Welsh Journals

July, 1878. BYE-GONE S. 57 JULY 3, 1878. PUNISHMENT BY BURNING (June 19,1878).-In Notes and Queries of June 1, a writer says:—"Petit-Treason consisted in the breach of civil or ecclesiastical connexion coupled with murder, as where a servant killed his master, a wife her hus¬ band, or an ecclesiastical person (either secular or regular) his superior, to whom he owed faith and obedience. The punish¬ ment in a man was, to be drawn and hanged, and in a woman to be drawn and burned." NOTES. CASTLEREAGH.—The late election in the county of Down has brought this word (pronounced, I believe, Castle rehj before your readers, and is sufficient apology for the following extract:—'' Castlereagh is a small town in Ros¬ common, which gives the name to a barony. The castle, of which there are now no remains, stood on the west side of the town, and it is called by the Four Masters Caislen riahach, grey castle. There is a barony in Down of the same name, which was so-called from an old castle, a resi¬ dence of a branch of the O'Neils, which stood on a height in the townland of Castlereagh, near Belfast; and some half-dozen townlands in different counties are called by this name, so descriptive of the venerable appearance of an ancient castle." Joyce's Irish Names of Places, p. 295. Idloes. QUERIES. MONTGOMERYSHIRE ANTIQUITIES.—Are there any remains of Cromlechau or early inscribed stones within the limits of the county ? ' Gogledd. SLAIN AT OSWESTRY, 1644.—Of what family was Thomas Williams, a Lieutenant of Pioneers in the Parliamentary Army, who was slain at Oswestry on the 15th of June, 1644 ? I found him mentioned, but without further comment, in Peacock's Army Lists of the Round¬ heads and Cavaliers, 4to, 1863. T. Hughes. Chester. REPLIES. CWM CERWIN OR CERWYN (June 12, 1878).— There is a mountain in Pembrokeshire called Moel Cwm Cerwyn, which derives its name from Cwm Cerwyn, a crater-like hollow on the summit of it. This mountain, which belongs to the Pryseli range, is said to be 1,700 feet above the level of the sea. I am not aware that any tra¬ dition is associated with this Cwm Cerwyn; but the name is perhaps worth recording in connection with the Car¬ narvonshire Cwm Cerwyn mentioned by "G.G." GrWYDDAN. SHELLEY AT TREMADOC. (Mar. 27, 1878.) " W. R. H." asks, at this date, why in the Gossiping Guide to Wales, I discredit Shelley's story of being shot at when living at Tremadoc. I have been otherwise occupied or would have looked up my authorities earlier. Here they are :—Mr. Thomas Love Peacock, a friend of Shelley's, writing in Eraser's Magazine in June 1858, on the sub¬ ject says, " I was in North Wales in the summer of 1813, and heard the matter much talked of. Persons who had examined the premises on the following morning had found that the grass of the lawn appeared to have been much trampled and rolled on, but there were no foot¬ marks on the wet ground, except between the beaten spot and the window; and the impression of the ball on the wainscot showed that the pistol had been fired towards the xxxx. window and not from it. This appeared conclusive as to the whole series of operations having taken place from within." Mr. Thomas Jefferson Hogg, in his Life of Shelley, says, "Persons acquainted with the localities and with the circumstances, and who had carefully investi¬ gated the matter, were unanimous in the opinion that no such attack was ever made." A.R. Croeswylan, Oswestry. I do not envy the mental condition of the man that can believe one syllable of the story said to have been told by Shelley and his wife about an attempt to assassinate him while he resided at Tan yr Allt, near Tremadoc. The whole affair strongly reminds one of a situation in a sensational novel; and I have no hesitation to say that it is a pure fabrication from beginning to end. The improb¬ ability of it is such that it is difficult to conceive how any unbiassed person can possibly read it without being con¬ vinced of the imaginary character of the whole transaction. This is neither the first nor last "tale of woe" com. cocted under the pressure of pecuniary difficulties; and we need not go further than the very letter which relates the story to ascertain what the state of the Tan yr Allt was at the time. Gwyddan. Mar. 28. The following is the passage in the Gossqnng Guide to Wales referred to by "W.R.H." in his query of Mar. 27 :—" In an article on Shelley in the Cornhill Magazine for March, 1875, the writer gives the poet, who resided in the district for some time, the credit of materially assist¬ ing in this undertaking. He says that the works being insufficient, the enbankment gave way and the sea rushed in. Shelley bestirred himself and solicited subscriptions, heading the list with his own name for £500. We very much question whether the poet was worth that amount at the period, and had it been true, the presumption is that Mr. Smiles would have recorded the fact. Speaking of Shelley, in .connection with this district, reminds us that tourists at times take considerable trouble to discover the house in which he lived at Tanyrallt, Tremadoc: they will always be unsuccessful, for it has long since been demolished. If we may believe the poet, the house was once the scene of a very extraordinary event; no less than that of an attempt on his life by a would-be ravisher of his sister as well as murderer; but, although pistols were" fired—by the poet, there is no reason to believe that there was any other party to the affray; the murderer being, like Falstaff's men in buckram, the creation of a poetfs brain." G.G. SHROPSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. SUMMER EXCURSION. fTrom the Otioestry Advertizer,) The members and their friends made an excursion on Monday, the 8th of July, to Shifnal, Tong, Donington, Whiteladies, and Boscobel. The weather was delightfully fine, and the attendance was, accordingly, large. Every¬ thing passed off well, and the affair may be pronounced a signal success. Amongst those present were the Rev. W. A. Leighton, Rev. Butler Lloyd, Mr. George Stanton, Rev. C. H. Drinkwater, Mr. W. Phillips, Mr. Callcott, Mr. and Mrs. F. Sandford, Mr. P. Evans, Mr. and Mrs. Adnitt and Miss Jones, Mr. J. Pugh White, Mr. D. Davies, Mr. W. E. Harding, Mr. C. E. Peele, Mr. and Miss Adams, Mr. W. Hughes, and Mr. Caswell, of Shrewsbury, Mr. Askew Roberts, Mr. J. Sides Davies, and Mr. W. H. Spaull, of Oswestry, Mr. Hubert Smith and Mr. J. W.