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Corpse Ways and Fairy Weddings in Blaenau Gwent
An article by Paul Devereux in 3rd Stone Magazine on “corpse ways” brought to mind another anecdote from Edmund Jones’ A Geographical, Historical and Religious Account of the Perish of Aberystruth, which was printed at the Methodist commune at Trefeca, Breconshire, in 1779. The story seeks to explain the presence of two small, upright stones in a field at Twyn Allwys near Gilwern that used to mark the old parish and county boundary between Monmouthshire and Breconshire. It also points to a strong local belief in the sort of “corpse ways” Paul Devereux has been researching.
“Having several times heard of an exceeding long Grave, called Beth Y Gwr Hir, i.e. the Tall Man’s Grave and at last seeing it by the way side which descends from the Mountain into the Valley of Usk and goes into the Town of Abergavenny at a place called, yr Allwys; and enquiring about the person buried there; I had this account from several; That they were going with him from Blaene Gwent to be buried at Lanwenarth Church, where the Blaene Gwent people were buried before the Church at Aberystruth was built, and that that part of the Country was made a Parish, and called Aberystruth, and it growing late, and the weather very tempestuous, and having about two Miles more to go, and a Boat to pass the River Usk before they could reach the Church , they were discouraged from going any farther, the great weight of the Corps also, it may be, adding to their discouragement, they buried him there, laying the Corps from East to West after the manner of their Burying in the Churches, and Church-yards with two large Stones one at each end of the Grave, and the space between them admirably large, for the length of a Grave.
“Speaking to an Intelligent friend about it, he went and measured the length between the two Stones, and found it to be thirteen Feet and a half. Now on one hand we cannot suppose that these stones were placed too near the Corps, and on the other hand that it would be improper to set them far from it, and therefore not likely to be done, we may guess at the length of it. Now supposing the distance of the stones from the dead Body should be a Foot at each end, which is the utmost we can reasonably suppose. The length of the Body still must be about eleven Feet. He must have been a person of an extraordinary size, and certainly a Giant, and as tall as Goliath of Gath; and appearing in Goliath’s armour would have made such a figure as Goliath did, which terrified all Israel.”
“I conclude that the Man of whom I spake was a Man of a Gigantick size, in the Parish now called Aberystruth, the like of whom, it may be, was in no other part of Wales.”(1)
It is also interesting to note that, even in the 18th-century, local antiquarians were speculating about the medieval origins of these cross-country routes:
“As to the time of the Interment of this extraordinary Corps, we have no particular knowledge, but suppose it must have been sometime afore the building of the Church at Aberystruth; and after the building of Lanwenarth Church . . . I have some reason to think it was between the year 1100 and 1200.” (2)
The giant continued to haunt the area until the early years of the 19th century. He was reputed to be particularly fond of peering through bedroom windows on Hallowe’en!
To the phenomenon of fairy funerals as omens of death must now be added the appearance of fairy weddings. Our source, once again, is the indefatigable Edmund Jones. This time, the tale comes from his less well-known work, A Relation of Apparitions of Spirits in the County of Monmouth and the Principality of Wales, published in 1780:
“The last Apparition of the Fairies in the Parish of Aberystruth, was in the fields of the Widow of Mr. Edmund Miles, not long before her death -Two men were moving [sic] hay in one of her fields, the Bedwellty side of the river Ebwy Fawr, (one of whom is now an eminent man in his religious life) very early in the morning; at which time they saw the chief Servant of the House coming through the field on the other side of the river, towards them, and like a marriage company of people with some bravery, in white aprons to meet him ; they met him and passed by, but of whom he seemed to them to take no notice. They asked the servant if he saw the marriage company? he said “No”, at the same time they could hardly think any marriage could come that way, and that time of the day. This certainly must have been Fairies, and was partly a pressage of Mrs. Miles's death, and partly it may be of the marriage of her daughter, the heiress of the estate after the death of her brother Mr. John Miles, with that servant: the account of the Fairies, resembling a marriage company, could not be kept a secret from Mrs Miles, which when she heard of it, gave her a deal of uneasiness, as she understood it as a pressage of her death, as indeed it was.” (3)
Notes
(1) pp. 64-65.
(2) p. 66.
