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The mansion of Cwm Elan, and its grounds, a highly cultivated oasis in the 
wild scenery, formed the centre of re-union, and here, under the pleasant shade of 
the trees, Dr. R. Richardson, F.G.S., of Rhayader, read the following address :— 
THE GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF CWM ELAN. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,—Allow me first of all to greet you 
with a cordial welcome to this beautiful scenery of Cwm Elan. I have also to 
thank the Central Committee of the Woolhope Club for the distinguished position 
I oceupy here to-day. The subject upon which I have to address you is rather a 
dry one, especially as regards the ladies, and I must ask your indulgence for any 
shortcomings. The science of geology is somewhat more difficult to treat in a 
popular style than any other, on accouut of the number of scientific terms used 
which may confuse the understanding of the uninitiated. 
Cwm Elan stands 800 feet above sea-level, and its history is as follows :—The 
first owner of whom I have any account, was that eminent scholar, Mr. Johns, of 
Hafod, Cardiganshire. He had the best library in Wales, and he also had a 
private printing-press ; but, unfortunately, a fire broke out, and the valuable col- 
lection of books was totally destroyed, which was an irreparable loss to the litera- 
ture of Wales. Since then the estate has passed through many hands—Mr. Grove, 
the Duke of Newcastle, Messrs. Peel, Otway, Green-Price, until it reached the 
present owner, Mr. Lewis Lloyd, of Nantgwillt, through whose courtesy and 
kindness we are now assembled. It is a general belief in this country that the 
poet Shelley lived here, but Mr. Lewis Lloyd tells me that it was at Nantgwillt 
he lived, as there was a pane in a window there upon which Shelley’s name was 
written. Cwm Elan has always been a place well worth visiting, and Professor 
Ramsay, a high authority on scenery, said to a friend of mine, Mr. Powell, of 
Glaslyn, that Cwm Elan furnished the finest scenery to be met with in Wales, 
owing to the beautiful colour, and harmony of the rocks, trees, and water, a com- 
bination seldom found in nature. Bowles in his poem on Cwin Elan (or Coombe 
Ellen, as he calls it), in a strain of ecstacy describes the beauties of this romantic 
spot, and I should recommend you to read that poem for yourselves. 
After these few introductory remarks, I shall now enter on the subiect of the 
day—the Geology of Cwm’Elan. Little has yet been done by geologists in this 
district ; Professor Keeping has explored some portions of it with his geological 
hammer. The rocks from Rhayader to Cwm Elan are composed of pale slate, 
grit, and conglomerates, and the metalliferous slate. All of these belong to the 
Plinlimmon group of Sedgwick and Keeping, and the lower Silurian of Murchison. 
You may see the three formations in that gorge called Cabancoch, through which 
you passed on your way up where the rocks were so precipitous. The Rhayader 
pale slate corresponds with the Taranon shale of North Wales, and the grits and 
conglomerates are the same as those of Plinlimmon and (Gwastedyn, to the east of 
Rhayader. The metalliferous slate corresponds with the slate rock quarries of 
Corris, and the slate quarries near Machynlleth. 
Some years ago, the pale slate near the surface of the hill opposite, was used 
for roofing, but was found to be rather too thick and heavy, and it soon had to 
