"Let others eulogise her floral shows, From me they cannot win a stanza, I know her blooms are in full blow, and so's Her cowslip stocks and lilies of the vale, Her honey blossoms that you hear the bees at, A good wash and a good dinner wonderfully changed the aspect of affairs. After the transaction of the business of the Club and the proposal of several new members, a paper was read on “The Birds of Herefordshire,” in continuation. The President read a very interesting letter from Mr. E. W. Colt-Williams, speaking pleasantly of a nest of the forked-tailed kite, and a double family of young ravens on the immediate border of the county. He then gave the following extracts from the Churchwardens' accounts at Stretton Grandison :— 1741-Paid for crows, sparrows, kites and chatterpies (magpies) 1 7 Inasmuch as these sums were paid out of the Church rate, the ratepayers presumably thought they had a right to have obnoxious fera naturæ destroyed at the common expense. From the fact that threepence was paid for each dead hedgehog, and twopence only for a polecat, may we suppose that in 1725 polecats were more common than hedgehogs, or are we to think that the supposed crime of sucking Herefordshire cows was considered more heinous than the certainty of destruction among Herefordshire rabbits and chickens?" So has passed the day into history. REMARKS BY MR. JAMES DAVIES, Secretary for Herefordshire of the Cambrian Archæological Society. THE statement of the dedication of the Church to St. Ishaw, is somewhat at variance with the name of the Patron Saint as given in Ecton's Thesaurus; indeed, if the principle of nomenclature be followed, the name of Patricio or Patrick would seem more reconcilable than that of St. Ishaw, which, according to the usual Welsh appellative, would have handed down the name as Llanishaw, or Capel Ishaw. Near the Church is an ancient well, known as "Ffynnon Ishaw," or the well of St. Ishaw, who, according to local tradition, was martyred on the banks of the little brook which flows into the river Grwynne Fawr. This brook is called "Nant Mair," or "St. Mary's Brook"; another incident which connects this locality with early Ecclesiastical record. From an analysis of the nomenclature, the reasonable conclusion to be drawn is, that there was in early British times a Church dedicated to St. Patrick, and that upon the rebuilding of the edifice in the 11th century in honour of St. Ishaw, the Church consecrated by Bishop Herewald became the Church of St. Patrick and Ishaw, as it was very usual to dedicate churches to several saints. There are churches in Wales under the name of "Llantrissant," or "The Church of the three Saints," from this circumstance. Indeed, Hereford Cathedral is itself an illustration, being dedicated to St. Mary and St. Ethelbert, the name of the latter saint having, no doubt, been added upon the rebuilding by Offa, in expiation of the murder of Ethelbert. In the Thesaurus Rerum Ecclesiasticarum of John Ecton, revised by Browne Willis, published in 1754, Patricio appears as a Chapel attached to the Rectory of Llanbedr, as its Mother Church. The entry is as follows:-"Llanbedr R. (cum Patriceo Capella. St. Patricius) St. Peter, Duke of Beaufort, Patron"; i.e., the Rectory of Llanbedr with the Chapel of St. Patricius, under the patronage of the Duke of Beaufort. The Living was valued at £16 17s. 6d. in the King's books, with yearly tenths of £1 13s. 2d. It may be observed that, in the Catalogue of Cambro-British Saints, there are two persons named Patrick. The first, who lived in the 5th century, is recorded in Hughes' Hora Britannica as having been born at Llwchwr in Carmarthenshire, and to have been Principal of the College of Iltutus, or Iltyd, at Llantwit Major, in Glamorgan. He was a companion of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, who came over to assist in the suppression of Pelagianism, which was then spreading throughout the ancient British Church. He ultimately removed to Ireland, to assist in the spread of Christianity in that island, and became the Patron Saint of Ireland. The second Patrick lived about the latter end of the 7th century, and is mentioned in The Pedigrees of the Saints as the son of Alfred, the son of Gronwy, of Wareddawg, in Arvon, or Carnarvonshire. It is probable, that the Patrick or Patricius to whom this Church was dedicated, was the Irish Patrick, from his connection with South Wales, and this circumstance marks the great