Halghston - Hawarden

H

Halghston

HALGHSTON, called by the Welsh HALCHDIN, a township, in the parish of Hanmer, poor-law union of Ellesmere, hundred of Maelor, county of Flint, North Wales, 6½ miles (N. by E.) from Ellesmere; containing 491 inhabitants. It is situated about half-way on the road between Wrexham and Whitchurch. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £250. 2. 7., and the vicarial for one of £55. 15., with a glebe of twentynine acres, valued at £47 per annum.

Halkin (Helygen)

HALKIN (HELYGEN), a parish, in the union of Holywell, Northop division of the hundred of Coleshill, county of Flint, North Wales, 3 miles (S. E. by S.) from Holywell, and on the road from Chester to Holyhead; containing 1813 inhabitants. The tract of country in which this parish is situated was, at the time of the Norman Conquest, called Alchene, from which its present name is derived. The parish contains 3140 acres, including 1010 acres of common or waste land, but having generally a light and productive soil. The village, which has arisen within the present century, and greatly increased since the discovery of some rich mines in the vicinity, is pleasantly situated in a fertile district; and the elevated ground adjacent to it commands a fine prospect of the surrounding scenery, which, on the north, east, and south, expands into an almost boundless view. The estuary of the Dee, with the city of Chester at its higher extremity, and the ruins of Flint Castle on its southern shore, appears to the north-east, and beyond it the peninsula of Wirrall, and the river Mersey, with the Lancashire hills, and the mountains of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and even Cumberland, in the distance; while the castles of Beeston and Hawarden, and the well-wooded tract between the latter place and Northop, occupy the foreground.

At a small distance from the village rises the Halkin mountain, rich in mineral treasures. It extends into the parishes of Northop, Ysceiviog, and Holywell, and forms one continued series of excavations made in search of lead-ore, of which no part of the principality has been more productive: the late Sir George Wynne is said to have cleared £300,000 by a mine that was discovered in the township of Lygan. The Deep-Level and Halkin Mining Company have very considerable works here, which are carried on with success; and there are several others on a smaller scale throughout the range of the Halkin mountain: the great Grosvenor mine is said to have been discovered by a peasant cutting a ditch fence. In the lead-mines of this neighbourhood, and imbedded in the white clay of the mountain, fossils of almost every variety are found in abundance. The clay just mentioned is in much repute, and is sent to Liverpool; chert of a beautiful white colour, which is highly esteemed, is also found, and sent into Staffordshire, to be used in the earthenware manufacture. The whole of the mineral property of the Halkin mountain belongs to the Marquess of Westminster, whose father, the late marquess, in 1827 erected near the village a splendid castellated mansion, in the ancient English style of architecture, commanding some of the finest views for which the strikingly diversified scenery of the vicinity is celebrated; this seat, called Halkin Castle, is occasionally the residence of the family. The Chester and Holyhead railway passes in the immediate neighbourhood of the parish.

The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £14. 7. 11.; patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £379; with a glebe of three acres, valued at £4 per annum, and a glebe-house. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a small edifice, erected in 1745, and contains several good monuments. An additional incumbency, named Christ Church, has been founded in the parish, to which a district is annexed, embracing parts of Halkin, Kîlken, and Ysceiviog. In the village is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists; at Pentre, one for the same denomination; and at Rhesycae, places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. A parochial National school was founded in 1829, principally at the expense of the late Marquess of Westminster; it is supported by the present marquess, and with the exception of a small entrance-fee, the instruction is gratuitous. There are nearly 200 boys and girls on the books of this school, which is also assembled on Sundays. A Sunday school is likewise held in each of the four places of worship for dissenters.

