Llangybi village: a half-hidden gem

View from the road
   You will immediately see this attractive inn in Llangybi as your number 60 bus (Newport/Monmouth) passes the appealing little village near Usk - but you may not realise how much else there is to see and learn about. There is a lovely church and an ancient well apart from the historic interest of the pub itself.

The name: Llangybi

  This can be unhooked as Llan + Cybi with the 'C' mutating to 'g' as Welsh consonants often do under certain grammatical rules. These may seem to happen simply to confuse the non-speaker but the change does ensure smooth pronunciation. 'Llan' means church (and the sacred enclosure around it) and St. Cybi was a 6th century Cornish bishop and saint who was believed to have founded a church here. This construction of place names is frequent in Wales.

St. Cybi's well
  If you walk down the sign-posted road behind the pub you will come to the well on your right after a couple of hundred yards: it was the village's main water supply for many years. It is under a stony flower-covered mound and leads through to a picturesque stream on the other side of a tiny bridge: there is a silver coloured ladle chained there so that you can taste the clear water by spooning some onto your cupped hand. It is a highly evocative experience and I took many minutes savouring it.

The well is believed to be the subject of a poem by T.S. Eliot who went on a ten-day tour of Wales with his friend Frank Morley in 1935:
                   Do not suddenly break the branch, or
                   Hope to find
                   The white hart behind the white well.

In case this is not about this well, I wrote my own verse which WAS composed here:
                   A dipping well, a day in June
                   Blue silence hanging from the sky,
                   St. Cybi's spirit stands beside
                   My right arm. Now he leans to guide
                   It waterwards. He smiles as I
                   Sip crystal from the silver spoon.

The church
   This dates from the 11th century and contains medieval wall paintings of St. Christopher, the Creed - and a remarkable Christ of the Trades. Such images, also known as the Sunday Christ, show Jesus surrounded by objects, often the tools of various trades, wounding him afresh: they were a warning to tradespeople not to work on days which should be devoted to God. The church itself was shut when I visited but I enjoyed the spectacular views of the countryside around. In the churchyard is the communal grave of William Watkins, his wife and their 3 youngest children (Charlotte, 8; Alice 5 and Frederick 4 years old) all gruesomely murdered one July evening in 1878 by Joseph Garcia, a 21 year old Spanish sailor. He was hanged before an enthusiastic crowd in Usk: the events were celebrated in verse and drew hordes of sightseers.

Afterwards

   I stood appreciating the total silence in the village and recalling that the inn was once owned by Henry VIII as part of Jane Seymour's wedding dowry. A century later it reputedly served as Oliver Cromwell's headquarters in Gwent. Then I took my bus back to Usk, feeling greatly refreshed, either by the water of the holy well or by the delicious gingery cake in the White Hart. You could, of course, use this bus to visit Monmouth with its connections to Henry V.

Visiting Tintern

 
First sight
   As your bus draws into Tintern and you see this magnificent ruin flanked by cars and coaches it is difficult to realise that the area, until recently, had seemed wild and untamed. There is so much to say about the site that I will, for the moment, leave the architecture mostly on one side and concentrate on the people who have passed through and the attitudes to it over the centuries.

Foundation and monastery

   It was founded in 1131 on the 9th May by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, some say as an act of penance because he was haunted by the ghost of his wife whom he had murdered. It was only the second foundation of Cistercian monks in Britain and the first in Wales. This order of white-robed monks followed the rule of St. Benedict but with renewed emphasis on austerity and remoteness: they specialised in manual labour and agriculture. There may have been a brief period when behaviour became more lax as there were reports in 1217 of the Abbot drinking with the Bishop and his monks, and women working in the fields on at least one of the granges - hardly a scandal in our terms! The ruin we see today is largely that of the great church, cruciform with an aisled nave and dating from the 13th century when it was more than 30 years under construction.