antiquity of the spot in its dedication to Christian worship. We must not forget that the early Britons possessed a complete Ecclesiastical system for centuries anterior to the mission of the younger Augustine and Theodore of Tarsus to the Anglo-Saxon people, and that this district formed a portion of that included in the Archiepiscopal Province of Caerleon upon Usk, extending over the ancient Roman division of Britannia Secunda, i.e., westward of the rivers Severn and Dee, and comprising within its jurisdiction the Bishopric of Hereford, Llandaff, St. David, Llanbadarn, St. Asaph, Bangor, and probably Llandewi Brevi and Margam, both of which were Collegiate Churches of considerable note. There are two other Churches under the invocation of St. Patrick, in Wales, viz. :-Pencarreg, in Carmarthenshire, and Llanbadrig, in the Isle of Anglesea. This Church of Patricio, as has been already observed, lies upon the route of Archbishop Baldwyn on his itinerary through Wales to preach the crusades, in A.D. 1188. Commencing at Hereford, the Archbishop proceeded, via Kington, to New Radnor, thence to Old Radnor, Hay, and Glasbury, to Llanddew, near Brecon, where resided Giraldus de Barri, Archdeacon of Brecon, who accompanied him on his tour through the Principality. From Llanddew they proceeded by Talgarth to Llanthony, and thence, crossing the mountain at Coed Grwyney, passed by Patricio Church through the Grwynne Fawr valley to Abergavenny. Sir Richard Colt Hoare in his annotations on the fourth chapter of the Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwyn, describes this road as emerging from the deep recess of Coed Grono or Cwm Gronwy (the vale of the river Gronwy), and crossing the river at a place called Pont Escob, or the Bishop's Bridge (probably so called from the circumstance of its having been passed by the Archbishop and his suite), then continued its course until it joined the Hereford Road about two miles from Abergavenny. The author adds, that this formidable defile is at least nine miles in length. ACONBURY CAMP, PRIORY, AND CHURCH. When the sun brightly shines in the sky overhead, JOHN BRADFORD. NONE can love better the rural scenes visited by the Club to-day than the rural poet who wrote these lines, and knows the district so well. A botanist might think his cowslip late, or his orchis early, for science is exacting, but the charming sentiment of mid-June hangs in the measured lines. The foliage then has all its freshness; and the hawthorn blossom has not quite left the luxuriant hedges, and the sprays of the wild rose are coming out in perfection. The scythe has not yet invaded the country meadows, and every field is a flower garden of varied richness and beauty. The June meeting of the Club this year was on a beautiful day of sunshine and clouds, with a freshness in the air that rendered it very enjoyable. The expedition was made in carriages, and very pleasant it was to walk up the steeper parts of Callow Hill and botanise its banks. The Germander speedwell, Veronica chamadrys, which only opens its blossoms freely in fine weather, showed fully the white centre of its bright blue flowers, "the celestial bird's eye blossoms," as Phillips happily terms them. Then there was the countryman's clock, Tragopogon pratensis, goat's beard, or "go-to-bed-atnoon," as he terms it. He goes to his dinner as it closes its petals Broad o'er her imbricated cup, The goatsbeard spreads its golden rays; And especially pretty too were the clusters of Polygala vulgaris, in its varieties of blue and pink and white. It is as pretty as it is frequent on dry banks and commons, and gets its English name of "Milkwort" from the belief that it increases the flow of milk in cows and other animals. This plant might be grown with great advantage on rock work, and with excellent effect too. The carriages were left at the footpath leading up to the camp; and in the woods by its side, too shady for grass to grow, several specimens of the bird's nest orchis, Neottia nidus avis, were quickly found. It is a curious plant, without leaves, but with its stems some eight or ten inches high, crowded with lightbrown flowers. It takes its name from its fleshy roots clustering together in rude resemblance to a bird's nest, and has the advantage of rarity to increase its interest. The butterfly orchis, Habenaria bifolia, was there also, whose greenishwhite blossoms are so sweetly scented at night. The spotted orchis (O. maculata) |