Transcribed by David Price from the 1891 Hugh Jones, Llangollen, edition, email ccx074@pglaf.org

AN ACCOUNT
OF
VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY,
LLANGOLLEN.

And all the Recent Discoveries.

Price Twopence.

LLANGOLLEN: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HUGH JONES.
1891.

p. 2Valle Crucis Abbey.

The venerable ruin of Abbey de Valle Crucis—in other words, Abbey of the Vale of the Cross, or, as the Welsh call it, Mynachlog y Glynn, Mynachlog Glynn Egwestl, Mynachlog Llan Egwestl, Mynachlog Glyn Eliseg, and Mynachlog Pant y Groes—is situated in a lovely and sequestered valley, about two miles from Llangollen, on the right of the road towards Ruthin, and is approached by most delightful routes.

We go over the Dee Bridge and follow the road to the left, or we may take a walk for about a mile along the canal side (reached by the footpath leading through the wicket nearly opposite the Railway Station), passing over the third bridge, before reaching Pentrefelin Slate Wharf, into the road again.  About a quarter of a mile further on there is a gate leading to a field on the right, through which a path wends right to the grand old Abbey.  Those more inclined to drive the distance can have their demands satisfied at reasonable charges at the cab-stand and the hotels; while to those who would prefer gliding along the smooth water of the canal as far as Pentrefelin Wharf, ample opportunity is afforded by pleasure boats, which run at intervals daily in that direction.  Or the place may be reached by travelling per rail to Berwyn Station, then crossing the Dee by the Chainbridge, whence the distance to the Abbey is only half a mile.

The sequestered spot on which was built the Abbey in the year 1,200, by Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor, Lord p. 3of Dinas Bràn, and from which it takes its name, was known as Pant-y-Groes, or the Glen of the Cross, long prior to that time.  It was so called from a very ancient inscribed pillar or cross, the mutilated remains of which stand in an adjacent field.

The Abbey was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and belonged to a community of Cistercian monks, an order founded in France in the year 1098.  The remains of the Abbey Church are the most entire and picturesque part; but adjoining the southern side are the remains of the Abbot’s lodgings, consisting of the chapter house and dormitories above.

The church was built in the form of a cross, which was contrary to the form in common use prior to the twelfth century, and it is hence inferred that Madog availed himself of the aid of the Free Masons, as they were incorporated about this time, and were the chief undertakers of such works.  Sir Christopher Wren, in his Parentalia, describes their government as regular, and they were wont to make an encampment in huts.  A surveyor governed in chief; every tenth man being called a warden and overlooking nine.  They ranged from country to country as they found churches to be built, and are supposed to have first introduced the cruciform style for religious edifices.

The eastern end of the church appears the most ancient, and the three lancet-like windows have a very peculiar effect.  The northern side has been almost destroyed, and there is no vestige of the roof except in the eastern side of the southern transept.  The choir was without aisles, but each transept had one on the east side, which seem to have been used as chapels.

The west front of the church affords some admirable specimens of ancient Gothic architecture.  The chief entrance was through the ornamental pointed-arch gateway at the west end, over which is a fine window, consisting of three lancet-shaped arches, surmounted by a circular or rose window of eight divisions.  Above p. 4this window are the remains of a mutilated inscription, of which the following is probably a correct translation:—

“The Abbot Adam did this work.  May he rest in happy peace.  Amen.”

High up in the southern wall is to be seen a small loop-hole, communicating with a passage which leads over the vaulting of the southern transept aisle to the abbatial building adjoining the church.  This passage is now blocked up, but it is conjectured to have served either as a closet wherein the Abbot could attend service privately, or else as a place of confinement or penitence for the monks.  The architecture of this portion of the church corresponds in its style with the date of its erection, the commencement of the thirteenth century; the lancets, with their mouldings, are strictly of that date, and the capitals of the shafts, which are worked with great boldness, are of the late Norman period, rather than of that which is called early-pointed.

The side windows are each of two lights, the principal arch-head being solid, but pierced with a single aperture divided into six foliations.  Above these three windows run a kind of framework, similar in some respects to that at the eastern end of the choir.  On the external face of the western end are two bold buttresses of a single stage, that on the south-eastern side being pierced for loop-holes for a circular staircase formed in the thickness of the walls and itself.

