) the
Parrys,
of
Pwllhalog,
and the
Williamses,
of
Fron,
who are descended from
Cynric Efell,
baron of
Eglwyseg.
IN
Anglesey
are the
Williamses,
of
Ty-fry,
descended from
Cadrod Hardd,
(or the
Handsome
) lord of
Tal-ebolion;
and from them the
Williamses,
of
Nantarog,
ancestors of the present Sir
Watkin Williams Wynne;
the
Williamses,
of
Penbed
,
and the
Williamses,
of
B
d
ydd
n.
THOUGH many others may be added to these, we shall now close this account with the descendants of
Br
chwel Ysgrithog,
prince of
P
wys, viz.
the
Blaneys
of
Tregynon,
the
Wynnes
of
Garth,
the
Ll
yds
of
Leig
ton,
and the
Thomases
of
Llechweddgerth,
whose present representative is
T
o. Thomas,
esquire, of
Downing Ucha'.
FIVE ROYAL TRIBES.
I. GRIFFITH AP CYNAN
Page 283
II. RHYS AP TEWDWR MAWR
Page 284
III. BLETHYN AP CYNFYN
Page 285
IV. ETHELYSTAN GLODRYDD
Page 286
V. JESTYN AP GWRGANT
Page 288
FIFTEEN TRIBES.
I. HWFA AP CYNDDELW
Page 290
II. LLOWARCH AP BRAN
Page 291
III. GWEIRYDD AP RHYS GÔCH
Page 293
IV. CILMIN TROED-DU
Page 294
V. COLLWYN AP TANGNO
Page 295
VI. NEFYDD HARDD
Page 298
VII. MAELOE CRWM
Page 299
VIII. MARCHUDD AP CYNAN
Page 300
IX. HEDD MOLWYNOG.
Page 302
X. BRAINT HIR
Page 304
XI. MARCHWEITHIAN
ibid.
XII. EDWIN
Page 307
XIII. EDNOWAIN BENDEW
Page 308
XIV. EFNYDD
Page 310
XV. EDNOWAIN AP BRADWEN
Page 311
THE number of Tribes in the MS. is only XV.—We retain the title, but add that of TUDOR TREVOR, or the Tribe of MARCH, as is done by some of our writers.
TRIBE OF MARCH.
XVI. TUDOR TREVOR.—For his Coat of Arms, consult PLATE IV. p. 31.
OUT-LINES of the GLOBE, ACCORDING TO THEIR PERMANENT STATE.
VOL. I.
ENGLAND.
SCOTLAND,
ORKNEY ISLES.
SCHETLAND ISLES.
FEROE ISLES.
ICELAND.
HOLLAND.
DENMARK.
VOL. II.
SWEDEN.
NORWAY.
SPITSBERGEN.
RUSSIA.
VOL. III.
Dominions bordering on the VÖLGA.
Circuit of the CASPIAN SEA.
Mountains of CAUCASUS.
GHILAN, MAZENDARAN.
From the north end of the CASPIAN SEA to the URALLIAN CHAIN.
VOL. IV.
NOVA ZEMLJA.
SIBERIA.
KAMTSCHATKA.
These four volumes contain the subjects of the first CCVIII. pages of the
Introduction to the Arctic Zoology,
enlarged and extended.
VOL. V.
Western Coast of AMERICA.
BRITISH Colonies in AMERICA.
United States of AMERICA.
Being the remaining part of the
Introduction to the Arctic Zoology,
enlarged.
VOL. VI. VII. FRANCE, from
Calais
to
Andaye,
and the
French Pyrenees.
VOL. VIII.
SPAIN, from
Fontarabia
to the borders of
Portugal.
PORTUGAL.
SPAIN again, from the mouth of the
Guadiana,
to the eastern entrance of the
Streights
of
Gibraltar.
VOL. IX.
The MEDITERRANEAN coast of
Spain,
from
Europa Point
to the beginning of
Southern France.
SOUTHERN FRANCE, to the
Maritime Alps.
VOL. X. NORTHERN AFRICA, from the mouths of the
Nile,
along the
Mediterranean
coast of
Africa,
through the
Streights
of
Gibra
ar,
and from thence to the river of
Senegal;
with an account of the
Madeira,
the
Canary Islands,
and those of
Cape Verd.
VOL. XI. NIGRITIAN AFRICA, from the river
Senegal
to
Cape Negro;
with an account of
Prince's Isle, Isle of St. Thomas, Isle of Ascension,
and that of
St. Helena.
