S^^/WV i» /""^nSHBBBP^S ^^^^^SCb^^hhHa\ ' ' "^'--'.flfl ■HbKK^^ ]» ^1 cm M '^I^HL A' Wwh^ •ji^m^ lAi97 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY S.viewSYMOMi'S YAT, ontlxeWYE^ Jioss. Published ty W-Jan-a: August. i8Xi. WYE TOUR, OR GILPIN ON THE WYE, ■WITH FROM WHEATLEYt PRICE^ ^e. AND BY THE REV. T. D. FOSBROKE, M. A. F. A. S. Hon. Assoc. R. Soc. Lit.— Hon. Memb. Bristol PhiI«B. Institution. — Author of British Monachism— The Encyclopedia of Antiquities, &c. &c. &c. THE THIRD EDITION, ROSS: PRINTED BY AND FOR W. FAfiHOB^ SOLO BY MESSRS. RICROM, 85 rARLIAMENT BTRBEV, AKD ME8BBB. BAbDWf V, CRADOCK AWO JOTj LOMOOV, u W^''^is>^0^'i'-'i>^ A -Sb" 3ol%D ^' I h 1 /-^ To JOHN BEITTON, Esq. F. A, S. Dear Sir, I take a particular pleasure in inscribing a Work, devoted to Illustration-of the " British Temp^" to you, who have exhibited our richest remains of Antiquity in a superb style, which the Calchographic Art was before not thought to possess. To you the National Taste is ^ Highly indebted for improvement ; and whatever augments the attraction of the Fine Arts, conduces in a much more important view than is com' monly imagined, to amelioration of character, I am, Yours truly, T. D, FOSBROKE,, Walford on the Wye, May, 1826. [PREFACE. The chief differences of the second from the first Edition are translation of the matter concerning Ross, to a distinct publication relating to that Town and its Vicinity, entitled Ariconensia, to be had of the same Publisher, as a proper companion to this work : and a division of the materials into three parts; the Picturesque, that the matter might conform to the Tour ; the Historical to be read at the Inn ; and the source of the River by way of completion, for perusal at leisure. These matters are retained in the present or third edition, with this alteration, that some common place writing by inferior travellers is expunged, to make room for valuable instructive additions from Wheatley and Price, and to render the work as much as possible a Standard one on the subject, through its containing those statements, concerning the Scenery of the Wye, which it is utterly improbable that any suc- ceeding writer can surpass. The author had not the presumption to think, that he could do better than tran- scribe these fine writers, and it is a sincere pleasure to him to be instrumental to any display of their high merits in the Picturesque. The taste of Gilpin is well- known. Alison has warmly praised the admirable VI Wheatley; and, as to Mr. Price, he is the best delinea- tor and critic of the Scenery of Nature, known to the author, and a most classical, interesting and gentle- manly writer. As to the author himself, he has treated the subject con amore, and endeavoured to enrich it from high au- thority and recondite literature. As Cicerones on the spot, supply catalogues and details, he has to rejoice, that the richness of the subject left no room for matter unconnected with sentiment or information. It may be proper to add that the grand scenes were repeatedly visited on purpose for this work, by the Author, and his friend, Thomas Foster, esq. B. A., of Emanuel College, Cambridge. If he has any claims as an an- tiquary or topographer, there is no work which he has endeavoured to render more pleasing than this little book. But it was an animating subject— a glorious landscape laid out by the Omnipotent himself, which by the sublimity of its style, exalts admiration into piety: and by its wondrous disposition of objects, strikes dumb presuming art and pratling science. WYE TOUR- PART fflRST. PICTURESQUE AND ITINERARY DEPARTMENT. Introduction — General character of the Wye Scenery. The Romantic in Scenery is characterized by every object being wild, abrupt, and fantastic. Endless va- rieties discover at every turn something new and un- expected; so that we are at once amused and surprised, and curiosity is constantly gratified but never satiated,* Such is the character of the Wye Scenery, but it never occurred to Gray or Gilpin, who brought this Tour into notice, that the Dell of the Wye is in char-, acter, though of course not in details, (Nature making no Fac-similes) a portrait of the celebrated Grecian Temp^ enlarged.-f It did not occur to these fine authors, because .Elian's description is inaccurate. That famous vale is * Knight upon Taste, Part ii, Chap. 2 f Dovedale in Derbyshire says Dr Clarke is another fine assimilation of Tempe. In Dayes's Picturesque Tour, p. 7, 8nd edit, is a be^utitul view of Dovedale, au,d it much anssiio-i ilates parts of the W^ e, connected with rock scenery. a defile, distinguished by an air of wild grandeur. — The following extracts from a recent traveller prove the as- similation.* " The Vale of Tempe is knotvn to the Turks, bt/ the appellation of Bogaz, a pass or strait, answering to our idea of rocky dell. Travellers are prepared for their approach by the gradual closing in of the mountains on each side of the river; and by ^ greater severity of character, which the scenery assumes ar- round if." It is the same at Coppet Hill, where the grand scenes commence. " Nature has left only sufficient rbom for the channel of the river.'' ^ This ensues for miles upon the Wye ; but Temp6 is only five miles long, the Wye, forty. ** The scenery consists of dell or deep glen, the opposite sides of which rise very steeply from the bed of the river. The towering height of these rocky and well wooded acclivities above the spectator; the con- trast of lines, exhibited by their folding successively one over another; and the winding of the Peneus be- tween them, produce a very striking effect, which is heightened by the wildness of the whole view, and the deep shadows of the mountains." This is the leading character of the Wye Scenery, and is an exact general description of it. * Walpole's Trarels, 1, 519. " On the north side of the Peneus, the mass of rock is more entire, and the ohjects which strike tfte eye, are altogether more hold, hut perhaps more pict- uresque.^^ Instances of this occur, as the Wye ap- proaches Chepstow. Such being the romantic fairy scenes, embellished with rare antiquities, on the " Banks of the Wye," it is clear, that the former, ought to be delineated by the hand of a master; and the latter to be treated in a sa- tisfactory elaborate form. In the picturesque, Gilpin is unquestionably an Oracle ; and his work is a Gram- mar of the Rules, by which alone the beauties of the Tour can be properly understood and appreciated. The whole of his matter, so far as concerns the Wye sub- ject, is therefore given in his own words, with the ad- ditional remarks of Wheatley, Price, &c. The Wye, says Gilpin, takes its rise near the sum- mit of Plinlimraop, and dividing the counties of Radnor and Brecknock, passes through the middle of Hereford- shire ; it then becomes a second boundary between MonmoLithshire and Gloucestershire, and falls into the Severn a little below Chepstow. To this pUce from Ross, which is a course of near forty miles, it flows in a gentle uninterrupted stream; and adorns, through its various reaches, a succession of the most picturesque scenes. The beauty of these scenes arises chiefly frcfm two circumstances ; the lofty hanks of the river, and its 8! mazy course; both which are accarfttdy ofes«f V^d by the poet, when he describes the Wye as echoing through its winding bounds.* It could not well echo, unless its banks were both lo/ti/ and winding. From these two circumstances, the views it exhibits are of the most beautiful kind of perspective, free from the formality of lines. The most perfect river views thus circumstanced, are composed of four grand parts : the area, which is the river itself; the two side-screens, which are the opposite banks, and lead the perspective ; and the Jront screen, which points out the winding of the river. If the Wye ran, like a Dutch canal, between par- rallel banks, there could be no front-screen ; the two side-screens in that situation, would lengthen to a point. If a road were under the circumstance of a river winding like the Wye, the effect would be the same. But this is rarely the case. The road pursues the ir- regularity of the country. It climbs the hill and sinks into the valley ; and this irregularity gives each view it exhibits, a different character. The views on the Wye, though composed only of these simple parts, are yet exceedingly varied. * Pleas'd Vag'a echoes thro' its winding' bounds, And rapid Severn'* hoarse applause resounds. Pope's Eth. Ep. They are varied, first, by the contrasi of the icreens; sometimes one of the side-screens is elevated sometimes the other, and sometimes the front ; or both the side-screens may be lofty, and the front either high or low. Again, they are varied by the folding of the side- screens over each other, and hiding more or less of the front. When none of the front is discovered, the fold- ing-side either winds round like an amphitheatre,* or it becomes a long reach of perspective. These pimple variations admit still farther variety from hfcoxaing complex. One of the sides may be compounded of various parts, while the other remains simple ; or both may. be, ^compounded, and the front simple ; or the front alone may be compounded. Besides these sources of variety, there are other circumstances, which, under the name of ornaments, still farther increase them. Plain banks will admit all the variations we have yet mentioned ; but when this plainness is adorned, a thousand other varieties arise. The ornaments of the Wye may be ranged under four heads : ground, wood, rocks, and buildings. * The word amphitheatre, strictly speaking, is a complete ' inclosure ; but, I believe it is comropnly accepted as here, for , v any^^^u'cula.r, piece of architecture) though it does &9t. wiiidl *^*&c tirely round. 6 The ground, of which the banks of the Wye con- sist, (and which hath thus far been considered only in its general effect,) affords every variety which ground is capable of receiving, from the steepest precipice, to the flattest meadow. This variety appears in the line formed by the summits of the banks ; in the swellings and excavations of their declivities ; and in their in- dentations at the bottom, as they unite with the water. In many places also the ground is broken; which adds new sources of variety. By broken ground; We mean only such ground as hath lost its turf, and dis- covers the naked soil. We often see a gravelly earth shivering from the hills, in the form of water-falls : often dry stony channels guttering down precipices, the rough beds of temporary torrents ; and sometimes so trifling a cause as the rubbing of sheep against the sides of little banks or hillocks, will occasion very beautiful breaks. The colour too of the broken soil is a great source of variety : the yellow or the red ochre, the ashy grey, the black earth, or the marly blue: and the intermix- tures of these with each other, and with patches of verdure, blooming heath, and other vegetable tints, still increase that variety. Nor let the fastidious reader think these remarks descend too much into detail. Were an extensive dis- tance described, a forest scene, a sea-coast view a vast semicircular range of mountains, or some other 7 grand display of nature, it would be trifling to mark these minute circumstances. But here the hills around exhibit little except fore-grounds, and it is necessary, where we have no distances, to be more exact in finish- ing- objects at hand. The next great ornament on the banks of the Wye are its tvoods. In this country are many works car- ried on by fire ; and the woods being maintained for their use, are periodically cut down. As the large trees are generally left, a kind of alternacy takes place ; what is this year a thicket, may the next, be an open grove. The woods themselves possess little beauty, and less grandeur : yet as we consider them merely as the ornamental parts of a scene, the eye will not ex- amine them with exactness, but compound for a general effect. One circumstance attending this alternacy is plea- sing. Many of the furnaces on the banks of the River, consume charcoal, which is manufactured on the spot ; and the smoke issuing from the sides of the hills, and spreading its thin veil over a part of them, beautifully breaks their lines, and unites them with the sky. The chief deficiency, in point of wood, is of large trees on the edge of the water; which clumped here and there, would diversify ,the hills as the eye passes them, and remove that heaviness which always, in some degree, {though here as little as anywhere,) arises from the continuity of ground. They would also give 8 A degree of distance to the more removed parts ; whicli in a scene like this, would be attended with peculiar advantage : for as we have here so little distance, we wish to make the most of what we have — But trees immediately on the foreground cannot be suffered in these scenes^ as they would obstruct the navigation of the river, Tlie rochs which are continually starting through the woods, produce another ornament on the banks of the Wye. The rock, as all other objects, though more than all, receives its chief beauty from contrast. Some objects are beautiful in themselves. The eye is pleased with the tuftings of a tree : it is amused with pursuing the eddying stream ; or it rests with delight on the broken arches of a Gothic ruin. Such objects, independent of composition, are beautiful in theinselves. But the rock, bleak, naked, and unadorned, seems scarcely to de- serve a place among them. Tint it with mosses and lychens of various hues, and you give it a degree of beauty. Adorn it with shrubs and hanging herbage, and you make it still more picturesque. Connect it with wood, and water, and broken ground, and you make it in the highest degree interesting. Its colour and its form are so accommodating, that it generally blends into one of the most beautiful appendages of landscape. " Different kinds of rocks have different kinds of beauty. Those on the Wye, which are of a greyish colour, are, in general, simple and grand : rarely for- mal or fantastic. Sometimes they project in those 9 beautifur square masses, yet broken and shattered in every line, which are characteristic of the most majestic species of rock. Sometimes they slant obliquely from the eye in shelving diagonal strata ; and sometimes they appear in large masses of smooth stone, detached from each other, and half buried in the soil. Rocks of this last kind are the most lumpish, and least picturesque." " The various buildings which arise everywhere on the banks of the Wye, form the last of its orna- ments : abbeys, castles, villages, spires, forges, mills, and bridges. One or other of these venerable vestiges of past, or cheerful inhabitants of present times, charac- ^ terize almost every scene." " These ivorks of art are, however, of much greater use in artificial than in Tiatural landscape. In pursuing the beauties of nature, we range at large among forests, lakes, rocks, and mountains. The va- rious scenes we meet with, furnish an unexhausted source of pleasure : and though the works of art may often give animation and contrast to these scenes, yet still they are not necessary : we can be amused with- out them. But when we introduce a scene on canvas ; when the eye is to be confined within the frame of a pict- ure, and can no longer range among the varieties of nature, the aids of art become more important and we want the castle or the abbey, to give consequence to the scene. Indeed, the landscape-painter seldom thinks his view perfect without characterizing it by some ob« > ject of this kind," 10 *' The channel of no river can be more decisively marked than that of the Wye. Who hath divided a water course for the Jloivihg of rivers f saith the Al- mighty in that grand apostrophe to Job on the works of creation. The idea is happily illustrated here. A nobler water-course was never divided for any river than this of the Wye. Rivers, in general, ptirsne a devious course along the countries through which they flow: and form channels for themselves by constant fluxion. But sometimes, as in these scenes, we see a channel marked with such precision, that it appears as if originally intended only for the bed of a river." " Having thus analyzed the Wye, and considered separately its constituent parts ; the steepness of its banks, its jwazy course, the grounds, tcoods, and rocks, which are its native ornaments ; and the buildings, which still farther adorn its natural beauties ; we shall now take a view of some of those pleasing scenes which result from the combination of all these picturesque materials." " I must, however, premise how ill-qualified I am to do justice to the banks of the Wye, were it only from having seen them undei* the circumstance of a continued rain, which began early in the day, before one third of our voyage was performed." *' It is ti'ue, scenery at hand suffers less under such a circumstance, than scenery at a distance which it totally obscures." 11 '' The picturesque eye also, inquest of beauty finds it almost in every incident, and under every appearance of nature. Even the rain gave a gloomy grandeur to many of the scenes ; and by throvping a veil of obscu- rity over the removed banks of the river, introduced, now and then, something like a pleasing distance. Yet still it hid greater beauties ; and we could not help re- gretting the loss of those broad lights and deep shadows, which would have given so much lustre to the whole, and which ground like this, is in a peculiar manner adapted to receive." Thus Gilpin ; but it may enable the Tourist to de- rive more pleasure from the Scenery of the Wye, if some remarks* on the Picturesque attributes of Water ; the Banks of fine natural Rivers and Rocks, be added to this account. AVater, though not absolutely necessary to a beau- tiful composition, yet occurs so often, and is so capita! a feature, that it is always regretted when wanting, and no large place can be supposed, a little spot can hardly be imagined, in which it may not be agreeable ; it ac- commodates itself to every situation ; is the most in- teresting object in a landscape, and the happiest cir- cumstance in a retired recess; captivates the eye at a distance, invites approach, and is delightful when near ; it refreshes an" open exposure ; it animates a shade ; chears the dreariness of a waste, and enriches * All the rules of the Picturesque on the subjects namedj , are jriven in the author's Tourist's Grammar, B 3. 12 the most crowded views ; in form, in style and in ex- tent, may be made equal to the greatest compositions, or adapted to the least ; it may spread in a calm ex- panse, to sooth the tranquility of a peaceful scene ; or hurrying along a devious course, add splendor to a gay, and extravagance to a romantic situation. So various are the characters which water caii asume, that there is scarcely an idea, in which it may not concur, or an impression, which it cannot enforce : a deep stagnated pool, dank and dark with shades which it dimly reflects, befits the seat of melancholy ; even a river, if it be sunk between two dismal banks, and dull both in motion and colour, is like a hollow eye which deadens the coun- tenance ; and over a sluggard silent stream, creeping heavily along all together, hangs a gloom, which no art can dissipate, nor even the sunshine disperse. A gently murmuring rill, clear and shallow, just gurgl- ing, just dimpling, imposes silence, suits with solitude, and leads to meditation ; a brisker current, which wantons in little eddies over a bright sandy bottom, or bubbles among pebbles, spreads cheerfulness all ar- round : a greater rapidity, and more agitation to a cer- tain degree are animating ; but in excess, instead of wakening, they alarm the senses ; the roar and the rage of a torrent, its force, its violence, its impetuosity, tend to inspire terror ; that terror, which, whether as cause or effect, is so nearly allied to sublimity.* The effects of water, says Mr. Price, are always so * Whateley on Ornamental Gardening-, 61. 62. IS atti^Ctive that wherever there is any appearance of it in a landscape whether real or painted, to that part the eye is irresistibly carried and to that it always returns. All the objects immediately round it are consequently most examined ; where they are ugly or insipid, the whole scene is disgraced, but where they are interest- ing, their influence seems to extend over the whole scenery. Even the smallest appearance of water, a mere light in the landscape may answer a very essen- tial purpose, that of leading the attention to those parts, which are most worthy of notice.* These remarks of great Masters are sufficient to show the error of Gilpin, who limits the beauties of the Wye to its Banks, and observes, that a Road would an- swer the same purpose. See page t. The curling, rippling and foaming of water consti- tute the principal beauties of a natural river, for with- out running water, it is but a mere canal. •}■ If the windings are too frequent and sudden, the current is reduced to a number of separate pools ; but long reaches, because each is a considerable piece of water, conduce much to its beauty. J In the turns of a beautiful river, the lines are so varied with projections, coves, and inlets ; with smooth and broken ground ; with some parts open, and with others, fringed and overhung with trees and bushes ; with peeping rocks, large mos- sy stones, and all their soft and brilliant reflections, that the eye lingers upon them ; the two banks seem, * Price on the Picturesque, ii. 51—53. f Knight uroa Taste, 2-29. % VVhateley. 71. 14 as it were, to protract their meeting-, and to form their junction insensibly, they so blend and unite with each other.* The Wye has all these beauties. It does not simply curl, like hair, (after the fashion adopted for made water) but is characteristic of the line of beauty, which keeps at a distance every figure, that can be described by a rule or compass ; nor is its appearance of progress broken by large bays, circuity being proper only to sheets of stagnant water. Its rapidity also secures it, from the monotony of a dull river. Banks. A profusion of ornament ought ever to accompany rivers. Every species of building, every style of plantation may abound on the banks, and what- ever be their chai-acters, their pro5;imity to the water is commonly the happiest circumstance in their situation. A lustre is from thence diffused on all around ; each de- rives an importance from its relation to this capital fea- ture; those which are near enough to be reflected, immediately belong to it ; those at a greater distance still share in the animrition of the scene, and objects totally detached from each other, being all attracted to- wards the same interesting connexion, are united into one composition. f These accompammeots of Castles (»r Abbey Churches, Seats, Cottages, &c. &c. are seen on the Wye, but never so congi-eg-ated, as to des- troy the wildness of the scene. To prepare the spectator for a proper judgment of * Price, i. 301. f Whatelev, 71—72,. 15 the Banks of a River, the following beautiful des- cription by Mr. Price is exceedingly apropos. " The most uninteresting parts of any river are those, of which the immediate banks are flat, green, naked, and of equal height. I have said uninteresting ; for they are merely insipid,* not ugly : no one how- ever, I believe, calls them beautiful, or thinks of carry- ing a stranger to see them. But should the same kind of banks be fringed with flourishing trees and under- wood, there is not a person, who would not be much pleased at looking down such a reach, and seeing such a fringe reflected in the clear mirror. If a little far- ther on, instead of this pleasing but uniform fringe, the immediate banks were higher in some places, and suddenly projecting : if, on some of these projections, groups of trees stood on the grass only ; on others, a mixture of them with fern and underwood ; and between them the turf alone came down to the water edge, and let in the view towards the more distant objects — any spectator who observed at all must be struck with the difference between one rich, but uniform fringe, and * Bare shaven banks form distinct lines which every where mark the exact separation of the two elements; but partial concealments are no less the sources of connection than of va- riety, effect and intricacy; for by thteir means the water and the labd, the nearer and the more distant parts are blended, and united with each other. Water with a thin uniform grassy edge only resembles an inundation — Without fringed banks, it is like a human face without eyebrows^Sheets of water only resemble real sheetfs and bleaching grounds. Prife) ii 503 314. 