Gweirca ferch Owain (possibly Gwerica) was a medieval Welsh noblewoman, granddaughter of Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor and daughter of Owain ap Gruffydd ap Madog.

Death and burial

Gweirca died in 1290 and is buried at Valle Crucis Abbey, near Llangollen, which was founded by her grandfather.

Gweirca ferch Owain

Her sepulchral grave slab has been preserved at the Abbey and represents the earliest-dated grave slab in north Wales. The stone is badly weathered and exists only in fragments. However, the following details can be identified: "an inscription, placed within a border, surrounding a narrow band of decoration. This consists of the upper part of two animals with their heads back to back and their tails interlacing elaborately with two circles. The lower part of the panel has interlacing stems."

Gweirca ferch Owain

The inscription in Latin reads:

Gweirca ferch Owain

HIC IACET GWEIRCA FILIA OWENI ... PPICIETVR... AME...E ADO MCC LXXXX

Translated as:

Here lies Gweirca, daughter of Owain... (may God) have mercy... on her soul... AD 1290

Peter Lord states that Gweirca's grave slab is "the earliest-dated Welsh memorial of any kind".

External links

Grave Slabs of Valle Crucis

References

13th-century Welsh nobility

13th-century Welsh women

Medieval nobility