Introduction

Writing in 1768, in the patronising tones that the educated English once adopted towards the Welsh, the antiquary Richard Gough bemoaned the paucity of historical publications relating to Wales:

Very little pains have been taken by the natives or neighbours to illustrate the history and antiquities of this part of the island. Yet antiquity is the glory of every Welchman, and the spirit of competition with the later inhabitants of England one would have expected should fire their breasts with a desire to be known and celebrated beyond them. If their ancestors could not spare time to write about a territory which they could hardly defend, their descendants with secure tenure [now] have all the helps a living language and original records can afford.

Gough’s Anecdotes of British topography, devotes only twenty-eight pages to describing publications about Wales, compared with the 579 for England.[1] It is also clear that, with the single exception of Edward Lhuyd, the author had a low opinion of the Welsh as historians, (although he was basing his assessment solely on printed items in the English and Latin languages).

This attitude towards Welsh historiography, whilst partial and ill-informed, was nevertheless widespread in the early eighteenth century. It was symptomatic of a wider disdain for Welsh culture. According to Ned Ward writing in 1701, Wales was ‘the fag-end of Creation; the very rubbish of Noah’s flood’.[2] It was regarded as an utterly remote and backward corner of Britain, populated by (to use the words of Geraint Jenkins) ‘rude, uncouth and dishonest people’.[3] As far as most educated Englishmen were concerned, there appeared to be little documentary evidence, and few built antiquities in the Principality that were worthy of their attention or preservation.

It was the researches of Edward Lhuyd, which opened the eyes of the scholarly world towards the value of Welsh antiquities, philology and palaeontology.[4] Lhuyd’s contribution to Gibson’s edition of Camden’s Britannia in 1695[5], was much admired, but was only the precursor to his excellent Archaeologia Britannica, the first volume of which was published in 1705.[6] Sadly, in common with so many great works of this period, it was never finished. The author had expended all his energies in collecting a mass of materials and was not granted sufficient time to be able to organise and digest them. Lhuyd died in 1709, and seemingly with him the brief flowering of Welsh historical scholarship.

One of Lhuyd’s contemporaries at Oxford was a young Englishman named Browne Willis (1682-1760) who studied at Christ Church, and subsequently at the Middle Temple in London. In 1705 he was elected to Parliament for his native Buckinghamshire, but only served for three years before retiring to spend the remainder of his long and productive life as a country squire and antiquary. Somewhat uncharacteristically, Thomas Hearne made some initial charitable comments about him in his diary for December 1706,

He is an honest Gentleman & is well known for his Diligent Search into our English Antiquities, in wch (having a very good Estate) he may do considerable Matters, if he think fit to be generous.[7]

Hearne was to amend his view somewhat in later years.

Willis was an erratic and impulsive character much given to impatience. Although he was to spend almost the whole of his adult life living in Buckinghamshire, he was also a great traveller throughout Britain, and a prolific letter writer on matters relating antiquities. He would often write two or even three letters to a single correspondent in one week, in his impatience to receive replies. The following quotation from one of his letters well illustrates his temperament:

… no studys are so expensive as these, so none [are so] tedious, when those Gentlemen on whom the unhappy bewitched prosecutors of them depend fail & neglect to be communicative; cd your Grace conceive how vexatious it is you wd truly pity persons labouring under fruitless exspectations &c. I urge this that in case I should if I have the time be tempted to finish the remainder after next post (without staying for what I have not yet recd) that you may in some measure pardon me who think every Post an Age.[8]

In 1711 Hearne notes that Willis had spent the previous two years collecting materials for a history of his native Buckinghamshire,[9] and the following year he was circulating a detailed printed questionnaire to the gentry and clergy to the same end. In fact he spent the remainder of his long life (the next forty-eight years) collecting materials for this project, but never completed his task before his death in 1760[10]

Yet unlike many contemporary antiquaries, who spent their lives collecting materials but ultimately published little or nothing, Willis did have a prolific publishing career. He has left many other historical publications, and indeed he was far too prolific for the good of his ultimate reputation. Time and again contemporaries refer to “his haste and inaccuracy, or the carelessness of the [i.e. his] printers”.[11] Thus in 1715 and 1716 he published the first two volumes of his Notitia Parliamentaria, or historical notes on the counties, cities and boroughs of England and Wales.[12] He also embarked upon what he described as ‘pilgrimages’ to English abbeys, cathedrals, and conventual churches, which were to bear fruit in a series of ecclesiastical histories and surveys published between 1718 and 1730.

The earliest and most detailed of his ecclesiastical histories were his surveys of the four Welsh Cathedrals and their dioceses. He began with St David’s in 1716, followed by Llandaff in 1718/9, St Asaph in 1720 and Bangor in 1721.[13] They cannot be described as landmarks of historical scholarship – indeed by any standards they were hastily conceived, ill-planned and in many respects eccentric works, which were carelessly executed. Nevertheless the complicated inception and progress of each of them is unusually well documented in the manuscript collections of the National Library of Wales and the Bodleian Library. Likewise they were to have some impact upon both the study and the preservation of Welsh antiquities over the succeeding century, and are therefore worthy of attention. The earliest two of these works dealing with the southern dioceses of St David’s and Llandaff are particularly interesting in view of the deplorable state of the Church of England, in south Wales, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Surprisingly, these works have hitherto received little attention from historians and bibliographers.

