I Went Through A Filthy Slough, Over A Bridge, And Up A Street, From Which Dirty Lanes Branched Off On Either Side, Passed Throngs Of Savage-Looking People Talking Clamorously, Shrank From Addressing Any Of Them, And Finally, Undirected, Found Myself Before The Castle Inn At Merthyr Tydvil.

CHAPTER CIV

Iron and Coal - The Martyred Princess - Cyfartha Fawr - Diabolical Structure.

MERTHYR TYDVIL is situated in a broad valley through which roll the waters of the Taf. It was till late an inconsiderable village, but is at present the greatest mining place in Britain, and may be called with much propriety the capital of the iron and coal.

It bears the name of Merthyr Tydvil, which signifies the Martyr Tydvil, because in the old time a Christian British princess was slain in the locality which it occupies. Tydvil was the daughter of Brychan, Prince of Brecon, surnamed Brycheiniawg, or the Breconian, who flourished in the fifth century and was a contemporary of Hengist. He was a man full of Christian zeal, and a great preacher of the Gospel, and gave his children, of which he had many, both male and female, by various wives, an education which he hoped would not only make them Christians, but enable them to preach the Gospel to their countrymen. They proved themselves worthy of his care, all of them without one exception becoming exemplary Christians, and useful preachers. In his latter days he retired to a hermitage in Glamorganshire near the Taf, and passed his time in devotion, receiving occasionally visits from his children.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 802 of 856
Words from 220114 to 220372 of 235675