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
The figure has a grave and dignified appearance; it is clad in a suit of
chain-and-plate mail, and has sword, shield and large spurs. The worthy
knight is represented with crossed legs, as having fought in the wars of
the Crusades; at the time, no doubt, when Baldwyn and Gerald of
Manorbere were inciting the people to that famous enterprise.
The base of this monument is divided into six panels, in each of which
is a figure beneath a cusped and crocketed arch. These quaint little
effigies show a curious variety of costume and expression, and are worth
close examination. Upon the opposite, or southern, side of the chancel
is the figure of a lady, apparently of Edwardian date. The head is
covered with a square hood, and is supported by two kneeling angels.
This effigy is very well executed, and in an unusually good state of
preservation.
In the adjacent chantry we notice the early seventeenth-century monument
of 'Roger Lorte, late Lorde of the Mannor of Stackpoole.' This singular
erection is enriched with the painted figures of Sir Roger, his lady,
and their twelve children, and bears a pious inscription in the peculiar
style of the period. Under the window of this chantry lies a disused
altar stone bearing the following inscription, which we respectfully
submit for antiquaries to exercise their wits upon: CAMU ORIS FILI
FANNUC.
Hard beneath the church we plunge into a woodland path, and follow the
meanderings of a prattling brook which hurries along, beneath the cool
shade of overarching trees, to the lake-like river that skirts the broad
demesne of Stackpole Court.
The variety and luxuriance of the forest trees that flourish in this
sheltered locality, are all the more striking in a country where
well-developed timber is, as a rule, conspicuous by its absence; for the
rigorous gales that sweep across the more exposed uplands, give to the
struggling vegetation that leeward slant which is a characteristic of
many a Pembrokeshire landscape.
Pleasant it is, turning from the glare of the dusty roadway, to saunter
beneath these leafy aisles of smooth-stemmed beech and knotty oak,
mountain-ash, ilex and Scotch fir; and to push our way through
intertwining thickets of bramble, wild-rose and ivy, enmeshed by the
clinging woodbine and traveller's joy; while all the time the mercury,
in less-favoured spots, is climbing steadily towards the eighties.
Crossing a rustic bridge that spans the lake, we pause to watch the
slim, brown trout darting in every direction beneath the water-lilies
that adorn its placid surface; when, suddenly, a brace of dusky
waterfowl, alarmed by our intrusion, dart off with an impetuous splash
and trail away in rapid flight to the shelter of the ozier-beds.
[Illustration: STACKPOLE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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