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.
Friday, Decr. 10
We could not leave the inn so soon as we intended on account (fol. 108a) of our boots not being ready so bad is the workmanship of the shoemakers in Wales that the repairs of one day were destroyed by the exertions of the next, and it was a business almost as regular as eating our dinner when we arrived at the inn to send our boots to get mended. Here I hope we have had them secured effectually as we ordered them to be studded with nails according to the fashion of the country. Although on our arrival we scarcely gained admittance at the inn as pedestrians yet on our departure we had to pay the bill calculated for equestrians of the first order so much had our consequence been raised by the loquacity of our attendant in the kitchen.
This heavy blow on our finances with the loss we had sustained at Llanfechell caused a calculation to be made which promised only three days’ supply supposing our concerns should fall into the hands of so experienced a scribe as the landlady at Amlwch (fol. 109). About eleven we were clear of the inn and took the road across the fields to the small church of Bodewryd where we understood were some remains of the Wynne family a branch of which family was settled at a large mansion now a farm near the spot. The church door being open we found the interior occupied by a grey headed pedagogue and his schollars. On the pulpit were carved the arms of the Wynne’s and the seats and communion table exhibited the same kind of ornaments cut in oak before noticed at Llanelian. This living was augmented by Queen Anne’s bounty and further donations as appears engraven on a brass tablet affixed to the north side of the altar:
M. S.
Annae Reginae serenissimae
cujus munificentia sine exemplo maximae
inter innumeras alias per magnam
(fol. 109a) Britanniam late sparsas
Tenuissima haec de Bodewryd ecclesia
cujus stipendium annuum xx solidos ante non exedebat
libris ducentis donata est
promovente interim pietatem hanc
et totidem libras de proprio conferente
per ultimum testamentum suum
Dat. 6to Septembris A.D. 1720
Roberto Wynne A.M. rectori de Llantrisant
Filio Johannis Wynne de Bodewryd Arm.Sexto et natu maximo
quibus pecuniis aliquantulum auctis
Tenementa sequentia coempta
et in usum ecclesiae prædictae
In perpetuum stabilita sunt
(fol. 110) IIIº Nonas Decembris 1723
viz. Tre Evan, Clidog, Hen Aclwyd &c. &c.
Reditusque annuus 40 solidorum
De Tre Anghared in Bodedern
Com. Anglesea.In tantae munificentiae memoriam
Tabula haec votiva suspensa est. anno 1727.
On the opposite side of the communion table on a similar tablet is engraved the pedigree of this branch of the Wynne’s which is as follows:
In hac Ecclesia jacent
1. Rees (ap Llewellwyn, ap Griffith, ap Howell, ap Evan, ap Ednyfed ap Howell, ap Griffith, ap Meyricke, ap Trahairn, ap Gwerydd ap Rees Goch) uxorem habuit Agnes vch Nicholas ap Ellis Archidiaconi Monensis filiam obiit anno Dni 1500.
(fol. 110a)
2. David ap Rees de Bodewryd Armiger obiit 27º Julii anno Dni 1551 uxorem habuit Anghared filiam et heredem de Plâs y Brian in parochia de Llanbeder.
3. Hugo Gwyn ap D.D. obiit 1562 uxorem habuit Elenam Conway de Bryn Eyrinin Com. Carnaru.
4. Edwardus ap H Gwyn sepultus fuit primo die Martii 1596 uxorem duxit Elizabetham Sion ap Rees Bodychen.
5. Johannes Wyn Edd obiit 1614 uxorem habuit Grace vch Sion Griffith de Llanddyfran.
6. Edwardus Wyn obiit 1637 uxorem habuit Margaretam Puleston de Llwyn y Knottie in com. Flint.
7. Johannes Wyn obiit Jan. 30, 1669 uxorem duxit, Elenam filiam et cohaeredem J. Lewis de Chwaen Wen arm sepultus est cum uxore filioque natu maximo Johanne L L B in ecclesiae parochiali de Llantrissant de quo siquis (fol. 111) ultra desideret monumentum patri suo B—M positum impensis Roberto Wyn A.M. ejusdem ecclesiae Rectoris dignissimi consulat.