Jonathan Ceredig Davies

“Sir,—A correspondent in your columns, about a fortnight ago, called attention to this subject, and expressed disapproval of the manner in which the offertories are taken in some Churches at funeral services—by laying the plate on the bier near the pulpit, and the congregation in a disorderly manner laying their offertory on the plate. I regret to observe that this practice is still pursued in two parishes in this neighbourhood, and I should like to call the attention of the proper authorities to the desirableness of changing the custom, and adopting the system suggested by your correspondent, that the offertory should be taken at the gate, or that two or more plates should be taken around the congregation. The parish clerk, too, might be instructed not to announce the amount of the offertory.”

Undoubtedly, this custom has survived from Pre-Reformation times, and was originally intended to compensate the Priest for praying for the Soul of the departed in Purgatory, but at present it only means a token of esteem towards the officiating Clergyman, or perhaps a tribute of respect to the departed. It was formerly customary in Wales to throw a sprig of rosemary into the grave on the coffin. The custom has been discontinued now, but it was done in the Vale of Towy, in Carmarthenshire as late as sixty years ago.

An excellent old Welsh Magazine, the “Gwyliedydd” for May, 1830, makes the following observation concerning the custom: “In ancient times, it was customary for all who attended a funeral to carry each a sprig of rosemary in his hand, and throw it into the grave as the minister was reading the last words of the funeral service”; and a writer in the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, in the following year adds that a custom analogous to this prevailed amongst the ancient heathens; who used to throw cypress wood into the grave in the same manner. The reason why they made choice of the cypress was, because its branches do not bud when thrown into the earth, but perish altogether; it was thus an expressive symbol of their opinion, that the bodies of the dead would never rise again. On the other hand, the Christians threw the rosemary into the graves of their brethren to express that hope of a joyful resurrection with which their faith had inspired them.

It was once customary to read the will of deceased over the grave. Sir S. R. Meyrick mentions this in his History of Cardiganshire, a hundred years ago, and the custom has been continued to a more recent date. The Rev. T. D. Thomas, Vicar of Llangorwen, near Aberystwyth, informed me that this was done by him at Llangadock, Carmarthenshire, about the year 1897, when officiating in the absence of the Vicar of that Parish.

There was also an old custom of burying one who had been murdered, in a coffin covered with red cloth. The Rev. D. G. Williams, in his collection of Carmarthenshire Folk-Lore, says that one William Powell, of Glan Areth, Vale of Towy, was so buried in the year 1770.

In Wales in pre-Reformation times, it was sometimes the practice to bury a rich man in the garments of a monk, as a protection against evil spirits; but this could not be done without paying large sums of money to the priests.

The custom of covering the coffin with wreaths is very generally observed at the present day throughout West and Mid-Wales. The coffin of the late Sir Pryse Pryse, Bart., Gogerddan, who was buried at Penrhyncoch, Cardiganshire, April 23rd, 1906, was covered with wreaths of most beautiful flowers, sent by Dowager Lady Pryse, Sir Edward and Lady Webley-Parry-Pryse, Countess Lisburne, Viscountess Parker, Lady Evans, Lovesgrove; Mr. and Mrs. Loxdale, and many other relations and friends, as well as the tenants and servants.

In times past the Welsh always carried the association of graves and flowers to the most lavish extreme, and Shakespeare, alluding to this in “Cymbeline,” the scene of which tragedy is more especially in Pembrokeshire, says:

It is more generally the case at the present day to cover the coffin with wreaths than with loose flowers, and occasionally the graves are lined with moss and flowers. To decorate the graves of the departed with flowers is a very old custom amongst the Welsh, especially on Palm Sunday, which is known in Wales as “Sul y Blodau”—Flowering Sunday. The custom is very generally observed even at the present day in Glamorganshire, where the churchyards and other burial places present a very beautiful appearance; but it is to be regretted that in West Wales, during the last sixty years, the practice to a very great extent has been discontinued, at least in rural districts. But it is reviving at the present day, and likely to grow as years go on. A correspondent from Aberaeron, in one of the papers noticed that on Palm Sunday, of the year 1906, many of the graves of Henfynyw, in that district had been cleaned and flowers placed upon them, whilst on others flowers grew. Whilst staying for a short time in the Parish of Cilcennin, about five years ago, I took particular notice, that the planting of flowers and plants on the graves is renewed every year about Easter or Spring time, and that they are kept blooming through the loving care of the descendants of the departed. An old man named Jenkin Williams, a native of Llangwyryfon, a parish in the same County, who is 89 years of age, informed me that he well remembered the custom observed in his native parish, about seven miles from Aberystwyth, many years ago; but it is rarely observed at the present day. There are many parts of the country nowadays, where the practice is unknown, but there are evident signs that the beautiful old custom is reviving in parts of Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire, and Pembrokeshire. In Glamorganshire, as I have already observed, the custom is very general.

