Thursday, Decr. 9
Amlwch is a long straggling place and may contain from four to five thousand inhabitants though before the working of the Parys mines there were not an hundred tenements in the parish. Besides two or three good houses a church has been lately erected by the copper company on a neat substantial plan and a quay formed near the smelting houses where ships of two or three hundred tons burthen may take in their lading. These we passed in our way to Llanelian church this morning which we had been directed to examine as one of the most curious structures in the island. This church differs from most others in North Wales in having a kind of spire rising from a square tower. I cannot say that this edition is very elegant it being coated all the way up with small slate. The body of the church is ornamented with battlements, pinnacles, and (fol. 101a) buttresses in the style of our parish churches built about the time of Henry the seventh. Having procured the key we found the interior still retaining its catholic collection of saints and apostles, and the seats, chancel, and communion-table, were decorated with a profusion of carving in oak. On the latter on a kind of scroll we read non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomine tuo. Beneath the arches which supported the roof of the building were six grotesque little figures, playing on the bagpipe, pibcorn, and other instruments, their appearance is rendered still more ridiculous by their being painted in black coats, yellow waistcoats, and white wigs. In a small chapel attached to the south east end of the church (which is said to have been the original edifice founded by Saint Elian) there is a kind of semicircular chest or cabinet made of oak into which whoever can enter and turn himself round is sure in the opinion of the vulgar to live out the year but if he fails it will (fol. 102) prove fatal to him. People from all parts come at stated periods to try their destiny in this absurd way. There is also an old chest well secured by bolts bars and nails in another part of the church having a small slit in the lid through which the country people are said to drop a piece of money uttering their maledictions against their enemies the black gentleman is thus feed to work evil against the offender, this uncharitable and unchristian custom if true seems almost too bad even for monkish times much worse to be continued now. Having viewed these relics of superstition we ascended by a circular tower to the roof [of] the church which is very nicely leaded. On enquiring afterwards of a Welsh clergyman why Llanelian was so much better taken care of than other parish churches I found that some lands had been appropriated by one of the Welsh princes centuries ago by way of expiation for his sins to keep it in constant repair, this accounts for its having a steeple, being leaded, &c. &c.
After sketching the building we returned (fol. 102a) to Amlwch, on our way thither obtained a very clear view of the Isle of Man lying only sixteen leagues to the north of this coast. Could we have insured a week’s fine weather we should not have hesitated an instant including that island in our circuit as I have long wished to satisfy myself respecting some ancient inscriptions at Pielstown. I understand there is almost daily communication through the herring boats which come here to dispose of their cargoes. Having taken a slight repast at Amlwch we proceeded to the Parys mountain which of late years has enriched not only many individuals but the nation at large. It lies about a mile south of the town and though denominated a mountain, in Carnarvonshire at least would be deemed a very inconsiderable hillock. The approach to it is dreary in the extreme for the sulphurious steams issuing from the copper kilns have destroyed every germ of vegetation in the neighbourhood. When we had gained (fol. 103) the higher ground the uninteresting and gloomy prospect we had hitherto observed was at once converted into the most lively and active scene. Hundreds of men, women, and children, appeared busily occupied in the different branches of this vast concern and the bustle of the metropolis prevailed amidst the dreary recesses of the Druids. The produce of the mountain belongs to two different companies one called the Parys Mine shared between Lord Uxbridge, Mr. Hughes, and Mr. Williams. The other, the Mona mine I believe is Lord Uxbridge’s alone.
Our servant having delivered a message from the people of the inn to one of the overseers of the Parys mine, he accompanied us over the works. A stranger not acquainted with mining concerns cannot do better than take his first lesson at this place. There being no necessity of descending into subterrianean abodes to grope out for information by candle light, incommoded by damp, dirt, and foul vapours, for all is here worked open to the day and by taking his station in one (fol. 103a) point he can command a view of the whole proceedings from the beginning to the end and receive every satisfactory explanation almost without moving from the spot. We first were conducted to some wooden stages erected on the edge of the bason if I may so employ that term to an immense excavation of an oval form about two hundred yards long, half so much in width and eighty in depth which has been hollowed out in the course of twenty years, these wooden stages are each supplied with a windlass for the purpose of drawing up the ore from the bottom. On looking down from hence to the chasm beneath, we saw the rock rich with ore of a light gold colour which the miners were busily employed in boring, blasting, breaking with sledge hammers, wheeling the fragments to appointed places beneath the stages filling the baskets which were hauled up as before mentioned by the windlass. There might be from twelve to fourteen stages erected for this purpose in different (fol. 104) parts of the mine.
