A Book of North Wales

by S. Baring-Gould

Tyssilio, like a prudent man, had not left Wales without taking his chef de cuisine with him, and this master of the kitchen, monk though he was, had an amour with a girl on the opposite side of the Rance. He was wont, Leander-like, to swim across and visit her. On one occasion as he was crossing, a monstrous conger eel curled itself about him, and the poor cook was in dire alarm. He invoked all the saints to come to his aid—Samson, Malo, his own master Tyssilio—none could deliver him till he thought on Maglorius of Sark, and called on him for assistance. At the same moment it occurred to him that he had his knife attached to his girdle, and unsheathing that, he hacked and sliced at the conger till it relaxed its hold, and so the poor fellow got across alive, and vowed he would never again go a-courting.

Whilst Tyssilio was in Brittany, news reached him that his sister-in-law was dead, and his monks wished him to return to Meifod. However, he was content to remain where he was, and he declined the invitation. The name by which he is known in Brittany is Suliau, or Suliac. His statue is over the high altar of his church on the Rance, and represents him as a monk in a white habit, a bald head, and holding his staff. It is a popular belief that as the staff is turned so is changed the direction of the wind. The old woman who cleans the church informed me that her husband, a fisherman, was returning, but could not enter the harbour owing to contrary winds. She turned the crozier in the hand of the saint, and at once the wind shifted, and the boat arrived with full sails in the harbour. Tyssilio’s ring is preserved in the church.

TYSSILIO’S RING AT SAINT-SULIAC

About three miles up the valley above the junction of the Banw and Vyrnwy, but on the former, are the mounds that mark the site of Mathrafal, the former palace of the kings of Powys after they were driven from Shrewsbury. They form a quadrangle with a tump at one angle immediately above the river, and there are indications of more extended earthworks cut through by the road and mostly levelled.

Meifod Church stands in an extensive yard, planted with avenues of fine trees. It has been much altered by rebuilding, but on the south side are round-headed arches, very rude, of early Norman work. The east window of the south aisle is Decorated, but that of the chancel is Perpendicular. Within the church is a richly carved late Celtic pillar with figures on it. The screen has been removed; it was late in character, and is now stuck as a decoration against the wall of the chancel, and portions are worked into a partition shutting off the vestry from the church. This vestry occupies the site of the original church of S. Tyssilio.

Here is buried Madog, eldest son of Meredydd ab Bleddyn, prince of Powys, from whom is named one of the two divisions of Powys—Powys Fadog. He is not a man for whom one can feel any respect. He sided with Henry II. against his own countrymen, and took the command of the English fleet in the invasion of Anglesey, and was defeated with great loss. His second wife was Matilda Verdun, an Englishwoman; she had a temper, and he was of an amorous complexion, and they led a cat-and-dog life. At last he deserted her. She appealed to the English king, who ordered each party to appear at Winchester before him, and it was stipulated that each should have as retinue no more than twenty-four horses. Madog arrived with his horses and one man on each, but the lady with twenty-four horses and two men riding on each horse. The result was that she overbore him, and he was ordered to entail the lordships of Oswestry upon her and her heirs male, by whomsoever begotten; and he was thrown into prison, where he was murdered at her instigation. Thereupon she married John Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, and carried the lordship of Oswestry to the English house. Madog died in 1161. His body was transported to Meifod.

Meifod is the parish whence came Charles Lloyd, the founder of Lloyd’s Bank. He was born in 1637, and was a member of a very ancient family that was estated at Meifod, and his father was a county magistrate. Whilst a student at Oxford he took up with the new notions promulgated by George Fox, and became a Quaker. In 1662 he was arrested and required to take the oath of allegiance. As he refused, the oppressive laws against sectaries were enforced against him with the utmost rigour. For ten years he was detained in prison at Welshpool, his possessions were placed under præmunire, his cattle sold, and the family mansion of Dolobran allowed to go to wreck and ruin. He was confined in “a little smoky room, and did lie upon a little straw himself for a considerable time.” His wife, who had been tenderly nurtured, “was made willing to lie upon straw with her dear and tender husband.”

When released he made over the family property to his son, and removed to Birmingham, where he became an ironmaster, realised much money, and founded Lloyd’s Bank.

William Penn is thought to have visited him at Dolobran, and portions of the panels of oak have been removed as relics and carried to America.