Part 14

From Harlech an excursion may be made to Cwm Bychan (the little hollow), about four miles distant.—One mile from the town may be seen a circle of stones, thirty yards in diameter, probably one of those druidic circles in which were held the _gorseddau_, or bardic meetings. Cwm Bychan is a grassy dell, about half a mile in length, surrounded by desolate scenery. On the right, at its entrance, is the small pool called Llyn y Cym Bychan, from the edge of which Carreg y Saeth (the Rock of the Arrow), towers in dreary blackness; yet the landscape extends hence in great magnificence. Descending into the hollow, past an ancient mansion, and ascending on the other side, a deep mountain hollow occurs, called Bwlch Tyddiad. Passing upon this rocky cleft beyond the higher mountains, a fine prospect of all the country eastward suddenly opens, bounded by the majestic Cader Idris, the two Arrenigs, and other ranges of commanding grandeur.

Out of the track, two miles south of Harlech, is a cromlech, in a farm called Gwern Einion; and on the side of the hill, where the road passes, in the recesses of a wood, is a considerable cataract. Between the cromlech and the town of Harlech is another druidic circle.

At the ebb of the tide, part of a long stone wall, which runs out into the sea from Machran, a point of land a few miles south of Harlech, may be seen. It extends in a W.S.W. direction for nearly twenty miles, and is called Sarn Badrig, or Sarn Badrwyg (the Shipwrecking Causeway), an astonishing work, being throughout 24 feet thick. Sarn y Bwlch runs from a point N.W. of Harlech, and is supposed to meet the end of this. The space between is said to have formed, several centuries ago, a habitable hundred of Merionethshire, called Cantref Gwaelod (the Lowland Hundred). Those walls, as it is supposed, were built to keep out the sea.

The principal inn is the Blue Lion, where post chaises may be had, and a guide procured to conduct the tourist to the many objects of attraction in the neighbourhood. The parish church having become very dilapidated, a new one, more conveniently situated, has been built, on a site given by the late Sir R. W. Vaughan, of Nannau. It was consecrated in 1841; the expense of its erection being defrayed by subscriptions, aided by grants from the Incorporated Society for building and repairing Churches, and from the Bangor Diocesan Church Building Society. The service is occasionally performed in the English language.

Angling Stations.

_Distance from Harlech_. _Miles_. Llanvihangel, on the Dwyryd 5 Llanbedr, on the Bychan 3 _Lakes_.—Llyn y Vedw near the Dwyryd. Llyn Eidaw Llyn Glyn Llyn y Cym Bychan 5 Llyn Trewyn.

HAWARDEN, (_Flintshire_.)

Chester 7 Flint 8 Holywell 11 Northop 5

This prosperous little town, pronounced Harden, consists of one continuous street, more than half a mile long, and has a neat and cleanly appearance. The British name was _Pennardd __Halawg_, or _Pennardd-y-Lâg_, corrupted probably from _Pen-y-Lwch_ (the head-land above the lake), the surrounding marshes having been once covered by the sea. It has a weekly market and the population of the parish is rated at somewhat above 6000 inhabitants. The Glynne Arms is the principal inn where the traveller may be comfortably accommodated.

Extensive collieries are worked in this parish, and there are also several large brick and tile works, besides numerous potteries for the manufacture of the coarser kind of earthenware. An extensive foundry is carried on at Hawarden by Messrs. Williams & Co., and has become celebrated for the manufacture of steam-engines, iron steam-boats, and other works of mechanical science which modern enterprise has brought into active requisition. The river Dee, or Chester channel, passes within about two miles of the town, and thus affords every facility of water conveyance.

The living is a “peculiar,” in the patronage of Sir S. R. Glynne, and of which the Rev. H. Glynne is the rector. Its value, according to the “Liber Ecelesiasticus,” is £2844. The church, dedicated to St. Deiniol, is an ancient and spacious structure, with a square embattled tower. It was thoroughly repaired in 1764, and the chancel was almost entirely rebuilt in 1817, at an expense of £1400, jointly defrayed by the Hon. and Rev. George Neville Grenville, then rector, the late Lord Amesbury, and the inhabitants. Various restorations and improvements have also been effected by the present rector.

