After leaving Boughrood Station the line of railway runs by the river bank, and continues on a course of 27 miles nearly parallel with the Upper Wye past Builth to Rhayader, through a valley of charming scenery, the river forming here the boundary between the counties, Radnorshire on the right, and Breconshire on the left or western, side of the railway line journeying towards Builth. About half way between Boughrood and the next station, Erwood, the tributary of the Bachhowey is crossed, where on July 18th, 1867, a red-letter day in the annals of the Woolhope Club, the railway authorities stopped the train, and erected a platform for the members to alight and spend the day at the beautiful waterfalls of Craig-y-pwll-ddu, where are observed remarkable contortions of Ludlow rocks. (See Transactions, 1867, page 40, et seq.) Upon this historic ground we must dwell for a few moments to remind ourselves that Sir Roderick Murchison has pointed out that the stream here separates the Upper and Lower Ludlow rocks. Upon the south, Trewern Hill, a continuation of the Begwn range, is of the Ludlow formation, whilst still more southerly the Old Red Sandstone rocks appear. In the Ordnance Geological Survey the line of demarcation between the Old Red Sandstone and the Ludlow is a well defined line, about a mile north of Erwood. The bold hill of Garth, 1,065 feet high, is just on the Old Red Sandstone, Llandeilo-graban and Llande wi-fach are both of the Lower Ludlow formation. At Boughrood is a narrow outlier of Lower Ludlow along the river Wye, about a mile in length, another of similar size on the right side or east of the Wye, a mile further north, against the stream of the river upwards,* whilst a much larger outlier of the same Lower Ludlow crosses the Wye just before reaching Erwood. These Ludlow rocks extend from Erwood to Corn-y-fan, about six miles north-west of Brecon. In Records of the Rocks the Rev. W. Symonds recommends the geologist after examining the Upper Silurian section on the banks of the Wye near Trewern, to follow up the rocks in ascending order by Cusop to the Brownstones on the summit of the Black Mountains, and on page 239 he exhibits an instructive section of this walk. From this range of hills demonstrating the passage downwards from Old Red Sandstone to the older rocks beneath them Sir Roderick Murchison obtained the key to the whole Silurian system. Our geologists would have preferred to tarry awhile, but the train hurried them along their course almost parallel with the rocky-bedded Wye until other historic ground was reached at the station of Erwood. At this place the river was forded by the English troops in the pursuit of Prince Llewellyn. The name of the ford is Cafan Twm Bach, or little Tom's boat, where now a very comfortable-looking hostelry occupies the Radnorshire bank within three minutes' walk of the railway station at Erwood. A repetition of the oft-told history of Llewellyn's betrayal by the blacksmith who reversed his horses' shoes is unnecessary-suffice it to say, in the words of the learned Selden, that on December 22nd, 1282, in the 48th year of his age, perished "as great and The right side here mentioned is properly the true left bank of the river, it being necessary always to bear in mind that the banks of a river are always designated right and left banks as you travel with the stream down the river from its source to its mouth, not against the stream from its mouth to its source. In this paragraph of the text, the terms right and left have been used according as objects were situated right or left of the traveller from Three Cocks towards Builth. worthy a prince as ever the third part of this island was ruled by," and that one of the most carefully-recorded accounts of the circumstances is to be found in Transactions of the Woolhope Club for 1866, page 230. Leaving Erwood station, the Old Red Sandstone is shortly lost sight of; the hill upon the right hand of the railway exhibits the appearance of ruins of an ancient fortification with a series of rocky walls of circumvallation rising above each other successively. These rocks of Upper Ludlow tilestones, with a horizontal stratification, have in some instances assumed grotesque shapes owing to disintegration and weathering of the soft parts. Near Aberedw, just above Mr. T. B. Mynors's residence "Pont Shony," (Johnny's bridge), of which Mr. T. M. Baskerville of Clyro Court is the proprietor, are representations which carry the mind to the monster Sphinx and other gigantic relics of Egyptian antiquity. At Aberedw railway station the members were met by the Rector of the parish, Rev. A. G. Adamson. The first object of search was for a rounded boulder, a granite-like rock which Mr. Moore had observed on his visit here about a month ago and which appeared to have fallen from the drift exposed here. Mr. Moore had chipped off a fragment and sent it to the Rev. J. D. La Touche for examination, who reported of it as follows: "The chip of the boulder turned out to be very interesting. I have made a good section of it which has revealed some fine structures. It appears to be a volcanic tuff, with large crystals of plagioclase felspar, and cavities filled with zeolites which make a splendid display of colour in polarized light." The search for the