From some numerals attached to the inscription before mentioned, it is inferred that the Abbey was in complete repair in 1500; it is certain that it was dissolved in 1535, and its rapid demolition shows that there was not much veneration exhibited by the people of the district for this once elegant structure, for many of the neighbouring churches benefited from its spoliation.  This was probably owing to the progress of the Reformation.  At Porkington, near Oswestry, the seat of Lord Harlech, in the saloon of the mansion, is a curious painting, part of the altar-piece of the Abbey; p. 5and in one of the dormitories was found a sepulchural monument, carved with running foliage, with this broken inscription:—

“Hic Jacet—Arvrvet.”

A perusal at this juncture of the following paper, read at a Congress of the British Archæological Society, held at Llangollen during the last week in August, 1877, by Mr. E. P. Loftus Brock, F.S.A., one of the honorary secretaries, will be advantageous:—

“The charming valley, surrounded with pleasant hills, which shut it out of the world beyond, the hardly audible ripple of the flowing streamlet, and the absence of any prospect save of the enclosing hills, alike tell us that this is the site of a monastery for monks of the Cistercian Order.  They would alone be sufficient to record it were the voice of history silent and the architectural arrangements untraceable.  At the back of the dormitory fireplace is a narrow room parallel with the former.  It is probably the muniment room, while I assign to the sacristan another small apartment at right angles, since it communicated by a passage over the vaulting of the south transept chapels with the niche before alluded to.  The cloister space has no trace of the cloister buildings, but from the position of the corbels for the roof-timbers, &c., and from the absence of the remains, it is probable that here, as in many cases elsewhere, they were formed of wood.  The foundation of Valle Crucis Abbey and its date have indeed been subjects of much doubt.  Sir W. Dugdale, on the authority of Leland, rightly ascribed the foundation to Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor, Prince of Powis, and assumed that this was about A.D. 1200.  We are indebted to an associate, Mr. Morris C. Jones, the active hon. secretary of the Powys Land Club, for a discovery of no small importance with reference to the history of the Abbey.  By a process of close reasoning he has demonstrated that one of the charters supposed by Dugdale to have referred to another building, in reality is the foundation charter of this Abbey, granted by Madog.  We learn by this discovery that Valle Crucis was an offshot from the less celebrated but parent Abbey of Strada Marcella, and that a few monks of that house were the first occupants here.  Philip is spoken of as being then the prior, showing that before the granting of the charter much preliminary work had been done.  We may accordingly with confidence consider him as the first prior, and place him at the commencement of the scanty list of those whose names have been recorded.  The foundation charter is undated, and we are therefore left no nearer to the verification of Dugdale’s guess, while Mr. Jones is led in support of his argument to devote much of his reasoning to prove that this spot was known then, and later by the old-sounding title of Llan Egwest.  It may be worth while here to say that one of the latest seals of the Abbey p. 6extant, in the Herald’s office of a date early in the sixteenth century, has this name on its legend, thus indicating that even at this late date Valle Crucis was known by its original name.  The buildings of the Abbey afford a perfect model, so far as they remain, of the arrangements of a Cistercian House, and we will survey these in order.  But it might be as well to announce than since no correct plan of these remains has yet been published, the council of this association has determined to have engraved one which was carefully prepared by the late Mr. S. Buckler, and which exists among many other papers of considerable interest which he bequeathed to the British Museum.  The church is of the usual cruciform type, an aisleless presbytery, transepts with two chapels forming an eastern aisle to each.  There has been a low square tower over the crossing, and a nave of six bays with two side aisles.  The extreme length is 165 feet, length of transept from north to south 98 feet, width of nave and aisles 67 feet 6 inches, width of chancel 30 feet, and of transept 30 feet.  It will be seen that the east and west gables are all but perfect, and that the north and part of the south walls of the chancel still remain.  Also those of the south transept and of the north aisle of the nave.  The south wall of the nave is almost perfect, but is hidden by the luxuriant ivy, which here and elsewhere adds so greatly to the beauty of the building in its state of ruin.  The bases of the nave piers are traceable—thanks to the careful clearance by Viscount Dungannon and Mr. Wynne in 1854.  The east end and the transepts are designed in a severe style of the First Pointed architecture, and the peculiar plaster buttresses of the exterior are more curious than beautiful; the treatment certainly indicates some local influence, but whether we should consider it as derivable from Dublin, as a late writer suggests, or as evidence of a Welsh school of architecture, is open to question.  The Principality is full of evidence of peculiar treatment of architectural detail, both of early and of late work, which seems to afford evidence that the old Welsh builders were not content to copy the style prevalent in England, but impressed upon them their own peculiar treatment.  