The Black Death and Dissolution

   This plague devastated the area as it did so many parts of the country in 1349,  the main effect here being that the thriving agricultural enterprise became neglected and harvests lay ungathered. Tintern found it impossible to recruit the lay brothers it needed to work the fields and tend the sheep (3000 at one estimate) and, by the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, there were only 13 monks left, although it was the largest house in Gwent. The uprising of Owain Glyndwr further impoverished the estate. It was then valued at a mere £192 per annum and in 1536 on September 3rd it was surrendered to the King with its estates incorporated into crown lands. In 1541 its bells were melted and the King's plumbers paid £8 for the work. It probably became roofless in 1546 as we know that the Earl of Worcester paid £166 for the lead.
   Within 30 years of Dissolution - a gap that seems to me surprisingly short - industrialisation had started in the area and Tintern became a major centre with wireworks and other complexes up the Angidy Valley where you can see the remains today on a lovely walk.

Tourism and the cult of the picturesque.
    During the 18th century there developed a romantic fashion for the cultivation of the individual's sensibility (derided by Jane Austen) and this was focussed on picturesque scenery in a seminal work published in 1782 by the Rev. William Gilpin who defined the concept in great detail finding the Wye satisfying in most respects: the scene had to be rough, intricate, varied without obvious straight lines and must work as a whole with a ruined abbey or castle adding "consequence." In fact the ivy-covered Abbey was insufficiently picturesque for his taste and he famously wrote that "a mallet judiciously used ... might be of service" to make it more irregular.
   There came many renowned writers and artists: Wordsworth wrote his lines above the Abbey after a 5 year gap; Coleridge got lost at night between Piercefield and Tintern - some reports say he nearly rode his horse off the edge of a quarry; Turner's work can be seen in the Chepstow Museum.

A personal view
   Impressive though the frontage is, I find that it is even more so round the back near the river seen from outside and it is here that I wrote a dizain on the subject.

                                            The picturesque: we track it through
                                            Woods, water, ivy, ruined stones.
                                            We conjure phrases: "azure blue"
                                            Tints backdrops for this Abbey's bones;
                                            "What if's?" tick all our known unknowns
                                            We time ourselves as hours pass,
                                            Laugh, chat and tip the decade-glass,
                                            Clock poets, painters, men of God,
                                            Dot chequered picnics on the grass
                                            Where silent white monks turned the sod.

Afterwards
   There is a particularly good shop situated in the car park which sells quality wall hangings with an Arthurian theme and delicious CAKE can be consumed in the White Monk cafe. The excellent Phil Anslow bus service now connects straight through from Cwmbran to Monmouth, where the ruins of the castle can be seen, changing its number at Chepstow: 63/69. You could use it to visit Usk with its castle and the site of the battle of Pwyll Melyn. It is a marvellously scenic run and many people take it for the views of the Severn Estuary and Tintern.
   I am aware that I have merely skimmed the surface of information about this spot and will return to the various aspects in more detail, - in those dark winter months ahead.

      For opening hours click here    

Abergavenny Castle - the Massacre

   As you enter these gates to Abergavenny Castle you are probably planning to gaze at the walls and remaining buildings, take some photos and eat your packed lunch on the grass or seats provided. The grounds are green, tended and peaceful with stunning views of the Blorenge Mountain.

   Yet you might wonder what Giraldus Cambriensis referred to in the Middle Ages when he refused to relate some terrifying atrocities that happened here: "lest they serve to encourage other equally infamous men."

The background

   Giraldus was almost certainly thinking of the massacre of 1175 about one hundred years after the construction of the castle circa 1087 by Hamelin de Balun, a Norman lord. The story starts with the killing in the 1160's of Henry Fitzmiles, the 3rd son of the Earl of Hereford, by Seisyll ap Dyfawal, (aka Sytsyll ap Dyferwald) the most important Welsh chieftain in the area. Seisyll had previously captured the castle. The contemporary owner of the castle, William de Braose, determined on revenge for the murder, although it is difficult to see why as he benefited from the death of his uncle Henry, inheriting de Balun lands and the castle. itself.
     Perhaps he wanted to eliminate Welsh factions at a stroke - but he only succeeded in perpetuating the violence.

Blood and Retribution

   At Christmas 1175 de Braose invited Seisyll, his son Geoffrey and all the leading chieftains of Powys for a visit, supposedly of reconciliation and harmony. They accepted and, according to custom, laid down their arms once inside their host's premises. They were instantly set upon and slaughtered in an act of treachery and brutality. The Normans then went to the Welshman's home, destroyed it and, when they found his 7 year old son, Cadwaladr, cuddled in his mother's arms, they cut him down too.  

