Part 6

The ruins are of great extent, and the grand portal is nearly entire; but from the mode of its erection, as well as the means of its destruction, they afford but little that is picturesque in their appearance. The ground plan was at first surrounded by double walls, parallel to each other, and distant only by six or eight feet, the intermural space was then filled up with rubble stone and hot mortar, which on cooling became a solid conglomerate. Upon the barbarous dismantling of the castle, after the Restoration, which was done by springing a mine of gunpowder beneath it, the walls separated and fell from the grouting, exposing a mass of shattered fragments, without the advantage of a single tree or any impending object to throw a relieving shadow over the melancholy heap.

Near to the grand entrance of the castle stand the side walls of an unfinished church, one hundred and seventy feet in length, and pierced by many spacious windows. These were raised by the Earl of Leicester, and destined for the celebration of the reformed service; but he did not like, or, as others say, did not live to visit his oppressed Welsh tenantry, and left this pious work unfinished. A subscription was some years afterwards set on foot, and ample funds obtained for roofing over the walls, but the Earl of Essex, on his way to Ireland, procured a loan of the sum collected, and no effort was ever after made to save the whole from falling to decay.

An interesting and national spectacle was exhibited on the bowling-green under the castle walls of Denbigh, in the autumn of 1828; it is called in Welsh an Eistedfodd, and means a meeting of the bards. This is an institution of ancient origin, and was formerly held under a precept or commission from the crown, directed to the principal inhabitants in the district where the meeting was intended to be held. The latest royal mandate for the holding of an Eistedfodd was issued by Queen Elizabeth, and directed to the ancestors of some of the most respectable families now resident in Flint and Denbigh shires. The bardic assemblage of 1828 was accompanied by circumstances of a very peculiar and gratifying character, and the remembrance of it will long be cherished by all Cambrians who witnessed it, with feelings of the deepest and warmest enthusiasm. The verdant platform of the bowling-green commands one of the richest and happiest prospects in nature; the eye sweeps down the green hills on the south, and passing over the noble and broad valley of the Clwyd, climbs rapidly the Clwydian hills, where it finds an index to a brighter prospect in the national monument on Moel Ffammau. Here a handsome obelisk on the highest of the hills commemorates the fiftieth year of the eventful reign of King George the Third. This accidental circumstance gave an additional interest to this bardic meeting, for, by a singular coincidence, Sir E. Mostyn, a descendant of Sir Piers, one of the persons named in the precept of Elizabeth, was president of the Eistedfodd. A noble individual, the representative of the brave William Salisbury, the defender of the castle, graced the assemblage by his presence. A dignitary of the church, who embodied those gallant actions in a valuable history, judged some of the bardic effusions, and a royal prince looked gratefully over the heads of an innocent and happy people towards the monument which their loyalty and affection had raised to his venerable father.

[Picture: Valle Crucis Abbey; Ruthin Castle; Wynnstay. London. Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]

VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY.

THE Vale of Crucis opens into the beautiful scenery of Llangollen, about two miles from the little village. Fancy cannot paint a scene more suited to the indulgence of solemn thought. It is the spot which a recluse, enamoured of the great scenes of nature, where the eye is continually presented with sublime ideas, where every object contributes to soothe, but not transport the mind, would select as an habitation of cheerful solitude. In the days of its greatness it must have been a place consecrated to retirement, but now how much is the solitude of the scene heightened by the accompaniment of a ruined abbey shrouded in forest trees that wave over its mouldering towers,—

Say, ivy’d Valle Crucis; time decay’d Dim on the brink of Deva’s wandering floods, Your ivy’d arch glittering through the tangled shade, Your gray hills towering o’er your night of woods; Deep in the vale recesses as you stand, And, desolately great, the rising sigh command: Say, lonely ruin’d pile, when former years Saw your pale train at midnight altars bow, Saw superstition frown upon the tears That mourn’d the rash, irrevocable vow, Were one young lip gay Eleanora’s {77} smile? Did “Zara’s look serene one tedious hour beguile?”