Background

The one area where an ambitious and educated Englishman might at least come into contact with Wales and the Welsh people was through the established church. Despite the antiquity of the Christian church in Wales, under the church reforms instituted by the Norman Bishops the four Welsh dioceses were integrated into the ecclesiastical province of Canterbury. From the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the late 1530s until the Disestablishment of the Welsh church in 1920, these dioceses were a part of the Church of England. As such, they were far more likely to have English bishops and other senior clergy than Welshmen, and were regarded as legitimate steps up the ladders of promotion, that might ultimately lead to more lucrative and powerful appointments in the South and East of England.

Opinions vary as to the state of the Welsh church in the early eighteenth century, but none of the Welsh dioceses was particularly well endowed. The two dioceses in the north could at least provide respectable incomes for ambitious English clergy embarking upon their Episcopal careers. The remoteness from London and general lack of polite local society was not much of an obstacle for such men. Benjamin Hoadley, the fomenter of the so-called ‘Bangorian Controversy’ never set foot in his diocese during the five years in which he was Bishop. Even a scholarly, conscientious and essentially decent man such as Thomas Tanner, Bishop of St Asaph between 1732-1735, appears only to have spent the three summer months of each year in Wales. The remainder of his time was divided between London and Oxford.

On the other hand, the two southernmost dioceses were among the least attractive ecclesiastical appointments in the land, due to the poverty of the church in South Wales. As a result of decades of neglect, and outright corruption, many of the former church revenues were in the hands of lay impropriators rather than the clergy. Thus absenteeism and pluralism among the clergy was widespread. Erasmus Saunders in 1721 describes the diocese of St David’s as having been ‘robbed and pillaged’ of its wealth.[14] Likewise, according to Bishop Beaw of Llandaff:

I found my little bishoprick’s revenues wholly swallowed up, nothing more appearing of them than would defray the charges of the quantity of vinegar, pepper, salt, and fire spent in my house.[15]

Bishop Adam Ottley held the large See of St David’s whilst simultaneously retaining the less exalted, but far more profitable office of Residentiary Canon at Hereford Cathedral, where he inevitably spent most of his time. On those occasions when he came in to Wales, usually during the summer months, he might only get as far as his palace at Builth, rather than make the journey to his cathedral.[16] In any event, the Bishop’s palace at St David’s had been allowed to fall into ruins during the seventeenth century.

In such circumstances of penury and neglect it is no wonder that the fabrics of many of the churches were allowed to fall into disrepair during the seventeenth century. Many British cathedrals were damaged or neglected to some extent during the Civil War and Commonwealth periods, but those in Wales suffered much more because they were in poor shape beforehand, and subsequently there was no money to make good the depredations. Likewise no value was associated to many of documentary and manuscript evidences of the church in Wales and priceless collections were either destroyed or dispersed. In a letter to Thomas Tanner, in April 1698, Edward Lhuyd referred to:

Great part of our writings have without doubt been long since burn'd and destroy'd and many of them of late years, for as Mr Roberts a clergyman in this Country tells me, he saw heaps of parchment Books & Rolls burnt at St Davids during the late Civil Wars, and did himself, being then a Schoolboy, there carry several out of the Library for the sake of the Guilt letters.[17]

It was in these circumstances, and against this historical background, that Browne Willis undertook his surveys.

The survey of St David’s

In spite of the date of 1717 on the title page, Willis’s Survey of St David’s, was compiled and printed during the first half of 1716, and completed copies were available for sale in the September of that year. Yet, he had neither finalised the overall contents of his work, nor indeed written much of the text, by May, although it was by then midway through the printing process. This was fairly typical of the way in which he worked.

Writing to Bishop Ottley in the June, Willis also made a curious admission concerning his decision to undertake the work.

I cheerfully undertook, getting an Acct drawn up of it, notwithstanding I was no ways qualifyed for it; it being one of the only cathedrals in England [sic] I have not seen; and so consequently my describing it, will look ridiculous in the eyes of my Friends.[18]

A further admission was given in the copious list of Addenda and Corrigenda provided at the end of the work:

The Reader is desir’d to excuse the above-mention’d Errata’s being swoln to this unreasonable Bulk, on Account of the Author’s Distance from the Press, Want of Skill in the Welsh Names, &c. which he is willing to expose, rather than omit the Opportunity of revoking any Error he may have committed.

St David’s was the most remote Cathedral in the Province of Canterbury. Large packets, such as manuscripts or proof sheets, took eleven days to be conveyed by carrier between Carmarthen and London to which an extra day would need to be added at each end. So what was it that possessed Willis to begin his series of ecclesiastical surveys here? The answer is set out in the preface to his work.

First, The Representations made to me, that the Cathedral Church of St. David’s was in so ruinous a Condition, that is was in daily Likelihood of falling.

