VI. Description of Neath Abbey, in Glamorganshire. MR. URBAN, YOU will oblige me by inserting in your Magazine the following account of Neath Abbey. I cannot, at present, procure a drawing of it; but, if I should hereafter, it will be much at your service. It is situated on the Western bank of the placid, serpentine Neath, one mile from the town of Neath, in the county of Glamorgan, surrounded on all sides by the most beautiful and romantic scenery. It was founded in the beginning of the reign of Henry I. by Richard de Grana Villa, or Granville, who then held the lordship of Neath, and was brother to Robert Fitz-hamon, chief of Norman knights, who conquered Glamorganshire about the year 1190. The monks here were, at first, of the order of Savigny, but soon afterwards became Cistercians. Mr. Wyndham justly observes (in his "Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales") that there are no "traces among the ruins" so ancient as the "original foundation;" for, the plain Gothic style of building, which the present remains exhibit, was not introduced into this country until the latter end of the reign of Henry II. nor did it generally prevail until that of Henry III. This Abbey once afforded a temporary asylum to an unfortunate monarch and his favourite. Edward II. and Hugh Le Despenser, the younger, having taken a vessel at Bristol, A. D 1326, with a design to sail to the Island of Lundy, or (according to other accounts) to Ireland, were driven by contrary winds on the coast of Glamorganshire, and remained concealed a short time at this place. This flight of the king is the more memorable, as it furnished the queen and her party with a specious pretext for declaring the Prince of Wales guardian of the kingdom. Lewis of Glamorgan*, a celebrated Welsh poet, who flourished about the year 1520, gives a particular description of this Abbey, in an ode comprising the twenty-four different metres of ancient British poetry. He describes it as a spacious building covered with lead, with some fine painted windows, and a pavement of glazed brick. These bricks are, at present, frequently picked up among the *Lewys Morgannwg. rubbish. We likewise learn from this ode, that it was once a seat of the Muses, youth being instructed here (among other branches of learning) in arithmetic, rhetoric, logic, and the civil and canon laws; and that this school had attained a considerable degree of celebrity; nor does he forget to mention the adjacent parks, from which the Holy Fathers were supplied with venison, or to bestow a proper encomium on their sumptuous table. He also informs us, that the arms of several of the nobility and gentry were to be seen here. Some armorial bearings cut in free-stone, and placed over the principal entrance to the Abbot's house, have been lately removed; and the different quarterings of the Pembroke family, executed in the above manner, which were taken hence, are now at Courtratîr, a house belonging to the Abbey estate. The church consisted of a nave, about two hundred and ten feet long, and sixty-six wide, with a cross-aisle, about one hundred and fifty feet long, and fifty-four wide; a large tower in the centre, and two light turrets at the West end; a good part of the latter, with the winding staircase in each, still remains. The shell of the Abbot's house is entire, and includes several spacious rooms, the largest of which is the refectory (now called the great hall), being seventy feet in length, and thirty feet wide, with a vaulted stone roof, supported by a row of plain columns, running lengthways through the middle of the room. Leland in his Itinerary calls Neath "the fairest abbey of all Wales;" but in his Collectanea he is inclined to give Margam the preference. It continued until the general dissolution of religious houses, when its annual revenues were estimated at 132). 7s. 7 d. according to Dugdale, but Speed states them at 150l. 4s. 9d. This valuation must have been very low even at that time, since the demesne itself is of a considerable extent, and formerly there were several detached estates belonging to the monastery, which are not held with it now, some in the neighbourhood, and others in the different parishes of Llandilo-tal-y-bont, Oystermouth Llanridian, Penmain, Porteinon, and Llandewi, in Gower, all within the county of Glamorgan. It was granted 33d of Henry VIII. to Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, great grand-father to the Protector. We find it afterwards in the possession of the Herberts; from whom it was transferred to Sir William Dodington, of Breymore, in the county of