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[Page 152]
grave may be seen in the churchyard, along with their servant. In the garden is a Druidical stonehenge, but not as big as the ones at Salisbury, from what I have heard but built very much after the same fashion; a round circle of heavy stones about 3 ft 6 inches long by 2 feet broad set upright in the earth. Next day, I hired a bike, and proceeded to see everything or break my neck in the attempt. Firstly, I visited Dinas Bron castle about a mile from Llangollen and on top of a beastly steep hill. I pitied the fellows who dwelt in it, they must have had sturdy legs. It was built about the time of Owen Glendower or before to keep the English out, and was constructed of slate stone in the rough; only a few bastions were standing, the rest was buried in the earth, and under the green grass, a generation that has passed away, as we shall. What great purpose does it all serve, who knows? The remaining pillars were very thick, quite 4 feet I should say and more. The quarry the slate had been dug from; had been constructed evidently with a view to added defence, like a ditch around. Then I went back along the canal, which is quite a remarkable work in its little way being quite 50 feet above the river Dee. Then I went to Valle Crucis Abbey, dating from about the 10th century AD. Here the Abbey gave refuge to pretty well all in those days, who claimed its protection (with plenty of gold I suppose), and was supposed to be the abode of learning; but Im afraid it was often the abode of ignorance under a religious cloak. The Abbey is in a sheltered valley deep down in the Berwyn hills and is a rough crude looking building falling in ruins. Where are all the monks who ate and sheltered here, gone and mouldering under the green grass as many of my mates are this very year; but the monks are forgotten, and so will I and