Today we made yet another trip out to Coity to St. Mary's Church. I had written to the minister asking about opening times. No answer. So I rechecked the website and it says that it is now open on Saturdays from 9:30-11:30.
So we drove out there again in the winds--not as brisk as in Cornwalls 80 mph, but still windy, maybe 30 mph. We pulled up and as soon as I opened the car door, a huge gust of wind swooped into the car and gathered up my notes which were on loose pages and threw them out of the car and towards the church hall. So I go chasing after them and manage, amazingly, to get them all back. Then I walk to the church and ...guess what...IT IS LOCKED!!! I couldn't believe it. I went back to the church hall and rang the doorbell twice but no one arrived. So I had to finally give up. But I will be writing to the authors and to the church to get more info.
I so wanted to get inside. I was intrigued by the evidence Alan Wilson and Baram Blacket gave in their book, "The Holy Kingdom," about a wardrobe/chest found in this church.
the "dollhouse-like" chest is on the right, near the altar
The Coity
area was the real Vale of Avalon. There
are a couple of small effigies on the floor close to altar. Up against the south wall of the church was asmall
wardrobe, 5 ft high and wide and 1 ft deep with gabled roof, like a dollshouse.
The Guidebook says it was probably an Easter
Sepulchre to symbolize the tomb of Jesus. But it looked more like a reliquary and had
six carved panels on front.
Top R:
Pillar onto which Jesus tied and flogged with whips and crowing cock
Top L: like
on shield over tomb of St. Dyfrig in Llandaff Cathedral—centre was empty
calvary cross with ladder leaning it and spear and 3 pots with burial spices
and Crown of Thorns hanging over central area of cross.
Top middle:
floriated cross with pierced heart at ctr and pierced hands & feet of Jesus
Bottom 2
side panels carvings of vines and flowers.
Bottom
middle: shield with 3 nails. Shields usually
show the family’s coat of arms.
So the authors
of a book on this area say this symbolizes Joseph of Arimathea’s family
tomb. (Joseph either uncle or brother of
the Virgin Mary.)
Welsh
documents Harley 3859 MS at British Library and the Jesus College 20 MS at
Oxford both talk of a marriage involving a cousin of the Virgin Mary who
married Beli, the couple being ancestors of the later Kings & Saints of
Glamorgan. These predate the Norman
Invasion by about a century.
Beli (my 61 GGF)
l
________________________________l____________________________
l
l
l
l
Cassivelaunus
(Caswallon) (my 61GU) King Ludd (my 60 GGF) fought
ag. Julius Caesar 55-54BC l
l
Teneuvantius (Teneufan)
l
Cunobelinus (Cynfelin) d. 40 AD
l l
l l
Genuissa
(adopted /real dtr of Emperor Claudius)
+ Arviragus (Beli, Belyn) Guiderius
(Gweirydd) (“a woman
fr family of Jesus,” cousin of VM, Anna)
(King of Britain, joined forces w Caractacus & Silures)
l
(Amalach) l
Aballach or Avallach (Avalon) (59
GGF)
l l
Eugein Eudelen (58 GGF) l
Eudos (Jude) (57 GGF)
This lineage
of Beli & Anna was the secret of Rosicrucianism—grafting of bloodlines onto
older root stocks.
Vale of
Avalon = Coity to Llanharan where Aballach ruled
{My Ancestry
tree goes:
Arviragus
(Gweirydd) + Anna (Genuissa)
To their dtr Penardin + King Llyr
To their son Bran the Blessed + Anna
(Enygeus)(dtr of JofA+ Anna
To Beli + Anna Don verch Mathowny
To Lludd ( & brother Caswallon)
To Afallach
To Euddolen
To Eudos
Coity Castle--in sunshine this time:
***
Before I forget, I have noticed a strange thing about the music that is played in the cafes and stores over here. It's mostly American music FROM THE 70s and 80s! So I feel like I'm in a time warp much of the time. Then they'll throw in a Bruno Mars, "Uptown Funk," and confuse me to no end.
