{66}In the vale of the Gronwy,about a mile above Pont Escob,there is a wood called Coed Dial,or the Wood of Revenge.Here again,by the modern name of the place,we are enabled to fix the very spot on which Richard de Clare was murdered.The Welsh Chronicle informs us,that "in 1135,Morgan ap Owen,a man of considerable quality and estate in Wales,remembering the wrong and injury he had received at the hands of Richard Fitz-Gilbert,slew him,together with his son Gilbert."The first of this great family,Richard de Clare,was the eldest son of Gislebert,surnamed Crispin,earl of Brion,in Normandy.This Richard Fitz-Gilbert came into England with William the Conqueror,and received from him great advancement in honour and possessions.On the death of the Conqueror,favouring the cause of Robert Curthose,he rebelled against William Rufus,but when that king appeared in arms before his castle at Tunbridge,he submitted;after which,adhering to Rufus against Robert,in 1091,he was taken prisoner,and shortly after the death of king Henry I.was assassinated,on his journey through Wales,in the manner already related.
{67}Hamelin,son of Dru de Baladun,who came into England with William the Conqueror,was the first lord of Over-Went,and built a castle at Abergavenny,on the same spot where,according to ancient tradition,a giant called Agros had erected a fortress.He died in the reign of William Rufus,and was buried in the priory which he had founded at Abergavenny;having no issue,he gave the aforesaid castle and lands to Brian de Insula,or Brian de Wallingford,his nephew,by his sister Lucia.The enormous excesses mentioned by Giraldus,as having been perpetrated in this part of Wales during his time,seem to allude to a transaction that took place in the castle of Abergavenny,in the year 1176,which is thus related by two historians,Matthew Paris and Hollinshed."A.D.1176,The same yeare,William de Breause having got a great number of Welshmen into the castle of Abergavennie,under a colourable pretext of communication,proposed this ordinance to be received of them with a corporall oth,'That no traveller by the waie amongst them should beare any bow,or other unlawful weapon,'which oth,when they refused to take,because they would not stand to that ordinance,he condemned them all to death.This deceit he used towards them,in revenge of the death of his uncle Henrie of Hereford,whom upon Easter-even before they had through treason murthered,and were now acquited was the like againe."-Hollinshed,tom.ii.p.95.
{68}Landinegat,or the church of St.Dingad,is now better known by the name of Dingatstow,or Dynastow,a village near Monmouth.
{69}[For the end of William de Braose,see footnote 34.]
{70}Leland divides this district into Low,Middle,and High Venteland,extending from Chepstow to Newport on one side,and to Abergavenny on the other;the latter of which,he says,"maketh the cumpace of Hye Venteland."He adds,"The soyle of al Venteland is of a darke reddische yerth ful of slaty stones,and other greater of the same color.The countrey is also sumwhat montayneus,and welle replenishid with woodes,also very fertyle of corne,but men there study more to pastures,the which be well inclosed."-Leland,Itin.
tom.v.p.6.Ancient Gwentland is now comprised within the county of Monmouth.
{71}William de Salso Marisco,who succeeded to the bishopric of Llandaff,A.D.1185,and presided over that see during the time of Baldwin's visitation,in 1188.
{72}Alexander was the fourth archdeacon of the see of Bangor.
{73}Once at Usk,then at Caerleon,and afterwards on entering the town of Newport.
{74}Gouldcliffe,or Goldcliff,is situated a few miles S.E.of Newport,on the banks of the Severn.In the year 1113,Robert de Candos founded and endowed the church of Goldclive,and,by the advice of king Henry I.gave it to the abbey of Bec,in Normandy;its religious establishment consisted of a prior and twelve monks of the order of St.Benedict.
{75}[Geoffrey of Monmouth.]
{76}The Cistercian abbey here alluded to was known by the several names of Ystrat Marchel,Strata Marcella,Alba domus de Stratmargel,Vallis Crucis,or Pola,and was situated between Guilsfield and Welshpool,in Montgomeryshire.Authors differ in opinion about its original founder.Leland attributes it to Owen Cyveilioc,prince of Powys,and Dugdale to Madoc,the son of Gruffydh,giving for his authority the original grants and endowments of this abbey.
According to Tanner,about the beginning of the reign of king Edward III.the Welsh monks were removed from hence into English abbeys,and English monks were placed here,and the abbey was made subject to the visitation of the abbot and convent of Buildwas,in Shropshire.
{77}Cardiff,i.e.the fortress on the river Taf.
{78}Gwentluc -so called from Gwent,the name of the province,and llug,open,to distinguish it from the upper parts of Wentland,is an extensive tract of flat,marshy ground,reaching from Newport to the shores of the river Severn.
{79}Nant Pencarn,or the brook of Pencarn.-After a very attentive examination of the country round Newport,by natives of that place,and from the information I have received on the subject,I am inclined to think that the river here alluded to was the Ebwy,which flows about a mile and a half south of Newport.Before the new turnpike road and bridge were made across Tredegar Park,the old road led to a ford lower down the river,and may still be travelled as far as Cardiff;and was probably the ford mentioned in the text,as three old farm-houses in its neighbourhood still retain the names of Great Pencarn,Little Pencarn,and Middle Pencarn.