the plough. On examination it was found to be one of
the two-pronged pikes, wdth a socket for receiving the
shaft, with which the country blacksmiths had armed
many of the Royalists.
On the outskirts of the battlefield is a tumulus 25 or
30 ft. in diameter. On cutting a trench to the centre of
it I found remains of a cremation, — a thick layer of char-
coal intermingled with half-charred bones. As it would
be most difficult to dig graves there, owing to rock being
so near the surface of the ground, the bodies of those
slain in that part of the battlefield may have been burnt
and then covered wath a mound of earth.
There is a story told, and very generally believed in
the neighbourhood, of a farmer (recently deceased) who,
on taking the Stockland Farm, was obliged to borrow
money to stock it. A few months after he came into
residence he not only repaid the sum borrowed, but was
found afterwards to have a good supply of cash. The
explanation given is that the farmer found in the con-
cealed foot of a stocking a large hoard of gold, which is
supposed to have been placed there by some one prior to
the battle, who was killed in it.
1893
34
EXCAVATIONS AT T ALLEY ABBEY.
BY STEPHEN W. ^\â– 1LLIAJIS, ESQ., F.S.A.
{Read at the Cardiff Congress, 1892.)
Ox the main road from Llandeilo to Lampeter, about
seven miles fi'om the former place, stands the village of
Talley, situated in a narrow valley on the watershed of
two small streams, one flowing into the Cothie, north-
wards, and the other southwards into the Towy.
In the church3^ard are the ruins of what is left above
ground of the church of the Abbey of Talley, consisting
of two arches of the central tower and a fragment of the
wall of the north transept. The eastern face of the
tower remains fairly complete to its summit, and on its
northern side it rises above the water-table of the north
transept roof A portion of the internal walls of the
presbytery could also be traced ; but with these excep-
tions nothing more was to be seen before the excavations
were commenced.
At the recent meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological
Association I read a paper descriptive of the ruins, and
my friend Mr. Edward Owen also contributed an account
of so much as is at present known of the history of the
Abbey. Mr. Edward Owen said " that of none of the
Welsh religious foundations of the Middle Ages had
there been preserved a clear and connected history, or
the graphic chronicles that imparted human interest to
the story of several English houses." '"' Talley was more
than usually unfortunate, the only published documents
relating to it being those contained in the last edition of
Dugdale's Monasticon. Even the religious Order to which
it had belonged had been a subject of dispute. Dugdale
thought it had been a Benedictine house, and his latest
editors had not troubled to inquire into the point for
themselves. A Cambridge MS. styled it Cistercian.
Leland thought it had belonged to the Prsemonstraten-
f-;ian Order, an opinion in which Bishop Tanner concurred.
It would now be settled for good that Talley was " Prpe-
EXCxVVATIUNS AT TALLEY ABBEY. 35
monstratensian from its foundation (wltli a slight intei -
mission) to its fall." I cannot say tliat I entirely agree
with Mr. Owen upon this point.
" Of its founder, of the date when its inmates were
introduced into Carmarthenshire, or the Abbey buildings
commenced, no fresh documentary evidence could be ad-
duced. It had been conjectured, and, no doubt, rightly,
that it was founded by Prince Rhys ab Gruffudd, who
received the title of Justiciar of South Wales from
Henry II, and who died in 1196 or 1197. He was the
founder of Strata Florida, and a large benefactor to Whit-
land, both Cistercian abbeys.
This was the popular monastic Order in Wales, and
they might have been recommended to the Princes of
Wales, not alone because of their religious austerity, but
also for their devotion to agricultural pursuits. The
Prsemonstratensian Order, an offshoot from that of the
Augustinian Canons, was introduced into England in 1143.
The Austin Canons were distinguished from the
monks in being in Holy Orders, and in being attached
to particular churches. The naves of all their churches
were parochial. The monks were originally no more
than laymen, bound by vows spontaneously assumed ;
but when the appropriation of parochial churches com-
menced, it became customary for some of them to take
priest's orders ; and at a still later period it was usual
for all monks to become priests.
The Prsemonstratensians resembled the Cistercians in
their love for solitary places, and in their attention to
agriculture. Talley occupied a typical Cistercian- site,
the arrangement of its buildings being more after the
regular Cistercian plan than was usual with Prsemonstra-
tensian houses. Their early foundations always com-
prised separate houses for men and women ; and though
it was not possible to show that canonesses had ever
lived at Talley, the likelihood of such a thing was greatly
strengthened by the reference in early Welsh genealogies
to an abbess of Talley.
