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- -SHOPS ACT NOTICE.I

GERMAN DREADNOUGHTS.I

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SOUTH GLAMORGAN LIBERALS

GLAMORGAN VOLUNTEER REGIMENT.

IBRAVE MONMOUTHS.

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HISTORY OF THE VALE I

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HISTORY OF THE VALE I a I LLANTRITHYD VILLAGE AND PARISH. I (ARTICLE VI.) THE COTTAGE- A PICTURESQUE OLD I COUNTRY HOME. (By Mr. T. M. PRICE, Late of Boverton). I Llantrithyd Village and Parish contain several picturesque. old-fashioned thatched houses and quaint-looking rustic cottages, with low, thatched roofs, charming old-world gardens and a fine display of old-fashioned flowers, in- cluding fragant pinks, carnations, walftfowers, and various kinds of sweet roses, luscious fruit, and choice garden produce in the summer sea- son. Among the quaint, old-fashioned houses pro-, bably one of the most interesting and pic-, turesque is the residence and hon-te of Mr James Price, which is appropriately called "The Cottage." The house, which is rather a lofty building with a thatched roof, is situated in the lower western portion of the village called Tre Aubrey (or "The Dopry" by some of the vill- agers). It occupies a very pleasant, elevated site on the right-hand side of the highway lead- ing from Llantrithyd to Llanmaes village and ancient Llantwit Major, with charming views of the pretty Vale countryside. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE. I Standing a short distance from the highway the house has a lofty appearance, as the ground floor apartments stand about 7ft. above the level of the roadway. Facing due south the front of The Cottage has a pleasing appearance with its dainty display of old-fashioned plants and flowers; and on the eastern side of the house is a spacious, well stocked kitchen garden, flanked by a good fruit orchard, with protecting boundary walls on the north and southern sides of the garden and orchard. The Cottage is an ancient, two-Storied building, containing four large living rooms and other domestic apart- ments on the ground floor, and six spacious bed- rooms on the second or top floor. AN ANCIENT SUNDIAL. On the south corner of The Cottage is an ancient sundial, which bears the following in- scription: W.G.M. 1701." The date of the sundial does not, however, indicate the age of the house, which, in all probability, is much more ancient, and I have not been able to as- certain definitely when the house was erected. A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH. A brief history of The Cottage will probably be of interest. The Cottage, Llantrithyd, is on the Aubrey Estate. About a century ago, or less, a lease was granted by the Aubrey family to the late Mr. William Eagleton, of Bonvil- ston Village, which comprises part of the Aubrey Estate. The leasehold property com- prised The Cottage and land adjoining at Llan- trithyd; also a house and land at Bonvilston, which is at present occupied by the Rev. Gilbert Thomas, Vicar of Bonvilston; and the Old Post Inn, with lamd adjoining, at Bonvilston Village. The late Mr. Willam Eagleton died in the year 1836, and was laid to rest in the peaceful old parish churchyard of Llantrithyd, together with several other members of the Eagleton family, who were well known and widely respected in the Vale of Glamorgan. He bequeathed this leasehold property jointly between his two sons-the late Mr. William Eagleton and Mr. Thomas Eagleton-and his two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Eagleton, also had equal shares. Alter the death of the late Mr. William Eagleton, senr., in 1836, his son William got married and took up his resi- dence at The Cottage, Llantrithyd, where he resided until 1890. Thomas Eagleton, his brother, who remained a bachelor, lived in his father's house at Bonvilston with his two sis- ters, who were unmarried. The late Mr. Thomas Eagleton was a well- known figure in the Vale, as he held the im- portant official appointment as Relieving Officer in the Cardiff Union, and also registrar of births, deaths, and marriages for Bonvilston, St. Nicholas, and other parishes in the Vale, com- prising a very large area. He died at Bonvil- ston in the year 1890, after having held the office for over 40 years. His two sisters passed away some years before him. After the death of Mr. Thomas Eagleton, Bonvilston, in 1890, his brother William removed to Bonvilston, where he passed away in 1892 in the 80th year of his age, the leases on the property at Llantrithyd and Bonvilston village expiring at his death. I THE PRICE FAMILY IN POSSESSION. Mr. James Price, the