But At The Last He Was
Accused To The King, That He Intended The Kingdome Of South Wales As
His Father Had Enjoied It, Which Was Now In The King's Hands; And
That All The Countrie Hoped Of Libertie Through Him; Therefore The
King Sent To Take Him.
But Gryffyth ap Rees hering this, sent to
Gruffyth ap Conan, prince of North Wales, desiring him of his
Aid,
and that he might remaine safelie within his countrie; which he
granted, and received him joiouslie for his father's sake." He
afterwards proved so troublesome and successful an antagonist, that
the king endeavoured by every possible means to get him into his
power. To Gruffyth ap Conan he offered "mountaines of gold to send
the said Gruffyth or his head to him." And at a subsequent period,
he sent for Owen ap-Cadogan said to him, "Owen, I have found thee
true and faithful unto me, therefore I desire thee to take or kill
that murtherer, that doth so trouble my loving subjects." But
Gruffyth escaped all the snares which the king had laid for him, and
in the year 1137 died a natural and honourable death; he is styled
in the Welsh chronicle, "the light, honor, and staie of South
Wales;" and distinguished as the bravest, the wisest, the most
merciful, liberal, and just, of all the princes of Wales. By his
wife Gwenllian, the daughter of Gruffyth ap Conan, he left a son,
commonly called the lord Rhys, who met the archbishop at Radnor, as
is related in the first chapter of this Itinerary.
{53} This cantref, which now bears the name of Caeo, is placed,
according to the ancient divisions of Wales, in the cantref Bychan,
or little hundred, and not in the Cantref Mawr, or great hundred. A
village between Lampeter in Cardiganshire and Llandovery in
Caermarthenshire, still bears the name of Cynwil Caeo, and, from its
picturesque situation and the remains of its mines, which were
probably worked by the Romans, deserves the notice of the curious
traveller.
{54} The lake of Brecheinoc bears the several names of Llyn
Savaddan, Brecinau-mere, Llangorse, and Talyllyn Pool, the two
latter of which are derived from the names of parishes on its banks.
It is a large, though by no means a beautiful, piece of water, its
banks being low and flat, and covered with rushes and other aquatic
plants to a considerable distance from the shore. Pike, perch, and
eels are the common fish of this water; tench and trout are rarely,
I believe, (if ever), taken in it. The notion of its having
swallowed up an ancient city is not yet quite exploded by the
natives; and some will even attribute the name of Loventium to it;
which is with much greater certainty fixed at Llanio-isau, between
Lampeter and Tregaron, in Cardiganshire, on the northern banks of
the river Teivi, where there are very considerable and undoubted
remains of a large Roman city. The legend of the town at the bottom
of the lake is at the same time very old.
{55} That chain of mountains which divides Brecknockshire from
Caermarthenshire, over which the turnpike road formerly passed from
Trecastle to Llandovery, and from which the river Usk derives its
source.
{56} This mountain is now called, by way of eminence, the Van, or
the height, but more commonly, by country people, Bannau Brycheinog,
or the Brecknock heights, alluding to its two peaks. Our author,
Giraldus, seems to have taken his account of the spring, on the
summit of this mountain, from report, rather than from ocular
testimony. I (Sir R. Colt Hoare) examined the summits of each peak
very attentively, and could discern no spring whatever. The soil is
peaty and very boggy. On the declivity of the southern side of the
mountain, and at no considerable distance from the summit, is a
spring of very fine water, which my guide assured me never failed.
On the north-west side of the mountain is a round pool, in which
possibly trout may have been sometimes found, but, from the muddy
nature of its waters, I do not think it very probable; from this
pool issues a small brook, which falls precipitously down the sides
of the mountain, and pursuing its course through a narrow and well-
wooded valley, forms a pretty cascade near a rustic bridge which
traverses it. I am rather inclined think, that Giraldus confounded
in his account the spring and the pool together.
{57} The first of these are now styled the Black Mountains, of
which the Gadair Fawr is the principal, and is only secondary to the
Van in height. The Black Mountains are an extensive range of hills
rising to the east of Talgarth, in the several parishes of Talgarth,
Llaneliew, and Llanigorn, in the county of Brecknock, and connected
with the heights of Ewyas. The most elevated point is called Y
Gadair, and, excepting the Brecknock Van (the Cadair Arthur of
Giraldus), is esteemed the highest mountain in South Wales. The
mountains of Ewyas are those now called the Hatterel Hills, rising
above the monastery of Llanthoni, and joining the Black Mountains of
Talgarth at Capel y Ffin, or the chapel upon the boundary, near
which the counties of Hereford, Brecknock, and Monmouth form a point
of union. But English writers have generally confounded all
distinction, calling them indiscriminately the Black Mountains, or
the Hatterel Hills.
{58} If we consider the circumstances of this chapter, it will
appear very evidently, that the vale of Ewyas made no part of the
actual Itinerary.
{59} Landewi Nant Hodeni, or the church of St. David on the Hodni,
is now better known by the name of Llanthoni abbey. A small and
rustic chapel, dedicated to St. David, at first occupied the site of
this abbey; in the year 1103, William de Laci, a Norman knight,
having renounced the pleasures of the world, retired to this
sequestered spot, where he was joined in his austere profession by
Ernicius, chaplain to queen Maude.
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