“PRO SACERD ROMAN”

Site of the arrest of St David Lewis

Fr David Lewis S J had been arrested at Llantarnam on 17^th November 1678 and imprisoned in Monmouth gaol.  On 13^th January 1679 he was transferred to the gaol at Usk.  On 28^th March he was again back in Monmouth to be tried at the spring assizes which was presided over by Sir Robert Atkins. 

The Monnow Bridge

 

Fr Lewis was indicted under Statute 27 Elizabeth which deemed it a capital crime to be ordained abroad and return to England for more than forty days.  The charge against him was “David Lewis pro Sacerd Roman”, that is “David Lewis for being a Roman Priest”!  The charge against the priest was read by the Clerk of the Assizes; “Here thou standest indicted of High Treason by the name of David Lewis, for thou being a natural subject of the King of England, hast passed beyond the seas and taken Orders from the Church and See of Rome”.

Fr Lewis pointed out that it was necessary for the prosecution to prove him guilty of the charge of being ordained overseas and taken Orders from the See of Rome.  Judge Atkins responded to this with a curt rebuff but his words made it clear for all time exactly why the priest was condemned.  “What do you expect?  Shall we search the records at Rome, or bring persons to prove that they saw you ordained?  It is enough that you have exercised the functions of a priest in copes and vestments used in your Church, and that you shall have read Mass and taken Confessions.  HE THAT USES TO READ MASS COMMITS TREASON!”

 

The priest hunter, John Arnold, was allowed to sit next to the Judge and permitted to challenge the jurors one by one until he had achieved his goal – a jury that was anything but impartial and certain to convict the priest! This manipulation of the jury did not go unnoticed and the High Sheriff of Monmouthshire protested that Arnold was guilty of “packing the jury”.  His protestations came to naught when Judge Atkins reprimanded him for being “saucy”.  John Arnold was now secure in the knowledge that his handpicked jury would seal the fate of the hapless Fr David Lewis.

 

At about 10 o’clock the following morning, 29^th March 1679, the trial of Fr David Lewis began.  Several witnesses were called who swore that they had seen him celebrate Mass.  Chief among them were William and Dorothy James.  However, two of the Crown’s other witnesses heroically refused to give evidence against Fr Lewis.  The defendant challenged the character of some of the witnesses brought against him and exposed the sheer malice of Dorothy James.   With John Arnold’s influence, there was no chance of the accused getting anything even resembling a fair trial and the verdict was a foregone conclusion.  It was sufficient that Dorothy and William James had sworn they had seen the Jesuit say Mass and on this evidence the jury was directed that “If you believe what the witnesses swore you must find the prisoner guilty”.  As expected, the jury found him guilty of treason!



Usk Gaol where St David Lewis awaited his execution

Judge Atkins then put on his cap and pronounced the sentence:  “David Lewis, thou shalt be led from this place to a place whence thou camest, and shalt be put upon a hurdle and drawn with thy heels forward to the place of execution where thou shalt be hanged by the neck and be cut down alive; thy body to be ripped open and thy bowels plucked out; thou shalt be dismembered and thy members burnt before thy face.  So the Lord have mercy on thy soul.”

 

Upon hearing the sentence Fr Lewis made a low bow toward the judge and was led away.  He was returned to Usk Gaol where he was to await his gruesome fate.  On 27^th August 1679 Fr David Lewis, the last Welsh martyr, was executed for the crime of being a Catholic Priest and saying Mass.  

 

St David Lewis was martyred near this site

NOT THE LAST!

I have read several books, written by local authors, stating that St David Lewis was the last Catholic martyr in Britain.  This has also been said in an otherwise excellent video available on youtube.  I don't wish to engender any controversy but I feel I should point out that this is incorrect. 

 

Fr David Lewis S J (alias Charles Baker) was executed at Usk on 27th August 1679.  He, along with 39 others, was canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.  ST DAVID LEWIS was the LAST WELSH MARTYR.  

 

 

St David Lewis, the Last Welsh Martyr

 

On 1st July 1681 Oliver Plunkett, the Archbishop of Armagh, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London.  He was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975 by Pope  Paul VI.  ST OLIVER PLUNKETT was the LAST CATHOLIC MARTYR in this country.

