Wild Wales: The People, Language, & Scenery

“Are you the person,” said I, “who just now answered me in English after I had spoken in Welsh?”

“In truth I am,” said she, with a half laugh.

“And how came you to answer me in English, after I had spoken to you in Welsh?”

“Because,” said she, “it was easy enough to know by your voice that you were an Englishman.”

“You speak English remarkably well,” said I.

“And so do you Welsh,” said the woman; “I had no idea that it was possible for any Englishman to speak Welsh half so well.”

“I wonder,” thought I to myself, “what you would have answered if I had said that you speak English execrably.” By her own account, she could read both Welsh and English. She walked by my side to the turn, and then up the left-hand road, which she said was the way to Llan Rhyadr. Coming to a cottage, she bade me good-night, and went in. The road was horribly miry; presently, as I was staggering through a slough, just after I had passed a little cottage, I heard a cracked voice crying, “I suppose you lost your way?” I recognised it as that of the old woman whom I had helped over the stile. She was now standing behind a little gate, which opened into a garden before the cottage. The figure of a man was standing near her. I told her that she was quite right in her supposition.

“Ah,” said she, “you should have gone straight forward.”

“If I had gone straight forward,” said I, “I must have gone over a hedge, at the corner of a field which separated two roads; instead of bidding me go straight forward, you should have told me to follow the left-hand road.”

“Well,” said she, “be sure you keep straight forward now.”

I asked her who the man was standing near her.

“It is my husband,” said she.

“Has he much English?” said I.

“None at all,” said she, “for his mother was not English, like mine.” I bade her good-night, and went forward. Presently I came to a meeting of roads, and to go straight forward it was necessary to pass through a quagmire; remembering, however, the words of my friend the beldame, I went straight forward, though in so doing I was sloughed up to the knees. In a little time I came to a rapid descent, and at the bottom of it to a bridge. It was now very dark; only the corner of the moon was casting a faint light. After crossing the bridge I had one or two ascents and descents. At last I saw lights before me, which proved to be those of Llan Rhyadr. I soon found myself in a dirty little street, and, inquiring for the inn, was kindly shown by a man to one which he said was the best, and which was called the Wynstay Arms.

CHAPTER LXV

Inn at Llan Rhyadr – A Low Englishman – Enquiries – The Cook – A Precious Couple.

The inn seemed very large, but did not look very cheerful. No other guest than myself seemed to be in it, except in the kitchen, where I heard a fellow talking English, and occasionally yelling an English song; the master and mistress of the house were civil, and lighted me a fire in what was called the Commercial Room, and putting plenty of coals in the grate, soon made the apartment warm and comfortable. I ordered dinner, or rather supper, which in about half-an-hour was brought in by the woman. The supper, whether good or bad, I despatched with the appetite of one who had walked twenty miles over hill and dale.

Occasionally I heard a dreadful noise in the kitchen, and the woman told me that the fellow there was making himself exceedingly disagreeable, chiefly, she believed, because she had refused to let him sleep in the house – she said that he was a low fellow, that went about the country with fish, and that he was the more ready to insult her as the master of the house was now gone out. I asked if he was an Englishman. “Yes,” said she, “a low Englishman.”

“Then he must be low indeed,” said I. “A low Englishman is the lowest of the low.” After a little time I heard no more noise, and was told that the fellow was gone away. I had a little whisky and water, and then went to bed, sleeping in a tolerable chamber, but rather cold. There was much rain during the night, and also wind; windows rattled, and I occasionally heard the noise of falling tiles.

I arose about eight. Notwithstanding the night had been so tempestuous, the morning was sunshiny and beautiful. Having ordered breakfast, I walked out in order to have a look at the town. Llan Rhyadr is a small place, having nothing remarkable in it save an ancient church, and a strange little antique market-house, standing on pillars. It is situated at the western end of an extensive valley, and at the entrance of a glen. A brook, or rivulet, runs through it, which comes down the glen from the celebrated cataract, which is about four miles distant to the west. Two lofty mountains form the entrance of the glen, and tower above the town, one on the south and the other on the north. Their names, if they have any, I did not learn.

After strolling about the little place for about a quarter of an hour, staring at the things and the people, and being stared at by the latter, I returned to my inn, a structure built in the modern Gothic style, and which stands nearly opposite to the churchyard. Whilst breakfasting, I asked the landlady, who was bustling about the room, whether she had ever heard of Owen Glendower.

