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and this coate, for Thomas Cardiffe, buried 1638. (He has a drawing of this coate of arms which consists of an Indian bow.) He adds: Upon a hill near this church was a castle, now ruined and gone.'

Later in the autumn of the same year in which the king paid this peaceful visit to Ewyas-Harold, it became the scene of an engagement between the two hostile parties in the civil war, the first that took place in Herefordshire. I proceed to give a short account of it, for which I am indebted again to the Rev. John Webb's memoirs of the civil war in Herefordshire, not destined, I trust, to continue as at present only in MS. He writes: "Late on the evening of November 12th, the Earl of Stamford called a council of war upon advice that three hundred and fifty foot of the enemy (the king's men) were posted within five miles of Hereford, and it was resolved that a party, commanded by Kirle, should be sent to surprise them. After this he sat down and wrote a despatch in which he hinted at his design, and enclosed Lord Herbert's letter. He magnified his services in having, with so small a force, kept possession of so important a city, and silenced a host of malignants so effectually that the wavering had turned to his side, and the obstinate been forced to hide their heads. He had called a county meeting for the following Tuesday to try the affections of the gentry and freeholders, and ascertain what assistance might be expected from them. He promised to report their proceedings; and, as if he had not already more men than he could provide for, he announced a project for raising five hundred dragoons, by which he hoped to render himself more useful, and, personally, to be more secure.

The expedition, having gone out further than had been intended, returned without the loss of a man, but also without bringing in a single prisoner. The Royalists intended as near an approach as had been reported, but the information proved merely a lure to draw Kirle and his party to a greater distance. When they reached the place that had been pointed out, and

where they thought to have surprised these new-raised soldiers in the negligence or habitual repose of a Sabbath morning-they found that they had been deceived; but, learning that they were at Harold's Ewyas, and being keen from their late success, they were unwilling to return without an attempt to dislodge them. If the cavaliers had not been thoroughly prepared to receive them, it would not have been the fault of the country people, who showed great good will and alacrity in giving warning of their approach. Arrived at the scene of action, the commander, with his lieutenant and three privates, advancing before the rest, found six Raglan soldiers at the entrance of the village. The challenge and reply usual at such meetings was sharply given and returned. "Who are you for?" they cried. "For the king, and plague take the parliament." Both sides then fired; and, as we are told, all the Welshmen were killed, while not one of their assailants was wounded. This was succeeded by a rush of the whole party into the place, where they killed fifteen men, the rest escaping to the nearest hilly ground. As Kirle and his officers might reasonably expect some ambush, they checked all pursuit; and contenting themselves with sending a defiance to them to come down, and hanging upon a tree the body of one of the slain, who had rendered himself odious to the villagers by violence and robbery, they marched back to their city quarters.'

This account is taken from a report made to the parliament by the Earl of Stamford, commanding the forces in the district. Since this, I know of no event of interest connected with Ewyas-Harold. I may, however, in conclusion, mention that it was only in the year 1849 that Ewyas-Harold, with eleven other parishes, was transferred from the Diocese of St. David's to that of Hereford. This district was part of the debateable land between England and Wales. Up to the reign of Henry VIII, it seems to have been considered as Welsh but was then (in that rearrangement of boundaries by which Monmouthshire became an English county),

placed, for civil purposes, in Herefordshire, while left ecclesiastically in the Welsh diocese of St. David's. The Welsh character of the district is shewn by the names of the great mass of the inhabitants being Welsh, as well as the names of the farms, hills, and separate fields. The old British usage, a most pleasing and poetical one, of decking the graves with flowers on Palm Sunday or Easter Day, still continues; in connection with which I may mention the great reverence shewn, by the custom of all attendants at funerals kneeling on the bare ground, during the service.

The Welsh mode, or rather Celtic generally, of calling one's father's or mother's first-cousin, uncle or aunt, is still common. To this I may add that traces of English being an acquired language, are to be found in the Welsh accent which still lingers among the older people, and the purity of their English, both as to grammar and pronunciation, as compared with Herefordshire generally. Under the influence of railways and the influx of strangers, these peculiarities are fast disappearing.

W. C. Fowle.

70

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTH
PEMBROKESHIRE.

(Continued from p. 374, vol. xiii.)

We now come to a more important class of houses, some of which approach the purely defensive structure, and may almost be called the castle proper. One of these, however, the so-called Priory House of Moncton, a suburb of Pembroke, although built on vaulted basements, does not present any decided defensive features, as, indeed, might be expected from its situation close to the great Castle of Pembroke. Even in its present neglected condition it is a very picturesque edifice, and of particular interest as being probably the only remaining example of an Abbot's or Prior's house throughout Wales, for such it appears to be. In Fenton's time it was occupied by a farmer-but is also stated to have been used as the parish workhouse—a statement not consistent with what Fenton says. It is now principally used as a workshop. A view of it, slightly. differing from the one here given, will be found in the Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages (fourteenth century), where it is called, not the Prior's house, but the Great Hall, or the Charity Hall, which last appellation may be connected with the story of its having been used as the poor-house. The assumption, however, that the building was the Prior's residence creates a slight difficulty, as it is of earlier date, according to the author of the work mentioned above, than the foundation of the Priory itself, which, as Leland states, was founded for Blackfriars by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in the reign of Henry the Sixth. This difficulty may be partly explained by the fact that Arnulf de Montgomery gave the original church of St. Nicholas within the castle walls, together with twenty carucates of land to the abbey of Sayes, in Normandy, and according to the same authority, William Marshall subsequently founded, and liberally endowed, a priory

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