Welsh Journals

THE WREXHAM RECORDER. " 0, the Recorder.-—let me see." Hamlet. Vol. I. No. 7. SEPTEMBER, 1843. "~[PaiCE7dT HISTORICAL GLEANINGS, No. 5. HAWARDEN CASTLE, FLINTSHIRE. The remains of this once important fortress stands on an elevated spot, now enclosed in Sir Stephen Richard Glynne's park. Though surrounded with ancient oaks and other high trees, its turrets soar above all, and command very extensive scenery, the windings of the Dee and the Irish Channel, and that immense tract of rich land, called the " Vale Royal of Cheshire," forming one of the most beautiful views in this pari of the country*. The original founders of this Castle cannot be traced; several historians are of opinion that the Britons were in possession of it in very early times, and prior to the desperate opposition of the Ordovices, had to defend this part of the country against the Cornavii and the invading Romans. Trueman's Hill, Conna's Key, the Roft, and several other ancient fortified heights which surround this fortress, and formed after the British manner, strongly corroborate the conjecture of its having been of British origin. However, history is silent about any of its transactions until about the year 790. At this time Offa, king of Mercia, made the celebrated dyke, called " Clawdd Offa," as a boundary between his king¬ dom, and that of Wales. Hawarden was then within his dominions ; afterwards it came into the possession of the Saxons ; at this time it re¬ ceived the name of Weorden or Hawarden, which, according to the Saxon language, implies, the head land above the lake, and is particularly des¬ criptive of its situation as* standing on an elevation above the Dee. In 876, Anarawd, son of Roderick the Great, became the Prince of Gwynedd. At that period the Britons of Cumberland were very much disturbed, their country being overrun by the Danes and Saxons, so inucli 30 that they were obliged to seek a more peaceful habitation. They fol- * Vide Parry** Eway, p. 18. NO. VM. a