Secondly, That there being no Draught or Charters, &c. relating thereto by the Editors of the Monasticon, and few Persons I had ever met with being able to give any tolerable Account thereof,…

Thirdly, I was farther instigated to this Performance (however unqualify’d for it) by Reason I am perswaded my Publication hereof will be a Means to extort from a very ingenious Friend or two, something of this Nature in Relation to other Cathedrals;…

Lastly, I was farthemore promp’d to persevere in this Design, by the extraordinary Friendship and Communicativeness of the most worthy Bishop Dr Ottley.

This last comment must have been something of an afterthought for it was not until May 1716 when the work was largely written and half printed that he began his interesting correspondence with the Bishop.

The content of the work is also unusual, at least by modern standards. In common with other contemporary historical works, it does not present a single coherent narrative, but rather consists of discrete parts written by different hands, and presented in somewhat arbitrary order. Each of these will be considered separately.

The first ninety pages of the text are in the form of two letters to Willis ‘from his obliged friend and faithful servant M.N.’; dating from the winter of 1715/6 and March 25, 1716 respectively. They were written by his friend and former teacher William Wotton - the M and N being the last letters of each name. Wotton was a considerable scholar and linguist having published an erudite Reflections upon ancient and modern learning in 1694, and an epitome of George Hickes' Linguam veterum Septentrionalium thesaurus in 1708. However he was forced to leave England and live in Carmarthen under the name of Dr Edwards for many years, in order to avoid his creditors.[19] Thus Willis’s information about the state of the cathedral came from Wotton, who contributed nearly half of the finished text. However it was the younger man Willis who had the financial resources and the proximity to London that were then necessary to see the work into print. Five years earlier, Willis had described his former tutor as “a very debauch’d man, & that by his Folly he is like to be undone”[20], and their relations with one another were at times ill-tempered. Yet in spite of this, the two men continued to correspond and indeed to collaborate on all four surveys.

The first of Wotton’s two letters contains a contemporary description of the cathedral, its monuments, the Episcopal Palace and various associated buildings. It is in the form of a structural survey of the building, with associated notes, and represents a sorry tale of neglect and depredation.

The Roofs of both these Isles were taken off, and the Windows demolish’d, in the Rebellion; and it is currently reported at St David’s, that the Lead was carried to Swanzey in Glamorganshire, to cover the Market House.[21]

The tower contain’d formerly seven Bells, but now it has no more than three; and even those cannot be rung. The Bell that tolls to Church, is a very sorry one, and the Bell-windows having been lately almost entirely stop’d up to secure the Building, it very difficultly is heard even at Hand.[22]

The chapel roof is …curiously arch’d with stone, but now going to decay apace ... so that it is fear’d it will soon break in and fall by the Stress of the Weather which is often very tempestuous in these parts[23] (p.23).

He also gives some colourful historical anecdotes such as when describing the tomb of Marmaduke Lloyd

It is much defac’d, … there were at first, three images clamp’d with Iron into the Monument. These images are now headless having been defac’d by the Rebels. An old Gentleman, one Mr Williams, above 90 Years of Age, Vicar-Choral of St David’s, told me a remarkable Story, of which he said he was himself an Eye-Witness. When the Rebels took away these Images, and beat of their Heads, they took one of them, and impiously carry’d it to the Font by the West-Door, and there attempted to Christen it according to the Form prescrib’d in our Liturgy. But whilst they stood at the Font, the Head fell down upon the Toe of one of the Company; he complain’d Instantly of the Bruise, and it gangren’d; and tho’ they took what Care they could, he dy’d in a very few Days. [24]

Wotton later had cause to repent some of his outspoken comments, and asked Willis to tone down some of the observations planned for a second edition of the work. For as he explained:

St Davids is not a ruinous Church, so it cannot wthout an injury to y^e present set of Canons be sayd to be so. Besides every thing y^t you say will be layd upon me, who despair not of being a Canon there before I dy;[25]

In spite of being a considerable linguist (believed to have been the first Englishman ever to have preached a sermon in the Welsh language), and one of the few Englishmen to warrant a place in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography, Wotton was never to achieve his ambition, of a stall at St David’s. It was perhaps for the reason of his forthright description, and implicit criticism of his colleagues.

The Survey of St David’s also includes a number of engravings; one of the ichnography of the Cathedral and another of its southern elevation, were clearly intended to be used in conjunction with Wotton’s description. These were executed by Joseph Lord of Carmarthen, apparently a professional surveyor, who appears to have been recruited by Wotton and perhaps worked alongside him. The engraver was described by Willis as “some poor starved wretch, who because he does them at his Leisure, is to doe them at half price”.[26] Whether he was being deliberately unflattering or not is unclear, for the engravings were executed by the Dutchman Michael Burghers, one of the most notable contemporary engravers, who was 'sculptor' to Oxford University in 1692. The ichnography was dedicated to Arthur Charlett, master of University College Oxford, and the south elevation to Bishop Ottley. Two further engravings between pages 90 and 91 illustrate fifty-two coats of arms found in the cathedral; these are untitled and without any name of illustrator or engraver.

The second printed letter from Wotton contained a thirty-six- page account of the cathedral and town selected, transcribed and annotated from an Elizabethan manuscript by an unknown writer. It was accompanied by a third engraved illustration and printed description of the coats of arms that were in the cathedral about the year 1590, all of which were lost during the Rebellion. The juxtaposition of the two accounts, written a century and a quarter apart, served only to highlight the level of dilapidation that had taken place.

