CYMMER ABBEY, MERIONETHSHIRE.

THE precise date of the foundation of this monastic house, as well as the name of the person who first established it, are unknown. It has been attributed to Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, circa A.D. 1200, but this notion is erroneous, as appears from that Prince's charter recited in certain proceedings against the Abbot, temp. Edward III. He there especially mentions previous "charters and donations" given to the monks by Meredith and Griffith, sons of Conan, and by Howel, son of Griffith (about the year 1198). Prince Llewelyn was, however, a considerable benefactor to the monastery, as may be inferred from the charter, to which we shall revert by and by. There is no improbability in supposing that some brethren from Citeaux, travelling into this part of Wales, were struck with the beauty and seclusion of the spot, and that, having taken up their residence on it, they afterwards procured the sanction of the princes of the country and the munificent aid both of them and the nobles. Many a monastery has been first established in as fortuitous and unpremeditated a manner as this; and what originated in the humble piety of a few recluses, has afterwards grown up into a mighty engine of religion, learning, and science.

The abbey was of the Cistercian order, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it does not appear to have been an establishment of any considerable size; judging, indeed, from the buildings still extant, as well as from the absence of any notable event connected with its history, we are inclined to rank it amongst the least important of the houses of that order. No doubt the seclusion of its situation, and the wild simplicity of the surrounding country, tended to stamp upon its inmates that character of contented quietness which, while it withdraws men from the sphere of historical renown, ensures them means "to keep the noiseless tenour of their way" in happiness and peace. Few spots indeed can be found more lovely in the wide range of Cambrian scenery than the site of Cymmer. Not inferior to that of Valle Crucis in sylvan richness, it is far superior in mountain grandeur; and, like all this part of Merionethshire, may be compared, without any fear of disparagement, to some of the choicest vales of Switzerland.

The Mawddach dashes wildly by it, hills diversified with wood and rock are all around; beyond the green meadows of the vale of Dolgelleu are seen the precipitous and varied ridges of Cadair Idris, while close upon the Abbey itself are groves and woody glades well fitted for retirement and holy contemplation. It forms one of those rich scenes so precious to the interpreter of nature's fair face: every one is delighted at seeing it; all leave it with lingering regret.

The name of Cymmer signifies the confluence of two streams, and the abbey is in fact situated not very far from the meeting of the Mawddach and the Wynion; it is, however, more commonly known on the spot by the appellation of Y Vanner. Its former name has indeed led the learned Dugdale into the error of confounding it with the Abbey of Cwm Hir, in Radnorshire, a mistake which has been only partially rectified in the new edition of the Monasticon. The charter alluded to above will be found, in all the editions of Dugdale, under the head of Cwm Hir; and even more recent writers, in mentioning an attack made by Henry III. on the latter monastery, have erroneously attributed it to the one we are now writing of at the foot of Cadair Idris! We believe that Henry III. never set foot in Merionethshire.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE ABBEY.-The conventual buildings still standing consist of the church, with portions of its aisles or side chapels, and part of a mansion on the western side commonly called the Abbot's House. This is not older than the sixteenth century; it consists of little more than a large hall with a few rooms attached, but the latter are so much altered that all their architectural character is destroyed. The oaken roof of the hall remains, but the windows are as recent as the time of Charles II., when this house was used as a dwelling by some members of the Vaughan family. It was at this period that an avenue of magnificent lime trees, leading to the abbey and throwing a congenial gloom over the solemn scene, was planted.

We have no means of judging how far the monastic buildings extended, nor what was their form. They probably lay westward of the church, since on the northern and eastern sides of that building tradition has always pointed out the site of a burying ground. It is probable that what is now a garden on the southern side of the church may have been the cloister, for bones have been found in it; and that an

East.

ancient well or reservoir, at its south western angle, may have been there even in the time of the monks. A small building eastward of this garden, and now used as a stable, has an old loophole at its eastern end, but does not appear to have been any other than an outer office.

The church, which has its orientation east by north, consisted of a central aisle, and apparently of two side ones; though whether there were transepts or not, which is not improbable, we have no sufficient means of deciding. The edifice has been much altered, but its arrangement will be perceived by the annexed plan, in which the darkest parts

indicate what is decidedly of ancient date, and the lighter portion those that are modern or altered, while the unshaded lines shew what may probably have been the walls that completed the symmetry of the design.

The whole is now greatly dilapidated, and grown over with ivy at the eastern end in so beautiful and extraordinary a manner that, much as it conceals the architectural features of the building, our love for the picturesque is too strong to allow of our wishing it removed. A sycamore tree, of extraordinary magnitude, also grows within the limits of the tower, while another of large size has found a friendly footing for its roots on the walls. We believe that it is intended to prevent this venerable pile from falling into further decay; and if a system of judicious reparation (such as has been adopted so successfully at Caernarvon Castle, by A. Salvin, Esq.) were resorted to, this little gem of an abbatial church might still nestle securely amidst its groves for many ages.

The central aisle is one hundred and ten feet long by twenty-seven feet wide internally; the tower is about fourteen feet square; the side walls, which do not extend beyond the lower half of the clerestory windows, are about twenty feet high, and about three feet thick. The soil is encumbered with rubbish and weeds, but is nearly at a level with what must have been the original floor, as is shewn by the threshold of a southern doorway. There are no traces of coffin lids or monumental remains of any kind. The style of the whole is uniform, and is of that peculiar period of transition from Norman to Early Pointed, which tallies with the time of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, though the same style might in any English building be assigned to a date many years earlier. It may be here observed that the architectural details of the edifice, though simple, are well and carefully worked; the stone used for the dressings is sometimes a hard close grained red sandstone, at others a reddish grit stone, containing mica with black crystals and quartz. The walls are in general badly built, the stones being very loose, and the southern and northern ones are not bonded into the eastern. They have, however, the pecularity of being drilled through and through in a multitude of places with the square holes, most inharmoniously called squints. In the present instance the use of these holes, occurring as they do at all altitudes, from the level of the floor to the upper parts of the walls, and

pierced quite through with great care, is altogether problematical. We never saw so many in any other building of the same size.

The tower has three widely splayed windows, the westernmost of which is altered at the bottom into a doorway, and a circular staircase at the south western corner remains with a ruined nowell, but the upper story, to which it led, has entirely disappeared. This tower has angular buttresses of a section, and in a position, quite anomalous for the period at which it was erected.

H.L.J.

Sedilia, restored.

GAH.

Three arches with octagonal piers, of rather obtuse curvature for the Early Pointed period, are observable on the northern side of the nave; they probably divided a chapel from the main body of the building. The southern side opposite to them has disappeared, but a little beyond them the old wall evidently terminates, and a more recent one then intervenes, until it is met by the trace of a broken arch near the eastern end. In the southern wall occurs an Early Pointed doorway, with two shafts on either side, and two orders of bold mouldings; it now opens under a higher arch, ARCHEOL. CAMB. VOL. I.]

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