Harry Longueville Jones

“ The naves of Llangoed and Llandegvan are similar instances: so is that of Llanvihangel Tyn Sylwy: and even in the conventual church of Penmôn the only fenestral openings in the nave are small circular-headed loopholes contemporary with the building, twenty-four inches by nine externally, but expanding within to a considerable size. These early churches seem never to have been paved or floored, very few of them are so at the present day: the earth, like the soil in the peasants' cottages, is beaten hard, more or less even, and being generally dry serves the purpose of the hardy congregations. ”

“ At the east end is a circular-ended Lady chapel, and chapels join on all round the aisles of the choir. Immediately to the east of the transept, on the northern and southern sides of the edifice, stood two lofty towers ending in spires, which were unnecessarily taken down by an ignorant architect within the present century, and are now only on a level with the walls of the church; at the west end a single tower, capped with a spire, is still standing. Considerable damage was done to the nave and transepts in the seventeenth century by alterations intended for improvements ”

“ The churches of Paris, as they now stand, afford a good school for studying the medieval architecture of the central part of France, in its various epochs; although, taken in their several details, they cannot be compared to many edifices in the cities of the adjacent provinces. Thus, for the architecture of the thirteenth century, although there are some exquisite buildings of that date in the capital, yet there are none to compare to the cathedrals of Chartres or Rouen: and the specimens of the Flamboyant style are far superior at Rouen and Troyes to anything that Paris can produce. ”

“ Unless (which is very unlikely) the condition of the population should change very much,—they are still so simple and happy that no change in their worldly wealth is at all desirable;—it is to be hoped that these primitive buildings will be allowed to retain all the quaintness of their grey and venerable antiquity. Repairs they will undoubtedly need, but modifications few, improvements none. ”

“ The total number of the parochial churches in the island is seventy-four, nearly all of very early date in their principal parts: rude in form and small in size: often badly constructed: many barely adequate to the accommodation of a slowly increasing population: nearly all of them untouched by modern hands. Every parish in Anglesey bears the name of its patron saint, or else of the holy man who first introduced Christianity, and built a place of worship in it: this is common indeed throughout Wales ”

“ The author of it is occupying himself in making an accurate survey, admeasurement, and delineation, of all the antiquities in the island; and has already terminated a large portion of the Medieval, with a small part of the Cymric division [1] . He hastens to give a brief sketch of the result of his observations as far as they have yet been carried.
The isle of Anglesey has always been a district of great simplicity and comparative poverty, notwithstanding that its soil is by no means unfruitful, and that its mineral riches are of high value. ”

“ The churchyards retain perhaps the same size and form which they originally possessed: a fact which, in the absence of documentary evidence, may be inferred from the peculiarly religious spirit of the inhabitants, who still retain in undiminished vigour the national respect for sacred things: and which has never allowed them, except in the calamitous period of the dissolution of the monasteries, to encroach on consecrated ground. ”

“ One of the most remarkable houses is Plas Goch, mentioned above, at Beaumarais. Though greatly dilapidated, and indeed tenanted by poor families, the details of the house may be made out satisfactorily. The great dining-hall is in tolerable preservation, though blackened by smoke, and converted into two or three dwelling-rooms. But its canopied dais and its ceiling, fretted with ever-varying pendants of good execution, would not be misplaced at Hatfield, Burghley, or Audley End.
On the whole the antiquities of Anglesey, though but little known, are not without interest and value ”

“ The roofs must always have been of wood: no trace of vaulting is to be found anywhere within the commot: and it is by no means improbable that some of the original timber used for these purposes may be in existence at the present day, though the fact can hardly be verified. The universal covering of these roofs is the schistose stone, which composes the largest geological formation in the island. The only approaches to stone-vaulting are to be found at Penmôn and Ynys Seiriol. ”

“ Still, not being the seat of any manufacturing population (at any period that we know of) , and the attention of its inhabitants being exclusively directed to agricultural occupations, it has never seen the wealth of great feudal landlords spent in adorning its villages or towns,—and it has not been devastated by the hand of modern vandalism. Anglesey remains nearly what it was some hundreds of years ago; the manners of the people are very simple and primitive ”

“ The nave possesses a triforium, until lately blocked up with human skulls and bones, and a mutilated clerestory above, the triforium and the capitals of the piers resembling closely those of St. Germain des Prés. The choir is of the purest early pointed style, but the capitals of the shafts in this and in the other parts of the building retain a character of an earlier period than that of their presumed execution. The whole of this edifice is to be thoroughly restored. ”

“ There is much probability in this hypothesis, when the local peculiarities of Anglesey are taken into consideration:—and it is strengthened, not only by tradition, but also by several circumstances connected with buildings of this class, in other parts of Wales as well as in the island. It is not to be expected that any of these original cells are now to be found standing, though the contrary cannot perhaps be affirmed ”

“ Though, therefore, they cannot compete with any of the grander edifices of the middle ages, they supply types of the humbler buildings used by a peasantry almost unchanged at the present day; and they are therefore entitled to consideration by all who enquire into the archæological remains of this country. ”

“ West Door, Penmon. but the central tower still remains. The south transept was used as a chapel, and a curious series of small circular-headed arches, with zigzagged mouldings and filleted shafts, formed seats round its sides for the monks and their attendants. The buildings are in good preservation, though somewhat in need of repair; but they belong to a gentleman of enlightened taste and public spirit, Sir R. W. Bulkeley. The chancel only is used as a parochial church.
Llan Sadwrn. a small church consisting of a nave, and a chapel on the northern side. ”

“ It was a building that advanced very slowly towards completion. The whole is going to be carefully restored by the French Government, and some injudicious alterations made during the last and present centuries will be removed. ”