Cwm, Llanrothal

Cwm (also known as Come and Welsh Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier[1][2]) was a Jesuit gathering place, Ecclesiastical province and college in Llanrothal, Herefordshire, England. It became a Jesuit college in 1622. Based in a large farmhouse, the Cwm included two houses, called "Upper Cwm" and "Lower Cwm". They were divided by a walled forecourt and during their prime in the early 17th century each was able to generate £60 (equivalent to £10,000 in 2019) annually in rents from its own land.

Cwm
Cwm
General information
LocationNear Llanrothal, Herefordshire
CountryEngland
Coordinates51°51′17″N 2°44′36″W

In 1678, Cwm came under attack during the Popish Plot, when it was raided by such Protestants as Bishop Croft, John Arnold of Monmouthshire and ultra-Protestant Charles Price. Some 150 volumes of its library were confiscated and removed to Hereford Cathedral Library. In 1830 the original buildings were mostly demolished and the existing structure, now a Grade II listed building, dates from soon afterwards,

History

The Jesuits' South Wales Mission was originally based about 14 miles (23 km) to the south, in Raglan, Monmouthshire, but soon after the year 1600, their Superior received from the Earl of Worcester an estate called The Cwm in the parish of Llanrothal.[3] The estate consisted of farm buildings and land between the villages of Welsh Newton and Llanrothal,[4] about 5 miles from Pontrilas.[5] The Cwm became "one of the two focal points of disturbance in June and July 1605".[6] That year, Father Robert Jones who resided at Cwm, was implicated in an attempt to save two of the Gunpowder Plot perpetrators.[4]

Lower Cwm house

Henry Milbourne worshipped with the Jesuits at the Cwm for some time and refused to issue warrants under the Elizabethan legislation, saying that it was not intended for use against Papists.[7] In the early 17th Century, it was home to the recusant William Griffith.[8] The province was founded in 1622 by Fr. John Salusbury (d. 1625), and it sheltered the College of St Francis Xavier, leading the Cwm college to become known as the Welsh Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier.[2][9] After Salusbury's death, Charles Gwynne (also known as Bodvel) became rector.[10] Serving as a refuge for priests (1625–1678), in 1648 it was the base of the martyr St David Lewis, who became head of the Catholic seminary there.[11][12]

In time the existence of the college became a matter of public knowledge, and by 1676 there were demands in the House of Commons for it to be suppressed. In 1678, it came under attack during the Popish Plot, when it was raided by such Protestants as Bishop Croft, John Arnold of Monmouthshire and ultra-Protestant Charles Price.[13][14]

Buildings and grounds
Lower Cwm house

Based in a large farmhouse, the Cwm included two houses, called "Upper Cwm" and "Lower Cwm". They were divided by a walled forecourt and during their prime each was able to generate £60 (equivalent to £10,000 in 2019) annually in rents from its own land.[13] At one time, Cwm had a library, and some 150 volumes were confiscated and removed to Hereford Cathedral Library.[15][16]

The original buildings were mostly demolished in 1830 and the existing structure dates from soon afterwards,[3] is on the site of the now demolished 17th-century house that held the Jesuit college and incorporates part of it. Enough remains of the original house half-way up the long range of hills which slope down to the Monnow to trace the life led by its Jesuit inmates in the penal times.[3] Originally a shooting box, and subsequently a farmhouse, it is Grade II listed, together with the terrace in front of the house, and the retaining wall to the side, which contains rare bee boles.[17] There is a wood in the area known today as Cwm Wood.

References
This article contains public domain text from "Collections Towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford: Hundred of Wormelow (lower division), part 1-2" (1913)
  1. Phillott, Henry Wright (1888). Hereford (Public domain ed.). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. p. 230.
  2. Jones, J. Gwynfor (March 1994). Early Modern Wales: c. 1525–1640. St. Martin's Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-333-55259-9. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  3. Duncumb, John; Cooke, William Henry; Watkins, Morgan George (1913). Collections Towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford: . Hundred of Wormelow (lower division), part 1-2. Printed by E.G. Wright. pp. 25–34.
  4. Kissack, K. E. (October 1975). Monmouth: The Making of a County Town. Phillimore. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-85033-209-4. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  5. White, William (1920). Notes and Queries. Oxford University Press. p. 314.
  6. Thomas, David Aneurin (1 January 1971). The Welsch Elizabethan Catholic martyrs: the trial documents of Saint Richard Gwyn and of the Venerable William Davies. University of Wales Press. p. 38. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  7. Recusant History. Catholic Record Society. 1982. p. 81.
  8. Rees, James Frederick (1936). Glamorgan county history. Printed and published for the Committee by W. Lewis (printers) limited. p. 237.
  9. Tonkin, Jim (1 January 1977). Herefordshire. Batsford. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7134-0576-7. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  10. "CHARLES GWYNNE , alias Bodvel or Bodwell , alias Browne ( 1582–1647 )". The National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  11. Butler, Alban; Burns, Paul (1998). Butler's Lives of the Saints: August. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-86012-257-9.
  12. Bradney, Joseph Alfred (April 1993). A History of Monmouthshire: From the Coming of the Normans into Wales Down to the Present Time. Academy Books. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-873361-17-7. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  13. "The Society of Jesus in Wales : the Welsh in the Society of Jesus, 1561–1625". Journal of Welsh religious history. Welsh Journals Online. 5. 1997.
  14. "Anti-popery on the Welsh Marches in the Seventeenth Century". The Historical Journal. Cambridge University Press. 1 June 1980. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  15. National Library of Wales (1983). National Library of Wales journal. Council of the National Library of Wales. p. 428.
  16. "Library Collections". Herefordcathedral.org. Archived from the original on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  17. Good Stuff IT Services (3 July 1985). "The Cwm, Front Terrace and Retaining Wall to South-west – Llanrothal – Herefordshire – England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
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