It was unfortunate that Giraldus Cambrensis did not
mention Talley in his account of his journey through
Wales with Archbishop Baldwin in 118 7, and he (Mr.
Owen) thought it showed that Talley was not then in
30 EXCAVATIONS
existence. It must, however, have been estabhshed
before Gu^aldus' death, vhich took place in 1223, because
in his last written work, SiDeculum Ecclesice, he gave an
interesting account of the high-handed proceedings of
the Abbot of Whitland against a " poor house of Canons
of the Prsemonstratensian Order", culminating in their
forcible ejection and the seizure of their house by the
Cistercians. The Canons appealed to Hubert Archbishop
of Canterbury, and afterwards to the Pope, and eventu-
ally regained their possessions. Now Hubert died in
1205, and as he (Mr. Owen) considered the house could
not have been founded before 1190, it brought the exact
date of that foundation within narrow limits, and also
showed that the Cistercians had not remained long in
possession.
In 1208 they came upon the first express mention of
Talley, in which year King John confirmed to it a grant
of lands in the modern parish of Llanegwad. In 1215
the Abbot, Gervase or lorwerth, was elected Bishop of
St. David's. He was probably the Abbot during the
troubles with the Cistercians.
In 1291 the income of the house was £8 : 16 : 6 per
ann. (about £230 of our money), compared with over
£2,600 for Strata Florida, and nearly £1,200 for Whit-
land.
The Abbey fared badly during the struggles that ter-
minated with the complete conquest of Wales in 1282,
and in the 13th of Edward 1 it was placed under the
" paternal jurisdiction" of Welbeck, the chief of the Eng-
lish Prsemonstratensian houses. In 1332 it obtained
several important gifts in the parishes of Llansadwrn,
Llansawyl, Cynwil Caio, and the Grange of Cerrig Cen-
nen ; but its chief wealth lay in the tithes, or in the
sums produced by their ferm of the many churches which
had been appropriated to the Abbey. Of these, the
church of Llandeilo was the most important; and several
small chapels were also mentioned in the Inspeximus
Charter published by Dugdale, which seemed to have
been abandoned before the Abbey itself was dissolved.
There was at the Ptecord Office a petition of Kliys ab
Meredydd ab lihys Gryg, who was executed in 1291 as
a rebel, asserting that his father, the founder of the
AT TALLKY Al'.HEV. 37
Abbey, had always i-eceived tlie homage of the Abbot ;
but that the King's bailiffs of Dynevor had diverted the
suits done by the Abbot from the said Rhys, for which
he prayed justice. This claim of the founder could only
have meant that Meredydd ab Rhys was of the founder's
family, and was the patron of the house.
The Canons of Talley no doubt suffered from the eco-
nomic disturbances produced by the " Black Death".
In 1382 Richard II issued a commission to inquire into
the losses sustained by the Abbey, the restoration of its
property, and the repair of its buildings. This commis-
sion was renewed in 1392.
Notwithstanding the lawlessness of the times the
Canons clung to their property, and in 1429 obtained a
confirmation of the charter of Edward III. It had been
stated that the Abbot of Talley was the chief instrument
in determining the adherence of Sir Rhys ap Thomas to
the cause of Henry of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII."
The above brief synopsis of Mr. Owen's excellent paper
gives all the documentary evidence of the history of
Talley Abbey at present known ; but it is hoped that
further researches may bring to light other documents
which may illustrate more fully the annals of one of the
most important of the Welsh monasteries.
Until the year 1772 the Abbey church, or some part
of it, was used as the parish church of Talley; but being
found too large for the purpose, and having become much
dilapidated, the parishioners took down the greater por-
tion of the building, and with the materials erected the
present church, which stands on the north side of the
site of the Monastery. The demolition of the Abbey
church resulted in the entire structure falling into decay,
and, as in nearly every similar case, it became a quarry
from whence the neighbouring buildings were erected.
Wherever there was a piece of freestone, in buttress,
angle, pier, or arch, there the crowbar was at work
wrenching it away ; and gradually, piece by piece, the
entire fabric, with the exceptions already mentioned, dis-
appeared, and all that remained was a mass of crumbling
dehy^is overgrown with brambles and trees, whilst some
portions of the structure had been levelled, and forms a
part of the existing churchyard.