present occupant of The Cottage, rented the house from the late Mr. William Eagleton in 1890, but it is interesting to note that his father, the late Mr. Christopher Price, who died in 1900, at the age of 76, also lived at The Cottage in his boyhood days with his parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Price, who resided for several years in the same house; thus four generations of the Price family have resided alternately at The Cottage, Llan- trithyd, at various periods. Mr. James Price was bred and born in the parish of Llantrithyd, and has lived there pro- tically the whole of his life, -excepting the period of six years he served his apprenticeship to the carpentering trade with his uncle, the late Mr. Thomas Price, Heol-y-Ma»eh, in the parish of Welsh St. Donats, which is chiefly on the Aubrey Estate. Mr. James Price is a very in- tellectual, energetic, industriou-s gentleman, and has rendered most useful service to the parish- ioners in various capacities. He has held office as school manager for the past 20 years, and for nineteen years has acted as chairman at Parish Meetings" uninterruptedly without a change. Mr. Price is also permanent secretary for the local "Star of Glamorgan" Oddfellows Lodge, and corresponding secretary to the National In- surance Commissioners in connection with the same lodge, and he has also been for many years corresponding secretary for the late Llancarvan District Lodge, which is now amalagamated with the Cardiff City District. Several members of Mr. James Price's family are laid to rest beneath the sylvan shades of the pretty old Parish Churchyard at Llantrithyd, including his father and mother, the late Mr. Christopher Price and Mrs. Margaret Price. The former died 15 years ago, aged 76, and the latter passed away in the year 1905, in the 74th year of her age. THE RECTORY. I Near the Parish Church of St. Illtyd, Llan- trithy^, is the Rectory, the residence of Rev. Thomas Cynon Davies, B.A., Rector of the parish. The Rectory House is a substantial, square structure, erected about 70 years ago by I the late Rev. Roper Trevor Tyler, M.A. The I house was constructed with stones and other I building material taken from Llantrithyd Place, the old 'Aubrey Mansion. The house contains five spacious rooms and some smaller domestic apartments on the ground floor, and five large bedrooms on the second floor, with the usual outbuildings attached, and a large kitchen garden with various fruit trees, etc. The old Rectory, which formerly stood on the ,ainr site, was a small thatched house, but it was burnt down over seventy years ago. CAE MAEN FARM. Cae Maen Farm is an ancient farmstead on the Aubrey Estate, just outside the boundary of Llantrithyd Parish. The farm comprises an area of about 120 acres, chiefly pasture land, which is in the adjoining historical parish of Llancarvan, but probably attached to the old sinecure parish of Llanveithyn, which is now included in Llancarvan parish. The farm house, which is an ancient substantial building, occupies a very pleasant, elevated site near the highway leading from the pretty village of Bon- vilston to the hamlet of Llancadle and the pic- turesque villages of St. Athan and Gileston and The Leys, by the shore of the Severn Sea. The present tenants of this farm are Mrs. Eleanor Griffiths and her son, Mr. Mansel Griffiths. The same family have held the tenancy of the farm for over 50 years-a proof, if such were needed, of the good feeling existing between landlords and tenants on the Aubrey Estate. THE OLD VILLAGE INN. Formerly in by-gone days there was a quaint old-fashioned wayside inn, called The Prince Rupert Inn, at Llantrithyd village. This in- teresting old landmark was unfortunately des- troyed by a disastrous fire nearly forty years ago. The village inn was an old-fashioned building with rather a low, thatched roof. The full name of the inn was printed in large black letters in front of the house, which occupied a pleasant site about 30 yards from the cross roads and stood on rising ground above the level of the public roadway, with three or four stone steps leading up to the tap room. The inn generally went by the shorter name of "The Prince." The old house appears to have been newly thatched, and a large quantity of old and new straw which had been left on the ground at the back of the premises, was set on fire by a little boy about 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning. The little boy was a son of the tenant at that time, namely, Mr. John Howells, who was a nephew of the former tenant before him, the late Mr. Edward Howells, Builder and Contrac- tor, Llantrithyd. Although every effort was made