British Archæological Association. ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING, CHEPSTOW, 1854. AUGUST 21ST TO 26TH INCLUSIVE. Patron. THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF LLANDAFF. President. RALPH BERNAL, Esq., M.A. Vice-Presidents. CHARLES BATHURST, ESQ., Lydney. THOS. W. BOOKER, Esq., M.P. Herefordshire. LT.-COL. H. M. CLIFFORD, M.P. Hereford. THE VERY REV. W. D. CONY BEARE, D.D., F.R.S., Dean of Llandaff. FRANCIS H. DAVIS, ESQ., F.S.A. JAMES DEARDEN, Esq., F.S.A., Rochdale. VICE-ADMIRAL SIR W. HENRY DILLON, K.C.H. SIR FORTUNATUS DWARRIS, F.R.S., F.S.A. THOMAS FALCONER, Esq., Usk. GEORGE GRANT FRANCIS, ESQ., F.S.A., Mayor of Swansea. E. A. FREEMAN, Esq., M.A., Dursley. J. M. HERBERT, Esq., Rocklands. JAMES HEYWOOD, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., F.S.A. REV. DANIEL JONES, M.A., Vicar of Caerleon. JOHN LEE, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A. CHAS. JAMES LEWIS, Esq., St. Pierre. REV. FRANCIS LEWIS, M.A., St. Pierre. OCTAVIUS MORGAN, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., F.S.A., Newport. GEORGE ORMEROD, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A., Sedbury Park. T. J. Pettigrew, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A. REV. J. M. TRAHERNE, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., Coedriglan. S. R. SOLLY, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A. G. E. HARCOURT VERNON, ESQ., M.P. THOMAS WAKEMAN, Esq., The Graig, Monmouth. SIR J. GARDNER WILKINSON, D.C.L., F.R.S. 276 Treasurer-THOMAS JOSEPH PETTIGREW, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A. J. R. PLANCHÉ, Esq., Rouge Croix. Honorary Secretaries CHARLES BAILY, ESQ., F.S.A. REV. THOMAS HUGO, M.A., F.3.A., F.L.S. Secretary for Foreign Correspondence-WILLIAM BEATTIE, M.D. Registrar, Curator, and Librarian-ALFRED WHITE, ESQ., F.L.S. Draughtsman-H. C. PIDGEON, ESQ. Local Committee. ROBERT EVANS, Esq., Larkfield, Chairman. Fenton Hort, Esq., Hardwick House. William E. Toye, Esq., Chepstow. TREVOR MORRIS, M.D., Chepstow, Honorary Secretary. Proceedings of the Congress. MONDAY, AUgust 21. UNDER the active superintendence of Dr. Trevor Morris, the honorary local secretary, the local committee (Robert Evans, esq., of Larkfield, in the chair), assembled at the Beaufort Arms, Chepstow, at one o'clock, P.M., and after making various arrangements relative to the proceedings of the Congress, were joined by the officers and members of the general committee, prior to opening the general meeting. In the absence of RALPH BERNAL, esq., M.A., the president of the Association, sir Fortunatus Dwarris, F.R.S., F.S.A., one of the vice-presidents, was, upon the nomination of Mr. Pettigrew, requested to preside over the Congress. The first meeting was held in the great assembly room of the Beaufort Arms; the president being supported by the officers and committee, the very rev. the dean of Llandaff, the rev. J. Montgomery Traherne, late chancellor of Llandaff, and many of the clergy of the neighbourhood, in addition to several members of, and visitors to, the Association. Sir FORTUNATUS DWARRIS said, in the absence of their valued president, which they must all regret, the duty was cast upon him of occupying the chair as his locum tenens. Under any other circumstances he would not have had the presumption to have appeared before them without having prepared a suitable inaugural address; but, as it was, he must throw himself on their kindness and indulgence, and should also have to appeal to their indefatigable and most valued treasurer, for his resources of archæological lore were inexhaustible. He should confine the few remarks he would venture to address to them to the neighbourhood in which they were assembled; indeed, he did not know that it would be necessary for him to say anything further, than "CIRCUMSPICE". "Look around you", he felt was all that need be; for where could be found scenes of more intense interest, or more surpassing beauty? Where could be found a site more appropriate for archæological inquiry than the borders of the territory of the ancient Britons? Old as their native hills, were the monuments, the traditions, and the legends, of the descendants of the Cymri. From every grove and forest peeped out some spiral turret, or majestic keep, pointed arch, or traceried window, in that land of multi VOL. X. 36 farious castles, and towers, and monasteries, and abbeys, so dear to the antiquary. In the not far distant valley of the poetic Wye was cradled Harry of Monmouth. Over those hills the last of the British princes, the unfortunate Llewellyn, after a long and patriotic resistance to the Romans, the Saxons, and the Normans, was compelled to yield to our first Edward,-a magnanimous prince, who, to valour in the field, added wisdom in the court, and who was not only a great conqueror, but a profound legislator, and a wise statesman. He not only added provinces to his kingdom, but consolidated his empire by wise institutions, and the improvement of the laws. The meeting would pardon that transient allusion to such of our Edwards and Henrys as had a local habitation as well as an imperishable name. Might the name of Victoria be added to