would have been secured, either by separate padlocks through the three staples, or by means of an iron bar inserted through the staples and secured at the end. Large scaled details of the knuckle of the hinge, the staple and flap, are given. The chest would probably be of seventeenth-century workmanship.

Fig. 18 represents the key of the south door, showing a shank of unusual length.

During the carrying out of the recent repairs, the workmen came across a brick vault under the northern portion of the sanctuary. Within it lay three lead coffins. According to tradition, a former Vicar and his

Fig. 18.-Key of South Door of Cwm Church,
Flintshire.

two wives are said to have been buried in this position. The vault and coffins were not disturbed.

The font is an inaccurately-worked four-sided bowl. The lower external edge is chamfered. The base and stem are modern.

Of ancient church plate, there is a chalice bearing the inscription:

"RHODD RICHARD PARRY, ESQ., I'W EGLWYS BLWYF

Y CWM, 1647."

In the care of the Vicar is an old pewter pot with hinged lid and handle, holding roughly speaking— two pints, formerly used at funerals as a loving-cup, to hold the spiced ale.

A fact in connection with the history of the Register Books shows how careful those who are privileged to be custodians of property of national or public interest should be of the treasures placed in their charge. A few years past, the Rev. T. Major Rees received a letter from a gentleman in London, of whom he had no knowledge, asking if he had missed one of the old Registers of Cwm Church. He had seen, he added, one book for sale in a second-hand bookshop in London. The Vicar looked through the old Registers, and found one volume missing. He reported the matter to the Archdeacon, now Bishop of Bangor, who warmly took the subject up, with the result that finally the missing volume was recovered.

Archdeacon Thomas, in his History of the Diocese of St. Asaph, p. 287, mentions that three four-cornered bells are stated to have been discovered on the hill near the church, and to have been called respectively, The yellow bell of Cwm," "The white bell of Abergele," and "The blue bell of Llanddulas."

Such is the history we may gather from an examination of the fabric and the treasures it contains. We have a series of links connecting us with the inhabitants of Cwm and the worshippers in its church during each century, from the fourteenth onward to our own time.

239

CAERWENT.

BY M. L. DAWSON.

THE recent explorations at Caerwent have resulted in such interesting discoveries, that all antiquaries must regret that so little is known of the early story of the place. History is all but silent with regard to Caerwent, and the only description of the ancient city which has come down to us is contained in the verses attributed to St. Tathan, who lived there in the sixth century:

"Urbs bona, fertilis, ardua, nobilis, Guentoniensis,
Sors mea, dedita gratia celica civibus istis.
Sedula subveniat, que vos defendere curat,
Et nos defendat, qui defendenda gubernat.”

Which may be thus translated :

A city that is good, fruitful, lofty, noble-situated
in Gwent,

Which is my lot, and granted by heavenly favour
to its citizens;

And which constantly affords succour, being careful

to defend you,

And it defends us, and governs those who are to be

defended.

But though history, in the strict sense of the word, tells us little or nothing about the place, we find in the lives of the Welsh Saints so many incidental notices of Caerwent, that by collecting them together we are able to form a very tolerable idea of the place as it was in those early days. After the departure of the Romans, it would appear that Caerwent, like many another Roman town, continued to be a place of importance, and there the kings of Gwent fixed their royal residence and capital. It was probably here that the exiled royal family of Armorica found an asylum at the court

of Meurig, King of Glamorgan, whose three daughtersAnna, Afrella, and Gwenonwy-married three of the exiled princes, while his grandson, Caradog, married their sister, Derfel.

It was during the reign of this latter prince, Caradog, that a holy man named Tathan came to the district of Gwent. His fame soon reached the city of Caerwent— or Venta Silurum, as it was then called-and Caradog, who appears to have been an enlightened ruler, sent messengers to St. Tathan, inviting him to come and settle at Caerwent, or Venta Silurum, "that he might hear from him evangelical exhortations.' But Tathan much preferred the life of a hermit, and answered the messengers: "Your king, if he desires to visit us, may come here, but I will not visit a secular king, nor the large family of a king." The ambassadors returned with this message to Caradog, who, with a retinue of twentyfour soldiers, at once went to visit the Saint, and by his earnest entreaties and representations of the need of a teacher, persuaded St. Tathan to come to Caerwent. There he took charge of—or more probably founded— a monastic school, or, says the old historian Cressy, "an academy dedicated to the studies of literature, to institute young men in learning and piety." The citizens were pleased at the coming of St. Tathan, and scholars from all parts flowed to him to him to be instructed in the knowledge of the seven sciences. The king gave him a field in the suburbs, "which was from the public way to the river Usk, to preach in." Tathan considered it a suitable place for divine service; and it was not long before, through the donation of Ynyr, "the most noble son of King Caradog," a church was built there, in honour of the Holy Trinity. Moreover, St. Tathan elected twelve canons, who should visit the church, or oratory, at their respective appointed hours, and keep up the laus perennis, the unceasing service of prayer and praise. It was to this church that the body of the martyred maiden, St. Maches, was borne from Llanvaches, the place which took its name from

her death there, and by St. Tathan's desire was buried in the floor of the church.

Soon after this, King Caradog seems to have determined, for some reason or other, to leave Caerwent, and build a palace on the banks of the Severn, and he bestowed the whole city of Caerwent and the adjoining territory upon St. Tathan. The monastic school of Caerwent became famous in all the country round, and many celebrated men were educated there. Among them was the great St. Cadoc, who, at the age of seven, was sent by his father, Gwynlliw the Warrior, King of Gwentlwg, to be brought up and taught by St. Tathan. We get some idea of the studies pursued at Caerwent when we are told, in the "Life of St. Cadoc," that Tathan diligently instructed him in Donatus and Priscian and other arts. Donatus was a well-known grammarian and commentator, who taught grammar and rhetoric at Rome about the middle of the fourth century, and was the instructor of St. Jerome. His Latin grammar was universally used in the schools in the Middle Ages, so that the word "Donat Donat" came, in the West of Europe, to be synonymous with grammar, or with the elements of any science. The mention of Priscian shows that Tathan was a thoroughly "up-to-date" teacher, for Priscian was almost a contemporary of St. Tathan. He was born in Cæsarea, and taught Latin at Constantinople, where he enjoyed a government salary, and he was considered one of the first of Latin grammarians. These facts suggest the idea that Caerwent may still have been in touch with Rome.

We may be sure, too, that religion and philosophy formed a large part of the educational system of Caerwent as is amply shown by the sayings of St. Cadoc which have come down to us.

Caerwent may also claim the honour of being the birthplace of the great St. Malo, of continental fame, who was baptized by the Abbot Bishop of Caerwent, and carried to the font by no less a person than the far-famed St. Brandan. At the age of twelve he was committed to