The custom of placing tombstones on the graves is very generally observed, but very few of the stones are in the form of a cross. Indeed, crosses are remarkable for their absence in Welsh Churchyards. The Welsh people in rejecting what they consider as a too Popish a practice, have gone into the opposite extremes of adopting as monuments for their dear departed, the polytheistic obelisk of the ancient Egyptians; the Greek and Roman urns, and the chest-stone of the Druids. It has been the custom in some places to whitewash the small inscribed stones at the head and feet of poor people’s graves. Several English authors who have written about Wales remark that in nearly every churchyard in the country, the mountain ash is to be seen. It seems to me that this is a mistake; for, as far as my experience is concerned, it is rarely seen in Welsh churchyards, at least in the present day, and I have seen a good many of the churchyards; but it must be admitted that the Welsh have regarded the tree as sacred, and there are a good many superstitions in connection with it, so that it is possible that the custom of growing it in churchyards was more common in former times.

The most common tree in the churchyards of Wales is the Yew, and the Welsh people from time immemorial, have always regarded the tree with solemn veneration, probably owing to its association with the dead. The Yew is famed in Welsh song, for the poets of Cambria in their elegies for their dead friends, often mention “Ywen Werdd y Llan” (the Green Yew of the Churchyard), and the poet Ioan Emlyn in his “Bedd y Dyn Tlawd”—“The Pauper’s Grave” says:

In former times the yew was consecrated and held sacred, and in funeral processions its branches were carried over the dead by mourners, and thrown under the coffin in the grave. With rosemary, ivy, bay, etc., branches of the trees were also used for church decorations. The following extract from the Laws of Howel Dda, King of Wales in the tenth century, shows that the yew tree was the most valuable of all trees, and also how the consecrated yew of the priests had risen in value over the reputed sacred mistletoe of the Druids:—

The planting of yew trees in Churchyards in Wales is as old as the Churchyards themselves; and it is probable that they were originally intended to act as a screen to the Churches by their thick foliage, from the violence of the winds, as well as a shelter to the congregation assembling before the church door was opened. The first Churches in Wales were only wooden structures, and needed such screens much more than the comfortable stone Churches of the present day.

Another important object in planting the yew was to furnish materials for bows, as these were the national weapons of defence. The Churchyards were the places where they were most likely to be preserved, and some authorities derive the English word “yeoman” from yewmen, that is, the men who used the yew bow. The yew bow was very common throughout Wales in the old times, and skill in archery was universal in the country; and as late as Tudor times, the Welsh poet, Tudur Aled, asks, in lamenting the death of a squire:—

In the memorable Battle of Cressy, three thousand five hundred Welsh archers followed the Black Prince in the attack on France in the year 1346, and as many more came from the Welsh lordships, and bore such distinguished parts, for the success of this war was due to the skill of the Welsh Archers, and at the end of the battle the Prince adopted the motto, “Ich Dien,” which has been the motto of the Princes of Wales ever since.

Evelyn’s opinion is “that we find it (the yew) so numerously planted in Churchyards from its being thought a symbol of immortality, the tree being so lasting and always green.” There are at the present day in the Churchyards of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, some fine specimens of the yew tree, and some of them hundreds of years, if not nearly a thousand years old. In former times when Churchyards were resorted to for recreation, seats were fixed round the trunk of the tree.

Many of the Churchyards in Wales in ancient times, before the introduction of Christianity, had been Druidical circles. This is evident from the oval form of the ground of many of them, which often resemble small embankments, or mounds. Such is the case as regards Tregaron Church, in Cardiganshire, Llanddewi Brefi also is on elevated ground, as well as several other Churchyards.

