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extracts from the Bourne diary 2000
The causing of malicious damage during civil demonstrations against government and state has frequently been justified as the means for the cause and that is arguable but the indiscriminate destruction of property for no apparent reason is inexcusable and this is the heart of the matter. What, for instance, was in the minds of those who wrecked the stone and slate memorial outside St Andrew's Church at Sempringham last month?
This memorial honours the mediaeval Princess Gwenllian, daughter of Llewellyn, the last true-born Prince of Wales, and the only grand-daughter of Simon de Montfort, who was held captive here for more than half a century. Gwenllian was born at Abergwyngregyn in Wales on 12th June 1282 but when she was only 17 months old, Edward I, fearing that she might threaten his suzerainty over Wales, wrote to the prior and prioress at Sempringham, the Gilbertian Abbey which then stood on this site, asking 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".
Four years after Gwenllian was admitted to Sempringham, Edward issued a mandate to Thomas Normanvill "to go to the places where the daughters of Llewellyn and of David his brother, who have taken the veil in the Order of Sempringham, are dwelling, and to report upon their state and custody by next Parliament". Sempringham Abbey was allowed to acquire certain lands, including Ketton, Cottesmore, Stamford and Casterton, because Edward had shared them with Gwenllian. Then in 1327, when Edward III stayed at Sempringham, he granted Gwenllian a yearly pension of £20 for life. She died ten years later on 7th June 1337 after 54 years of virtual imprisonment by the order.
The memorial was erected in 1993 as a tribute to the princess and financed by public subscription raised by the Princess Gwenllian Society. Coach parties of Welsh pilgrims regularly visit the site to pay their respects and the memorial was recently blessed by the Bishop of Bangor. Were the culprits therefore English nationalists, haters of the Welsh who vented their wrath on the materials from that country which was used in its construction? Or, should we accept that as this incident occurred during the school holidays, then youngsters with time on their hands, teenagers and perhaps children even younger, were to blame and attacked this memorial with whatever weapons lay at hand without a thought of what they were wrecking?
The church stands in a remote location surrounded by vast tracts of agricultural land and intruders intent on causing damage are unlikely to be observed and so the vandals who shattered the heavy Welsh slate capping and punctured the inscribed blue slate tablet had little fear of discovery. This isolation provides a suitable climate for vandals because it is easy to avoid detection and if they are apprehended, they refuse to face up to their actions and deny responsibility. Cowardice is a comfortable bedfellow for those who participate in such belligerent behaviour.
But the society is determined that the memorial should be restored. The secretary Mrs Malt Anderson, said: "We realise that if we do replace it, there is every chance that it will be smashed again but it will be restored. 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."
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