boulder, however, proved fruitless; it had been removed and probably broken up for road-mending. Portions of igneous rocks were discovered in the drift. Mr. Adamson conducted the members to the contiguous ruins of one of Prince Llewellyn's castles, which in Vol. 1, page 109, of Clark's Mediaval Military Architecture is said to have been built by Ralph de Baskerville, one of the Norman invaders. Alas! that the march of civilisation should find it incumbent to deliberately demolish so interesting a relic of history. Upon forming the railway line, the contractors, not successful in their first attempts to remove from off the face of the earth the two circular towers on the south side of this stronghold, accomplished this ruthless vandalism by increasing the number and quantity of their charges from one barrel of gunpowder to three barrels. The parish clerk, David Williams, now aged 79, was a witness of their proceedings. He recalls to mind that the wall interiorly had many curious recesses like large cupboards. Surely in the present days of reformed churchwardens and scarcity of Goths, the embankment would have been faced with a wall of masonry where stone was abundant, and the whole would have been preserved, or the line would have been diverted a few yards, and thus the feelings of posterity would have been spared so deep a wound. The fragments that remain of this stronghold show that it was a square work of about forty yards each side, with a round tower at each angle, and surrounded by a deep dry ditch, enclosing an area of about one-third of an acre. Three hundred yards southeasterly upon the north bank of the river Edw is a conical mound, the upper surface of which has been artificially elevated perhaps fifteen feet by the excavations from its surrounding ditch. Exposures upon its declivity show that its base of the uppermost tilestones of the Upper Ludlow series was originally a natural knoll. The Rev. Jonathan Williams, in his History of Radnorshire, page 285, considers that this was the residential palace of the British reguli or chieftains of this district long prior to the Norman invasion. Such it may have been, but only on the supposition that the reguli of those days were contented with a cave or a stockaded enclosure of a few feet only in area for a palatial residence. The elevated mound forms a commanding site for a place of observation, and no doubt has often been used for this object. To-day the view along the valley of the Upper Wye, the precipitous banks of the river Edw, the deep dingle, along whose base flows this garrulous river, with the finely wooded opposite side, the posterity of the primeval forest, formed objects of most pleasing beauty. The parish Church is situated a distance of four hundred yards from this knoll. It is of the usual type so prevalent in Wales, consisting of a nave and chancel of the same width, a tower at the west end and a porch (in this instance of unusually large dimensions) upon the north side-measuring externally 18ft. by 16ft., and being proportionately high. The porch entrance is framed in heavy oak-timbered work, with open quatrefoil and trefoils above, and internally there is a double row of seats on each side, the lower in oak beams, the upper in stone. It would be interesting to know whether local traditions throw any light upon any use that may have been made in earlier days of so large a porch. Mr. Clarke informed us that it reminded him of what he had read in "The Crosses of the Vale of Clwydd," namely, that in the 13th century the Bishop petitioned to have the practice discontinued in that valley of using the Church porches on market days for the sale of commodities. Upon a large hard stone lying before the threshold of the porch appears the following inscription well engraved, and in excellent state of preservation-I. H. 1604. Engravings upon several stones in the walls of the Church on both north and south sides were remarkable for the fineness of their execution and for their well-preserved condition. A mural tablet of a softer structure, recording the demise of a Freemason, had been removed into the vestry. The quaint inscription upon it is given in full below, in the Rev. A. G. Adamson's description of the Church.+ Two venerable yew trees in the churchyard are undoubtedly the most ancient living remnants of antiquity here. Their riven hollow trunks, with gnarled excrescences, boughs, and branches, rendered the work of their measurement, at a height of 5ft. from the ground, in accordance with the rule of our Club, a matter of such difficulty, that their girth was taken at 3ft. from the ground, and was found to be respectively 23ft. 2in. and 18ft. 6in. From Transactions 1871, page 3, the inference would be drawn that there were four yew trees in the churchyard; but the parish clerk, David Williams, who has lived at Aberedw all his lifetime, bears evidence that within the memory of his nine and seventy years there have never been more than these two yew trees. The clerk's father, a carpenter, died in this parish at the ripe age of 91. *Recently removed to the wall within the Porch, for its better safety and preservation.†This tablet is now fixed within the Porch.