316. ii. 51, ko. 16 the succession and opposition of high and low, of rough and smooth, of enrichment and simplicity. A little farther on, other circumstances of diversity might occur. In some parts of the bank, large trunks and roots of trees might form coves over the water, while the bro- ken soil might appear amidst them, and the overhang- ing foliage ; adding to the fresh green, the warm mellow tints of a rich ochre, or a bright yellow. A low ledge of rocks might likewise shew itself a little above the surface; but be so shaded by projecting boughs, as to have its form and colour darkly reflected. At other times these rocks might be open to the sun, and in place of wood, a mixture of heath and furze with their pur- ple and yellow flowers might crown the top ; between them wild roses, honeysuckles, periwincles and other trailing plants might hang down the sides towards the water, in which all these brilliant colours and varied forms would be fully reflected. Such banks form stud- ies for painters, on account of the variety of tints ; for to make the banks of a river of no other colour than grass green would be rejected. In short, the banks of a fine natural river like the Wye, owe their charms to abnipt breaks, sudden projections and deep hollows ; old twisted trees with furrowed bark ; gnarled and rough oaks amongst wild underwood ; the water ed- dying round rocks and rude stones ; and all the objects rough and rugged; while in an artificial park river, the banks arc brought down to one smooth edge, the trees are clumped and the water is dainmed up. In consequence everything becomes distinct, hard and un- If Conected ; the beautiful and the picturesque disappear, and the insipid, and formal alone remain.* One fortunate circumstance attaches to the Wye. Plantations of Firs and Larches utterly ruin all romant-i ic scenery, and do not occur here, at least to an extent, which affects the scenery. Rocks. Wildness should always attend Rock Scenery, even licentious iregularities of ground and wood ; and these and water, are the only proper accom- paniments. Shrubs and bushy underwood are essen- tial, because they cover blemishes, heaps of nibbish, and bad shapes, and furnish diversity and embellishments ; but without large trees also, the scene is void of grand- eur. Clumps are injurious as accessory ornaments; and cultivation has too cheerful an aspect.§ Mr. Price's|j account of various sorts of rocks is very instructive. It hardly can (he says) be doubted, that in the forms and characters of rocks, massiveness is a most efficient cause of grandeur ; but if their summits are parallel, and the breaks and projections are but very slight, then it is wall only ; but where there ai^e bold projections, de- tached from the principal body of rock, where in some places they rise higher than the general summit, and in others, seem a powerful buttress to the lower part, the eye is forcibly struck with the grandeur of such de- tached masses, and occupied with the variety of their * Price, ii. 36, seq. iii- 160- seq- § Whateley, 95-116. II ii, 200—209. forms, and of their light and shadow. When the lower parts are varied and boldly relieved, though the sum- mit is uniform, they must be viewed above, because then the formal line of the top is not seen, and the im- portance of the projections is not lost by distance. Rocks which are broken into petty detached forms, or composed of thin layers, have a poor effect, for want of solidity and massiveness." Whateley divides rocks into three classes. Those characterized by dignity, as at Matlock, those charac- terized by terror, as at the New Weir, on the Wye, ^nd those characterized by fancy, as at Dovedale. ARRIVAL AND STAY AT ROSS. The Church is the chief object. The Spire is a fine landmark, and very fortunately for the town, draws the eye to it, the property of all elevated objects. The town itself consists of narrow streets, and does not look like country-towns in general, two continuous lines of ale-houses, in a wide road, but like the trading streets of a city, especially of Bristol, the houses being vari- ous, and the shops frsnuently showy. This relief en- livens the narrow streets, and removes the remark of the caricaturist ^oodward, that the dulness of country towns is such, that one would think the inhabitants were all asleep at noon-day. The fine natural situation is however spoiled. The town should have been built on 19 a terrace upon the brow of the river. But the defect here is of no moment, as visitors do not come to Ross on account of the town, but of the country. This in truth is exquisite, for it embraces every glorious inland variety of ground, wood, water and rock. The wood and irregular ground preserve the picturesque beauty from being destroyed by the cultivation. The following is the genejral character of the scenery around Ross. Town, site of. A ridge ascending from the East, over-hanging the Wye, which serpentines below, in strong curves. ' North East. A fine up and down Country, mount- ing into a ridge above Crow Hill ; beyond which is an interesting view of the Town, with the rich back- ground of Penyard and the Chace. North. A tamer country, but irregular, rich and cultivated; with breaks of wood, &c. in ridges : in the distance, picturesque Hills — The whole surface sprink- led with Spires, good Houses, cultivated Lands, and rich Meadows. West. Cultivated ground gently ascending. Acon« bury and the Welch Hills in the distance. South. A gentle undulating descent to the river, flanked on the left by the Chace and Howl Hill, and c 20 closed in by the ridges and hills, forming one Bank of the Wye, in semi-circle from the West to the South. East. Flat rich Country, skirted by the Chace and Penyard, and lofty edge of the Forest of Dean. Our late good old King, George III. once said to a General too much addicted to wine, " General, General, a pint of wine and a long walk after dinner, is a good thing. Your Majesty, replied the veteran, a bottle and a short walk is a better thing." Sir R. C. Hoare very justly observes, that a man on a poney has far better chance of minutely noticing an object, than a wearied pedestrian, whose thoughts nature in exhaustion must unavoidably direct to his dinner and his bed. The long walks around Ross, though including very fine prospects, will not here be mentioned ; only those within a distance, to which females would not object. The first and chief is the Prospect, adjoining the Church-yard, FIRST. The Prospect. The view from hence, a fine relief from the dark brick buildings and awkward streets of the town, con- sists says Mr. Gilpin, " of an easy sweep of the Wye, and of an extensive country beyond it. But it is not picturesque. It is marked by no characteristic objects. It is broken into too many parts, and it is seen from too 21 high a point." These are just technical objections, founded upon the disadvantage of bird's eye views, -which reduce all to a map, for Gray truly said, " I find all points that are much elevated spoil the beauty of the valley, and make its parts, which are not large, look poor and diminutive."* But if the eye limits itself to the horse-shoe curve of the river, the green meadow, the ivied towers of Wilton Castle, and the light Bridge, there is a very pleasing though rather formal and some- what of a Dutch Landscape. seco:nd. Corps Cross Turnpike, A little beyond is a fine view of Penyard and the Chace, in side screen, THIRD. Walk to Wilton Castle, The shell is tolerably entire, and there is a green walk all round between the walls and the moat. One €orner is in the style of the fifteenth century : the others are Norman. Go over Wilton Bridge, and turn down a footpath just beyond. * Masoa's Memoirs of Gray, vol. iv. p. 175. nZVER TOUHi 3^000 to (ISc0^xit% STAGE FIRST.* Hight Bank. FIRST. WILTON BRIPGE AND CASTLE — SECOND. WEIR-END — THIRD. PENCRAIG HOUSE AND WOOD —FOURTH. GODRICH CASTLE— FIVE MILES. Left Bank. FIRST. MAN OF ROSS'S WALK— SECOND. NEW HILL COURT, COMMONLY CALLED THE HILL — THREE MILES — OPPOSITE THE CASTLE, TURNPIKE ROAD TO ROSS, J. RAVELLERS have observed that the ride over Wilton Bridge is beautiful, and that were not the ap* proach to Godrich Castle by water, too interesting to be given up, parties taking the Tour down the Wye, * The Stages end at the places of debarkation. 23 would see the country to a much greater advantage, if they pursued this road, and embarked at Godrich, there being no variety or object worthy of notice for nearly four miles, after passing Wilton* Castle.| The general character of the scenery is, under Ross, meadows backed by cliffs, which soon terminate on that side in rich pastures, flat and low : on the Wilton side, the banks are at first low, but soon rise into a ridge mostly wooded, which ridge continues to Godrich Castle, and slopes down to the Wye beyond it.. The first object after embarkation is Wilton Bridge, and Castle. The Bridge is called" an elegant structure"* and " one of masterly architecture."!] The key-stones lock curiously one into the other.f This description is en- thusiastic. It is an old bridge without the rugged an- tique aspect of such buildings in general; for the beauty of bridges consists in lightness, and this is tolerably light for so old a fabrick. TTie arch next the village is distinguishable from the others. The original was broken down by order of General Rudhall, in the wars of Charles I. in order to impede the rebel troops ia their way to Hereford.'f^ ♦ The plEkces printed in capitals, are treated of in theliis- torical part. § Nicholson, col. 1151, J Cambrian Tourist 431. II, iNicholson. 641. t i^. 1355. f Inform. Mr. T. Jenkins... c. 3.. M ** The Gastle," says Gilpin, is shrouded with a few trees; but the scene wants accompaniments to give it grandeur;" at present it is 4o obscured, that it has no picturesque aspect. " The first part of the river from Ross is, says Gil- pin, tame, from the low^ess of the banks. " But some relief is afforded by the Man of Ross's walk, a planta- tion of forest trees on the brow of a rocky eminence, and the back view of Penyard and the Chace Woods, at the Weir-end. After passing Wilton, Gilpin thus proceeds : " The bank however, soon began to «well on the right, and was richly adorned with wood. We admired it much ; and also the vivid images reflected from the water, which were continually disturbed as we sailed past them, and thrown into tremulous confusion by the dashing of our oars. A disturbed surface of water endeavouring to col- lect its scattered images and restore them to order, is among the pretty appearances of nature." " We met Avith nothing for some time during our voyage but these grand woody banks, one rising be- hind another; appearing and vanishing by turns, as we doubled the several capes. But though no particular objects characterized these different scenes, yet they afforded great variety of pleasing views, both as we wound round the several promontories, which discovered new beauties as each scene opened, and when we kept the same scene a longer time in view, stretching alon"- some lengthened reach, where the river is formed into 25 an irregular vista, by hills shooting out beyond each other, and going off in perspective." The Hill, or New Hill Court, three miles from Ross, on the left, is the seat of Kingsmili Evans, Esq. Lord of the Manors of Ross, Walford, &c. The Man of Ross is said to have planned the central part of the building; the wings being of more recent addition. It is large and roomy, and has several very fine park trees. Not far beyond, on the right is a pleasing mansion, sheltered by wood, and crowning the brow of a steep ascent, lately occupied by George Little, esq. It is cal- led Pencraig, and the beauties of its exquisite situation will be given under the Land Tour, because they are founded upon prospect. Soon afterwards we come to the famous elevation and aspect of Godrich Castle, on the S. S. E. bank, as viewed from the water and engraved by Bon- nor,* under the light of a setting sun. He calls it " an actual view of that part described by Mr. Gilpin, as its most important appearance ; where, standing- upon its own promontory, it overhangs the crystal Wye, which here makes a graceful and brilliant sweep, and then re- tires into the bold scenery" t commencing at Coppct Wood. " Four miles from Ross, says Gilpin, we eame io Godrich Castle; where a grand view presented itself; * PI. ii. t p. 48. 26 and we rested on our oars to examine it. A reach of the river forming a noble bay, is spread before the eye. The bank on the right, is steep and covered with wood; beyond which a bold promontory shoots out, crowned with a castle, rising among trees." " This view which is one of the grandest on the river, I should not scruple to call correctly picturesque ; which is seldom the character of a purely natural scene." *' Nature is always great in design. She is an ad^ mirable colourist also ; and harmonizes tints with infinite variety and beauty : but she is seldom so correct in composition as to produce an harmonious whole. Either the fore-ground, or the back-ground is disproportioned ; or some awkward lines run across the piece ; or a tree is ill placed ; or a bank is formal ; or something or other is not exactly what it should be. The case is, the im- mensity of nature is beyond human comprehension. She works on a vast scale ; and, no doubt, harmoniously, if her schemes could be comprehended. The artist, in the mean time, is confined to a span ; and lays down his little rules, which he calls the principles qfpiciur' esque beauty, merely to adapt such diminutive parts of nature's surfaces to his own eye, as come within its scope. — Hence, therefore, the painter who adheres, strictly to the composition of nature, will rarely make a good picture. His picture must contain a ichole ; his archetype is but apart. In general, however, he maji obtain views of such parts of nature, as with the ad- dition of a few trees or a little alteration in the fore-- .27, ground, (which is a liberty that must be always allow- ed,) may be adapted to his rules: though he is rarely so fortunate as to find a landscape completely satis- factory to ^him. In the scenery indeed at Godrich Castle, the parts are few ; and the whole is a simple ex- hibition. The complex scenes, of nature are generally those which the artist finds most refractory to his rules of composition." *' In following the course of the Wye, which makes here one of its boldest sweeps, we were carried almost round the Castle, surveying it in a Yariety of forms. Some of these retrospects are good ; but in general, the Castle loses on this side, both its oirn dignity, and the dignity of its situation." The Ferry-boat is guided by a rope, a custom cer- tainly of the fourteenth century,* and probably of the earliest date in narrow rivers. This ancient fortificatioB owes its present forBj to four alterations at various periods j, as follows, I. The original Anglo Saxon Castle, consisted only of the Square Keep»tower, with a few offices, destroy* ed afterwards, or worked into the newer additions, II. In the 12th century, probably on account of the wars of Stephen, the Keep«tower was surrounded by the high buildings and round towers at the corners, III. When castellated mansions came into vogue iij the reign of Edward III,, a considerable attempt was * Froiss. vij I'JQ. 28 made to change the Castle, as far as was practicable, into that form. IV. In the 15th century, the Castle assumed still more the aspect of the castellated mansion, by further alterations, as appears from the shell of the chapel. Though there is only indirect historical evidence of these facts, yet the styles of architecture sufficiently at- test them. .; The published accounts of the Castle, are full of intricate and tiresome details, and some undoubtedly incorrect. The best way of surreying the Castle, is to enter by the Gate-house, the most curious and perfect part of the whole. It is made rery long for a succession of Gates, and ■poriculiises. Tne latter are Koman : for Winokclmaa traced them at the grates of Rome, Tiroli, and Pompeii : and one is represented in an ancient painting of the Vil- la Albani.* After passing the Drawbridge, on the right hand is a Loop-hole, by which the porter received mes- sages before opening the gates. In the wall, a passage is worked, by which he communicated with the appli- cant for admission in one way, and the constable of the Castle on the othe;*. Less suspected visitors waited between the outer and inner gates. The room over the Gateway was the Guard-room. Beneath the Cause- way, which supported the drawbridge, is an arch, usual * Eocyclgp. des A»ti*^*« 52 STAGE FOURTH. Monmouth^ to Tintern Ahhey, Right Bank. FIRST. TROY HOUSE — SECOND. PEN ALT— THIRD. WHITE-BROOK — FOURTH. PENN-Y-VAN HILL AND MAYPOLE — FIFTH. PAPER MILLS — SIXTH. PIL- STONE HOUSE — SEVENTH. LANDOGO — EIGHTH. COEDITHEL WEIR — NINTH. LYN-WEIR — TENTH. TINTERN — ELEVENTH. FIBLDING'S HOUSB — TWELFTH. ABBEY. Left Bank. FIRST. REDBROOK^SECOND. NEWLAND AtJ^ .CLEARWELL — THIRD. WYE SEAL HOUSE— % FOURTH. BICKSWEIR — FIFTH. ST. BRIAVELS— SIXTH. HUDKNOLLS — SEVENTH. BROOKWEIR — EIGHTH. AJBBEY. J. HE banks of the Wye owe their beauty to a rocky base ; because only a thin coat of earth can ever be washed away, and, if it be, provided there is not such steepness as to create a mere g-utter, it only breaks and improves into picturesque ineqiialities of surface the formal acclivity. Had the foundations of the banks been earthy, the latter would have flattened into mere hills, with round outlines. This result of the rocky base particularly appears in this tour. The forms of Ihe banks are of the house^roof kind, with a santeness 53 of angular outline. Though they rise above each othef in ridges, yet the usual mountainous curve is not so frequent as the strait or oblique rocky line. The cloathing, mere stumpy copse wood, will not bear close examination, as being much of the thorn character. The crags which are of the more marine kind, are often naked and uniform. The river runs sometimes stifRy, as in a trough, and often turns absolute cor- ners, quite sharp. — Yet with all these imperfe(^ions, stated merely to show the contrast between the fine intermixed with sweet landscape in the former tour, such is the grand scale upon which nature works, that all is lost in the general effect, which is the sublime and awful, (precipice and height being the general agents,) occasionally worked up to the terrible. Vaga from "Ross to Monmouth is a fine woman with strong fea- tures, but cheered with the playful smiles of yoiith: from Monmouth to Chepstow she is the grave matron, KStern and commanding, like the august picture of Just- ice by Reynolds.* In the first tour she is a Princess; in the second a Queen. The leading feature of the River, on leaving Mon- mouth is its course, between woods, down (with some exceptions) to the water's edge. In the tour from Ross to Monmouth, this only occurs, precisely speaking, at the New Weir, as far as the turn to the Little Doward. In all the rest of the course, the valley is more open. That excellent Paysagist, Whateley, gives us the fo!- * From liis painting of the four Cardinal Virtues in New College Window. 54 lowing rules for judging of a River-course like the present. " A river flowing through a wood which over- spreads one continued surface of ground, and a river between two woods, are in ver;/ diffei-ent circumstances. In the latter case, the woods are separate ; they may be contrasted in their forms and their characters ; and the outline of each should be forcibly marked. In the former, no outline ought to be discernible, for the river passes between trees, hot between boundaries; and though in the progress of its course, the style of the plantations may be often changed, yet on the opposite banks a similarity should constantly prevail, that the identity of the wood may never be doubtful." " A river between two woods may enter into a view; and then it must be governed by the principles which regulate the conduct and the accompaniments of a river in an open exposure; but when it runs through a wood, it is never to be seen in prospect; the place is naturally full of obstructions ; and a continual opening large enough to reeeive a long reach, would seem an artificial cut ; the river must therefore necessarily Avind more than in crossing a bank, where the passage is en- tirely free ; but its influence will never extend so far on the sides ; the buildings must be near the banks ; and if numerous will seem crowded, being all in one track, and in situations nearly alike. The scene however does not want variety ; on the contrary, none is capa- ble of more : the objects are not indeed so different from 55 ¥ach other as in an open view; but they are very dif- ferent and in much greater abundance ; for this is the interior of a wood, where every tree is an object ; every combination of trees a variety; and no large intervals -are requisite to distinguish the several dispositions ; the g'rove, the thicket or the groupes may prevail ; and th^ir forms and their relations may be constantly chan- ged without restraint offancy, or limitation of number." '^' Water is so universally and so deservedly ad- mired in a prospect, that the most obvious thought in the management of it, is to lay it as open as possible, *tnd purposely to conceal it, would generally seem a severe self-denial ; yet so many beauties may attend its |)assage through a wood, that larger portions of it may be allowed to such retired scenes, than are com- monly spared from the view, and the different parts in different styles will then be fine contrasts to each other. If lh3 water be all exposed, walks of \iearly two miles along the banks become of tedious length, from the want of those changes of the scene, which supply through the whole extent a succession of perpetual variety."*— Gilpin says of beautiful rivers, that sometimes they should come running up to the fore« ground ) then hide themselves behind woody precipi- ces ; then again, when we know not what is become <»f them, appear in the distances forming their mean* ders along some winding vale.]] The Reaches of the Wye are in general short ; for Reaches may be too long, * Whately p.p, 82-^4, H Fosbroke's Tourist's Grammar, xiv F 56 and wind too little, and may not have the course of the river traced by the perspective of one scene behind another,* but it is sufficient to observe of the Wye, that it has none of the characteristics of bad rivers, for these exhibit no bold shores, broken promontories, nor sides clothed with wood. The first object just beyond Monmouth, is on the right, Troy House, a seat of the Duke of Beaufort, built by Inigo Jones. It derived its name from the ri- vulet Trothy, and stands in meadows, t)n the right mouth of the steep pass, which the Wye enters, as that customary scene of retirement which it likes to in- habit. A little above Troy is Gibraltar, a neat Cot- tage, Upon leaving Monmouth, the spire of the church in the retrospect, with the Kymin woods rising from a rock of great height on the left, under which the rivei' meanders, and to the right Pen-y-val Hill, form the rich and bold scenei-y, which attends the first re-era- barkation*-}- At the distance of little better than half a mile the river makes a grand sweep to the right, and, assuniPs a new character. Dismissing its rocks and precipices, it rolls through lofty sloping hills, thickly covered with waving woods. All here is solemn, still, and agree- able.J Mr. Gilpin says, " As we left Monmouth, the banks * Id. ii, xxxii. f Cambrian Tourist. J Nicholson. 57 on the l^t were at first low ; but on both sides they soon grew steep and woody ; varying their shapes as they had done the day before. The most beautiful of these scenes is in the neighbourhood of St. Briavel's castle, whejre the vast woody declivities on each hand are un- commonly magnificent. The castle is at too great a, distance to make any object in the view," " The weather was serene: the sun shone ; and we saw enough of the effect of light in the exhibitions of this day, to regret the want of it the day before," *' During the whole course of our voyage from Ross, we had scarce seen one corn-field. The banks of the Wye consist almost entirely either of wood or pasturage; which I mention as a circumstance of peculiar value in landscape. Furrowed lands and waving corn, however charming in pastoral poetry, are ill-accommodated to painting. The painter never desires the hand of art to touch his grounds. But if art must stray among them : if it must msirk out the limits of property, and tUrn thein to the uses of agriculture, he wishes that these limits may, as much as possible, be concealed ; and that the lands they circumscribe may approach as nearly as may be to nature ; that is, that they may be pasturage.