Welsh Journals

his remarks till the members were under shelter. A move was therefore made to Cefn Amwlch House, where the Association were entertained to tea by the kind invitation of Major William Wvnne Finch who, unfortunately, was unable to be present, being laid up after undergoing an operation. Mrs. Wynne Finch welcomed the guests on his behalf and explained that the last Griffith died in 1796 and left Cefn Amwlch to a cousin, a Wynne Finch. Most of the old house was pulled down in 1813. The interesting gate-house, dated 1629, remained and the old barn. in which they were then assembled, probably dating from the seventeenth century. Mr. Willoughby Gardner, proposing a vote of thanks to Major Wvnne Finch and Mrs. Wynne Finch, said that the Wvnne Finch family had rendered excellent service to archaeology by the preserva- tion of important antiquarian remains upon their estates both at Cefn Amwlch and at Pentrevoelas in the great burial chamber at Capel Garmon they had a wonderful monument. General Sandbach seconded, and said that in no part of the Principality was hospitality more pronounced than in South Caernarvonshire. Before leaving the barn Mr. Hemp made his observations on the Cefn Amwlch Cromlech. Mrs. Wynne Finch had told him in 1918 that, according to the bailiff Hugh Jones, the tradition was that the last Squire Griffith, who died in 1796, had cleared the land and removed the Cromlech up to the wall. The cattle in the field, however, all collected round the site and remained there lowing on their knees until the Cromlech was restored to its original position. He, Mr. Hemp, interpreted this to mean that the covering mound was removed from the chamber late in the eighteenth century considerable traces of the mound still remained and it was probable that the cover stone and supporters of the chamber itself were not moved. Mr. Hemp then described some of the elaborate structural details employed in the building up of the chambered cairns, of which the cromlechs were often the last remains, and the cunning devices employed by the builders to ensure their stability. The two inscribed stones, at Cefn Amwlch, bearing the following inscriptions, were next inspected 1. VERACIVS PBR HIC IACIT. 2. SEXACVS PRBS HIC IACIT cvm MVLTITVDINEM fratrvm PRESBITER. In a discussion upon these important early Christian stones, Mr. Willoughby Gardner remarked upon the large number in North Wales, and especially in Lleyn, where the words hic IACIT stood for hic IACET. The letter I would seem to be a regular dialect form in Britain for E for in examining a large hoard of the coins struck in