chronicle, we find this entry: A.D. 1301, "On the first day of April, being Easter eve, the church of Llanthony, near Gloucester, was entirely burnt to the bare walls, together with its four belfries; nor did any bell remain which was not either broken or melted." Nothing remains of the north transept but one side of the window. The south transept is lighted upon the south by a double Norman window, the moulding and shaft plain; each window eighteen feet by three; and above them in the gable a plain rose window, of which nothing but the circular rim exists. The effect of this composition, from its simplicity, is exceedingly imposing. A bold Norman arch, supported by a plain Norman corbel-pillar, with a cushion capital, communicates on the east from the transept with the Lady chapel. One step from the tower leads into the choir; the roof was supported upon pillars, lofty, with Norman capitals; one on the south is perfect, and the base of the corresponding pillar is to be seen. The string-course runs over this pillar, and along the wall to the extremity of the choir. At the distance of eighteen feet, are traces of steps to the high-altar, flanked on either side by triple-pillars, clustered; the distance between these steps and the east window, is also eighteen feet. A long and exquisitely proportioned round-headed window lighted the choir on the north side, and is quite perfect, except that the masonry above it is gone, leaving the naked rim of the head standing alone, with an effect at once graceful and melancholy; the space on the south side points out where the corresponding window stood. A gap shows the place occupied by the great eastern window. "When Mr. Wyndham made the tour of Wales in 1777, the eastern front was standing, but is since fallen, and the design of it is now only preserved by the view engraven of it in his book." This is Sir R. C. Hoare's notice; it was gone in 1800, when he visited Llanthony. From Mr. Wyndham's drawing, it seems to have been a fine pointed window, with tracery in the head, and having two small Norman lights in the gable above. A few mouldings are still extant, and slender shafts with Norman capitals in the wall where it was inserted. As you return from the east, you are struck with two windows in the bell-tower on the south side, in the second story. They consist of a round-headed arch, divided into two lights by a sturdy balustre standing in the middle of the wall, and extending from its plinth to its capital, right through the centre to the top of the arch; beyond this, in the thickness of the wall, vestiges of a passage are discernible, which seems to have formed a gallery round the tower. A round-headed plain Norman door, the jambs being low pillars with cushion capitals, at the west end of the choir, on the south side, leads into the Lady chapel. The slight remains of the corbels, from which the roof sprung, are here more elaborate in their work than in any other part of the building. We had some difficulty in tracing out the foundation. The chapter-house was built in contiguity to the south side of the south transept. On the north side of it a stable is inserted, which prevents accurate observation; in a calf-pen, however, we discovered the corresponding bases of the columns to the other unencumbered side. It seems to have been a spacious and elegant room, of an oblong form, lighted at the east and at the south, where is a deep recess, and traces sufficient to warrant the surmise that there were three Norman windows on that side. The south wall is ornamented and divided into four compartments by clusters of triple pillars, upon which the roof rested. The east end narrows Entrance from the west. in. On the south of the church, between the transept and the chapter-house, is an oratory, with an engroined roof, in complete preservation. The central arch springs from a Norman corbel on each side, and two other arches from the angles of the building in the same manner. By their intersection the roof is formed. A deep Norman window is fixed in the east wall. The sides of the door consisted of two pillars, capitals flowers, bases ogee. South again of the chapter, a large space for a door-way, the side-pillars of which are partly standing, opens into the refectory. The slight traces still in existence defy any thing like accuracy of detail. A rude window, chimney, and vaults, broken in and filled with rubbish, show where the offices and kitchen lay. Beyond these is a splendid sewer, which has been mistaken by the neighbouring people to be the commencement of a subterraneous passage leading to Old