“In truth, sir, I have. He was a great gentleman who lived a long time ago, and, and – ”

“Gave the English a great deal of trouble,” said I.

“Just so, sir; at least, I dare say it is so, as you say it.”

“And do you know where he lived?”

“I do not, sir; I suppose a great way off, somewhere in the south.”

“Do you mean South Wales?”

“In truth, sir, I do.”

“There you are mistaken,” said I; “and also in supposing he lived a great way off. He lived in North Wales, and not far from this place.”

“In truth, sir, you know more about him than I.”

“Did you ever hear of a place called Sycharth?”

“Sycharth! Sycharth! I never did, sir.”

“It is the place where Glendower lived, and it is not far off. I want to go there, but do not know the way.”

“Sycharth! Sycharth!” said the landlady musingly; “I wonder if it is the place we call Sychnant.”

“Is there such a place?”

“Yes, sure; about six miles from here, near Llangedwin.”

“What kind of place is it?”

“In truth, sir, I do not know, for I was never there. My cook, however, in the kitchen, knows all about it, for she comes from there.”

“Can I see her?”

“Yes, sure; I will go at once and fetch her.”

She then left the room, and presently returned with the cook, a short, thick girl, with blue, staring eyes.

“Here she is, sir,” said the landlady, “but she has no English.”

“All the better,” said I. “So you come from a place called Sychnant?” said I to the cook in Welsh.

“In truth, sir, I do,” said the cook.

“Did you ever hear of a gwr boneddig called Owen Glendower?”

“Often, sir, often; he lived in our place.”

“He lived in a place called Sycharth?” said I.

“Well, sir, and we of the place call it Sycharth as often as Sychnant; nay, oftener.”

“Is his house standing?”

“It is not; but the hill on which it stood is still standing.”

“Is it a high hill?”

“It is not; it is a small, light hill.”

“A light hill!” said I to myself. “Old Iolo Goch, Owen Glendower’s bard, said the chieftain dwelt in a house on a light hill.”

“There dwells the chief we all extolIn timber house on lightsome knoll.”

“Is there a little river near it,” said I to the cook – “a ffrwd?”

“There is; it runs just under the hill.”

“Is there a mill upon the ffrwd?”

“There is not; that is, now, – but there was in the old time; a factory of woollen stands now where the mill once stood.”

“A mill, a rushing brook upon,And pigeon tower fram’d of stone.”

“So says Iolo Goch,” said I to myself, “in his description of Sycharth; I am on the right road.”

I asked the cook to whom the property of Sycharth belonged, and was told of course to Sir Watkin, who appears to be the Marquis of Carabas of Denbighshire. After a few more questions I thanked her and told her she might go. I then finished my breakfast, paid my bill, and, after telling the landlady that I should return at night, started for Llangedwin and Sycharth.

A broad and excellent road led along the valley in the direction in which I was proceeding.

The valley was beautiful, and dotted with various farm-houses, and the land appeared to be in as high a state of cultivation as the soil of my own Norfolk – that county so deservedly celebrated for its agriculture. The eastern side is bounded by lofty hills, and towards the north the vale is crossed by three rugged elevations, the middlemost of which, called, as an old man told me, Bryn Dinas, terminates to the west in an exceedingly high and picturesque crag.

After an hour’s walking I overtook two people, a man and a woman laden with baskets, which hung around them on every side. The man was a young fellow of about eight-and-twenty, with a round face, fair flaxen hair, and rings in his ears; the female was a blooming buxom lass of about eighteen. After giving them the sele of the day, I asked them if they were English.

“Aye, aye, master,” said the man; “we are English.”

“Where do you come from?” said I.

“From Wrexham,” said the man.

“I thought Wrexham was in Wales,” said I.

“If it be,” said the man, “the people are not Welsh; a man is not a horse because he happens to be born in a stable.”

“Is that young woman your wife?” said I.

“Yes,” said he, “after a fashion” – and then he leered at the lass, and she leered at him.

“Do you attend any place of worship?” said I.

“A great many, master!”

“What place do you chiefly attend?” said I.

“The Chequers, master!”

“Do they preach the best sermons there?” said I.