Mr. Henry Lewis (in 1692) bequeathed £50, Mrs. Wynne bequeathed £30, Mr. H. Ellis £18, and Mr. Fletcher and Mrs. Lloyd £5 each, the interest of which sums is divided in money, bread, and flannel, among the poor, at Christmas, together with a rentcharge of two guineas arising from a bequest of £50 by Sir Roger Mostyn the younger, in 1729. There are several other bequests mentioned with these on the tablets in the church; but they have all been lost: the principal were, a bequest of £600 by John Barker in 1756, which was allowed to remain at interest in the hands of the son of the testator's executor, until he became a bankrupt; a bequest of £100 by Thomas Williams, Esq., in 1721, which was acknowledged by the rector, in 1736, to be in his hands; and a rent-charge of £12 by William Parry, vested in Sir Edward Lloyd, Bart., not paid since 1770. The Rev. P. Roberts, author of the Harmony of the Epistles, Letters to Volney, History of the Cymry, and various other literary productions, was rector of this parish, in which he died, in May 1819: his remains were interred in the church, and a small mural monument was erected to his memory on the north side of it.

Hanmer

HANMER, a parish, in the union of Ellesmere, hundred of Maelor, county of Flint, North Wales; comprising the townships of Bettesfield, Bronington, Halghston, Hanmer, Tybroughton, and Willington, each of which is separately assessed for the maintenance of its poor; and containing 2691 inhabitants, of whom 521 are in the township of Hanmer, 5 miles (N. E.) from Ellesmere, on the road from Wrexham to Whitchurch. The village of Hanmer is pleasantly situated near a large mere, belonging to Sir John Hanmer, Bart., M.P. This fine sheet of water covers a space of seventy-three acres, and derives a great degree of beauty from the rich woodlands in its immediate vicinity, interspersed with highly cultivated eminences; from the venerable embattled parochial church, with the circumjacent village, at the north end of the mere; from the principal seat of the Hanmer family, which ornaments its banks on the one side; and from the handsome mansion erected by Lord Kenyon, on the site of the old house of Gredington, which, with its extensive plantation and spacious pleasure-grounds, adorns its opposite shores. The situation of the village, and the appearance of the country around it, are strikingly beautiful: the inclosures are small, and the fences full of fine oak timber, which gives to the scenery a stately magnificence of character.

The living is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty; net income, £427; patron and impropriator, Sir John Hanmer. The impropriate tithes of the township of Hanmer have been commuted for a rent-charge of £210. 8. 3., and the vicarial for one of £69. 7., with a glebe of three acres, valued at £6 per annum, and a glebe-house. The church, dedicated to St. Chad, is a spacious and handsome edifice in the later English style, with a lofty square embattled tower; and numerous shields bearing the arms of Hanmer, which are ornamentally distributed through every part of the building, tend to prove that it was erected by that family in the reign of Henry VII., after an older structure had been reduced to ashes in the York and Lancaster wars. Exclusively of the tower, it consists of a nave, aisles, and chancel, with the two chapels of Fenns and Hanmer. The roof of the church is of carved oak, and those of the north aisle and the Fenns chapel are elegantly panelled in small compartments, and richly ornamented with wreaths of flowers, fruit, and foliage. The roof of the Hanmer chapel is of exquisitely carved oak, and the floor is laid with Saxon tiles. In this chapel are monuments to several of the family, among which are those of Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bart., commonly called the Cavalier, who died in 1678, and his grandson Sir Thomas Hanmer, Speaker of the House of Commons in the reign of Anne: this latter gentleman, who died in 1746, is also well known for his superb edition of Shakspeare's Plays, with annotations, in six volumes, published by the University of Oxford, to which he presented the manuscript. In the chancel of the church is a fine mural monument to the memory of Lloyd, Lord Kenyon, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, who died in 1802: it has a figure of his lordship in his robes, in a sitting posture, under a canopy supported by well-sculptured figures emblematic of Faith and Justice. In the north aisle is a monument to the memory of Mary, widow of the Lord Chief Justice, which presents a figure of Mary at the Saviour's feet, beautifully sculptured. Both these monuments are from the chisel of Bacon, Jun., and for beauty of design, delicacy in the draperies, and spirit in the execution, reflect great credit on the artist. In the churchyard, within an iron palisade, is the tomb of Luke and Catherine Lloyd, of the Bryn, who lived together in conjugal bonds for the long period of sixty-eight years. At New Fenns is a separate incumbency, a perpetual curacy, in the gift of Sir John Hanmer; income, £50.