The foundation of the Cistercian Abbey of Valle Crucis is attributed to Gryffydd ap Madoc Maelor, Lord of Bromfield and Yale, about the year 1200; considerable parts of both church and abbey still remain. The former was cruciformed, and exhibits several styles of architecture. The eastern end is the most ancient; it is adorned by three lancet slips, forming one grand window. The entrance was in the west beneath a broad and beautifully ornamented window, above which is a smaller one of a marigold form, decorated with tracery and fret work, and under it may be discovered the following inscription:

A.D.A.M. D.N.S.—fecit hoc opus, pace beatâ quiescat. Amen.

The abbey and cloisters are more imperfect, the latter evidently built in a rich and ornamental style of architecture, well calculated to shed a “dim religious light,” but now desecrated into a farm house and offices.

RHUTHIN CASTLE.

RHUTHYN, or (Rhudd-Din, the red fort), is placed upon a gentle eminence on the south side of the vale of Clwyd, backed by wooded hills, and is one of the best and most agreeable towns in North Wales. It has undergone much modern improvement, and is possessed of several ancient endowments and privileges. The great sessions for the county are held here in a very elegant modern hall, faced with cut stone, and accurately finished in the interior. The church is spacious and architectural, designed and finished in an excellent style. A range of alms houses surround the churchyard, and represent the ancient hospital; and adjacent to the mansion of the warden is the free school, richly endowed by Gabriel Goodman, D.D. whose monument is set up against the north wall of the church.

Some doubt appears to exist as to the foundation of a castle here anciently, the Welsh name “Castell gôch yn gwernfor,” indicating a fortress of earlier date than any erected by the Saxons. The general belief, however, is, that Reginald de Grey, second son of Lord Grey de Wilton, had a grant of the lordship of Rhuthyn, then embracing nearly the whole vale of Clwyd, as a reward for his services in reducing the ancient Britons. This great captain built the noble castle and enclosed the town, and, to secure the quiet enjoyment of his grant, did homage to Edward the Second at Chester in the year 1301. A drawing preserved amongst the manuscripts in the British Museum exhibits the magnitude and stateliness of De Grey’s castle, and fully justifies the wordy description of the honest Churchyard:

“This castle stands on rocke much like red bricke, The dykes are cut with toole through stonie cragge, The towers are hye, the walles are large and thicke, The worke itself would shake a subject’s bagge.”

Both castle and lordship continued in the posterity of De Grey until the reign of Henry the Seventh, when, by a special compact, George Grey, Earl of Kent, and Lord of Rhuthyn, assigned them to the crown. From this period until the reign of Elizabeth this stately fabric was suffered to decay, but was then new roofed and entirely restored by Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, on whom the queen bestowed it. From the Warwick family it passed to the Myddletons of Chirk Castle, by the marriage of Charlotte, daughter of Sir Thomas Myddleton, who had for her first husband an Earl of Warwick. The lordship has since continued in this family, and the rights are exercised by one of the coheiresses of the late Richard Myddleton, Esq.

A modern castle has arisen from the ruins, the ancient ground plan being pursued with the assistance of the drawing before alluded to. The restoration does not extend over the entire area, yet forms a truly lordly residence. A reference to the original plan indicated the existence of a well in the centre of the rocky citadel, where, after a careful examination, it was at length discovered, built around with stone, and having a depth of nearly one hundred feet.

WYNNSTAY.