— Pasturage not only presents an agreeable surface ; but the cattle which graze it add great variety and anima- tion to the scene." " The meadows below Monmouth, which ran shel- ving from the hills to the water side, were particularly beautiful, and well inhabited. Flocks of sheep were 58 everywhere hanging on their green steeps ; and herds of cattle occupying the lower grounds. We often sailed past groups of them laving their sides in the water; or retiring from the heat under sheltered banks," " In this part of the river also, which now begins to widen, we were often entertained with light vesselg gliding past us. Their white sails passing along the sides of wood-land hills were very picturesque.." , " In many places also the views were varied by the prospect ofbays and harbours in miniature, where Uttle barks lay moored,^ taking in ore and other commodities from the mountains. These vessels, designed plainly for rougher water than they at present encountered, shewed us, without any geographical knowledge, that we approached the sea." Thus Gilpin. On the Monmouthshire side of the river, about a mile and a half below Monmouth, is the church of Pen ALT, situated on the side of a woody eminence, at the back of which is an extensive common. Opposite Penait, is the Castle-imitation seat, of the Hon. — Quin, before him, of the Wyndhams. At Red-brook hills, a little further on the left, the curling smoke issuing from the Iron-works forms a pleasing accompaniment to the scenery, the inspiration of which, it for a while suspends.* Below are lower Red-brook Tin-works. Such Cyclopean shops and * Cambrian Tourist.— —Nicholson, ^15 sheds, in a beautiful Arcadia of Nymphs, Dryads, Naiads and Fauns, remind us of the discordant union of Vulcan and Venus. The grim worshippers of the God of Fire, only animate with picturesque effect immense vaul- ted caverns ; and their deity should have been wedded to Bellousia, the boisterous daughter of iEolus, from whom he derived the power of liquefying the obstinate ore. Two miles from Red-brook, on the left, is Wye Seal House ; and on the right, in a hollow vale, nearly hid- den from sight by the woody acclivities on each side, is the hamlet of White-brook, where Paper Mills now occupy the ruins of the old Iron- works. Thenattife is derived from a small stream which falls into the Wyfe. Beyond it the river, forms a grand sweep, flowing into an abyss between two ranges of lofty hills, thickly over-spread with woods. , A little below White-brook, appears on the left side a considerable erninence, called Pen-y-van Hill, the summit of which usually exhibits a May-pole, around which the Peasantry now orrecently celebrated the Ro- man Floralia, called by us May-games,,. with dances and feasting. Between this hill and the river, lie the ruins of this ancient mansion of Pilstone, humbled to the mere ap- pendages of a farm. On the opposite side 6f the river, amidst grand scenery and hills luxuriantly mantletl with wood, stands Bigs-weir House, late th^ residence ©f r3. 60 General Rooke, longM. P. for the county of Monmouth and a descendant of Sir George Rooke, who took Gi- braltar. The House stands at an easy distance from the river, on a gentle rise, which gradually swells into an extensive hill, on whose summit are the remains of the Castle of S.T Briavels. Here, one of theaccaunt^* makes the following re- mark." The voyager will lose one interesting feature almost peculiar to the Wye ; we allude to the numerous weirs, that obstruct its navigation, when the tide is out ; but at which time, these minute cataracts (if we may be allowed the expression), form a pleasing con- trast to the smooth surface of the intervening pools. At high water the tide flows over them,^ and makes th© river appear perfectly level." *' We have hitherto only had occasion to notice New- weir and Bigs-weir ; but from the latter to a consider- able distance below Tintern Abbey, they occur very frequently scarcely half a mile from each other." From hence a long reach, with Tiddenham Chac« Hill, rising conspicuously in front, leads to the beau- tiful village of Landogo. It stands upon a lofty hill, whose indented side is mantled with deep woods ; and cottages are intermingled. Here the river forms a smooth bay. The HudknoUs make a fine back-ground t9 this scene. From the brow of the hill behind, called * Excarsiou from the source of the Wjre, &c. p. &§. 61 Cleiaden Shoots, is a pretty view of the river and vil- lage. In winter a cascade falls from the abrupt em- inence. From hence the Wye becomes a tide river, and the result is that the translucent stream,^ which had hither- to alternately reflected, as in a mirror, the awful pro- jection of the rocks, and the soft flowery verdure of its banks, is affected by the influence of the tide, and ren- dered turbid and unpleasing to the eye.* Coedithel-weir, a large fall of water next occurs. About a raile further on the left bank of the river is Brook -weir, a populous little hamlet, one of those little ports, the formation of which was so encouraged by Henry and Elizabeth when the nobility to get rid of the lead, wool, and other articles upon their estates, sup» plied the merchants with money, who, from factors, at last became principals. f The trade is carried on with Bristol: the freights, chiefly, corn, hoops, and faggots^ Leaving Brook-weir, one bank of the river is fringed with a thick woody acclivity ; and on the other are som© rich meadows, which terminate at the village, of Tm- tern. Upon rounding the point at Lyn-weir, the church ofTintern, only a few yards from the water's edge, has a singular and picturesque appearance. A house, formerly belonging to the family of Fielding was bat- » Cambrian Tonrisf, 446. t L^jdges'sUlHstratioBs of British Historj, ymI 1. p 9H. 62 tered, says Tradition, by the parliamentary troops, from the brow of the hill, on the opposite side of the river, where there has certainly been an encampment. At Tintern we soon reach the celebrated ruin of the Abbey, estimated with its appendages, the most beautiful and picturesque view on the river. Mr. Glover considers this opinion, as chiefly founded upon the ruin; and the declaration of Sir R. C. Hoare is, that " this Abbey (as to the first coupd' ceil) exceeds every ruin he had seen either in England or Wales." The fact is, that the scenes on the Wye are not proper sub- jects of comparison ; that Tintern ranks in the scale of interest with any; but that such interest, though of equal strength, is of distinct character. One is curious and beautifully dressed rock, as Coldwell; another, picturesque craigs, as the New Weir; a third, as Ab- bey Tintern, a fine woody amphitheatre brought into double effect by the ruin ; a fourth, as WindclifF % grand assemblage of precipice, and irregular abyss. A paltry ruin is of no value ; a grand one is mag- nificent, and should be either of a Castle or Abbey.* Thus Gilpin. Ruins, says Whateley, make fine changes: they are a class by themselves beautiful as objects, ex- pressive as characters, and peculiarly calcidated to connect with their ap})endages into elegant groupes : they accommodate themselves with ease to irregularity of ground, and their disorder is improved by it ; they blend intimately with trees and with thickets, and tli« ♦ Gilpin's Northern Ty^r, i, 67. 63 interruption is an advantage, for imperfection and ob- scurity are their properties j and to carry the imagina- tion to something more than is seen^ their effect. They may for any of these purposes be separated into de- tached pieces; contiguity is not necessary, nor even the appearance of it, if the relation be preserved ; but strag'gling ruins have a bad effect, when the several parts are equally considerable. There should foe one large mass to raise an idea of greatness to attract the others about it, and to be a common centre of union to all. The smaller pieces then mark the original di- mensions af one extensive structure : and no longer appear to be the remains of several little buildings.* In general the architectural characters of rains should not be nakedly exhibited, but they should be mixed with trces.-j- It is further to be observed, that though the Gothic style of architecture Asrill harmonize with the wild scenery of unimproved and unperverted nature, the Grecian is offensively incongruous. In fact no style whatever has so much effect as the Gothic, § an effect more imposing, says Mr. Payne Knight, than any per- haps to he found in other works of man." A few frag- ments scattered round the body of a ruin are proper and picturesque They are proper, because they ac- count for what is defaced, and they are picturesque be- cause they unite the principal pile with the ground, on which union the beauty of composition in a good mea- sure depends, II This addition is utterly destroyed at Tintern by its situation within a mob of houses, through * Whateley, iSl. t Price, i. 18. § Kai£jht on Taste, 168. 178. || Tourist's Gramma?. 64 which we are obliged to fly to the interior for the repose necessary to any pleasurable feeling of the effect of the ruin. For Solitude, Neglect and Desolation are the proper characteristics of ruins.* Gilpin further adds, that Ruins by means of planting, should some- times exhibit a distinct view, and sometimes one at hand ; here the whole, and there some distinguished part.J The elevation of the ground and the natural woodiness of the country, supply both these qualities at Tintern. Mr. Gilpin says, " Tintern- Abbet/ occupies -a. gentle eminence in the middle of a circular valley, beautifully screened on all sides by woody hills, through which the river winds its course ; and the hills, closing on itsen- trance and on its exit, leave no room for inclement blasts to enter. A more pleasing retreat could not easily be found. The woods and glades intermixed ; the wind- ing of the river ; the variety of the ground ; the splend- id ruin, contrasted with the objects of nature; and the elegant line formed by the summits of the hills which include the whole, make altogether, a very enchanting- piece of scenery. Every thing around breathes an air so calm and tranquil, so sequestered from the commerce of life, that it is easy to conceive, a man of warm imagination, in monkish times, might have been al- lured by such a scene to become an inhabitant of it." " No part of the ruins of Tintern is seen from the river, except the abbey-church. It has been an ele«. * Fosbroke's Tourist's Grammar, xxxiv. % Id. xsxviii. 65 gant Gothic pile ; but it does not make that appearance as a distant object which we expected. Though th? parts are beautiful, the whole is ill shaped. No ruins of the tower are left, which might give form and con- trast to the buttresses and walls. Instead of this, a number of gabel-ends hurt the eye with their regulari» ty, and disgust it by the vulgarity of their shape. A mallet judiciously used (but who durst use it?) might be of service in fracturing some of them ; particularly those of the cross ailes, which are most disagreeable in themselves, and confound the perspective." " But were the building ever so beautiful, encom- passed as it is with shabby houses, it could make no appearance from the river. From a stand near the road it is seen to more advantage." " But if Tintern-abbei/he less striking as a dhtant object, it exhibits, on a nearer view, (when the whole together cannot be seen,) a very enchanting piece of ruin. The eye settles upon some of its nobler parts. — Nature has now made it her own. Time has worn off" all traces of the chisel ; it has blunted the sharp edges of the rule and compas, and broken the regulariiy of opposing parts. The figured ornaments of the oast window are gone: those of the west window are left. Most of the other windows, with their principal unia- ments, remain." «' To these were superadded the ornaments of time. Ivv in masses uncommonly large, had taken possession of many parts of the wall, and given a happy contrast 66 \o tlie grey- coloured stone of which the building- i^ Composed: nor was this imdecorated. Mosses of vari* ■ous hues, with lychens, maiden-hairj peuny-Isaf, and other humble plants, had overspread the surface, or hung from every joint and crevice^ Some of them were in flower, others only in leaf; but altogether gave those full-blown tints which add the richest finishing to a ruio." " Such is the beautiful appearance which Tinterh Abbey exhibits on the outside, in those parts where we ran obtain a nearer view of it. But when we enter it we see it in most perfection ; at least if we consider it fls an independent object, unconnected with landscape* The roof is gone, but the walls, and pillars and abut* iufints which supported it, are entire, A few of the |n41ars have indeed given way 5 and here and there a piece of the facing of the wall: but in corresponding p-ATtn, one always remains to tell the stor3\ The pave-^ meat is obliterated ; the elevation of the choir is no hmger visible ; the whole area is reduced into one level, cleared of rubbish, and covered with neat turf, close- ly shorn ; and interrupted with nothing but the noble columns which formed the aisles and supported the tower." " When we stood at one end of this aVvful piece of ruin, and surveyed the whole in one view> the elements of air and earth, its only covering and pavement; and the grand and venerable remains which terminated both, perfect enough to form the perspective, yet brc- km eijoiigb to destroy the regularity — ;he eve wa» 67 abov6 measure delighted with the beauty, the greatness and the novelty of the scene. More picturesque it cer- tainly would have been, if the area, unadorned, had been left with all its rough fragments of ruin scattered round ; and bold was the hand that removed them : yet as the outside of the ruin, which is the chief object of picturesque curiosity ^ is still left in all its wild and native rudeness, we excuse, perhaps we approve, the neatness that is introduced vnthin: it may add to the beauty of the scene : to its wowefey it undoubtedly does.'''' Thus Gilpin. Whately's description of the Abbey (p. p.. 133. 134.) is a mere catalogue of the objects to be seen, and therefore omitted. He concludes, with saying " that the whole suggests every idea, which can occur in a seat of devotion, solitude, and desolation." The rule of the Cistercian monks, who were great agriculturists, was to chuse sequestered spots of exqui- site picturesque beauty. Netley, near Southampton is a striking specimen; and by taking in the ofTscape, a picture in the whole, finer than Tintern ; but not as a limited landscape. The chronicle of Tintern Abbey states, that William Fitzosbert, Earl of Owe in Normandy, was presented by the Conqueror with the manors of WoUaston and Tiddenham, for the maintenance of a garrison and forces, to effect conquests over the Welch. He left a son, Richard, who had the same privileges ; and Richard had issue, Walter. This Walter, after hi* ancestors and himself had acquired all Nether-weat 68 and half of Grnn, then founded Tintern Abbey, in the yearllSL* Thus the Abbey Chronicle; and here it is fit to make a short pause. Leland says " There was a sanctuary graunted to Tinterue, but it hath not be usid many a day,"f It is well known that sanctuary Wfts annexed to most of the Welch Churches ; that these were built at, or near Druidical places of wor- sl^i J and that those of Christian a|)propriation, de- serted by the British clergy, were favorite spots for donations to abbies among- the Anglo-saxons, that they Blight not disgust the prejudices of the conquered. § Tineo#orick, a Christian prince, had. a palace just by. There is room to think, that Walter, the first founder, by way of amende henorable, for his conquest over the Welch, did like Canute at Edmondsbury, found au abbey upon a spot previously sanctified. This founda- tion was however far from complete, for William Mar- shall, Earl of Pembroke, in his confirmation charter, dated 7. Henry iii, mentions donations of his ancestors and other founders and donors; as also the gift of TrellfBck, a Druidical spot, by Gilbert and Richard Strongbow.^ Walter dying in 1132, only one year after the foundation, without issue, and of course with- out time to finish such a pile of building, was succeed- ed by Gilbert, his brother and heir, first Earl of Pem- brolie, surnamed Strong-bow, a term of the day for a great warrior ; npt implying skill in archery, which men at arms did not use. He died in 1148, and w,as * Du^dale's Monasticou, i, 724 f Colleetanea, i, 104. t Rowland's Mona Antiqua, p. 221. § XV Scriplores, p. 60 I Dug-dfile. i, 723. ^ Tlieterni Bow was a eomnioucant espreission variously applied. See Douce on Shakspeare. m buried at Titrtern. To his titles and estates succeeded his son Richard Strong-bow. He died in 1178, and left an only daughter Isabella ; she was married to William Marshall, the elder, who died and was buried at the Temple, London, in 1219. The issue of this William and Isabella was five sons and as many daugh- ters. The former were all successively Earls of Pem- broke, brother after brother, but died childless. Matilda the eldest daughter, married Hugh Bigot, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, by whom She had a son, Hugh. This last Hugh was the father of Roger Bigot,f who, as William of Worcester asserts from the Abbey Obituary, built the church of Tintern, which was con- secrated for divine service in 1287. His arms were accordingly placed in the east window. Upon the supposition, that the date of the foundation is always that of the fabrick, a position which instances beyond dumber confute, this date of William of Worcester is denied, but unjustly. The church is in all its parts, a unique whole, a copy of Salisbury Cathedral, built only a few years before ; and whatever were the former buildings, (like Chepstow Castle, of the same style of architecture, and belonging to Roger,) they were both mixed up in the same fabrick, and probably by the same workmen. At Chepstow there are external marks of this alteration, but at Tintern none, at least visible, possibly because there is no access to the cript ; all is of the 13th century, i. e. in the words of Mr. S. Lj^sons, *' simplicity and elegant ornament."* t Britannia, ii. 53. * Dugdale ubi snpra. 70 The resemblance between thre church, and that Yas Rector of Acton Scott, and Vicar of Diddlebury, county galop, who died in 1726, there are burial entries in the Re-n g'isters of both parishef). | FpI, cxjjxv, E,d. 1503.. 76 STAGE FIFTH. Tintern Ahhey to Chepstow, Right Bank. TTRST. "NEVETT'S — SECOND. WINDCLIFF — THIRD. lover's leap FOURTH. PIERSFIELD WALKS — FIFTH. TWELVE APOSTLES— SIXTH. CHEP- STOW CASTLE. Left Bank. FIRST. BANNAGOR CRAGS — SECOND. FRYER's 310CKS— rnrSD. IANCAUT — PdURTH. PTERS- FIELD BAY — FIFTH. TIDDENHAM ROCKS— SIXTH TUTSHILL. jxi R. Gilpia says, " The country a'boTit Tintern abbey hath been described as a solitary, tranquil si- lence ; but its immediate environs only are meant. Within half a mile of it, are carried on great iron- Avorks, which introduce noise and bustle into these regions of tranquility." " The ground about these works appears from the river to consist of grand woody hills, sweeping and in- tersecting each other in elegant lines. They are a continuation of the same kind of landscape as that about Tintern-abbey, and are fully equal to it," 77 ** As we still descend the river, the same seen«ry continues : the banks are equally steep, winding-, and woody ; and in some parts diversified by prominent rocks, and ground finely broken and adorned." *' But one great disadvantage began here to invade Hs. Hitherto the river had been clear and splendid, reflecting the several objects on its banks. But its waters now became oozy and discoloured. Sludgy shores too appeared on each side ; and other symptoms which discovered the influence of a tide." Thus Gilpin. The ground of the right bank of the river, on which stand Abbey Tintern, Windcliff, Persfield, and Chep- stotc Castle, consists of an indented or scolloped out- line, fonning bays and promontories. The foundation or base of this outline, is a hollow horse-shoe concavity, like that of a Greek Theatre, but infinitely larger, in the middle of which is a gentle elevation the site of the abbey. In short take the capital letter S and join on to it at the lower curve, a capital C with the arch upper- most, or make a serpentine line and join to it at the bottom a convex semicb'cle; WindtlifF will then be at the top of the letter S, or line, and Tintern Abbey in the middle of C, or the semicircle. The taste displayed in the situation of the Abbey (that of Greek Temples) is conspicuous, for it would have been buried, had the area been flat, by the im- mense height of the surrounding sylvan amphitheatre, and its parts would have appeared diminutive; but, a* it is, nature and art assist each other. The fufe-grouiMJi 78 is not naturally poor, and is further gloriously enriched by the ruin. The river, after skirting the Abbey side- ways, turns short to the right, and from hence com- mences a new character of Wye Scenery ; the leading feature is precipice, in all its massy grandeur, relieved in places, but partially by wood. The height is tre- mendous ; the acclivities often such as not to be stood upon; occasionally undermined by the river, which thns runs under an arch, and the outlines, ridges in- tercepting each other, or over lapping. The winding water-course makes promontories of the shore, first on one side, then on the other. Soon after leaving the Abbey, the long line of Bannagor Crags forms a per- pendicular rampart on the left, wholly bare, except where a few shrubs spring from the crevices, or fringe their summits; on the opposite side, the river is skirted bj narrow slips of rich pasture, rising into wooded ac- clivities, on which towers the WindclifF, a perpendicu- lar mass of rock overhung with thickets. The river base of Windcliffisat a house called Nevett's. The ground rises in steps. On the edge of the water are narrow slips of pasture in a convex form, winding round a steep bank of rock and thicket. Above this is a flat plateau of table -ground divided into fields with a good house in the centre. Behind, rises WindclifF, a Giant -^Tith a hairy skin of wood, and a head with enormous leeth of rock, accompanied with other hilly Poly- phemuses of inferior terror of character. This is the first of three peninsulas, and the scenery as viewed irom Tiddenham Chace, is so wild and grand as to de- fy verbal description. It corrects the base of Windcliff 79 teiTased and formal, but pleasingly unusual. From the boat, the scene cannot equally be embraced in all ite great features. This wild spot terminates at WindclifF, which forms -one extremity of the Piersfield amphitheatre. Fancy "without vision cannot convey correct portraits of the most common objects of nature: audit is therefore bet- ler to say, that the bay of Piersfield presents a jjan- orama of hanging wood, rock scenery and deep abyss ; not simply grand, but dreadfully sublime ; and that not by mere naked cliffs, as the BuUers of Buchan, but cloathed precipices of savage grandeur, like the terrific gorgeousness of the Indian warrior.* After doubling Windcllff, the boat enters an abyss liemmed in by the heights of Piersfield on the right shore, and of Tiddenham on the left. In the centre is the second peninsula of Lancaut, partly flat, partly a slope from Tiddenham Chace. The river encircles on the left, a farm of good meadows, with a house un- on it, called Lancaut Cottage. The church is also to be seen. On the right, are twelve curious projecting rocks, bearing the names of the Apostles, and a thir- teenth denominated St. Peter's Thumb. They resem- ble the bastions of a Castle, and return a surprising reverberation of sound. Of the Lover'' s Leap, mention will be made hereafter. * Descriptions ia detail are girea. 