The next main section of text (comprising pages 91 to 178) consists of biographical accounts of the archbishops and bishops, precentors, chancellors, treasurers and various archdeacons of the cathedral. This section appears to have been the responsibility of Willis himself, and was compiled whilst the first section was being printed. Indeed his first approach to Bishop Adam Ottley in May 1716 was in a frantic attempt to solicit his assistance in filling gaps in his text.

I begg y^r Grace will sett mee right in these things; & by the first oppertunity, the press has stood still above these 2 months, & I have 2 other works on the stocks; & putting off this will be an inconvenience, for when my thoughts are more cooled abt it I cant so well resume it & I must not continue to interrupt my other affairs for it ....[27]

Ottley appears to have acceded to this request with good grace and marked additions to proofs of the remainder of the sheets, and also provided many of the additions and corrections to those, which had already been printed. Thus, although Willis was the author, substantial parts of this section were collated from existing historical works, or taken from notes supplied by Wotton and Bishop Ottley. Generally this section is of less interest and value since much of it deals with the subsequent careers of Englishmen who just happened to be passing through St David’s diocese en-route to better things elsewhere - men such as William Laud or Roger Mainwaring: two of Charles I ill-fated Episcopal appointments.

The remainder of the work consisted of an account of the parishes, and various transcripts of documents such as the cathedral statutes of 1379, together with a schedule of records in the Tower of London relating to the cathedral. However on page 193 there was a typical Willis afterthought, which must have driven his printers, and his readers to distraction.

Since the compleating of this Work, and the Preface, I unexpectedly receiving Bishop Davies and Bishop Rudd’s Inscriptions, with an Account of their monuments, beg Leave to insert them here, and to subjoin a review of the 52 Coats of Arms plac’d after Page 90.

A copy of the completed work was sent with a letter to Arthur Charlett, in September 1716, which apologises for some of the blunders in the work, and solicits his opinion of the performance. [28] Willis was also anxious to learn what his acerbic friend Thomas Hearne was saying about his work, which according to the latter’s diary was not very flattering:

My friend Mr. Browne Willis’s book about St. David’s (the first part whereof was done by William Wotton, B.D., who is little better than a madman) is much condemned as a very poor’ slight, and very defective and faulty performance.[29]

To their credit, a number of Welsh clergy from the diocese (including the poverty stricken lexicographer William Gambold) ignored the effrontery of the Englishman and quietly supplied him with masses more materials and corrections.[30] A closely printed single page of ‘Erata’ was quickly issued to accompany the work, and this was soon afterwards replaced by the two pages of ‘Addenda and Corrigenda’ which is to be found in many copies. Both Willis and Bishop Ottley also kept interleaved copies of the work in which many additional materials were included,[31] which the author intended to incorporate in a second volume dealing also with the remaining three Welsh cathedrals. However it quickly became apparent that a revised edition was required, and in any event he was later forced to change his plans, and publish three further volumes. Indeed by 1720 Willis had to admit “my Additions to St Davids will make a 2d volume bigger than the first”.[32] Willis spent many years collecting further materials and envisaged compiling a far more detailed and accurate history of the diocese, but unfortunately never did so. He was always simultaneously engaged upon other things that ultimately captured his attention and money.

Browne Willis’s cavalier attitude to his printers and publishers is also outlined many times in his correspondence. The workmen were expected to put up with his erratic temper and insults, respond to his frequent changes in plans or peremptory requests to provide extra proofs or else to hold up the press pending the inclusion of new material. No doubt the wealthy author had to pay for his lack of planning and method when the publisher’s account was settled. Somewhat surprisingly Willis stuck with the same publisher (Robert Gosling at the Mitre and Crown against St Dunstan’s Church in Fleet Street) throughout the greater part of his publishing career, in spite of frequent resolutions to find another. Once again one quotation will serve for many other of a similar nature:

Gosling has 2 or 3 letters from mee to send mee duplicate proofs that I might dispatch one of them to y^r Lrdshipp. He takes no notice of it, & is such a stupid fellow & withall so careless that he seldom answers half my letters at any time. I am now out of all Patience & must be obliged to give him over; I assure y^r Ldshipp for all my pressing Instances I have not had more than one sheet printed above this Fortnight & the real cause I dare say is that the poor fellow he employees is engaged in another work & has not a Font of letters to goe on with both more than half a sheet at a time. I have several pages compleated for want of capitals & I am truly so vext & ..... that I have took no notice of his letters this week in which he is even with mee by taking little of mee & so that case stands till I see another proof or more wrought of.[33]

The financial basis upon which the work was published is not specified, and may have been subject to negotiation, although undoubtedly the author bore the brunt of the financial risk.