THE noble demesne of Wynnstay, the seat of Sir Watkyn Williams Wynne, Bart. is situated at the eastern extremity of the vale of Llangollen, in an open and level, though elevated district. The grounds owe much to the taste and magnificent ideas of its successive proprietors, and the embellishments, that have been added year after year present now a wonderful and beautiful association, their grandeur being accompanied, as the scenery of all private parks usually is, with an air of melancholy. The Hall is a spacious but not a regular building. It consists of an ancient mansion, to which a part only of a new and extensive design has been attached. The old house stands upon the site of a British palace, once the residence of Gryffydd ap Madoc Maelor, Lord of Bromfield and Yale, and founder of the abbey of Valle Crucis. The new house, part of a greater design, by Cockenell, was built by the first Sir Watkyn; it is a simple regular elevation, possessing the great merit of capaciousness, a quality indispensably requisite in the Hall of a family conspicuous through generations for the exercise of a liberal hospitality. The principal apartment or state drawing-room is seventy feet in length by thirty in breadth, lighted by six spacious windows, the piers being occupied by richly ornamented cabinets filled with curiosities of various descriptions. The ceiling, which is separated into sunk panels and beautifully finished with stucco and gilding, is sustained by pillars of porphyry corresponding with the elegant pilasters which adorn the side walls. In this splendid apartment are a few portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Vandyck, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Dahl, with a bust of the _Great_ Sir Watkyn, as he is sometimes styled, by Rysbach; and two admirable busts by Nollekens, one of the present baronet, the other of Lord Grenville. A few good landscapes are hung in the different apartments, a portrait of Wilson by himself is a masterly performance, and an original three-quarter portrait of Flora Macdonald is both interesting and clever. The library contains the remains of a choice collection of manuscripts, the rest having unhappily been destroyed by an accidental fire; those that were preserved are chiefly biographical. In the dining-room stands a large silver font about three feet in length, supported by a pillar of the same height. This tribute of public merit was presented to the present Sir Watkyn by the gentry of his native county, Denbigh.

The extent, elegance, and beauty of the demesne are more than proportionate to the arrangements of the mansion. A spacious park well stocked with red and fallow deer surrounds the house, it is adorned with noble forest trees, and varied by well disposed artificial pieces of water. The quarter of the demesne, called the “Bath Grounds,” is a most gratifying specimen of landscape gardening. These delightful pleasure grounds, laid out by Mr. Evans, consist of shrubberies, walks, and bowers, disposed with admirable taste. A noble sheet of water occupies the centre of the wood; it is formed by the expansion of a little brook, artfully conducted over a rocky precipice at the extremity, where it is thrown into a pleasing and picturesque cascade. The Bath, which lends a distinguishing name to this part of the demesne, is a limpid fountain confined by an enclosure of cut stone. A beautiful Grecian temple, adorned with a portico of four columns, supporting an entablature and pediment, stands close by it, and is beautifully reflected in its smooth waters at the approach of evening. Near the entrance to the Bath Grounds a fluted column of one hundred feet in height, surmounted by a funeral urn, presents an interesting memorial of maternal affection, and a beautiful specimen of columnar architecture: it was designed by Mr. Wyatt. The entablature is surrounded by a gallery approached by steps concealed within the shaft, and the plinth is adorned with wreaths of oak leaves descending from the beaks of eagles. On the cenotaph is graven this brief but feeling epitaph—

Filio optimo, Mater, eheu! superstes.

In a demesne of such extent, the creation and combination of so many persons, years, events, &c. many beautiful and romantic rides may naturally be supposed to have been formed. The new approach, opened by the present Sir Watkyn, and commencing at the iron bridge, leads to the Hall by an avenue of three miles in length, through an amazing variety of sylvan scenery. But this is not the great boast of Wynnstay; the consummation of all its wonders and its beauties is reserved for the vale of Nant y Belan. {83} Here nature has profusely displayed her charms. Two steep banks, richly clothed with woods that dip into the torrent’s bed and wave upon either side, form a long vista of inexpressible grandeur. The winding Dee here pours her rapid flood along with awful murmurings and at a fearful depth, then throwing herself headlong into a deep dark pool, seems to rest, as if exhausted with the violence of the efforts by which it was attained. This grand picture forms but the foreground of an extensive landscape, wherein the middle distance is occupied by the happy scenery of Llangollen, and the remotest filled by the British Alps. Upon the rock from whence this panorama is beheld, Sir Watkyn has erected a circular temple, to the memory of his brave associates, his army of ancient Britons, who fell in the unhappy Irish rebellion of 1798.