The lofty eastern lancets spring from a height, which must always have been, for the size of the church, remarkably little above the pavement, and there is just a trace of a moulded arched label over the two upper lancets.  This arch probably indicated the line of the presbytery, whether of arched boarding or of vaulting.  The corbel table around the presbytery and transept walls is bold and peculiar, and is of two patterns.  The shafts internally afford some evidence probably of an intention of vaulting the ceiling, which was never carried out, and the sloping line of stone visible inside and out in the walls seems to be indicative that the west end of the chancel was once covered by a hipped roof.  This could only be prior to the erection of the central tower.  The other sloping line crossing is that of the roof of the sacristan’s passage to the loop.  The slit on the south side is from a curious little room and passage at the back of the monks’ dormitory.  A great many guesses have been made to determine p. 7the use of this passage and the loop-hole, probably from the abbot’s oriel in St. Bartholomew’s, London; it has been called the abbot’s closet.  It is, however, that for the sacristan, from which he would watch the perpetual lamp of the sanctuary at night.  The high altar has not stood touching the east wall, but away from it, as at Fountain’s Abbey and many other places.  The aumbry in the south wall has a semicircular arch, and has been double.  The bases of the four altars of the transept chapels are very apparent, and they have been covered with arcading.  They are attached, as is usual in these positions, to the east walls.  The intermediate arches dividing the chapels have probably been filled in only to a certain height, to allow of the picturesque effect being preserved.  Each of these altars is furnished with a piscina.  The northern altar of the northern transept has a detached pillar piscina.  The others have lockers in the wall in several instances, and the elegant and early carving of the brackets of the piscina will be observed with interest.  There are two floor drains to the north-east chapel.  The remaining arches of the transepts are designed in a very severe style, and the capitals are a tradition of some building of earlier date.  The borders of the arches are simple rectangles without even a chamfer, but the effect is excellent.  We may in the sheltered stonework of these chapels observe that the whole surface of the wrought stone has been covered with a film of plastering upon which coloured decorations are still traceable here and there.  This use of colour was forbidden in Cistercian houses, and I am for one glad to think that in some cases their rules were sometimes more honoured in their breach than in their observance.  The same is observable at Old Cleeve Abbey.  These traces of colour have not, I believe, hitherto been noticed, and another feature of interest may have attention directed to it.  Many of the stones have masons’ marks.  I collected readily a dozen or more different examples, besides others slightly different or reversed, and they deserve comparison with those that have been noted elsewhere.  It has sometimes been stated that all the buildings are of the same date, but a small amount of inspection will assure us that the east end is the oldest, say of a date within the first twenty years following that of the foundation; the transepts a little later, and the west front, as represented by its style, about 1,260.  The ground floor of the conventual buildings is of the same date as the transepts, the style possibly older, but the dormitory floor above is at least 150 years later than the foundation, since we cannot assign an earlier date than the middle of the fourteenth century.  The square-headed doorways have the same flowing mouldings as the windows; at this time the arches and flowing tracery of the chapter-house were added into the older openings.  The western lancet of the south transept is filled in with tracery of the fifteenth century date into the older opening.  There are traces of the use of stonework of earlier date than in these buildings.  The fireplace in the muniment room has an inscription which has often been given, which shows that it was once part of a p. 8tombstone.  The sill of the little unglazed niche looking from the room at the end of the dormitory into it has been part of an incised slab.  The present rough roof of the dormitory is modern, but the water tables in the south transept gable show that it is of the same pitch as the original one.  The door in the south side of the refectory is an unusual feature.  It was probably for hoisting up the trusses of straw for the monks’ beds, and for the passage of articles which could not be brought up the narrow day stairs.  Several rectangular apartments are indicated, and it is probable that the refectory extended north and south.  Just a trace of a wall at right angles to the day-room going west may be traced among the farm appliances at this corner, and also an angle buttress.  All the walls are constructed of their dark blue slaty stone, with dressings of reddish freestone, all of great durability and excellent workmanship.  The main windows of the church are not rebated for glass, and it is probable that they were filled in with stained glass secured to the iron stanchion bars, which have been numerous, and wedged into the stonework.  Since these would not be furnished with open casements, the ventilation of the building has been assisted by several small square apertures, the original putlog holes of the builders, but which are formed quite through the walls.  The income of Valle Crucis at the dissolution was £188 clear, and £214 3s. 5d. gross, and the largest of any Cistercian house in Wales; that of the parent abbey of Ystrad Marchel was only £64 14s. 2d.  The surrender was in the twenty-sixth Henry VIII., and was thus among the lesser monasteries.”