Hawarden has likewise the advantage of an endowed grammar school. The parish is very extensive, and besides the church just noticed, contains three others; all in admirable condition, and remarkable for the exemplary order and efficiency with which the services of our holy liturgy are solemnized. There is one at Broughton, another at Buckley, which has lately been repaired and beautified; and a third at Pen-y-mynydd, which is an elegant and perfect specimen of architecture. It was built at the cost of Sir S. R. Glynne, Bart. M.P., and was consecrated in 1843. With each of these churches, commodious schools are connected; and indeed, the ecclesiastical establishments, within the peculiar of Hawarden, are worthy of all praise. Hawarden Park, one of the most charming and picturesque of the many noble domains scattered through the Principality, is remarkable for the extreme verdure and softness of its grass, the majestic stateliness of its trees, the calm solitudes of its glens, and the combined loveliness and sublimity of its landscape scenery. It is also a spot of much historical interest; as within its territory, stand the ivy-clad ruins of an ancient castle, which, in past ages, was a fortress of great importance.

Little more than fragments of the former towers and keep remain; indeed, a considerable portion of the ruin was itself obscured by heaps of rubbish, till the late Sir John Glynne had them removed, and the foundations laid open to view. It was constructed in a pentagonal form; on one side was a spacious gateway, and on the other a kind of barbican. At one angle was situated the keep or citadel, a circular tower still nearly entire, and which forms one of the most picturesque objects that strike the eye on first approaching ‘its ancient solitary reign.’ Other portions consist of the relics of the vast mouldering walls—of massive _donjons_,—and, in one part, of a long flight of steps, at the bottom of which was a door and a draw-bridge, crossing a ravine to another division of the castle, embracing, most probably, the prison, thus fearfully secured.

On all sides it was surrounded by deep chasms and fosses, and, from its extensive plan and broad foundations, it has the appearance of having been erected at different periods—of having been sometimes defaced and at others restored, according to the vicissitudes and fortunes of war.

Dating soon after the Conquest, it came into possession of Roger Fitzvalerine, a son of one of the adventurers who followed the Norman Conqueror. It was subsequently held, on the tenure of seneschalship, by the family of Monthault, of the Earls of Chester, and finally annexed by Henry the Third to the crown. After this it came into the possession of Prince Llywelyn, and was stormed by his brother David. On the subjection of the country, Hawarden was granted to the house of Salisbury, and afterwards to that of Stanley. From Thomas, Earl of Derby, it descended to his second wife Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and mother of Henry the Seventh. In 1495, that monarch is stated to have honoured the castle with a visit, to enjoy the pleasures of the chase; but his real motive was to ingratiate himself with the Earl her husband, after the ungrateful act of executing his brother Sir William Stanley, to whose assistance he was mainly indebted for the crown. The estates continued in the family till the execution of James Earl of Derby, in 1651; and, not long after, they were purchased by Sergeant Glynne, from the Commissioners of Sequestration.

It was at Hawarden that the ambitious Earl of Leicester, after securing the persons of the King and his son Edward, entered into that fatal league with Llywelyn which compelled Henry to surrender the sovereignty of Wales, with the homage of its baronial suffrages, which were transferred to the Welsh prince. In the last struggle for independence, it was surprised by David, his brother, on the night of Palm Sunday, and the entire garrison put to the sword. This prince had acted with equal perfidy towards Edward the First, his benefactor, and towards Llywelyn.

From the now broken towers of Hawarden, there is a vast and most magnificent prospect, embracing a wide sweep of country, from the Vale Royal of Cheshire to the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey.

The modern mansion of Hawarden Park, the seat of Sir S. R. Glynne, Bart. M.P., Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire, is a stately structure, erected by Sir John Glynne in 1752. In 1809 it received some magnificent additions, and then assumed the form of a castellated edifice, with antique-looking windows and turrets. The pleasure-grounds are beautiful and extensive.