I dare say as my Bookseller treates mee I shall be the best part of 20li out of pocket in relation to St Davids, I askd several persons I knew to be at the charge of the plates but they all declined it & I was unwilling to be an universal publick beggar therefore when I had pd for them out of my own pocket (which was the reason I inscribed them as I did) I thought my labour and pains merit Mr Gosling disburstments which I insisting upon is, I judge, the cause why he declines to come near mee till after publication by which he may make an estimate of the sale of the Book & whether worth his while to refund:[34]

Without doubt this was a somewhat ill-planned, carelessly executed and haphazardly written work containing different elements which have been cobbled together by a man largely unqualified to do so. Yet in spite of its many and obvious shortcomings the Survey of St David’s appears to have had some impact upon the learned world. One interesting response was received from W. Ford in London, which included a draft Act of Parliament intended to tax imported bricks and tiles in order to help the diocese:

Having read over your Account of the miserable state of St Davids Church I could not help thinking how to mend it & therefore thought a Tax so contrived & which is laid on nothing necessary to life would be the most likely to pass being an hardship to none. The Churches in London were rebuilt by a Tax on Coals gathered at the place but the town of St Davids is unable to raise mony & therefore if the whole Kingdom contributes it must be the least burthensome way.[35]

This idea came to nothing of course, but perhaps the greatest impact of the work was in starting the slow process of raising awareness of the deplorable state of this remote diocese.

Willis’s work was undoubtedly instrumental in encouraging the subsequent publication of Erasmus Saunders’s far more hard hitting account, A view of the state of the religion in the diocese of St David’s, in 1721. There was regrettably little remedy to the fabric during Willis’s lifetime, but ultimately in 1793 a subscription was raised for the rebuilding of the West front, by the architect John Nash, whose plans were submitted to the Society of Antiquaries.

The survey of Llandaff

Even before Willis completed the account of St David’s he was planning to cover the remaining Welsh Cathedrals in a like manner, and his attention was particularly drawn to one in an even worse state - that of Llandaff. He explained his plan in a letter to Ottley, in which he addresses the Bishop as if he were the Archbishop of the ancient ecclesiastical province of Wales

I should be glad all y^r Suffragan Bpps Cathedrals were done in like manner especially poor --daff where I have been; I hope I have some friends, on the Road thither now tho: I will not pretend to doe it as I have done its Metropolitan & if I draw up it hope to find a place for it in another work. When that church is down and perished it may perhaps be some qualifications even to the most Incurious to have some representations given of it.[36]

In this case, the author did at least have the advantage of having previously seen the building himself before he embarked upon writing about it. His one attempt at visiting St David’s (after the publication of his account) had to be abandoned because of distance involved and deteriorating weather.

The other essential difference between the two works however, was that whereas the account of St David’s was compiled with the co-operation of the Bishop and clergy – that of Llandaff was published despite their determined opposition. The reason for this opposition will be considered later.

Once again the author explained his motives in a prefatory epistle, dated 7 October 1718.

I printed about two Years ago a Survey of the Cathedral Church of St. David’s, of which no exact Draughts or Accounts had till then been communicated to the Publick; so I thought my self for the same Reason, besides others peculiar to Llandaff, more strongly engag’d to publish some Account of that Cathedral, which is fall’n into a most deplorable Decay within these few Years: That in like manner as Sir William Dugdale observes in his excellent History of St. Paul’s, by representing its Fabric and Monuments, in Paper and Ink, the Shadows of them, I might become instrumental in transmitting of what they once were to Posterity. Wherefore it was, that out of a sad Contemplation lest so glorious a Structure as this Church, honour’d by being the ancientest Bishops See in the Kingdom, (as we have evident Authority to shew) rais’d, enrich’d, and beautify’d , by the Piety of so many noble Founders, should be utterly destroy’d, and become a wofull Spectacle of Ruin, that I forthwith (being thereunto excited by the Rumour of a projected Design to remove the See hence to Cardiff) apply’d to the same learned Gentleman that assisted me in drawing up my Survey of … St. David’s, and prevail’d with him to send me a Description of this Church of Landaff also …

The work is equally disjointed as that of St David’s, but the overall pattern is similar with detailed differences. The work begins with a 34 page description of the cathedral, as it stood in 1717, again by William Wotton, together with a seventy page biographical account of the bishops and senior clergy by Browne Willis. Thus the main text ends at page 104. A further 108 pages were taken up by Appendices containing transcripts of various documents. Followed by six pages entitled “Quaedam Addenda & Corrigenda”.

The reason for the lack of balance between the text and appendices is here explained:

As to the length of the Appendix, if that is also objected to, the Author has this to Alledge, viz. That when he sent the first part of this Book to the Press, he had a view of including the other two Welsh Cathedrals, viz. St. Asaph and Bangor; and printing some supplementary Additions and Corrections to St David’s; but being delay’d receiving some Materials, he flatters himself that publishing Landaff singly will meet with this Advantage, of his having imparted to him any necessary Additions and Corrections, which he would freely insert, when Opportunity offers, in a proper Place.

Willis’s historical method appears to have been to publish first and then wait to be supplied with corrections and additions.