80 The next and last reach brings the Tourist into Pifersfield Bay, and sight of Chepstow Castle, which lines a -projecting ridge of rock, that forms the third isthmus. It stands upon the highest part of an immense perpendicular-sided crag. The grand feature of the view, beyond that of other castles, is the commanding elevation of the mutilated keep, which assumes a very picturesque attitude, and gives a sublimity to the whole, that otherwise would look like a mere Town- /walJ, i. e. be too low, and in the ruined parts heapisb. The new iron bridge is elegant, light and airy, but introduces an inharmonious formality into the general scene. The old bridge of carpentry, on the Roman model, was a real curiosity; being a bridge mounted like a School-boy on stilts, in the attitude of going to walk.f Tiddenham rocks and Tutshill slope, on the left, are in fine accordance, as well as the fore-ground «f crags. ^ A grood view of it is g-iTea hj Kip;. in Sir R. A tkyma''* Gioacpstershii'e, Bl STAGE SIXTH. Chepstow to Windcliff, FIRST. CHEPSTOW CASTLE, CHURCH, ScC— . SECOND. PIERSFIELD — THIRD. WINDCUFF, I^HEPSTOW. Archdeacon Coxe says, that " he had seldom visited any town, whose picturesque situation surpasses that of Chepstow," and Mr. Wyndham as- serts that " the beauties are so uncommonly excellent, that the most exact Critic in landscape, would scarcely wish to alter a position in the assemblage of woods, cliffs, ruins and water." The first object is the Castle, lining the whole length of a projecting rock, and a very fine remain. Chep* stow merely signifies market-place ; but under the name of Estbrighoel or Striguil, the castle is mentioned in Doomsday book ; and is said to have been built by Wil-, liam Fitzosbom Earl of Hereford, killed in 1070, who erected it out of the ruins of the adjacent Caerwent, or Venta Silurum. Grose affirms it to have been the work of some of the Earls of Pembroke. The remains sh.ow, (as will soon appear) that the old castle was nearly all taken down, and rebuilt in the 13th century.* The Duke of Beaufort holds it by descent from the Herberts. * The Castle is mentioned in Collins's Peerage, ii, 30. Yii, 4G6, Ed. 1761. 82 Castles were built according' to the form of the ground : that of Caerlaverock being a triangle ; and Chepstow castle is a parellogram, upon a tongue of land, consisting;, of successive courts or baileys, flank- ed on the land side by an immense ditch and town walls ; on the other side by the Wye. The entrance is by a gateway with round towers, between them a machicollation. The former were con- sidered necessary, like arms for the human body, to protect the entrance : and the latter was used for throw- ing down stones and torches upon the enemy, and water, if he should attempt to burn the Gates.* These last remain, and consist of planks, covered with iron plates,, laid upon a strong lattice, and fastened by iron bolts. It was usual to case gates with iron or leather against iire.f Within one door is the original wicket, about three feet high, and only eighteen inches broad ; and is cut out so as to leave a very high step. It is even smaller than a coach door. Grooves for a portcullis, and two large round funnels, appear in the arch, for pouring down melted lead and boiling water. On the left of the gate runs a wall, with a round tower and square stair-case turret at the corner. The whole aspect is feudally grand. From this you enter the second court, as it is called, consisting entirely of the ancient offices and apartments of the modern keeper. On the right hand is what is * Albert! de re edificat. 4to. Tar. 15)?. fol, Iv, a. f Id, Iv, b, 83 called the hall, and kitchen ; which have windows of the style of the 13th century, and stairs lead from it into the hall. It is a small room, a servants', not a castle hall. There was a cistern for rain water, and the pipe ran through the wall. All this court was, in this, and most other castles of the 8era, expressly devoted to the servants and gar- rison. Whoever has read the denominations and num- ber of apartments in ancient castles,* will also know,, that antiquaries themselves cannot elucidate them all,^ much less ignorant Cicerones. There are said to have been sixteen towers. A line of communication, i. e. a terrased walk, at least now,, runs inside the outer wall, along the whole building, ascending by steps from tower to tower. In the old Norman Keep, this gallery used, in like manner, to run under arches, round the whole inside. This l)eing a 13th century castle, where the defence consisted of numerous towers, not one only, the line of communi- cation was altered accordingly. Passing by the vain attempt to identify shells of apartments, not now to be appropriated, it is lit to proceed to the principal build- . ing, now called the chapel, but,, in fact, the site of the hrst castle, and composed of part of it. At Hedingham, in Essex, a Norman Keep remains in high perfection. J Within the building are numerous' * See Leland's Collectanea, ii, 658. % Eng-ravedinthe Encyclopedia of AnliquitifSj vol. i, pi, Castellation. h3. ^4 arches, in stories over each other, with passages in the wall all round, and across the middle is one im- mense round arch, apparently to strengthen the roof, upon which men and engines were placed. A curtain or partition thus divided the apartment into two. Now at Chepstow, upon one side of the chapel, we see half this immense arch walled up, shomng, that the old fabric was much higher than the present ; and outsid* the same wall, are Roman bricks. This then was a part of the old Norman castle, worked into a new building of the 13th century, and was only the middle of the old keep : for Saxon Keeps being on the very outvv^ard wall of the castle area,* the ancient building stood upon the edge of the rock over the Wye. A range of niches is seen within, ascribed to statues of the twelve Apostles, but usual in Normau Keeps, and called by presumption, seats for the guard, or attendants. — In castles, the chapel was commonly not the most striking edifice ; and as this beautiful re- main has apartments above, there is every reason to think, (according to the author's opinion founded upon inspection) that the lower part was not a chapel, but the grand Hall, of which a beautiful window, towards the Wye, was the Oriel window. In double or treble castles of the latter styles, the grand hall, as at Raglan, frequently formed the centre. The upper npartmeats were for visitors. The Oriel window is beautiful, in the manifest style of the 13tU ♦ King's Mutiinienta Antiq. ii, 29. S5 century, having slender shafts of columns and rich capitals of foliage. It was rendered impervious to mis- sile weapons by a terrace and wall, upon the very edge of the clifiF, as at Godrich. In some accounts of the castle,* it is said, not by natives of our sister island, but certainly some of the Bull family, that there is no trace of a fire -place in the whole building, but that twenty-four chimneys remain, one of which is handsomely decorated on the outside, and glazed within to prevent the accumulation of soot. Now in one of the towers, ivhich has a fire place of the fiat arch of the last Gothic sera, was imprisoned Henry Martin, a Regicide, who signed the warrant for the murder of Charles I., but being too contemptible to be dangerous, his life was spared upon condition of per- petual confinement, or rather surveillance. Chalmers says, that he was " only a parliamentary buffoon,"f and though party principles may explain the cause of the hospitality and friendship, which he found in this vicinity, it is certainly in bad taste to col- lect materials for his history. A Fool who sets up for a Rogue, only becomes duped himself : and if he be a Fanatick also in any point, he is useful for others who employ him, in order that in the event of ill success, he may suffer instead of themselves.* * Nicholson, col. 364, 305. f Biograph. Diction, xviii, &l>t!. t Only six ofthe Regicifles suiFered. The most cruel cir- cumstance in the trial of them was, that several of the popular party sate as their judares, and doomed them to die, for that rebellion, to which they had incited them. Memoiif; of James II. 154. 86 Upon the view of the architecture o^ this castle, there is every reason to think, that it was rebuilt by Roger Bigod, about the same time with Tintern Abbey church. It underwent some partial alterations, in the end of the 15th century, probably by William Her- bert, Earl of Pembroke, who was deeply engaged in the wars of York and Lancaster. Subterraneous passages were, says Alberti, to be annexed to Castles, for the purpose of sending out mes- sengers ; and Mr. Barber was here shown an under- ground room, with a groined roof, excavated in the rock, and opening to the overhanging brow of the cliff.* The town was very strongly walled, and the remains are considerable. Here was a cell of the foreign abbey of Cormeilles as early as the reign of Stephen.f On the north side of the chapel of this Priory, are Roman bricks. J As to the ruins of it, " The present parish Church, say the Travellers^ includes most of its remains, which form a curious spe- cimen of early architecture. A tower stood at the eastern end of the present bxiilding, which fell down. At the angles on the outside are several ancient clus- tered columns, which have supported one of the arches. Beyond this the choir extended. The entrance was bv a semicircular arched door- way, ornamented with cren- * Nicholson, col. 367. f Tanner's Notitia. X Gough's Camden. ^ Id. 368. 87 ated, billeted, and other mouldings, resting- on five short receding columns upon a side without pedestals, with simple uniform capitals. A similar decorated arch of smaller dimensions, springing from two collateral columns, is on each side the door-way, but is half ob- J soured and disfigured by an external porch of which a view is given by Mr. Cox.* The present nave seems to have been considerably larger. It is separated from the aisles by ranges of circular arches, resting upon massive piers. On the S. side of the Chancel, under a canopied monument, supported by eight Corinthiaa pillars, is a whole length figure of Henry, second Earl ©f Worcester. "f Near Piersfield Lodge, are some re- mains of the Priory of St. Kynemark ; near the Beau- fort Arms, some ancient arched door- ways; under Fy- dell's long room, a vaulted collar; and in Bridge-street, relicks of two ancient religious edifices ; one the chapel of St. Ann, used as a bark-hou^e ; the other adjoining Powis's Alms-house. The old Gate is an interesting specimen of antiquity, but pock-fretted through the friability of the stone. Upon the Gloucestershire shore of the Wye, lies Tiddenham. Here are intrenchments, probably Roman, and afterwards occupied by others. A chapel, dedica- ted to St. Tecla, appears in ruins. Her Legend says, that she was a Virgin and Martyr, who after her conversion by St. Paul, suffered under Nero at Iconi- um. But Jerom gives her a higher character. " There * Tour p. 364. t Engraved in Saudford's Genealogical History, was (he says) a very noble Roman lady, daughter of Marcellinus, a man of consular rank, and named Mela- nia. She made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and from her shining virtues, received the name of Tecla,^* (from the Greek Kalos.)* Pilgrimages to the Holy Land, v^ere so common among the Britons, that there is reason to think, this chapel marks the spot from whence they embarked. In this parish commences Offa'sDike, or boundary at or near Flint. The retrospective view on the road to Beachley and the Old Passage House is rich; and that by the shore extensive, presenting the Forest of Dean, and Country down to Robin-hood Hill, over Gloucester^ Aust Cliff opposite is grand. PIERSFIELD. The road to this celebrated spot, is that of the Turnpike to Monmouth. Near the remains of St. Kyn- mark's Priory, not far from Piersfield Lodge, are foundations of an old Chapel, which stood at the west ead of a field called Upper Dean. If the Tourist goes to these ruins along the Shire Newton road, and through the fields at the back of a house called the Mount, he will enjoy a highly grati- fying view of Chepstow and its environs. — The entrance to Piersfield is, by a superb Lodge, through usual, but iine Park scenery. From hence a winding road leads * Usaerii Antiqnitates, p. 110. on the left to the Seat, on the right to the extremity, of the Walks, under Chepstow, whence the lounge begins. Piersfield was long the property of the family of Walters; and in 1736 was sold to Col. Morris, of the Island of St. Vincent, father of Valentine Morris. In 1784 it was alienated to George Smith, Esq. of Burnhall, county Durham, and in 1794 to Sir Mark Wood, who completed the magnificent mansion, partly built by Mr. Smith. In 1803 it was sold to Nathaniel Wells, Esq. the present proprietor,* Reed describes the house eloquently. It is charac- terized lie says more by an elegant simplicity, than by princely magnificence. It is built with a light fre«'^ stone. The library and dancing room constitute its two wings. The stair-case is ornamented with four pictures of exquisite Tapestry, the production of a French lNunnery,f and the other apartments are decorated ■With furniture, paintings, and statuary of the most costly and excellent kind. The style of the building is uncommonly fine, possessing considerable elevation and it is surrounded with extensive grounds, here rising in- to gentle swells, and there as gently sloping iiit« Tallies. § Piersfield, so far as depends upon art, was the * Nicholson, 1062. t Others make it of the Gobelin Manufacture, and once the property of Louis xvi. The sute- jeetB are taken from the Natural History of Africa. I Remains, p. 113. 90 creation of Valentine Morris, whom the atithor of this sketch, from having visited when a boy, knows to have been a man of very elegant manners. Engaging in the rash attempt of removing the Morgans of Tredegar from the representation of the county, and being other- wise expensive, he was obliged to retire from Piers- field. At his last departure, he divided money among the poor assembled in the church-yard, shoo'k each by the hand, and was followed to the Passage, by a pro- cession of carriages. — The bells rung a muffled peal. He wept ; and why he invited such a severe trial of his feelings at all, would not be easy to account for, in a man, who did not like himself, overvalue popularity. As governor of St. Vincent's he got into scrapes, (thft published accounts of which the author knows to be in- jiccurate ; and does not correct, because they only prove common evils, into which men who are involved, plunge themselves,) and became a prisoner in the king's bench, where he continued many years. In short he was very amiable, hospitable and charitable, with the common errors of a man of fashion. Gilpin wrote in Mr. Morris's time ; and he com- menced his walk at the Windcliff end, and Archdeacon Coxe at St. Arvari's just by it. Mr. Gilpin says, " Mr. Morris's improvements at Piersfield, which We soon approached, are generally thought as much worth a traveller's notice as any thin«- on the banks of the Wye. We pushed on shore close wnder his rocks ; and the tide being at ebb, we landed with some difficulty on an oozy beach. One of our 91 barg'emen, who knew the place, served as a guide ; and under his conduct we climbed the steep, (apparent- , ly Windcliff,) by an easy, regular zig-zag." " The eminence on which we stood (one of those grand eminences which overlook the Wye) is an inter- , mixture of rock and wood, and forms in this place, a concave semicircle, sweeping round in a segment of two miles. The river winds under it ; and the scenery, of course, is shewn in various directions. The river it- self, indeed, as we just observed, is charged with the impurities of the soil it washes; and when it ebbs its verdant banks become slopes of mud : but if we except these disadvantages, the situation of Piersfield is noble.' " Little indeed was left for improvement, but to open walks and views through the woods to the various objects around them ; to those chiefly of the eminence on which we stood. All this the ingenious proprietor hath done with great judgment; and hath shewn his rocks, his woods, and his precipices, under various forms, and to great advantage. Sometimes a broad, face of rock is presented, stretching along a vast space like the walls of a citadel. Sometimes it is broken by intervening trees. In other parts the rocks rise above the woods ; a little further they sink below them ; some- times they are seen through them ; and sometimes one series of rocks appears rising above another : and though many of these objects are repeatedly seen, yet seen from different stations, and with new accompani- ments, they appear new. The winding of the precipice 92 is the magical secret by which ^U these enchantinj; scenes are produced." *' We cannot, however, call these picturesque. They are either presented from too high a point, or they have little to mark them as characteristic : or they do not fall into such composition as would appear to ad- vantage on canvass, but they are extremely romantic, and give a loose to the most pleasing riot of imagina*. tion." *' These views are chiefly shewn from different stands in a close walk carried along the brow of the precipice — It would be invidious perhaps to remark a degree of tediousness in this walk, and too much same- ness in many of its parts, notwithstanding the general variety which enlivens them; but the intention probably is not yet complete ; and many things are meant to be hid, which are now too profusely shewn."* " Having seen every thing on this side of the hill, we fpund we had seen only half the beauties of Piers- field, and pursued a walk which led us over the ridge of the eminence to the opposite side. Here the ground re- liiiquishing its wild appearance, assumes a more civilized form. It consists of a great variety of lawns inter- mixed with wood and rocks; and, though it often rises and falls, yet it descends without any violence into th« •ountry beyond it." *' The views on this side are not the romantic steeu* * As it 18 many years sines these remarks were made sercral alterations have probably, isiace that time taken place. 93 of the Wye ; but though of another species, they are equally grand. They are chiefly distances consisting of the vast waters of the Severn ; here an arm of the sea, bounded by a remote country; of the mouth of the Wye entering the Severn : and of the town of Chep- stow, and its Castle and Abbey. Of all these distant objects an admirable use is made ; and they are shewn (as the rocks of the Wye were on the other side,) some- times in parts, and sometimes ail together. In one sta- tion we had the scenery of both sidesofthe hill at once." " It is a pity the ingenious embellisher of these scenes could not have been satisfied with the grand beauties of nature which he commanded. The Shrub- berries he has introduced in this part of his improve- ments, I fear will rather be esteemed paltry. As the embellishments of a house, or as the ornament of little scenes which have nothing better to recommend them, a few flowering shrubs artfully composed may have their elegance and beauty; but in scenes like this, they are only splendid patches, which injure the grandeur and simplicity of the whole." Fortasse ciiprossum Scis simulare : quid hoc? Sit quidvis simplex duiifaxat et uaum. " It is not the shrub which offends; it is the Jbr- mal introduction of it. Wild underwood may be aa appendage of the grandest scene ; it is a beautiful ap- pendage. A bed of violets or lillies may enamel the ground with propriety at the root of an oak ; but if you 94 introduce them artificially in a border, you introduce a trifling' formality, and disg-race the noble object yoH wish to adorn." Thus Gilpin. Whateley's description is the most faithful account of the Scenery, which has yet appeared. He introduces it in illustration of the benefit of carrying the ideal boundaries of places beyond the scenes, which are ap- propriated to them ; for a wide circuit, in which lie the different positions susceptible of fine exhibition, in which they may be shewn, affords a greater variety than can generally be found in any grounds, the scenery of which is confined to the enclosure. This is the fdct, Plersfleld is not only Romantic ground, (for in that it is not distinguished from other places) but it is the vast command of Sublime Views and Landscapes, ail around, which particularly distinguishes this spot. " PlERSFIELDis not a large place: the Park contains about three hundred acres, and the house stands in the midst of it. On this side of the approach, the inequalities of the ground are gentle and the plantations pretty; but nothing there is great; on the other side a beautiful lawn falls precipitately every way into a deep vale, which shelves down the middle ; the decli- vities are diversified with clumps and with groves; and a number of large trees straggle along the bottom. This lawn is encompassed with wood ; and through the v/ood are walks, which open beyond it upon those ro- mantic scenes that surround the Park, and ara 95 the glory of Piersfield.* The Wye runs immediately below the wood : the river is of a dirty colour ; but the shape of its course is very various, winding first in the form of a horse-shoe, then proceeding in a large sweep to the town of Chepstow, and afterwards to the Severn. The banks are Ligh hills ; in different places steep, bulging out, or hollow on the sides, rounded, flattened or irregular at top ; and covered with woods or broken by rocks. They are sometimes seen in front ; sometimes in perspective ; falling back to the passage, or closing behind the bend of the river ; appearing to meet rising above, or shooting out beyond one another. The wood which encloses the Lawn, crowns an extensive range of these hills, which overlook all those on the opposite shore, with the country, which appears above or be- tween them; and winding themselves, as the river winds their sides, all rich and beautiful, are alternately ex- hibited, and the point of view in one spot becomes an object to the next." In many places the principal feature is a continued rock, in length a quarter of a mile, perpendicular, high, and placed upon a height. To resemble ruins is common to rocks ; but no ruin of any single structure was ever equal to this enormous pile; it seems to be the remains of a city ; and other smaller heaps scattered about it, appear to be fainter traces of the former ex- * The author etilered the Fork at the LoJg'e. This part ©f the former is Jaid out iipoQ Brown's plan, Lawn, Groves, and scattered trees. .Across this Park, he was led tatlie Al- fOVF, the nearesl seat toCiiepetcTT. I 3 96 tent, and strengthen the similitude. It stretches along' the brow, which terminates the Forest cf Dean; the face of it is composed of immense blocks of stone, but not rugged ; the top is bare and uneven but not craggy ; and from the foot of it a declivity, covered with thicket, slopes gently towards the Wye, but in one part is ab- ruptly broken off by a ledge of less rocks, of a different hue, ai;id in a different direction. From the GROTTO* it seems to rise immediately over a thick wood, which extends down a bill below the point of view, across the valley, through which the Wye flows, and up the op- posite Banks, hides the river, and continues with- out interruption to the bottom of the rock: and another seat it is seen by itself without even its base; it faces another, with all its appendages about it : and sometimes the sight of it is partially intercepted by trees, beyond which, at a distance, its long line continue* on through all the openings between them. Another capital object is the Castle of Chepstow, a noble ruin, of great extent ; advanced to the very edge * Here a picture is presented iu the happiest state of com- position. Ill this ciiarming view, a diversified plantation oc- cupies the fore-ground, and descends through a grand hollow to the river, which passes in a long reach under the elevated vuius of Chepstow Castle, the Town, and Bridge towards the Severn. Rocks and Precipices, dark shelvitig" Forests, Groves, and Lawns, hang; on its course, and with a variety of sailing' vessels, are reflected from the liquid mirror, with an effect, at wliich, &ays Barber, the majie pencil of Claude would fatiUtr. The distant Severn and its remote shores form an excellent termination aud complete the picture. W7 of a perpendicular rock, and so immediately rivetted into it, that from the top of the battlements down to the river, seems but one precipice ; the same ivy, which overspreads the face of the one, winds and clusters among the fragments of the other ; many towers, much of the walls, and large remains of the Chapel [Me old Keep] are standing. Close to it [was] a more romant- ic wooden bridge, very ancient, very grotesque, at aa extraordinary height above the river ; and seeming ty abut against the ruins at one end, and some rocky hills at the other. The Castle is so near to the Alcove at Persfield, that litlte circumstances in it may be discern- ed; from other spots more distant even from the Lawn, and from a Shrubbery on the side of the lawn, it is dis- tinctly visible, and