Four walkers joined Robin for his “Religious Extravaganza” walk in the Black Mountains beginning from the beautiful ruined Llanthony Priory which was bustling with visitors.
A small cell was built in the valley during the 6th century by St David who lived there in solitude for several years and much later William de Lacy discovered the ruined cell whilst out riding and gave up his life to become a hermit. Being joined by Ernisius they established a religious house under the Order of the Black Canons of St Augustine and the first church dedicated to St John the Baptist, which stood on the site of the original cell, was consecrated in 1108. The original buildings were destroyed and the present ruins date to the 13th century.
They crossed the Afon Honddu and began the first climb up onto Bal Bach and shortly afterwards paused for morning break, before tramping the grassy ridgeway southwards with grand views of Sugar Loaf and Ysgyryd Fawr.
They descended gradually and followed part of the long distance Beacon’s Way to the picturesque Grwyne Fawr Valley passing the Tabernacle Chapel built in 1837 and still hosting a service once a month.
Still following the Beacon’s Way they made the second easy climb to Partrishow where the church dates back to 1060, is dedicated to St Issui and is popular for weddings despite its isolated location. The churchyard was in immaculate condition thanks to an enthusiastic volunteer who was hard at work and who opened the private chapel for them to see the metalwork statue of St Issui sculpted by Frank Roper (1914-2000).
Roper was a modest Yorkshireman who became a student of Henry Moore and completed many church commissions in Britain and who is buried along with his wife at St Lawrence Church, Lavernock with two matching stones he chose from the beach marking their graves. They also viewed the Preaching Cross in the churchyard and to one of the group’s delight, in the nave of the church is a Post-Reformation cross slab set in the floor, dated 1688 with IHS trigram and they also viewed a baptismal font complete with a Latin inscription.
Following a somewhat lengthy lunch they retraced their steps and after a very steep climb up through some fields descended some tricky rocky paths and crossed the Afon Honddu once more, before beginning their third climb to St Martin’s Church, Cwmyoy which is translated as the Valley of the Yoke.
This church dates back to the 12th century and is well known for its extreme tilt, caused by a landslide and it has been labelled ‘the most crooked church in Great Britain.’ They found that the inside of the church was immaculate but unfortunately the churchyard needed some loving care!
After satiating their thirst in the heat, their last steep climb saw them battling their way through five foot high thick bracken that caused them some difficulty and they had to surf their way uphill in order to reach Hatterrall Hill. Eventually arriving at the top a pleasant walk along the ridge gave them good views of Llanthony Priory tucked into the valley below.
A descent through meadows led them back to the abbey and luckily the bar in the Priory Hotel was open so they could quench their thirst prior to the homeward journey after what had been a delightful summers’ day.