Wotton’s survey provides a few explicit examples of neglect – for example referring to the organ-loft where “there are some shatter’d Remains of an Organ within a wooden Case, with some of the Pipes lying loose and disorder’d”[37], or an uneven roof occasioned by “the sinking of timbers … and falling in places”.[38] However, far more damaging was the overall assessment provided:

This Church cannot, by any Means be said to have been well kept. It was not many Years ago since the Roof was so decay’d, that the rain which fell into the Choir, often interrupted Divine Service. Now, indeed, that Convenience is well enough prevented; but the whole Fabrick is out of Order. The Walls, however, seem to be pretty strong every where, except in the old Tower; and the Stone-Frames of the Windows tolerably entire; so that it might still be made, without great Expence, considering the Largeness of the Structure, a very decent Cathedral. But the Revenues of the Church is so small, that, without foreign Assistance, much cannot be done under a very long Compass of Time.[39]

The report goes on to hint at possible financial irregularity:

The Service of the Choir has been put down many Years, and the Revenues thence arising appropriated to the Reparation of the Edifice. Whether that Complaint is true, which is pretty general, that the Monies so appropriated have not been duly expended, pursuant to the original Design of the Appropriation, is not my Business to enquire.

Willis had a friend (perhaps a relation) named Thomas Willis who was precentor of Llandaff, and in view of the seriousness of the allegations he took the precaution of showing him Wotton’s report prior to its publication. Not surprisingly it elicited a furious response, and alerted the other cathedral clergy to the author’s intentions:

I am sorry to find such a spirit of prejudice and ill-will, and a great Inclination to find fault running thro' ye whole of it, wch breaks out in a great many untrue assertions, unjust suppositions, malevolent & unkind reflections; wch if published as y^y now stand, will bring no reputation to ye authour, ye Editor, or ye preformance. … Had I known your design before ye last Chapter, I'd have endeavoured to to have procured you a better & truer account of the present state of that Church. Whether you have consulted one or our members besides my self I know not but consider I beseech you my good friend whether it is likely that the Bp & Chapter of Landaff sh'd incourage a performance wch y^y may justly take for a Libel drawn up against y^m.[40]

Thomas Willis offered a number of detailed corrections and explanations, but really wanted to see the whole of the quoted passages removed. However, Wotton’s report was also shown to Francis Davies (Vicar Choral at Llandaff, who also held a living in St David’s) who wrote in March to confirm the financial mismanagement, and provided details of exactly where the choir revenues were being used.[41] On the same day Willis received another long letter, signed J.D. attacking the proposed move of the See to Cardiff, and pointing out that although the diocesan revenues were poor there were twice as many prebendaries in this church as in Norwich, Bristol, Gloucester, and other English cathedrals. One solution, the writer proposed, was to leave half of these stalls vacant, and to use the monies thus saved to repair the fabric.[42] There was undoubtedly a degree of political intrigue and infighting among the local clergy concerning the fate of their cathedral.

Browne Willis was in a difficult situation with such conflicting accounts and appears to have visited the cathedral for a second time in the summer of 1718 to verify the situation, as is apparent from a somewhat bad tempered letter from Wotton.

I find you have been at Landaff, so y^t your Friend Mr Tho. Willis need have expressed their Rage against yor humble servt. But what you say, say of yourself. I desire to be at quiet. … I am sory I could not meet you at Brecon as you proposed but my Affairs would not give me leave: & indeed I stirr very little abroad. It is expensive & expenses are what I cannot in any measure bear.[43]

In the event Wotton’s report was printed largely as written, thereby incurring the lasting enmity of the cathedral chapter.

In essence, the Llandaff chapter had given up the struggle and now wanted to be rid of the burden of maintaining the decrepit building in their charge with denuded revenues. They wished to take the pragmatic course of action of abandoning their cathedral to the elements, moving the See to the nearby market town of Cardiff, whilst retaining the revenues that they had. The very last thing they wanted was for outsiders to start advertising the plight of their building or look closely at the way in which they were using its depleted resources.

On this occasion there are three engravings (an ichnography, a south prospect and a west prospect) again executed by Joseph Lord and engraved by Michael Burgher. Willis had originally hoped to secure both the help and patronage of Bishop Tyler regarding the financing of the engravings, and in July 1716 he asked Ottley to speak to him on his behalf.[44] However he was to be disappointed as is clear from a letter to Ottley eighteen months later

I presume y^r Grace will much approve of the description of Landaff & the 2 plates engaven of it one of which I should be very proud to Inscribe to y^r Grace if you will permit … I thought the Bp of ---daff might have accepted of it but … he excuses it, least it should cost him 3 guineas, wch I assure you I shall not ask of y^r Grace for I can make the Bookseller pay for it & he has done already as he did for that of St Davids wch I wd not have had him pickt your pockett about[45]

The engraving of the south prospect was indeed dedicated to Ottley. That of the ichnography to his friend to Thomas Cartwright, of Aynhoe, Esq. (to whom the entire work was dedicated) and that of the west prospect to the antiquary Roger Gale.  A note at the end of his work indicates that the engravings, as finally executed were likely to have been a further cause of anger to members of Landaff the chapter.

If it be objected, That on engraving the Draughts of the Church, the Pinnacles of the Towers ought to be represented as they remain at present in their ruinous Condition, to this it may be reply'd, That forasmuch as the Revenue belonging to the Choir, has been appropriated to be expended on the Reparation of the Fabrick; so it is to be hoped, by the late Care taken in the stopping out the Rain from falling in to the Choir, &c. that such farther Provision will be made in applying to these good Uses, as to rebuild the Pinnacles, in like Manner as they stood heretofore, or according to the present Mode of Architecture, to exceed what they were originally.[46]

Whereas the main text had been completed and printed by the end of 1717, the work was ultimately not ready for sale for a further twelve months. This was partly due to the controversy over its contents, but there was also a further reason for the delay outlined in a letter to Ottley on 5 November 1718.