-(A.G.A.) (A.G.A). The rector, the Rev. A. G. Adamson, conducted the members of the Club over his Church, and began his explanation of its interesting details by informing them that it was dedicated to St. Cewydd, who, according to Canon W. L. Bevan (Diocesan Histories, St. David's, p. 5), was a northern chieftain from Strathclyde, who came to Wales in about the 5th century. Three Churches, viz., Aberedw, and Disserth in Radnorshire, and Llangewydd in Glamorganshire, are dedicated to him. A road in Aberedw is still called "Cil-gewydd." S. Cewydd is the Welsh S. Swithin the dates of their Feasts correspond. S. Swithin's Day is July 15th. Aberedw people say that "Aberedw Feast is on the second Sunday in July." One woman told the Rector "it is the Sunday after Becket's Feast." Becket's Feast was on July 7th. In the churchyard is the tomb of John Davies. He was a brother of the antiquary, the Rev. Edward Davies, author of Celtic Researches and Mythology and Rites of the British Druids. His life appears in Leslie Stephen's Dictionary of National Biography. He died in 1831. Exterior of Church.-South side, five windows, the two in the chancel are Jacobean, the two next in the nave are churchwardens' windows of wood, the south-west window is of the 14th century; this last and the two chancel windows are of Red Sandstone. The chancel door, though now walled up, is clearly visible. The original use of it by the Priest obtained until thirty years ago, when the men of the congregation alone entered by it. There are two mural tablets on the south-east wall with the following inscriptions : I. Just opposite under C. D.: ther lyeth ye body of Catherine secd daughter to James Davies Cur: of this pish by Mary his wife who dyed ye 18th of 9br, 1709, aged 11 weeks. How fading are ye joys we dote upon But those wh soonest take their flight It is hard ye hour to pass. II. Underneath lie the remains of Daniel James, the son of James James, of Pen-y-blaen in this Parish, Gent., who departed this life Nov. 5, 1786, aged 24 years. After many years' heavy affliction which he bore with Christian patience; he gave up his soul to the hands of a precious Saviour, hoping for the Resurrection of the just. A friendly youth rests here below Soon by an Angel, from the ground. This Daniel James was a younger brother of James James, one of the first ministers of the Calvinistic Methodists in 1811, whose life has been written in Geiriadur Bywgraffyddol (Noted Men of Wales). East wall: No east window, nor any trace of there ever having been one. century, both of Red Sandstone. On the chancel wall, three tablets recording, in finely chiselled engraving upon very hard stone, that people were buried "under the green stone," dates 1703, 1707, 1716. The meaning of the "green stone" still remains an unsolved mystery. In the angle between the porch and the tower is a large mound with a semicircular wall in front. It appears* to have been a vast grave from the fact that, when a hole was dug three years ago for a scaffold pole, bones were at once disclosed. Within the memory of people now living the Stocks stood at the churchyard gate. Ball-playing used to be common in the churchyard, Fives against the wall of the Tower, and a kind of Tennis along the roof on the south side. A small window in the Tower was filled up to prevent the fives-ball going in, and a hollow in the ground, filled up only two years ago, was made by the feet of the fives-players. Interior. The font is new: the old one, circular, was removed about thirty years ago to Alltmawr Church, in Breconshire, on the opposite side of the Wye. The chancel screeen is pre-Reformation from the floor to the lower beam of the loft: the loft, however, has disappeared, if it ever existed. From the floor of the loft to a beam near the roof perpendicular railings were inserted, perhaps in the Jacobean period. Mr. Robert Clarke considered that the lower and upper parts were alterations of the 18th century, but the framing and middle portion is of the original perpendicular work, with the archway, and cusped tracery heads, seven in each side now remaining. The screen appears to have been turned round, as its carved side faces the east. At the entrance of the chancel was formerly the inscription "Marry here," the work of some rubrical mind. The rector has restored the ancient custom. The roofs of chancel and nave are barrel-shaped, that of the chancel, ribbed in oak, and plastered between. Tablets in chancel.-North side, Baskerville, a very old family in Aberedw, now represented by W. B. Mynors, Esq., Bosbury House, Ledbury; of Jones, Rhysgog, now a farm house with some internal remains of past greatness. South side, James James, the father of the Calvinistic preacher before referred to. He owned, and lived at Pen-y-Blaen, in the upper part of the parish. Vestry. Really a part of the Church, partitioned off, probably in the early part of this century, for a parish school. In the vestry† is kept a mural tablet, removed, for the sake of preservation, from the exterior east wall; the inscription runs-Here lieth the body of Jeremiah Cartwright, son of William Cartwright, of Choulton in ye parish of Lidbury and County of Sallop, Freemason. He left issue Jeremiah, William, John, Humphrey, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Anna. He died 8br. 4, 1722, aged 73. *The mound has since been removed, and the conjecture proved correct.-(A.G.A.) |