3J^ EXCAVATIONS
It was early in February last tlmt the Vicar of Talley,
the Rev. J. H. Lloyd, and the two churchwardens, Sir
James Drummond of Edwinst'ord, and D. Long Price,
Esq., of Talley House, invited the writer of this paper to
inspect the site of the Abbey, and advise as to its excava-
tion. Great credit is due to these gentlemen for having
taken the initiative in the exploration of the ruins.
We commenced operations by exploring some portions
of the Abbey church, which, with a part of the cloister-
garth, is nearly all within the area of the churchyard, in
this respect resembling Strata Florida. Nearly the whole
of the conventual buildings are outside the churchyard ;
and tlie site of these being occupied by a modern farm-
house and homestead, they have entirely disappeared.
We first of all traced the line of the north transept,
and found that from 3 to 8 ft. in height of the w^alls still
remained covered over with the fallen debris of the build-
ing. Subsequent excavations revealed that in the north
transept there were three chapels, and it is probable that
there were the same number in the south transept. The
internal and external walls of the north transept have
been all cleared down to lloor-level, and so far as regards
this portion of the building the excavation is complete.
The results obtained by the excavation of the north
transept are most interesting and encouraging. In each
of the chapels have been found the bases of altars, and
portions of the original tile-pavements of plain red, blue,
and buff glaze<:l tiles. The foot-pace in front of the altars
has had tlie tiles laid diagonally to the lines of the build-
ing, the remainder of the floors of the chapels being laid
in parallel lines to the north and south walls. The whole
of the north transept has apparently been similarly
paved, but the tiles have all been removed.
In the north-east angle of the north transept we dis-
covered a newel-staircase, which was the approach to the
ringing-loft of the tower and to the triforium. The nave
was lighted by clerestory windows. A similar staircase
in the larger chapel apparently led to a chamber over.
In this chapel we found the splay of the east window,
and a recess with a pointed freestone arch, probably used
as an aumbry ; and there is an opening into the presby-
tery, which has been subsequently blocked up.
AT TALLEY ABBEV. 39
The lengthening of this chapel, and the insertion of
the staircase, is apparently a later addition, the eastern
wall not being bonded into the north wall of the presby-
tery.
Against the western wall of the north transept is a
mass of masonry which looks like the base of an altar-
tomb, and the two smaller wing-walls north and south
of it may have carried some portion of the canopy. If
not for this purpose, it is somewhat difficult to say what
else it was intended for.
In tracing the external face of the east wall of the
presbytery, the angle-buttresses were found, with boldly
splayed bases, the splay being continuous round the ex-
ternal walls of this portion of the church. We also found
the foundations of two buttresses dividing the east
window into a triplet. It had probably narrow lancet-
lights and a roll-moulding round the jambs and arches.
Several fragments of this moulding were found among
the debris.
A detached building with a doorway from the exterior,
abutting on the south M-all of the presbytery, has been
traced externally, but at present we cannot say if it com-
municates with the presbytery.
The south wall of the south transept has been traced
so far as is shown in black on the plan, and sufficient
indications to prove that there are probably three chapels
in this transept.
All the chapels had plain, semicircular barrel-vaults,
the spring of which, and some portion of the vaulting,
are still remaining in both chapels adjoining the presby-
tery.
The whole of the face of the south wall of the south
aisle has been excavated. The doorway opening into the
eastern walk of the cloister has been found. It was
blocked up when the Abbey was used as the parish
church of Talley, at which time the doorway opening into
the centre of the south aisle was apparently cut through,
and the first four bays of the Abbey church, together
with the space below the tower, formed the nave of the
parish church. At the same time the whole of the east-
ern arch of the tower was blocked up with a thin wall,
a chancel-arch built therein, with a window over, and the
40 EXCAVATIONS
small chancel erected within the presbytery, as shown
upon the plan.
Continuing our excavations westward, we were fortu-
nate enough to discover the south-western angle of the
Abbey church, and the face of the buttress of the respond
of the south arcade. The excavations have not yet bee»i
carried far enough to determine the position of the west
doorway, or the north-west angle of the north aisle ; and
it is somewhat doubtful whether the north aisle was ever
built. That it was a part of the original plan there can
be no doubt, as there is still in existence, against the
west wall of the north transept, the water-table of the
lean-to roof and the projecting bond-stones of the north
wall.