 

 

St Oliver Plunkett, the last Catholic martyr
in Britain

 

 

 

Follow this link for more information on St Oliver Plunket.

http://www.saintoliverplunkett.com/

 

TRANSFERRED TO USK GAOL

 

On Monday, 18^th November 1678, Fr David Lewis, a Jesuit priest, was incarcerated in Monmouth Gaol.  His false friend, John Arnold, who was a Justice of the Peace and  Member of Parliament, had promised that he would not allow him to be treated with “any incivility or severity” but had secretly ordered that a strict watch be kept on the priest.  Hence, Fr Lewis was kept a close prisoner and not allowed to leave his cell.   However, the Under Keeper, a more reasonable man, allowed friends to visit the priest during the day.  Through these visits the priest learned of the fate of his friends and fellow priests.  He would also have learned of the sacking of the Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier at a place called the Cwm.  Fr Lewis had served as Superior of the College and would feel great distress at its devastation.

Monmouth's Ancient Bridge

In the New Year, the new High Sheriff, James Herbert, decided to move the County Gaol from Monmouth to Usk.  So it was that on 13^th January 1679, the Deputy Sheriff and the Head Gaoler rode with Fr David Lewis to Usk.   The weather was atrocious, bitterly cold and snowing.  When the group reached Raglan they stopped at an Inn to warm themselves.  While there a messenger arrived with sad news for Fr Lewis.  A friend and colleague from the Cwm, Fr Ignatius Price, lay dying in a barn about half a mile away.  The dying priest wished to see Fr Lewis.  As he was himself a prisoner in the custody of the Deputy Sheriff and the Head Gaoler, Fr Lewis was unable to comply with this heart-rending request.    Fr Lewis wrote; “Whilst I was in Raglan, a messenger came to the door of the Inn, desiring to speak with me on urgent business.  A very good friend of mine, one Mr Ignatius (alias Walter) Price, lay dying about half a mile away.  He had undergone much hardship from hunger and cold and lay dying.  He desired to see me.  But I was quite unable to perform the friendly duty, as I was under the actual custody of the officers.  So I only sent him my true and best wishes for his soul’s happy passage out of this turbulent world to an eternity of rest.”  Three days later, Fr Lewis learned of the death of his friend.

Site of Usk Gaol where St David Lewis was imprisoned

Usk Gaol, also known as the House of Correction or Old Bridewell, was situated on the north side of Bridge Street.  The Gaol, at 28 Bridge St, had originally been a Friary, a house of the Grey Friars. It became a House of Correction in the mid 1600s and served until Usk Prison was built about 1842.  When Fr David Lewis was imprisoned there it was crowded with Catholics who had refused to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy.  One prisoner was a widow, Jane Harris, who had given refuge to a priest.  She was betrayed by her butcher when he noticed her buying extra meat!  Fr Lewis would have known most, if not all, of these people for he had spent his priestly life toiling among the persecuted Catholics of the area, travelling mostly at night and probably on foot, to bring them what help and comfort he could.



St David Lewis was martyred on or near this spot in 1679

On 27^th August 1679, this good man whose kindness had earned him the name of “Father of the Poor” was taken from Usk Gaol and dragged on a hurdle to a place known as the Coniger where he was executed for the “crime” of being a Catholic Priest.  The actual site of his death is believed to be within the grounds of Porth-Y-Carne House, opposite the Catholic Church of St Francis Xavier and St David Lewis.  The martyred Fr David Lewis was permitted a decent burial.  Reverently carried in procession to the Priory Church of St Mary, he was interred in the Churchyard.   The grave of St David Lewis is the nearest one to the main entrance of the church and every year on the Sunday nearest to 27^th August pilgrims flock to this holy site to pay their respects to the Last Welsh Martyr.  