always beautiful, whether it is seen alone, or with the bridge, with the town, with nior& or with less of the rich meadows which lie along the banks of the Wye to its junction three miles off with the Severn. A long sweep of that river also ; its red cliffs, and the fine rising country in the counties of Somerset and Gloucester, generally terminate the pros- pect. Most of the hills about Persfield are fidl of rocks ; some are intermixed with hanging woods, and either advance a little before them, or retire within them, and are backed, or overhung or separated by trees. In the walk to the CAVE* a long succession of them is fre- * A passag'e cut tlirong;!! a ruck. Over one of the en- trances is a mulilatesl colossal fi.'xre, wldch once snstai;iefl the fra-meut of a rock iu \\U njiiftct! airr.f, fhr. atuiiig- to over- 98 quently seen in perspective, all of a dark colour; and with wood in the intervals between them. In other parts, the rocks are more wild and uncouth ; and some- times they stand on the tops of the highest hills ; at other times down as low as the river, they are home objects in one spot; and appear only in the back- §fround of another. " The woods concur with the rocks to render the scenes of Persfield romantic ; the place every where abounds with them ; they cover the tops of the hills ; they hang- on the steeps, or they fill the depths of the val- Jies. In one place they front, in another they rise above, in another they sink below the point of view ; they are seen sometimes retiring beyond each other, and darkening as they recede ; and sometimes an open- ing between two is closed by a third, at a distance be- yond them. A point called the LOVER'S LEAP, com- mands a continued surface of the thickest foliage, which overspreads a vast hollow immediately underneath. Below the Chinese Scat the course of the Wye is in the shape of a Horse-shoe ; it is on one side enclosed by a semicircular hanging wood ; the direct steeps of a table-hill shut it in on the other, and the great rock fills the interval betwe3n thjni. la the midst of this whelm him -who dared to enter his retreat ; but some timcsiiQce, the stojie fell, carryiugf the gi.iiit's arm along- with it; andit •would have been as well if it had taken off the rest ofthe fig-ure. To place it there itstlf was mauvais fjoui, mere concetto, u tiny idea unworthy Pes sSeld, and exactly the converse of tbi^ excellent taste, wh ch has pregerved untiipj-cd an aged ls«rel «f wondroBsly ^rand eif^'ct. 99 rude scene lies the peninsula [Lanc aut] formed by the river, a mile at the least in length, and in the highest state of cultivation : near the isthmus the ground rises considerably, and thence descends in a broken surface, till it flattens to the water's edge at the other extrem- ity. The whole is divided into corn fields and pastures ; they are separated by hedge-rows, coppices and thick- ets ; open clumps and single trees stand out in the meadows ; and houses and other buildings which be- long to the farms are scattered amongst them; nature so cultivated, surrounded by nature so wild, compose a most lovely landskip together." " The communications between these several points . are generally by close walks ; but the covert ends near the Chinese Seat; and a path is afterwards conducted through the upper Park to a rustic Temple, which overlooks on one side some of the romantic views, which have been described, and on the other the cultivated hills and rich valleys of 3Ionmouthshire. IThis is the DOUBLE VIEW, the most admired of alii To the rude and magnificsnt scenes of Nature now succeeds a pleasant fertile and beautiful country, divided into en- closures, not covered with woods nor broken by rocks and precipices, but only varied by easy swells and gentle declivities, yet the prospect is not tame ; the hills in it are high ; and it is bounded by a vast sweep of the Severn, which is here visible for many miles to^ gether, and receives in its course the Wye and the Avon."* 100 It is plain that these descriptions by Gilpin and Whateley, convey no precise ground-plan of Piersfield. Simplicity is always intelligible, and humble modes of description, if accurate, convey the clearest ideas. Scrawl upon paper, sufficient in size, a rude Capital B. curv- ing the straight side a little irregularly inwards. You have then Tiddenham Chase on the strait side and Piers- Jield on the semicircle. On the tcp of the B. placa a Castle on a rock, f Chepstow] and at the bottom of the mountainous elevation, clothed with thicket, and diver- sified with rock f WindcliffJ — extend an horizontal line from the base, and you have the ravine of the Lover'' s Leap* The interior of the B. you must make an aw- ful abyss, containing farms, hamlets, promontories, re- cesses, &c, all rising upwards in various irregular forms, to the Tiddenham straiter side of the B. The crooked sides of the two semicircles form the lofty ridge of Piersfield. The outline being thus obtained, place sipon the Tiddenham or straiter side, a wall of rock, rising out of irregular earthy promontories, formed of thickets, roughets, meadows, &;c. The semicircular or Piersfield side, make hanging wood, and wind the river round the bottom. Any idea of the actual details can- not of course be given, by such a scrawl ; but a gene- ral idea may be formed of this very extraordinary landscape, situated at the bottom of a wide natural ditch, walled in by precipices. It is a Landscape in a, Kaleidoscope. * TVip Leucadian Promontory or original Lovefs Leap is engravpcl in Sir William fJelPs Ithaea p 75, 4to edit. This at Piersfirld does not assimilate it in form. It is a projecting' pliff with scarped sides. 101 Every thing human has however its imperfections. The rocks of the Tiddenham side are generally speak- ing square and formal, in regular division, like teeth ; and have the outline of their summits strait. Of course this range of rocks is only a wall, and wants the relief of more mingled vegetation and variety. In regard to Piersfield itself, the Castle style, not that of the Villa, is suited to the Scenery, which is grand and bold. In fact PiersUeld ought to have been a Park to Chepstow Castle, and to have terminated at WindclifF. Views, says Gilpin,* should be broken upon from close lanes, or confined dark spots, for they arc spoil- ed by anticipation. The same author says, that Paths and Roads about fine objects should open on fine parts, run obliquely and give only catching views, and some- times entirely lose sight of the object; for a pause in a grand continuation of scenery is often as pleasing as. in a concert of music. It makes the eye in one case, as the ear in the other, more alert for every new ex- hibition. f Now according to these obvious principles, justice is not done to the sublimity of Piersfield. The walk consists of a narrow shelf, cut out of the precipice,, and, through the steepness of the descent, the breadth of the underwood is too thin to exclude the sight, and every scene (the double view excepted) is anticipated Ibefore arrival at the proper points of view. If Walk* * Fosbroke's Tourist's Grammar, in the Epitome of 102 (and Piersfield is too large for circumambulation) had not been adopted, a broad fringe of Forest Trees, up- on the flat ground above the rim of the Precipice, the outline of the wood on the Park side being broken into Promontories and Recesses might have been the sub- stitute.* The roads or ridings through the wood should be confined to the close shade, or open on the Park, except at the grand points of Vietv. By this means the Scenery from the House would be greatly improved, and the woody fringe render the Park-Scenery perfect, in addition to its sublime natural adjuncts. The pre- sent walk, which does not amalgamate the Park and the Natural Scenery, seems indeed, as if it had been purposely contrived to throw the former into neg- lect and contempt. In proof of this, it is to be observ- ed, that on emerging from the shelf to the double view, and regaining the Park, the mind is delightfully re- lieved. The Play at present is spoiled by the acting ; the sublimity of Piersfield by the injudicious walk. In the days of Morris, these things were not well understood. To bring them into notice is however in itself a proof of high mind and fine taste. No memorial commemorates the Founder, and the follow- ing inscription in the simple style of the Greek Epitaph, may somewhat supply the desideratum, VALENTINE MOPtRIS, Introduced these sublime Scenes fo public Notice, TO HIM BE HONOUR, TO GOD PRAISE. * Perhaps tliesfl recesses inisjht be contrived to furnish fine distinct yitnvs from the House; but the author doea not know the aspects from it. Whatever may have been his errors, and his nsis-^ fortunes, personal acquaintance enables me to affirm, that he was a Man of Sentiment and a Gentleman. WIND CLIFF. What a Cathedral is among Churches, Windcliff is among Prospects : and if, like Snowdon, it ought to be visited at sun-rise, or be seen through a sun-glass ;* should not the sentiments felt from the view, be intens- ^ ly religious : for what is admiration of scenery without homage to the Omnipotent, but the cold approbation of the Mechanic, who thinks professionally, and is void of sentiment? Whateley's account of Windcliff is this. " From Piersfield a road leads to the Windcliff, an eminence much above the rest, and commanding the . whole in one view. The Wye runs at the foot of the hill; the peninsula lies just below; the deep bosom of the semicircular hanging wood is full in sight ; over part of it the great rock appears ; all its base, all its accompaniments are seen; the country immediately be- yond it is full of lovely hillocks: and the higher grounds in the counties of Somerset and Gloucester rise in the horizon, the Severn seems to be as it really is above Chepstow, three or four miles wide ; below the town it spreads almost to a sea ; the county of Monmouth is * The author uses aud recommends a well-known small yellow pocket glass, called a Claude, which gives a sun-rise View at full-day, without the obscuration of the inornins mist. 104 the higher shore; and between its beautiful hills ap- pear at a great distance the Mountains of Brecknock and Glamorganshire. In extent, in variety and gran- deur, few prospects are equal to this. It comprehends all the noble scenes of Piersfield, encompassed by some of the finest country in Britain." This description is too tame for the subject, Wind- clifF is the last grand scene of the Piersfield sublime Drama, and should have been included in the grounds.* If an opinion must be given concerning the hack ques- tion, " which is the grandest scene on the Wye" the diMsvfQv must he, " the Prospect from WindclifF." It is not only magnificent, but it is so novel, that it ex- cites an involuntary start of astonishment, and so sub- lime that it elevates the mind into instantaneous rapture. Its parts consist in a most uncommon combination of wood, rock, water, sky, and plain ; of height, and abyss, of rough and smooth, of recess and projection, of fine landscape anear, and exquisite perspective afar, all melting into each other, and grouping in such ca- pricious lines, that although it may find a counterpart in the tropical climes, it is, as to England, probablj- unique. It is unlikely that the mouths of two rivers should be so adjacent or so arranged as to form a simi- lar scene, though a thousand views of sea^ vale, and rock, may be of corresponding character, with only slight differences of surface. But the ground here is singular; and the features not being English, the physiognomy is of course, such as cannot be expected * They have, I believe, different proprietors. 105 elsewhere. It also improves both upon our natural and foreign landscape; upon the former, because our scenery is not so fine as the foreign, which Windclitt* resembles : upon the latter, because according to the observation of Humboldt, it has not that, " something strange and sad, which accompanies aspects of ani- mated nature, in which man is nothing." The spectator stands upon the edge of a precipice, the depth of which is most awful, and the river winds at his feet. The right side-screen is Piersfield ridge, richly wooded ; the left, is a belt of rocks, over which appear the Severn, and the fine shores between Thorn- bury and Bristol, rising behind each other in admirable swells, which unite in most graceful curves. The first fore-ground is to the eye, a viev/ from the clouds upon earth, and the rich contrast of green meadows to wild Forest Scenery ; the farm of Lancaut, clasped in the arms of the winding river, backed by hanging wood and rock. Thus there is a bay of verdure, walled in by nature's colossal fences, wood, hill, and rock. The further horn of the crescent, tapers off into a craggy informal mole, over which the eye passes to the second bay. This terminates in Chepstow Castle, the town, and rocks beyond; all mellowed down, by distance into that fine hazy indistinctness, which makes even deformities combine in harmony with the picture. In the middle distance, the widening sea spreads itself, and from it the shores of Somerset and Monmouthshire steal away into the horizon. Lastly, all this union of large and bold objects, from being comprized within a 106 circumference of a very few miles, unites the Land- scape and the Prospect, together with the Forest and the Park character of unimpeded expanse, for the en- closures are few in any part, and by distance are almost diininished into imperceptible streaks. Thus the re- proach of mappishness, does not attach to this exalted exhibition of the divine taste. But (says Reed) might not the proprietor of this, imperial domain have built a Temple on Windcliff, consecrating it to the Genius of the place ? He might have done so, but in forbearing the attempt he has done better. The precipice itself is a temple, which the " worshippers of nature" will always approach with " unsandaled foot" considering the embellishments of Art, as a profanation of her sacred grandeur^ Other writers, upon reaching Windcliff, clap their wings and crow away in similar exultation. LAND TOUR. IV. HO EVER has read the Scotch Novels, will recol- lect the Cake Shop on the Lakes, .so much frequented by Poets and Artists; and the hearty execration of them by a neighbouring Gentleman, because they might possibly convey love-letters to a handsome girl under his guardianship. Clever fellows are however entitled to regard as well as rich ones; and, during summer and autumn, they poke about the Wye, like snipes and woodcocks, and after rummaging every thing, re-em- igrate to London. For the use of them, and others who H;ravel singly, and therefore will not incur the expence of a boat, the following route and observations are given ; but the pure orthodox Scenist will recollect that such a tour is not the epicvr- ^ meal ; for the specta- tor on eithei •^iik, loses the e.fect of that side on which he stands, through not being in the middle of the stream ; and being more elevated, sees what he does behold, not to its full advantage. " The Banks of the Wye, says Gilpin, are so lofty, that in most places the river and its appendages ai-e seen to more advant- age from the bottom than from the top. But, unless the banks of a river are uncommonly high, the eye, when stationed upon the water, is so low, that the Sc.;nery is bad."* * Fosbroke's Tourist's Grammar, ci. k3 108 A sturdy pedestrian will of course follow the banksj of the river down to Tintern Abbey, and thence di- verge to Windcliff and Chepstow, as, upon the whole if he be pressed for time, the best substitute for the Aquatic Excursion. But Ponyists and other Horse- men, will not be able to adopt the same plan, and therefore may pursue another route, which will partially repay them for their loss of the continuous Tour, by various fine Prospects, and some curious antiquities. FIRST TOUR. 'Uo^^ to ^mxmmtth Pass Wilton Bridge, and proceed to Pencraig. It is placed at a sudden turn of the river, in order to catch a fine view of Ross, mellowed by distance. This is in excellent taste : for roofs of houses and unequal heights of buildings are mere portraits of unintei-tai^ng objects, and scarcely distinguish one town from another. By distance you sink the disagreeable, bring in the adjacent country, mask the town with a pleasing haze, and con- vert the whole to a landscape, in which if the view be taken from a right spot, the leading characteristic immediately designates the particular town, in dis- crimination from others. In other respects the landscape is uncommonly fine. It presents from an eminence, the river meandering along the vale, and a rich scene of undulating ground. 109 set off with lively dwellings, and rich woody elevations. The character of this scene from the preeminence of fertile meadows, is that of luxuriant. Here the Tour'ist should descend to the towing-path, in order to catch the line view of the castle, described in the water tour. After exploring that august ruin, he may proceed to Huntshclm Ferry, and crossing the river go from thence to Symond's Yat, where he will at the same time, view Coldv/ell rocks and the New Weir. His route from thence is along the ridge above High-meadow Woods to Staunton and the Buckstone. Here he will have a most superb bird's eye view of the river and its accompaniments, from the New Weir to New- land. From the Buckstone the road runs to the Kyniin and so to Monmouth. This whole tour, including a return to Ross, is a journey of from twenty to thirty miles. Those, whose time will permit, may visit Coppet Wood Hill, the summit of the Little Doward, (whence Monmouth bridge and the river appear in fine effect,) Round- tree-field, Penyard Castle, &c. which com- mand the Malvern Hills, upon the North Eastern side of the counti-y,_and the rocky ridges about and beyond Cheltenham. SECOND TOUR. The line by turnpike is to Tint em Abbey direct. Upon L}'dart Hill above Monn:outh, is a most sublime 110 pi'ospect, before mentioned of the Town and vale. At Trelleck are to be seen the antiquities mentioned in another place. From thence the road turns short to the left, and after crossing Trelleck Common, (a dose of physic to the lover of the picturesque, from its miser- able dulness) it enters a rich descent, a fine prologue to the Tintern Scenery in front, where the road termi- nates at the distance of nine and a half miles from Mon- mouth. A new road from 'I'intern winds round the western eminences, skirting the river, and is occasion- ally concealed in wood, and occasionally open. After proceeding about two, or two and a half miles, the traveller arrives at a picturesque cottage, from which there is an ascent of spiral path and steps, (part of it going through a natural rocky tunnel) to the summit ofWindcliff. The road itself goes on to Chepstow. For this accommodation, which evidently is formed to consult views of taste, as well as business, the public is indebted to His Grace the Duke of Beaufort. Every elevated spot on the banks of the Wve, must from the nature of the ground, furiiish either a land- scape or a prospect, and enumeration would be endless. Chasm, precipice, mountain cascades, and dark woods form the most general features of the scenery. Sume- times low swells of meadow and arable pccui-, but there are no flats of any breadth, to dilute the effect. PART SECONiy. Itt^toftcal Separtiitent* Banks of the Wi/e. i% FTER the final conquest of the Sllures by the Ro- mans, the Country on the Banks of the Wye* formed part of the province of Britannia Secunda, under the government of a President, residing at Caerleon. When the Britons resumed their independence in the time of Honorius and Constantius, a king, named Car-^ adock, reigned in these parts, -j- and other commanders of the same common name fought v.'ith OfFa and Haroid.| These facts lead to some inferences, concerning a Man- sion still called Cradock, about two miles from Perry- stone, from which it is separated by the Wye. Legend-, ary accounts have assigned it to one of the Knights of * Theriver li^j/e, is a Pleonasm, FFj/e meaning ia Welsh, river, and oddly e'lioug-h, in English, Wine. Higdea trans- lates the liues XV. Scriptor. 188. Vinum putant precipuum^ Quanta sit magis rubeum. by " Ever the redder is the Wye, Theyholde it the more fye." See Dibdin's Typog-raph. Antiq. i. 147. Wye might be suppo- sed an error of the press for wj/we, were there not a capital letter, and the vhyme/t/e. f Turner's Ang'lo Saxons, p. 133—136. § Nicholsoa, 455. JI06. Script, p. Bed. 2^6. 112 BANKS OF THE WYE. Arthur's Round Table, called" CradockVreich Vras''^ which signifies the fat arm. He is said to have been a Prince between Wye and Severn, who married a daughter of Pallinor, Prince of South Wales, a Lady whose chastity was proved by trying on a curious man- tle, which shrunk up if the female was not virtuous. Tintern was certainly one Royal palace on the Wye. This Cradock may have been another. Palaces meant places of short residence, because the kings would not burden the neighbourhood, on account of their procura- tions by a long stay,* and King Caradock might hav& resided here. But except foundations of rude stones, the Palaces of the British Kings merely consisted of basket work, or wattled twigs, distinguished only from thosef of their subj ects by being barked. From the life ofDubricius, there appear to have been various petty Kings, in these districts. However this be, notwithstanding the cultivated lands and open country adjacent to the stations, the romantic banks of the Wye soon after the departure of the Romans, formed in the greater part, a wilderness occupied by Hermits and other Solitaries. Dubricius established a grand college between Ross and Hereford; and in his time, Samson, an eminent prelate, placed some other religious, in a desart near the Severn, (doubt- less the Forest of Dean) and long resided himself in a certain very secret cave in the interior. || At Tintern a retired Monarch, lived in holy seclusion§ and the pa- * Ducang'e Gloss, v. Palatium. f So that of Howell Dha, and confirmed by William of M almesbury. See Samraes p. 213. 11 Usserii Antiquitat. Brit. Eccles.p.277 § See Tintern jjereafter. BANKS OF THE WYE. 113 roehial appellations, St. Briavel,(St. Breulais) StWeo- nard'sj as well as the prefix of Llan to Llandogo, and Z/ancaut, allude to the same sera and state of things : a state naturally growing out of the perturbed state of society at the dissolution of the Roman Empire, when pacific existence could be obtained or secured only by seclusion. In the year 597, Ceolwulf began to reign over the West Saxons, and being during life engaged in war- fare, attacked the Britons at Tintern, but was defeated. On or about this time the large and powerful kingdom of Mercia was formed ; and in the year 738, Ethelbald King of that extensive portion of the Heptarchy, in order to annex the pleasant region between the Severn and the Wy^, to his territories, entered Wales with a powerful army. At Carno, a mountain in Monmouth- shire, the Britons checked his progress, and drove him over the Wye with great loss. In 743 he marched in conjunction with Cuthred, who had succeeded jEthel- heard in Wessex, another army against the Britons. Through great superiority of force they obtained a decisive victory at Ddefawdon, (between Trelleck and Chepstow,) but only retired with plundei\ To Ethel- bald succeeded Offa. His wars with the Britons were at first to his disadvantage. Some branches of the (Cymry) Welsh, penetrated by an incursion into Mer- cia. Their united attack drove the English from the Severn. They frequently repeated their devastations. Offa collected in greater number, the forces ofthe An- o-lo Saxons, and marched into Wales. The Britons 1^4 0PFA*S DYKfi. unable to withstand him, quitted the open country be* tween the Severn and the Wye, and withdrew to their mountains. Impregnable among- these natural fortres- ses, they awaited the return of the invaders, and then sallied out in new aggressions. To terminate these wasteful incursions, OfFa annexed the eastern regions of Wales, as far as the Wye, to Mercia, planted them with Anglo Saxons, and separated them from the Britons by a high vallum between two ditches,* named from him Claudh Offa, or Qff'a's Dyke, though not a foss. It extended from the iEstuary of the Dee, to the mouth of the Wye ; and the occupation of the eastern banks by the Colonists of OfFa, is attested according to Lluyd, by the names of places, terminating in tmi or ham,-\ Watt's Dyke runs nearly in a direction with Offa's, but at unequal distances, from 5, or 600 yards to three miles. J The space between the two was con- sidered as neutral g'round, where the Britons and Sax- ons might meet for commercial purposes, but notwith- standing the severe law of Egbert, which announced death to every Welshman, who passed the rampart, and of Harold Harefoot, who softened the punishment to., amputation of the right hand, the descendants of the Silures vath the contumacious spirit of their ancestors, frequently, upon the Celtic principle of Black-mail, < rossed the line in the night to drive the cattle over the boimdary.