The excavations in the nave have been confined to
tracing four of the piers of the north arcade ; and it is
found that the dimensions of the church, as determined
by the length of the nave, give an arcade of eight arches.
These piers stand about 6 ft. above the floor-level, being
cut off just below the turf of the churchyard. The nave,
therefore, when excavated, will have its arcade-piers and
walls standing from 6 to 8 ft. high.
Between the piers of the north arcade is a thinner
wall, which T am inclined to think was the screen-wall
dividing the north aisle from the nave. At present we
do not know if a similar w^all exists in the south arcade.
At Tintern such a wall exists, and it was also found at
Strata Florida enclosing the choir of the conversi. Assum-
ing that the north aisle was never built, this, in that
case, was the external north wall of the church. Until
the excavation of the whole of the west front and nave
is completed, it is impossible to give an opinion upon
this point.
The traces of foundations on the line of the north wall
of the north aisle are also somewhat puzzling. Where
the set-off is shown they are apparently the external wall
of some building with a splayed base, but are in such a
fragmentary condition that it is not possible to say
whether they may not be the remains of some earlier
building which stood upon the site before the commence-
ment of the erection of the church of Talley Abbey.
It will be interesting to compare the dimensions of the
AT TALLF.Y ABBEY
41
church of Talley with that at Strata Florida, and we lind
that —
Total
Length.
Length
of Nave.
Breadth
of Nave
and
Aisles.
Length of
Transepts
including
Centre
Tower.
Breadth
of
Tran-
septs.
Square
of Lan-
tern of
Tower.
Length
Pres-
bytery.
Strata Florida Abbey 213 .
.. 132 6 .
. 61 .
. 117 3 ..
28 ..
28 .
. 48 4
Talley Abbey . . 226 3
.. 143 .
. 62 6 .
. 112 3 ..
29 ..
29 .,
. 44 9
The nave-arcades at Strata Florida consisted of seven
arches ; at Talley there appears to have heen eight.
Talley Abbey.
Although the dimensions of Talley Ahhey are, with
the exception of the length of the transepts from north
to south, and of the presbytery from east to west, in ex-
cess of those at Strata Florida, we have a complete
absence of the magnificent transitional architecture, the
lovely carving, the elaborate and beautiful tile-pavements,
42 EXCAVATIONS AT T ALLEY ABBEY.
and the great variety of variously coloured freestone
which distinguished the work at Strata Florida, and in-
stead thereof we have plain, square piers and simple,
pointed arches of rough rubble-masonry of the plainest
possible character ; and so far, not a fragment of carved
work has turned up. The pavements are plain, glazed
tiles of the commonest character ; and only two speci-
mens have yet been found of somewhat rude, incised tiles.
The only moulded, freestone work at present discovered
are the angles of the north-eastern pier of the tower,
which for a height of some 15 or 20 ft. from the base has
a plain, three-quarter round moulding, stopped just above
a plain, chamfered base of early transitional character.
The east window of the presbytery appears also to have
had a similar moulding carried round its external angles.
Some fragments of stained glass found during the ex-
cavations prove that the windows were glazed with
painted glass, and the walls appear to have been plastered
throughout, and decorated in colour.
Therefore, although Talley possessed one of the largest
monastic churches in Wales, it was evidently of the
plainest and most simple type of architecture ; and its
plain, pointed arches must have resembled those in the
churches of Llandewi Brefi and Llanbadarn Fawr, in Car-
diganshire, in their massiveness and simple severity of
outline.
In the present early stage of the excavations it would
be premature to draw conclusions from the results already
obtained, but I w^ould particularly wish to point out that
the church was evidently designed upon the ordinary
Cistercian plan ; that whoever were the first builders,
they commenced with the intention of building a church
of more ornamental character than they were able to
complete, as appears from the work in the lower part of
the north-western pier of the tower, and in the quoins of
the east end of the presbytery, which were all of finely
dressed freestone. Evidently, as the work proceeded,
funds did not come in as fast as was expected, and they
were compelled to be satisfied with the local stone, aban-
don the UvSe of freestone, dispense with the services of
the freestone mason, and be content to complete their
church with local materials, and possibly local labour.
«3 a ,
^ ^ *-
44 EXCAV^ATIONS AT TALLEY ABBEY.
I would, therefore, venture to suggest the possibiHty
that the first builders were the Cistercians, who for some
reasons abandoned the work ; then came the Praemon-
stratensians, who completed it, and somewhat altered the
Cistercian plan ; and after that the Cistercians may have
endeavoured to resume possession about 1190 and 1200,
as mentioned in Mr. Owen's paper, but were defeated in
their object by the Prsemonstratensians, who remained
in possession until the Dissolution.