“No, master! but they sells the best ale there.”

“Do you worship ale?” said I.

“Yes, master; I worships ale.”

“Anything else?” said I.

“Yes, master! I and my mort worships something besides good ale; don’t we, Sue?” and then he leered at the mort, who leered at him, and both made odd motions backwards and forwards, causing the baskets which hung around them to creak and rustle, and uttering loud shouts of laughter, which roused the echoes of the neighbouring hills.

“Genuine descendants, no doubt,” said I to myself as I walked briskly on, “of certain of the old heathen Saxons who followed Rag into Wales, and settled down about the house which he built. Really, if these two are a fair specimen of the Wrexham population, my friend the Scotch policeman was not much out when he said that the people of Wrexham were the worst people in Wales.”

CHAPTER LXVI

Sycharth – The kindly Welcome – Happy Couple – Sycharth – Recalling the Dead – Ode to Sycharth.

I was now at the northern extremity of the valley near a great house, past which the road led in the direction of the north-east. Seeing a man employed in breaking stones, I inquired the way to Sychnant.

“You must turn to the left,” said he, “before you come to yon great house, follow the path which you will find behind it, and you will soon be in Sychnant.”

“And to whom does the great house belong?”

“To whom? why, to Sir Watkin.”

“Does he reside there?”

“Not often. He has plenty of other houses, but he sometimes comes there to hunt.”

“What is the place’s name?”

“Llan Gedwin.”

I turned to the left, as the labourer had directed me. The path led upward behind the great house, round a hill thickly planted with trees. Following it, I at length found myself on a broad road on the top extending east and west, and having on the north and south beautiful wooded hills. I followed the road, which presently began to descend. On reaching level ground I overtook a man in a waggoner’s frock, of whom I inquired the way to Sycharth. He pointed westward down the vale to what appeared to be a collection of houses, near a singular-looking monticle, and said, “That is Sycharth.”

We walked together till we came to a road which branched off on the right to a little bridge.

“That is your way,” said he, and pointing to a large building beyond the bridge, towering up above a number of cottages, he said, “that is the factory of Sycharth;” he then left me, following the high road, whilst I proceeded towards the bridge, which I crossed, and coming to the cottages, entered one on the right-hand, of a remarkably neat appearance.

In a comfortable kitchen, by a hearth on which blazed a cheerful billet, sat a man and woman. Both arose when I entered; the man was tall, about fifty years of age, and athletically built; he was dressed in a white coat, corduroy breeches, shoes, and grey worsted stockings. The woman seemed many years older than the man; she was tall also, and strongly built, and dressed in the ancient Welsh female costume, namely, a kind of round half-Spanish hat, long blue woollen kirtle, or gown, a crimson petticoat, and white apron, and broad, stout shoes with buckles.

“Welcome, stranger,” said the man, after looking me a moment or two full in the face.

“Croesaw, dyn dieithr – welcome, foreign man,” said the woman, surveying me with a look of great curiosity.

“Won’t you sit down?” said the man, handing me a chair.

I sat down, and the man and woman resumed their seats.

“I suppose you come on business connected with the factory?” said the man.

“No,” said I, “my business is connected with Owen Glendower.”

“With Owen Glendower?” said the man, staring.

“Yes,” said I; “I came to see his place.”

“You will not see much of his house now,” said the man – “it is down; only a few bricks remain.”

“But I shall see the place where his house stood,” said I; “which is all I expected to see.”

“Yes; you can see that.”

“What does the dyn dieithr say?” said the woman in Welsh, with an inquiring look.

“That he is come to see the place of Owen Glendower.”

“Ah!” said the woman with a smile.

“Is that good lady your wife?” said I.

“She is.”

“She looks much older than yourself.”

“And no wonder. She is twenty-one years older.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifty-three.”

“Dear me,” said I, “what a difference in your ages! how came you to marry?”

“She was a widow, and I had lost my wife. We were lone in the world, so we thought we would marry.”

“Do you live happily together?”

“Very.”

“Then you did quite right to marry. What is your name?”

“David Robert.”

“And that of your wife?”

“Gwen Robert.”

“Does she speak English?”

“She speaks some, but not much.”

“Is the place where Owen lived far from here?”

“It is not. It is the round hill a little way above the factory.”

“Is the path to it easy to find?”

