34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY [CHAP. v. 



account given by my father in " Strigulensia " from which I 

 borrow some part of these notes, he says, " It would be 

 vain to attempt identification of the Hermit whose name 

 is associated with the ruins, and who does not appear in the 

 calendar of saints, but he occurs as follows in the " Valor 

 Ecclesiasticus " of Hen. VIII., vol. ii. p. 501, "Capella Sancti 

 Triaci valet nihil, qua stat in mare et nulla proficua inde 

 proveniunt." Whether modern skilled archaeologists may 

 have thrown light on the early history of the anchorite and 

 his Severn and seaweed-girt chapel I do not know, but few 

 places could be found less attractive for the archaeological 

 picnic-excursions which have become fashionable of late 

 years. Even to my brothers and myself, accustomed as we 

 were to Severn mud, and to picking our way fairly safely over 

 and amongst the coarse brown slippery seaweed fronds 

 (chiefly, if I remember rightly, the Fucussermtus),the passage 

 over such parts as were not then submerged was an exceed- 

 ingly muddy progress, needing a deal of care lest we should 

 take a sudden slide into one of the little rock basins con- 

 cealed by the " kelp" or other coarse brown seaweed. But 

 once arrived, it was very pleasant to sit in the sunshine and 

 enjoy the glorious view down the Estuary of the Severn, 

 the fresh salt air blowing round us, or otherwise employ 

 ourselves to our fancy. From careful measurements we 

 found the length of the chapel to have been 31 feet 6 

 inches, the width 14 feet 6 inches, and the thickness of the 

 walls, wherever sufficient remained for observation, approxi- 

 mately 3 feet. 1 We had to be quick in our operations and 

 our return had to be kept in mind, or we should have had to 

 be fetched off in a boat, and under all circumstances it was 

 probably best for the sake of appearances that our walk 

 home should be as far as possible by the fields or under the 

 cliffs where minutiae as to condition of boots, &c., were 

 unimportant. 



The characteristics of the scenery of each of the rivers are 

 wholly different. The Severn above Beachley and Aust (in 

 former days the land-points of the much-used "Old Passage ") 

 spreads into a wide area of water, perhaps about a mile wide 

 at the narrowest, and at high tide forming a noble lake-like 

 expanse. The Wye, on the contrary, as shown in the map 

 (plate ix.), takes its sinuous and narrow course between 

 successive promontories, projecting alternately from the 

 Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire banks. 



1 My notes are taken from the copy of a plan (now before me) by my 

 brother Henry Mere Ormerod, solicitor, Manchester : see page 58. 



