Re: VMs: Rhewll - the final word (?)

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

> Before you write this all off, you might want to check out the nearby 14th 
> Century "Britannia Inn", built by the monks of the nearby Valle Crucis Abbey:-
>         http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~brit/

FWIW, the Friends of Valle Crucis Abbey may well hold the key to this story:-

http://www.llangollen.org.uk/INDEX.HTM?llangollen_local_history/arthurian_llangollen/valle_crucis_abbey.htm~mainFrame

        These picturesque ruins link to the legend of Arthur in a very 
unusual way.
        There are many stories linking Arthur to Glastonbury in Somerset, but
        some of these tales were only linked to Somerset at a much later date
        than that of Arthur himself.

        The importance of Valle Crucis lies not with what is now visible 
but with
        that on which it is built.

        Historical researchers and authors Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd believe
        this to be the site of the real Glastonbury, of which St Collen, 
the man
        whom Llangollen is named after, was the first Abbott. The close
        proximity to Eliseg's Pillar dating from the ninth century and 
references
        to the people from a village being moved to the other side of the
        mountain simply adds fuel to the fire.

        In the latter years of the nineteenth century one Rev. Owen, the
        custodian of the abbey, found several interesting objects whilst
        undertaking clearance and excavation work on the site. Some of these
        finds where from the Roman and Saxon periods indicating that the
        site was active in the time that Arthur lived. His discovery of wooden
        foundations under the South Chancel also indicate a pre-Roman
        structure - could this be the first church of Joseph of Aramathea?

        One of the most interesting finds was a 13th century copy of the
        Koran, probably left by one of the crusader knights whose tombs
        can be seen at the abbey. At present the Friends of Valle Crucis
        Abbey are conducting a series of investigations to unravel the
        early history of the abbey and find the artefacts mentioned above
        which have been "lost" for over 50 years as well as projects to
        help preserve and protect the remains.

http://www.deevalley.com/downloads/pdfs/The-Courier-58th.pdf

Page 3 of this (large) PDF has lots of interesting stuff about an extensive 
underground scan for crypts and tunnels about to be done in July 2001, but 
no results of it appear to be anywhere on the Web: for Friends of Valle 
Crucis Abbey, contact Nigel Davies on (01490) 412608 or (07931) 422030. For 
David Crane (also from Friends of Valle Crucis Abbey), call (01978) 861760.

I'm going to chase this particular lead up, as I have a long-term interest 
in scanning for large-scale medieval underground structures. :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying:
unsubscribe vms-list