{80}Robert Fitz-Hamon,earl of Astremeville,in Normandy,came into England with William the Conqueror;and,by the gift of William Rufus,obtained the honour of Gloucester.He was wounded with a spear at the siege of Falaise,in Normandy,died soon afterwards,and was buried,A.D.1102,in the abbey of Tewkesbury,which he had founded.Leaving no male issue,king Henry gave his eldest daughter,Mabel,or Maude,who,in her own right,had the whole honour of Gloucester,to his illegitimate son Robert,who was advanced to the earldom of Gloucester by the king,his father.He died A.D.1147,and left four sons:William,the personage here mentioned by Giraldus,who succeeded him in his titles and honours;Roger,bishop of Worcester,who died at Tours in France,A.D.1179;Hamon,who died at the siege of Toulouse,A.D.1159;and Philip.
{81}The Coychurch Manu quoted by Mr.Williams,in his History of Monmouthshire,asserts that Morgan,surnamed Mwyn-fawr,or the Gentle,the son of Athrwy,not having been elected to the chief command of the British armies,upon his father's death retired from Caerleon,and took up his residence in Glamorganshire,sometimes at Radyr,near Cardiff,and at other times at Margam;and from this event the district derived its name,quasi Gwlad-Morgan,the country of Morgan.
{82}St.Piranus,otherwise called St.Kiaran,or Piran,was an Irish saint,said to have been born in the county of Ossory,or of Cork,about the middle of the fourth century;and after that by his labours the Gospel had made good progress,he forsook all worldly things,and spent the remainder of his life in religious solitude.
The place of his retirement was on the sea-coast of Cornwall,and not far from Padstow,where,as Camden informs us,there was a chapel on the sands erected to his memory.Leland has informed us,that the chapel of St.Perine,at Caerdiff,stood in Shoemaker Street.
{83}So called from a parish of that name in Glamorganshire,situated between Monk Nash and St.Donat's,upon the Bristol Channel.
{84}Barri Island is situated on the coast of Glamorganshire;and,according to Cressy,took its name from St.Baruc,the hermit,who resided,and was buried there.The Barrys in Ireland,as well as the family of Giraldus,who were lords of it,are said to have derived their names from this island.Leland,in speaking of this island,says,"The passage into Barrey isle at ful se is a flite shot over,as much as the Tamise is above the bridge.At low water,there is a broken causey to go over,or els over the shalow streamelet of Barrey-brook on the sands.The isle is about a mile in cumpace,and hath very good corne,grasse,and sum wood;the ferme of it worth a 10pounds a yere.There ys no dwelling in the isle,but there is in the middle of it a fair little chapel of St.
Barrok,where much pilgrimage was usid."[The "fair little chapel"has disappeared,and "Barry Island"is now,since the construction of the great dock,connected with the mainland,it is covered with houses,and its estimated capital value is now 250,000pounds].
{85}William de Salso Marisco.
{86}The see of Llandaff is said to have been founded by the British king Lucius as early as the year 180.
{87}From Llandaff,our crusaders proceeded towards the Cistercian monastery of Margam,passing on their journey near the little cell of Benedictines at Ewenith,or Ewenny.This religious house was founded by Maurice de Londres towards the middle of the twelfth century.It is situated in a marshy plain near the banks of the little river Ewenny.
{88}The Cistercian monastery of Margam,justly celebrated for the extensive charities which its members exercised,was founded A.D.
1147,by Robert earl of Gloucester,who died in the same year.Of this once-famed sanctuary nothing now remains but the shell of its chapter-house,which,by neglect,has lost its most ornamental parts.When Mr.Wyndham made the tour of Wales in the year 1777,this elegant building was entire,and was accurately drawn and engraved by his orders.
{89}In continuing their journey from Neath to Swansea,our travellers directed their course by the sea-coast to the river Avon,which they forded,and,continuing their road along the sands,were probably ferried over the river Neath,at a place now known by the name of Breton Ferry,leaving the monastery of Neath at some distance to the right:from thence traversing another tract of sands,and crossing the river Tawe,they arrived at the castle of Swansea,where they passed the night.
{90}The monastery of Neath was situated on the banks of a river bearing the same name,about a mile to the westward of the town and castle.It was founded in 1112,by Richard de Grainville,or Greenefeld,and Constance,his wife,for the safety of the souls of Robert,earl of Gloucester,Maude,his wife,and William,his son.
Richard de Grainville was one of the twelve Norman knights who accompanied Robert Fitz-Hamon,and assisted him in the conquest of Glamorganshire.In the time of Leland this abbey was in a high state of preservation,for he says,"Neth abbay of white monkes,a mile above Neth town,standing in the ripe of Neth,semid to me the fairest abbay of al Wales."-Leland,Itin.tom.v.p.14.The remains of the abbey and of the adjoining priory-house are considerable;but this ancient retirement of the grey and white monks is now occupied by the inhabitants of the neighbouring copper-works.
{91}Gower,the western district of Glamorganshire,appears to have been first conquered by Henry de Newburg,earl of Warwick,soon after Robert,duke of Gloucester,had made the conquest of the other part of Glamorganshire.