To the west of Hawarden church, in a field near to the turnpike-road, is an artificial mount of earth, which Mr. Pennant conjectures to have been a small camp. Tradition says, it was raised as a fortification, to prevent Henry the Second from advancing by this pass into Wales, in 1157. The prospects therefrom are delightfully grand, comprehending a view of Chester and the entire course of the silvery Dee from the old city to the Irish channel.—About two miles from Hawarden stands

Buckley Mountain.

which has now become the thriving seat of a large population engaged in the collieries; and in the manufacture of earthenware, draining tiles, and fire-bricks; all of which are held in high repute, and consequently command an extensive trade.

Ewloe Castle

is distant from Hawarden about two miles, and stands a quarter of a mile to the right from the turnpike-road leading thence to Northop. This interesting and lonely ruin does not discover itself by lofty towers, but will require some trouble to find it, as it is concealed on the east, west, and south, by the adjoining grounds, and embosomed in trees to the north, without any visible way of approach, save up the streamlet, which passes at its foot, and discharges itself into the estuary of the Dee, about two miles and a half below. Pennant designates this structure a small fortress, but from its present appearance it seems better calculated for the retirement or resort of a gang of desperate marauders, than for any military purpose. The towers are now finely overgrown with ivy, and command the view of three wooded glens, forming a gloomy solitude. The time of its erection is involved in some obscurity.—In the woods, near this place, called to this day,

Coed Ewloe,

part of the flower of the army detached by Henry the Second, in 1157, from his camp on Saltney, was surprised and defeated by David and Conan, the sons of Owen Gwynedd, sent by their father with a strong party from his camp near Basingwerk. They suffered the enemy to march along the straits of the country, till their forces were entangled in the depth of the woods and the steeps of the narrow valleys. The attack was fierce, sudden, and unexpected: the slaughter dreadful; and the pursuit carried even to Henry’s encampment. This proved to the English but a prelude to a second defeat. The king, with intent to repair the disgrace, marched forward with his whole army; and at Coleshill, near Flint, suffered himself to be entrapped into the same dilemma which his detachment had before experienced. His forces were again defeated, and several of his chiefs, with numbers of his men, slain. Henry de Essex, hereditary standard-bearer, and a man of approved valour, was seized with a panic, and throwing down the standard, cried out the king was killed. The route would have been general, if the king had not valiantly rallied his forces, and repulsed the Welsh; but in the end he thought it prudent to withdraw his army, and encamp in a more secure situation. He afterwards attempted to cut off the retreat of Owen Gwynedd by marching along the shore, and placing himself between him and the mountains; but the sagacious prince, penetrating his views, retired to a plain near St. Asaph, still called Cil Owen (or Owen’s Retreat), and thence to a strong post, called Brin-y-Pin, defended by great ramparts and ditches.

HOLT, (_Denbighshire_.)

Chester 8 Wrexham 6

A small village, on the west bank of the Dee, was once a market town, and a place of some consequence; yet, even in its decayed and delapidated state, it has for its governor a mayor and two bailiffs.—The two villages of Holt and Farndon are separated only by the river, and communicate by a bridge of ten arches, built in 1345. The Dee at this place divides England from Wales; Farndon being in Cheshire, and Holt in Denbighshire.

HOLYHEAD, (_Anglesea_.)

Amlwch 20 Bangor 24 Beaumaris 27 Chester 86 Dublin 60 London, by Chester 266

This place, which is of very remote antiquity, derives its Welsh name, Caer Gybi, implying the fortress or city of Cybi (pronounced Kubby), from its situation on a small island at the western extremity of Anglesea, called Ynys Cybi, for many years the residence of a British saint of that name, who is said to have been the son of Solomon Duke of Cornwall. Its population in 1841, was 3869 inhabitants.

