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Here is the first parish church that I mentioned in a previous post. Conwy, situated on the north coast of Wales, is best-known for its magnificent castle built by King Edward I of England. Conwy Castle is one of a series of castles established in north Wales by the new ruler to secure the area after he succeeded in terminating the rule of Welsh princes and crushing the rebellious Welsh. Construction of both town and castle began in May 1283 and was virtually complete by 1287. Edward built or re-built over a dozen castles in north and central Wales to demonstrate to the perpetually rebellious Welsh that they had been vanquished by an indisputably superior overlord and further uprisings were futile.
The Church of St Mary & All Saints, Conwy, was founded originally as the Cistercian Abbey of Aberconwy, completed in 1186. During the prolonged English campaigns to subdue Wales, the abbey was sacked and burned by English troops under Henry III. In 1283, Edward I moved the abbey up the Conwy Valley and St Mary's became a parish church. The church has been restored and enlarged several times since then.
This exterior photo of the south side of the church building shows the south porch and part of the south wall, which date back to the 14th century, and the tower, which was completed in the 15th century. (The clock was added in the 19th century.)
My jaw dropped when I saw the inscription on this 17th century gravestone in the floor of the chancel:
"Here lyeth ye body of Nicholas Hookes of Conway GEn who was ye 41st child of his father William Hookes Esq by Alice his wife and ye father of 27 children who dyed ye 20 day of March 1637."
41 children born to one couple and then 27 to another couple in the next generation seemed hard to believe. But the Parish Registers date back to 1541; also, over in Britain, the 17th century is not that long ago. So, I think it must be true. But my mind still boggles.
By the by, I don't know what the "GEn" in the third line of the inscription (after "Conway") means. It appears to be an abbreviation for something, but I don't know what. If it stood for "General", it would appear before "Nicholas". The proper abbreviation for "gentleman" is "gent.", and anyway "gentleman" would appear after "Hookes" and not after the name of the town, so I don't think that's it. "Generation" doesn't make sense. Any ideas?
Links to all my blog posts about British churches and Christian sites can be accessed through the box located at the top of the page.
UPDATE: I think "GEn" is short for Gwynedd, the Welsh county in which Conwy was located before modern boundary changes.
