THE NANT-EOS CUP

by Fred Stedman-Jones

Until 1951 the Nant Eos Cup was treasured by the Powells, an old Welsh landed family, at their Georgian mansion 3 miles from Aberystwyth in Cardiganshire. The traditional story is that the Cup is the Holy Grail, taken to the Cistercian abbey of Strata Florida at the time of the dissolution, 1539. On the approach of Thomas Cromwell’s commissioners the monks fled 15 miles over the mountains and found sanctuary as servants of the Powells. On his deathbed the last monk entrusted the Cup to the family “until such time as the Church shall claim her own”.

The last of the line, Mrs Margaret Powell, died without issue in 1951, aged 89. A distant relative, Mrs Mirylees, inherited, but in 1967 the mansion was sold and the Cup was taken to their new home by the Mirylees family. The cup on display at Nant Eos now is a replica. The Cup, of dark wood, is about 5″ diameter, 3″ in depth. Originally it held about half a pint – but only a half remains: it has been nibbled away by believers. The remaining portion is held together by two rivets. It was whole as late as the mid 19th century and was sent to London for a golden hoop to be fitted to strengthen it. The cup lost its efficacy and the hoop was removed. With it are kept handwritten receipts, mainly 19th century. At that time the Cup was invariably borrowed on behalf of a female, and each receipt notes a cure. In 1887 John Roberts, a local harper, scoffed at the power of the vessel; he suffered terrible dreams until he handled the cup, when his peace of mind was restored.

The Cup continues its miraculous healing today. Mrs Mirylees has contemporary letters from those who claim to have been cured of multiple sclerosis, arthritis and a brain tumour by drinking water from the vessel. Her own belief was kindled when her young daughter, Jean, lay gravely ill with a head fracture caused by a falling ladder. In desperation she held the cup, ten minutes later the hospital rang to report an unexpected recovery.

Major Mirylees died in May, 1980, and the family planned to move home again last summer – to escape the continual pleas of those seeking cures. One crank claimed to be the Guardian of the Grail and demanded she send the cup to him! No reimbursement may be taken for supplying the healing water, although requests have been met from all over the world. The Mirylees never deny access to the cup once its whereabouts have been discovered.

Sir Charles Marston, expert Palestinian archaeologist, saw the Cup at Nant Eos in 1938, accompanied by the Rev. Smithett Lewis, vicar of Glastonbury. With his usual uncritical enthusiasm, Lewis claimed it was the Grail; Marston declined to pronounce judgement. Mrs Mirylees refuses to allow carbon-dating. Her view is that no purpose would be served if it is found not to be 2,000 years old – its healing power is irrefutable. It has not been proved to be made of olive wood. Many have testified to the extraordinary sense of peace experienced when holding the Cup; it is said to be particularly cold to the touch.

Many legends surround the Grail, its survival has never been proved. The monks of Glastonbury never claimed to possess it, though they held numerous relics of the Passion. A.E. Waite wrote … “Glastonbury is never the place of the sacred vessel in Grail literature … no existing reliquary and no story concerning one did more than provide the great makers of romance with raw materials and pretexts.”

Professor Treharne comments … “why the monks of a great Benedictine Abbey in England should have sent so precious a treasure as the Grail (supposing them to have had it) to a small, and by that time, very decadent, Welsh Cistercian Abbey having no known connexion with Glastonbury, it is difficult to imagine – especially as Strata Florida was dissolved in {3} the same year as Glastonbury,” My research supports this view.

In August 1878 the Bishop of St David’s described the cup as a possession of Strata Florida “which passed with that demesne from the Stedman family to the Powells.” He said the relic was “a survival of medieval practice and belief.”

The medieval cult of relics drew crowds of pilgrims to Welsh monasteries. Strata Florida stands on the Holy Way between Bardsey and St David’s. Described as “The Iona of Wales”, it was the burial place of princes, statesmen, priests and bards.

Several Welsh scholars claim the Cup or “Phiol” was at the Abbey soon after its foundation (12th century), that it was believed to be made of wood of the True Cross and the object of Pilgrimage. At the dissolution no mention was made of it in the Valor.

The Devereux family held the first lease of Strata Florida from the King; John Stedman was their agent and Bailiff there. One of five executors of the first Earl of Essex’s will, he purchased the Abbey lands in 1572. A descendent claimed grants had been made by the last Abbot, Richard Talley – a great opportunist. The transference of a simple wooden cup, divested of its ornate reliquary, to an agent of the authorities as a curio seems very probable. Six generations later Richard Stedman married Anne Powell of Nant Eos and died intestate, his estates passed to Thomas Powell, his brother-in-law, in 1747.

The Powells were not at Nant Eos until 1690, a fact completely overlooked by supporters of the popular story. In 1895 the Powells believed in the Strata Florida origin of the cup, quoted the True Cross tradition, and said they did not know how it had passed to them. The association with the Arthurian Grail almost certainly dates from the early 20th century, under the influence of Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. I have not discovered evidence for the “ancient tradition” from an earlier date. It is the women of the family who have believed the Grail story, possibly since about 1903, and acted as its Keepers. Mrs Mirylees has five daughters to carry on the tradition!