I have now done with Landaff & hope it will be published in a Fortnights time as it might have been 2 months agoe but for the Bookseller lost pt of my copy & I did not return home till last month to renew it,[47]

Copies of the work were sent to various friends and also William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1718, and appear to have had an immediate impact. In acknowledging his copy the Archbishop commented

It is a melancholly acct you give of that Ch. & the abuse committed in the revenues of it. I wish somebody would complain of it in Form to Me: I would use my best Endeavours to reddress.[48]

What happened thereafter is not recorded, but the plan to move the See to Cardiff was quietly dropped, and two years later the authors found themselves “reflected upon in the Preface to a printed sermon preached at Llandaff, ‘upon the Reverence due to the house of God’”.[49]

However there was yet one further complication to the story of the book’s publication. Willis appears to have withdrawn the work soon after publication and then re-issued it four months later with yet more material. Writing to Hearne in the April 1719 he talks about ‘expecting his book about Llandaff next week’.[50] Most surviving copies of the work contain ten further pages, separately signed and paginated and apparently printed in 1719. The extra pages are entitled 'Diocese of Llandaff' and list the names of 238 parish churches and chapels in the dicoese (including eight that were ruined), together with their patrons in 1719, and the religious houses to which they were anciently appropriated.[51]

As was the case with St David’s Willis subsequently collected many further addenda which were compiled into a large appendix, but which was never published. Likewise his correspondence over the next thirty years contains many further letters to senior church dignitaries upon the subject of the state of the cathedral, including various schemes and proposals for raising funds towards its restoration. Most of these came to nothing and the story of the cathedral during the remainder of the eighteenth - and early nineteenth centuries is one of continuing decay and neglect, until the far-reaching restorations of 1857. Willis’s work did however have the effect of alerting the world to the sorry state of the cathedral, and preventing the Chapter from quietly ignoring the problem until it fell down around them.

Browne Willis went on two complete the two further surveys, of St Asaph and Bangor over the next two years. He was now more experienced in his task, and had the co-operation and encouragement of the Bishops concerned, but each of them had an equally complex genesis and was subject to many afterthoughts and changes of plan. However detailed consideration of the compilation and production of these works will have to wait to another occasion.

Conclusion

Some of the comments contained in the letters of congratulation received by Willis from his friends display a prevalent anti-Welsh prejudice. For example, Thomas Tanner writing in November 1719 commented:

I was very glad to hear that you were return'd safe home from your mountainous expeditions, and that you had with your own eyes seen what little was remaining at three of your Welsh Cathedrals - toward the preserving whose Fabricks and the memoirs of their dignitaries you have done more than all their Bards Genealogists & Historians put together.[52]

Likewise Richard Rawlinson wrote:

I received with great satisfaction your present of Landaff for which the world will as I do, return you their thanks: I am the more pleased to see ought of Wales as it lyes much out of the world, and will hardly be ever visited by strangers, which neither the people nor country itself will invite thither.[53]

These were not fair comments, and it is to be hoped that Tanner, at least, had cause to revise his opinions when he was appointed to the See of St Asaph more than a decade later.

Willis’s works are confused, inaccurate, and poorly executed. Yet they did have a value in raising consciousness, in England, of a problem that was festering in Wales. Perhaps the dilapidated state of the south Wales cathedrals can be seen as a metaphor for the neglected and corrupt state of the established Church in Wales at this time, and as such, these works may have been the first seeds in the long process of reform.

Appendix - Bibliographical Descriptions

Transcription: [within two rules] A | SURVEY | OF THE | CATHEDRAL CHURCH | OF | St. DAVID's, | AND THE | Edifices belonging to it, | as they „ood in the Year 1715. | To
which is added, | Some Memoirs relating thereto and | the Country adjacent, from a MS | wrote about the latter End of Queen | Elizabeth's Reign. | TOGETHER, | With an Account
of the Arch-Bishops, | Bishops, Precentors, Chancellors, | Treasurers, and Arch-Deacons of | the See of St. DAVID's. | [rule] | Colle �ed by BROWNE WILLIS, Esq; | [rule] | Illu Œrated with Draughts, and adapted to the | $aid HiŒorical De$cription. | [rule] | LONDON: | Printed for R. Gosling, at the Mitre  and Crown | again„ St. DunŒan's Church
in Fleet-Œreet. 1717. |

Collation: 8^vo (in 4s): p¹ A-2C⁴ 2D⁴; $2 signed (L2 mis-signed ‘E2’, - P2); [i-x], 1-202, [203-211] pages.

Page length 30 lines [plus headline and direction line] per page.

Engravings:

1. [Two folding plates between A4 and B1.]

'The Ichnography of St David's Cathedral' dedicated to A. Charlet, Josephus Lord Maridunensis delineavit. M. Burg sculp.