Katherine Eddowes of Halghston, Luke Lloyd, and others, jointly contributed in the seventeenth century, to purchase an estate in Sesswick, in the county of Denbigh, for the support of a master, to instruct the children of this parish. The estate now produces a rental of £30, which sum, with £4. 10. the interest of £100 left by Mr. William Jennings of Iscoed, and 10s. rent-charge on an estate at Whixall, Salop, created by Benjamin Rodenhurst, a former possessor, is receivable by the master: the interest of Jennings' gift, however, has not been paid for the last few years. Five other parties left sums amounting to £26, the interest of which is expended in keeping the building in repair. This ancient school, in which are about twenty-five boys and girls, is in the township of Hanmer. A Sunday school in connexion with the Established Church was commenced in 1846, in the township of Bettesfield; and the Primitive Methodists hold a Sunday school in a dwellinghouse in Bronington.

Several donations were made to the poor more than a century ago, consisting of £200 from Dame Susannah Hanmer, £100 from Mrs. Catherine Dymock, £100 from John Beddow, £50 from William Lloyd, of Halghston, Esq., £40 from his daughter, Mrs. Beatrice Lloyd, and other smaller benefactions. To these was added a gift of £40 by Sir Thomas Hanmer in 1730, making the sum of £576, which was invested in the purchase of a farm of thirty-five acres, and conveyed to the vicar of the parish and others, in trust, to distribute the rental, which is now £40, in clothing, to the poor of the parish. In addition to this are numerous other charities, namely, a small parcel of land bequeathed by the Rev. Richard Hill, in 1706, and now paying a rent of £3 per annum; a moiety of a rent-charge of £6 granted by Dame Catherine Hanmer, in 1638, charged on an estate in the chapelry of Penley; a grant of £6 by Jane Higginson, payable every fifth year; another of £2. 5., by Thomas Matthews; another by Joseph Ellis of £2; a sum of £1. 16., being the interest of £45 from an unknown donor; a further sum of £2. 10., being the interest of three small bequests of £30 by the Rev. Richard Hilton, of £20 by Susannah Hilton, and of £10 by the Rev. Richard Edwards; a bequest of £50 by Joseph Phillips, secured upon the Bangor turnpike trust; and, lastly, a benefaction of £150 by Mrs. Anna Edgeworth, in 1825, the produce of which, £5, is distributed at the church door, in 200 sixpenny loaves of bread, at Christmas, among the poor of all the townships. A few other charities have been lost, among which were, a sum of £150 arising from the sale of timber on the charity lands, and other proceeds, left in the hands of a solicitor, who died without leaving any provision for its repayment; and a sum of £30, grants of three individuals to the poor, which was lent upon interest to parties that afterwards became insolvent.

At a short distance to the east of the village, formerly stood Hanmer Hall, a handsome modern mansion of brick, belonging to the Hanmer family, and which commanded from the grounds much finely varied scenery, and from a turret by which it was surmounted an extensive and almost boundless prospect of the surrounding country, extending into no fewer than nine different counties. About a mile and a half from Hanmer is Bettesfield Park, the residence of Sir John Hanmer, and the original seat of the family, an ancient structure with a lofty tower of Italian architecture lately erected. This mansion, which is situated in the midst of extensive woods, contains some fine apartments, with a celebrated collection of works of art, and family and other portraits by eminent artists. Among the portraits are, a head of Sir Thomas Hanmer, by Kneller; a portrait of Isabella, Duchess of Grafton and Countess of Arlington, married to Sir Thomas Hanmer, in 1698; a head of Sir Thomas Hanmer, the second baronet of this family, and another of his wife Susan, daughter of Sir William Hervey; a portrait, by Cornelius Jansen, of which the subject is unknown; a portrait by Kneller, of Sir Thomas Hanmer, robed as Speaker of the House of Commons; a highlyfinished head of Charles I.; a three-quarters' portrait of the same monarch, and of his queen, Henrietta Maria; a portrait of Lady Hanmer; and one of Lady Warner à la Magdalene. What however is principally attractive is the fine collection of fresco paintings by Paul Veronese and Zelotti, removed from the walls of the Soranza and Malcontenta villas, in the neighbourhood of Venice, by the curious process invented by Count Balbi. According to a manuscript preserved in the Wynnstay library, there was in 1643 "a skirmish at Hanmer, where many of the parlamenteers were slayne and taken;" and in 1644, whilst Prince Rupert "was at Newarke, y^e L. Biron gathered his forces from Chester and Denbighshire, and took four of the parl. Garrisons, viz. Emral, Hanmer, Fens, and Beatchfield." Fens, or Fenns, was the residence of William Hanmer, Esq., a mansion-house not far distant from Hanmer and Bettesfield.

