Memorials of old north Wales . y of the Irish bells were at a laterdate enclosed in exquisitely wrought outer cases calledshrines. One of the most remarkable is the shrine ofSt. Patricks Will* (1091-1105), in the Museum ofthe Royal Irish Academy at Dublin, St. Patrick, indeed,is said to have employed three craftsmen almost solelyfor making these bells. No Welsh bell with its shrinehas survived. But one would seem to have been found ^ Now at Gwvdir Castle, Llanrwst. ^ Acquired by the Welsh National Museum at Madryn Castle sale in 1910, In the Powysland Museum, Welshpool. * Celtic Art, by J. Rom
Memorials of old north Wales . y of the Irish bells were at a laterdate enclosed in exquisitely wrought outer cases calledshrines. One of the most remarkable is the shrine ofSt. Patricks Will* (1091-1105), in the Museum ofthe Royal Irish Academy at Dublin, St. Patrick, indeed,is said to have employed three craftsmen almost solelyfor making these bells. No Welsh bell with its shrinehas survived. But one would seem to have been found ^ Now at Gwvdir Castle, Llanrwst. ^ Acquired by the Welsh National Museum at Madryn Castle sale in 1910, In the Powysland Museum, Welshpool. * Celtic Art, by J. Romilly Allen, 1904, p. 204. Relics, Civic Plate, Regalia, Etc. 235 at the restoration of St. Cybis church at Holyhead in171 3, which was described by Lewis Morris the antiquary,in a letter to Browne Willis, as a small brass bell curiouslywrought with net work. Although these bells were in the early Celtic Churchoriginally intended to call worshippers to prayer, before theerection of towers containing larger bells, other uses for. Celtic Hand-bell. them gradually crept in in later mediaeval times—in theservice of the mass and at funerals. Their associationwith Welsh and Irish, Scotch and Breton saints is wellknown. Illtyd, Teilo, Beuno, and other Welsh saintshad their special bells, as had St. Bridget. St. Gildasis distinguished in Christian art by his bell. GiraldusCambrensis thus speaks of these hand-bells : I must notomit that the portable bells were held in great reverenceby the people and clergy both in Ireland, Scotland, and 236 Memorials of North Wales Wales, insomuch that thc}^ had greater regard for oathssworn on these than on the Gospels. For by some occultvirtue, with which they were in a manner divinely imbued. . those who forfeited such oaths have often beenseverely punished, and the chastisement inflicted on trans-gressors has been severe. Giraldus mentions a bell inthe church at Glascwm, said to have belonged to St. Davidhimself, and endowed with great virtues. St
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