Close to Old Radnor itself is Bradnor, i.e., Bradan-ofre, or the broad bank or hill which well defines its contours. On the Medway is Upnor Castle, i.e., the castle "Uppan-ofre," on the bank. The appropriateness of the name to the place must be considered with reference rather to Old Radnor than to New Radnor, to which the name has been transferred. It appears to be due to the exposure of the altered "Llandovery" at the place itself, and the survival of the Old Red a little to the south; in contrast to the " Grauwacke around. JAMES G. WOOD, M.A., F.S.A. Mr. Greenly, alluding to the term "ofre," remarked that it was very much the same as ufer," the German word for bank of a river. The descent was past Bilmore Gore quarry (where the Old Radnor Co. are turning out hard road metal), and on to Old Radnor Church, where the antiquities embrace ancient carved screen and curious organ case, recessed seat in west-end wall, old tiles, and a huge font cut out of a single block of porphyritic stone. The interior of the basin is 2ft. 7in. diameter, and 10 inches deep. In the Volume of the Transactions for 1886-9 is an interesting account of the church by the Rev. W. Bamford. Botany was not neglected, Mr. Truman J. Cook and Mr. Ernest Ballard obtaining various herbs and blossoms. Reaching Dolyhir, the company partook of tea under spreading trees, after which Mr. W. Chambers, the genial and enterprising manager of the Old Radnor Trading Co., took the party over the quarries of volcanic and other rocks and showed them the manufactory of beautiful granitic stone, paving slabs, vases, etc. In the pretty station garden, the Rev. J. M. Campbell (Eardisley), Mr. H. E. Durham (Hereford), and Rev. H. J. Marshall (Winforton), were elected members. Mr. L. Richardson, hon secretary of the Cotteswold Club, and Dr. A. E. Boycott were elected honorary members. |