The Grave of St David Lewis

 

CHRISTMAS 1678

17th century icon, Madonna and Child

 

Christmas of 1678 couldn’t have been a joyful one for Fr David Lewis S J.  Details of that Christmas are scant but we do know for certain that it was the priest’s last Christmas on earth!  As he prepared to celebrate Mass on Sunday morning, 17^th November, Fr Lewis was arrested at Llantarnam.  He was incarcerated in Monmouth Gaol.  The Justice of the Peace, John Arnold, who had feigned friendship with Fr Lewis, promised that he would not allow him to be treated with “any incivility or severity”.  Alas, the promise proved to be as false as the friendship.  That very same day, the perfidious Arnold had ordered that a strict watch should be kept over the prisoner, who was guilty of high treason, i.e., he was a Catholic priest!

Christmas found Fr Lewis in Monmouth Gaol, where a friend of the Jesuit had paid 14/ a week to provide him with a good lower room, a bed, linen, fire and a candle.  Officially, Fr Lewis was in Solitary Confinement but the Under keeper of the Gaol allowed friends to visit him in his cell by day.

Early in December, the Lords ordered an investigation of the Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier at the Cwm, where Fr Lewis had been Superior.  Just before Christmas, the Bishop of Hereford, Herbert Croft, led a raid on the Cwm.  He had the enthusiastic help of John Arnold, John Scudamore and Charles Price.  The buildings were ransacked and all books, papers and property confiscated.  Some of the books stolen from the Cwm are today in the library of Hereford Cathedral.  Croft reported that he had found “two horse-loads of books in an adjoining Pig Cot covered with straw, also a great store of divinity books (but they are not yet brought to me, it being Christmas holy days, but they remain in a safe hand) many whereof are written by the principal learned Jesuits”.

On 4^th December, Fr Philip Evans, the youngest of the Jesuit missioners in South Wales, was arrested.  He was imprisoned in Cardiff Castle where he was kept in Solitary Confinement for three weeks.  After this time, the Governor was persuaded to allow Fr Evans and a secular priest, Fr John Lloyd, to share a cell.  Other priests had been arrested and some had died of hardship and exposure. 

All of this distressing news would have been conveyed to Fr Lewis by the friends who visited him in Monmouth Gaol.

On the Sunday morning of Christmas week, Fr Lewis was visited in his cell by several magistrates who questioned him about William Bedloe’s allegation that he had supplied information about the Marquis of Worcester’s Agent’s complicity in the Popish Plot.  Fr Lewis deposed that he had neither spoken to nor corresponded with the informer.  He further testified that he had never even heard of the Plot until it became common knowledge throughout the land.  His deposition was sent to London but no more was heard of it.

So passed what was to be the last Christmas of Fr David Lewis.  Early in 1679, the new High Sheriff, James Herbert, decided to move the County Gaol from Monmouth to Usk.  On 13^th January, a bitterly cold and miserable day, Fr Lewis was transferred to Usk Gaol to await his fate.  Later that year, in the lovely month of August, Fr David Lewis was martyred at Usk.  On 25^thOctober 1970 he was canonised by Pope Paul VI  as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales .

FR JOHN EDWARDS S J, REST IN PEACE

Many people are sad today at the news of the death of Fr John Edwards S J.   

Fr John, who had been ill for several months, passed away shortly after hearing Mass on 12^th December, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

The privilege of knowing Fr John was ours through the many retreats he conducted at Llantarnam Abbey.  The Annual Day in memory of the Holy Souls on 2^nd November was always a touching and moving experience. 

It was also our great good fortune to have Fr John with us at the Abbey on the days held in honour of St David Lewis, the Welsh Jesuit who was martyred in 1679.  Fr John’s saintly presence was an inspiration to all in attendance on those occasions.  Fr John Edwards, who counted his lung cancer a gift from God, will surely be remembered with affection and gratitude whenever we gather at Llantarnam Abbey.  

Fr John Edwards S J, conducting a service at
the site of the arrest of St David Lewis
at Llantarnam, Cwmbran

 

Fr John’s Requiem Mass will take place at Farm St Church, London, at 11 am on Thursday, 20^th December.   Fr John, we were honoured to know you.  May your gentle soul rest in peace.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!

ADVENT?