§ In prevention of these ravages, Mr. * Cough's Camden, ii. 467. Part of it forms the turnpike road between lluabon and Wrexliam. f Turner's Anglo Saxons, i 408, 421, 422. J Both these Dykes are accurate- ly delineated in Evans's Map ofNoith Wales, and Smith's two sheet Map. | Nicholson, 383, 455, WHTon' Castle. Il5 l*elitiaiil observes, that there are nttmerous artificial mounts, the site of small forts, in many places along it« coarse. Ih this Anglo Saxon seraj the Wye at Chepstow^ separated Wales from J^gland,* oii the south ; and it was made beyond H^refordj by Athelstan, the boundary of the North Welsh.f Harold by his massacres, so de- populated the country, that says Giraldus Cambrensis^ he scarcely lelt a male alive ; a cruel policy before prac* tised by Offa» who spared femalesi ohly, that future aggression might be suppressed, at least enfeebled. Through this measure of Harold, the three first Norman Kings were undisturbed j and the country was easily held in subjugation, by granting parcels of it to various military adventurers^ who could acquire them by ne- gociation or force. From this period we must date the remains^ at least in the greater part, of the Castles on the Wye. the first of these is WU.TON. The Maflor of Wilton was given by the Empress Maud to Milo, Earl of Hereford. II The present Castle was it seems built by King Stephen, in 1141,§ and is mentioned tog'ether with Chepstow and Godrich, by Giraldus Cambrensis. Henry de Longo Campo paid scutage 2. Job. for one Knight's fee at Wilton,<[[ and in the 12th and 13th of the same reign, the Heir of Henry de Longo Campo, paid the same scutage. Anglo Saxon forts were chiefly ♦ xvScriptores, 194. f W. Malmesb.Scriptor. p. Bed fol. 28. JAngl.Sacr.H. 451. \\ Selden's Tit; Hon" p. 648. § Lei. Collect, iii. 303. f M. S. H«-l 301* f. 206. a. 116 WILTON CASTLE. motints ; but though it is not improbable, that the ferry here had some protection, it appears that Maud daught- er and heir of Henry, carried it in marriage to Reginald Grey,* ancestor of the Lords Grey de Wilton, in which family it remained till the 16th century. William Lord Grey de Wilton had been taken prisoner in defending Calais, and having long solicited in vain to be redeem- ed at the public charge, which he well deserved, was at last obliged to sell most of his estates for that pur- pose. Accordingly in 1576, Lord Gilbert Talbot, then resident at Godrich Castle, offered for Wilton and its annexations £6000, that as he writes to his father, " besyde the benefyte therof, he myghte be able to attende on his Lordshipe with a thousande tall fellowes, to follow his Lordshipe's directions, if he sholde hare neede to conimaundehim."f He writes most impor- tunately, but it does not appear that he succeeded, for Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Grey de Wilton (which Elizabeth died Dec. 29, 1559) was wife of Lord Chan- dos,* whose second son Charles resided here, as well as his posterity down to James the magnificent Duke, . who built Cannons. In consequence of some political disappointments, with regard to local influence, the- estate was sold fropi pique, to the Governors of Guy'* Hospital. § The S. W. Tower seems to have undergone little or no change, when the building was altered to its pre- sent form, which is in the style of Hurstmonceaux aud other castellated mansions of the fifteenth century., * Collins fit. Grey, Ed 1765, t PrWate CommnnicafioM, J Duffdale'sSt, riturs;p,79, Ed. Ellis. § Heath, 50. GODRICH CASTLE. 117 The following old story is told of the Lords of Wil- ton and Acornbury. They were cousins, and addres- sed the same lady : she preferred the Lord of Wilton, and his enraged rival assembled his vassals and fired tins castle. A. few years ago a burnt beam was shown in commemoration of this incident.* The Bridge was built in the reign of Elizabeth. f During the Civil War, a party of the Rebels from Gloucester, Horse and Foot, arrived with two pieces of ordinance at the Bridge, and found it guarded by Captain Cassie, and thirty musketeers from Godrieh Castle. A part of the Horse advanced upon the Guard, forced the River, and got beyond them ; after some dispute beat them off, wounded and took the Captain, slew many of his men, and took the rest in the chase almost up to the Castle [of Godrieh.] J Some short time after, Massie, the Governor of Gloucester, marching to the relief of Pembridge Castle, passed through Ross, but found the Bridge broken down, and the river made impassable, by the sinking of boats on the other side, and a guard of Horse to defcBd it. Here was a dispute for two days, and Massie' s object failed. II The next object in progress is GODRICH CASTLE. The junctions of the courses in the masonry, show that the castle, before the addition of the round towers, mere- • Inform. Mr. T. Jeukins, t J^ is engraved with eleva- tion, section, and ichnography, Gent. Mag, Aug. 1753, t Corbett's Military Goverameat of Gloucestershire, p, 86 II Id P, 118, IIS GOpRICy CASJIE, ly coasisted of the Keep, with low annexed buildings in the house form ; whose point ends or gables, di&f tinctly appear, where walling has been raised upon thenu It is expressly mentioned in record* that Godrich Castle was the Fortress of the Tract called Arcenfield or Irchinfield, from the Roman Station at Ariconium, PoUatree near Ross, This tract was formerly Forest ; for in thei Chartse Antiquce in the Tower of London is the orcfer for its DisaflPorestation.f The Nomina yillarWB Qf 9th. Ed. ii, (1316) has the following ac, cim;^ of the parishes which composed it, II IRCHINF1ELI>. Kilpek cum membr. Alan Plukenet. fFylton cum membr. Johes de Gray,— 44 Ed. 3- Reginald de Gray, Garron cum membr. Hospit. S. John Jems. Godrich Castel cum membris. Egidius de Valence 8 Ric. 2. Johannes Talbot. Orget cam membr. Job. le Rous. Orcop cura membr. Rich, de Baskenfin«.'^47. Ed. 3. Ric, de Baskerville, Miles, Mention cum membr, ^ > Dns Rex, Langarron cum membr. ^ Kinge^s Caple. Johes le Rous et Alanus Plukenet. Llanwaran et Monkeiov, cum membr. Prior Lan« ton. In Wales. Ros Forinsecus et Rossintrinsecus, Ep«s Hereford, * Pat. i. Ed. 4, pars 4, m 16, n. 135. f Cart. Antiq. B. P. 42. II M.S. Harl. 6281. The names of m«r pcQ, prietors'are occasionally added by the Copyist, GODRICH CASTLE. 119 Doomsday mentions extraordinary privileges grant- . ed to the Men of Irchenfield, who had their own Bail- iffs. In the reign of Edward I. the Bailiffs of the Liberty of Irchingfield claimed the liberty of hearing pleas, transgressions, &c. and the privilege was al- lowed them (as the record testified) and they prosecu- ted one William Dunne for refusing to obey their mandate.-]- It further appears, that the Tenants of Irchingfield retained the Doomsday Exemption from Taxation till the 8. Edward 3. and then they presented a petition to Parliament, complaining that Taxon of the County of Hereford had taxed them against their laws and usages. + We find ' a Doomsday Pi-oprietor, of the ijame of Godric, as holding ^M//a;,§ (a Hill,) whence Howl in Walford, and there can be no doubt but the position and command of the Ford dictated the erection of a Fort- ress. After the .conquest it descended to William Earl Marshall, doubtless in the same manner as Tiuterni before described, for he .was. not grantee from John, as erroneously published, but held it in 1165, 12. Hew. II4I Ia_ the Scutages 2. John, we have " WilliaBi Marescall 55.M. et | de Castro Godrici.^, William Earl Marshall, who died in 1219, had five sons, all issueless, and as many daughters, heirs to their bro- thers. Joan the second daughter was. wifeof Warin de Monte Caniso, [Montchensi] by whom she had issue t Trui Plac. 15. Ed- i. rot. 7. + Padiam. Rolls, t«1. ii. p. 83. § As quoted by Heath. |1 Hearae'*, Lilt, IVig i. 160. f M.S. Hail. 201. f. 205—6. l3 120 GODRICH CAStLE. John S. P. and Joan, wife of William de Valence,* his sister and heir. Eli?. Comin coheir of Audomar de Valence, carried it in marriage to Richard Talbot.f In the reign of Edward 111. Richard Lord Talbot made great repairs and improvements, of which, vest- iges appear in the sharp-headed ajch without a curve, peculiar to that reign. Gilbert eldest brother of John, the famous Earl of Shrewsbury, who resided here much in the 15th century, was, by the style exhibited in the Chapel, apparently another improver. The Talbots had also a Castle at Penyard, and like all the Barons of the day, were of migratory habits, through occupy-* ing their own estates, but Richard probably made God- rich, his standing house, or chief dwelling. J It was afterwards a seat for children, for in 1576 Lord Gilbert Talbot, son of the Earl of Shrewsbury, was resident here, with Mary his wife. This appears by a letter of which the following is an extract, here given, because it contains information concerning the state of the coun- try. *' According to my rychesand the contrey I dwell in and not to my desire, I send your L. a new yer's gyfte ; a Monmouthe Cappe, and a rundlette of Perrye, and I muste require pardon to name the other homely thynge, a payre of Rosse Bootes, which yf they be fytt for yo*r L. you may have as many as pleas you to ap- poynt."§ This Lord Gilbert was afterwards Earl, and dying May 8th, 1616, left Eliz. daughter and coheir. * Chronic. Abb. Tiutern, Dugd. Monast, i. 720. f Fos- broke's Gloiicestei-shire, i. 348. J From some political eveuts, the Castle of Godrich and Demesn of Archenfieid, late belonging to James, Earl of Wilts, were granted to William Herbert, Pat. t. Ed. 4. p. i. m. 16. n. 135. § Commuuication. GOORICH CASTLE. 121 wife of Henry Grey, Earl of Kent, in which family it continued till upon the demise of the last Henry I>uke of Kent, in 1740, his estates in the counties of Here- ford and Gloucester were sokL* Thus it fell by pur* chase into the Griffin family at Hadnock, The best solution of the inscription and figures in the S. E. tower, which the Author can suggest is the fallowing. As both inscription and figures are in re- lief, and the edges of the blocks flush with their fellow stones, without any hollow in the middle, they were manifestly cut before putting up, made with regular tools by workmen, and are not coeval with the fabrick. One of the blocks furnishes a clue. Upon it are the fi- gures of a Hart couchant» and a Swan, close to each other ; a pretty broad hint, for the first was the badge, or cognizance of Richard the Second, and the other of Henry the Fourth. The latter, being then Earl of Derby, &c. a subject, was here on a visit at the time his son, [Henry V.] was born at Monmouth, and made a great feast upon the occasion at this Castle.f It was usual, upon the visits of great men, to put their arms in stained glass, in the Hall Windows, and use other modes of commemoration. J To this visit and feast, the inscription and figures seem to allude. The man with the Hawk on his fist, the symbol of Nobility, and drest in the costume of Henry's sera, is apparently intended for Henry himself, and his Lady with her new born child, according to a custom quite common, § is person- * Fosbroke's Gloucestershire, ii. 208. f Bloomfield on the Wve, p. 14- t Fosbroke's British Monachisrn, 288i V Id. p. '48'i. Petrarch's Laura was so represented and many others. 1^2 I^ODRICH CASTL&. ified by the Virgin Mary, and the infant Jesus. Sump' tuarius signifies he qui erogat sumptus,* or '* who lays out the money." If therefore the inscription be read MASTR \MaguterJ SUMT [uarius'] ADAM HASTUN, the meaning will be that, " Adam Hastun, head-steward y or Magister Sumpttiarius,'^-f caused these figures to be put up, in commemoration of the visit alluded to, this room being that in which the roy- al guest was lodged. Add to this, that the form of the letters is of Henry's aera. The tower itself, much older, is stated to have been built with the ransom of an Irish prisoner and his son.+ The helmet of the former, long preserved here, would it is said, have filled half a bushel. This has been ridiculed ; but whoever has seen the helmet of Sir R; Pembruge, K. G. t. Ed, iii. in Hereford Cathedral, will find that these head coverings, being made of one piece, without j oint or hinge, were of course enormously large at the neck in order to be drawn over the head. The following illustration of the Keep from Wool- noth's Ancient Castles, vol. ii, is interesting. *' The Keep, which is of the highest antiquity, having been erected antecedently to the conquest, stands somewhat in the same manner, as the Keeps at Port- * Ducang« v. Sumptiiurivx. f Fvel yn jipeaking- of building has the" followint? passase. To which f'^'chitectus liigenioj let us add, Architectus Sunmtuarins, a full and over- tlowing' purse ; since he who bears this maj jusily f^e also eii- led a builder, and that a master one too, <§c iHisceI!ai))( » p. 358. t It isceitain, that iu the reign of Henry ! v. Henry Talbot, sold to Lord Btrkely, 24 ScJtlisiU FriisViJitir*, tak«B by liiaj. Berkeley Mauuscripts, p. Itl. OOI^RICH CASTILE. 123 Chester, Pevensy, and Castleton, close to the outward wall of the Castle, and like them, had no window on the outside next the Country. It had evidently three rooms, one above the other; aU of them, however, were very small, being only fourteen feet and a half square ; and the room on the first floor had no sort of communication within with the dungeon beneath, which had not even a single loophole for light and air, but was connected by a very narrow passage, with a still smaller dungeon, strongly secured, under the platform belonging to the steps of the entrance, and having a very small air hole on the same side. Mr. King, in his '* Munimenta Antiqua" observes, The original windows are the most truly Saxon that can be : that in the middle of the upper story seems to have remain^ ed just as it was from the very first, without any a.U teration 5 and the manner in which the two large side col^mns stand somewhat tvithin the arch, is consistent with the fashion which was adopted by the Saxons, and continued even to the time of Edward the Confes- sor. The large zig-zag ornament on each side, (between the columns) is in the rude form, in which it was generally used by the earliest Saxons ; and so also is that of the zig-zag moulding or band, which is carried by way of ornament, quite across the tower, just under this window, and it is very remarkable, that the mid- dle projecting buttress is carried no higher than this ornament. The window in the apartment beneath, is gimilar in its general construction; but the columns which support the arch are somewhat higher, and a gejmeircular zig»zag moulding is carried beneath the 124 OODEICU CASTLE. arch : the middle part of the window however, has been altered in the Tudor style. In the second apart- ment is a fire hearth, and in an angle of the wall a cir- cular staircase leading to the upper story. The principal entrance was by a flight of steps on one side, distinct from the main building, and ascending to a platform before the door-way, leading to the second chamber. The body of the Keep is an exact square of twenty feet. '• The additions made to this fortress down to the time of Henry the sixth, begin with the very strongly for- tified entrance, which commencing between two semi- circular towers of unequal dimensions, near the East angle, was continued under a dark vaiilted passage, to an extent of fifty feet. Immediately before this en- trance, and within the space enclosed by the fosse, was a very deep pit hewn out of the solid rock, for- merly crossed by a drawbridge which is now gone,, but which evidently appears to have exactly fitted, and to have closed when drawn up, the whole front of the gateway between the towers. About eleven feet with- in the passage was a massy gate. This gate and the drawbridge were defended on each side by loop-holes j and over head by rows of machicoUations, for pouring down melted lead [fiot water F.^ &c. on the heads of assailants. Six feet and a half beyond this was a port cuUis ; and about seven fiu*ther, a second portcullis, [it should be a hersc, a kind of portcullis, which came next] the space between these was again protected by loop holes and machicoUations. About two feet more inward, was another strong gate ; and five feet and a half beyond this on the right, a small door leading to GODRICH CASTLE. 126^ a long narrow gallery, only three feet high, formed in the thickness of the wall, and which was the means of access to the loop-holes in the Eastern tower, as well as to some others that commanded the brow of the steep precipice towards the North East. These work* appear to have been thought sufficient for general de- fence ; but a resource was ingeniously contrived for greater security in case they had all been forced, " for a little further on are massy stone projections in the wall on each side, like pilasters, manifestly designed for inserting great beams of timber within them, like bars, from one side of the passage, which was about nine feet ten inches wide, to the other, so as to form a strong barricade, with earth or stones, between the rows of timber, which would in a short time form a strong massy wall." This account is, in the general features true • \mt under sieges, almost the first step taken, was to stop the gateways with turf rammed hard, and strengthened by timbers, let down for the purpose, and by the Gates, Portcullis and Ilersc. It was only under sur- prize, that the obstruction of entrance by gates aiitl portcullis would have been sufficient. All these mat- ters are amply described in Froissart. ThL; strong fortress was in the Civil War, at first occupied by the parliament, and succ; ssively after- wards by both prxrties, but in 1640, it was garrisoned for the King, by Sir Richard Lingen, and taken by Col. Birch. The following is the acoui t of the Sie^e in the Newspapers of the day. 1&^ GODfttCfi €A8f ££. By^lettersftottiembefs of the House of CoitimGhs, we hmt express, that a party of horse and foot, were drawn out of Hereford, in the morning of March, lOfh. and joined with Colonel Kirle's horse and dragoons, and Captain Rumsey's firelocks. Colonel Kirie hating joined his forces, went against Godrich Castle, a strong hold of the enemy's, and there fell on the stables and took C4 horses with the hay and other provisions there-* in ; burnt down the stables and went into the passage house, where they took most of their officers and sold- iers, and have laid close siege to it. Tuesday, March I7th, 1645,-6. It was Colonel Birch's party from Hereford, and Colonel Kirle's from Monmouth, that attacked God- rich Castle. Colonel Kirle besides this, snapt another party of the enemy from Ragland, and took a lieutenant and quarter-master, 12 firelock.*;, and 6 case of pistols. Perfect Diurnal from March I6th to 22rd, 1645—6, In the Perfect Occurrences for the 23rd week, ending June 5th, 1646, is the following paragraph. Colonel Birch begs the committee to let him have some battering cannon for Godrich, else (he says) " 1 may sit down long enough before it ; Lingen being an excepted person, and one unto whom I cannot grant any honourable terms." In the same paper for the 24th week, June, 1646, is this : " Letters from Hereford, dated June 1st, ad- vertise of Colonel Birch being before Godrich with a body of horse and foot, and 2 mortar pieces and other &Ot)RICH CASTLE. 127 etjuipage. The great Iron Culverin was going from doucester thither, and Colonel Birch hath sent to the committee of Salop for 2 guns from Ludlow : yet the enemy within are very resolute, but not lavish in their ammunition ; and their sallies are inconsiderable, al- most all their horses being taken, to the number of about 50 by us : Colonel Birch upon advice with his council of war, gave order; and June the 1st. his pioneers began to work, to make approaches within pistol shot of the enormous rampiers, and intends, when they are finished, to shoot granadoes in the mortar pieces. There is yet no summons sent in, but when all is ready to storm, then it is resolved to be dispatched. The prisoners that we have taken, say that they within are exceeding well provided with all necessaries, both for provisions and men, who, depend much upon the strength of the castle. Lieutenant Colonel Keckerman hath received a wound by an almost spent bullet from a musket, in his leg, and intends to remove to Here- ford to be cured. Monday, June '2flnd, 1646. From the leaguer be- fore Godrich Castle, letters advertise us, that the ene- my within, are very resolute, if not desperate. A sum.mons was sent on June 13th, with abundance of fair and pressing arguments ; but the return was a flat de- nial, and confident expectation of relief before they ' needed it ; which occasioned Colonel Birch never to parley more ; and thereupon sent them in 6 granadoes, and tore down a piece of one of their towers. They *eem yet fearless, but sparing of. their ammunition, M 128 GODRICH CASTLE. which we hear to be not much ; and yet they made a sally out and killed us 7 and hurt 10, and we have wounded as many of theirs. They cannot, some think subsist long; water begins to fail them : beer they have but little left ; but other provisions they have plenty; but their hearts are stable ; their walls strong and high , nothing but extremity will force them ; we are to make some new approaches, and then to mine ; but in the mean time they desire a good supply of powder, that they may not want for their batteries, granadoes, mi- ning and mortars ; since no other way is like much to speed the work. Colonel Birch then summoned Sir H. Lingen, the govei'nor, and a correspondence ensued, but it is a mere general matter of menace on one side, and defiance on the other. The last letter of Birch is this to the Speaker, Sir, >Siiice my coming before this castle, 1 liave used all means tendingto the speedy reduction thereof, and am approached up- @n all sides so near that they annoy me with throwing of stones, I find the thing in itself very strong, and the defendants (being excepted persons and papists) very desperate. They have made many sallies, inasmuch that they have lost at several times 100 horse, and now have not above 5 remaining: They have not ki)!'jd me above 24 men in all, and never took o«e prisoner, thtiHgb divers times we have been at hand-blows, and 1 find uluit ray batteries, mortar pieces, and mining, being the three %vs.ys we now put in execution, having cast a mortar piece here, which carries a shell of 200lbs. weight, 1 shall spend more powder than is here to be had, and for want of %vhich I shall not be able to go on, if not supplied : my humble request there- fore to the parliament is for 80 barrels of powder for the service GODRICH CASTLE. 129 of this place and couoty ; the Magazine at Hereford being very, small : with which assistance I question not to give you a time- ly account of this Castle, and to approve myself, Your humble Servant, ' John Birch. FromGodrichf JunelStJi, 1646, One of the letters from thence tells us, that one of the Cavaliers called to our Pioneers at work in the mines, and said they cared not for being blown up, they could from the sky laugh at the flourishing of the Rorind- heads. The above is from the Perjict Occurrences for the week ending June 26^A, 1646> In the Perfect Diurnal of July 6th to the 13tb, \t is said as follows. " Colonel Birch goes on well against Godrich' Castle, and is like to carry it suddenly.'