“I will go with you,” said the man. “I work at the factory, but I need not go there for an hour at least.”

He put on his hat, and bidding me follow him, went out. He led me over a gush of water which, passing under the factory, turns the wheel; thence over a field or two towards a house at the foot of the mountain, where he said the steward of Sir Watkin lived, of whom it would be as well to apply for permission to ascend the hill, as it was Sir Watkin’s ground. The steward was not at home; his wife was, however, and she, when we told her we wished to go to the top of Owain Glendower’s Hill, gave us permission with a smile. We thanked her, and proceeded to mount the hill, or monticle, once the residence of the great Welsh chieftain, whom his own deeds and the pen of Shakespear have rendered immortal.

Owen Glendower’s hill, or mount, at Sycharth, unlike the one bearing his name on the banks of the Dee, is not an artificial hill, but the work of nature, save and except that to a certain extent it has been modified by the hand of man. It is somewhat conical, and consists of two steps, or gradations, where two fosses scooped out of the hill go round it, one above the other, the lower one embracing considerably the most space. Both these fosses are about six feet deep, and at one time doubtless were bricked, as stout, large, red bricks are yet to be seen, here and there, in their sides. The top of the mount is just twenty-five feet across. When I visited it, it was covered with grass, but had once been subjected to the plough, as various furrows indicated. The monticle stands not far from the western extremity of the valley, nearly midway between two hills which confront each other north and south, the one to the south being the hill which I had descended, and the other a beautiful wooded height which is called in the parlance of the country Llwyn Sycharth, or the grove of Sycharth, from which comes the little gush of water which I had crossed, and which now turns the wheel of the factory, and once turned that of Owen Glendower’s mill, and filled his two moats; part of the water, by some mechanical means, having been forced up the eminence. On the top of this hill, or monticle, in a timber house, dwelt the great Welshman, Owen Glendower, with his wife, a comely, kindly woman, and his progeny, consisting of stout boys and blooming girls, and there, though wonderfully cramped for want of room, he feasted bards, who requited his hospitality with alliterative odes very difficult to compose, and which at the present day only a few bookworms understand. There he dwelt for many years, the virtual, if not the nominal, king of North Wales; occasionally, no doubt, looking down with self-complaisance from the top of his fastness on the parks and fish-ponds, of which he had several; his mill, his pigeon tower, his ploughed lands, and the cottages of a thousand retainers, huddled round the lower part of the hill, or strewn about the valley; and there he might have lived and died, had not events caused him to draw the sword and engage in a war, at the termination of which Sycharth was a fire-scathed ruin, and himself a broken-hearted old man in anchorite’s weeds, living in a cave on the estate of Sir John Scudamore, the great Herefordshire proprietor, who married his daughter Elen, his only surviving child.

After I had been a considerable time on the hill, looking about me and asking questions of my guide, I took out a piece of silver and offered it to him, thanking him at the same time for the trouble he had taken in showing me the place. He refused it, saying that I was quite welcome.

I tried to force it upon him.

“I will not take it,” said he; “but if you come to my house and have a cup of coffee, you may give sixpence to my old woman.”

“I will come,” said I, “in a short time. In the meanwhile, do you go; I wish to be alone.”

“What do you want to do?”

“To sit down and endeavour to recall Glendower, and the times that are past.”

The fine fellow looked puzzled; at last he said, “Very well,” shrugged his shoulders, and descended the hill.

When he was gone I sat down on the brow of the hill, and with my face turned to the east, began slowly to chant a translation made by myself in the days of my boyhood of an ode to Sycharth, composed by Iolo Goch when upwards of a hundred years old, shortly after his arrival at that place, to which he had been invited by Owen Glendower: —

