Leaving the Abbey, let us now proceed through the adjoining meadow to the Pillar of Eliseg, to which we have previously referred. It is situated in a field opposite the second milestone from Llangollen, and stands on a slight elevation, called Llwyn-y-Groes, or the Grove of the Cross. Similar monuments were generally erected on a tumulus or sepulchral mound, and inclosed in a grove.

It is among the first lettered stones that succeeded the Meini-Hirion, Meini-Gwyr, and Llechau, and was erected by Concenn ap Cateli, in memory of his great-grandfather Eliseg, whose son, Brochmail Ysgythrog, Prince of Powys, grandfather of the founder of this rude monument of filial veneration, was engaged in the memorable border wars at the close of the 16th century, and was defeated at the battle of Chester in 1607.

It remained erect and entire until the civil wars, when some of Cromwell’s ignorant zealots, mistaking it for some Popish cross, overthrew and broke it, and it remained for more than a century in a prostrate state, until the Rev. John Price, Bodleian Librarian, uncle to the late Dr. Price, formerly of Llangollen, wrote to Trevor Lloyd, Esq., of Trevor Hall, who, with praiseworthy zeal, had its mutilated remains reared again into its base, which had not been removed, and placed upon it this Latin inscription:—

Quod hujus veteris monumenti superest diu ex oculis remotum et neglectum tandem restituit. T. Lloyd, Trevor Hall, 1779.

Translated as follows:—

T. Lloyd, of Trevor Hall, at length, in the year 1779, restored what remains of this ancient monument, that had been for a long time removed from sight and neglected.

The Cross, or rather Pillar, was formerly twelve feet high, but at present is little more than eight feet, and is inscribed all round with letters. It has a round band, resembling a cord, arranged as if in drapery, round an altar, with a ring in each compartment, part of which is either broken or worn away, but the form is clearly defined. The inscription is now much defaced, but when the monument was restored, the characters were carefully copied by Mr. Lloyd, the great antiquarian of that period, who gives them as follows:—

Concenn filius Cateli—Cateli filius Brochmail
Brochmail filius Eliseg—Eliseg filius Cnoillaine
Concenn itaque pronepos Eliseg edificavit hunc
Lapidem proavo suo Eliseg.

The following seems to be the exact translation:—

Concenn, the son of Cateli; Cateli, the son of Brochmail;
Brochmail, the son of Eliseg; Eliseg, the son of Cnoillaine;
Concenn, therefore, the great-grandson of Eliseg, erected this
Stone to his great-grandfather Eliseg.