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work. The fifteenth century rood screen, much restored, is the finest in the district, but not Welsh work. The fairly modern and crude tracery replaces the original. The whole is of beautiful design. The stalls, with their " poppy heads" and deeply carved emblems, the Tudor Rose, "Owl," "H" for Hooks or Holland, "W" for Williams, were much admired. Other features of interest were the old tiles fixed to the S. wall of the chancel, the Holy Water Stoup brackets by the N. and S. entrances, and the Dorothy Wynn tablet with crest and motto Mors fideli lucrum: Death to the faithful is gain, 1586.

Canon Rupert Morris said that the fine tenor bell was inscribed: Ave fidelis anima Werburga

Sanctissima felix

In choro Virginum

Ora

pro nobis dominum

Joh'es Byrchynshaw, Abbas Cestre.

This John Burchinshaw was Abbot of Chester in 1493, but was superseded twelve years later. He was reinstated in 1530, but died in 1535. He owned considerable property in the vicinity of Conway, and his family were people of importance.

Mr. Harold Hughes added that John Burchinshaw was a native of Llansannan.

In Records of Denbigh, p. 54, is a long Ode in his honour by Tudur Aled.

Several Welsh princes were interred within the Church, including Gruffydd ab Owen Gwynedd, in monk's cowl, 1220; Davydd ab Llywelyn, in 1246; Gruffydd, his brother, and Llywelyn the Great, in 1240, also in a cowl. Llywelyn's body was removed by the monks to Maenan.

The Cromwellians, who took the town in 1646, are accused of considerable mutilation to the Church.

At Plas Mawr, the headquarters of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, the Cambrians were received by the veteran President, Mr. Clarence Whaite, and the Curator, Mr. J. R. Furness, who acted as guide. It was much admired as an excellent specimen of Elizabethan architecture, and in its plan a typical example of the transition from feudal customs to the exclusive habits of modern society, in the retention of the common dining hall, with a more complete isolation of the private apartments than was common in earlier times.

On the outer archway are carved the Royal Arms of England, and the date, 1585, appeared on the front until obliterated by the weather. Points of special interest are the stepped gables, watch tower, the variety of doorways, mullioned windows, "the hidingplace," two picturesque oriels in the gables, a curious little lantern light lighting the lower court, the fireplaces and overmantels, massive carved oak partitions, wainscoted walls, fixed seats, and 6TH SER., VOL. XII.

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the beautifully-decorated walls and ceilings, with their quaint and varied heraldic devices in plaster. In the unusually fine and profuse display of plaster decoration and the then prevailing fashion of heraldic ornamentations may be traced the descent of Robert Wynne and Dorothy his wife, and his connection with the Royal House of Tudor and a number of notable Welsh and English families, the Eagles from the Arms of Owen Gwynedd, the Arms of Collwyn ap Tangno, the Englishmen's heads of Ednyfed Vychan's Arms, and, in constant evidence, the Arms of Queen Elizabeth, though her Majesty never slept there, as tradition alleged. A room is shown as the Queen's room, and out of this room a bed had been removed by Lady Augusta Mostyn, and was shown at Gloddaeth Hall as the bed on which the Virgin Queen had slept. Mr. Humphreys called attention to the fireplaces, so solidly constructed, with such unique types of masonry. The floors, however, in some parts had proved unsafe, and it had been found necessary to renew them.

Professor Dawkins explained that the large rounded stones in the fireplace, which excited much curiosity, were originally nodules found in the clay slate of the district, not rounded, as many supposed, by artificial means, but weathered out by the ice from the softer material. Glacial scratches were distinctly to be seen on them. Similar stones, Mr. Humphreys observed, were used by the farmers as weights.

After a vote of hearty thanks had been passed to Mr. Whaite and Mr. Furness, the party drove on to Church Walk, Llandudno, and were thence carried up quickly by tram-car to the

Cromlech at Maes-y-fachrell, Great Orme's Head.-This Cromlech was called by the old people "Lletty-y-filiast," the stone of the greyhound bitch. The chamber is made of four large upright stones supporting a large capstone, and the entrance faces the east. The measurements of the supports are:-S.W. stone, 3 ft. 8 in. high by 2 ft. 1 in.; N.W. stone, 3 ft. 8 in. by 7 ft. 6 in.; N.E. stone, 3 ft. 7 in. by 3 ft. 11 in.; N. stone, 3 ft. 7 in. by 3 ft. 5 in. The capstone is 7 ft. 6 in. long by 5 ft. 10 in. at the widest part. The Cromlech is on the property of Lord Mostyn, who, some years ago, had a strong iron railing placed around for its preservation. Mr. Humphreys assured the Association that Lord Mostyn was anxious that every care should be taken of the archæological remains on his estate. He stated that the cromlech was now being preserved, but it had been seriously damaged by the thorn bush which grew near. The mound at the side had been cut through, but it was found to be displaced earth. The ground round about had been dug up, but nothing had been found. The only things found at any time were a piece of dark brown pottery about 2 in. in length and a bone. The pottery was lost about fifteen years ago.