About a mile west-south-west from the church is Gredington, formerly belonging to Sir John Hanmer Bart., M.P., and a Major-General at the battle of the Boyne. It was purchased from the baronet, in the reign of Charles II., by the Rev. Richard Hilton, vicar of this parish, and passed by marriage with his daughter to Robert Eddowes, of Eagle Hall, Cheshire, whose daughter Jane conveyed it by marriage to Lloyd Kenyon, Esq., in 1729. Mr. Kenyon's second son Lloyd, Lord Kenyon, the Chief Justice, built part of the present mansion, especially a dining-room and drawing-room, also the stables, and laid out part of the gardens. The mansion has been almost rebuilt on the old site by the present Lord Kenyon, after a design by Mr. Harrison, of Chester, in a style of great elegance. It is surrounded by a considerable demesne, including many acres of woodland of the last and present century; the pleasure-grounds, including the gardens, which are tastefully laid out, occupy about two acres, and about a hundred acres more are laid down in pastures, meadows, and other farming-land. The house contains some fine paintings by eminent masters, among which are portraits, by Romney, of Lord Chief Justice Kenyon, and Lord Thurlow, High Chancellor; and two curious paintings, by a French artist, of the eldest son and daughter of James II., given by that monarch to Dr. Kenyon, who, as his physician, attended his Majesty to St. Germain's: in the bosom of the princess is a knot of flowers, painted by her own hand.

Harlech

HARLECH, a small decayed town, formerly a borough, in the parish of Llandanwg, union of Festiniog, hundred of Ardudwy, county of Merioneth, of which it is the ancient shire town, in North Wales, 20 miles (N. W.) from Dôlgelley, by Barmouth, 32 (W. by S.) from Bala, by Festiniog and Maentwrog, and 229 (W. N. W.) from London: the population is returned with the parish. This place is conjectured by some writers to have been a fortified post of the Romans, constructed to defend the openings of the two estuaries to the north of it, called respectively the Traeth Mawr and the Traeth Bâch, and to secure a communication with the opposite shore; but this opinion rests only upon the discovery of some Roman coins and a golden torques in the vicinity. It is evident, however, that it was a fortified post of the ancient Britons; and the place was called Tŵr Bronwen, from Bronwen, the sister of Brân ab Llŷr, Prince of Siluria, or Gwent. It afterwards obtained the name of Caer Collwyn, having been, towards the close of the ninth century, the residence of Collwyn ab Tango, a chieftain of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, and lord of Eivionydd, Ardudwy, and part of Lleyn, who inhabited a square tower, which subsequently became a portion of the more modern castle, and of which there are yet some remains.

According to some of the British historians, the castle was founded, so early as the year 530, by Maelgwyn Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales. The present structure was built by Edward I., upon the ruins of the former, and was either called Arlech, from its situation upon a rock, or by its present name of Harlech, which signifies "the fair rock." It was commenced in 1286; though it appears that in the year 1283 Hugh de Wlonkeslow was constable here, with a small garrison under him, and had an allowance of £100 per annum, which, however, was afterwards much reduced. Owain Glyndwr, during the furious and destructive war which he waged against Henry IV., forcibly took possession of this fortress, in 1404; but it was retaken by the English troops within three years afterwards. In 1459, it became the asylum of Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI., who, after the battle of Northampton, retired to Coventry, and thence to this place, from which, after a short stay, she departed for Scotland, again to take the field in the North of England.