* In the Perfect Occurrences, for the 9tb and 20th week, ending Friday July 15th, 1646, is the following letter, from Godrich Castle, concerning the proceedings' of Colonel Birch there. Sir, The enemy within are very obstinate. We have supplies, of shels for our granadoes from the Forest of Dean, Our mor- tar piece is 15 inches diameter; yet some are come in to us out, of the castle, who affirm, that tt^ere is gj-eat execution done i^ the castle by thosie shots we have made ; that many parts of it are torn. After we had at first been awhile before them, they sallied out and surprized our chief guard, killed eight of our men, and had possession of both of our mortar pieces, but could not carry them away ; they did what they could t& bres^Jt them but could not. Then they pat a glass ves«-' . ^ the pieces, thinking to spoil them and .,,,"'' Pf^'somu > «S thig way,,aad re- 130 GODRICH CASTLE. treated into the castle, carrying^ with them a fired granadoe which lay in the place. There is one of our guns cracl^ed at the muzzle : I am afraid she will not prove useful : but they are now very quiet within, yet will not yield. Our ordnance are small, and have done but little execution as yet. What hath been performed yet hath been with our mortar pieces- Colonel Birch hath sent to the General for two great guns, (aa this country is badly provided,) our mines go on well. This is all at present. Your humble Servant, £. S. From Godrich July ith, 1646. In the Perfect Occurrences for the 1st and 30th week, ending Friday the 3rd, of July, 1646, is as follows. Saturday August 1st. From before Godrich Castle, the only garrison the enemy hath now left in England, except Pendennis, we perused letters, of which we will give a copy of one, which gives an account of Colonel Birch's proceedings there. Sir, We arc in very good forwardness with our mine, and hope very shortly to see the effect of it. Our guns have made a breach in the upper part of the wall, and the granadoes have done tliem much spoil iu the castle ; yet they take uo more no- tice of it, than if no enemy were before it, acting little against us; only now and then firing ofiF their muskets, yet our great mortar piece and mine (I verily believe) will occasion a parley for mercy, whicb if they obtain, I conceive will be well for them, for our leaders are extremely incensed against them. It is little thought (I believe) at London, what pains and cost is here taken; but the reducing of this once slighted castle, I hope the (sic) Lingen's estate will make satisfaction both to the state and to us. 1 am grieved that any difference should be amongst ourselvesj but the occasion of it I leave to GODRTCH CASTLE. 131 the righteous Judge, for a rewardj and hope the issue will be good to those who go on with the parliament, and desire a safe and well grounded peace, without self-seeking base ends, which are hateful to Your humble Servant, I.E. Godrich Leagutr, July IStk, 1646. In the same paper it is said, " Nothing yet from Godrich Castle, more than what the former letter ex- presseth.". , ^ — In the Perfect Diurnal from Monday August 3rcl. to lO^A, 1646, is, " This day there came letters to the house, from Colonel Birch, which certify that Godrich Castle in Wales, not far from Ragland, is sm-rendered unto him for the use of the parliament. The enemy was very resolute as long as they had any hope, but Colonel Birch drawing up close upon them both horse and foot, and entering some works, the enemy hung out a white ensign, and desired a parley. The Colonel not willing to lose his advantage, refused the parley. They cried out for honourable terras. He offered mer- cy and went on in his enterprises. They seeing the case desperate and themselves in a lost condition, ac- cepted of mercy upon these ensMing conditions. / i;-.y;_That Sir Henry Lingen the Governor of Godrich Castle, with all the officers and soldiers therein, shall have mercy for their lives, Secondli)— That the said Sir Henry Lingen, the Governor Trith all the otticers and soldiers should surrender up them- selves prisoners, to be at Colonel Birch's dispositiea. Titirdhf—'Vha.t all the arms and ammunitionj provision and M 3 132 GODRICH CASTLE. ■whatever else is in Godrich erameBt of Gloucester, p. 1!5, 116. 134 GODRICH CASTLE. was fired upon him, and all his carried prisoners to Hereford, before relief could reach him." The connection of Godrich with the Civil Wars is farther noticed in History, by its relation to the ances- tors of Dean Swift, which celebrated person presented the travelling chalice for the service of the sick, used by his grandfather Thomas, Vicar of the Church. The Swifts were anciently seated at Rotherham, in York- shire. The elder branch was enobledin the person of Barnham Swift, who was created Viscount Carlingford, Mar. 20, 1627, a title which became extinct upon his decease without male issue. From a younger branch of this line, descended Thomas Swift, Vicar of God- rich, a person distinguished by his courage and loyalty to King Charles I. in whose cause he suffered more than any person of his condition in England ; for he was plundered by the Roundheads thirty-six times, some say above fifty. He engaged (sic) his small estate, and having thus gathered 300 broad pieces of gold, he quilted them in his waistcoat, and escaping to Ragland Castle, which still held out for the King, he presented to the Governor thereof this seasonable supply, an ac- tion which must be aWowed to be the more extraordinary inasmuch as it was performed by a private Clergyman, with a very numerous family and small estate, which had been often plundered, and who was deprived of his livings inthe Church, Godrich and Bridstow. His es- tate at Godrich and Marstow, was also sequestered. About the time of the captu] e of H3reford by the rebels, he was imprisoned [correctly took shelter, for Ragland v/as then in the Kii'g's hands] in that famoif? Castle. WALFORD. 135 He was particularly accused of having bought arms and conveyed them into Monmouthshire, though he had not done so, and of having preached in Ross upon that text : " Give unto Csesar, &c." in which the Earl of Stamford said he had spoken treason, in endeavouring to give Cfesar more than his due. This Thomas Swift married Eliz. Dryden, Aunt to the Poet, and by her was father of ten sons and four daughters. He died in 1658. Jonathan the fifth son, an attorney, married Abigail Erick of Leicestershire, and had issue by her, Jonathan the famous Dean ; and a daughter, wife of Joseph Fen- ton, a tanner,* a match abhorred by her distinguished brother. The PRIORY, formerly called Flanesford, was founded by Richard Talbot in 1347, who was buried there, but at the dissolution removed to the Parish Church. The Priory Church appears as a barn, an« nexed to a house occupied by Mr. Bellamy, with an adjacent fish-pond. The ancient manerial Court House is or was, or- namented with the carved figure of a Talbot, (a species of dog,) in allusion to the family name, WALFORD on the left bank, has few antiquities. One is a Castellum or small squai-e entrenchment upon Howl-hill, apparently an exploratory post to the Camp * Ttius Mason, Hist, of St. Patrick's, Dublin, i. p. 227 239. In this work p. 229, is given from the Mercurius Rusti- cus, a long detail of the plumler of the Swifts. The villains utterly disregarded the protections, vhicn Mrs. Sv»ift had purchased, and tried to starve the infant children, "threat- iiinff the miller, if he ground any corn for them they would; griad him in his own mill." 136 RUERDEAN. at Penyard. Another is a fortified Manor House,f so altered according- to tradition, that it might not be sur,. prized by a Coup de Main, from Godrich Castle. The courts and yards are so disposed as to flank and com- mand each other, nor could the housa be taken without first carrying these, and a mount behind, which might hold field pieces. The third is the Warren, an en- campment used by Colonel Kyrle, Lord of the Manor, and resident at the Court House, befoi-e mentioned. He was first in the service of Charles, but turned to the Parliament. Being interred in Walford Church, where his helmet is still preserved, a tradition has arisen that here was buried the more worthy defender of Godrich Castle, an opinion founded upon confusion of persons* In the Newspaper called Perfect Occurrences, from April 25th, to May 2nd, 1645, is the following par- agraph. " Prince Rupert marched (from Bristol) by Walf- ford, towards Ross, the last week, with 2000 foot and horse, with two pieces of ordnance, who since we hear were quartered near Brampton," The Church formerly had a spire, which was des- troyed by lightning, February 17th, 1813. A Hugo de Walford, is mentioned 12 and 13 Job. as holding one Kn. fee in Waleford, of the Bishop of Herefordjjj and a John de Walford occurs again iu 1316. ^ The name does not now exist in the place. -)- A nine pound Shot, found here, is now in my possesstoD:.- * Anecdotes of CoJotiel Kyrle, wijl be given under Moru wouth. II m,, S, Hatrl. 301 f. 213. % Norn. Villar. HUERDEAJf. 137 Near the Church of RUERDEAN, are the earth- works of a castle. From the remains of an arch, it appears to be of the 13th century, the sera of nearly all the architectural remains in the vicinity. It was the seat of the Alba-maras, and through female heirs, of the Devertyes, Bicknors, and Baynhams. It appears to have been a small strong hold with a Barbican. The shell of a seat built about the reign of Elizabeth, shows that the castle was then deserted. It was most probably destroyed for materials, when the seat was erected, nothing being left. Tradition points out a spot from whence the Castle was battered by Cromwell's Troops; but the Castle was probably not then in existence, knd there is an apparent confusion with the real fact, that after the surprize of Monmouth, Ruerdeanwas made by Massey Governor of Gloucester, a parliamentary garrison to stop plunderers from Hereford.* XTpon the opposite side is COURTFIELD, the modern seat of William Vaughan, Esq. just abovt- WELCH BICKNOR Church, so called because au insulated part of Monmoutlishire. This separation was not uncommon, on account of annexation to a partieu].4r barony. Mr. Coxe relates the following anecdote of an an- cestor of the Vauglians. Walking one day with his son, who had long been married without issue, he challenged him to leap over a gate. The son attempted it without * Corb°tt, p. l.S>. 138 WELSH BICKNOR. success; on which the old gentleman vaulted over it easily, adding " as I have cleared the gate for you, so I must e'en provide you with an heir." Accordingly he married at the age of seventy-five, and left a son and three daughters. It certainly was a Celtic method to put children out to nurse at a neighbouring farm,f and in the Highlands the children of gentlemen often grew up in the families of their nurses ; J but in England they were removed at an age of puberty, to the houses of persons of rank.* Sir Bevill Granvill's house, till the civil wars (of Charles I.) broke out, was a kind of academy for all the young men of family in the country ; he provided himself with the best masters of all kinds ; and the Children of his neighbours and friends shared the ad- vantage with his own.§ When the revolution commen- ced, says Lord Clarendon, !| all relations were confound- ed by the several sects of religion, who discountenanced all forms of reverence and respect, as relics of super- stition. Children sought not blessing from their parents and their education was neglected for fear of expence. Young women conversed without circumspection or modesty, and frequented taverns ; so that Charles II. was not the author of all the debauchery of his eera. Consistently with the fashion of the times, before the parliamentary usurpation, Henry V. was nursed at Courtfield. The country people well knowing the at- tachment which subsisted between collactanei, or foster f Peunant's WUiteford, p.^ 2, J Newte's Tour, p 146 * HoTcdeiiaoligi, Bioffr. Brit. v. 698, et alii. ^ Owa Life, i. 2M. \\ Watk-ias's Bideford, 222, ftOWARB. 139 brethren,* have converted broken angels on each side the sepulchral effigy of the nurse, in the church, into the infant Henry and his fellow suckling. That the effigy really is that of the nurse is founded upon un- varying tradition, and with probability. The respect paid to nurses, both among the Romans and our an- cestors, was highly filial, and they acted as Chaperons to the daughters, often living in the family till death.f Mr. Shaw mentions an ancient Chalice belong- ing to this church, as the presumed work of Arabians, near the borders of Spain, and of the date of 1176, J whereas it is only a mistake of the church-wardens initials, and the year 1600. At ENGLISH BICKNOR are traces of a castle, «ir castellated mansion.^ At SYMOND'S YAT is a square camp, connected with the wars between the Romans and Silures ; for the position is immensely strong. || Upon the GREAT DO WARD is a camp, of which, through natural defences, only the west side is strongly fortified by entrenchments, because that part was deemed accessible. Spear heads have been found ; and the common marvellous tale is told of the discovery of a Giant's bones in a place seemingly arched over. * See Giraldus Cambrensis in Camden's Scriptores, 743. t Suetonius p. 425. 448. 456. 559. Ed. Babelon — ^Smythe's Lives of the BerkeleysM. S.— Shakspeare in Romeo and Ju- liet, alludes to the custom. J Western Tonr, p. 196. § Big- land's Gloucestershire, in Bicknor. || So Mr. Gou^h, Cam- den, ii. 448. Edition 1786. I could not find it : possibly it is hid by the wood. N 140 DOWARD. Between the Great and Little Doward, in a valley, lies a singularly picturesque estate, called the TCiln House Farm. In a corner of it is a romantic cavern bearing the name of King Arthur's Hall. It was cer- tainly a Celtick custom so to denominate caverns, and " Fingal's Hall," a similar excavation, was a resi- dence at least during hunting seasons.* Caves were winter habitations of the Britons,f and residences or places of protection for the Highlanders, J This is mere- ly given to illustrate a Celtick custom of so denomina- ting caverns ; for thi« is only a worn out iron mine. Upon the Little Doward, a hill of peculiarly fine outline, viewed in front from the Monmouth road are the interesting remains af a British Camp. Three cir-« cular terraces wind up to the summit. It is a valuable. relic of British Fortification, where Caractacus proba- bly posted himself, for how otherwise are the adjacent Roman Camps on the Great Doward and Symond's Yat to be accounted for ? Ostorius probably endeav- eured to force him by the Great Doward, but apparently did not succeed; and being compelled to cross the river» encamped at Symond's Yat. The inference is drawn from the circumstance of the Gauls taking up a position protected by a river, where even Caesar declined action§ At GANEREW, Vortigen's palace has been ab4 surdly placed by Geoffrey of Monmouth and his copj -t ists ; but the real spot seems to have been Dinas Emrys engraved by Sir R. C. Hoare.H * CampboH's Journey from Edinburgh, i. p. 179. A' Henry's History of Great Britain, ii. 113. J Newte' T-.:ii% p. 234, ^ Bell. Gall. L. v. c. 47. H Giraldus,-i, J25 MONMOUTH. 141 Roman Coins have been found at MONMOUTH, but the Blestium of Antoninus is probably Staunton from whence by the Kymin runs a Roman road to the town under discussion.* A British Fortress is said to have existed previous to the Roman Conquest and to have been occupied by the Saxons to support their conquests between the Severn and the Wye. It is sup- posed to have been rebuilt by John, Baron of Mon- mouth, f whence in failure of issue, it was aliened to Prince Edward, (afterwards King Edward I,) in 1257. In 1265, after the quarrel between Symon Earlof Lei- ceister, and Gilbert Earl of Gloucester, the former suc- cessfully besieged the castle which Gilbert had taken and fortified ; and levelled it with the ground. + It was however rebuilt or repaired, for devolving to John of Gaunt, by marriage with Blanch daughter and heir of Henry Duke of Lancaster — ^Heary of Bolingbroke, John's son, our Henry IV, was father of the Agincourt Warrior, Henry V, born here.§ His father Henry was then at Godrich Castle, arid upon receiving the nev/s of his son's birth, made a grand feast there. ^f As part of the Dutchy of Lancaster, Edward IV, granted * Gents. Mapfazine, Jan. 1822. f In tlie Barons' wars in 1233, the Ear! Marshal came to Monmouth to reconnoitre it for a siege. Baldewin de Gysues the Governor, discovering him, rushed out, wishing to bring in the Earl a prisoner to the castle. His bravery preventing succes-, a Knight killed the Earl's horse. The latter seized one ofBaldewin's companions by the foot, dismounted him, and jumped upon the horse. Bal- dewin in a rage tore otrthe Marshal's helmet, and seized the bridle. A cross-bow-man, seeing his danger, shot Baldewin in the breast. While his men were attending him, the Mar- shal was neglected, and his army coming up, a great slaughter was made among the Castellans. M. Paris, p. 239. Ed. Watts. t Triveti Amiales, p. 223, 224. § Gough,— Nicholsonj&c ^ Bloomfield on the Wye, p. 11. 142 Monmouth. it to the Herberts with whose other possessions it has devolved to the Duke of Beaufort.* The remains stand upon the ridge of an eminence to the N, of the Mon- now. The chamber where Henry V, was bom, is part ofan upper story, and 58 feet long by 24 broad. Another large apartment, probably the hall, adjoins. A circu- lar stair-case tower leads to the grand apartments, and vestiges of the castle exist among stables and out- houses. From the ruins arose a handsome edifice in 1673, an occasional residence of the Beauforts ; now a school. The possession of Monmouth, as being the key of South Wales, was perpetually contested during the Civil War. In 1643, Lord Herbert had begun to place a garrison in it; but when Sir William Waller ad- vanced, the soldiers abandoned the tov/n, because it was naked and open.f It was recovered again for the King,:]: and was alternately ia the possession of both par tie . The accounts are as follow. " Col. Missey after capturing Beachley and Chep- stow, took the tiwa and castle of Monmouth, which is not only the enemy's inlet into Wales, but a magazine to serve Bristol and other of the king's quarters with provisions; the manner of gaining thereof being very remarkable, and certified to be thus. Colonel Kyrle, who revolted from the parliament upon the loss of Bris- tol, went out with a party some miles from ""Monmouth to fetch in some provisions, and being as full of jollity as security, the most valiant Colonel Massey fell upon * There are other accounts since the grant, but Ihey appear to confound the fee-farm with the estate. t Corbet, p 31., X Id. 61. " MONMOUTH. 143 him and his company in the midst of their mirth (which it seems they preferred before the sending forth of scouts) and so surprised them." " The said Colonel Kyrle being conscious to him- self of his former services to the parliament, feared that he should not obtain quarter without a present recom- pence, and thereupon did undertake to bring Colonel Massey's men into Monmouth, offering to march in the front, which was concluded accordingly ; and at his coming to the guard, they thinking it had been their own forces, let down the draw-bridge and without any opposition received them into the town, and they de- manded it for the parliament, at which the garrison was so exceedingly amazed, that some of them fled away^ and left their arms, and the rest called for quar- ter; and so this town being of great consequence, to- gether with the castle, was reduced to the obedience of the parliament, with the loss of not above six men on both sides." Thus the Perfect Diurnal, (a newspaper of the day) from September the 1st. tothe 7tb. 1644.* When Monmouth was surprised by Massey, most of the soldiers escaped, but many officers and persons of quality were taken. So Le MercureAnglois, No. 15 which repeats the story of Kyrle's treachery, as does filso the London Post, No. 7.: October 1st. 1644. It adds, that Massey found in the town some brass cannon. * Corbett's account varies in the particulars, Colouel Kyrle made overtures to Massie, Governor of Gloucester, for the recovery of Monmouth. The latter having- pursued the Prince's [Rupert's J horse into Wales, and destroyed the enemy's n3 144 MONMOUTH. Soon afterwards the town was recovered in manner following', according to Corbett, Massie was invited by some Monmouthshire Gentlemen to take Chepstow, and Major Throgmorton was induced to weaken the project in fortifying Beachley, quartered with his horse and foot near Monmouth on the Forest side, and receiving an an- swer to a message latelysentto Lieutenant Colonel Kyrle, pro- pounded unto him, and followed this way; that he would leigne a post from Gloucester side, to desire a sudden return with his forces thitherward, to secure that part of the country from the enemy, which was already flown out from Bristol and Berkeley, and this message was to come to his hands at Mr. Hall's house, at High-meadow, a grand papist, where it would take wing for its despatch for Monmouth, by which means Kyrle commanding the horse might easily draw forth some troops to follow the rear of our party. Hereupon he feigned a sudden retreat to Gloucester, and having marched back three miles, lodged his forces in a thicket of the Forest, and send- ikig his scouts abroad, prevented the enemy's discovery In the mean time the intelligence reached Monmouth, and Lieutenant Colonel Kyrle drawsont, whom the Governor surprised at mid- night in High-meadow house, with his troop of 30 horse, and with as little noise as possible, advanced thence to Monmouth, Neverthelesp, twasnot so deep a silence but the alarm was given by the Cornet of the troop, who escaped the surprisal, and the attempt was made more difficult, if not desperate. The town took tl:e alarm, siood upon their guard espeotiwg an enemy. Notwithstanding thi-, Kyrle with a hundred select horse, arrived at the town's end, confidenily came up to the draw-bridge, pretending a return with many prisoners taken, pressed the guards and prevailed ■with Colonel Nottby, the Governor of the town, by the officers of the guard, to let down the draw-bridge, which was done, but with much jealousie, and a strong guard, and the bridge presently drawn up again, insomuch that the first party were like to be held prisoners in the town. Our forlorn hope saw that it was time to lay about them. They declare themselves, overpower the guard, and make good the bridge. They kept a strict v/atch over Kyrle'g deportment, who acted his part with dexterity and valour. Our body of horse andfoot were at hand, had a large entrance, sub- dued the town in a moment, and spared the blood of the sur- prised soldiers. But the dark and rainy night fitted the Go- vernor of Monmouth with the major part of the Garrison with an escape over the dry graft. We took one Major, three Cap- tains, and divers inferior Officers, sixty common Soldiers, fire barrels of powder and some arms, but the town itself was the best prize, being the key of S. Wales and the only safe inter- course for the King's Army, between the West Wales aad the Northern parts— Corbett. p. 100— Hi, MONMOUTH. 145 garrison at Monmouth to take advantage of this sur- render. The news was forthwith conveyed to the enemy, who drew together all the strength they could make of horse and foot from Ragland, Abergavenny, Hereford, and Godrich ; and November 19th. about break of day came to the town and lay undiscovered behind a rising ground, at a quarter of a mile's distance, never think- ing to make an attempt, much less to surprise it. But as the Governor's unavoidable absence, and the impor- tant enterprize of Monmouth Garrison, did cause their approach, there being not above 150 left there, so the negligence of the Captain, to whom the keyes were entrusted in the Major's absence, gave up the town into their hands. So remiss were the slender guards, that the Trevally was beaten and none took the alarm- The enemy observed, and took the courage to attempt the surprisal, come upon the higher side of the town that looked towards Hereford, having only a sloping bank cast up to a reasonable height, with a dry graft of no depth ; insomuch that the guards and sentiuels being all asleep or supinely negligent, above forty men presently clambered over and fell down to the next part, where they found not more than six men, who fled from the ground upon their coming on. With this, one takes an iron bar, breaks the chaine, forces the gate and sets it open to the whole body of horse, who rid up the town with full career, seized upon the main guard before one man could be ready to give fire, and took the rer,t in their beds. It was done in a mo- ment, where we lost Col. Broughton, Lm captains, lieutenants and ensigns, some of the committee, tog-re- 146 MONMOUTH. ther with common soldiers about 160 persons, two sa-' kers besides a drake and hine hammer guns taken at Beachley, with ammunition and provision, and at least 400 muskets.