'The South Prospect of the Cathedral Church of St David.' dedicated to Adam Ld. Bishop of St David's,  J. Lord delin., M. Burg sculp.

2. [Two engraved pages each containing 26 coats of arms – No title, delineator or engraver given - merely the binder’s directions “pag.90.” and “pag.91”]

Contents: p1^a title, p1^b blank, A1^a-A4^b The Prefatory Epistle to Thomas Symonds of Sugwas, Herefordshire, dated St James’s Day 1716. B1^a-F3^a  Memoirs of the Cathedral-Church of St. David’s, and the edifices belonging to it. F3^b-N1^b Memoirs relating to the Cathedral-Church of St. David’s, and the Country  adjacent. Signed M.N, dated March 25, 1716. N2^a- 2B4^b Some Account of the Arch-Bishops, Bishops, Precentors, Chancellors, Treasurers, and Arch-Deacons of the See of St. David's. 2C1^a-2D1^b [Addenda] "Since completing this work and the preface, I unexpectedly receiving [etc…]" 2D2^a-2D4^b A General Index.

Paper: Unmarked

Types: Text 94mm (roman and italic)

Shoulder notes 64mm (italic)

Notes:

1.      Published prior to 14 Sept 1716 (NLW Ottley Ms 1744). Price 5s.

2.      Some copies examined are in the state described above. Other copies also include a single page of ‘Errata’ placed immediately before the title page. In a third state the Errata have been replaced by an additional leaf (2D5^a-b ) ‘Addenda and Corrigenda’,.

Transcription - original state: A | SURVEY | OF THE | Cathedral- Church | OF | LANDAFF. | CONTAINING | The In%criptions upon the | Monuments, |  with an Account of the Bishops and | other Dignitaries belonging to the %ame; | what other Preferments they enjoy'd; | And the Times of their Decea%e, Places | of Burial, and Epitaphs. | To which is %ubjoin'd | A large APPENDIX of Records, and other | curious Matters, relating thereto. | [rule] | Colle �ed by BROWNE WILLIS, E%q; | [rule] | Adorn'd with Draughts of the $aid Church, in order to | illuŒrate the De$cription thereof. | [rule] | LONDON: | Printed for R. Gosling, at the Mitre  and Crown | again„ St. DunŒan's  Church in FleetŒreet. 1719.

Transcription - 2nd state: [within two rules] A | SURVEY | OF THE | Cathedral- Church | OF | LANDAFF; | CONTAINING | An ACCOUNT of all the In$criptions on the | Monuments and Grave-stones; the Hi„ory | of the Bi ‚ops, and other Dignitaries belonging to the | %ame; their %everal Preferments, Times of Decea%e, | Burial and Epitaphs. With a large APPENDIX | of RECORDS  and other curious Matters, relating to | LANDAFF Church and Bi ‚oprick. | To which is subjoin'd | An exa� LIST of all the  Churches and Chapels in this | DIOCESE; di„ingui‚ed under their proper Archdea- | conries and Deanaries; to what Saints dedicated, who [sic] |  Patrons of them, and to what Religious Hou%es appro- | priated: And illu„rated with a Draught of the Ichno- | graphy and Upright
of LANDAFF Cathedral. | [rule] | By BROWNE WILLIS, Esq; | [ two rules] | LONDON: Printed for R. Gosling, at the Crown | and Mitre, over-again„ Fetter-lane, Fleet-Œreet.

Collation: 8^vo (in 4s): p² A-2E⁴ 2F²; $2 signed; [i-iv], 1-228 pages. [Most surviving copies in the 2^nd state have an additional section  ²B^{4 2}C¹; 1-10 pages.]

Engravings: [Three folding plates between p2 and A1.]

1.      'The Ichnography of the Cathedral Church of Landaff'' dedicated to Thomas. Cartwright of Aynho, Josephus Lord delin. M. Burg sculp.

2.      'The South Prospect of Landaff Cathedral Church' dedicated to Adam Ld. Bishop of St David's,  Josephus Lord delin., M. Burghers sculp.

3.      'The West Prospect of Landaff Cathedral.' Dedicated to Roger Gale esq. Josep. Lord delin., Michael Burg. sculp.

Page length: 30 lines [plus headline and direction line].

Contents: p1^a title, p1^b blank, p2^a-b [Dedication] to Thomas Cartwright, of Aynhoe, Esq; dated October 7. 1718, signed Browne Willis. A1^a-E1^b  A description of the Cathedral-Church of Landaff, as it stood in the year 1717 [in the form of a letter to Browne Willis] signed William Wotton. E2^a-N4^b [Account of the Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, Treasurers, Precentors, and Prebenaries]' O1^a-Z1^a Appendix Z1^b- 2B1^a An Account of the other Preferments held by Dignitaries of this Church, 2B1^{b -} 2D3^a [Various notes and transcripts] 2D3^b - 2E2^a Quædam Addenda & Corrigenda 2E2^b - 2E4 [Index] 2E4^b-2F2^b Names of the Bishops ²B1^a-²C1^b Additional notes.

Paper: Unmarked

Types: Text 94mm (roman and italic).

Notes: Originally published late November 1718 (NLW Ottley Ms 1750). Price 5s. 2^nd state published April 1719.