   Yet in 1182 Hywel ap Iowerth of Caerleon and other kinsmen of Seisyll captured the castle again using scaling ladders and burned the place down. As William Camden, an antiquarian, said in the 16th century this castle: "... has been oftner stain'd with the infamy of treachery, than any other castle in Wales."

The Context - not for the squeamish!

   These events may have seemed to some unusual or even unique but the 12th century was a time of extreme violence. Unlike the Romans who spread their empire with some successful attempts at Romanising the conquered people, the Normans tried to subdue their captured territory by force. This cruelty was common also amongst the Welsh warlords themselves. In the rivalries men were blinded so that they could not be effective military leaders and castrated so that they could not bear heirs. I have written more about the cruel William de Braoze on this blog.

Nowadays

   As you have seen, I have rushed in where the cautious Gerald of Wales feared to tread. I am sure I have not incited you to storm the castle walls! Now, on the very spot where once those semi-sacred bonds between host and guest were mercilessly broken, you will have an interesting visit. You can eat your simple or lavish picnic in the grounds and enjoy a warm - and genuine - welcome in the Museum, and in the town generally.  The beautiful Linda Vista gardens are quite near for relaxation. More historical interest is to be found in the Tithe Barn, with its excellent CAKE opportunities, located in the centre of Abergavenny. The medieval effigies in St Mary's Church are fascinating. All are a short walk from the bus station.

Usk, Owain Glyndwr and The Hollow Crown

The gory battle

   This peaceful rural scene, Pwll Melyn (yellow pool) just outside Usk, is the place where Owain Glyndwr's army, led by his eldest son Gruffydd (one of 11 not counting illegitimates), was defeated in 1405. This loss severely damaged the Welsh rebel uprising against the English King, Henry IV.  One and a half thousand men died and Gruffydd was taken prisoner in Monkswood (where the rebels had taken refuge) and moved to the Tower of London where he died of the plague 6 years later. Of the 300 men who surrendered, most were executed in front of the Castle where some locals say they can still feel their ghostly presence. (Fred Hando wrote that scores of skeletons were found when a pond north east of the castle was drained in the 19th century). Previously they had had huge military successes throughout Wales and, in Usk, in 1402, had attacked the Castle, largely destroyed the town and massacred many inhabitants.

The man - the facts

   Owain Glyndwr was virtually a marcher lord of distinguished Welsh lineage, being squire to the future Henry IV and a student of law at the Inns of Court in London for 7 years. Wales was ready for an uprising and bards had sung of  'mab darogan', a son of prophecy, who would restore the country's former glory. This became almost a full-blown nationalist revolt. There was some support from the Percy's for Lord Mortimer as rightful wearer of the crown and, as he was married to Owain Glyndwr's daughter, Catrin, this gave Glyndwr a new relationship with Henry Percy, aka Hotspur.  All of them joined forces against Henry IV and nearly won. Glyndwr, rebel leader, became virtually a ruling prince and was the last native Welshman to be Prince of Wales.

The Bard's version

    This cultured and semi-aristocratic figure appears as Glendower in the second play of the tetralogy (group of four plays) presented by the BBC as the first part of The Hollow Crown. The drama, King Henry IV pt i, is one of Shakespeare's best plays with its wide range of memorable characters (including Falstaff), humour and rich language in prose and blank verse. Shakespeare presents Glendower as a wild Welshman, mocked by Hotspur, and the cause of a near split in the rebel alliance. He claims to have been born to the accompaniment of "fiery shapes of burning cressets" and earthquakes along with other strange manifestations.  
   This enrages Hotspur who retaliates in hostile but witty fashion to another boast of Glendower's:

      Glen: I can call spirits from the vasty deep

      Hots: Why, so can I, or so can any man,

             But will they come when you do call for them?

    

   When Hotspur tells him bluntly to "tell truth and shame the devil", Mortimer intervenes and later describes his father-in-law as "a worthy gentleman/Exceedingly well read ... valiant as a lion/And wondrous affable, and as bountiful/As mines of India."  This is much closer to the reality and one wonders why Shakespeare wrote as he did: it is possibly to show another level of irresponsibility and disharmony (apart from Prince Hal's dissolute tavern life) so that we realise that these men could not rule a kingdom. It was Hotspur who, at the beginning of this scene, in which they meet to divide the country between them, exclaims: " ... a plague upon it/I have forgot the map", surely one of the most human quotations in the canon. We note that Shakespeare has made Hotspur a much younger man to achieve sharper comparisons and contrasts to the heir apparent, Hal, both named Henry.

