[Consolation], comfort, a lightening of trouble.
[Magnificent], grand, splendid.
[Shrine], an ornamental tomb or box: sometimes applied to a small church.
[Commemorate], to keep in memory.
[Gerald Barry], better known as "Giraldus Cambrensis," i.e. Gerald the Welshman (Cambria, one of the old names of Wales).
[Fane], a temple, a church.
[Long ages of darkness and storm]: i.e. of wars and troubles.
[Scribe], a writer: a person who made it the chief business of his life to copy books.