Owing to the very extensive intercourse which now subsists between Great Britain and Ireland, the town has, within the last few years, rapidly increased in extent and improved in appearance. From its advantageous situation, it has been selected as the principal station of the post-office packets, for conveying the mails to Dublin; and among other improvements, a new line of road has been constructed under the walls of the town, along the margin of the traeth, or sandy estuary, which forms the harbour, extending more than a mile along an artificial embankment, from the entrance of the town to the commencement of the pier. This pier extends from the small island, called Ynys Halen, or Salt Island, in an east south-easterly direction into the sea, and is 360 yards in length. It is connected with the main land by a handsome iron bridge of one arch, dividing the centre, and each part turning on a swivel to afford a passage on either side. Beyond this bridge are the engineer’s house, the custom house, the harbour-master’s offices, and the depôt for the post-office stores: further on is a grand triumphal arch, built by subscription of the gentry of the county of Anglesey, to commemorate the circumstance of the royal squadron having anchored in Holyhead bay, on the night of the 6th of August, 1821, and the landing of his majesty George IV. on the following day. The grand terminus of the Chester and Holyhead railway will be on the site of the present pier, and it has been resolved by government to make a packet station and harbour of refuge, equal to the wants of the whole Irish channel, and upon a most extensive and magnificent scale, from designs made by the celebrated engineer, Mr. Rendel. When the railway and harbour improvements are completed, the transit between London and Dublin will be accomplished in thirteen hours.

The triumphal arch, which was opened in August, 1824, is a chaste and elegant structure of Mona marble, brought from the Red-wharf Quarry, and consists of a central carriage way, separated on each side by two handsome pillars of the Doric order from a footway, enclosed by a wall ornamented at the extremities with antæ of correspondent character, the whole twenty feet high, and supporting a boldly projecting cornice, surmounted by three diminishing tiers of masonry, forming a platform. Over the carriage-way, on each side, is a large entablature, respectively bearing inscriptions in Welsh and Latin, commemorative of the event.

The lighthouse is built entirely of hewn stone, and without any other timber than what was necessary for the door cases and window frames. It consists of three stories, the ceilings of which are groined, and the gloves are of smooth stone: its base is six feet above high water mark, and is protected from the sea by a stone glacis. The tower, which is circular, is thirty-three feet in height to the gallery, and the lantern, which is ten feet higher, is lighted with twenty brilliant lights of oil gas, having reflectors plated with silver, and displaying a strong white light, which, being at an elevation of fifty feet above the level of the sea, affords a safe guide to vessels approaching the harbour. The whole of these works were completed at an expense of about £130,000, and a graving dock was constructed at an additional expense of £12,000.

The post-office establishment at this place consists of six steam packets of 230 tons burden, which sail regularly from this port and Kingstown, keeping up a constant intercourse between the two countries.

No manufactures are carried on at this place: several attempts have been made at considerable expense to explore the mineral treasures with which the parish was supposed to abound, but nothing of importance has yet been discovered, except veins of Mona marble, called “verd antique,” which have been worked to some extent. The trade consists chiefly in the building of coasting vessels, the repairing of all the post office steam packets belonging to the several ports of England and Wales, and the making of ropes and cables. The market is on Saturday. The North and South Wales bank has a branch here.

The church, dedicated to St. Cybi, is a spacious cruciform structure, principally in the decorated style of English architecture.

The promontory called the Head, by which the harbour is sheltered from the westerly winds, presents a singular aspect, its sides towards the sea forming in some parts immense perpendicular precipices, while in others they are worn, by the continued action of the waves, into caverns of magnificent and romantic appearance. Of these, one called the “parliament house,” is accessible only by boats at half ebb ride, and consists of a series of receding arches, supported by massive and lofty pillars of rock, displaying an interior of picturesque beauty and sublime grandeur. Some of these caverns afford shelter for gulls, razor-bills, herons, cormorants, and other birds; and the loftiest crags are frequented by the peregrine falcon. The eggs of these birds are in great request as a delicacy for the table; and some of the hardiest inhabitants are employed in the hazardous task of procuring them for sale.