VOL. XII. From CAPE NEGRO to the CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, from thence to the mouth of the
Red Sea,
and the
African
coast of the
Red Sea,
as far as the Isthmus of
Suez;
with an account of
Madagascar,
Isle of
Bourbon
or
Mascarenbas,
Isle of
France
or
Mauritius,
Isle of
Rodrigues,
Isles of
Comoro, Joanna,
the
Twelve Isles,
and
Amirantes
Isles or
Sechelles.
VOL. XIII. ARABIA, and its coasts, the
Persian Gulph,
and the coasts of
Persia,
as far as the
Indus.
VOL. XIV.
From the mouth of the INDUS to the
Panjab,
and
Cashmere.
From the mouth of the INDUS, along the western coast of
Indostan,
to Cape
Comorin.
Island of CEYLON, and the
Laccadive
and
Maldive
Islands.
VOL. XV.
The EASTERN COAST of HINDOOSTAN, to the mouth of the
Ganges.
From the mouth of the GANGES to its origin with its contributory rivers.
The origin of the SAMPOO or BURRAMPOOTER river, to its junction with the
Ganges,
near the fall of the latter into the Gulph of
Bengal.
Several particulars respecting the foregoing volumes, may be found in my
Literary Life,
from p. 41 to 45.
VOL. XVI. INDIA
extra
GANGEM, to the borders of
China;
with the translation of
ARRIANI PERIPLUS
MARIS ERYTHRAEI.
By the Reverend ROBERT WILLIAMS, curate of
Whiteford,
1792.
VOL. XVII. The empires of CHINA and JAPAN, with the islands to the north and south of the latter,
Matmay,
&c. and the
Kuril
islands.
VOL. XVIII.
The MALAYAN and MANILLA Islands, the PHILIPPINE Islands.
The islands of MINDANAO, CELEBES, or MACASSAR, and the TIMORIAN Chain.
NEW HOLLAND.
VOL. XIX.
MOLUCCA, or
Spicy
Islands.
PAPUAN Islands.
Land of PAPUAS, or NEW GUINEA.
NEW BRITAIN.
NEW IRELAND.
BRITISH.
VOL. XX. A JOURNEY from LONDON to DOVER, along the Coasts, in the year 17
7.
VOL. XXI. The same continued from DOVER along the remaining coast of
Kent,
of all
Sussex,
of
Hampshire,
to
Portsmouth,
and the circuit of the Isle of
Wight;
accompanied by my Son DAVID PENNANT.—The object of this journey is fully mentioned in p. 31 of my
Literary Life.
VOL. XXII. A JOURNEY taken in 1773, through some of the internal parts of
Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Westmoreland,
and
Cumberland,
as far as
Alston Moor.
—See more of this tour in my
Literary Life,
p. 16.
CORRECTIONS, &c.
N. B.
TITLE PAGE to
Whiteford,
the date 1796.—I request that this may be read 1795. It was expected that the whole book would have been printed in that year; but by various delays, too well known to authors, it was not completed till the month of
March
1796. I therefore beg the reader would consider that the several references which may be supposed to relate to 1796 can only intend 1795: for example, p. 161. l. 9. 'next season' means the wheat-sowing season of that year. 'In the next year,' means 1796. The attentive reader will discover many other reference of that kind.
PAGE 99, after paragraph 2d.—We retain in
Whiteford
church the decent service of praying for the sick, instead of lazily sinking it into the xxixth supplicatlon of the
Litany.
The prayers on that occasion are so pathetic, so admonitory to the congregation, that I am amazed that any minister should remain insensible of the impropriety of the omission.
I NOW cannot but most earnestly exhort the squires of every parish to attendance on divine service, if it was only to hear the sad catalogue of the miserable objects which compose the largest part of those for whom the devotions I allude to are intended. It will direct their benevolence to their relief. They may find among them objects of their charity, whom they may never otherwise have heard of. They may find tenants to whom they ought to be fathers. They certainly will find congenerous beings, to whom every duty of humanity is enjoined by the SAVIOUR of the world: This I should hope is thus irresistibly enforced:
COME, YE BLESSED OF MY FATHER, INHERIT THE KINGDOM PREPARED FOR YOU FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.
FOR I WAS AN HUNGRED, AND YE GAVE ME MEAT; I WAS THIRSTY, AND YE GAVE ME DRINK; I WAS A STRANGER, AND YE TOOK ME IN; NAKED, AND YE CLOATHED ME; I WAS SICK, AND YE VISITED ME; I WAS IN PRISON, AND YE CAME UNTO ME.