***
After our failure--again--in Coity, we decided to head in the other direction and visit Hereford Cathedral. On the way we ran across a town called Much Birch, but I didn't see a single birch tree.
Pretty English countryside:
We had a late breakfast at the Cafe Bodega near the Cathedral. Hereford is a lovely little town.
It felt like we were eating breakfast in somebody's kitchen that we just walked in to:
The
site of the cathedral became a place of worship in the 8th century or earlier
although the oldest part of the current building, the bishop's chapel, dates to
the 11th century.
pretty tapestry of the saints:
Misericord seats:
font and its tiles underneath:
St. Ethelbert the King was beheaded by Offa, King of Mercia in the year 794. Offa had consented to
give his daughter to Ethelbert in marriage: why he changed his mind and
deprived him of his head historians do not know, although tradition is at no
loss to supply him with an adequate motive. The execution, or murder, is said
to have taken place at Sutton, four miles (6 km) from Hereford, with
Ethelbert's body brought to the site of the modern cathedral by 'a pious monk'.
He was buried at the site of the cathedral. At Ethelbert's tomb
miracles were said to have occurred, and in the next century (about 830) Milfrid, a Mercian nobleman, was so moved by the tales of
these marvels as to rebuild in stone the little church which stood there, and
to dedicate it to the sainted king.
Mappa
Mundi:
The
map bears the name of its author, ‘Richard of Haldingham or Lafford’
(Holdingham and Sleaford in Lincolnshire). Recent research suggests a date of
about 1300 for the creation of the map.
Mappa
Mundi is drawn on a single sheet of vellum (calf skin) measuring 64 × 52 inches
(1.58 × 1.33 metres), tapering towards the top with a rounded apex. The
geographical material of the map is contained within a circle 52 inches in
diameter and reflects the thinking of the medieval Church with Jerusalem at the
centre of the world.
Superimposed
on to the continents are drawings of the history of humankind and the marvels
of the natural world. These 500 or so drawings include of around 420 cities and
towns, 15 Biblical events, 33 plants, animals, birds and strange creatures, 32
images of the peoples of the world and 8 pictures from classical mythology.
The actual Mappa Mundi:
drawings that illustrate and explain the map:
with Chartres
Scotland, England, & Wales:
Magna
Carta:
The
Great Charter of Liberties or Magna Carta agreed between King John and his
barons at Runnymede in 1215 is one of the most famous documents in history. It
is considered the foundation of English common law and much of its world wide
importance lies in the interpretation of the clauses from which grew the right
of the freedom of the individual or habeas corpus.
No free man shall be arrested,
imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or in any way victimised, or
attacked except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land
This
right is most famously contained in the American Bill of Rights embodied in the
constitution of the United States of America.
The
charter agreed at Runnymede was only the beginning of the story. Magna Carta
went through a number of revisions and reissues before being enshrined in
English statute law in 1297.
The
most significant revision of Magna Carta was issued by Henry III in 1217.
Hereford Cathedral is fortunate to possess one of these 1217 charters, only
four of which survive.
Chained
Library:
The library contains
mainly old books in manuscript chained to their places, some of them fine specimens of
ancient handwriting, containing beautiful illustrations in gold and colour. Two
of the most valuable are a unique copy of the ancient Hereford antiphonary of
the 13th century, in good preservation, and the Hereford Gospels, a copy of the Gospels at least a thousand years old, in Anglo-Saxon characters. This is the oldest manuscript here and it was done on calf-skin (vellum) in the 8th century. There are 227 manuscripts in the library and 1400 printed books (56 printed before 1500). The oldest prited book is from 1473. Another treasure is an ancient reliquary of oak, bequeathed to the cathedral by
Canon Russell, who is said to have obtained it from a Roman Catholic family in
whose possession it had long been. It is covered with copper plates overlaid
with Limoges enamel representing the murder and entombment of St. Thomas of Canterbury.
On the way home, we stopped off to take pictures of Raglan Castle and its Oriel Window. This was the home of William ap Thomas who began the present castle and lived there with a huge and important library that was later stolen or destroyed.