Southampton, Knt. by his marriage with Mary, the daughter of Sir John Herbert, Kat secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth, and nephew to William Earl of Pembroke. Edward Dodington, Esq. son of the said Sir William Dodington, gave it to his nephew Philip Hoby, Esq. fourth son of Peregrine Hoby, Esq. of Bisham, in the county of Berks, who resided at the Abbey until his death, and so did his relict Elizabeth Hoby, daughter of Sir Timothy Tirrell, of Shottover, in the county of Oxford, Knt. and grand-daughter of the learned Archbishop Usher. At Mrs. Hoby's death the house was deserted and suffered to fall to decay. Philip Hoby, Esq. the last sole proprietor, died A. D. 1678, leaving three daughters co-heiresses, Elizabeth, Catharine, and Anne-the eldest of whom, Elizabeth, married Henry Compton, Esq. of Bistern, Hants; Catharine married Griffith Rice, Esq. of Newton, in the county of Carmarthen; and Anne married Mr. Stanley, grand-father of the late Hans Stanley, Esq. The present proprietors are Lord Dinevor, a lineal descendant of the said Griffith Rice, Esq. John Compton, Esq. the Right Hon. Welbore Ellis, and Christopher D'Oyley, Esq. the two last-mentioned gentlemen having married each a daughter of the said Hans Stanley, Esq. There are no monuments of the dead remaining, either in the church or adjoining it. The solitary stump of an old yew-tree only marks the site of the church-yard; the figure of an ecclesiastic in a cumbent posture, and holding in his hand the model of a building (probably designed to represent the abbey) has been preserved from destruction, and is placed on the lawn, before Courtherbert house, a small distance from the monastery. The ruins are extensive, and the luxuriant mantling of ivy, in which they are enveloped, give them a very solemn and venerable aspect. Weeds and briers now cover the spot, where the priest discharged the solemn duties of his function, and the swelling note of the "organ" aided "the frequent praises of white-robed monks*. Jan. 1794. Yours, &c. Lewys Morgannwg. W. D. VII. Druids' Temple, near Henley-upon-Thames, removed from Jersey. MR. URBAN, Henley Environs, April 21. I FLATTER myself that you will afford a place to the inclosed tribute of gratitude from the inhabitants of Jersey to their governor, the late Field-marshal Conway. The modesty of that truly great man prevented its being public during his life-time; but it has, since his death, been affixed, as originally intended, to a Druid's temple; which, in the form in which it was discovered, adorns a beautiful point of that charming spot, Park-place. The translation which accompanies it is at your service, if you should be of opinion that its insertion will not prevent the original receiving more justice from some abler pen. Yours, &c. Cet ancien temple des Druides, a été présenté, par les habitans, Pour des siecles caché aux yeux des mortels, M.S. Que, dans tous ses dangers, Césarée eut un pere, Et redira Conway aux siecles à venir Qu'en respect du à son souvenir, Elle te fit ce don acquis à ta veillance Comme une juste tribut de sa reconnoissance! This ancient Druid's temple was discovered the 12th of Aug. 1785, upon the mountain of St. Hellier, in the island of Jersey, and presented by the inhabitants to his Excellency Gen. CONWAY, their governor. Ages conceal'd from mortal sight, April, 1796. VIII. The Old Church of St. John, at Hackney, described. MR. URBAN, As the old church of St. John, at Hackney, has, in all probability, almost arrived at the period when it must be sacrificed to its successor, a few mementos of what it was will not be altogether unacceptable to your readers, when the materials of which it is composed are scattered as chance shall direct. I visited it on the 4th of this month, and could not but regret that so respectable a remnant of antiquity, as the inside certainly is, should be condemned to destruction. There may be many obstacles to such a plan (and I do not presume to decide on its practicability); yet I could not help wishing that it might be suffered to stand as it is, the parent church, while the new structure should be a chapel to accommodate the surplus of the congregation, which, I have no doubt, is sufficiently numerous to fill both. Were the outside of the building only considered, no one could entertain a wish for its preservation; for, it is an incomprehensible jumble of dissonant repairs, without a trace of the original building remaining, except the windows of part of it. I cannot help suggesting to persons concerned in making alterations, or adding to old Of superstitious ignorance, |