â– ^
45
, MERCHANTS' MARKS.
BY CECIL T. DAVIS.
(Read 18th May 1892.)
Merchants' marks liave interested many, and there is on
record that in 1825 Mr. Samuel Woodward read a paper
on the subject before the Society of Antiquaries. He
intended to publish an account of the seventy he had col-
lected; but the work, so far as I know, never was printed ;
his MSS. were in the hands of Mr. Hudson Gurney in
1860. In 1839 Mr. Charles Frost prepared a paper on
merchants' marks, which he read before the Hull Literary
and Philosophical Society, and was printed in The Hull
Packet, 22 Nov. 1839. Mr. J. J. Howard wrote to Notes
and Queries, and stated that he had possession of Mr.
Frost's collection. In 1850 Mr. W. C. Ewing read a
paper entitled "Notices of the Norwich Merchant-Marks"
before the Norfolk and Norwich Arch geological Society,
which is printed in vol. iii of their Original Papers ; he
stated that he had consulted the Woodward MSS. men-
tioned above. In 1887 Mr. J. G. Waller exhibited fifty-
one rubbings, of which forty-seven had a cross for a
foundation, before the Society of Antiquaries. About the
same time, and possibly earlier in the year, Mr. H. K. S. J.
Saunderson read a paper called "Some Remarks upon Mer-
chants' Marks in Connection with Monumental Brasses",
before the Cambridge University Association of Brass
Collectors. It appeared in their Transactions of Febru-
ary, and the list of marks, with a page of illustrations, in
the September Number of the same year, 1888.
This does not claim, by any means, to be an exhaustive
list of papers on Merchants' Marks, for I have not in-
cluded that interesting plate facing p. 384, and the ac-
companying letterpress, in vol. xxxvii of the ArcJiceologia.
Moreover, many illustrations and allusions are scattered
up and down the pages of the Archceological Journal,
though in our Journal these do not so often appear.
The various works on monumental brasses have been
searched, and some marks are therein figured,
4G MERCHANTS MAKKS.
We all know, and have laughed at, the anecdote of
" Bill Stumps his mark", so inimitably told by " Our
Mutual Friend" Dickens ; but T wish to direct your atten-
tion to the marks used by the merchants in " y^ olden
time' . About 1394 an unknown writer issued a poem in
alliterative verse, which he called Pierce the Ploughman's
Cvede. He so termed it as Langland's Piers the Plough-
man was then very popular. From the Crede the follow-
ing well known lines are taken :
"Wide windows y-wrought ; j-writien full thick,
Shining with shapen shields to shewen about,
With marks of merchants y-meddled between,
Mo than twenty and two twice y-numbered,
There is none herald that hath swiche a roll."
(Gentleman''s Magazine, 1839, ii, 632.)
That most interesting subject, masons' marks, falls not
within my province, nor do I intend to include those
mercantile emblems illustrative of crafts or trades. I
need scarcely remind such a Society as this of that
famous graveyard now called the Hoivff of Dundee,
where may be seen the scissors on the tomb of a tailor,
the loom or shuttle on that of a weaver, and the com-
passes and square on that of a mason, etc. Jervise, in
his Memorials of Angus, writes, "Although these marks
are to be seen in different parts of the country, perhaps
no single place contains so many and such oddly designed
specimens as the Howff of Dundee."
Quite unwillingly I am compelled to omit a variety of
well known marks, as, for example, bell-marks, hall-
marks, pewter-marks, pottery-marks, printers' marks, re-
buses, sheep-marks, swan-marks, and those house-marks
(relics of olden time) still to be found on the continent of
Europe.
Here I should like to digress a little from my subject,
and merely mention that the charges on some of the
Polish shields much resemble the marks now under con-
sideration. It was asserted by Michelsen, in his Samm-
lung Altdithmarscher Rechtsquellen (1842), that the arms
of Pope Hadrian VI, a Netherlander, were formed of
house-marks.
I also show a sheet containing the marks appended to
an ordinance for marking barrels, 7 Hen. V (1420), and
preserved by the Coopers' Company.
merchants' makks. 47
We must not overlook the fact that reading and vviit-
ing- were practically unknown among any but what are