Many mystics, saints and poets have come to this valley over the years.

The first was reputedly the patron saint of Wales St David who apparently had a cell here when it was a dense wooded valley.

Later in 1124 that ruined cell was discovered by a Norman Knight William de Lacy who “sickened by his life at court” retired here and built what later became the Priory of Llanthony. After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry the Eighth it went into ruin.  1924 to 1928, the artist Eric Gill and his followers lived in some of the former monastery. It was here that Gill designed the typefaces Perpetua and Gill Sans. and eventually was acquired in the twentieth century to become a small hotel and is now protected.

William Turner also visited in 1794 and did this dramatic painting which is now in the Tate Gallery London.

In 1971 Alan Ginsberg came and wrote a poem called Wales Visitation.

“A solid mass of Heaven, mist-infused, ebbs thru the vale,

a wavelet of Immensity, lapping gigantic through Llanthony Valley,

the length of all England, valley upon valley under Heaven’s ocean

tonned with cloud-hang,

-Heaven balanced on a grassblade.

Roar of the mountain wind slow, sigh of the body,

One Being on the mountainside stirring gently

Exquisite scales trembling everywhere in balance,

one motion thru the cloudy sky-floor shifting on the million feet of daisies,

one Majesty the motion that stirred wet grass quivering

to the farthest tendril of white fog poured down

through shivering flowers on the mountain’s head-“

Above the entrance to the valley from the low end where the River Honduu empties into the Wye .

The “Vale of Ewyas” as it is called did indeed seem secretive and remote when we first went there in the early seventies.

Now it is not so secret with many more visitors, especially in the summer and on weekends. I don’t blame them, the area is beautiful walking country with airy views on top of rounded glacial hills over a patchwork quilt landscape below.

The original monastery  became one of the great buildings of Wales until marauding Welshmen forced the retreat of the monks to safer nearby Gloucester.

Now it is a small hotel reclaimed from the old towers and the cellars.

The walk up into the hills

Above in 1986 in almost exactly the same spot.

Above-the trail and at the top just heather, wildflowers and wide open skies.

Above– In 1977 the dog from the Priory followed us up the path to the top.

The views from the edge over into England and the border country are spectacular.

Above-A view over Golden Valley

Below an aerial view of the old priory

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Speaking of poets. Our own hermit, poet and friend Chris Torrance  has lived remotely and quietly since the early seventies in this cottage nearby in south Wales.

He passed away in 2021 and will be missed.

He wrote at length about his life, local myths and history as well as world mythology in general from his chair surrounded by books strong beer and a radio.

He lived beside The Glen of Mercury– (In Welsh GlynMercher) an apt place for this man of words.

Kilpeck is a village not far from Llanthony on the English side of the border. It was built in 1124 on the site of Saxon and even earlier Celtic places of worship. However, it is unique in being a perfect Norman period church and having the most odd non Christian carvings in perfect condition.

The outer columns have carvings of a series of snakes, heads swallowing tails. In common with most of the other carvings, the meaning of these is unclear, but they may represent rebirth via the snake’s seasonal sloughing of its skin. The inner right column shows birds in foliage; at the top of the right columns is a green man. The inner left column has two warriors who, unusually, are in loose trousers. The outer sections of the arch above the doorway show creatures which can be interpreted as a manticore and a basilisk, and various other mythical and actual birds and beasts. The semicircular tympanum depicts a tree of life.

The carvings in the local red sandstone are remarkable for their number and fine preservation,

The carvings are all original and in their original positions. It is a small wonder they survived the Puritans of the seventeenth century.