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
Turning through a wicket-gate, we pass by an old stone cross and enter
the church, over which, alas! has swept the moloch of modern
restoration, obliterating much of its original character. In one corner,
however, we espy a queer little organ of primitive type, with unenclosed
pipes and keyboard, not unlike the spinet of earlier days. This has been
recently evicted in favour of a brand-new instrument designed by the
present vicar, who is skilled in the art and mystery of organ-building.
Angle Church was one of the numerous benefices held by that famous Welsh
chronicler, Giraldus Cambrensis.
[Illustration: SEAMENS CHAPEL AT ANGLE.]
In a corner of the churchyard, overlooking the tidal inlet, rises a
picturesque little chapel frequented in olden times by the seafaring
folk, when embarking upon or returning from their ventures on the vasty
deep. Externally all is obscured beneath a mantle of glossy green ivy,
save where a traceried window or low-arched doorway peeps from under the
shadowy foliage. Ascending a few steps to the interior, we find
ourselves in a small, oblong chamber covered with a pointed stone vault;
at the east end stands a plain, stone altar, surmounted by an elegant
little traceried window, whose modern painted glass portrays Scriptural
scenes appropriate to the purpose of the chapel.
A small piscina, and the recumbent figure of some unknown ecclesiastic
under an arched recess, adorn this nutshell of a church. Beneath it is a
crypt of similar dimensions, entered through a doorway at the eastern
end, and lighted by small quatrefoil openings pierced through the
thickness of the walls.
[Illustration: Ruined Castle at Angle]
We now turn our attention to the castle ruins, which are reached by
passing the school-house and crossing a small grass-plot, adorned with
a simple monument to some local benefactor. Little else remains besides
a tall, ivy-clad peel-tower, whose massive limestone walls abut upon the
shallow stream that meanders to the bay. These solid walls are
honeycombed with archways and passages; while a good, stone-newel
stairway corkscrews up to the outermost battlements, above which rises a
circular chimney-shaft. Each of the four stories had its own fireplace,
window recesses and other conveniences; and the lower chamber is stoutly
vaulted with stone. Altogether, the place appears to have been built in
such a self-contained fashion as to be capable of resisting attack, or
even sustaining a siege.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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