the list? Not for the lust of conquest; not for the invasion of foreign lands if for wars at all, for just and holy wars,-wars undertaken solely in the cause of civilization, to defend the oppressed, and humble the oppressor; but, he would rather say, for the arts of peace, and progress, might our beloved queen, an Elizabeth without her faults and her vices, be placed, in the memories of a grateful people, by the side of our great first Edward, our English Justinian. She was already endeared to her subjects as a wife and a mother, although she might not have a Burleigh for her minister, or a Bacon for her chancellor. The president then alluded to the historians of Wales, and after noticing Giraldus Cambrensis, whom he called the Livy of the principalities, he went on to defend Geoffrey of Monmouth from the attacks so constantly made on him. "False historian", "fabulous historian", were the titles he got from every Englishman; and, had the time and occasion admitted of it, he should have been glad to have been the one Englishman to have defended him. He saw no reason why they should hold the prophecies of Merlin not to be as true as the leaves of the Sybil, that Arthur was not as puissant and victorious as Romulus and Remus, or that the genius loci did not breathe as much inspiration into the Round Table, as in the case of Numa and the Grotto of Egeria. Sir Fortunatus concluded by calling upon T. J. PETTIGREW, esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., vice-president and treasurer, who then delivered the Introductory Address. (See pp. 197-225 ante.) The thanks of the meeting having been carried by acclamation to Mr. Pettigrew, for his address, the president announced that the Reading Rooms at Chepstow were liberally thrown open to the members of the Association and visitors during the Congress; and he then invited such as were present, and not deterred by the rain, which had fallen rather heavily in the course of the morning, to accompany him to view the remains of the castle, the church, priory, etc., in the town, previous to the hour which had been appointed for the ordinary. The greater part of the meeting then proceeded to inspect the ruins, admission to which had been admirably arranged by the local secretary; and considerable discussion took place on the spot as to the purposes to which the several portions had been devoted. Differences of opinion were expressed by the members as to the probable uses to which, in the time of its integrity, the inner court, popularly considered to have been the chapel, was applied. By some few the traditional application was regarded as the correct one; but others insisted that there were evident traces of there having been a flooring, which would not have existed had it been a chapel, and which favoured the theory that it had been either a banqueting room or a kitchen, probably the former. Another matter anxiously discussed was, to whom should the origin of the structure be referred. The presence of a range of Roman tiles in the wall gave rise to a good deal of perplexing consideration; and it seemed to be generally admitted that the build of the lower part of the castle was unique, and that the erection might have been of Norman, or of anterior origin. The architects present differed in their views upon these questions, and no definite decision was arrived at. The chief discussion on the castle was necessarily deferred until the evening meeting. The castle having been inspected, the members and visitors proceeded to Chepstow church, where they were most courteously received by the respected vicar, the rev. J. B. Gabriel, M.A., who was exceedingly attentive to the Association throughout the Congress, and accompanied the members in several of the excursions. The entrance to the church was most deservedly admired; but the alterations which a few years since had been made, were universally, unequivocally, and unsparingly condemned. Of all churches within our knowledge, this has suffered most from ignorance in the repairs and the alterations it has undergone. Mr. Freeman has treated of this edifice in the Archeologia Cambrensis (vol. ii, New Series, p. 1), and remarks that "ten years have not elapsed since the most irreparable barbarisms that ancient structure ever underwent were inflicted on a church which might have excited the reverence of all by its massive proportions and venerable antiquity, and the singularity of whose architecture might claim no mean place among the monastic remains of Wales and its marches." The tale of its destruction is thus briefly told : "It must be remembered that the ancient portion of the present building consists of the nave of the old conventual church. We are told that the tower stood at the east end, from which I infer that it was a cruciform church; of which, as in so many other instances, the choir was destroyed at the dissolution, while the nave was allowed to remain as the parish church. The central tower would thus, of course, stand at the east end of the latter. This tower fell some time in the seventeenth century, and appears to have crushed the transepts, or whatever portions of them remained. It was not rebuilt in its old position, |