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called by the somewhat poetical name of the Golden Mile, and it was not far from here that a large number of ancient British urns were dug up in the Twmpath barrow on Pwll-y-rack farm, a full description of the discoveries, by Mr. F. G. Hilton Price, having been recently published in the Archeologia Cambrensis (vol. v, Ser. 5, p. 83). Passing by Ewenny, to return there later, the first halting-place was St. Bride's, eight miles distant from Cowbridge. The last mile of the road passed through a deep ravine, with mountain limestone cliffs peeping out here and there from between a covering of greensward varied with patches of bracken fern. The scenery in this secluded valley is entirely different from the views in other parts of Glamorganshire, where the geological formation is lias, and is far more like the wild landscapes of Cumberland or Derbyshire. St. Bride's Church is picturesquely situated at the upper end of the valley, perched on the hill-side.

The

St. Bride's Church.-The church here is dedicated to St. Bride or Bridget, and is called St. Bride's Major. St. Bride's Minor is situated nearly as far north of Bridgend as St. Bride's Major is south of the same place. It was visited by the Cambrian Archæological Association during the Bridgend Meeting in 1869. building, although not a large one, is full of points of interest. The plan consists of a nave, chancel, west tower, north porch, and a small vestry on the north side of the chancel. The chancelarch is a remarkable one. It is round and of Norman date, with a simply-moulded abacus. Most of the rest of the architectural features are Decorated. The tower has the usual local characteristics.

On each side of the chancel-arch are two large squints cut through the wall at a late period, and on the north side is, in addition, a third squint of much smaller dimensions than the others. The font has an octagonal bowl on an octagonal stem." The most noteworthy amongst the sepulchral monuments are the inscribed coffin-lid of Johan le Botiler, and an altar-tomb belonging to the same family. The coffin-lid is at present in the floor of the chancel, but is partially concealed from view by some ricketty boarding placed upon the top of it, which should be removed. The stone coffin belonging to it is still in the churchyard, on the south side of the tower, and might well be taken inside the building and the lid restored to it. The top of the lid is flat, with the figure of a Crusader in chain-armour incised upon it, and the sides bevelled, bearing the following inscription in Lombardic capital letters of the thirteenth century:—

IOHAN LE BOTILER GIT ICI DEU DE:

SA ALME EIT MERCI AMEN.

1 Several stories are given to account for the name, the most probable being that it was suggested by the golden yellow flowers of the gorse.

2 By some mistake the font at St. Bride's is described in the Report of the Bridgend Meeting in the Arch. Camb., 3rd Ser., vol. xv, p. 434. as being Norman, and similar to the one at Llantwit.

The knight holds a drawn sword in his right hand, and has a shield over the left shoulder with the three covered cups of Boteler. On his head is a skull-cap of plate-armour with a fleur-de-lys in the centre and a covered cup on each side. This incised effigy is in very perfect preservation, and is a valuable example of the military costume of the thirteenth century. It has been engraved in Dr. E. L. Cutts' Sepulchral Slabs (pl. xxxii*), and in the Journal of the British Archæological Institute. The altar-tomb is placed in a recess in the wall with a window behind it. Over the top of the recess there is a canopy, in a somewhat dilapidated condition, and the arms of the Butlers. On the tomb rest the recumbent effigies of a knight in plate-armour, and his lady beside him. (See Plate from photograph by Mr. Banks.)

On a monument, underneath a semi-classical canopy, are two half-length painted figures facing each other, the husband in his wig and gown, and the wife in the dress of the period. The inscription is as follows:

"In memory of John Wyndham, Esq.,

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The churchyard cross is of the same type as the others in Glamorganshire. The socket-stone rests on five steps, and the cross is perfect, with the exception of the head, which is gone. The base of another cross lies about 500 yards to the north-west of the church.

St. Bride's Major was associated in more recent times with General Picton, of Waterloo fame.

The party, after having inspected St. Bride's Church, retraced their way through the same rocky limestone gorge they had already traversed coming, back to Ewenny Priory, which lies a little over a mile south of Bridgend, on the bank of a small river that joins the Ogmore lower down.

