When I woke up this morning, I only had one thing left on my to do list for Shrewsbury: visit the abbey. I checked out of my hotel and left my bag before heading down Wyle Cop, across the river, and to the abbey. The abbey is constructed with the same red stone as Shrewsbury castle and it is a very lovely color. I had heard that there was something peculiar about the abbey's clock, so I investigated before I went into the building. For some strange reason, the clock does not use the tradition Roman numeral X for ten. Instead, it uses an f, so twelve because fII and nine become If. I don't know why this happened, but it makes for an interesting clock.
The interior was beautiful and surprisingly light, especially the altar, with its golden reredos. This abbey had a similar history to the old cathedral in Chester. Both had been much larger before the Dissolution of the Monasteries and both were reduced to smaller parish churches, allowing the rest of the buildings to crumble. The Shrewsbury Abbey went through many different stages, different layouts as certain parts of the abbey were left to decay and then, later, as restorations were made. Even today, with many restorations and rebuilding, the church is much smaller than the original abbey would have been
The abbey has Norman beginnings, with the gifting of Shropshire to Roger de Montgomery by William the Conqueror. In 1083, Roger de Montgomery publicly pledged to build an abbey in Shrewsbury and construction began. In the 12th century, the abbey grew in importance after the abbot "found" the remains of a Welsh saint, Winifred, and brought them back to Shrewsbury Abbey. This encouraged pilgrims to come to Shrewsbury and increased the popularity of the abbey. During the 14th century, the abbey was expanded and renovated.
In 1540, the abbey was shut down and the abbot and monks were given sums of money and sent away. The abbey shrank to a parish church and suffered neglect for about three centuries. In the 1800s, more efforts, and maybe more importantly, more funds, were put into restoring the abbey to it's former beauty.
This stained glass window of Saint Winifred is one of the more recent additions to Shrewsbury Abbey, added in 1992. According to legend, Saint Winifred had a pretty sad early life. She was the daughter of a Welsh chieftain and at a young age decided she wanted to become a nun. A suitor of hers did not like this idea and in a fit of rage, chopped of her head. It rolled away and supposedly a healing spring sprouted from where it stopped. Her uncle, a saint as well, Beuno, saw the event and asked God to strike the suitor down and the man promptly died. Beuno then put Winifred's head back on her body and she came back to life. She then went on to be an abbess and lived a long, happy life. Her uncle, Beuno, is also credited with resurrection six other people. All of this reinforces my absolute confusion with Christian mythology, claims that Christianity is a monotheistic religion, and why miracles today are way less interesting than miracles of the past.
Shrewsbury Abbey was also home to quite a few stone coffins with effigies. They included the supposed resting place of Roger de Montgomery, the founder of the abbey. Others were in better shape and painted with a rich palette of colors. I noticed that in a back corner of the church someone had placed a small flower into the hands of one of the effigies. It was a sweet, simple gesture and very beautiful.
After visiting the abbey, I attempted to head out of Shrewsbury, but got an extra hour and a half in the trains station due to train delays. I almost missed the stop for Llandovery as I was wrapped up in an entertaining podcast and knitting. But I made it! My hotel was just across the road from the train station, so I was in my room in no time. I then found out that the bus I needed to take for tomorrow's excursion (to the Dolaucothi gold mines) does not run on Wednesdays. It seems I'll have to go by cab which is not ideal.
I wandered into Llandovery, partially to find food and partially to get the rest of my steps in for the day. It's a small, quiet town, seemingly dominated by the large boarding school that it hosts. The town center is focused around its town hall and small streets of shops run around it.
I also learned that just outside the town, in a smaller village area, there was another Roman fort. I had remembered the name from my research before embarking on this trip. I was tempted to try to walk out to the site, but a storm was beginning to head my way and if I recall correctly, the site isn't really excavated. I decided to stay within a quick walking distance of my hotel, in case the skies opened up.
Like any good Welsh town, Llandovery has a castle. The Normans constructed the castle in the 12th century, but it was soon capture by the Welsh. It switched hands between Welsh and English for the next two centuries. Like seemingly every castle in Wales, the castle was the sight of the battle between Welsh revolutionary, Owain Glyndŵr, and the English. This battle in 1403 left the castle crumbling and it was never repaired.
On the same rise as the castle, a shining, silver statue stands, looking out over Llandovery. The statue commemorates Llwelyn ap Gruffudd, the last Welsh sovereign ruler before Edward I's invasion of Wales. Llwelyn fought to maintain control in Wales and prevent the English from conquering the territory. He died in battle against the troops of Edward I.
After touring the town, grabbing a bite to eat, and poking my head into the British boarding school, I made it back to my hotel, just as the raindrops started to fall.
Fun Fact #11: During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, cataloguing the worth of the monasteries and abbeys was very important so that Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII knew what value they were adding to the crown's estate. This was some of the items listed for Shrewsbury Abbey: "some milk, chemise, couch and tomb of the Virgin bones, hair and vestments of apostles and martyrs, saints both male and female, bishops and confessors, a whole rochet of Thomas Becket, part of the rochet in which Thomas Becket was martyred, cloth stained with Thomas Becket's blood and brains, fragments of Thomas Becket's attire including his hair, collar, girdle, cowl, woolen, shirt and glove." Sacred objects in a church...or the latest episode of Hoarders?
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