On the accession of Edward IV. to the throne, that monarch soon became master of the whole of the kingdom, except two or three strong fortresses in Northumberland, and Harlech Castle. The latter was held by Davydd ab Ievan ab Einion, a man of great stature and dauntless valour, and one of the most staunch supporters of the Lancastrian cause. To effect its reduction, Edward, in 1468, despatched Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, with a strong body of men, who, after encountering the most formidable difficulties in their march through a rugged alpine territory, the line of which was afterwards called Lle Herbert, or "Herbert's way," invested the castle. The earl entrusted the prosecution of the siege to his brother, Sir Richard Herbert, a knight equal in prowess and bravery to the Welsh commander, whom he summoned to surrender, but from whom he received only a laconic and humorous refusal. After a siege of no ordinary duration, finding that the place was so strong as only to be reduced by famine, he entered into terms of honourable capitulation with Davydd, whose security and protection he guaranteed by intercession with his sovereign: in this, however, he was at first unsuccessful, until he boldly offered his own life, and threatened to reinstate the Welsh hero in his impregnable fortress, apprising the king, at the same time, of the difficulty of obtaining possession of it.

From a manuscript in the Cotton Library it appears that, in the reign of Elizabeth, the garrison of Harlech Castle consisted of twenty-four men, commanded by a constable receiving an annual allowance of £50. In 1624, much damage was done to the cattle and other farming stock of the neighbourhood by an extraordinary mephitic vapour, which arose from the sea, and is conjectured by Camden's annotator, Bishop Gibson, to have been caused by the putrefaction of a great swarm of locusts, which visited the neighbouring coasts about this time, and was suddenly destroyed by the coldness of the climate. During the civil war of the seventeenth century, the castle was alternately in the hands of both parties. Sir Hugh Pennant bravely defended it for the king, until deserted by his men, when it was surrendered to the parliament; subsequently it was again possessed by the royalists, from whom it was ultimately taken by Gen. Mytton, in March 1647, at which time the garrison consisted of twenty-eight men, under the command of Capt. William Owen. It was the last fortress in Wales that held out for the king, in like manner as it appears to have been among the last defended for the house of Lancaster.

The town is situated on the shore of the northern part of the great bay of Cardigan, having on one side some of the wildest and most desolate mountains in the principality, and on the other the wide expanse of sea which separates this part of Merionethshire from the promontory of Lleyn in Carnarvonshire. It has declined into little more than a village of inferior size and insignificant appearance. The place was made a free borough by Edward I., who granted to the burgesses of "Hardelagh" certain lands, privileges, and immunities, and placed it under the government of two bailiffs, a recorder, serjeant-atmace, and other officers; but the chief of its burgensic privileges were abrogated by an act of inclosure passed in the year 1806, and there are now only a very few burgesses remaining, whose duty latterly was confined to their meeting the parliamentary representative of the county, on the day of election, at the extremity of the town, and walking before him, with wands in their hands, to the town-hall, and thence to his place of abode. Owing to the unimportance of the Merionethshire towns, the privilege of sending a member to parliament, granted to those of the other Welsh counties by the 27th of Henry VIII., was withheld from Harlech and the other boroughs of this county; and in lieu thereof, the flourishing town of Haverfordwest, in Pembrokeshire, was invested with the franchise. The county assizes were formerly held here, but were removed to other places about two centuries ago, and the county court was removed from Harlech about the commencement of the present century; the building in which the assizes were held is still standing. The market, which was on Saturday, has fallen into disuse; fairs are held on March 4th, April 14th, the Thursday in Trinity week, June 10th, August 16th, September 22nd, and October 11th, chiefly for the sale of live stock. The present parish church of Llandanwg, consecrated in 1841, is situated in the town; it is an unpretending edifice, without any claim to particular description, in a style most resembling the early English, and has no chancel. The cost amounted to upwards of £1100, of which £100 were received from the Bangor Diocesan Church-Building Society, £200 from the Society for Building and Enlarging Churches, and the rest was raised by private subscription; the late Sir R. W. Vaughan, the Hon. E. M. L. Mostyn, and Mrs. Gore gave the land, and each subscribed liberally to the funds. An endowment of £15 per annum is paid to a master for teaching twelve children free. There are places of worship for Baptists, Calvinistic Methodists, and Wesleyans, with Sunday schools held in the two latter.

