Sacred to the Memory of
The Right Honourable
LADY ELEANOR CHARLOTTE BUTLER,
Late of Plas Newydd, in this Parish,
Deceased 2nd June, 1829,
Aged 90 Years,
Daughter of the Sixteenth, Sister of the Seventeenth
EARLS OF ORMONDE AND OSSORY;
Aunt to the late, and to the present
MARQUESS OF ORMONDE.

Endeared to her friends by an almost unequalled excellence of heart, and by manners worthy of her illustrious birth, the admiration and delight of a very numerous acquaintance from a brilliant vivacity of mind undiminished to the latest period of a prolonged existence. Her amiable condescension and benevolence secured the grateful attachment of those by whom they had been so long and so extensively experienced. Her various perfections, crowned by the most pious and cheerful submission to the Divine will, can only be appreciated where it is humbly believed they are now enjoying their Eternal Reward, and by her, of whom for more than fifty years they constituted that happiness which, through our blessed Redeemer, she trusts will be renewed when THIS TOMB shall have closed over its latest tenant.

“Sorrow not as others who have no hope.”

1 Thess., chap. 4, v. 13.

SARAH PONSONBY
Departed this Life
On the 9th December, 1831,
Aged 76.

She did not long survive her beloved companion, LADY ELEANOR BUTLER, with whom she lived in this valley for more than half a century of uninterrupted friendship. “But they shall no more return to their house, neither shall their place know them any more.”—Job, chap. 7, v. 10.

Reader, pause for a moment and reflect, not on the uncertainty of human life, but, upon the certainty of its termination, and take comfort from the assurance that “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”—Heb., chap. 9, v. 27, 28.

On the same tombstone is also the following inscription, to the memory of a faithful servant, who accompanied “the ladies” from Ireland:—

In Memory of
MRS. MARY CARRYL,
Deceased 22nd November, 1809.

This Monument is erected by Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, of Plas Newydd, in this Parish.

Released from earth and all its transient woes,
She whose remains beneath this Stone repose,
Steadfast in faith resigned her parting breath,
Looked up with Christian joy and smiled in death. Patient, industrious, faithful, generous, kind,
Her conduct left the proudest far behind;
Her virtues dignified her humble birth,
And raised her mind above this sordid earth. Attachment (sacred bond of grateful breasts) Extinguished but with life, this Tomb attests,
Reared by two friends who will her loss bemoan,
Till with her ashes, here, shall rest their own.

THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN.

Once two young girls of rank and beauty rare,
Of features more than ordinary fair,
Who in the heyday of their youthful charms
Refused the proffer of all suitors’ arms,
Lived in a cottage here rich carved in oak,
Though now long passed from life by death’s grim stroke.
Plas Newydd’s gardens then displayed much taste,
And nought about them e’er allowed to waste.
The umbrageous foliage of surrounding trees
Gave them a shelter from the stormy breeze,
Whilst in a snug retreat about south-west,
Was bird-cote placed as shelter for redbreast,
For sparrow, chaffinch, blackbird, or for thrush,
These ladies did not wish the cold to touch.
Then did all species of ferns abound
In every nook and corner of their ground,
Then none were known to come unto their door
That were not welcomed with kind words, or more.
These ladies to each other kind and true,
Around Llangollen’s vale, like them were few.
E’en now I see them seated in yon chair,
In well-starched neckcloths, and with powdered hair,
Their upper habits just like men’s they wore,
With tall black beaver hats outside their door;
To crown it all my muse would whisper low,
With hair cropped short, rough, bushy, white as snow.
They at death’s summons, God’s commands obeyed,
And were in fair Llangollen’s churchyard laid,
As they through life together did abide,
E’en now in death they both lie side by side;
Of them remains nought save dark mould and sod,
Who loved their neighbours second to their God;
Sweet peace be theirs—by death to dust allied,
Through him who near a century was their Guide;
Beloved, respected by the world were they,
By all regretted when they passed away.

Plas Newydd was purchased by General Yorke, C.B., in 1876. He knew the Ladies intimately in his Eton school-boy days, and has saved their cottage from decay, and filled the rooms with antiquities and curiosities, and all persons express delight on leaving the grounds. In 1878–79 the General made an extensive new wing to the back of the house. He spends his summer months at this delightful retreat, and is becoming a general favourite in the town, imitating the old Ladies in his liberality and kindness. He takes great delight in carving, and much of his handi-work may be seen in and about the house. It is very fortunate that the property fell to the hands of the present proprietor, whose constant aim is to improve and keep it in the most perfect repair. May the gallant general be long spared to reside amongst us. He has been happy in the selection of Mr. Joseph Davies and his amiable wife Mrs. Davies to look after the place, who are most careful to keep everything in the house and grounds in proper trim, and most attentive and obliging to visitors, who are admitted daily, on payment of a small fee.

H. Jones, Printer, Llangollen.