Welsh History Lesson by Zac (a pilgrim)
Today we had an early start for our final full day in Wales. First we visited St. Brynach’s” church, a relatively new building on a extremely old churchyard. It contained some grave stones that were so old that they had markings only.
We then travelled to St. Govan’s, a chapel just a couple of hundred feet away from the ocean. This place is also known as where Sir Gwain hid in the King Arthur stories. After sitting on the rocks watching the tide come in, we left for the Pembroke Castle.
The castle was first built by the Normans in 1093 as a timber castle and then rebuilt using stone, and was held by King Henry I throughout his reign. It became the Tudor mansion in 1454 and was the birthplace of Henry VII in 1457. It remained the Tudor mansion until the break of the English civil war in 1642. In 1648, the castle was the site of a key battle toward the end of the war. It laid in ruin until the early 19th century, when restoration began and was completed by World War II.
After lunch, we went to a beach to at least touch the Atlantic Ocean and eat some ice cream. The last place we stopped was the ruins of St. Non’s Chapel, next to some cliffs around the ocean.
We walked around the chapel seven times and tradition of Celtic Christianity, and then moved to near the cliffs for some quiet and meditation. Before returning to the van, many of us went to the nearby holy well.
I believe the most spiritual part of the day involved stones. At St. Govan’s, we each grabbed a stone. Over the last few days, we have been talking about letting go of our burdens and let God help us with them. When we walked out towards the cliffs at St. Non’s, we walked out to spot to be alone and quiet. We used the rocks to represent the burdens in our lives, and we tossed the rocks in the ocean, to represent God taking these burdens from us.
Today was an important part for our pilgrimage as we got to visit many places that have historical significance. Most of the places we went were about one thousand years old. It was a very relaxing day and great for the last day in Wales.