(3) pp. 22-23.
Corpse Way & Fairy Weddings
An article by Paul Devereux in 3rd Stone Magazine on “corpse ways” brought to mind another anecdote from Edmund Jones’ A Geographical, Historical and Religious Account of the Perish of Aberystruth, which was printed at the Methodist commune at Trefeca, Breconshire, in 1779. The story seeks to explain the presence of two small, upright stones in a field at Twyn Allwys near Gilwern that used to mark the old parish and county boundary between Monmouthshire and Breconshire. It also points to a strong local belief in the sort of “corpse ways” Paul Devereux has been researching.
“Having several times heard of an exceeding long Grave, called Beth Y Gwr Hir, i.e. the Tall Man’s Grave and at last seeing it by the way side which descends from the Mountain into the Valley of Usk and goes into the Town of Abergavenny at a place called, yr Allwys; and enquiring about the person buried there; I had this account from several; That they were going with him from Blaene Gwent to be buried at Lanwenarth Church, where the Blaene Gwent people were buried before the Church at Aberystruth was built, and that that part of the Country was made a Parish, and called Aberystruth, and it growing late, and the weather very tempestuous, and having about two Miles more to go, and a Boat to pass the River Usk before they could reach the Church , they were discouraged from going any farther, the great weight of the Corps also, it may be, adding to their discouragement, they buried him there, laying the Corps from East to West after the manner of their Burying in the Churches, and Church-yards with two large Stones one at each end of the Grave, and the space between them admirably large, for the length of a Grave.
“Speaking to an Intelligent friend about it, he went and measured the length between the two Stones, and found it to be thirteen Feet and a half. Now on one hand we cannot suppose that these stones were placed too near the Corps, and on the other hand that it would be improper to set them far from it, and therefore not likely to be done, we may guess at the length of it. Now supposing the distance of the stones from the dead Body should be a Foot at each end, which is the utmost we can reasonably suppose. The length of the Body still must be about eleven Feet. He must have been a person of an extraordinary size, and certainly a Giant, and as tall as Goliath of Gath; and appearing in Goliath’s armour would have made such a figure as Goliath did, which terrified all Israel.”
“I conclude that the Man of whom I spake was a Man of a Gigantick size, in the Parish now called Aberystruth, the like of whom, it may be, was in no other part of Wales.”(1)
It is also interesting to note that, even in the 18th-century, local antiquarians were speculating about the medieval origins of these cross-country routes:
“As to the time of the Interment of this extraordinary Corps, we have no particular knowledge, but suppose it must have been sometime afore the building of the Church at Aberystruth; and after the building of Lanwenarth Church . . . I have some reason to think it was between the year 1100 and 1200.” (2)
The giant continued to haunt the area until the early years of the 19th century. He was reputed to be particularly fond of peering through bedroom windows on Hallowe’en!
To the phenomenon of fairy funerals as omens of death must now be added the appearance of fairy weddings. Our source, once again, is the indefatigable Edmund Jones. This time, the tale comes from his less well-known work, A Relation of Apparitions of Spirits in the County of Monmouth and the Principality of Wales, published in 1780:
“The last Apparition of the Fairies in the Parish of Aberystruth, was in the fields of the Widow of Mr. Edmund Miles, not long before her death -Two men were moving [sic] hay in one of her fields, the Bedwellty side of the river Ebwy Fawr, (one of whom is now an eminent man in his religious life) very early in the morning; at which time they saw the chief Servant of the House coming through the field on the other side of the river, towards them, and like a marriage company of people with some bravery, in white aprons to meet him ; they met him and passed by, but of whom he seemed to them to take no notice. They asked the servant if he saw the marriage company? he said “No”, at the same time they could hardly think any marriage could come that way, and that time of the day. This certainly must have been Fairies, and was partly a pressage of Mrs. Miles's death, and partly it may be of the marriage of her daughter, the heiress of the estate after the death of her brother Mr. John Miles, with that servant: the account of the Fairies, resembling a marriage company, could not be kept a secret from Mrs Miles, which when she heard of it, gave her a deal of uneasiness, as she understood it as a pressage of her death, as indeed it was.” (3)
Notes
(1) pp. 64-65.
(2) p. 66.
(3) pp. 22-23.