Twice have I pledg’d my word to theeTo come thy noble face to see;His promises let every manPerform as far as e’er he can!Full easy is the thing that’s sweet,And sweet this journey is and meet;I’ve vowed to Owain’s court to go,And I’m resolv’d to keep my vow;So thither straight I’ll take my wayWith blithesome heart, and there I’ll stay,Respect and honour, whilst I breathe,To find his honour’d roof beneath.My chief of long lin’d ancestryCan harbour sons of poesy;I’ve heard, for so the muse has told,He’s kind and gentle to the old;Yes, to his castle I will hie;There’s none to match it ’neath the sky:It is a baron’s stately court,Where bards for sumptuous fare resort;There dwells the lord of Powis land,Who granteth every just demand.Its likeness now I’ll limn you out:’Tis water girdled wide about;It shows a wide and stately doorReached by a bridge the water o’er;’Tis form’d of buildings coupled fair,Coupled is every couple there;Within a quadrate structure tallMuster the merry pleasures all.Conjointly are the angles bound —No flaw in all the place is found.Structures in contact meet the eyeUpon the hillock’s top on high;Into each other fastened theyThe form of a hard knot display.There dwells the chief we all extolIn timber house on lightsome knoll;Upon four wooden columns proudMounteth his mansion to the cloud;Each column’s thick and firmly bas’d,And upon each a loft is plac’d;In these four lofts, which coupled stand,Repose at night the minstrel band;Four lofts they were in pristine state,But now partitioned form they eight.Tiled is the roof, on each house-topRise smoke-ejecting chimneys up.All of one form there are nine hallsEach with nine wardrobes in its wallsWith linen white as well suppliedAs fairest shops of fam’d Cheapside.Behold that church with cross uprais’dAnd with its windows neatly glaz’d;All houses are in this comprest —An orchard’s near it of the best,Also a park where void of fearFeed antler’d herds of fallow deer.A warren wide my chief can boast,Of goodly steeds a countless host.Meads where for hay the clover grows,Corn-fields which hedges trim inclose,A mill a rushing brook upon,And pigeon tower fram’d of stone;A fish-pond deep and dark to seeTo cast nets in when need there be,Which never yet was known to lackA plenteous store of perch and jack.Of various plumage birds abound;Herons and peacocks haunt around.What luxury doth his hall adorn,Showing of cost a sovereign scorn;His ale from Shrewsbury town he brings;His usquebaugh is drink for kings;Bragget he keeps, bread white of look,And, bless the mark! a bustling cook.His mansion is the minstrels’ home,You’ll find them there whene’er you comeOf all her sex his wife’s the best;The household through her care is blest.She’s scion of a knightly tree,She’s dignified, she’s kind and free.His bairns approach me, pair by pair,O what a nest of chieftains fair!Here difficult it is to catchA sight of either bolt or latch;The porter’s place here none will fill;Here largess shall be lavish’d still,And ne’er shall thirst or hunger rudeIn Sycharth venture to intrude.A noble leader, Cambria’s knight,The lake possesses, his by right,And midst that azure water plac’d,The castle, by each pleasure grac’d.

And when I had finished repeating these lines I said, “How much more happy, innocent and holy I was in the days of my boyhood, when I translated Iolo’s ode, than I am at the present time!” Then covering my face with my hands, I wept like a child.

CHAPTER LXVII

Cup of Coffee – Gwen – Bluff old Fellow – A Rabble Rout – All from Wrexham.

After a while I arose from my seat, and descending the hill, returned to the house of my honest friends, whom I found sitting by their fire, as I had first seen them.

“Well,” said the man, “did you bring back Owen Glendower?”

“Not only him,” said I, “but his house, family, and all relating to him.”

“By what means?” said the man.

“By means of a song made a long time ago, which describes Sycharth as it was in his time, and his manner of living there.”

Presently Gwen, who had been preparing coffee in expectation of my return, poured out a cupful, which she presented to me, at the same time handing me some white sugar in a basin.

I took the coffee, helped myself to some sugar, and returned her thanks in her own language.

“Ah,” said the man, in Welsh, “I see you are a Cumro. Gwen and I have been wondering whether you were Welsh or English; but I see you are one of ourselves.”

“No,” said I in the same language, “I am an Englishman, born in a part of England the farthest of any from Wales. In fact, I am a Carn Sais.”

“And how came you to speak Welsh?” said the man.

“I took it into my head to learn it when I was a boy,” said I. “Englishmen sometimes do strange things.”

“So I have heard,” said the man, “but I never heard before of an Englishman learning Welsh.”

I proceeded to drink my coffee, and having finished it, and had a little more discourse, I got up, and having given Gwen a piece of silver, which she received with a smile and a curtsey, I said I must now be going.

“Won’t you take another cup?” said Gwen, “you are welcome.”

“No, thank you,” said I; “I have had enough.”

“Where are you going?” said the man in English.