Ewenny Priory.-The last visit made to Ewenny by the Association was during the Bridgend Meeting, when the architectural peculiarities of the church were explained by Mr. E. A. Freeman. Upon the present occasion Colonel Picton Turbervill, the lay successor of the ancient Priors, received the members and conducted them round the building. In order that the party might not be wholly unprepared for what they were going to see, Colonel Tur

bervill had with great kindness and forethought ordered Mr. E. A. Freeman's paper on the Churches of Coychurch, Coyty, and Ewenny, and Mr. G. T. Clark's paper on Coyty Castle, to be reprinted from the Archæologia Cambrensis in pamphlet form for distribution amongst the members, to whom it proved of much service. The idea of reprinting papers on the objects of interest visited during the annual meetings is so good a one that, now Colonel Turbervill has inaugurated the practice, it may with advantage be continued in years to come. The alterations and discoveries made at Ewenny since Mr. Freeman's account was written in 1857 have been summarised in a paper by Colonel Turbervill contributed to the Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists' Field Club (vol. viii, 1876, p. 41), as follows: 1. Arched doorways into chapels from south and north aisles of presbytery; 2. East window of presbytery opened; 3. Hagioscope in north wall of presbytery discovered and opened; 4. Double piscina found in north wall; 5. Foundations of chapels on north side of presbytery laid bare. It would be desirable to have a new plan prepared showing these more recent discoveries.

The church at Ewenny belongs to the same class as those at Brecon, Monkton, Ruthin, and elsewhere, which are both parochial and monastic, the parish church and the church of the monastery being combined in one and the same building. The stronglymarked military peculiarities of the architecture indicate that it was intended also to serve the double purpose of a place of worship and a fortified castle in case of sudden attack. Portions of the church have been destroyed, but what remains has undergone hardly any modification since it was erected in the twelfth century. Consequently, we have at Ewenny the most perfect specimen of an early Norman semi-ecclesiastical semi-defensive structure to be found throughout the Principality. A building of some kind seems to have been erected at Ewenny by William de Londres, one of the followers of Fitzhamon; and the present Benedictine Priory was founded in A.D. 1141 by his grandson, Morice de Londres, by whom it was added as a cell to the Abbey of St. Peter, at Gloucester. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the property passed out of the possession of the Church into that of the Carne family, and subsequently into that of Turbervill, by marriage. Ewenny Priory is dedicated to St. Michael. Hardly anything remains of the conventual buildings except the gateway, all the rest having apparently been pulled down to obtain materials for the adjoining mansion, at the beginning of the present century. E. Donovan, in his South Wales (1805), describes the state of the church as being very disgraceful when he saw it; but now Colonel Turbervill has fully atoned for the neglect of his ancestors in the past by the great care which he has bestowed for many years upon repairing and beautifying the building. The ground plan was originally cruciform, with a central tower of hugely massive proportions. At present it consists of the nave, used as the parish church, with a porch on the north side, and the choir, south tran

sept, and presbytery of the old monastic church. The north aisle of the nave, the north transept, and chapels on the north and south side of the presbytery have been destroyed. The parochial and monastic churches are separated by a wall blocking up the whole of the western arch under the central tower. This masonry screen formed the reredos of the altar of the parish church, and has a doorway on each side, by which access is obtained to the choir. The division of the church into two parts did not take place at the dissolution, but was the arrangement from the beginning.

The style of most of the architectural details is early Norman. The massive round piers and arches on the north side of the nave still exist, and are not unlike those at St. John's Church, Chester. The arches under the lantern of the tower are round, with two orders of moulding perfectly plain and square. The roof of the presbytery is a very bold piece of stone vaulting, and of much greater span than is usual in Romanesque buildings. It is divided into three bays, the easternmost being covered with groined vaulting, to allow of the insertion of windows in the north and south walls, and the other two bays against which the chapels abut having barrel-vaulting.

With regard to the gloomy appearance produced by the small number of windows, Mr. Freeman remarks, "All is dark, solemn, almost cavernous; it is, indeed, a shrine for men who doubtless performed their most solemn rites with fear and trembling, amid constant expectation of hostile inroads." The south transept has a timber roof of poor design, but this is to a certain extent atoned for by the variety produced in the wall-surface by the arcading, resembling that of the triforium of a cathedral, which lights the passage leading up to the tower. The excellent photograph taken by Mr. Banks shows the gable of the south transept with the military tower rising above it. The triple stepping of the battlements of the tower deserves notice as being a rare feature in Wales, although common enough in Ireland and East Anglia. There are two fine round-headed Norman doorways at Ewenny. Amongst the ecclesiological features are a fourteenth century oak rood-screen separating the presbytery from the choir, a hagioscope, and a double piscina. The font at the west end of the parish church is bowl-shaped, with mouldings at the top, bottom, and round the middle. It is of Sutton stone, and probably of Norman date, but its appearance has been entirely changed by being placed on a modern stem instead of resting on a step, as it probably did originally.

There are several interesting thirteenth century sepulchral slabs at Ewenny, the best of all being the tomb of Morice de Londres, a splendidly carved slab with a floriated cross on the top, inscribed on each side in Lombardic capitals: ICI GIST MORICE DE LONDRES FONDEUR DIEU LUI REND SON LABEUR AMEN. A beautiful border of Early English foliage, of the same kind as that on the Tree of Jesse at Llantwit Major, runs the whole way round the bevelled

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