Welsh Journals

16 BYE-GONES. Feb. 1, 1893. of the present Earl of Denbigh he had been enabled to procHre platinotype copies of the original des¬ patches from the Parliamentary Committee at Wem, signed by Mytton, Samuel More of Linley, Robert Chve (ancestor of the present Earl of Powis), and Thomas Hunt of Boreatton, and of other original documents relating to the siege, including the reso¬ lutions of both Houses of Parliament conveying their thanks and a grant of £200 to Mr Mytton. These were inspected by the audience. He then very shortly described the Royalist effort^ to re-capture the town and their repulse near Whittington, and guoted Myddelton's despatch, " the town of iswestry I find to be a very strong town, and if once fortified, of great concernment and the key that lets us into Wales." The late Mr Charles Sabine, senr., told him (the lecturer) many years ago, that one day he was in an old house, now pulled down, in the Horse Market, in which an old woman was cutting up sausage meat. He observed that the " board" on which she was cutting looked very old, and upon taking it up saw that there was a repre¬ sentation of the Fitzalan horse upon it. " Where did you get that from?" he said. The old lady replied, " It is said that came out of the Castle when it was pulled down." Mr Sabine purchased the board and had it placed at the head of his drawing room mantelpiece at Carreglwyd. This was probably the only relic of the Castle still in existence, except the few rugged and shapeless stones to be seen. The Castle probably did not disappear all at once. The records shewed at the beginning of the present century the wall round the bottom of the Castle Bank was built at the cost of the Corporation, and many of them were old enough to remember how they used to " toboggan " up and down the steep sides of the Castle hill when there was no wall in the Horse Market. The late Mr Chas. Sabine, sen., was instrumental in rescuing the hill from the hands of the spoilers,~and induced a number of leading Oswestrians to form a fund to purchase it from the trustees of Mr Venables to whom it belonged, but again " the Castle Bank " as it was called, fell into a neglected condition and finally it was reserved for the present Mayor, Mr Alfred Wynne Corrrie, among the memorable acts which have signalised his years of office officially to receive the bank from its late owners and to dedicate it to the public of Oswestry for ever. The feudal days had disappeared and they would not wish to go back to the times when the Lord of the castle ruled and regulated the lives and manners of the burgesses who were suffered to nestle round his castle walk In those days all power centralized in the lord ; now every householder had a voice in the management of the affairs of his town, and the responsibility was laid upon each one of them to see that the civic life of their town should be the noblest, the purest, and the best they could make it, that they should in no respects fall behind the virtues of their ancestors who helped to make Eng¬ land " The land that freemen till, That sober suited freedom chose, The land where girt with friends or foes, A man may speak the things he will." (Applause.) He had quoted from a Welsh poet of the 15th century; let him conclude with a translation of a poem of Guto 'r Glyn, the domestic bard of the abbot of the Valle Crucis Abbey of the 13th century, a translation furnished him by Mr Howel Lloyd, and for which Guto 'r Glyn was made a burgess:—- ' Oswestry is the liberal, the best endowed of cities, The beloved of Heaven, that draws me to it, Oswestry, the strong fort of conquerors, the London of Powys, Where the houses are well stored with wine, and the land is rich, Its school is celebrated, and its city, for preachers and men of science, God is present in its beautiful temple— A Church adorned with rich chalices, And with bells, and a rich-toned organ. No better choir is there from it to Canterbury, None in which there is correcter singing, Or more suitable to the vestments. To White Minster I know no convent superior. The women of Oswestry are the best dressed and the handsomest. In merchandise it is like Cheapside, And honest and unanimous are its people. God's grace be with the city, and with its denizens, May God be its Guardian, and its gracious preserver." (Loud applause.) On the motion of Mr Stephen Bonne, seconded by Mr G. Perks, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Parry-Jones, for his interesting lecture, and a similar compliment was paid to Mr Leighton for presiding, on the motion of Mr J. Maclardy, seconded by Mr S. Parry Jones, after which the meeting terminated. FEBRUARY 1, 1393. NOTES. SOME SHROPSHIRE TRIALS (Jan. 25, 1893).—No. 10.—THE TAX OF A 15th. 22-23 Eliz. (1), 1580.—In this suit the Commission was issued on the 22nd of June, and the Depositions were taken on the 1st of September following. The plaintiffs were John Formeston, Thomas Windsor, inhabitants of the village of Marton, Roger Wycherley, and Rye. Tomkys, against the following :—N ich. Thornes, Nich. Allen and William Allen, " Touching the town or village of Marton alias Mooreton in the Hundred of Pimhill and the tax or 15th ; also the villages of Eyton and Fennimer alias Eyton Russell; also Over Rossall and Shrewsbury. Survey of the same." Pearmain. OSWESTRY CORPORATION RECORDS (Continued). — THE CHARTER. — LETTER FROM MR MARSHALL TO THE MAYOR. (Dec. 7, 1892). S'r I received 3 lett's together from you on Thursday last and have this day by Thomas Johnson sent you the Charter in a box for that p'pose that you're faire (1) The 22nd year of Elizabeth ended on Nov. 16th, 1580» and the 23rd year of her reign began on the following day Nov. 17th, 1580.-E.P,