On another side of Towyn, at the distance of about three quarters of a mile, is a large upright stone about 7 feet high, neither inscribed with letters nor a cross, which is called Croes Faen (the Cross Stone). It is one of the boundaries of the township. PLATE LXXVII. FIG. 7. THE BEDD PORIUS STONE. This stone was first noticed by Robert Vaughan, in the first half of the seventeenth century, in his MS. notes published in the Archæologia Cambrensis, 1850, p. 203. It was however first made known by Edward Lhwyd in Gibson's Camden, p. 6621, Gough's Camden, iii. p. 176; Pennant, ii. p. 101. It stands in a field near a large maen-hir called Llech Idris, about 10 feet high, about half way between Dolmelynllen and Trawsfynydd in the valley of the Afon Gain. In Pennant's time it was in a farmhouse, but is now placed in the middle of a field on the west side of the river, and is surrounded by a fence of stones to preserve it from injury. It was rescued from destruction about forty years since by W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., who found the farmer in the act of building it into a wall, and Sir W. W. Wynne, on being informed of the circumstance, took proper steps for its preservation. (Arch. Camb., 1846, p. 423, and 1847, p. 95.) read The inscription, which is of a very early period and in Roman capitals, is to be PORIVS HIC IN TVMVLO IACIT The word in the first line is clearly Porius, although read as PORUS by Pennant, EPOREUS by Robert Vaughan, and MORWYS by Dr. John Jones. In the second line the letters VMV in the word TUMULO are conjoined, with only six instead of eight strokes; and in the third line the word following HOMO has been variously read thus: .. RIANUS by Edward Lhwyd, XRIANUS by R. Vaughan, PIANUS by Pennant, MEIRIANUS (a native of Meirion) by Dr. John Jones (Hist. Wales, p. 336). The difficulty has arisen from the curious conjunction between the first two upright strokes not having been clearly understood. This conjunctional character represents in fact an x of the Anglo-Saxon form, whereof the left-hand portion also forms the loop of a P, the P and x and 1 following being equivalent to the monogrammatic contraction of the name of Christ, and enabling us to read the third line as Homo christianus fuit, 'He was a Christian man.' The numerals 1245 E are clearly a modern addition, since no notice is given of them by the older writers above mentioned, and Mr. Wynne informed me that the late Mr. John Lloyd of Cefnvaes had told him that when he first knew the stone the Arabic numerals were not upon it. (In litt., June 16, 1877, and Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 78.) 1 Also in his MS. correspondence from Oxford, 6th July, 1693. Arch. Camb., 1848, p. 246. Y Of Porius, Mr. Samuel Lysons suggested to me (in litt., March 24, 1865) that Peirio, one of the sons of Caw, called also Cato or Cadaw, was a saint of the congregation of St. Illtyd, to whom is dedicated a church in Anglesea. He was contemporary with St. Kebius or Kuby, circ. 360-400. My figure of the stone was drawn by me from a rubbing communicated by the late Rev. H. L. Jones (Arch. Camb., 1846, p. 422). The stone is 3 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 4 inches, the lower corners being broken away, and about 8 inches thick 1. PLATE LXXX. FIG. 5. THE CELEXTUS STONE AT LLANABER CHURCH. This stone, 7 feet 4 inches long, 1 foot 9 inches wide, and 9 inches thick, was formerly used as a foot-bridge over a brook, and afterwards lay on the sea-beach, just above highwater-mark, under the farmhouse called Kiel Wart, in the parish of Llanaber and hundred of Ardudwy, to the north of Barmouth, where it became buried in the sand and its locality lost. It was however removed to the church of Llanaber in August 1855, where it is now safely imbedded in the inside of the wall of the church close to the north door. It was first described in Gough's Camden, iii. p. 173, and by Pennant in his Tour in 1781, p. 109 (4to. edition). Pennant read the inscription as follows, Hie jacet CALIXTUS MONEDO REGI2; and it was read by Mr. Jones Parry as CELEXTUS Monedo Regi, the first two words being no longer visible (in fact, they could never have existed), there being space above the name Cælexti for several lines of writing, and the stone not appearing to be a fragment. (W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., Arch. Camb., 1850, pp. 229, 317, and 1853, p. 215.) This is doubtless one of the stones in the sands of the Bay of Abermo, with inscriptions in Roman characters upon them, mentioned in Waring's Life of Iolo Morganwg, p. 202. In the Arch. Camb., 1866, p. 369, an anonymous correspondent suggests the connexion of the stone with the Isle of Man-Mona, in the name Monedo Rigi. The accompanying figure has been drawn