to save the building, the flames quickly spread, and caught the roof of the newly thatched room, which completely ruined and demolished the quaint old village inn, which had been for many ages the favourite meeting- place of the neighbouring farmers and farm lab- ourers, etc., where they had often discussed the affairs of their world-the parish—over a mug of sparkling home-brewed ale. The village inn was a free house on the Aubrey Estate, the owner at that period being Mr. Charles Aubrey Aubrey. The license of the village inn was left to lapse, and was never renewed after the inn was demolished. Thus the villagers of Llan- thrithyd parish have ever since had to walk to Bonvilston village, about a mile and a half dis- tant-which is the nearest place where they may get well supplied with the "cup that-cheers," as Bonvilston village contains three licensed houses, namely, the Aubrey Arms Inn, the Old Post Inn, and the Red Lion Inn in the centre of the village. THE FFYNON ECHO WELL, &c. I There are several notable wells or water springs in the parish of Llantrithyd. One of the wells, called The Ffynon Echo," which is situated at the bottom of the Horseland Wood, is built in the shape of a beehive above the level 8f the ground, and the base dimensions under the ground are practically the same, cor- responding in shape. This well has a large opening at the top, which very probably had a door upon it in former times. The well was never known to be dry, and in the old days, when the Aubrey family resided at Llantrithyd Place, it was a valuable asset, as it supplied the household, etc., with pure spring water. Some heavy lead pipes were laid from this well to the Aubrey mansion for conveying the water to the Old Place. Some years after the Aubrey family had de- serted their old mansion, the lead pipes were taken up and sold to the Cardiff Coroporation. loan Trithyd (the bard) remembers when he was a young boy three wagons and three teams of horses coming from Cardiff to fetch these lead pipes. Each of the wagons carried about three tons weight of lead pipes to Cardiff. There are also two wells near the Ffynon Echo Well, built in similar shape, but there is no water in either of them now. These two wells are about 4ft. below the surface of the ground and about the same height above ground. A NOTABLE MINERAL SPRING. In the bottom of the village there is a noted mineral spring, which is reputed to have won- derful healing power for the eyes. Some of the villagers call this "The Brewer Well." The well is never made use of until the other wells in the village are dry, which occurs rather fre- quently in dry seasons. Nobody remembers the Brewer Well ever running dry, and the spring water is much colder in the warm summer weather than in the chilly days of winter. SUPERSTITION IN THE VALE OF I GLAMORGAN. Most of the inhabitants in the Vale of Gla- morgan villages were very superstitious in the olden days of our fathers and grandfathers. Time was when, in the belief of almost every- body, the gret-n woods were haunted by fairies, nymphs might be seen dancing on the green banks of fresh running streams by moonlight, and in the courtyards of old castles, in the cham- bers of old towers, and in certain memorable parts of old places there were strange spirits of the past ages to be met with at the midnight hour. The village maiden, as she came back from her evening walk, in the old village churchyard at sunset fancied she saw some Robin GoodfelloW sitting under the hedge or coming forth to salute her. The baron's daugh- ter, in her chamber, watching the embers on a quiet winter's evening, with her foot on the rude irons, and, just as the clock struck 12, liftings up her bright eyes to the grim portrait of the man in armour over the old fireplace, was sure to think that she saw, as plainly as could be, the stalwart figure step out of the canvas, and striding stealthity towards the door, open it with a mysterious key, and then, with his iron boot, go thump, thump, along the echoing corridor. The very warder, as he kept silent watch at the still midnight hour, if he saw nought else, would see something not of mortal mould a crusader, not of flesh and blood; or a lady fair, all clothed in white, no more to be touched than the moon- beam shining through the turret loophole. Those old days are gone by, and we are not sorry. People nowadays are neither pleased nor troubled with apparitions of that kind. Yet we should not all like to have this old world of ours reduced to such a prosaic, matter-of-fact condition as to never see anything but what, according to the law of optics, was painted on the retina of the eye. To say nothing now of great