The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 3): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852 — John Shaqi
The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 3): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852Greville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 3): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901
_Plas Newydd, Sunday, June 27th._--Left Chester at half-past eleven
on Friday morning, having stopped to hear service at the Cathedral,
a poor, but very ancient building, with fine chanting, which I
particularly like. A rainy day, nothing particular in the road till
Conway, where the Castle is very fine, a most noble ruin, and the old
walls of the town, with their numerous towers, so perfect, that I
doubt if there is anything like them to be seen anywhere. It presents
a perfect fortress of those times (the end of the thirteenth century),
and Conway is so well worth seeing, that it alone would repay the
trouble of the journey. The Castle appears to have been habitable and
defensible till after the Civil Wars, the great epoch of the ruin of
most of these ancient edifices. From Conway a fine and striking road
along the seashore, and round the base of Penmaen Mawr, a mountain
nearly as high as Snowdon; crossed the Menai Bridge at dusk, with
barely light enough to see the wonderful work, and arrived at this
place between ten and eleven o'clock. Nobody here; Lord Anglesey
not yet arrived in his yacht, which was beaten about on her passage
by stormy weather. This is a most delightful place on the margin of
the Menai Strait, with the mountains in full view, presenting as the
clouds sweep round and over them, and as they are ever and anon lit
up by the sun, glorious combinations and varieties of light and
shade. All day yesterday wasted in looking out for Lord Anglesey (who
arrived in the afternoon), or occupied in dipping into travels in, and
accounts of North Wales, and in making out excursions for the few days
I have to spend here.
[Sidenote: PLAS NEWYDD.--PENRHYN CASTLE.]
We all went down to-day in the boats of Lord Anglesey's cutter to
Bangor to attend the service in the Cathedral, passing under the
Menai Bridge, which I had not been able to see well on my way to Plas
Newydd. A poor Church at Bangor, Cathedral service, but moderate
music. The Church is divided into two, half for the English and half
for the Welsh; the nave is made the parish Church, and there the
service is done in Welsh. There were very few, if any, of the common
people at the English afternoon service; in fact, few of them speak
anything but Welsh. It has an odd effect to see the women with their
high-crowned, round hats on in church; the dress is not unbecoming.
After the service we were followed by a crowd to our boats, and they
cheered Lord Anglesey when he embarked.
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