As soon as the commodity is landed it is delivered to a number of women and children to be broken into smaller pieces. The good ore is then separated from that of an inferior sort and carried to kilns to be baked. The sulphur forms in what is called flour brimstone by the chymists on the top of the oven. This is afterwards collected, melted in large cauldrons and formed into round moulds for sale.
We understood that the better kind of ore was sent to Neath and other places, and the inferior to the smelting houses at Amlwch. In walking round the premises we crossed a small stream running into some square reservoirs, this water was so impregnated with copper that merely the dipping a key in for two or three seconds rendered it entirely the colour of that metal. The square reservoirs above mentioned was stored with all the old iron that could be collected which are turned monthly the coperas on them sinking in a kind (fol. 104a) of red slime to the bottom.
At stated times the pits are emptied and the produce when hardened becomes equally valuable to the richest ore in the mines. We may be sure that every drop of this precious stream is turned to the best account possible indeed so productive is it that they compute it to be worth above three halfpence a quart. On entering the compting house one of the clerks sitting there obligingly gratified us with the sight of a number of drawers full of the most beautiful specimens of minerals I ever saw and moreover requested us to take our choice of what we most admired. We were constrained to be very moderate on account of the weight of the article but if we could have procured a ready carriage I fancy we should have been rather more greedy in our selection. At it was we took nearly five pounds’ weight of the following minerals and mixtures (fol. 105):
First. Mundig containing sulphur and iron.
2. Iron incrusted with lead chrystals.
3. Copper ore.
4. Copper ore after roasting.
5. Copper taken from the reservoir of old iron.
6. Quartz containing copper ore.
7. Zink commonly called black Jack incorporated with copper rock holding a small quantity of lead.
8. Quartz with a little of the Zink and chrystals.
10. Blue stone issuing from the copper rocks.
11. Sulphur.
12. Copper coming from the old iron after it is dried.
Hence we just looked into the assay house but could not see the process the man having concluded work we also viewed the kilns and the coppers where the sulphur is melted. Having taken a very competent survey and complimented our obliging and intelligent conductor for his trouble in the best manner we were able, we took a long walk for nearly five miles to the west of Parys mountain towards Llanfechell where we heard there was (fol. 105a) a prodigious large stone with writing under it to be seen. Our conductor who was a young man of Amlwch speaking pretty good English entertained us the whole way by a variety of ghost stories and preternatural events the common talk of the neighbourhood. The stone we were going to see was so big that it would sink the largest ship that came to Amlwch. That it stood in a valley by itself resting on a flat stone whereon a good many characters were engraved but nobody was able to make them out but should some learned person have that good fortune the stone would immediately move off of itself and there would be a pot of gold to reward him for his schollarship. That a countryman living hard by had seen the treasure three following nights in his dreams and had spent some time in digging for it but all to no purpose for it was not intended for him. On telling our guide he should equally (fol. 107) share whatever we discovered it quickened our march astonishingly and I really believe we were not above an hour in reaching the stone notwithstanding the many impediments which crossed our way. On which we passed an upright stone about seven feet high in the middle of a field resembling some of those we before noticed as boundaries. Here exclaimed Sancho a man also found a considerable treasure, although amused by his simplicity it in some measure weakened the interest we had taken in the object of our walk and we felt the less disappointed at finding we had taken our ramble in vain when we arrived at the spot. For a candle being procured at the treasure dreamer’s cottage we discovered that what they took for letters were nothing but a few natural crevices in the rock and that the stone itself though of some magnitude possessed no more claim to notice than any other detached fragment lying by the road side. (fol. 107a) However disappointed we concealed our chagrin and even suffered our conductor to take us half a mile out of the way to see an immense stone which he said was called Praes Maen on account of a brass pot being placed near it and that when the sun shone whoever could trace the shadow at a particular time of the day would discover a great treasure in a brass vessel. It was moonlight when we arrived at this stone which certainly is more worthy of notice than the one we had quitted. It is standing upright in the midst of a field and measures thirteen feet high and fourteen and fifteen in circumference allowing four or five feet under ground, it must have been a very heavy body and cost some trouble to have erected it in its present position. Approaching nearer to Amlwch we observed our quondam loquacious compation become very silent, and just as we had passed an old wall about half a mile (fol. 108) from the town he told us with evident marks of trepidation that there was a ghost sitting there every night, on asking him if he had ever seen it he said no but that many of his friends had, it was in the shape of a woman and once had attempted to pull a farmer’s wife off her horse but was prevented by the arrival of a second person when it vanished. That on Christmas Eve the inhabitants of Amlwch used to come to the spot in order to see how many lights would pass by and as many did so many persons as travelled that road would die within the twelvemonth.
I just mention these ridiculous stories to show that superstition still reigns here and this superstition has perhaps been the guardian to many of the druidical remains we noticed in the island. It was past six when we returned to the inn where we were welcomed by a most excellent repast.