How early the practice of enclosures near the Churches or Monasteries for burial of the dead began in Wales is quite uncertain. It seems that the practice was introduced into England by Archbishop Cuthbert about 750; but the origin of Churchyards in Wales was of a much earlier date, in all probability about two or three hundred years earlier than in England. Some of the best authorities assert that a few (but few only) of the Welsh Parish Churches and consecrated Churchyards can be traced to the days of St. Garmon, or Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, who paid two visits to this country about A.D. 429, and 447 respectively. It is possible that there were few Christians in Britain even in the first century; but Parochial Churches did not belong to the earlier ages of Christianity, and the clergy lived in towns, and undertook missionary journeys about the country, under the direction of their bishops.

Prior to the introduction of enclosures round Churches for the purpose of burial, it was customary (as it is in China to-day), to bury on high places, such as hills and mountains. Cremation had also been practised as it is evident from the urns for the preservation of the ashes of the dead, which are being discovered in various parts of Wales, from time to time. Perhaps the most recent and interesting discoveries of such urns were those found near Capel Cynon, in Cardiganshire, containing ashes and portions of small calcined bones. A labourer named John Davies, came across them accidentally in an old mound on a hill, whilst working for Evan Thomas, a contractor under the County Council of Cardiganshire, in digging out stones for road-mending. (See ArchÆologia Cambrensis for January, 1905.)

The introduction of Christianity put an end to the practice of cremation.

Carneddau, or cairns, and tumuli, or mounds of earth, have been preserved till the present day in different parts of Wales, but it is to be regretted that many of these interesting monuments of antiquity, which the Welsh in ancient times erected in honour of their great men have been destroyed. That Wales has been celebrated for its Carneddau, is evident from the words of Taliesin, the chief poet of King Arthur’s time, who calls the country “Cymru Garneddog” (Cairn Wales), and one the most interesting “Carnedd” is what is known as “bedd Taliesin”—Taliesin’s grave, about eight miles north of Aberystwyth, where, according to tradition, Taliesin himself was buried.

Such monumental heaps over the mortal remains of the dead were of two kinds, according to the nature of the country. In stony districts, a cairn of stones was heaped, but where stones were scarce, a mound of turf of a circular construction, called tomen (tumulus), was deemed sufficient.

In ancient times this mode of burial was considered a most honourable one, and in passing the tomb of a warrior or some great man, it was customary for every passer by to throw a stone to the cairn, out of reverence to his memory. There was a similar custom among the Indians of Patagonia, which was still observed a few years ago. A Patagonian Chief in passing the grave of an eminent chief or a great warrior, would dismount from his horse, and search for a stone to throw on the cairn.

Monumental Cairns were also common in Scotland, for in Ossian’s Poems, Shibric, in Carricthura says: “If fall I must in the field, raise high my grave, Vinvela. Grey stones, and heaped earth, shall mark me to future times.” To erect mounds seems to have been a very ancient custom, for Herodotus, in giving a full and most interesting account of the strange practices of the Ancient Scythians, in connection with the burial of their Kings, observes amongst other things, “Having done this, they all heap up a large mound, striving and vieing with each other to make it as large as possible.”

When the custom of burying in churchyards became general in Wales, in course of time, to bury in cairns and mounds, which formerly had been an honourable practice, was discontinued, and even condemned, as fit only for the great criminals; and, as Dr. Owen Pugh, observes: “when this heap became to be disgraced, by being the mark where the guilty was laid, the custom for every one that passed, to fling his stone, still continued, but now as a token of detestation”; hence originated the old Welsh sayings “Carn lleidr (a thief’s Cairn), “Carn ar dy wyneb.” (Cairn on thy face). Even at the present day throughout Wales, when any one is guilty of robbery or swindle, it is customary to call such a man a “Carn leidr” (A cairn thief). In the parish of Llanwenog, six miles from Lampeter, there is a spot called “Carn Philip Wyddyl.” an old farmer, named “Tomos, Ty-cam,” informed me that according to the traditions of the district, this Philip was a “Carn leidr,” or the ringleader of a gang of thieves, who, in an attempt to escape, jumped down from Llanwenog Steeple, and broke his leg. His pursuers stoned him to death, and buried him beneath a carn.