Welsh Journals

WALES. Vol. III.] MAY, 189G. [No. 25. THE OLD CHURCHES OF ABERYSTWYTH. By David .Samuel, M.A. III. ^>.« 0 a man ac- juainted with Aberystwyth seventy years ago, nothing could be more extraordinary than the changes that have taken place here since then. An old in¬ habitant of that day, were he to visit the earth once more, would barely know the town of his childhood. He would be met with " transformation scenes " on all hands,—scarcely a street could he see which had not almost completely changed its aspect. No spot would perhaps excite his astonishment more than the neighbourhood of Laura Place. He would see Lady Caroline's house, as it was called by the country folk, and Castle House by the town folk, ex¬ tended on both sides and become a part of that noble pile of College buildings of which Wales may justly be proud. He would see a strong sea-wall connecting King Street with the Castle grounds. The sea wall and the road way are compara¬ tively a very modern thing. Where old St. Michael's stood, the church recently pulled down, there was a small green field sloping down towards the sea, and known as Judith's Little Field,—Cae bach Judith. Judith was the old house-keeper of Lady Caroline's house, and has now been dead sixty years and more. Below Judith's field, and not very far from the beach, there was a well of extraordinary trans¬ parency, a crystal spring of coolest water, 13 19 a well which was always called by the name " Ffynnon Twlc yr Hwch,"—the well of the pig-sty. The fact of there being a spring near that spot may still even now be verified on peeping over the sea-wall, and observing the oozing of water through the interstices in the wall. The dampness of the adjoining land, too, is a matter of pretty general notoriety,—I shall refer to this again a little later on. The old church-yard at that time did not cover the area it now does; in fact, as will be noticed from what I have just said, it was the size it now is, minus "Judith's field." This little field of Judith's was a spot widely known in the old times as a place where shows and circuses were held, and mountebanks performed their tricks and feats. There was the ring for the merry-go-rounds, and for the horse, whose rider could perform all sorts of strange achievements. There, too, it was customary to play football, though this was also played in the adjoining field, afterwards known as Laura Gardens, where the present St. Michael's stands. Judith's field has for sixty five years been devoted to other purposes, for, as I have said in a former paper, on it St. Michael No. 2 was built, and the adjoining ground was turned into a church-yard. That the ground is damp was proved by the quantity of dry rot that was visible on the walls and the pews of the old church. I adduce another fact, interesting as a bit of old history, and worth giving, as the subject of dreams may be not unacceptable to some of my readers. In 1844 or 1845, a child of about four or five years of age, fell through a trap door in one of the streets,—Market