 

 

 

THE POPISH PLOT AND THE ARREST OF ST DAVID LEWIS

In the summer of 1678, the contemptible Titus Oates and his friend Israel Tonge hatched the fictitious Popish Plot.  Near the end of September, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey (sometimes spelled Edmundbury Godfrey) became involved when he took the depositions of the two plotters.  On 17^th October Godfrey was found face down in a ditch on Primrose Hill.  He was impaled on his own sword.  Marks on his body indicated foul play.   But, was it murder or was it suicide?  At the time, two committees investigated Godfrey’s death, and many theories have since been expounded, but the mystery has never been solved.  Godfrey’s mysterious death was a boon to the anti-Catholic faction who immediately put the blame on Catholic conspirators.  As Macaulay wrote; “The capital and the whole nation went mad with hatred and fear.  The Penal Laws, which had begun to lose something of their edge, were sharpened anew.  Everywhere, Justices were busied in searching houses and seizing papers.  All the gaols were filled with Papists.  London had the aspect of a city in a state of siege”. 

 

Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey

It wasn’t long before the venomous tentacles of the Plot reached into Wales.  The Government had offered a reward of £20 for information leading to the apprehension of any priest.  To this sum John Arnold of Llanvihangel Court added a reward of £200 for information regarding any priest in Herefordshire or Monmouthshire.

 

John Arnold was born in 1634.  A Justice of the Peace and Member of Parliament, Arnold was also a zealous priest hunter and foremost in enforcing the full weight of the Penal Laws against Catholics.  In 1670, John Arnold and John Scudamore informed the House of Lords that “at Llantarnam, an eminent papist’s house in Monmouthshire, there is a room fitted up chapel wise for saying Mass where Fr David Lewis, a popish priest, hath said Mass for many years past” and that there were still six Jesuit priests at the Cwm which “had been a shelter for such popish priests near forty years”.   In 1678 they placed new information before Parliament of “several popish priests and the persons that do countenance them in the county of Monmouth”.   On 20^th November 1678 King Charles II, under pressure from Parliament, reluctantly issued a proclamation for the immediate arrest of all priests and Jesuits, who were to be imprisoned “in order to their trial”.

 

Fr David Lewis, alias Charles Baker, was an Abergavenny born Jesuit.  He was Superior of the Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier at the Cwm on the border of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire.  He spent more than thirty years ministering to the harassed Catholics of the area.  As was the practice in such dangerous times, priests often found shelter in the homes of Catholic recusants and from such safe houses they celebrated Mass and the Sacraments and tended to the many needs of their fellow Catholics.   It is well documented that Fr Lewis stayed in the home of Thomas Gunter of Abergavenny and also at the home of his aunt, Lady Frances Morgan, at Llantarnam.

 

For some time, Fr David Lewis had stayed with his relatives, the Morgans, at what is now Llantarnam Abbey.   When the storm of the Oates Plot broke, the priest, not wishing to endanger the Morgans, moved into a nearby cottage at Llantarnam.   This cottage, adjoining the blacksmith’s, was opposite the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels. 

Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels, Llantarnam

Early on Sunday morning, 17^th November 1678, Fr Lewis was preparing to celebrate Mass when a party of six armed dragoons burst in.  They were led to the priest by William James, a Catholic who had formerly worked for him.  For this foul act of betrayal, James received the grand sum of £220, the Government reward of £20 plus the additional £200 offered by John Arnold.   It was a cruel betrayal indeed for Fr Lewis considered John Arnold a close friend because Arnold had always feigned friendship for the priest.  Of his arrest, Fr Lewis wrote; “After my full thirty years poor missionary labours in South Wales, on Sunday morning, a little before day, being the 17^th November 1678, I was taken by six armed men sent by Mr John Arnold and Mr Charles Price, until then my two very good friends and acquaintances.  I was taken in a little house in the parish of St Michael-Llantarnam in the County of Monmouth.  From thence by the soldiers, together with such church stuff of mine they there found, carried I was to the house of Mr Charles Price in Llanfoist”.

