OBITUARY OF MEMBERS OF THE POWYS-LAND CLUB. 1869. Jan. 29. May 23. 1870. May 15. Oct. 30. Nov. 16. CHARLES THOMAS WOOSNAM, Esq., Newtown. Major-General CHARLES THOMAS EDWARD HINDE, late of Rev. JOHN EDWARDS, M.A., Rector of Newtown; Member Rev. HARRY LONGUEVILLE JONES, M.A., Editor of Archa- He contributed an article to our third volume, on "The 1871. Feb. 26. Mar. 3. Mar. 24. Sir BALDWIN LEIGHTON, Bart., Loton Park, Salop. April 24. June 21. July 23. EDWARD EVANS, Esq., Thorneloe House, Worcester. PRYCE BUCKLEY WILLIAMS, Esq., Pennant; Member of the GEORGE WOOSNAM, Esq., Newtown. WILLIAM PRYCE YEARSLEY, Esq., Welshpool. ARTHUR JAMES JOHNES, Esq., Garthmyl. THE ABBEY OF YSTRAD MARCHELL, (STRATA MARCELLA) OR POLA. BY MORRIS CHARLES JONES, F.S.A. "Bonum est nos hic esse, quia homo vivit puriùs, cadit rariùs, surgit velociùs, incedit cautiùs, quiescit securiùs, moritur feliciùs, purgatur citiùs, præmiatur copiosius."-BERNARD.1 Situation. This abbey was situated in the township of Gungrog-fawr, in the parish of Pool, Montgomeryshire, and on the northern bank of the Severn, and about two miles and a-half east of the town of Welshpool. Not a vestige of it now remains. The site, marked by being called the "Abbey Bank," is situate near a point where the Severn, the turnpike-road leading from Welshpool to Oswestry, and the western branch of the Montgomeryshire canal come into near juxtaposition. The abbey stood in what is now a field, bounded by the Severn and the turnpike-road, in which there are a few apple-trees, which are said to be on the site of the abbey garden. There are some slight ridges in the field like terraces, but whether they mark the site of the abbey building, or only indicate where ancient fences have existed, it is difficult to determine. A few fragments of red sand-stone can be picked up on the site of the abbey church; and within the memory of individuals now living an old farm-house stood there, which had been formed out of its ruins; but no view 1 A sentence usually inscribed on some conspicuous part of Cistercian houses. Whitaker's History of Whalley, p. 61. VOL. IV. B or relic has been discovered from which its extent or the character of its architecture can be recalled. Dugdale states that the abbey was a wooden structure, which accounts for its total disappearance, but it is probable the abbey church was built of stone. In the church of the neighbouring parish of Buttington there are in the eastern window a few fragments of stained glass which are said to have come from the abbey. The font in that church, of which the engraving is a representation, is reputed to have been formed out of the capital of one of the columns in the Abbey Church. It had long remained covered with plaster; but in the restoration of Buttington Church, about thirty years ago, it was stripped, and the bold and deeply carved foliage came to light. It has been pronounced by competent judges to be of the Early English style of architecture, and probably of the date circa 1250. This lends probability to the tradition of its having been part of, or belonging to, the church of the abbey, which latter, as we shall hereafter see, was founded in 1170, and the church would probably be built in the succeeding century.1 1 The Rev. John Parker, in his Architectural Drawings, vol. ii, p. 85, makes the following interesting observations respecting this font: "This beautiful relic of ancient art was until 1838 so thickly coated with plaster and whitewash that its elegance remained a secret, and the celata virtus' was very near being thrown away as rubbish. It is a most exquisite though damaged font of the thirteenth century, carved with scrupulous adherence to style, and containing three rows of gothic foliage, arranged in a way that no sculptor could venture to improve. The general design has a resemblance to the capital and base of a gothic pillar, the shaft being of course omitted. The curling foliage, of which the central row bends in a different direction from those above and below it, conveys a beautiful effect of movement, and is like the branches of a tree, or the leaves of a plant, swaying to and fro in the wind. The pedestal on which it is raised has, I am sorry to say, been retouched and somewhat altered. The drawing [from which the engraving is taken] represents it as it was; there are two blocks of pale red sandstone, such as the neighbourhood affords, but the third, which contains the bowl of the font, and the octagon around which the foliage is The carved and formerly coloured oak roof of the chancel of Guilsfield parish church, and also that of the chancel of Pool parish church, are also said to have come from the same source; but as these parishes, then chapelries, with their mother church of Meifod, belonged to the Abbey, these carved oak decorations may have been remnants of the monks' skill and taste. It is much to be lamented that no ruin, or remnant, or view of this religious-house is extant. Its materials have been made available for utilitarian or ignoble purposes. 1 "Now at length the time has come," says an able writer, "when a changed state of feeling again views such ruins as sacred-sacred to departed genius and taste, sacred to the ever-living beauty of grandeur and repose, sacred, indeed, to yet higher and holier associations, of which nothing but a too narrow sectarianism would forbid the indulgence." The site of the Abbey was well selected, and was a spot quite congenial to Cistercian tastes. "A copious stream to the south, a moderate expanse of rich meadow, and pasture around, and an amphitheatre of sheltering hills clad in the verdant covering of their native woods beyond," were the "features in nature which the earlier Cistercians courted with instinctive fondness," carved, is of a cream-coloured freestone, and came either from Grinshill near Salop, or the quarries of Ruabon. The contemplation of this precious fragment, so long concealed, and now so hap pily rescued from destruction, can hardly fail to produce a degree of sadness in the mind of the spectator. If the remnants of Grecian art are carefully preserved and valued more than the smoothest productions of the modern artist; if the spirit of their workmanship is discovered in spite of all injuries done by time or violence, how much more highly should we value a work of sacred art where human talent of the highest order has been employed in providing for the due celebration of a sacrament." From these remarks it may be inferred that this able amateur architect considered this fine work of ancient art had originally been a font, and that he had not heard the tradition of its having been originally part of a column from this abbey. It may have been the font of the abbey church. 1 Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, vi, 325. and in this site they are all combined in a remarkable manner. With respect to the peculiar instinct, if it may be so called, which seemed to have dictated to the Cistercians the choice of situations for their houses, it has been well observed1 that, though they affected to plant themselves in the solitude of woods, which were to be gradually essarted by the labours of their own hands, and though they obtained an exemption from the payment of tithes on that specific plea, yet they were excellent judges of the quality of land, however concealed, and never set about their laborious task without the assurance of an ample recompense. The neighbourhood of the site of this Abbey is one of the richest and most productive spots in the two counties upon which it borders. The Abbey was situated in a remarkable point of the vale of the Severn. Assuming it to face the south, behind and to the north-east the ground rises abruptly in a woody and picturesque cliff- the Rallt and Crowther's coppice-forming a splendid background; whilst to the south lies before it the Long Mountain (Cefn Digoll), the spot where the last struggle for native independence afterwards took place then a barren hill, but now cultivated to the summit. On the east, a fine and extensive view opens up of the fertile plains of Shropshire, with the Breiddin hills standing out majestically, and forming the chief object of the landscape, and, perhaps, deciding the choice of the site of the Abbey. But in the opposite direction a magnificent and more varied view lies before one-stretching beyond the bounds of Montgomeryshire into Radnorshire, and even Cardiganshire-commanding a fine prospect of "the Severn and its tributaries, of the green livery of their many vales dotted with homesteads and hamlets, and bounded by an amphitheatre of hills, sharp and clear in outline against the sky." No one can visit the spot without being struck with 1 Whitaker's History of Whalley, p. 110. |