Welsh Journals

FIFTH SERIES.—VOL. XV, NO. LVII. JANUARY 1898. NOTES ON THE MONASTERY OF ROSNAT, OR TY GWYN, PEMBROKESHIRE. BY MRS. DAWSON. In the records of the early Celtic Church frequent mention is made of a monastery named Rosnat, or Alba, which in the fifth and sixth centuries was one of the chief centres of culture and religion, and whither many of the most celebrated British saints resorted for instruc¬ tion and study. We are by no means left in ignorance of its history—the names of the abbot-bishops who were at its head, of the students who were educated there, even the exact number of its inmates, with many other incidents, are all placed on record; but the strange point in connection with it is that, though none of the historians of the Celtic Church have thrown a doubt upon its existence, yet none of them have been able to decide on its locality. Colgan thinks it may have been at Bangor in Wales, and O'Conor shares this opinion, while Lanigan sus¬ pects it may have been in Scotland, as do also Haddan and Stubbs, and the late Rev. J. F. Shearman, who has written an essay in support of the same theory. But with all due deference to these various opinions, we venture to think that the monastery in question was situated neither at Bangor or Candida Casa, and 5th see., vol. xv. 1