Welsh Journals

172 BYE-GONES. June, 1873. Davy" (surname not rememberer!), who wore a green coat. yellow vest, "brown tops," and a hat! He rode a big bay horse. The pack was a subscription one, with no subsidy from the Corporation. It was subsequently removed from Oswestry to Aston. On one occasion, when the Pimhill Troop of Yeomanry were on drill, the pack passed near, and the late John Mytton of Ha'ston (at the time on duty with the troop) left his men and followed the chase! Some Irish boys from the Grammar School now and then hunted with Davy, on roadsters surreptitiously obtained from the local job-masters.—Llansaintffraid, OWEN GLYNDWR (Sep. 25, 1872).—In Notes and Queries, Feb. 22, appears the following :—" Between Haverfordwest and Fisbgard, in Pembrokeshire, at the western end of a pretty val ley, which is skirted by Treff- garne (pronounced Trawgon) wood, is a remarkable mass of rock, bearing a remarkable resemblance to a colossal couch¬ ing lion. Owen Glendower is supposed to have been born in a house at the other end of this valley." The writer in 'N. & Q.' ('Geo. Colomb, Col. F.S.A.'), touching the lion, quotes the 1st part of Hen. IV., Act iii., scene 1, where Hotspur says of Owen— '"■ Sometimes he ansrersme With teling me of . . . A couching lion :" and goes on to say, " From passages in CymbeKne it seems probable that Shakespeare visited Wales; if he did he might have been attracted to the supposed birthplace of (jwen Glendower, and seen and remembered the rock-lion, which appears as if guarding the valley." All this is very ingenious, but I presume the only authority for "suppos¬ ing " the Welsh chieftain to have been born in Pembroke¬ shire, is a M.S. quoted by Mr Thomas, in his Memoirs of Owen Glyndwr, which he says belonged to " the late Mr Pugh, of Ty Gwyn, Denbighshire." Is there any reason for supposing that South ^Vales was considered the place of Glyndwr's birth in Shakespeare's time ? This 'rock-lion,' by the way, is not the onlv one in Wales, situated in a valley associated with Glyndwr's name. In the Gossiping Guide to Wales, in describ¬ ing Bwlch-Oer-ddrws, a pass between Dinas Mawddwy and Dolgelley, it is pointed out that one of the mountains, shutting in the valley, " resembles a couching lion," and this is the valley where " manv powerful gentle¬ men of Wales, after the death of Owen Glyndwr, assembled for the purpose of making compacts to enforce virtue and order." If Shakespeare was ever in Waifs, perhaps he made a tour in this direction, which would be more attrac¬ tive to a Warwickshire gentleman than the southern portion of the Principality !—N. W. S. June 4, 1873. NOTES. DEATH OF KING OSWALD. In Byt-gonrs for June 19, 1872, H. W. L. under the heading of " Croeswylan ; a Chapter in the Early History of Oswestry," gave the most complete and convincing proof yet published, that Oswestry was the place where Oswald fell; but it would appear from a contribution to Notes and Queries, May 17, # 1873, that the world is not without unbelievers ! Here is the article :— *' It is not soon that any new information recovered from the records of the past comes into a shape sufficiently popular to reach the notice of ordinary historians, if compilers ever deserve that honoured name. Seven years ago enough was publisht from JSlfric's Life of Oswald, kiner and saint and martyr, to rec mcile all dis¬ putes, a-certain all doubts, and solace conflicting claims as to th * spot where Oswald fell. Winwic, in Lancashire, has alwavs rightly claimed to be the village next the ' Maserfeld,' where he was overwhelmed by the united forces of Mercians, Welsh, and Angles. Its name is from Winn, struggle, and Wic, dwelling. Similarly the stream near which the victor Ptnda lost his life was called Win- wae J, whether a reach or bight of the Air seems not so very certain, for that river, the name of which is akin to that of the Yare at Yarmouth, and some others enumerated by Mr Brewer, was written by the Saxons Yr (yr); but we have at least Win, struggle, and Wae 1, water. On the church at Winwic, under the wall-plate, an inscription run3, a copy of whijh, evidently more correct than that which ap¬ pears in Gough's Camden, vol. iii. p. 128, has been furnish* me by a learned friend :— Hie locus Os *alde quondam placuit tibi valle. Qui Northymbrorum fuerasrex nuncque polorum Regna tenes ; prato passns Mercelde vocato. "This Mercelde is Ashton, in Makerfield—so, not Maser- field. At Winwic is also a pure spring, unmuddied by rains, to which people come from even a hundred miles distance for cure of their eyes, and sometimes they derive much benefit, which is set down to the merits of the saint, just as in Buda's time. "Penda cut from the king's body hi« head, both hands, and right arm ; carried them off into the midst of Mercia, and set them up, fixt them to a tree, as a proof positive of his success. This tree was called Oswald's Tree, and by the Welsh, Croes Oswalt, crux Osualdi; and the town takes its name from the tree. Near Oswestry is an ancient fortress called, according to Hartshorne, Hen Dinas, old fort, a work entirely formidable to sword and ppearmen ; it has three high aggeres rising one above another, like the work at Old Sarum ; such that a well-sized elm will have its roots in a foss and its head even with the top of an agger. It was probably constructed to stay the progress of the Romans up the Severn valley. A plan of it is in Gough's Camden, but useless to aid a conception of the fierce aspect of the fortress. It seems very likely that this old fort might be occupied by Penda, when he brought his trophies to hang from the tree in the plain below it. "Oswy, brother and successor of King Oswald, was nettled at the exposure of the hands, arm, and head, and resolved to attempt, by-and-by, after lap-eof a year, a re¬ cover v of them. He gathered round him a trusty hand, rode from Lancashire to Oswestry through Penda's dominionp, at hazard of his own life, and fetched away the remains. On all pressing occasions the Saxons covered the ground rapidly on horseback. Thus when Harold Hardrada^ after ravaging Cleveland and capturing Scarborough, sailed up the Ouse, and appeared before York, he was encountered by a great force on horseback, led by Harold, son of God- wine. This king had received intelligence, and come up from the south with a celerity astonishing to our modem War Department. Indeed, in the harrying wars of the Danes, both the invading Here and the native Fryd pro¬ vided itself with horses, as frequently mentioned in the Chronicle, for quicker movement, and even the legal hue and ery was mounted. So that Oswy headed a practised troop, and his ride was one of those honourable adventurei delightful to a noble youth. "The body of Oswald left upon the field at Winwic was sought and discovered by his relatives, and deposited at Bardney, whence in a.d. 910 the reliques were removed to St. Oswald's, Gloucester.