menced this fortrefs, but dying foon afterwards, it was finished by his fon*.

In the ninth year of Edward II., John earl Warren, the grandfon of the founder, having no iffue, gave this caftle, with that of Diñas Brân, and the lordship of Bromfield, to the king. He was foo after divorced from his wife, and he obtained a regrant of them to himself, and Matilda de Nereford, his mistress, for life, with remainders to his illegitimate children, and their heirs. Matilda was the laft furvivor, and therefore at her death, in the following reign, the property reverted to the crown. It was, not long afterwards, given to Edward Fitz Alan, earl of Arundel, who had married the fifter of the late owner. In this family it remained for three generations; but on the execution of Richard it appears to have been forfeited to the crown. When, in 1399, after this event, Holt caftle was delivered to the duke of Hertford, there were found in it jewels to the value of two hundred thoufand marks, and a hundred thousand marks in money. Thefe had been depofited there, as a place of fafe cuftody, by the unfortunate Richard II. previously to his expedition into Ireland †.

The eftates and title were restored in the fucceeding reign, and they once again efcheated to the crown. Henry VII. granted them to fir William

*Gibson's Camden, 682. Powel, 213. Carte, ii. 193. + Holinfhed, ii. 500.

Ayloff's Rotuli Walliæ, 81. Pennant, i. 217. Yorke, 63.

Stanley;

Stanley; but on his execution resumed them, and took in this castle plate and money to the value of above forty thousand marks, which Stanley had obtained from the plunder of Bofworth Field *.

The lordship of Bromfield and Yale afterwards became the property of Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond, the natural fon of Henry VIII.; and in the reign of Edward VI., of Thomas Seymour, brother to the protector Somerset, who formed here a magazine of military ftores. On his execution it once more fell to the crown t.

During the civil wars Holt caftle was garrisoned for the king, but in 1643 was feized by the parlia ment. It was afterwards retaken, and in February 1645-6 was again befieged by the parliament's forces, The governor, fir Richard Lloyd, defended it for more than a month with the utmost bravery, but was at length compelled to furrender. Towards the end of this year this caftle, with four others, was dismantled by order of the parliament ‡.

The lordship of Bromfield and Yale is at present the property of the crown; and fir Watkin Williams Wynne, bart. is the fteward.

The inhabitants of Holt contribute with those of Ruthin and Denbigh, towards fending a member to parliament.

* Fuller's Worthies of Wales, 34.

Whitelock, 77. 192. 197. 231.

+ Pennant, i. 219.

CHAP. XVI.

WREXHAM TO MOLD.

Romantic Glen.-Caergwrle.- History of Caergwrle Cafle.-Mold. -Church.-Hiftory of Mold Castle.-Account of Maes Garmon, and the " Alleluia" Vidory.

ABOUT five miles from Wrexham I paffed through a romantic glen, which would have had confiderable picturefque effect, if this had not been destroyed by several white-washed cottages obtruding themselves on the fight from among the trees. A little beyond this scene I paffed a neat bridge of a single arch, which appeared very beautiful, accompanied by the ruftic cottages overshadowed with trees on the bank. of the stream. The country I now journied through was fomewhat mountainous; but beyond this vale it became again flat and uninteresting.

CAERGWRLE

-Comes right now to paffe my pen,
With ragged waulles, yea all to rent and torne
As though it had been never knowne to men,
Or careleffe left, as wretched thing forlorn;
Like beggar bare, as naked as my nail,

It lies along, whose wrecke doth none bewayle *.
* Churchyard's Worthines of Wales, 122.

Caergwrle, like Holt, was once a flourishing town, but it is dwindled into an infignificant village.-Its parish church is about a mile diftant.

There is good reafon for supposing that Caergwrle was a Roman station, probably an outpost to Deva. Camden discovered here an hypocauft, hewn out of the folid rock, fix yards and a quarter long, five yards broad, and fomewhat more than half a yard in height. On fome of the tiles were inscribed the letters LEGIO Xx., which feem to point out the founders. This is further corroborated by the name of the place. Caer gawr lle, the camp of the great legion; Gawr lle being the name by which the Britons distinguished the twentieth legion *.

The caftle ftood on the fummit of a high rock. Its prefent remains are very inconfiderable; they are, however, fufficient to indicate that it could never have been a fortrefs of any great importance †.

The founder has not been afcertained; but from its conftruction it has been evidently of British origin. -In the reign of Edward I. we find it poffeffed by the English crown, for that monarch bestowed it, along with the lordship of Denbigh, on David, the brother to prince Llewelyn. Whilst in his hands,

*Gibfon's Camden, 688. Pennant, i. 432.

"The town of Hope, now decayed, was fumtime burgefid and privileged, and ys caulled in Walfch Cairgorles. Ther ftond yet grete waulles of a castle fet on an hylle, wher be diggid good mill ftones of a blue grit." Leland's Itin. v. 38.

Roger

Roger de Clifford, jufticiary of Chester, cut down the adjacent woods, and endeavoured to wreft the castle from its owner: this, however, he was prevented from doing by the timely interference of the king. When David, in 1282, infidioufly took up arms with his brother against his former benefactor, he left a garrifon of fome ftrength in the caftle; but it was befieged by a divifion of the English army, and was fhortly afterwards furrendered to them *.

In the preceding account of Holt I have remarked that Caergwrle caftle was excepted from the grant which was made to John earl of Warren of the property of one of the children of Madoc ap Griffith t. Edward annexed it, with the tract of land in which it is fituated, to Flintshire: it continued to form a part of this county till Henry VIII. feparated, and added it to the county of Denbigh. It was, however, not long afterwards reftored to its proper county.

Edward I. after the furrender of the garrison that David left in it, gave the caftle to his confort, Eleanor, from whom it acquired the name of Queen Hope. She lodged here in her journey to Caernarvon; and either during her abode in the caftle, or very shortly afterwards, it was by fome accident fet on fire, and burnt ‡.