Posted inLocal Histories

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Welsh bards at Abergavenny, showing several men with harps.
Posted inUncategorized

The Abergavenny Cymreigiddion Society

On Wednesday the 12th instant, the ninth anniversary of this celebrated Literary and Musical Festival was held at Abergavenny, attended by the usual demonstrations of enthusiasm becoming this great national event. Peals of merry bells gave early note of preparation, and at the appointed hour of eleven o’clock a strong muster took place opposite the Sun Inn, and shortly after the members of the society, &c., moved off in full procession to receive the president, who met them at the Spitty, on the Monmouth road, attended by a numerous body of friends in carriages. An address was here presented to him, and immediately after his reply the procession returned to town in the following order:—

Illustration of the church at Stratford-Upon-Avon
Posted inLocal Histories Travelers' Tales

Nooks And Corners Of Old England – Stratford-Upon-Avon Church

Stratford-upon-Avon Church is a chief ornament of the quiet rural nook in sylvan Warwickshire, which is hallowed by one of the holiest of England’s memories. Its appearance and architecture are thoroughly English. Its square tower and pointed windows, its mullions and tracery of the 14th century, its graceful spire tapering above the tall elms which surround it, and the avenue of limes arching overhead the graveyard path to the old porch, are all exactly in accordance with what an Englishman regards as the beau ideal of an old country church. It was formerly a collegiate, and is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. In the plain chancel rests the “poet of all time,” Shakspere. The Avon’s ripple, as the pilgrim to the poet’s tomb stands in the quiet chancel, may be heard murmuring the same placid music which it sang in Shakspere’s ear some two centuries ago. The place of sepulture is marked by a flat stone bearing the oft-repeated and quaint lines which the poet himself left for the purpose:—

Illustration of Forrest Hill Church
Posted inCulture & Society Local Histories Religion & Spirituality

Nooks And Corners Of Old England – Forrest Hill, Oxfordshire

On a rising ground to the left of the road from Oxford to London, through Wycombe, and at the distance of four miles from Oxford, stands the little church of Forrest Hill; its gabled bell turret, containing two bells in open arches, rising above the surrounding foliage, forming a conspicuous and highly picturesque object. Forrest Hill is a long, straggling village, built on a ridge of land beyond the church, which occupies alone the brow of the hill. The churchyard is small, and surrounded and overhung with trees: the hollies, the yews, and weeping willows, all in the utmost luxuriance, forming a beautiful contrast with each other, and giving to the graveyard that spirit of quiet and holiness which always ought to be the characteristic of the church, which was dedicated to St. Nicholas the Confessor, on the 6th July, 1273, is small and compact, being composed of one aisle, divided into nave and chancel. At the west end is a fine early English bell-gable, and two singularly large buttresses standing out in bold projection.