“Then,” says the Icelandic Saga writer, “King Magnus shot with his bow,
but Hugh was clad in armour, and nothing was bare about him save one
eye. King Magnus let fly an arrow at him, as did also a Halogolander at
his side. They both shot at once, one arrow struck the nose-screen of
the helm and glanced aside, but the other entered the earl’s eye and
penetrated his head, and that was afterwards recognised as the king’s
arrow.”
When the shaft struck him, Earl Hugh leaped into the air. “Ah, ha!”
shouted King Magnus, “let him skip.”
The Hugh who fell was Hugh of Shrewsbury.
The Norsemen came ashore, but finding Anglesey already ravaged,
re-entered their boats and spread sail.
The Magnus who would not fight, but sat in the hold singing psalms, is
he to whom the cathedral of Kirkwall, in Orkney, is dedicated.
From Bangor, Plas Newydd, the seat of the Marquess of Anglesey, may be
visited. The grounds are fine, and there is good timber in the park,
but the house is naught. More interesting is Plas Côch, a fine example
of an Elizabethan house, built by Hugh Hughes, Attorney-General in the
sixteenth century.
In the grounds of Plas Newydd are two cromlechs, or rather what the
French would call _allées couvertes_. They are prehistoric tribal
mausoleums, and are perhaps the finest in the Principality. The cap
stone of one is 14 feet long by 13 feet broad, and from 3 to 4 feet
thick. There are vast numbers of cromlechs in Anglesey, but year by
year sees the number decrease. By the Highway Act of William IV.
(1835) the road surveyor may enter on any waste or common and dig and
search for stone and remove the same. He may also take stones from
any river. He may go into another parish and do as above, provided he
leaves sufficient stone for the said parish. He may enter enclosed
land, with the consent of the owner, and remove stone, paying nothing
for the same, but paying for any damage caused by transportation of
the stone. If the owner refuses consent, the surveyor may apply to the
nearest justice, who may authorise him to enter the enclosed land and
remove any stone he requires. Farmers are only too delighted to have
cromlechs and other prehistoric stone monuments blown up with dynamite
and cleared off. Then visitors will not trespass to see them, and all
obstruction to cultivation will be removed. Recently a number have been
destroyed in Anglesey and elsewhere. They are being used up for roads.
The cromlech, kistvaen, and _allée couverte_ were tombs. Usually a
stone was left to be removed, or a plug was inserted in a holed stone,
that could be taken out at pleasure, to enable the living to enter
the tomb and thrust back the skeletons that were old to make room for
new interments. Perhaps also food for the dead was passed in to them
through these holes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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