 

Plaque at the site of the arrest of St David Lewis at Llantarnam

Three Justices of the Peace, Charles Price, John Arnold and Thomas Lewis awaited Fr Lewis at Llanfoist.  The priest was to be taken to Monmouth Gaol and at about 2 o’clock that afternoon, he was led away from Llanfoist by Arnold and his henchmen.   Guarded by twelve armed men, Fr Lewis was taken to his hometown, Abergavenny.  The contingent entered the Golden Lion on Frogmore Street where, in a guarded upper room, Fr David Lewis was examined by the Recorder of Abergavenny, William Jones.   William James swore that he had seen Fr Lewis say Mass at least twenty times.   Asked if he had played any part in the Titus Oates Plot, the priest swore on oath that he had no knowledge of or part in any plot.  Arnold, showing his contempt for all things Catholic, sarcastically remarked that with Catholics it was no oath to swear on the Bible.   

 

The Site of the Golden Lion, Abergavenny

The little group adjourned to the dining room where they had supper together.  Fr Lewis, committed on a charge of Treason, was given the choice of spending the night in a guarded room at the Golden Lion or of being the guest of Arnold at his home in Llanvihangel.  Arnold assured the priest that he would be “most civilly entertained”.   Fr Lewis left the decision to the others and it was arranged that he should spend the night at Llanvihangel Court.  It was a moonlit night when the party left the Golden Lion at about 10 o’clock.  It would have been between 11 o’clock and midnight when they reached Llanvihangel Court, a fine Elizabethan mansion that had been home to several generations of Arnolds.   The defenceless priest spent the night in a room guarded by two “strong men”. 

The next morning, Fr Lewis arose at 7 o’clock and Arnold paid him a short visit in his room where the two exchanged a few civil words.  When he had finished his breakfast, Fr Lewis came downstairs to find the Magistrate and several constables loading guns in the Great Hall.  Then they set out on the final leg of their journey to Monmouth Gaol. 

John Arnold's Home, Llanvihangel Court

 Upon reaching Monmouth, Fr David Lewis was incarcerated in the town’s gaol.  A friend paid 14/ a week for Fr Lewis to have a good room with a fire, candle, bed and linen!  That morning John Arnold had assured Fr Lewis that he would not allow the gaoler to subject him to “any incivility or severity”.  It must have been a sad shattering of all illusion regarding Arnold’s friendship for him when the gaoler showed Fr Lewis a letter written that very day by Arnold.  The letter, dated 18^th November, ordered that a strict watch be kept on the prisoner who was guilty of High Treason!

 

Fr Lewis was kept a close prisoner and his confinement was so strict that he never left his cell.  However, the Under Keeper allowed friends to visit him during the day.  For almost two months, Fr Lewis was a prisoner in Monmouth Gaol.  On 13^th January 1679 he was transferred to the new County Gaol at Usk.  Here, in the Gaol on Bridge Street, this kind and gentle Jesuit awaited his martyrdom.   

HYMN IN HONOUR OF THE SIX WELSH MARTYRS

ST STEPHEN & THREE WELSH MARTYRS DEPICTED IN A STAINED
GLASS WINDOW IN THE CATHOLIC  CHURCH, TENBY

 

 

Today we celebrate the Feast of The Six Welsh Martyrs of the Reformation.  The Six Welsh Martyrs, who were canonised by Pope Paul VI on 25^th October 1970, are:

 

St Richard Gwyn was born about 1537 in Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire. He was a teacher and a married man. He and his wife, Catherine, had six children. He was executed at Wrexham on 15th October 1584. St Richard Gwyn is the protomartyr of Wales.

 

St John Jones O F M was born at Clynog Fawr, Caernarvonshire around the year 1530. He entered the Franciscan Convent at Greenwich and, at its dissolution in 1559, he went to the Continent and was professed at Pontoise, France. He died for the Faith at Southwark on 12th July 1598. At his execution, he had to wait an hour because the hangman had forgotten to bring the rope!

 

St John Roberts O S B born at Trawsfynydd, Merionethshire, was the first prior of St Gregory’s, Douai. He was sent upon the English Mission in December 1602, arriving in England in April 1603. He was probably the first monastic to enter England since the Reformation. He was executed at Tyburn on 10^th December 1610.