from rubbings sent me by Mr. W. W. E. Wynne and the Rev. H. L. Jones, who read the last letter but two as I in Rigi, not Regi. The fourth and fifth letters of the second line are nearly effaced by the tread of feet when the stone was used as a foot-bridge. (H. L. J. in litt., Feb. 28, 1864.) It closely corresponds with the figure given by Hübner (Inscript. p. 45, No. 128), except that in the last letter of the second line appears a mark like an x, and that a crack on the face of the stone renders the first letter of the third line incomplete. Prof. Rhys (Arch. Camb., 1875, p. 195), referring to the connexion of this stone with Mona, the Isle of Man, and suggesting that Righmonaidh is the name of a monastery in Scotland, mentioned in the Irish MS. of the Felire Aengus, says, 'Righmonaidh probably meant 1 The gigantic dimensions of the stone given by Hübner, Inscr., p. 46, No. 131, are those of the Llech Idris. (See Arch. Camb., 1846, pp. 423, 424.) 2 The last two words have been read as intended for Moneta (rius) regi(s), the king's moneyer or coiner. "king of the moor or of the mountain," and is exactly the analysed form of our compound Monedorigi on the stone of Calextis.' In his Notes (p. 11) he prints the name as 'CALEXSI MONEDORIGI, i. e. Cælex, king of the mountains, rather than king of the Isle of Man, as some seem to have supposed. But who was this monarch of the mountain?' In his Lectures (sub No. 24) he reads the first name correctly as Calexti. Hübner, however (1. c.), adds, 'nunc mecum (Rhys) putat simpliciter esse Calexti pro Cælestis aut Calixti (filius) Monedorigi; patris nomen potest fuisse aut Monedorix aut Monedorigix. Rhys ipse comparat Dumnorix, Dumnorigis formas.' Dr. John Jones (Hist. Wales, p. 38) has a surprising translation of the inscription, 'Here lies the boatman to King Gwynddo,-from which it appears the proper name of Garan Hir was Gwynddo, and not Gwyddno.' PLATE LXXIV. FIG. 7. THE LLANVAWR INSCRIBED STONE. In the church of Llanvawr, near Bala, formerly affixed at one of the sides of the windows, but now in the wall of the porch of the rebuilt church, is an inscribed stone, first noticed in the first half of the seventeenth century by Robert Vaughan in his MS. account of the county as bearing the words CAVOS ENIARSII (the rest being lost). (Arch. Camb., 1850, p. 204.) This stone is also mentioned in the Cambro-Briton, vol. i, and by Professor Rhys (Notes, p. 11), where the inscription is read Cavoseniargli. At the Meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Association at Carmarthen in 1875, Mr. Howel Lloyd associated this stone with the bard Llywarch Hen, from his connexion with the district. The Rev. D. R. Thomas however, although admitting the traditions and adding that a spot adjacent to the church was called "Pabell Llywarch Hen," could not agree to Mr. Lloyd's interpretation of the inscription, which he rather read as Cavoseniargii, and in this opinion Mr. Rhys and Professor Westwood agree.' (Arch. Camb., 1875, p. 405.) Prof. Hübner (Inscript., p. 46, No. 133) has figured the stone from a rubbing sent him by Prof. Rhys, with the reading Cavoseniargii, adding, Cavos Eniarsii Vaughan legit, Cavo Seniarsii legendum putavit 1,' adding, 'Imago quamvis in fine li potius videatur exhibere tamen ii probabilius est. Linea subscripta (beneath the last two letters) aut fortuita est aut interpunctionis vice fungitur.' The inscription is 23 inches long by 4 inches wide, and is here represented from four rubbings communicated by W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., in 1849, and the late Rev. H. L. Jones. The crack under the last two letters is shown in them to extend under several of the preceding letters. 1 I do not know whence Hübner obtained this incorrect idea, as the letter following the R is a G, and not a s, as may be seen by comparing it with the s near the beginning of the inscription. PLATE LXXVI. FIGS. 1 & 2. THE LLANFIHANGEL Y TRAETHAU STONE. In the churchyard of Llanfihangel y Traethau, within sight of Harlech Castle to the south, is a tall slanting stone standing about six yards due west of the church. It is square, about 6 feet high, and was delineated in Gough's Camden, iii. p. 172, tab., figs. 8, 9; Pennant's Supplemental Tables, 5, fig. 4; and a description and figure of the stone, with a copy of the inscription from my drawing, was published by T. L. D. Jones Parry, Esq., in Arch. Camb., 1848, p. 227, with an additional note by myself. Further notes on the stone by Mr. Thomas Wakeman and John Gough Nichols appeared in the Arch. Camb., 1849, pp. 21, 22. The inscription is to be read +h EST SEPULCRV WLEDER MATS ODELEV QÏ ÝMV EDIFICAV hANC ECL'A. IN TEPRE WINI REG. i. e. Hoc (or perhaps Hic) est sepulcrum Wleder matris Following the initial Odeleu qui primum