Mr. Cunnington said the cist was a very small example of the barrow of the Neolithic period. It was a common type of the long barrow. Some of the barrows were 120 ft. long by 45 ft. to 50 ft.

wide, and had a single gallery with chambers going right and left. There were various kinds, and some had a single cist at the east end. It was to be regretted that the piece of pottery was lost as that would probably have given a clue to the date.

The party then journeyed by train to the Summit Hotel (657 ft.), where luncheon was served, after which St. Tudno's Church was visited, which the Rev. Llewelyn Hughes, Rector of Llandudno, described. He said that in the early Celtic period of the sixth century St. Tudno founded his cell at that place, and from that time until now-with the exception of a brief period in the nineteenth century-that spot had been the centre of religious worship and work. The Church was first restored in 1850, and completed in 1906. There were portions of the building belonging to the

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eleventh or twelfth century. In the fifties a large quantity of rubbish was placed in the Church, but that was cleared, and the original level of the floor preserved. A noteworthy feature of the Church was its timber. It was before the days of oak, and chestnut was used. Portions of the wood had been found in the floor, and several articles were made from it. In fact, when the foundationstone of the newest church in Llandudno was laid by Lady Mostyn a mallet, made from the old wood of St. Tudno's Church, was used, so that the modern was hallowed by the ancient. The north wall of the Church was the finest specimen of early English masonry in the country. As regarded the formation of the Church there were seven steps, so that a child entering was gradually advanced until the altar was reached, over which there was a coloured boss representing the sacred wounds.

The Church is a simple parallelogram, with entrance in the west gable and a north entrance through a porch on N. side. To be noted

are the sloping buttress at the N.W. angle of the Church, the gabled bell-turret (not the traditional straight ridge), the plain, roughly circular-headed west doorway. The west portion of the N. wall and the N.W. portion of the west gable appear to be eleventh or twelfth century masonry, the chancel fifteenth century, the remainder of the west gable and western portion of S. wall late fifteenth century or early sixteenth century. The windows are modern (1855) except the small one in N. wall, which may be eleventh or twelfth century, and was designed to take an outside wooden shutter. The Church was unroofed by storm in 1839, and remained so until 1855.

The font, with dog tooth and other ornament, is of eleventh-century date. A portion of the old rood screen, with vine pattern, remains fixed on W. wall; and attention was given to the two fine tombstones at the W. end, but originally in the floor on the S. side of altar, and said to belong to some of the Lords of Gogarth; the dragon carved on the wall-plate to the N. of the altar; and the birds and vine ornament. The elegant silver chalice has no inscription, but the hall-mark "K" in a shield shows that its date is 1607.

St. Tudno's Church was reached after an awkward scramble, with a gale of wind at our back, down a steep, grassy and slippery declivity. This proved too difficult for one of our Members, Mr. J. B. Morgan, of Llanelly, who slipped, rolled, and finally turned a complete somersault. Fortunately he did not suffer from the accident, and the coins which rolled out of his pocket in the fall were soon gathered up.

Pen Dinas, a prehistoric fortress, with an area of about 7 acres, occupying a bold spur (400 ft.) jutting out from the Orme, was visited only by two or three active Members, the high and boisterous wind deterring the rest of the party. On three sides are precipitous cliffs, and on the N. and N. W. sides are some traces of defeuces. Within the camp, which is partially outlined by a rampart of stones and earth, are a number of hut circles varying from 4 to 7 yards in diameter and constructed with concentric rings of large stones. The rocking-stone is a rectangular slab, 6 ft. long by 2 ft. broad and 2 ft. thick, rests on a rock, and has a very faint rocking motion. It shows no marks of chisel.

Llanrhos Church was the next halting place, especially interesting as sheltering within its walls since 1906 a Romano-British inscribed stone, which formerly stood at the road side in front of Tyddyn Holland Cottage. Such a shelter was necessary, inasmuch as a former tenant of the cottage was said (Arch. Camb., 1877) to have deepened the letters for the benefit of English tourists, the effect of which is perceptible in the illustration sketched by Mr. Worthington Smith, the last line originally OTIS being transformed into a date 1618. The reading has been "boggled" nearly as much as that on the Pentre Voelas stone. Lewis Morris notes "In the highway by Tyddyn Holland, between Bodafon and Rhiw Leding, in Creuddyn,

near Conwy, on a grit stone of about a yard long, I found this inscription 1731. It seems to be a pagan inscription."

SANCT

ANVS

SACRI

ISIS

This opinion of Lewis Morris is due to the mistaken reading of

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

the last line ISIS for OTIS. The second line he takes to be AN V S whereas it is FILIVS.

Professor Sayce, after carefully inspecting the inscription with the light of a cycle lamp, pronounced the reading to be as given by Sir John Rhys (Arch. Camb., 1877):

SANCT

FILIVS

SACERD

OTIS

The "T' in the last line had flaked off.

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