A tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire — John Shaqi
A tour throughout South Wales and MonmouthshireBarber, J. T. (John Thomas)
History
A tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire
Barber, J. T. (John Thomas)
Monmouthshire (Wales) -- Description and travel; Wales, South -- Description and travel
Laugharne castle, though not very extensive, and not generally striking
for picturesque disposition, has a noble aspect toward the town. The
foundation of this Castle is not transmitted to us in the Welch annals,
but is, doubtless, of high antiquity; it was occupied, and probably
built, by the Normans and Flemings on their conquest of these parts;
afterwards, in the year 1215, it was besieged and taken by Llewelyn:
Leland says, “it longid some time to the Earl of Northumberland.” An
interesting ride, upon a high boundary of the sea, brought us into
PEMBROKESHIRE, at a place called New Inn.
In this progress, extensive views ranging over the Bristol channel were
continual; but one _coup d’œil_,
High from the summit of a craggy cliff
Hung o’er the deep—
was eminently striking! magnificently beautiful! The whole sweep of
Caermarthen bay, with its several estuaries, high cliffs, and swelling
shores, appeared beneath us, extending in one direction to the extreme
point of Gower, and in the other to the isle of Caldy in Pembrokeshire;
at the latter termination, the picturesque whitened town of Tenby,
romantically built on a tongue of rock projecting into the sea, seemed
issuing from the waves. From the grand amphitheatre of this bay, the eye
roamed, over a vast tract of sea, to the shores of Somerset and Devon,
hear fifty miles distant, faintly penciled on the horizon, and terminated
by the advancing swell of Lundy Island. Further westward, the setting
sun appeared in conjunction with the sea, there widening into the
Atlantic Ocean; its golden effulgence glittered in reflexion from the
waves, and diffused itself over the whole scenery: numerous barks in the
bay, sailing on different tacks, caught partial gleams of illumination;
and a large fleet of ships, entering the channel at a remote distance,
seemed little more than dusky spots on the glistening expanse: the _tout
ensemble_ formed one of the most pleasing marine pictures that I ever
saw.—The sea, viewed under its ordinary circumstances, from a _low_
situation, engages little interest; the angle of vision is then
intersected by the aqueous segment at the distance of four or five miles;
and, with little more breadth of water than one meets with in a river or
lake, the prospect finishes in a mere hard line. The case is far
otherwise when it is viewed from a high mountain, particularly if that
mountain be a bold promontory, and the view bursts upon the spectator on
a sudden: a world of waters then meets his astonished sight; the immense
object presses on his mind an inconceivable emotion; and an image is at
once stamped of the genuine sublime. Filled with the vast idea, he
contemplates with awe and veneration the magnitude of his Creator’s
works, and sinks into a proper estimate the puny achievements of man.
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