Commenting upon the foregoing, a lady well versed in the history of the Abbey writes that “Valle Crucis Abbey was founded, in 1199, by Madoc ap Gruffydd Maelor, Lord of Bromfield and Yale, for Cistercian monks.  Powell, in his History of Wales, makes no mention of its having any connection whatever with Strata Marcella, founded by his ancestor, Owen Cyfeiliog, Prince of Powis, fifty years or more previously; and no remark is made of Valle Crucis having had any of its revenues, as none of the charters of Valle Crucis prove in any way that such was the case.  It would take thirty years at least to build it, and, of course, changes would occur in that time.  The architecture is in this case an authority to go by: the east end is the first transition from Norman to Early English; and a few alterations have been made in the Church, the circular window at the west end being of a later date and put in by, Adam the Abbot about 1340.  The p. 9lancet window in the south aisle has had tracing put in subsequently, but not in the fifteenth century.  What remains of the conventual buildings is the Chapter-House, and the whole barn, and one of the dormitories.  The Cloisters which formed the square in front are all destroyed.  The Kitchen, Refectory, and Guest Hall were on the south side of the Cloisters, which are also destroyed.  The Abbey was purchased by Mathew Trevor in 1620–1625, not from such a person as Cneifiwr Glâs, whom Mr. Pennant calls a low-lived partizan of Cromwell’s (I don’t believe that Cromwell, as Protector of England, would have companionship with such a low fellow).  I have seen the conveyance for purchase between Sir Thomas Trevor, his Majesty (James I.), Lord Chief Justice, and Mathew Trevor, of Trevor.  I have this moment the panels of the pew doors in Llantysilio Church, dated M.T. 1630, in my possession.  The Abbey was not dissolved before 1538, and it was destroyed at the same time.”

By the removal of the rubbish in 1851, under the praiseworthy superintendence of Viscount Dungannon, by which the whole of the area was cleared, leaving the pavement and sides as they formerly existed, some interesting discoveries were made; among others, the tombs of benefactors buried in front of the high altar; a half-length figure of a knight in chain armour—Jenaf ap Adam of Trevor—and some fragments of his wife Myfanwy’s tombstone.  Another of a lady, with the following inscription:—

“Hic Jacet Gweirca filia Owein cuj.  Animæ propicietur Deus.  A.M. 1290.”

Another tombstone has a wolf on a shield, with an imperfect inscription:—

“Edwardus filius Yo.”

This stone is curiously carved with a chase.  A stone coffin was also found in one of the side chapels; the bases of five altars; a stone pulpit base, also those of the pillars that divided the nave and aisles; a few p. 10pieces of painted glass, and encaustic tiles.  A double benetoir, or holy water-vase, is in the arch near the tomb in the north transept.

Previous to these discoveries, while digging in the farm-yard adjoining for drainage purposes, at a short depth from the surface, were found the remains of eleven men, in a very small compass of ground, which goes far to prove that this was the common cemetery of the monks; and also a wedge-like stone, having carved on its front a hand, holding a vine or olive-branch, bearing fruit.  This stone was removed to Plas Newydd.

In this Abbey was also buried Iolo Goch, Lord of Llecryd, Owain Glyndwr’s bard.

The conventual buildings were re-roofed in 1878, after having been sadly neglected for many years.

In the year 1879 the whole of the modern out-buildings in close proximity to the Abbey were demolished, by which a far better view of the ancient structure is now obtained.

Another improvement was commenced in the year 1883—the clearing out of the chapter house, a part neglected and used as a farm house for many generations.  These excavations brought to light the bases of the pillars.

There are some fine old trees on the grounds, dating, we should say, three hundred years back, if not more; and hovering always about this hallowed spot will be seen a number of jackdaws, birds proverbially said to have a more than ordinary regard for old ruins, an ascription which may account for the fact that Valle Crucis Abbey is the only place in this part of the country where they make their home.

