Читать книгу The Cambrian Sketch-Book: Tales, Scenes, and Legends of Wild Wales - R. Rice Davies - Страница 6

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On the southern coast of the county of Glamorgan, and situate at the back of a high rocky promontory commanding a magnificent view of the Bristol Channel, and just opposite the little sea-bathing village of Southerndown, which appears desolate amid its desolation, stands the modern Castle of Dunraven, which was built by the late Mr. Thomas Wyndham. This castle is erected on the site of a very ancient structure, which, in the olden times, was called Dindryfan. The old castle is in some respects the most interesting in the Principality. It was there one of Cambria’s greatest warriors and one of her purest patriots lived and reigned. Dunraven was the centre of those wonderful military movements which gained for their author wide-spread fame and imperishable renown. It was there that the great commander and war-tactician delivered those eloquent harangues, which not only inspired confidence in so great and skilful a leader, but also nerved the patriot’s arm, enabling his trusty followers to go forth to meet the foe fearlessly, courageously, and with a resolute resolve to conquer or to die for their country’s welfare and the independence of their fatherland. Caractacus, or as he is generally called by Cambrian writers, Caraddwg, was a great man and an illustrious warrior, celebrated no less for his heroism than for his many other virtues. Hence, when one visits Dunraven, the scenes of his childhood and riper years, one seems to imbibe his spirit, to be inspired with the highest admiration for his genius, and to feel the profoundest reverence for the man who, though vanquished in his encounter with the well-disciplined forces of Octavius yet was not ashamed—rather in it did he glory—after many years of exile from the land of his birth, of his love, and of his deepest and fondest affection, to return to the very scenes of his childhood and princely rule, in order to proclaim the good news of the gospel, the truths and glories of which he had learned and realized during his residence in the far-famed city of Rome.

Subsequent to the death of Caraddwg, Dunraven continued to be the seat of the Reguli of Glamorgan until the Norman Conquest. When Robert Fitz-Hamon divided the country he and his armies had conquered, he assigned this castle and manor to William de Londres, who, in consequence of their worthless value, gave them to his butler, afterwards Sir Arnold Butler. When the male issue of the Butler family became extinct, the castle and manor fell to Walter Vaughan, who was a descendant of the female branch of the Butlers. It is to this person our story relates. Oh that his crimes had never been recorded by the pen of the historian! Oh that his life and its deeds of horror and loathing, which, when we contemplate, makes one’s blood run cold, had remained unwritten! As, however, these have been handed down to this distant age, I will endeavour to depict the scene, though I can form but a very dim and hazy conception of the barbarities and cruelties practised by that evil man in those distant times.