I entered a large village divided into two by the river . . . There was much mire in the street; immense swine lay in the mire, who turned up their snout at me as I passed. Women in Welsh hats stood in the mire, along with men without any hats at all, but with short pipes in their mouths; they were talking together; as I passed, however, they held their tongues, the women leering contemptuously at me, the men glaring sullenly at me, and causing tobacco smoke to curl in my face; on taking off my hat, however, and inquiring the way to the Monachlog, everybody was civil enough, and twenty voices told me the way to the Monastery. I asked the name of the river:
"The Teivi, sir: the Teivi."
"The name of the bridge?"
"Pont y Rhyd Fendigaid - the Bridge of the Blessed Ford, sir."
George Borrow, Wild Wales 1862 |
