Читать книгу The Cambrian Tourist, or, Post-Chaise Companion through Wales: 1834 онлайн

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It was a station of the Prætor, and its splendid palaces, its stately edifices and gilded roofs, might, according to Giraldus Cambrensis’ exaggerated account, have vied with those of Rome itself; its baths, its aqueducts, its stoves, and proofs of ancient grandeur, were even in his time amply displayed in their ruins; numerous are the coins that have been here collected, and the riches this spot has afforded to the cabinets of the curious.

Between Caerleon and Newport is St. Julians, once the residence of Lord Herbert of Cherbury: the walk to it in fine weather is pleasant, and although now converted into a farmhouse, traces of its former respectability are evident. In a small barn near to it are likewise to be seen the remains of St. Julian’s abbey. According to some accounts, such was the extent of Caerleon in the days of its grandeur, that it extended as far as Christ Church and this place, and covered a tract of country nine miles in circumference.

Ascending the Gam, the ships in the Bristol Channel, with the islands Flat and Steep Holmes rising in the midst of the sea, and the shores of Somerset and Devon, formed pleasing objects in the distant view, whilst the mellow green of nearer woods and meadows, watered by the Usk, made a combination of views gay and beautiful.