THE MAN WHO KNEW

Taranaki Daily News, 2 June 1934, Page 22 (Supplement)

THE MAN WHO KNEW

A TRAITOR AND A SECRET. HOW A GARRISON WAS BEATEN. A tragedy of the Civil War in England is recalled by the discovery of the pipe-line which supplied Pembroke Castle with water.

The pipe-line has been found in a field by Mr. A. G. O. Mathias, the archaeologist. These earthenware pipes, although laid probably 600 years ago, are in good condition, and the mortar is said to be “hard as flint.”

This is the pipe-line which played so grim a part in the story of Pembroke Castle and cost two men’s lives.

' In June, 1648, Cromwell besieged' the castle. So strong was the medieval fortress that it was spoken of as the impregnable castle, and was obstinately defended by a garrison, headed by the mayor, John Poyer. It was probable that even Cromwell would have failed to subdue the famous stronghold if a traitor had not come to tell him that the garrison got its water from a pipe-line which he could disclose. The Parliament soldiers dug where he told them, found the pipe, and cut it off. No more water.. reached the garrison, and at last the parching men surrendered. John Poyer was sent to London and- executed. He had declared for Parliament at the outbreak of the Civil War, but, like most Presbyterians, had changed his allegiance in 1647. The man who betrayed the garrison and sent Poyer to his death died also. Cromwell’s men loathed him for his treachery, and so he was hanged and buried in the great hole dug to find the pipe-line. His bones were found not many years ago. Pembroke Castle is now a magnificent ruin. Almost everything in English life has changed, dress, manners, medicine, manufactures, transport, all, indeed, except the way men look upon traitors. This old unhappy far-off tale loses none of its bitterness with the passing, of time, and it is good that the traitors name seems to be forgotten if his sin cannot be forgiven.