|
Standing Stone / Menhir
|
|
|
I admit upfront that this sounds like a red herring - a stone in a church with a cross on it?? But the Glasbury & District Community Council Website (http://www.wiz.to/glasbury/page1.htm) suggests that besides the church being very old (having been established by St Meilig around 540, and with a circular churchyard, for what anyone makes of that) say the "great stone 'Cross of St Meilig' was brought down to the churchyard from nearby Bryn-yr-Hydd Common in the 12th century, and moved into the church itself in 1956. If you look at the map the Common has remains of an Iron Age settlement. The general location would perhaps be great for a standing stone too, perched as it would have been over the wide Wye valley. It is nine feet tall. I will of course remove this post if people vehemently deny its ancientness!
From Marie Trevelyan's "Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales" (1909):A stone in Llowes Churchyard, in Radnorshire, has a story attached to it. Maud of Hay, the wife of William de Breos or Bruce, Lord of Brecknock and Abergavenny, was the daughter of Fitz-Walter, Earl of Hereford. The story goes that she built the castle of Hay in Breconshire in a single night, and without assistance. Owing to her occult powers, gigantic stature, and mysterious deeds, people thought she could accomplish any feat, however difficult. In the folk tales and nursery stories of Wales she is known as Mol Walbee, a corruption of her father's surname, Waleri. While carrying stones in her apron for the purpose of building Hay Castle, a "pebble" of about nine feet long fell into her shoe. At first she did not heed the discomfort, but by-and-by, finding it troublesome, she indignantly threw it over the Wye into Llowes Churchyard, in Radnorshire, about three miles away. It remains there at present. [Hoare, "Giraldus," vol. i., p 91] There is another story explaining the stone, set in the 12th century, which was in The Herefordshire Magazine of 1907 -"Sir Ralph accused Lord Clifford of unjustly seizing the property of Colwyn castle, and challenged him to single combat in the churchyard of Llowes, where Lord Clifford was killed. Sir Ralph Baskerville obtained a pardon from the Pope, who was very angry that the churchyard had been desecrated. There is a curious upright stone in Llowes churchyard, which tradition points out as having been erected on the spot where Lord Clifford fell".
Found at the Baskerville Family History http://www.moonrakers.com/genealogy/baskerville/baskerville_family_history.htm
|
Posted by Rhiannon
1st March 2005ce
Edited 1st March 2005ce
|
|
Log in |
Register
Top of page