Visiting the site

   As you walk out of your bus stop in Twyn Square, Usk, you turn right and then left up towards the Castle which is clearly sign-posted. Stay on the path/road to the right where you have marvellous views, and, when you enter woodland, keep an eye open to the left for a little clearing where there is a blue Usk Civic Society plaque. After your stroll (about a couple of miles there and back, though you can continue and make a pleasant circular walk) you deserve a cuppa and large piece of delicious CAKE at one of Usk's many super cafes. (If you too have been a rebel and come by car - tut! tut! - there is the lovely Green Flute Cafe attached to the Rural life Museum in the free car park). Other suggestions for trips near Usk have links on the post about Alfred Russel Wallace who was born here.

Henry V of Monmouth - insights into The Hollow Crown

Warrior King - son of Monmouth
   Henry V, best known for his victory against the odds at Agincourt, was born in Monmouth Castle on 9th August 1387. He was educated to be capable of all the gentlemanly arts of riding, swimming, archery and hunting and, by the age of 10, was proficient in them all. He is often known as Harry of Monmouth and his birth took place when his father's wars against the Welsh were at their height: Henry IV against Owain Glyndwr who fought and destroyed towns in the area and burned down most of nearby Abergavenny.

Shakespeare's version
   Henry V features in the tetralogy (group of four plays) which form the first part of the BBC's series, The Hollow Crown. In Henry V, the last play of the four, he tells Pistol: "I am a Welshman" but the most interesting presentation of him is in the second play, Henry IV pt i. Here he is Prince Hal, friend of the charming rogue, Falstaff, with whom he is apparently wasting his youth in taverns and taking part in semi-legal escapades. His father is in despair although we, as audience, know early on that he intends to reform and "show more goodly".  By the end of the play he has started to perform his role and meets his enemy, Hotspur, aka Harry Percy, on the battlefield. Hotspur greets him: "If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth." Hal slays his rival even though Falstaff takes the credit.

The dilemma
   It is possibly this massive lie and the piiful, ragged troops that Falstaff collected, that convinces Hal that he cannot continue his wastrel's life and friendship with him for ever, although he relapses during Henry IV pt ii.  At the end of that drama, when he is King, he brutally and publicly refuses to acknowledge the old, fat man, saying that Falstaff was unreal: "But, being awak'd, I do despise my dream." Falstaff, who hoped to cash in on his relationship with a future monarch, is crushed and dies of a broken heart off-stage at the beginning of Henry V: according to the Hostess he became gradually cold "as a stone" all over but "made a finer end, and went away" as if he "had been any christom child."

The result
    Henry went on to reclaim English territory in France in a succession of battles, preceded in Shakespeare by rousing speeches and culminating at Agincourt, on the 25 October, 1415, St. Crispin's Day. His troops were outnumbered but were helped to victory by Monmouthshire archers. In Shakespeare's play he goes round the camp incognito the night before the dreaded conflict and reassures the soldiers who open their hearts to him as an equal. Perhaps it is his early comradeship with the frequenters of the Boar's Head Tavern in Eastcheap that enables him to give that "little touch of Harry in the night" that so boosts his soldiers' morale. Yet the reaction of the modern audience must be ambivalent to this mixture of calculated manipulation, acceptance of duty and military genius.

Today
   His statue stands in a high niche in the Shire Hall in Monmouth and, when you have read this or watched the BBC series, you can sit outside The Punch House in Agincourt Square, gazing at him whilst sipping your coffee and eating your CAKE, and make up your mind about him. You can then go on up the road, pass the church and turn in on your right into the Priory garden where Geoffrey of Monmouth is said to have written about King Arthur. Monmouth Castle where he was born is off the main street a little lower down. The no 69 bus will take you to Tintern Abbey and the no 60 will go to Usk with its charming castle and nearby battlefield as well as being the birthplace of Alfred Russel Wallace. Before that is Raglan with its imposing castle and further on this same route you can stop off at Caerleon with its fascinating Roman baths, remains of the barracks, huge amphitheatre and interesting museum. Links to these can be found on the Roman baths post.

Pontypool Park

Boot up!

