From Thence A Rugged And Uneven
Track Descends Suddenly Into A Narrow Glen, Formed By The Torrent Of
The Gronwy, Between Steep, Impending Mountains; Bleak And Barren For
The First Four Or Five Miles, But Afterwards Wooded To The Very
Margin Of The Stream.
A high ledge of grassy hills on the left
hand, of which the principal is called the Bal, or Y Fal, divides
this formidable pass (the "Malus passus" of Giraldus) from the vale
of Ewyas, in which stands the noble monastery of Llanthoni,
"montibus suis inclusum," encircled by its mountains.
The road at
length emerging from this deep recess of Coed Grono, or Cwm Gronwy,
the vale of the river Gronwy, crosses the river at a place called
Pont Escob, or the Bishop's bridge, probably so called from this
very circumstance of its having been now passed by the archbishop
and his suite, and is continued through the forest of Moel, till it
joins the Hereford road, about two miles from Abergavenny. This
formidable defile is at least nine miles in length.
{66} In the vale of the Gronwy, about a mile above Pont Escob,
there is a wood called Coed Dial, or the Wood of Revenge. Here
again, by the modern name of the place, we are enabled to fix the
very spot on which Richard de Clare was murdered. The Welsh
Chronicle informs us, that "in 1135, Morgan ap Owen, a man of
considerable quality and estate in Wales, remembering the wrong and
injury he had received at the hands of Richard Fitz-Gilbert, slew
him, together with his son Gilbert." The first of this great
family, Richard de Clare, was the eldest son of Gislebert, surnamed
Crispin, earl of Brion, in Normandy.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 162 of 195
Words from 45391 to 45679
of 54608
