Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/383

 THE GAD-WHIP MANORIAL SERVICE. 239 shape/ When I saw the urn, the ashes and half-calcined bones were iu it. The lady, to whom the ancient tale ascribes them, was Bronwen, daughter of Llyr Llediaith, (of foreign speech), and sister to Bran the Blessed, as he is styled in the Triads, the father of Caractacus. By the llomance her adven- tui'es are connected with Ireland, where she was ill-treated by Matliolwch, then king of that country, in consequence of which she left it, and landing in Wales, the riomauco tells us, she looked back upon Ireland, which freshening the memory of the indignity she had met with there, broke her heart. To confirm the fact of the affront given her, one of the Triads (that very ancient and singular Welsh chronicle by Threes) records it as one of the three mischievous blows (with the palm of the hand) of Britain, viz., the blow of Matliolwch the Irishman (Gwyddelian), given to Bronwen, the daughter of Llyr.'" In 1821 Bronweu's urn was in the possession of Mr. R. Llwyd, of Chester.' It was subsequently deposited in the British Museum, and by the kindness of Mr. Hawkins, keeper of the antiquities, we are now enabled to give a correct representation of this interesting relic. Its dimensions are as follows. Height, 12 in. ; greatest diam., 11 in. ; diam. of mouth, 9 in. In the periodical to which we are indebted for the foregoing account, a curious notice is also preserved of the discovery, in March, 18*21, of ten urns at Llysdu, Caernarvonshire, near a supposed Roman way. They lay about a foot beneath the sui'face, occupying a circular space, about five yards in diameter, which appeared to have been surrounded by a wall. They were of rude fabrication, filled with bones, and in one was a small piece of bronze. Each urn was protected by four upright stones, forming a small cist, with a flat stone on the top. Unfortunately they quickly crumbled to dust, and no portions could be preserved." A. W. ON THE GAD-WHIP SERVICE, RENDERED AT CAISTOR CHURCH, FOR LANDS AT BROUGHTON, LINCOLNSHIRE. Any one who has given to the pages of Blount's Ancient Tenures even a cursory attention, must have been amused, not only with the variety, but in some instances with the singularity of the rents and services reserved by our kings and their barons, on granting out lands to tenants when military service or the value of the return was not an object. Of these the services in Grand Serjeanty formed a numerous class, being for the most part those of which we were accus- tomed to hear when a coronation was about to take place, ^ A figure was given in the Cambro- found in Wales, Wiltshire, or elsewhere." Briton, supplied by Mr. John Fenton, partly ' See the " Tiircc Fatal Slaps." Canibro- from his father's sketch, "and from having Briton, vol. ii., p. 10. seen some scores of the same urns, which are ' Note in Camhro-Briton, vol. ii., p. SJl- uniform in their proportions or shapes, whether - Cambro-Briton, vol. ii., p. 430.