The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-24
IN PICTURESQUE WALES.
The Hbbey of Vale Crucis One of
EngIand's Most BsSutifuI Ruins.

Godey'S Magazine.
The builder of Vale Crucis Abbey was
the famous Madoc ap Grufyd Maelor lord
Of Bromfield, and the neighboring estate OF
Dinas Bran, a stern Welsh fighter of the
last days of the twelfth century, and known
from the north to the south OF that hard
beSet little corner of the British Kingdom
(which the Welsh lords were Struggling 10
hold free from English hands Grunyds
name had become a name of terror to all
the English lords living on the Welsh border
in those days when the gallant Llewelyn
was fighting King John, and endeavoring.
with the brave persistence of his race. TO re-
establish the independence of Wales one
English castle after another did Madoc lay
low and leave in. smoking ruins, and great
store of treasures did he gather into his
cruel hand from the overturning of these
same castles.
But Madocs reputation had not always
been that of a patriot. Treason, or some
thing very closely allied to treason, had
been written among mis- sins. He had once
Ions served the ENGLISH, fighting with King
John in at least two of his expeditions
Like another Archilles Madoc had at
length become reconciled to his sovereign.
Llewelyn alb Jorweth and gallantly sup
ported him in his wars against England,
serving in person, according to an old Eng
lish chronicle.
In penance for his many sins, Madoc
built the beautiful abbey in the Vale.
To-day snugly nesting in the Vale still
stand the remains of the old abbey, an in
teresting study alike to the antiquarian and
to the lover of the beautiful in art and ma
ture.
Inc situation OF the abbey is in itself
peculiarly interesting. Walking out from
the peaceful little village of Llangollen over
the bridge which spans the Dee, after some-
thing more than a mile of pleasant Welsh
road, one comes 10 a gate leading to q field.
Through this field a winding path leads to
a cool, dark, sequestered glen, or vale. of
the sort in which the Cistercian monk was
pretty sure to choose for religious home,
and here rise the picturesque ruins of Vale
Crucis Abbey.
The glen. named from the ancient pillar
or cross of Eliseg near by, said to be one
thousand years old, is so secluded from the
sight of the passer-by that it seems to have
no outlet. A rich grove darkens the in
trusive light. Still and dark, well hemmed
in by mountains on either hand comRan-
Toned in its stiffness and darkness by a fair
little stream singing on It's way to join the
Dee, no more delightful nook could be
found or imagined for the murmured pray
ers of monkish saint or the gay revelings
of a band of sleek anchoriteS. Neither
could a more favorable sight for a gay old
ruin be found to crafty the eye of the
nineteenth century sightSeer though of
such q sight old Madoc was not thinking
when he built seven hundred years ago.
Ivy chambers luxuriously over buttress
and doorway and clustered column. over
the masonry of Norman and early English
name. Great sycamore trees spring up in
the roohess ruin and lean over to caress
the old gray stones on which may still be
seen the masonS' marks Jackdaws, lovers
of old ruins, wheel right over the place
once sacred to the religious.