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
Our route now lies around the rocky shore, an opportune field-path
skirting the low cliffs, and affording lovely ever-changing views over
the sunny landscape and the land-locked Haven. The warm south wind,
sweet from clover fields, is fraught with the roar of the ocean, driving
full into Freshwater Bay a mile away beyond the sandy burrows; but here
under the lee of the hill, scarce a breath of air stirs the ripening
barley. Suddenly a brace of partridges blusters away from the sun-baked
ploughfield, where the ruddy eye of the 'pimpernel' peeps from every
furrow.
Ensconced beneath a gnarled old hawthorn hedge wreathed in fragrant
woodbine, we indulge in a quiet pipe; watching the rabbits as they
scuttle to and fro under the sandy bank, and the dainty blue dragonflies
hovering over the meadowsweet and ragged Robin, that deck the oozy
course of the streamlet at our feet. The deep tones of a steamer's syren
float across the water, followed by the report of a heavy gun from a
fortress guarding the Haven; for the summer manoeuvres are now in full
swing, and we can see the white-peaked tents of the Connaught Rangers
behind Angle Point.
The gracefully curving shore is fringed with a broad stretch of
seaweed, of every hue from golden brown to bottle green, whence the
pungent odour of ozone is borne upon the sun-warmed air.
Glancing back across the bay, we catch a glimpse of the old farmhouse
that is to be our local habitation for to-night; near which the tower of
Rhôscrowther Church rises amidst its solitary grove of trees.
A long mile further we enter the village of Angle (or Nangle, as it is
sometimes called), a place that in ancient deeds is styled 'in Angulo,'
doubtless from its situation in a _corner_ of the land.
The long village street with its one-storied cottages, many of them
coloured yellow, pink or blue, and all embowered in luxuriant climbing
plants, has a pleasant, cheery look; and as we advance a ruined tower
comes into view, rising above some marshy meadows beside the stream.
This is all that remains of the castle of Angle, once the abode of the
Sherbornes, an ancient family in the land, who were formerly lords of
Angle. At no great distance from the church are some remains of a
handsome structure of uncertain antiquity. Nothing is known about the
history of these ruins; but they have supplied a peg whereon to hang a
local legend, somewhat to the following effect: 'Once upon a time,'
three sisters and co-heiresses, finding they could not pull together
under the same roof, agreed to build each of them a dwelling for
herself. The first is said to have erected the castle; the second, the
curious old house above mentioned; and the third, a mansion just without
the village, where a house named Hall now stands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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