Note 43 — LLANGOLLEN VALE, INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY ELEANOR BUTLER, AND MISS PONSONBY.

l. 11. Eglwyseg rocks—Rocks of the Eagles. They are opposite Castel Dinas-Brân. The Rev. Mr Roberts of Dinbren asserts, that the word Eglwyseg, has that interpretation. Mr Pennant derives it from the name of a gentleman, to whose memory the neighbouring column was erected; though, in another part of his Tour, he mentions Leland’s testimony, that a pair of eagles built annually in the Eglwyseg rocks, and that a person was let down in a basket to take the young, with another basket over his head, to protect him from the fury of the parent-birds. This tradition favours Mr Roberts’ etymology. That Gentleman has lately added largely to his paternal house, situated on a noble mountain in Llangollen Valley. The house stands near its craggy summit, and looks as if it had been scooped out of the rocks. A very narrow valley, containing two sloping copses, and a few bright little fields, with a woody lane winding between them, divides Mr Roberts’ mountain from the opposite elevation of Castel Dinas-Brân. The south-east front of the house looks immediately into this narrow valley; the barren, and very singular Eglwyseg rocks on the left, and Castel Dinas-Brân in front. Between the base of the latter, and the sloping foot of his own mountain, Mr R. has the bird’s-eye prospect of Llangollen Town, and a part of the Vale.—The author of this Poem, is indebted to the friendly hospitality of Mr and Mrs Roberts, for an opportunity of contemplating the beauties of their own scene, and of the celebrated Valley of Llangollen.