The whole of this spacious demesne is enclosed by a stone wall nine miles in extent, and the principal entrance is through a straight avenue, one mile in length, overshadowed by aged oaks. Wattstay was the original name of this estate, so called from its situation upon Watt’s Dyke, but exchanged for Wynnstay by Sir John, when it became his property by marriage with Jane, daughter and heiress of Eyton Evans of Wattstay, Esq.

[Picture: Chirk Castle; Llanrwst Church; Flint Castle. London. Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]

Sir Watkyn is of the ancient Gwydyr stock, and traces his descent to Owen Gwynedd, Prince of Wales. The Wynnstay branch has been united with some of the noblest families of England; the present baronet is married to the Lady Harriet, daughter of the Earl of Powis, and sister of the Duchess of Northumberland.

The manufacturing village of Ruabon, or Rhiwabon, lies immediately outside the demesne wall, and is inhabited by persons connected with the iron foundries and coal pits of this mineral district. On a conspicuous height above it, commanding a view of the vale of Llangollen, stands a handsome square embattled tower of two stories, erected by the present owner of Wynnstay to commemorate the event of the field of Waterloo.

The posthumous honours paid to this ancient family have employed the chisels of the ablest sculptors, and adorn a temple which their munificence has erected. The first Sir John of Wynnstay, who was the grandson of Sir John of Gwydyr, is interred in Rhiwabon church, beneath, as Mr. York calls it, perhaps for the exercise of a pleasant alliteration, “a mass and massacre of marble.” The monument of Lady Harriet Somerset, first wife of Sir Watkyn, who died in 1769, is one of _Nollekens’_ happiest designs; and on one side of the altar is a noble monument, by Rysbach, of the first Sir Watkyn, who was killed by a fall from his horse, on the 26th of September, 1749. The image of this eminent person’s mind has been as feelingly pourtrayed by the classic Dr. King, as the graces of his person are truly expressed by the chisel of the artist.

An elegant baptismal font, of white marble, and resting on a tripod of distinguished grace, was presented to the church and parish, along with the excellent organ in the gallery, by the second Sir Watkyn, in the year 1772.

CHIRK CASTLE,

THE seat of Mrs. Myddleton Biddulph, stands in a spacious and noble demesne, spreading over the sides and summit of a finely situated and isolated hill. It is an ancient building, uniting the castle with the mansion, in which strength and solidity have been consulted to the neglect or prejudice of grace and beauty. Its form is quadrangular, strengthened by a massive flanking tower at each corner, and a fifth projects from the principal front, through which a lofty archway passes, giving admission to a court within. The dimensions of the court yard are one hundred and sixty-five feet in length by one hundred in breadth, surrounded on all sides by various apartments, the windows of which, for the most part, open towards the enclosed area. A handsome arcade, which formerly occupied the basement on the east side, has been closed up and converted into habitable rooms. The dungeon said to be as deep towards Tartarus as the castle walls were reared towards Heaven, is still entire, still furnished with its dread machinery, and its floor is reached by a descent of two-and-forty steps. The great entrance of the castle was originally protected by handsome and lofty iron palisades, having statues of Hercules and Mars on either side; but the former have been removed, and set up at the western entrance to the park, and the statues are probably committed to the dungeon.