   Whoever coined the phrase "a walk in the park" to mean something easy had never been here, to this 64 hectare area, aka the People's Park, of grassland, slopes, woodland and scattered relics of the past. There are smooth paths on the lower parts but you can have a strenuous hike higher up and that is without going as far as the 3-storey Folly Tower. I chickened out of this on my last cold, windy visit, telling myself I had seen its proud profile on the ridge as I looked through the bus window. That is the very reason it was demolished in 1940 as being too visible a guidance point (274 metres above sea level) for enemy aircraft, though it was rebuilt by public subscription in 1994 and opened by the Prince of Wales.

   The whole area, laid out in the latter years of the 17th century, was formerly the grounds of Park House, the residence of Major John Hanbury, a local iron master. It was bought by the local authority in 1920.

The Pontymoile Gates
   The bus driver kindly dropped me off on the eastern edge of the park so that I could enter through these Grade II* listed beautiful gates, at present painted apple green (the colour being the subject of some controversy I gather) and known locally as the Sally Gates. Sally was Duchess of Marlborough and the legend has it that she gave them to the Hanbury family in gratitude for their help with her Will. The originals, dating from the mid 19th century, were classical, with bunches of grapes and vines on the pillars added later and possibly painted gold..

The Shell Grotto - not forgetting the bones!
   This unusual little building is only open on certain days of the year but is worth a climb up the steep incline to its situation at 220 metres above sea level to savour the superb views of the Severn Estuary. It was constructed around 1830 as a summer house for the Hanbury family and is the most important surviving example in Wales, also Grade II* listed. I can only assume they had servants to carry their picnic!
   Inside, the ceiling is fan vaulted, with artificial stalactites: it and the pillars are decorated with thousands of shells, minerals and also real stalactites. The floor is paved with animal bones and teeth set in patterns of arcs, circles, stars, hearts and diamonds.  In the 18th century such garden features were intended to be emotive, in this case to provoke a reaction to a simulated journey into the earth where the darkness is relieved only by the sparkle of minerals and ancient shells. This grotto is cylindrical and built from local sandstone with a conical roof.

The Gorsedd Stones
   When the 1924 National Eisteddfod, the festival of singing, dancing and poetry, was held in this park, a circle of standing stones was created, also known as The Circle of Sacred Refuge. They are made from local conglomerate stone and the large central one is called the Stone of Presidency, Altar of Gorsedd or Perfection Stone. The layout of the stones is governed by the rules of the ceremony and the bards wore distinctive colours: a poet sky-blue; a Druid white and green was the shade of the ovate to symbolise growth in learning and science. Again, they are high up and the site feels quite special.

Ponds, Bandstand, Ice House and Italian Gardens
   The Nant-y-Gollen ponds were originally one large millpond intended to power a forge downstream. In the 1920's they were used by Johnny Weismuller, the first Tarzan, for a swimming event. The bandstand was erected in memory of Mr Stanley Tudor Roderick, a well known Pontypool musician and bandmaster. It now presents the annual Jazz in the Park festival. The Georgian Ice House is unique in having a double chamber. The Italian Gardens were based on the Isola Bella Gardens in Lake Maggiore: plants were brought back from there as was the custom at the time and the specimens were considered fashionable on the early 1900's.

Other attractions
   The woodlands are mixed with beech, oak and yew, some 250 years old, the large sweet chestnuts being originally planted for use as charcoal for the iron forges along the Afon Lwyd river - some are 400 years old. There are tennis/netball courts, an immaculate bowling green with an attractive pavilion, a dry ski slope, an 8,800 capacity stadium, an annual fireworks display with synchronised music, a Leisure Centre with soft play, a national cycle route through, a tramway tunnel, access to walks along the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal and the Brecon Beacons National Park and a nearby museum.

A day out
  In almost any weather you could spend an enjoyable day out here, noticing the black War Memorial Gates on your way out.

You are then near the library, quite near the museum (I'll write about this little gem later) and right by the bus stops where you can catch several buses including the 63 to Usk with its charming castle and on to Chepstow with its imposing castle and beyond. The X3 and X33 go to Abergavenny with amazing effigies in St. Mary's Church. See timetable link at very foot of page) and the X24 which goes every 10 minutes to Newport, Cwmbran and Blaenavon.