Castle, under the mountains. vivarium, or fish-pond, is east of the church, and a mountain rill still runs through it. The whole of the conventual building, together with a close, amounting to seven acres, was surrounded by a wall. South west, at some little The distance from the church, and divided from it by what is now a long meadow, stands the hospitium, and porter's lodge. At present it is a barn, and has been enlarged for that purpose. A fine pointed arch, under which was the entrance gate-way, still remains; the pillars upon which it rests are immensely strong; the capitals, Norman, rudely carved. Above this were apartments, lighted by two round-headed windows, in the north gable, and in the south gable by two windows with trefoil cusps, and one round-headed; an old fire-place above is also visible. The arches on the other side are blocked up with solid masonry. The porter's window, pointed, looks to the west. In the bay of the barn, and on a level with the ground, on the west side, is a window deeply set in the wall, pointed; and in a line with it a square open space, like the top of a buttery hatch, with a large flat stone below, whence probably the dole was distributed.1 VI. THE DESCENT OF THE PROPERTY AFTER THE DISSOLUTION. The site of the monastery was granted, at the dissolution, to Richard Arnold, called by Tanner Nicholas Arnold; auditor Harley purchased it from Captain Arnold, of Llanvihangel, and thus it came into the possession of the Oxford family. Lord Oxford sold it to Colonel Wood, of Brecon, from whom it passed into the hands of Walter Savage Landor, Esq., the author of "Imaginary Conversations," and remains in his family. The ruins have been sadly plundered, neglected, and pulled to pieces, until the appointment of Mr. Webb to the stewardship of the property. He has done everything in his power to keep together what remains. So great was the indignation generally excited in the county, by the utter recklessness with which the building was abandoned, as it were a quarry, to any farmer who wanted building materials, (in which charge the proprietor himself was implicated,) that Mr. Landor thought it right to vindicate himself in a letter, written to Mr. Prout, in the following terms:-"Llanthony Abbey was much injured, while I was in Spain, in 1808, by taking down a part of the great tower, contrary to my orders. The doorway (west) had lost all its mouldings before I was possessor. One side fell down in the storm last winter. I shall be extremely unhappy if any of these dilapidations are Our view is a reprint from Coxe. There is a good view of the nave (interior) by Coney, in Dugdale's Monast. Angl. Coffin lid found at Llanthony. attributed to my neglect or parsimony." Some gentlemen have subscribed to clear the choir and transepts of the rubbish with which they are filled, and to strengthen the ruins, where the further effects of dilapidation may be apprehended. GEORGE ROBERTS. VICARAGE, MONMOUTH, 6 feet 3 ins DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TOWN AND CASTLE OF HARLECH. THE following documents are selected from the records concerning the affairs of Wales, amongst the archives of the kingdom, in London, and from the valuable collection of manuscripts at Porkington, in Shropshire. The engraving given above of the Seal of the extinct corporation of Harlech is copied from a cast, the mould for which was taken from the least imperfect of the few impressions known to be extant of the original matrix, supposed to be lost. The impression from which the mould for this cast was made is upon the Seal to an original deed at Porkington, dated upon the 19th of March, 1 Elizabeth (1559), but from the character of the letters in the legend, the matrix must have been of much earlier date.1 I. GRANT OF THE OFFICE OF CONSTABLE OF THE CASTLE OF HARLECH TO HUGH DE WLONKESLOWE. [Branch Record Office, Tower. Rotulus Walliæ, 12 Edw. I. Orig.] Rex commisit Hugoni de Wlonkeslowe Castrum de Hardelawe, cum armatis et omnibus aliis in Munitione Castri illius existentibus, custodiendum quamdiu Regi placuerit. Et concessit eidem Centum libras annuatim pro custodia eiusdem Castri, ad Scaccarium Regis de Kaernaruan, per manus Camerarii Regis, qui pro tempore fuerit, percipiendas: videlicet vnam medietatem ad festum omnium Sanctorum, et aliam medietatem ad festum Penticoste. Ita tamen quod continue habeat in Munitione Castri illius, ad custum2 suum, triginta homines defensabiles, de quibus sint decem balistarii, vnus Capellanus, 1 No impression of it is known appended to any earlier document than of the year 1559. 2 Cost or charge. |