Sempringham princess

A MOUNTAIN in North Wales has been named after a princess who was imprisoned in a convent near Bourne for more than 50 years. Carnedd Uchaf in the Ogwen Valley of Snowdonia will in future be known as Carnedd Gwenllian in memory of the daughter of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, or Llywelyn the Last, who was killed in battle with Edward I in 1282.

Llywelyn was the last ruling Prince of Wales and the country subsequently came under Edward’s control but Gwenllian, although only 18 months old, was heir to the throne and therefore held the key to the Welsh royal succession, her mother, Eleanor de Montfort, having died during childbirth, and fearing that she might threaten his suzerainty, snatched her from her home, reputedly in her cradle, and sent her to be cared for by the prior and prioress at Sempringham, then a Gilbertian Abbey in the flat vastness of the Lincolnshire fens, eight miles north of Bourne.

He asked them to admit her to the order and habit "having the Lord before our eyes, pitying also her sex and age, that the innocent and unwitting may not seem to atone for the iniquity and ill-doing of the wicked and contemplating specially the life of your Order" and she remained there until she died on 7th June 1337 after 54 years of virtual imprisonment by the order and virtually no records survive of her existence save for the noting of her death.

Other mountains in the area are already named after her family but the Ordnance Survey (OS) agreed to put her on the map after a campaign by the Princess Gwenllian Society and consultation with the National Trust and the Snowdonia National Park Authority but to avoid confusing ramblers, the old name will remain on maps in brackets.

"Any changes need to be carefully considered because they are relied on by the emergency services and mountain rescue teams to help find stranded climbers", explained OS spokesman Paul Beauchamp. "But an agreement has been reached and we are delighted to reflect the name change and to play a role in reuniting Princess Gwenllian with her father, mother and uncle among the mountain peaks of her homeland."

The renaming ceremony took place last month at the Bulkeley Hotel in Beaumaris, Anglesey when the national anthem was sung as dignitaries gathered to mark the event. Princess Gwenllian Society member Kathryn Pritchard Gibson, who lives in the house where Gwenllian was born, said the renaming was a "fitting tribute" to the princess and added: "It is good to remember somebody who was taken in that way and never allowed to have a life. She was just locked behind the world, never allowed out from that monastery. The mountains here are named after her mother and father and uncle, so to rename another is a great tribute and almost brings her home in a way."

There is already a memorial to the princess at Sempringham, erected in 1993 and financed by public subscription raised by the society. Coach parties of Welsh pilgrims regularly visit the site to pay their respects and the memorial was later blessed by the Bishop of Bangor. Unfortunately, it was damaged by vandals during the late summer of 2000. They shattered the heavy Welsh slate capping and punctured the inscribed tablet but the culprits were never found. The society however replaced it at a cost of £6,000 during the summer of 2001. Their secretary Mrs Mallt Anderson, said: "We have been grateful for the support of friends in Lincolnshire who have helped us so readily in the past in our determination to maintain and care for this tiny corner of an English field that is forever Wales."

The new memorial to the captive nun was made from granite quarried at Bangor in Gwynedd, Wales, near to her birthplace, the work of the internationally acclaimed calligrapher and artist in stone, Ieuan Rees, and a strange tale has become associated with it after some who first saw it claimed to have seen a vision. Mrs Anderson explained that the silhouette of a nun with her head slightly bowed became evident when the new stone was at first stood upright in the sculptor's workshop. "Those familiar with the dress and habit of a Gilbertine nun will recognise that the stone has a similar outline", she said. "It is of course just a coincidence but it does remind us that some things are inexplicable, even to the cynics of the present day."

To witness the vision for yourself, Mrs Anderson suggests that you stand on the little bridge beside the memorial and let your eyes first rest on the top of the stone and then follow the back outline from top to bottom and the shape of the mysterious nun will appear.

The famous St Mary's Priory was founded at Sempringham by the crippled priest St Gilbert in about 1139 as a home for his white-robed Gilbertian order, the only purely English monastic order and the only one which catered for men and women alike.

It was sited to the south of the present church of St Andrew's but was surrendered and destroyed in 1558 and all that remains today are signs of earthworks, although excavations have been carried out that revealed the foundations together with fish ponds and the old well. Remains of stained glass, pottery, coins and carved masonry have also been found and stones from the original buildings are thought to have been used in the construction of some houses in the locality and in marking the well, now an attraction to visitors as the Holy Well.

The name of Sempringham was once known throughout the land but today it is a difficult place to find, way off the beaten track at the end of an isolated farm road but once there, the rewards are great. Funeral corteges and wedding parties must negotiate this hazardous and uneven route to reach the church for it appears to be much used and the graveyard is full with recent burials. It is also extremely clean and tidy, far better than most of the churchyards in this part of South Lincolnshire and well worth a visit.