 

St Philip Evans S J was born in Monmouth in 1645. He entered the Society of Jesus on 7th September 1665. He was ordained at Liege and sent upon the English Mission in 1675. He diligently and joyfully served the area of South Wales for four years before his arrest at the house of Christopher Turberville at Sker, Glamorganshire on 4th December 1678. He was martyred at Cardiff on 22nd July 1679. He was thirty-four years old.

 

St John Lloyd was Brecon born and studied at Ghent and Valladolid. He was ordained a priest at Valladolid in 1653. He returned to Wales and laboured in Brecon and Monmouthshire for 24 years. In November of 1678, he was captured at a house at Penllyn, Glamorganshire. He and St Philip Evans shared a cell at Cardiff Castle until their martyrdom at Cardiff on 22nd July 1679.

St David Lewis S J was born in 1616 at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. He attended the local Grammar school where his father, Morgan Lewis, was headmaster. Ordained in 1642, David entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1645. He returned to Wales and, based at the Cwm, he served the Catholics of the area for 34 years. He was arrested at Llantarnam on 17th November 1678 and martyred at Usk on 27th August 1679. St David Lewis was the last Welsh martyr.

HYMN OF THE WELSH REFORMATION MARTYRS

(Tune Hyfrydol or Blaenwern)

Came a time upon our nation

when the faith of Rome was banned.

Christians found their hearts were broken,

torn apart throughout our land.

Thus a traitor to the nation

anyone who loved the Pope.

Christians stood in condemnation.

Who could bring them any hope?

 

Men who trained  as priests for Cymru

came from Europe’s shores ere long.

Traversed far and wide our nation,

come to keep the Old Faith strong.

Saying Mass and heard confession,

priests of God , their only crime

was that laws of England’s kingdom

made such treason, at that time.

 

David Lewis, priest of Monmouth

gladly in Usk met his end.

As at Cardiff, Philip Evans

with John Lloyd, his holy friend.

From the north did Saint John Roberts

die for Christ, a Martyr true,

and Franciscan, Saint John Jones,

from the noose to heaven flew.

 

With these priests, to Rome so loyal,

one more Saint of Wales did die.

Richard Gwyn, the edict Royal

did at first its ways comply.

But this man, of Wales a teacher,

taught us now the better way.

He renounced the Royal churches,

chose with Rome alone to pray.

 

Time hath passed upon our nation,

the Old Faith no longer banned.

Other Christians, once oppressive,

now as friends beside us stand.

*This is not a day for gloating,

Or for raising ancient wrong,

but a day for celebrating

loyal Saints whose faith proved strong.*

ST DAVID LEWIS AND THE POT AND PINEAPPLE (PART 2)

 

 This is Part 2 of a two part post about 'The Pot and Pineapple', the Gunters and St David Lewis. Please click here to read Part 1.

 

RENOVATIONS AND DISCOVERY      

The Adoration of the Magi, found in the Gunter Chapel and now on display in Abergavenny Museum

Over the years, the Gunter Mansion was divided into four smaller houses. The location of Thomas Gunter’s Chapel faded from memory.  In 1908 Mr and Mrs Foster, the owners of the end house, were carrying out alterations when an amazing discovery was made.  When the workmen began to demolish the partitions dividing the rooms in the attic, they discovered a secret room behind another room.  On the steeply sloping ceiling was a beautiful fresco depicting the “Adoration of the Magi”.   Mrs Foster had the good sense to realize that they had stumbled upon something of importance.  After consultation with several local historians, it was confirmed that they had found Thomas Gunter’s seventeenth century chapel.  As well as the “Adoration of the Magi”, believed to be the altar piece under which the altar was positioned, other paintings and markings were discovered.  Above the window overlooking Cross St, there was the “mark of the Jesuits”, the letters I H S within rays and surmounted by a cross.   On another wall, a strange drawing of a man and a woman with a heart placed at the feet of the woman and the inscription “T G his mark” were clearly visible.  Mrs Foster engaged the services of the Photographer, Mr Bailey of High St, Abergavenny, to take pictures of the ceiling and other paintings and drawings which adorned the walls of the little room.  In an attempt to preserve the fresco of the Magi, Mrs Foster had the painting carefully removed and placed under glass in an oak frame.  For many years this treasure was in private hands but, fortunately, it is now on display at Abergavenny Museum where it can be viewed and appreciated by all. 

