Nooks and Corners of PembrokeshireTimmins, H. Thornhill (Henry Thornhill)
History
Nooks and Corners of Pembrokeshire
Timmins, H. Thornhill (Henry Thornhill)
Pembrokeshire (Wales) -- Description and travel
At the adjacent village of Trefgarn, that great Welsh patriot and
freelance, the famous Owen Glyndwr, is said to have first seen the
light; an event that took place about the middle of the fourteenth
century. Certain strange phenomena that were observed at the time of his
birth, were turned to full account by this enterprising adventurer;
hence Shakespeare, in his play of Henry IV.,' puts into the mouth of
Glyndwr the proud words:
'At my birth
The front of heav'n was full of fiery shapes:
The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds
Were strangely clamorous in the frighted fields:
These signs have marked me extraordinary,
And all the courses of my life do show
I am not in the roll of common men.'
Alighting at Rudbaxton village, we step aside in order to visit the
parish church. Upon the south side of the chancel, a pair of flat
limestone arches open into what is known as the Howard Chapel, the
eastern wall of which supports a large, seventeenth-century monument,
commemorating various members of that honourable family.
[Illustration: THE HOWARD MONUMENT AT RUDBAXTON.]
The male and female figures beneath the arched recesses are represented
as nearly the full size of life, habited in the costume of the period,
and painted in a somewhat crude and barbaric manner. As may be seen in
our sketch, every figure save one bears a human skull in its hand, thus
recording in a suggestive way the decease of that individual. One
effigy alone is _minus_ this grim feature, as it represents the lady in
whose lifetime the monument was erected.
The panel beneath the central group bears the inscription, 'To the
memory of James Howard of this Parish, Esq. who lyeth before this
monument, and departed this life the 29th day of November Ano 1668, Aged
35 years. Also the memory of Joanna, the Wife of James Howard, who
erected this monument for her Deare friends and children, with the
intent to Joyne partner to this Monument, and left this life....'
The figure to the left represents George Howard, who died in 1665; those
upon the right being Thomas and Mary, son and daughter of the central
figures, who died, respectively, in 1682 and 1685. A sundial upon the
outer south wall of the Howard Chapel bears the initials J. H. and the
date 1665.
Descending a hollow lane, we cross a stream and pass near the scanty
ruins of Flether Hill, the ancient abode of the Haywards, whose
tombstones we have seen in the church. Then, leaving the pleasant
grounds of Withybush away upon our left, we presently strike the main
road again at a place called Crowsnest, and thus approach the town of
Haverfordwest by its long, transpontine suburb of Prendergast.
[Illustration: AT HAVERFORDWEST.]
CHAPTER XII.
ON AND OFF THE NARBERTH ROAD. LANGWM AND DAUGLEDDAU.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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