Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

86 THE CAMBRIAN REMEMBRANCER. OCTOBER, 18ft. Charles the First's time they willingly submitted themselves to a system of personal Government which had been hateful to the men of former days, and against which they had struggled even to death. That must always be said of the old Welsh princes and their principal adherents, and so far as our history enables us to judge of the genius of the common people from their actions, it is manifest that North Walians loved freedom supremely. A tiresome cross country walk past the Lead- brooks, where a branch of the Salusburies of Lleweni had been located for some generations, brought us to Pentreffwdav, an old Roman station, and thence we proceeded to Flint Castle, the noted stronghold of as brave a race of gallant Welshmen as ever buckled on armour. The present Flint is neither Welsh nor English, but the habitation of a colony of Irishmen, who swear by Father Power and " Home rule for Ireland." The tradition is, that when the Britons were sent out of England, they fortified themselves at Flint, having the sea in front of them and some high, lands at their back ; but when the Romans became masters of Chester they soon found their way to that town, drove the Welsh out of it, and then re-arranged the place upon their favourite plan of a cross, so as to command the approaches to it on all sides ; and the sea they secured by putting up a castle upon the site of the present one. When they departed the Welsh returned, and from tliat period to the Conquest, they seem to have held their own there with a strong hand. There is no very clear evidence to support the tradition that the Normans penetrated thus far, but Henry II. did so, and lie is supposed to have founded the present castle. Others maintain that Edward I. built it. That is far more likely; for in 1283 a charter was given to the town, and under it the Flintites appear to have lived and thriven, quite contented with the new regime, and even becoming a sort of Anglicized race of people. The castl8 under such circumstances was of no use to anyone, and long before the Civil War broke out it had fallen into a state of decay. Sir Roger Mostyn sided iwith the king, and, spending an enormous sum of money in doing so, he repaired and strengthened the fortress, but Sir William Brereton and Sir Thomas Middleton attacked and took it, and in December, 1646, an order was passed by Parlia¬ ment to demolish it; which we may accept as a clear proof both of its strength aud importance. From that time its glory has gone, and with it the pride and piety of the people who lived under its wing. They have lacked the pride needed to keep the ruin in a state of repair for their own credit, and the piety which should have prompted them to keep it up as a memorial of the gallant men who once defended it against a foreign foe. 'Tis sad to look upon it now, for it is a wreck, and almost hidden from sight by the vo¬ lumes of sulphurous smoke, which has also destroyed the beauties of all its surroundings. To a stranger this can matter little, but to the race who have cherished its history, and to those who can remember the sylvan beauties of the neighbourhood, the present condition of things is as afflictive as it is offensive, for it has converted the paradise of old times into a gateway to hell, and a fitting adjunct to the "Devil's Dingle," in close proximity to it. My advice then to all who care about Flint Castle is to take its history upon trust, to give it a wide berth,and t;» do as we did—hasten away from it and the dirty town by rail to Basixowe^k Abbey, the old monkish hunie which gave to Greenfield and the neighbourhood at one time the character of holy ground. Randolph, earl of Chester, founded it about 1131, no doubt intending that for all time his winked soul might be prayed for by a succession of holy men who made masses the chief business of life; but he never guessed how one Harry, king of England, would sell the faith for money. That king, however, robbed the monks of Basingwerk of their dues, and ever since the building has been neglected and allowed to fall into ruins. At one time the situation was W'T»-iful. fer the sbbey commanded a view of the estary of the Dee, the Cheshire coast, some par - of Lancashire, and the city of Chester. Tl mas Williams, au Anglesey man, spoilt it all, by eiv cting in close proximity to it a series of ugly copper works, and others following his bad example, black smoke has destroyed the woods and blackened all the buildings, so that you now look in vain for either. Every vestige of the chapel is gon and nothing left beyond a portion of the refractory walls. Close to it are the remains of Watt's Dyke, the line of demarcation once set up between the rival earls, who hated each other so thoroughly. A slip of land, called the "free merchantable ground," lay open between it and Offa's Dyke, and old Churchyard, in his quaint style, has sang the fame of both :— " There is a famous thing, Called Offa's Dyke, that reacheth farre in length; All kind of ware the Danes might thither bring. It was free ground, and called the Briton's strength Watt's Dyke, likewise, about the same was set, Between winch two the Danes and Britons met. And traffic still, but passing bounds by sleight The one did take the other pris*ner straight." Having got through one day's work so well, we hastened away to Holywell to dine and rest A Rambt.f/r. DECEMBER 74th, 1878. ODDS AND ENDS. Wki.mi Assizes in 1803.—Obseivations ou the administration of justice, and the evils arising from want of a proper publicity of the laws. From a " Tour through Wales " in 1803, by the Rev J. Evans, B.A., Oxon. ***** "The justices of West Wales, as we were about leaving the town (Carmarthen), had opened their commission of oyer and terminer for this part of the Principality. The novelty of an assize held in a language so different from our oavu excited the curiosity of the company. Nor was it long before