THEN SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS ANSWER HIM, SAYING, LORD, WHEN SAW WE THEE AN HUNGRED, AND FED THEE? OR THIRSTY, AND GAVE THEE DRINK?
WHEN SAW WE THEE A STRANGER, AND TOOK THEE IN? OR NAKED, AND CLOTHED THEE?
OR WHEN SAW WE THEE SICK, OR IN PRISON, AND CAME UNTO THEE?
AND THE KING SHALL ANSWER, AND SAY UNTO THEM, VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, INASMUCH AS YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE MY BRETHREN, YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ME.
To these benedictory verses let me add one, in which the penalty, as well as the reward is united. I cannot resist the impulse, as it is so admirably adapted to the times. It shall be followed by an extract from p. 164 of this work, which I communicated to the public through the channel of the
Chester
paper, followed by some declarations to prevent the mistaking of any part. I fervently wish to promote a friendly agreement between landlord and tenant; between tenant and every poor laborer. The benevolent Duke of BEAUFORT, and I believe others of the benevolent GREAT, have made the attempt; and, to the glory of landlord and tenant, are to this moment dispensing their generous plan to a grateful people. Such an agreement was entered into by the farmers of part of this and a neighboring county; but to their infamy, many of them withdrew from their words and their signatures. May the landlords become the instruments of compelling them to accept the blessing offered in the last part of the line, and to shun the curse denounced in the first! There is one description of men, on whom it should fall in a most exemplary manner. The badger, or factor, employed to exhaust the stock of corn and other provisions, not by fair agreement, but by openly raising the price, by offering more than the farmer would have asked; and even telling them, in open market, 'Ask what you will, and we will give it.' The poor, since the repeal of the 5th and 6th of
Edward
IV. by the 12th of
George
III. are left defenceless. The means of inflicting the punishment by the statute is taken away, and they are to seek justice through the tedious expensive labyrinths of the common law.
HE THAT WITHHOLDETH CORN, THE PEOPLE SHALL CURSE HIM: BUT BLESSING SHALL BE UPON THE HEAD OF HIM THAT SELLETH IT.
Proverbs,
chap. xi. ver. 26.
To the
EDITOR
of the
CHESTER COURANT.
SIR,
PERMIT me to convey, through the channel of your paper, a paragraph from a book which is still in the press:
I would never grant a lease to a great corn-tenant. I would preserve a power over his granary, which legislature will not, or cannot assume. Should he attempt by exportation to exhaust it in years of scarcity, and not leave a sufficient supply for the country which produced the grain; — should he attempt a monopoly,—should he refuse to carry a proper quantity to the next market;—or should he refuse to sell, to the poor who cannot attend the market, corn in small quantities, I WOULD INSTANTLY ASSUME THE POWER OF THE LANDLORD, AND EXPEL HIM FROM MY ESTATE. A just punishment for the tenant, who, through rapacity, declines to comply with my desires, excited with no other view than to promote the good of the public.
THE end which we wish by the above radically to correct, may soon be past cure, I therefore commit the extract to your hands. The evil is entirely local; other parts of
Great Britain
are possibly unaffected by it, and have no occasion to take alarm. We do not wish the farmers solely to feed the poor; we only request them to reserve in the country corn enough of EVERY kind to enable others to exert their benevolence to their poorer neighbors; not by gratu
tous donations, but by selling it at reasonable prices to those who are in want; we do not ask it from the farmers at the prices of good times. GOD forbid that we should deny them FAIR profits, such as every other dealer has a right to. I wish to inculcate universal justice; but let us remember that CHARITY begins at home. We shall gladly impart our superfluity to our most distant neighbors, even should we be obliged to pay more for the bare competency we may reserve.
T. P.
DOWNING,
February,
1796.
CONTENTS OF THE ACCOUNT OF
HOLYWELL PARISH.
TOWNSHIPS Page 185
Stokyn Page 186
River Dee Company ib.
Lucerne Grass Page 187
Last Embankment Page 188
Projects ib.
The Mark Page 189
Wat's Dike Page 190
Basingwerk Castle Page 192
Abby Page 194
Curious Epitaph Page 196
Greenfield House Page 197
White and Red Lead Works Page 201
Iron Wire Mill ib.
Paper-Mills ib.
Snuff-Mills Page 202
Old Smelting-Work ib.