The following were some of the endowments of the Abbey:—Half the tithes of Wrexham, bestowed on it by Reyner, bishop of St. Asaph, who died in 1224; and the other half by his successor, Bishop Abraham, p. 11in 1227.  And Howel ap Ednyfed, another bishop, endowed it with those of Llangollen.  The monks also obtained the patronage of many other livings, such as Wrexham, Rhiwabon, Chirk, Llansantffraid, and Llandegla; but their title to these, as well as to Llangollen, was disputed by Bishop Anian, commonly known by the name of Y Brawd Du o Nannau, or the Black Brother of the House of Nanney, a dominican consecrated in 1268, who brought his cause before the Pope’s delegate, the official of Canterbury, and the Abbot of Taley, in Carmarthenshire, and obtained a decision in favour of himself and his successors; but as there was some doubt as to the patronage of the church of Llandegla, they allotted in lieu of it to the Abbey a third of the tithes of Bryneglwys.  In the year 1291, the abbot was found to have, near the monastery, a grange, with three plough lands, a mill, and other conveniences, valued at £3; the grange of Bodëang, Tregam, Rudrym, and Backeton, set for £5 10s.; the dairy farm of Nant, and the grange of Nystroyz, Convereth, and Grenny-champt, set for £3 19s. 8d.; also the grange of Wyrcesham, consisting of one plough land and some pasture, valued at 15s., and thirty cows at the expense of 30s.

The freemen of Llangollen made a grant of a fishery to the monks, in a part of the Dee near the town, and, for want of a seal of their own, they affixed to their grant that of Madoc, the founder of the Abbey.  The monks soon afterwards erected new works on the river, for the purpose of taking the fish; this caused a dispute between them and the freemen; and these last referred the matter for decision to the abbot and five monks of their own choice, who were to determine the matter upon oath.  Madoc and his secretary, John Parvus, appointed a day for the purpose; the assembly was held, the oaths solemnly administered, and the abbot and monks made the decision (as might have been expected), in their own favour.  They alleged they had p. 12bought the right of erecting what works they pleased, and of repairing them, from the heirs of Llangollen.  Madoc confirmed the decree, and the donation of a fishery, by an instrument dated 1234.

The revenues of the monastery at the time of its dissolution, in 1535, were £188 per annum according to Dugdale, but Speed reckons them at £214 3s. 5d.  The last abbot was John Hern, who received an annuity of £23 on his surrender.  This, together with £10 13s. 4d. to some of the brethren or surviving monks, were the only charges remaining in 1553.  It remained in the crown till the 9th of James I., who granted it to Edward Wotton, afterwards created Lord Wotton.  In 1654, we find a lady, Margaret Wotton, a recusant, to have been in possession, and that it was put under sequestration by order of the commissioners of the ruling powers.  The Abbey now belongs to Rice Thomas, Esq., who is the proprietor of the Trevor Hall Estate, and is under the charge of the Rev. H. T. Owen, by whose kind permission the visitor, on the payment of the small fee of 6d., may inspect the interior.

Through the exertions of the Rev. H. T. Owen, some very interesting excavations have been made of late years.  During the summer of 1888, Mr. Owen caused some investigations to be made in the Monks’ Dormitory, for by removing surface earth that accumulated there during the time it had been in ruins, five very interesting sepulchral slabs were discovered of very early date, not later than the tenth century.  There is one which has a Norman sword on it, and also an inscription which cannot be deciphered but with some degree of uncertainty.  It can be read as follows:—

“Jacet Oidus Madoc . . . Insignis Cele Ominu Crucis,”

which may be translated:—

“Here lies Owi dus Madoc, a distinguished Warrior of the Cross of Heaven.”

Another stone contains a beautiful floriated cross with a circle, which may be taken for the tombstone of an p. 13Abbot or Bishop.  There is another floriated circle, in splendid condition, with no inscription whatever.  The other two are simply fragments, one having the point of a spear very distinct, and on the other the old Grecian ornament.  As these stones form part of the vaulting of the slype, and are of much earlier date than the present Abbey, and were inserted there when the vaulting was erected, it is a certain proof that there must have been a religious house here long before this edifice was erected.  Some antiquarians make out one stone to be Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Hibernia.