* The next London Post of December 10th says " There was some hope of the recovery of Monmouth; but by reason of the overswelling of the river Severne, the country thereabouts is so covered with waters, that but little good in this winter season is to be expected. Some places near Monmouth are however garrisoned to save the Forest of Deane from the enemies incursions out of that towne." By the same paper of January 17th, 1644 — 5, it appears, that these incursions kept Massey's troops constantly on the alert. A letter from Gloucester in that paper says, " We have a foule quarter hereabouts with the enemy, by reason of the losse of Monmouth. The Welsh are still hearkening for our governour's absence, and then on the Forrest of Deane' s side we never want constant * Corbett, 118. The London Post of December 3rd 1644, gives a different account. It says "Colonel Massey having- in- leliig^ence that the enemy was quartered and plundWing- about the edg-e of Gloucestershire, advanced to incounter them • he- liid left 600 men in Monmouth to defend that towne, givin'^- iliein charge that they should not slirr fortliuuti! his reUirne" b it the enemy having some design at^Chepstow, there ayrs 400 men sent out to fall upon fhem In the mean time the Lord l-5erbert understanding- what a weake power was left in S!oii- niout'.i, he sent eight of the most crafty of his sohiiet-s. ia the habit of country pesants, who pretending- to be for the parlia- ment, helda long- discourse wiili the sentinels upon the draw- bridge, when behold, upoa (he sadden, two troops oi' horse appeared, who breakins^- throng-h the sentinels did esiier the towucj which they not long after mastered." MONMOUTH. 147 alarmes, especially when he is towards Stroud or Cices- ter, so that we have a hellish life, unlesse we could divide our forces, and that cannot be till these horse doe joyne with us." In the Mercurius Verdicus, October 11th — 18th, 1645, it is said, " As far Lunford's inclining to ac- ceptance of £500, for the surrender of Monmouth, they know not of it." This Lunsford was the famous Sir Thomas, who furnishes a curious instance of the virulence of party slander. From some report of cruelty towards womeii and children, he was calumniated as a person who fed upon the latter, as being' actually a Cannibal,* To him the following lines of Hudibras allude, Made children with yoar tones to run for'f, As bad as Bloody Bones or Luusford." P. iii c.ii 1.68.t In the Mercurius Verklicus of October 18 — 25, we have " Colonel Morgan with the Monmouth and Gla- morganshire clubmen, f have besieged Monmouth, whereof Lunsford is governor. They have sent in summons, and received a negative returne." However it was very soon after taken in manner following. " Colonel Morgan with the assistance of the coun- try clubmen came against the towne with a consider- able number of horse and foot, and after the enemy perceived that we had an intention to storme them, they * Mercur. Aulic Ap-2— 9. 1642. t Granger ii. 243. Pop, ular Antiq. ii 361 . J This term implies the modern levy en masse. Holiushed (vi. p. 64) has the following' passag'e, " Making their assemblie not generalhe of all that iverc ahh f.Q bcarea clul>, as tUey did the yeere before." 148 MONMOrTH. fled out of the towne into the castle, after which the townesmen, considering with themselves that if we entered by force after summons, they should be left to the violence of the souldiers, they let fall the draw- bridge, by which means our men entered the towne, and the enemy stood on their giiard in the castle. Then we sent for pyoneers to Deane and other parts, which came in very freely, and the next day being Thursday we began to undermine in several plaCes ; which the enemy perceiving, sent out for a parley, which was consented unto, and hostages given on both sides. At which it was agreed, the officers should inarch away with their own armes, and the common soldiers without. Mercurius Veridicus, October 25th — ^November 1st, 1645. The castle however stood a siege of three days. Perfect Diurnal, February 9th — 16th, 1645 — 6. The military Vicar of Bray, Colonel Kyrle of Walford Court, obtained the government of the town, and sup- prised some stragglers successfully, the apparent ut- most of his services ; [Mercurius Veridicus, No. 2S. November 1st — 8th, 1645;) but was not confirmed in- his situation till March, 1645 — 6. Perfect Diurnal March 16—23, 1645—6. In iheCities Weekly Post of January 13th to 20th, 1645 — 6, it is reported that 200 of theRagland Horse entered Monmouth, but were driven out with much shame and loss. Such was the state of Monmouth, in 1659, that the Judges did not dare go there to hold the assizes, {Mercurius PoUticus, August 4— -11, 1659, No. 582 :) MONMOUTH. 149 but were obliged to refer the affair to parliament, who ordered a commission. A Post-office was not established at Monmouth and several other parts of South Wales, till November, 1663, The Intelligencer y Monday, Novembjer 16th, 1663, The town was moated and walled, with four gates. Only a part of the moat remains, stretching to the ruins of an old gateway in the street near Ross turn- pike. Parts of two round towers which flanked the South gate are visible, and the Monnow gate is entire. Some vaults under the house of Mr. Cecil, of the Duffryn, are attributed to Anglo-Saxon, if not Roman workmanship. On the North side of the church, says Gough, stands a ruinous square building, in which are very thick walls, niches and windows, and three round arched doors ; supposed remains of the Priory. Tanner says it was founded byWithenoc de Monmouth, in the reign of Henry I. who placed a convent of black monks from St. Florian'snearSalmure in Anjou, in the Church of St. Cadoc near the castle, and afterwards in the church of St. Mary, or Catherine, as Speed. The pre- sent church occupies the site of that of the priory but having been partly reconstructed about 1740, t\\M tower and lower part of the spire are the only ancient fragments. The priory house contains aa apartment said to have been the library of Geoifrey of Monmouth,* whose legendary work shows the extreme ignorance of the Britons as to their own real history. Such inven- * Nicholson, &c. 150 MONMOUTH. tions as his were common practices in the middle ages.f St Thomas's church is a curious old structure ascribed in part to the Saxons and even to the Britons. The mouldings of some arches excite particular attention. The suburbs beyond the Monnow are probably the site of the British town. Two ancient hospitals founded by John Monemue, once existed ; and a free school and alms-house remain, the benefactions of William Jones, who from a porter, became a factor in London. There is also a chapel, once belonging to the makers of Monmouth Caps mentioned in Shakspeare's Henry V, of which the manufacture was removed to Bewdley, on account of a plaguej Near Monmouth stands a very lofty eminence called " the KYMIN." Here is a fancy pavilion in honor of Lord Nelson, and our other marine heroes. From hence is a superb view of the banks of the Wye from the New Weir to Monmouth, and on the S. E. look to the nearest eminence, and you see in front the Buck- • stone, (so called from a silly story about a buck,) a famous rocking stone of the Druids, not a mile distant. Some writers upon Gallick Antiquities, call them c/ucha-brath, i. e. judgment-stones. In one direction ■they were moveable; but in others, the greatest force ©nly impressed their immense weight against the sides -of the cavity in which the apex was placed,* They are supposed to have been used in divination, the vi- brations determining the oracle ; or from their sound, t See this exhibited in Fosbroke's British Monachisn[i,new^ Edition, p. 19. 341. % Kitholsoij, &c. * Smith's Caelie Autiqaiiies, p. 71. BUCK-STONE. 151 when violently pushed, and reverbeniting, that they were suited to alarm the country upon the approach of an enemy,* or as there was a passage round them, that sanctity was acquired by perambulating them; that the cavity was a sanctuary for offenders ; for introducing proselytes, people under vows, or going to sacrificejf or for oracular answers. J Such stones were also fune- ral monuments, for Mr. Bryant says,§ " It was usual with the ancients to place one vast stone upon another for a religious memorial." The stones thus placed, they poised so equally, that they were affected with the least external force; a breath of wind would sometimes make them vibrate. These were called rocking stones. Thus various accounts. It is well-known that the Roman manners did not penetrate into Scotland and Ireland, from whence are to be drawn the best existing elucidations of v/hat is called Celtic superstition ;lj and it is also clear that originals of the poems of Ossian how- ever embellished, or garbled by Macpherson, are found in the Highlands. In the poem of Carric-thura we have " A rock bends along the coast, with all its echoing wood. On the top is the circle of Loda, the mossy stone oj" power/ ^ And again " The king of So- ra is my son, he bends at the stone of my power. ^^ In Fingal B. iii. we have a still stronger passage. " He called the grey-haired Snivan, that often sung round * Archeeologia V. is. p. 216 f Borlase, p. 138, &c. J Watson's Hallifax, p. 26. (j Notes upon Apollon'ms Rhodius, Arg-onaut, B. i. i| It is showsi in the Encyclo- pedia of Antiquitips, vol ii. p. 920, that Rocking-Stones, r»n« moved by the wind, J Stone circles, and other Druidical reasains occur in America. 152 BUCK-STONE. the circle of Loda; when the stone of poicer heard his voice, and battle turned in the field of the valiant." Now round Stonehenge and this rocking-stone runs a green path ; it was for the deisol, or perambulation round the temple, or stone, three times,* a custom which Giraldus Cambrensis says, that the Irish trans- ferred to churches,-|- From Ossian we see that the bard walked round the stone singing, and made it move, as an oracle of the fate of battle. That such stones were also sanctuaries appears from the following an- ecdote. *' Three Englishmen in the reign of Edward I. flying from William Wallace, took refuge at the stone called the Needle of St, Andrew in that town, thinking to he saved by the immunity of the stone.'''' That it was also used for healing, is evident from a neighbouring custom. In Christchurch (Monmouth- shire,) in the middle of the chancel, is a large flat stone, said to have belonged to a saint, but a mere memorial for one John Calmer, and upon this stone, every year, on Wednesday eve before Trinity Sunday, many women and children who are weak in their limbs, are brought from distant places to lie from sun-set to sun-rise ; the parish clerk remaining with them all the night with candles. "J Above the stone is a rock-bason, for libations of blood, wine, honey or oil, according to Borlase,|l but children upon birth were immerged three times in * SeeBorlase. f Camdeni Scriptores, p. 743. J Knighton, iu X. Scriptores, col. 2515. || Gouffb's Camden. BUCK-STONE. 153 water* among the ancient Irish : and lustral water is ancient also, consisting of rain water for greater sanctity. Upon the eastern corner of the stone is a rude arch now almost stopped up by growth of the soil, which according to Borlase, was the sacellum, or little chapel,-j- where the Druid of the stone placed himself. So late as 1682, a hermit in Ireland, to whom the country people brought all manner of presents, was called the " holt/ man of the stone/'-^ The form of the stone is an irregular square inverted pyramid, II and the writer of this, upon trial could fancy thatitmoved* The point where it touches the ped- estal is not above 2 feet square. Its height is about 10 feet : S. E. side 16 feet 5 inches : N. side 17 feet : S. W. 9 feet, and its south side 12 feet. The rock pedestal is an irregular square : S. E. side 12 feet : N. 14 feet 9 inches : W. 21 feet 5 inches : S. 14 feet. The student of Celtick Antiquities will see a fine illustration of these Druidical rocks and groves in a French book entitled " i' Ermite en Provence,^'' or manners of the Basques, a people at the foot of the Pyrenees.! That it conveys a real representation of the ancient practices alluded to, cannot be doubted. The Bilcar {Bil, assembly and Car, a contraction of Cahar, old men,) was not held in a palace, or in a * Giraldus iti X. Scriptores, p. 1071. f P. 150. J Collect, Reb. Hybern. No. ii. p. 64. || It is enarraved in the Anti- quarian Repertory, v. i. p: 112. § The passasre here is tiaken from the Literary Gazette, No. xxv, p. p. 33—24. 154 BUCK-STONE. space inclosed with walls, but in a wood upon an em- inence which commanded the coiiimune of Ustaritz. Two pieces of rock formed the seats of the president and secretary ; another black, the surface of which has been roughly polished, served as a table, and there were inscribed the deliberations and decrees of the council. The members composing the assembly, stood leaning on thorn sticks,-|- with their backs against old oaks, which formed a circle. They had as much res- pect for this wild spot, as the Romans had for the Capitol adorned with the images of their Gods. Indeed the Basques called and still call it, Capitoli Heri, i. e. Capitol of the Country, " That stone circles were the round hypcethral temples of the sun, in Britain, mentioned by Diodorus, seems to be strongly supported by the following pas- sage from Holinshed,* here given because it is long anterior to the age of Aubrey, who has been called the frst appropriator of these works to the Druids. " Mainas King of the Scotts, long before Christ, upon a religious devotion towards the Gods, having an as- sured beliefe, that without their favours all worldlie policies were but vaine, devised sundrie new ceremon- ies to be added unto the old, and also caused certaine places in sundrie parts of his dominion to bee appointed out, and compassed about with huge stones round like a ring ; but towards the south was one mightie stone farre greater than all the rest, pitched up in manner * V p. 45, Ed. 4to. t At Belfast are old Thorus still beld sacred. Hist, of Belfast. BUCK-STONE. 155 of an altar, [Cromlechs] whereon their priests might make their sacrifices in honor of their Gods." In witness of the thing, there remaineth mito this day certaine of those great stones, standing round ring- wise, which places are called by the common people the old chappels of the Gods,"* Homer proves that Stone Circles were also Courts of Judicature. The Circle at Carnac in Brittany is chiefly composed of rocking stones. f The famous iec/i/anar, a stone bridge over a brook was so denominated, viz. the speaking stone, because it once spoke, when a corpse was car- ried over it; J and in the church-yard of 3Iaentwrog, Merionethshire, is a long stone called Maen-twrog the stone of Twrog, a British Saint, who lived about the year 610, so that the early Christians adopted the superstition, but changed the stones into crosses. The situation of this stone was evidently chosen because it could be conspicuous for miles; being seen from even Ross Church-yard, distinguishable from a tree by its flat head and Y like form, a little below the nose of the promontory. Adjacent to it, is a large bar- row, and on the Coleford rdad, a huge upright stone, sepulchral or memorial, called the Long Stone. " Aii old Roman road," says Mr. Cox, "leads from the loft bank of the Wye up the Kymin, passes by Staun- ton, and was part of the old way from Monmouth to ♦ The Cromlech near Marecross co- of Glamorgan is called the Old Church; aud more instances may be seen iu Goaarh's Camden t S'>' ^- ^ Hoare's Mod. Wilts Hundred of tverley, &c. J Holinshed vi. JGO. o3 156 TROY-HOUSE. Gloucester. At Staunton are many indications of Ro- man settlement. The name of Staunton proves the ex- istence of a Roman causeway." The first object just out of Monmouth, is Troy House, so called, because situated upon the small ri- vulet Trothy. It was formerly a seat of the Herberts ; now of the Duke of Beaufort, who resides here during- the races and assizes. It is the work of Inigo Jones, and contains noble apartments, en suite, ornamented with fine portraits of this ducal family. Among its an- tiquities is a fine carved chimney-piece brought from Raglaad Castle; and, ^as is said, the bed in which Henry V, was born, his cradle, and armour in which he fought at Agmcourt. The bed is of scarlet cloth, richly fringed, the posts covered with the same. There is no anachronism in supposing it of the 15th century ; and beds ivith curtains, appear at this aera, to have been a distinction of knights banneret.* The cradle oftbo classical ancients varied, being of the several forms of a small bed,-]- a buckler J or a boat. § Rocking was usual, \\ Martial says, by men.<[]' Juvenal men- tions a vaulted tester of fine linen to keep off flies.** We find a cradle of the middle age suspended by cords, and covered with cloth,-j"|- and that of Henry V, once preserved at Newland, is a wooden oblong chest, with- out tester, swinging by links of iron, between two * Ducange Gloss, v. Banneret. f Lampridius in Ant, Diadum. % Theocritus in Heraclisc. § Montfauc. iii. p. i, V. 2, C.9, II Theocrit. ubi sup. ^ Epi^r. xi, w. ** Edit. Lubin, vi, lin. 81, ft Ducange v. BertelluM. J'ENALT. 157 posts, surmounted by two birds for ornament.* This looks much more ancient than that at Troy, which has a tester, rockers, and is covered with crimson velvet, but this is similar to ancient royal cradles, f Both among the Romans:}: and ourselves, the children slept in them at night, being confined by bands across. § As to the armour, it appears to be much more recent than the timeof Henry V, and only a suit for training youth. The inference therefore is, that these are relics of the Somerset family, brought from Ragland Castle. On the Monmouthshire side of the river, about a mile and a half below Monmouth, is the church of PENALT, situated on the side of a woody eminence, at the back of which is an extensive common. On this common is a large oak tree, at its foot a st W sc bj ^ I5 2.^ S^"^ '^^ ^ ^ !zl^ S^ 2. £. CB "-! cc CO to i-j 02 rf*- <» to 10 ■^ 00 CO 1 10 a«oi w 5"| p -J 1-3,1 Si '^- H 021 O $r ,: ^ 'S 2 p - • o J^ ce ^ « ci 5- to b-i WJ h»4 g- o o o I ^ •< *» 05 Gf5 SO to K> 3 TINTERN. 163 The admeasurement, &c. of the Abbey by William of Worcester seems inaccurate. If any particular deviations from strict architectural precision occur, the remark of Sir Christ. Wren is to be recollected, namely, that the Norman Builders were not exact to a nicety, either in their intercolumniations, or arches, or other arrangements. The following are the heads of the matters concern- ing the wii-e- works, to be found in the Lansdowne Manuscripts. No. 75. Art. 87. Sir Richard Martin and Dr. Julius Caesar, write to Lord Burghley concerning an offer of one Cachmaye to farm the wire-works of Tintern. March 11. 1593. No. 90. Sir Richard Martin and Dr. Julius Caesar, beg Lord Burghley to send a pursuivant to Mr. Han- bury to compel him to cease his oppressive usage of the Company of the Iron works at Tintern, and their Farmer. March 23, 1593. That the works at Tintern were the first in this Kingdom is controvertible, from the following curious paragraph in Evelyn's Miscellanies, p. 689, « In this parish, [Wotton, Surrey] were set up the first brass mills, for the casting, hammering into plates, cutting and drawing it into wyre, that were in England : first they drew the wyre by men sitting harnessed in certain swings, taking hold of the brass thongs fitted to the holes, with pincers fastened to a 164 liLANCAUT. girdle^ which went about them ; and then with stretch- ing forth their feet against a stump they shot their bodies from it, closing with the plate again ; but after- wards this was quite left off, and the effect performed by 2LViIngenio brought out of Sweden." From what has been said concerning the ancient ap- propriation of the Banks of the Wye to religious insti- tutions it may be believed that the term Llancaut was derived from Llan a Church, and Caw a British Saint, whose family had lands given them in Gwent (this country) by Arthur. Nor does the mention of this name fictionize the tradition ; for the Arthur of romance is merely a hero of a novel, borrowed from a real his- torical King and General, mentioned by Llywarch, Merddin, and Taliessin, his contemporaries, and by the Triads, (documents of undoubted credit,) who how- ever is not in any wise exalted by the Poets or Triads, above other Princes, who held similar stations in the country.* Llancaut has a military importance in another a?ra, the civil wars. Sir John Wintoiu-'s cavalry landed at Lancaut, whore they intended to fortify and make good the pass over the Wye, by which means they might issue out of Wales, at their pleasure. f CBEPSTOW CASTLE+ is said to have been be- * Sir R. C. Hoare — Dibdin's Typosrrapli. Antiq, i. 24(i. i" Cor!)eU''s Military Govenimpiit of Gioucester, p. 128, M. S. S. Snell t Among- the Kiiia''s Pamphlets in the Briiish Museum, No, 367, is an account of" A great fig'ht at Ctiepsfow Castle, between Lt. General C'romwell, and Sir Charles Kemisli, May 18, 1K41. CHEPSTOW CASTLE. 165 sieged and taken in 1645, by the parliament ; surpri- sed for the King in 1648, and again recovered by the parliament ; in some of which captures, treachery had a large share; notwithstanding after a long siege, conducted by Cromwell, it was once taken by storm, and nearly all the garrison put to the sword.* The following paragraphs are taken from the news- papers published during the civil wars. They vary from the quoted account. " From Gloucester there is also certain intelligence brought to the parliament the same day, that Colonel Massie had issued out with a party of his garrison, and fallen upon Sir Henry Talbbts forces at Shepstow, (sic) where he surprised three captains, three lieutenants, three Irish reformadoes, sergeant major Thorn, be- sides sixty common soldiers, with much arms and ammunition." Perfect Diurnal, January 29l;h to Feb- ruary 5th, 1643 — 4. " From Gloucester it is certified that Colonel Mor- gan, the governour, is recovered of his health, and is gone to the besiegers of Chepstow ; the town was ta- ken the latter end of the week, and they were in fair hopes of the castle, (which accordingly did surrender,)" Mercurius Verdicics, No. 25. October 11—18, 1645. Treachery had a share in this, for in the Cifi/ Scout, No. 13, from October 14th to 21st, 1645, it is said. — * So Nicholson, &c. See antea p. 164. ref.X 166 CHEPSTOW CASTLE. "To as little purpose as Rupert's carrying the Ladies to Breakfast at Abingdon, when whom (sic.) Colonel Browne billeted upon his quarters, and got more upon their bones, then they for their own bellies. Indeed Lunsford, (governor of Monmouth,) turned out the governor of Chepstow upon luch a project, which made the man come about to us, and they lost both town and castle by it." In a Perfect Diurnal from Monday, October 13th to the 20th, 1645, is this. " A messenger this day came to the house, with a further confirmation of the good news from Wales, of the taking of Chepstow Castle, and the town, with ordnance, arms, and ammunition as before. The house ordered that thanks should be given to God, on the next Lord's day, for surrender of the said castle and town, in like manner as Basing and Winchester. They further ordered thanks and a reward to the Governor of Gloucester, that faithful, gallant, and religious Gentleman." The stores in Chepstow Castle were immense, namely as follows. Eighteen pieces of cannon » 30 liarrels of salt (i-reat and small 16 barrels of powder 2 harqiipbuses 6 ton of lead Grt>at store of fire works 30 beeves in powder 400 and odd kilderkins of butter 4000 weig-bt of bisket A butt of sack 3 hogsheads of metheglin; 4 hogsheads of beer 70 bushels of oatmeal 30 bushels of wheat 10 bushels of beans andl pease CHEPSTOW CASTLE. 167 •' In March, 1646, it had been ordered by the. commons, that Chepstow should be kept with forty men, the new fortifications in the Haven to be demolish- ed." Perfect Diurnaly March 1st— 8th, 1646. With such an irpperfect garrison, its fall was a matter of course. " Chepstow Castle having been surprised by Sir Nicholas Kemmish, guns and battering pieces were sent from Gloucester against it." Perfect Diurnal, MaylSth, 1648. " Chepstow, May 12t/t, 1660. The proclamation of his Majesty Charles II, was read by Colonel Hughes, attended by divers gentlemen, and persons of quality of this country, who with a great concourse of people, expressed their loyalty to his majesty. There were several volleys of small shot, and above a hundred pieces of ordinance discharged ; besides which Lieu- tenant Colonel French, governor of the castle, to cn- courao-e them in their joy, gave them an hogshead of wine and another of beer. Mercurius Puhlicus, No. 20. ''May 2lst, 1660, The Earl of Worcester, and the Lord Herbert being content that Chepstow Castle scUould be demolished, the liouso ordered tiio demolish- ing of it; and referred it to his Excellency (General ' Tvlonck) to take care of the ammunition therein." 3/