There are several ancient military forts in the neighbourhood, whose appearance indicates them to be of Roman origin. At a small distance westerly is a large hill, having several natural and artificial curiosities. Within about 200 yards of the top are the remains of a strong wall, which seem to have belonged, as well as the churchyard walls, to a place of defence against the frequent incursions of the Irish. To the W. S. W. of the top, and nearly under it, in a situation awfully romantic, are the remains of a chapel. From the top of this mountain there is a most extensive view, comprehending the Isle of Man, the hill of Howth on the Irish coast, and parts of the Highlands of Scotland.

Many gold Roman coins of the time of later emperors were found a few years ago in Holyhead mountain; and in 1835, in removing some old walls at Ty Mawr (Great House), the property of Lord Stanley, of Alderley, were found several spear heads, axes, and rings, of bronze, with red amber blades, which from the form and the nature of the materials, appear to be of Phœnician origin. At Trefigreeth, another farm belonging to the Stanley family, situated within a quarter of a mile of the London and Holyhead road, about one mile from the town, is a small but perfect cromlech. A larger one, in great preservation, may be seen at Presadwaedd, about four miles from Holyhead. And at Tywyn-y-Capel, about two miles from Holyhead, on the old post road, and close to the sea, is a very singular mound, on the top of which, a few years ago, were the remains of a small chapel. The mound is artificial, being formed of sea sand. It is filled with graves. The coffins are formed of rude flat stones, and are placed in rows above each other. They contain the remains of persons of both sexes. The sea every year makes encroachments upon it, laying open the graves and strewing the shore with bones. Tradition is silent as to the origin of this singular place of burial. It is worth the investigation of the antiquary.

The South Stack Light-house is connected with the harbour, and materially contributes to facilitate its access. It is erected on the summit of an isolated rock, three or four miles westward from Holyhead, and separated from the main land by a chasm 90 feet in width. This splendid structure was raised in the year 1808. The elevation of the summit of the rock on which it is erected, is 140 feet above the level of the sea at high water mark; the height of the tower, from the base to the gallery, is 60 feet; and the lantern is 12 feet high from the gallery; making the total elevation of the light 212 feet above high water mark. The light is produced by twenty-one brilliant lamps, with powerful reflectors placed on a revolving triangular frame, displaying a full-faced light every two minutes, which, in clear weather, is distinctly visible at a distance of ten leagues. Latterly there has been an addition of three red lights placed at the rock, which are more distinctly visible in foggy weather than the light-house lights. The rough sea caused by the strong tides, about the head, rendered the communication by boat very precarious. In order to obviate the danger, a passage was contrived by means of two ropes thrown across the gulph, along which the individual was drawn in a box or cradle, by the assistance of pulleys affixed at each end. This plan was superseded by a bridge of ropes, which was used some years after, though always considered unsafe, on account of the constant wear of the ropes. In 1827, a modern suspension chain bridge was thrown over the sound, the span of which is 110 feet, the chains being firmly bolted in the rock on each side, and carried over two massive stone pillars erected for the purpose. The chain supports a platform of timber five feet wide, and 70 feet above high water mark. The bridge is attained by descending the Holyhead mountain in a zigzag direction, by a flight of 380 steps.

On the rocks south of the harbour of Holyhead, and commanding the town, an obelisk has been erected by public subscription to the memory of the late Captain Skinner, formerly master of one of the post-office packets on this station, who lost his life by being washed overboard in 1833. He was very generally respected, and had been a commander on this station for many years.

To the N. E. is the Isle of Skerries, on which there is also a light-house.

There are several good inns at Holyhead, the principal of which is the Eagle and Child Hotel.

For romantic wildness and stern grandeur of aspect, no place can surpass this portion of the iron-bound coast of Anglesea.

HOLYWELL, (_Flintshire_.)

Chester 18 Denbigh 14 Flint 5 London 201 Mold 10 Northop 6 Rhuddlan 11 St. Asaph 10