{52}About the year 1113,"there was a talke through South Wales,of Gruffyth,the sonne of Rees ap Theodor,who,for feare of the king,had beene of a child brought up in Ireland,and had come over two yeares passed,which time he had spent privilie with his freends,kinsfolks,and affines;as with Gerald,steward of Penbrooke,his brother-in-law,and others.But at the last he was accused to the king,that he intended the kingdome of South Wales as his father had enjoied it,which was now in the king's hands;and that all the countrie hoped of libertie through him;therefore the king sent to take him.But Gryffyth ap Rees hering this,sent to Gruffyth ap Conan,prince of North Wales,desiring him of his aid,and that he might remaine safelie within his countrie;which he granted,and received him joiouslie for his father's sake."He afterwards proved so troublesome and successful an antagonist,that the king endeavoured by every possible means to get him into his power.To Gruffyth ap Conan he offered "mountaines of gold to send the said Gruffyth or his head to him."And at a subsequent period,he sent for Owen ap-Cadogan said to him,"Owen,I have found thee true and faithful unto me,therefore I desire thee to take or kill that murtherer,that doth so trouble my loving subjects."But Gruffyth escaped all the snares which the king had laid for him,and in the year 1137died a natural and honourable death;he is styled in the Welsh chronicle,"the light,honor,and staie of South Wales;"and distinguished as the bravest,the wisest,the most merciful,liberal,and just,of all the princes of Wales.By his wife Gwenllian,the daughter of Gruffyth ap Conan,he left a son,commonly called the lord Rhys,who met the archbishop at Radnor,as is related in the first chapter of this Itinerary.
{53}This cantref,which now bears the name of Caeo,is placed,according to the ancient divisions of Wales,in the cantref Bychan,or little hundred,and not in the Cantref Mawr,or great hundred.Avillage between Lampeter in Cardiganshire and Llandovery in Caermarthenshire,still bears the name of Cynwil Caeo,and,from its picturesque situation and the remains of its mines,which were probably worked by the Romans,deserves the notice of the curious traveller.
{54}The lake of Brecheinoc bears the several names of Llyn Savaddan,Brecinau-mere,Llangorse,and Talyllyn Pool,the two latter of which are derived from the names of parishes on its banks.
It is a large,though by no means a beautiful,piece of water,its banks being low and flat,and covered with rushes and other aquatic plants to a considerable distance from the shore.Pike,perch,and eels are the common fish of this water;tench and trout are rarely,I believe,(if ever),taken in it.The notion of its having swallowed up an ancient city is not yet quite exploded by the natives;and some will even attribute the name of Loventium to it;which is with much greater certainty fixed at Llanio-isau,between Lampeter and Tregaron,in Cardiganshire,on the northern banks of the river Teivi,where there are very considerable and undoubted remains of a large Roman city.The legend of the town at the bottom of the lake is at the same time very old.
{55}That chain of mountains which divides Brecknockshire from Caermarthenshire,over which the turnpike road formerly passed from Trecastle to Llandovery,and from which the river Usk derives its source.
{56}This mountain is now called,by way of eminence,the Van,or the height,but more commonly,by country people,Bannau Brycheinog,or the Brecknock heights,alluding to its two peaks.Our author,Giraldus,seems to have taken his account of the spring,on the summit of this mountain,from report,rather than from ocular testimony.I (Sir R.Colt Hoare)examined the summits of each peak very attentively,and could discern no spring whatever.The soil is peaty and very boggy.On the declivity of the southern side of the mountain,and at no considerable distance from the summit,is a spring of very fine water,which my guide assured me never failed.
On the north-west side of the mountain is a round pool,in which possibly trout may have been sometimes found,but,from the muddy nature of its waters,I do not think it very probable;from this pool issues a small brook,which falls precipitously down the sides of the mountain,and pursuing its course through a narrow and well-wooded valley,forms a pretty cascade near a rustic bridge which traverses it.I am rather inclined think,that Giraldus confounded in his account the spring and the pool together.
{57}The first of these are now styled the Black Mountains,of which the Gadair Fawr is the principal,and is only secondary to the Van in height.The Black Mountains are an extensive range of hills rising to the east of Talgarth,in the several parishes of Talgarth,Llaneliew,and Llanigorn,in the county of Brecknock,and connected with the heights of Ewyas.The most elevated point is called YGadair,and,excepting the Brecknock Van (the Cadair Arthur of Giraldus),is esteemed the highest mountain in South Wales.The mountains of Ewyas are those now called the Hatterel Hills,rising above the monastery of Llanthoni,and joining the Black Mountains of Talgarth at Capel y Ffin,or the chapel upon the boundary,near which the counties of Hereford,Brecknock,and Monmouth form a point of union.But English writers have generally confounded all distinction,calling them indiscriminately the Black Mountains,or the Hatterel Hills.
{58}If we consider the circumstances of this chapter,it will appear very evidently,that the vale of Ewyas made no part of the actual Itinerary.