 

The remains of the entrance to
Thomas Gunter's  attic chapel

At the time of the renovations, the remains of an outside staircase leading from the garden to the chapel were also discovered.  The addition of an adjoining cottage had blocked this entrance.  From the back of the house, it is still possible to see in the pine end of “The Pot and Pineapple” part of the lintel of the door to the attic chapel.

 

HISTORY COLLIDES

Thomas Gunter's Chapel as it is today

Today history collides at 37 Cross Street!  Downstairs, “The Pot and Pineapple” caters for the discerning sweet tooth while upstairs Thomas Gunter’s chapel languishes almost forgotten.  Previous occupiers of the shop probably used it as a storeroom so now it bears little resemblance to a chapel.   However, one can still see the wall on which Thomas Gunter left his initials.  I said “almost” forgotten because Amanda, the young proprietor of “The Pot and Pineapple”, although not the owner of the building, is very aware of its place in Abergavenny's long history.

The wall on which Thomas Gunter wrote his initials

Amanda kindly allowed us access to the former chapel.  It was an amazing experience just to stand quietly in that room and remember Thomas Gunter, St David Lewis, St Philip Evans, and the brave and faithful people who so long ago risked all for their Catholic Faith. Many words could describe my feelings. Humbled, overawed and overjoyed are just three of them. 

 

Cautiously we descended the narrow stairway that brought us back to the twenty-first century where Amanda and her son were tending to some customers.  Amanda chatted with us for a short while and, as well as a pleasure, it was enlightening because she is very knowledgeable about the historic location her shop occupies.   

THANK YOU AMANDA



The Pot and Pineapple, 37 Cross St.
Thomas Gunter's Chapel was located
behind the little window in the gable.

We are extremely grateful to Amanda for her kindness to us in the midst of her busy day.  We came away with some interesting facts about the Gunters.  Oh yes, and with some very tasty Liquorice Allsorts and Liquorice Torpedoes!  On my next visit to “The Pot and Pineapple” I think I will try Chocolate, or perhaps Chewing Nuts, or Pontefract Cakes, or Humbugs, or ?????

ST DAVID LEWIS AND ‘THE POT AND PINEAPPLE’ (PART 1)

This is Part 1 of a two part post about  'The Pot and Pineapple',  the Gunters and St  David Lewis. 



THE POT AND PINEAPPLE,
37 CROSS STREET, ABERGAVENNY



Abergavenny is as pretty as it is historic.  It is indeed a happy pastime to meander along its streets and enjoy the intermingling of old and new – modern shops housed in ancient buildings.  One such shop is the delightful little sweetshop, ‘The Pot and Pineapple’, on Cross Street.

This recently opened establishment, located at 37 Cross Street, is a traditional sweetshop with rows and rows of jars, stuffed with glorious sweets, lining its shelves.  It has the power to make one feel like a child again, clutching a few pence and wondering which treat to purchase!  Well, that is how I felt anyway. 

‘The Pot and Pineapple’ is located in one of the oldest buildings in Abergavenny, the ancient Gunter Mansion.  It is very pleasing to note that the young proprietor has maintained the Gunter connection in her choice of name, thereby keeping alive an important part of Abergavenny history. 

Several shops, numbers 37-40 Cross St, now occupy the Gunter Mansion.   This historic building was originally constructed in the early years of the seventeenth century and it was home to generations of the Gunter Family.  Walter Gunter, who was born around 1717, was the last of the Gunters to reside there.