The principal apartments are both comfortable and elegant. The picture gallery, one hundred feet in length by twenty-two in breadth, is adorned with portraits of illustrious persons, and of different members of the Myddleton family; amongst them are those of the great Duke of Ormond and of his son the Earl of Ossory. This was the virtuous stoic who censured the corrupt age and court in which he moved by exclaiming on the early decease of his favourite son, “I would not exchange my dead son for any living one in Europe.” Besides portraits of Sir Thomas Myddleton, and his daughter the Countess of Warwick, there are some rare landscapes in the state rooms, painted by Wilson, and coloured on the spot from nature. They are chiefly views in Chirk-Castle Park, and are very reflections of the grayish tone of colouring so peculiar to Wales. Here is also a view of Pystil Rhaidar, in which the cataract appears falling into the _sea_, while a few _ships_ are seen sailing past it. The cause of this singular misrepresentation is explained in this way: a foreign artist, not very familiar with the English language, was engaged to execute a painting of this noble waterfall; but, when his work was completed, one of the first persons to whom he exhibited it observed, that a few _sheep_ at the foot of the fall would give animation to the whole. Willing to accept the advice, but mistaking the adviser, the artist immediately introduced a few _ships_ (sheeps) with the natural and necessary accompaniment of the _sea_.

Castel Crogen, the original name of Chirk, was an ancient British fortress, and fell into the hands of Roger Mortimer, Justice of North Wales, in the following manner. John Earl of Warren and Roger Mortimer Earl of Wigmore, being appointed guardians over the sons of Gryffydd ap Madoc, a partisan of Henry the Third and Edward the First, put their wards to death and seized upon their estates, Mortimer taking Nanheuddwy and Chirk, the portion of the younger child, and Warren possessing himself of Bromfield, Yale, and Dinas Bran. A property held by so base a title required to be protected by powerful measures, and Mortimer thought it expedient to erect a strong castle at Chirk, on the site of the British fortress. The building was commenced in the year 1011, and completed in 1013. The crimes of Mortimer were punished by an ignominious death in the Tower of London, but Chirkland continuing in his family, was sold by his grandson, John, to Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, whose son was appointed governor of the castle with a continuation of the grant, whereby Chirkland was again annexed to Bromfield and Yale. Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, having espoused a sister of Lord Arundel, the estate passed over to him, but was transferred to the Earl of Abergavenny, who had married another of the sisters of Lord Arundel, upon the Duke of Norfolk’s disgrace and banishment in 1397. By the marriage of Edward Nevil with the granddaughter of the last proprietor it passed into his family, in the reign of Henry the Sixth. Sir William Stanley appears to have been the next proprietor, upon whose untimely death it escheated to the crown. Elizabeth bestowed it upon the Earl of Leicester, at whose death it passed into the possession of Lord Bletso, from whose son it was purchased by Sir Thomas Myddleton, Knt. in 1595, and is now possessed by his descendant, Mrs. Myddleton Biddulph.

Previous to the year 1506 the castle was regularly garrisoned: during the usurpation it was besieged, and three of the towers battered down by Cromwell’s artillery. Sir Thomas Myddleton, the owner, defended himself gallantly, and was reimbursed by Charles the Second for his losses, amounting to thirty thousand pounds, accompanied by an offer of elevation to a peerage, which honour he very modestly declined.

The view from the high grounds of the park is amazingly extensive, commanding a prospect over seventeen different counties. A part of the grounds, distinguished by the name of the “Black Park,” derives its epithet from the death of a keeper, who, coming to the assistance of a young woman who was attacked by a stag, was himself gored to death by the ferocious animal. The village of Chirk lies at the foot of the hill on which the castle stands. It consists of a few cottages built from agreeable rustic designs, and presents a neat and cheerful appearance. The church is handsome, spacious, and adorned with a noble tower. The interior is ornamented with monuments of the Chirk-Castle family; the best and most interesting of which is erected to the memory of the famous Sir Thomas Myddleton.

The little river Ceiriog, which separates England from Wales, flows through the valley of Chirk, and is crossed by a handsome aqueduct conveying the waters of the Ellesmere canal. This extremity of the aqueduct is met by a tunnel passing under the hill, and carrying the line of navigation towards the aqueduct at Llangollen. A singular mound may be observed on the brow of the hill hanging over the Ceiriog, and at a little distance from the church, it is obviously artificial, and is doubtless a sepulchral barrow, such as are frequently found in other parts of the principality.

LLANRWST CHURCH.