edificavit hanc ecclesiam In tempore vvini regis. is a thin stroke quite close to the first stroke of the h, noticed by Mr. Parry, but which appears to me to be but a lapsus calami of the sculptor. The names commemorated on this stone have been the subject of considerable controversy. At first it was considered that it was the sepulchre of Wledermat Odeleu1, but Mr. Wakeman and J. Gough Nichols simultaneously suggested that the stone was that of Wleder, the mother (matris) of Odeleu, which reading has subsequently been maintained; the former writer adding, The person whose interment it is intended to commemorate appears to be Gwladis, the mother of Olave, the founder of the church in the time of King Ewin or Owen, probably Owen Gwynedd, between 1137 and 1169' (Arch. Camb., 1849, p. 21). The name of the king in the fourth line has been read Winus or Win by Mr. Jones Parry, Ewin or Owen by Mr. Wakeman (as above), and as Willelmi by Mr. J. Gough Nichols, the last-named writer considering the E as belonging to the word Tempore, for the word would be imperfect without it,' and that the letter following the VVI is intended for two minuscule Il's, with a line of contraction through them in the usual way; a reading which appears to me untenable (the letter being an N with the oblique bar neither reaching the top nor the bottom of the upright strokes, just as in the second letter of the same line). It will also be noticed that all the four L's in the three upper lines of the 1 Lewis read the commencement, 'Hoc est sepulchrum Will. Dermal de deler;' and Dr. John Jones (Hist. Wales, p. 335) translates the inscription thus: "This is the Sepulchral Cross of Gwladrifad Ddewin, who built this Church in the reign of King Edwin.' inscription are capitals with the bottom horizontal bar, whilst, on the other hand, the w is of the same form as the w in the first line. Prof. Rhys (Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 244) considered that the king mentioned in the fourth line was Owen, son of Howel the Good, who died in 987. This he corrected in a following page (334), thinking that it was more likely to be of the time of Owain Gwynedd, perhaps on the whole,' as had been suggested by Mr. Wakeman. In my note in Arch. Camb., 1848, p. 228, I observed, 'I have no doubt of this inscription being of the Norman period. You will find it correspond in many respects with the legends of the Bayeux tapestry.' And (Arch. Camb., 1849, p. 22), Mr. Wakeman's suggestion that this stone was erected in the time of King Owen (VVINI, Uvini?) is to be preferred to that of Mr. J. Gough Nichols 1.' The name Wleder (Gwledder in modern Welsh) has been recognised by the Rev. D. R. Thomas in the name Buddwleder, and by Prof. Rhys in the Mabinogion (ii. 212), where mention is made of a lady called Gwennwledyr. The latter also says that the name Odelev seems to be involved in Edelyv-on (Liber Landav., p. 237), and that it probably follows the Welsh mutation, which would make Mam-Godeleu into Mam Odeleu, and so in Sepulcrum Wleder Bedd Wleder for Bedd+Gwleder; if so, we might infer Gwleder and Godeleu. (Arch. Camb., 1874, pp. 244, 334.) = The palæographical peculiarities of the stone are worthy of attention, being especially referrible to a period of which there are scarcely any other examples in Wales. Amongst them are to be noticed the insertion of one letter in the open space of an adjoining one (lettres enclavées), and the peculiar contractions, sometimes in the shape of a small 1 above the line or a small transverse bar above the line, or a similar small cross-bar within the loop of the letter P in the last line. PLATE LXXVI. FIGS. 3, 4, 5 & 6. WELSH INSCRIBED STONE AT LLANFIHANGEL Y TRAETHAU. In the 'Academy' for 1874 the Rev. John Wordsworth, of Brasenose College, Oxford, gave the first account of a curious stone which, about six years previously, had been found built into the belfry of the church, and for rubbings and drawings of which I am indebted to him, as well as for the following description of it : 'It was a block of about 22 inches long, three-sided, and inscribed at both of the triangular ends and on two of the sides. On one of the ends and one side were Latin inscriptions, and on the other side and end Welsh. The Welsh inscription was comparatively modern, probably of the same date as that cut upon the end-Mai 16, 1679; it ended with the words WYгMEWN HEDDWCH, "I am in peace," but was difficult to decipher throughout. The Latin inscription was very curious. The triangular end seemed to have been used for a double purpose. Towards the apex were four letters, one of which might possibly have 1 Strangely overlooking my remarks quoted above, Prof. Hübner (Inscr., p. 45, No. 130) observes, 'Sæculi decimi quinti lapidem esse putabat Westwood.' (!) |