Gruffydd ap Llewelyn ab Ynyr c.1320

3D Model

X HIC:IACET :/GRVFVD:AP:LLEWELIN:AP:YNYR

Here lies Grufydd ap Llewelyn ab Ynyr

The following piece of folklore about this monument is given in Arch. Camb, for 1859 (p. 203) :

”The tomb of his son, Gruffydd ab Llewelyn, was removed at the Dissolution from Valle Crucis Abbey to the church of his native parish. The local tradition about whom is that, having gone to Palestine during the Crusades, and when engaged in storming a town, he had his feet on the walls, when he was terribly wounded in the abdomen, and his bowels fell down between his legs. He still continued to fight for some time, when a dog seized his bowels, and began to devour them. At the foot of this tomb, as will be noticed further on, this incident is supposed to be commemorated.” The objects supposed to be bowels, which the two dogs at the feet of the knight are gnawing, not only branch but break out into foliage. The story is one that has arisen from a misunderstanding of what the sculptor has tried to portray.