208 
Mr. Price escorted his visitors to the British encampment on Crug-hill, and 
showed them the Maendu Well, or Blackstone Well, from which the water was 
conducted by a leaden pipe to supply the castle. Mr. Joseph Josephs sent a sec- 
tion of the pipe for inspection. Tt was discovered accidentally by a drainer about 
thirty years since, and he sold a considerable portion as old metal. The pipe was 
not cast, but was well made from sheet lead, with an enclosing cap over the line of 
junction. 
The dinner provided at the Castle Hotel was substantial and good, but the 
active spirits of the Club, who had been to the Beacon, had but little time to eat. 
Grace was said when some of the party had but just begun, and the President 
announced that no more papers would be read, and that all who would visit the 
noble Priory Church must go there at once. The Rey. Rees Price again kindly 
led the way, and the locality was soon announced by the projection of fine corbels 
from old walls, apropos of nothing. The Priory Church of St. John the Evan- 
gelist was entered from the north side of the nave, and the effect on entering is 
exceedingly striking and dignified. There is no Parish Church in the west of 
England to compare with it. The impression it creates is rather that of a small 
Cathedral than that of an ordinary Church. Its spacious interior, its excellent 
proportions, its lofty nave, its central tower and transepts, and its elegant chancel, 
produce, on the whole, an effect that is not often surpassed. The church is built 
with cross aisles, ‘‘ecclesia sanctze crucis,” but the present church is clearly not the 
one built by Bernard Newmarch, though the circular bow] of the font, which is 
extremely richly ornamented, may be as early, or even earlier than histime. It 
is the most ancient object in the church, and seems to bear an inscription around 
the bowl, which time did not admit of any careful attempt to decipher. The 
chancel is one of the finest examples of early English work of the 13th century, 
the lancet windows being profusely ornamented with slender detached shafts, 
with a vaulted engroined roof, which, though recently constructed, looks like a 
true reproduction of the original design. A very large sum has been recently ex- 
pended on the fabric under the late Sir Gilbert Scott, and the restoration effected 
may be ranked amongst the most successful of the many churches he has taken in 
hand. It is pure stone work throughout the interior, here and there exposing 
remnants of old mural decoration. The transepts are of about the same date as 
the chancel. The north transept is called ‘‘ The Chapel of the Men of Battle,” 
and the south transept bears the name of ‘‘ Cappel y cochiaid,” or the red haired 
men’s chapel; but in later years certainly the Normans must have found seats 
elsewhere, for the monks must have been constantly passing through it—to and 
fro, for the service. In the angle between the north transept and the chancel is 
the Havard chapel of the 18th and 14th century, and in the corresponding angle 
on the south side was a similar chapel, now much altered. The nave and aisles 
are late 14th century work. Space permits not to tell of the curiously perforated 
panels of the pulpit, the remnants of carved oak screen; but there is one feature 
for which the church is especially remarkable, and that is for the highly creditable 
manner in which the monuments and numerous ancient monument stones have 
been respected and allowed to remain in situ. It would be difficult to find 