Pin-Mill Page 203
Three Corn Mills ib.
Famous Epoch of Commerce ib.
Parys Mine Company Page 204
The Company's Coin Page 206
Brass Melting-Houses ib.
Hypocaust Page 207
Wire-work ib.
Cotton-work ib.
New Rolling-Mill Page 208
Greenfield Copper and Brass Company. Page 211
Crescent-Mill Page 213
Corn Mill ib.
Old Cotton-Mill Page 214
Greatest Cotton-Mill ib.
Management of the Children Page 215
Their Beds ib.
Mules Page 217
Corn-Mill ib.
Length of the Stream ib.
Number of Falls Page 218
St. Wenefrede's Well Page 219
Chapel Page 221
Free School Page 222
Sunday Schools ib.
Chapel Window Page 223
Little Spring ib.
Of St. Wenefrede Page 224
Dydd sal y Saint Page 227
An antient Seal ib.
The Fountain Page 230
Insects destructive to the Oaken Water-wheels Page 232
Church Page 234
Vicars of Holywell Page 235
Parish Church Page 237
Monuments Page 239
Church Yard Page 241
Number of People ib.
Increase Page 242
Poors Rates ib.
in 1721 ib.
in 1723. and 1795 Page 243
Clubs or Friendly Societies ib.
Union Club ib.
Old Bowling-Green Page 244
Places of Worship for Roman Catholics and Dissente
s ib.
Bryn-y-Castell Page 244
Holywell Spring Page 245
Market Page 24
Exportation of Corn Page 247
Prices in the late Scarcity Page 248
Ro
ds to the Sea ib.
to Rudl
and St. Asaph ib.
Level Page 249
S
a
e ib.
Page 250
Lune-stone ib.
A Cave ib.
Vent
lator ib.
Cascade Page 251
Other subterraneous Waters ib.
Other Veins ib.
Continuance of Page 252
Fertile Tract ib.
Pen-y-Bal Road ib.
Calcoed Page 253
Naid-y-March ib.
Halkin and Brynford Roads ib.
Brynford House Page 254
Pen-y-Bryn Mine ib.
Refracting Spar ib.
P
ti
l ib.
Meilwr and other Mines ib.
Gadlys Road Page 257
Bagillt Township ib.
House, the Pantons ib.
The Griffiths of Bagillt Page 258
Curious Will ib.
Curious Licence Page 259
Gadlys Company Page 261
Battle of Coleshill Page 263
Road to Flint ib.
Malt Kiln ib.
Granaries Page 264
Vitriol-Works Page 266
Verditer ib.
Sugar of Lead ib.
Ribbon Weavers Page 267
Bagillt the Pennants Page 268
Founder of the Family ib.
Pennants of Hendre Figillt Page 269
of Pen-y-Garth Page 270
Lord Penrhyn ib.
Slate Quarries Page 272
Mr. Hughes of Bagillt ib.
River Bank Works Page 273
Bagillt Upper Works Page 274
Lower Works Page 275
Dee Bank ib.
Coil
eries ib.
Nant-y-Moch Page 276
Coleshill ib.
A Calcining Work Page 277
Manor of Coleshill ib.
Panton Family ib.
D
seases Page 278
Flint Smelting Works Page 281
Five Royal Tribes of CAMBRIA Page 283
Fifteen Tribes of NORTH WALES Page 290
The Tribe of MARCH Page 317
Outlines of the GLO
Page 318
ERRATA.
PAGE 5. l. 18.
for
Liverpool,
read
Leverpool —P.
.
— P. 18. l. 15.
for
Whichchurch
r.
Whitchurch.—P. 55.
r.
y gwr a biau'r nenbren.—P. 67. l. 15
for
epistle
r.
ode.—P. 72.
for
mother
r.
grandmother —P. 75 l. 5
for
culottes
r.
culotte.—P. 81. l. 26.
for
Esopus cum commentariis varius
r.
Aesopus cum commentariis variis.—P. 120. l. 7.
for
juventute
r.
juventu
.—P. 140. l. 12.
for
STATA
r.
STRATA.—P. 135. l. 16.
for
beneath
r.
under.—P. 192. l 28.
for
ecclesia
r.
ecclesiae.—P. 200. l. 21.
for
ru
ns
r.
ruin.—P. 206 l. 7.
for
Parys Mountain
r.
Parys Mine Company.—P. 206. l. 8.
for
evaporate
r.
cry
allize.—P. 271. l. 7.
before
part,
insert
this.