 

JAMES GUNTER

THE SIGN OUTSIDE
THE POT AND PINEAPPLE

James Gunter, Walter’s son, left Abergavenny and went to London.  In 1777 James became a partner in a food business named “The Pot and Pineapple” at 7-8 Berkeley Square.  “The Pot and Pineapple” had been established twenty years earlier as a confectioner’s shop by Domenico Negri.  By 1799 James Gunter was sole proprietor and the shop had become a chic Mayfair gathering place where the smart set would stop to eat ices and sorbets.  It must have been quite a sight as the shop’s waiters raced back and forth across the street delivering orders to ladies, who remained in their carriages, while the gentlemen lounged nearby enjoying their confections.  As well as ices and confections, Gunter’s was known for its beautifully decorated cakes.  James Gunter’s son, Robert, took over the business on the death of his father in 1819.  In the mid 1930s, the east side of Berkeley Square was demolished and Gunter’s moved to Curzon Street.  Gunter’s continued to delight its customers until its closure in 1956.

 

THOMAS GUNTER

It is now necessary to go back several generations of Gunters to James Gunter’s ancestor, Thomas Gunter.  Thomas Gunter was born about 1627 into the Catholic branch of the Gunter Family.  Thomas, an attorney at law, lived in the mansion on Cross St which now houses “The Pot and Pineapple” and other shops.  He was a Catholic at a time in the history of this country when Catholicism was outlawed.  Those who tenaciously clung to “Yr Hen Ffydd”, “The Old Faith”, were known as “recusants”.  Recusants were subjected to harsh fines, imprisonment and, sometimes, even death.  Thomas Gunter was a staunch Catholic and a fearless man.  He is known to have said, “I kept a priest during Oliver’s time of severity, and I shall keep one now”.  He made good his promise! 

 

Thomas had an attic room in his house furnished as a Catholic Chapel and here the Catholics of Abergavenny would assemble for Mass and to receive the Sacraments.  Thomas kept two Jesuits, Fr Philip Evans and Fr David Lewis, who celebrated Mass and conducted weddings, baptisms and funerals in the chapel.  A report referring to this chapel said there was at Abergavenny “a public chapel for Papists adorned with the marks of the Jesuits on the outside, and such numbers flocked there that a hundred were seen to come out of it when not above forty attended the parish (Established) church”.  In his deposition to the House of Commons in 1678, the vicious priest hunter, John Arnold, stated that he had seen the “mark of the Jesuits” on the outside of Gunter’s property.  Mr Greenhaugh, the Vicar of Abergavenny, said “there is a publick mark of the Jesuits on the outside of the building, which is directly towards the Parish Church”. 

 

ST DAVID LEWIS

Fr David Lewis S J was either Thomas Gunter’s uncle or his cousin.  Most historians come down in favour of uncle.   The youngest of nine children, David Henry Lewis was born in Abergavenny in 1616.  David’s mother, Margaret Pritchard, was a Catholic and she raised eight of her children as Catholics.  His father, Morgan Lewis, was a Protestant and head of Abergavenny Grammar School.  Morgan Lewis had his youngest son, David, raised in the Established religion.  As a young man, David visited Paris and while there he was received into the Catholic Church.  In 1638 David entered the English College in Rome to study for the priesthood.  Several years after his ordination, he joined the Jesuits.  Fr David Lewis S J was sent back to his homeland but, after a short time, he was recalled to Rome.  About a year later Fr Lewis was sent again to the English Mission.  He returned to Wales and for more than thirty years he tended to the needs of the beleaguered Catholics in the border areas of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire.   Based at Thomas Gunter’s, he ministered to the Catholics of Abergavenny and the surrounding countryside. 

THE PLAQUE ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE GUNTER MANSION, CROSS ST,  ABERGAVENNY

 

For a time, Fr David Lewis stayed with his relatives, the Morgans, at Llantarnam.  It was at a cottage in Llantarnam, during the mayhem generated by the Oates’ Plot, that the Jesuit was arrested.   On Sunday morning, 17^th November 1678, Fr Lewis was preparing to celebrate Holy Mass when a group of armed dragoons burst in.  Fr Lewis was held first in Monmouth Gaol, then in Usk Gaol.  Convicted of being a Catholic priest and saying Mass (which was considered High Treason), Fr Lewis was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.  The good priest met his fate at Usk on 27^th August 1679.  St David Lewis was beatified in 1929 and canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

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