During the year 1889, which was the year of the Queen’s visit to Llangollen, Mr. Owen started again to make further excavations.  This time he turned his attention to the excavation of the exterior of the north transept and aisle, and here he came upon the buttress of the north transept in splendid condition, also the plinth and buttresses of the north aisle, and at the north-west corner was found a magnificent buttress like a turret tower, and all in excellent state, as sharp as if they had been newly erected, although they had lain buried for centuries, and would have been still buried only for the exertions of Mr. Owen to make this noble ruins interesting to visitors.

In these excavations, between two buttresses, close to the foundations, was discovered a very interesting stone, about 5 ft. 6 in. long, containing a Knight Templar’s sword, or rather a double-handled sword, beautifully sculptured at the foot.  This was a very interesting find, and well worth any one’s inspection, especially antiquarians, to whom it must be of great interest, for this shows at once that the Knight Templars must have had something to do with the Abbey either in its erection or as Pilgrims.  Or there is another theory respecting this interesting stone:—Knight Templars were usually regarded as the military, and it is possible that a Knight Templar might have been killed in defending the Abbey in those troublous p. 14times, and possibly was buried close to the foundations, and this stone, which has no inscription, erected to his memory.

In this excavation was found some beautiful specimens of old stained glass of the thirteenth century, a few tiles, and several pieces of molten lead, which is a certain proof that it had been burnt down at some time or other, probably the same time as the Castle of Dinas Bràn, during the last struggle of the Welsh for their independency.

Valle Crucis now contains three things which are not found in any other Abbey, viz., the oldest Stone known to antiquarians, with a date on; Knight in Armour; and a Knight Templar’s tombstone.

Admission can be obtained by ringing the bell at the west entrance, which will bring the custodian to the door, who, with every courtesy, will conduct the visitor among the ruins and answer any queries respecting the same.

The Pillar of Eliseg.

Leaving the Abbey, let us now proceed through the adjoining meadow to the Pillar of Eliseg, to which we have previously referred.  It is situated in a field opposite the second milestone from Llangollen, and stands on a slight elevation, called Llwyn-y-Groes, or the Grove of the Cross.  Similar monuments were generally erected on a tumulus or sepulchral mound, and inclosed in a grove.

It is among the first lettered stones that succeeded the Meini-Hirion, Meini-Gwyr, and Llechau, and was erected by Concenn ap Cateli, in memory of his great-grandfather Eliseg, whose son, Brochmail Ysgythrog, p. 15Prince of Powys, grandfather of the founder of this rude monument of filial veneration, was engaged in the memorable border wars at the close of the 16th century, and was defeated at the battle of Chester in 1607.

It remained erect and entire until the civil wars, when some of Cromwell’s ignorant zealots, mistaking it for some Popish cross, overthrew and broke it, and it remained for more than a century in a prostrate state, until the Rev. John Price, Bodleian Librarian, uncle to the late Dr. Price, formerly of Llangollen, wrote to Trevor Lloyd, Esq., of Trevor Hall, who, with praiseworthy zeal, had its mutilated remains reared again into its base, which had not been removed, and placed upon it this Latin inscription:—

Quod hujus veteris monumenti superest diu ex oculis remotum et neglectum tandem restituit.  T. Lloyd, Trevor Hall, 1779.

Translated as follows:—

T. Lloyd, of Trevor Hall, at length, in the year 1779, restored what remains of this ancient monument, that had been for a long time removed from sight and neglected.

The Cross, or rather Pillar, was formerly twelve feet high, but at present is little more than eight feet, and is inscribed all round with letters.  It has a round band, resembling a cord, arranged as if in drapery, round an altar, with a ring in each compartment, part of which is either broken or worn away, but the form is clearly defined.  The inscription is now much defaced, but when the monument was restored, the characters were carefully copied by Mr. Lloyd, the great antiquarian of that period, who gives them as follows:—

Concenn filius Cateli—Cateli filius Brochmail
Brochmail filius Eliseg—Eliseg filius Cnoillaine
Concenn itaque pronepos Eliseg edificavit hunc
Lapidem proavo suo Eliseg.

The following seems to be the exact translation:—

Concenn, the son of Cateli; Cateli, the son of Brochmail;
Brochmail, the son of Eliseg; Eliseg, the son of Cnoillaine;
Concenn, therefore, the great-grandson of Eliseg, erected this
Stone to his great-grandfather Eliseg.

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