[175] The external staircase entrance to the hall spoken of by Camden, “the roof whereof is vaulted and supported by twenty arches,” is now rendered nearly impassable by rubbish.
[177] On a mountain near Caerphilly is a monument known by the name of Y Maen hir. It is a quadrangular stone pillar, rather inclining, and about eight feet high: close to the base is a mound, inclosing the space of six yards; and in the midst, a square area. On the pillar is an inscription in Welch, which signifies, “May’st thou awake;” from which it is inferred to be a funereal monument.—Grose’s Antiquities.
[181] This is called the magazine, from its having been applied to that purpose in the civil wars of Charles the First.
[184a] There is no cross aile to this cathedral, as there is to all the others in England and Wales: nor any middle steeple, as there is to all the others except Bangor and Exeter.
[184b] Castle coch, or the Red castle, situated upon a high bank of the river Taffe, about four miles above Landaff, is a small ruin which we neglected to visit.
[185] Monmouthshire has been separated from Wales by the judicial arrangement of later times; yet the character of the county throughout is so entirely Cambrian, that I cannot consider myself out of Wales until after having passed the Wye. Indeed, this highly-varied and interesting district may be considered as an epitome of the whole principality. The mountains stretching over the north-west of Monmouthshire shire may vie with any in South-Wales, and even aspire to the majestic wildness of some in North-Wales; the rich fertility, or broken precipices accompanying the course of the Severn, Wye, and Usk, with much contrastive grandeur, possess the highest pretensions to picturesque fame; and its numerous ruins and other monuments of antiquity are among the most celebrated in the kingdom.—An elegant and able work, in two volumes, quarto, has been lately published, descriptive of Monmouthshire, and illustrated by no less than 90 excellent plates. The researches of its author (Mr. Coxe) have been so accurate and complete, as to leave little more for a succeeding tourist to do than to select and transcribe. The descriptions I always found highly satisfactory and just; I have therefore, in the generality of instances, thought it unnecessary to follow any other authority for documents in history and antiquities.
[192] An officer who had the superintendance of the walls, and collected a toll for keeping them in repair.
[195] We did not visit Rogeston castle, about two miles north-west of Newport, a fortress of the Stradlings who came over with Fitzhammon. Part of its remains appear in the foundation of the mansion built on its site, belonging to the Morgans, but tenanted by Mr. Butler of Caerleon, and employed as a manufactory of iron bolts and tin plates.
[200a] In ancient military architecture “circinatio angulorum;” a plan condemned by Vitruvius, because it rather sheltered the besiegers than the besieged, “quia hostem magis tuentur quam civem.”
[200b] A decent little inn, and the only one in the town.