spiritual realities which encircle our globe and inter-penetrate the scenes of our whole life, we must confess that we should be very sorry indeed not to have communion sometimes with the shades of the departed mighty dead as well as to shake hands and talk with the humble living. There are shades of a certain kind we are glad to see. When some of them haunt us it is very pleasant; when others of them appear it is very grand, and they are all more accom- modating than were those apparitions of the olden times. AMUSING GHOST STORY OF LLAN- I TRITHYD. In the old days the people of Llantrithyd were very superstitious, and there is an old story that a white lady (Lady Wen) used to masquerade the grounds of Llantrithyd Old Place on fine, breezy nights. Mr. John Morgan (loan Trithyd) told me a most amsing story of Llan- trithyd. In his father's days the white lady (called in Welsh, Lady Wen) was often seen masquerading about the grounds of the old manor house (Llantrithyd Place), and the ner- vous, superstitious villagers were afraid to pass that way after darkness had set in. The so- called white lady appeared in a parson's sur- plice, but the story goes that one dark night a man named William Morgan (or Will Hy Hwper), who was a bit of a nut, was coming across the path in the Cae Porth (or Porth Field) adjacent to the Old Place. He per- ceived the white lady (Lady Wen) coming to meet him on the pathway. "Come you, .my lady," said he to himself; "you shall knock me over before I will flinch or get off the pathway for you." Ultimately they met face to face, but the White Lady suddenly turned aside and passed by Will Hy Hwper. Will turned quickly after her. Lady Wen began to run, but Will also ran and caught her, overpowered her, and threw her down, and gave her such a drubbing that she never forgot it, and, curiously enough, the so-called white lady (or Lady Wen) turned out to be the parson's son (George Williams), a son of the Rev. George Williams, Rector, who died in 1815. When Will Hy Hwper arrived home in his cottage later that night, he lit a large candle, which is supposed to have driven all the superstition away from Llantrithyd, and no Lady Wen or White Lady has since been seen there to this day. According to an old story, the Rev. George Williams (Rector) was buried by night in the chancel of Llantrithyd Parish Church. Just after the funeral ceremony was over a large stone fell into the vault, and the workmen who were engaged at the grave were so alarmed and frightened that they ran out of the church thinking some evil spirit had descended upon them, and they left the grave open until day- light appeared next morning. Several old cottages in the parish of Llan- trithyd have fallen into decay during the past century, and some new houses have been erected on the Aubrey Estate. In the old days there were some old cottages adjacent to Llantrithyd Old Place. Mr. John Morgan (loan Trithyd) remembers an aged woman, called Kate, living in a quaint old cottage adjacent to the old manor house of the Aubrevs about 80 venrs ago. The old dame acted as a caretaker of the old mansion which had then been deserted by the Aubrey family. The old lady was very fond of young children, and loan Trithyd was among one of her favourite little boys, who perid her occasional visits. Old Kate often permitted some of her favourite boys to romp and play in the stately rooms of the old mansion until they became too noisy and unruly. The old dame was, unfortunately, almost blind, and her appealing entreaties to play quietly were of little avail, and the youngsters easily eluded the old dame when she chased after them, as they dodged her in secret corners of the apartments. The old lady is buried in Llantrithyd Parish Churchyard close by the old mansion. The population of Llantrithyd parish in the year 1801 was 180, in 1811 it was 199, in 1821 it had risen to 220, and in the year 1830 there were 221 inhabitants in 45 houses. In the year 1841 there were 228 in 45 houses. In 1851 there were only 201 in 43 houses; and in 1861 in 40 houses, of which 37 were inhabited, there were 204 per- sons. At the last census in 1911 the population was 138, and in 1915, it is approximately the samo stationary is life in the quiet, his- torical, old-world village of Llantrithyd. (Adverting to the preceding article, published on the 18th June, it should be stated that Mr. Edward Watts resides and holds the tenancy of Ty Uchaf Farm, Llantrithyd.) SPECIAL.—Articles on Llantrithyd Place, the old Aubrey Mansion, and Llantrithyd House, the.residence of Major-General Trevor Bruce Tyler, J.P., will be written shortly.

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