The castle stands on the edge of a lofty perpendicular rock, which overhangs an extensive marsh, once covered by the sea, but inclosed by the act passed in 1806. The buildings surround a spacious square area, at each angle of which is a circular tower, with a turret rising from one of its sides, and on each side of the entrance is also a tower. The apartments, now roofless, are of large dimensions, particularly the banqueting-hall, which is seventyfive feet long and thirty in width, and was lighted by four lofty windows on the side facing the sea: the other parts most easily distinguishable are the state chamber, the white chamber, the chapel, dungeons, keep, and water-gate; and on the lower part of the rock, adjoining the marsh, are vestiges of walls, with towers of defence. Part of the walls of the original edifice, of native Welsh construction, are yet apparent, the more modern works in some places resting upon them. This fortress was inaccessible on the side next the sea, and was protected on the other by a fosse of extraordinary depth and width, which, prior to the invention of gunpowder, rendered it impregnable. A constable is still appointed, the office being at present filled by the Hon. Thomas Pryce Lloyd. From the castle is obtained a delightful view of Cardigan bay, and the Carnarvonshire hills, with the lofty Snowdon towering above the rest. The golden torques above-mentioned, which was dug up in 1692, in a garden near the castle, is now in the possession of the Hon. Mr. Mostyn. It is a round wreathed flexible bar, about four feet long, composed of three or four rods twisted together, the spiral furrows being separated by sharp intervening ridges, running its entire length; the ends are plain, truncated, and turned back like pot-hooks. It is about an inch in circumference, weighs eight ounces, and is supposed to have been a Roman-British ornamental badge of dignity, hung round the neck and breast, with the quiver suspended from it behind. In the vicinity of the town are some scattered vestiges of Druidical monuments.

Harmon (St.)

HARMON (ST.), a parish, in the union and hundred of Rhaiadr, county of Radnor, South Wales, 3 miles (N. N. E.) from Rhaiadr; containing 920 inhabitants. This parish derives its name from Saint Garmon, or Germanus, to whom its church is dedicated. It is pleasantly situated on the river Wye, by which it is separated from the adjacent parish of Cwm-toyddwr; and is about four miles in length, and, across the centre, nearly the same in breadth, consisting by computation of about 10,000 acres, divided into three townships or hamlets, Kennarth, Clâs-Garmon, and Bwnneiaid. The lands are but partially inclosed, and only a portion of them is under cultivation. Slate is found, and some quarries of it are worked. The parish is intersected by the high road from Rhaiadr to Llanidloes in the county of Montgomery. The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £5. 15. 2½., and endowed with £800 parliamentary grant; patron, the Bishop of St. David's: the impropriate and vicarial tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £152. 10. each, and the vicar has a glebe of half an acre. The church, rebuilt in the year 1823, is a neat plain edifice, consisting of a nave, chancel, and aisles, without either tower or spire, having one small bell suspended beneath a shed. There are places of worship for Anabaptists, Wesleyans, and Calvinistic Methodists; and two Sunday schools. The produce of some small charitable donations and bequests, principally one of £20 by Evan Davies, by will, in 1781, and another of £10 by James Edward Morris, amounting in the whole to thirty shillings per annum, is distributed among the poor not receiving parochial relief, on New Year's day.

Harpton

HARPTON, a township, in the parishes of Old Radnor and Llanvihangel-Nant-Melan, union of Kington, within the liberties of the borough of New Radnor, county of Radnor, South Wales, 1¾ mile (S. E.) from New Radnor; Upper Harpton containing 149 inhabitants. This township, of which the Welsh name is Trêv-y-Delyn, is situated on the road from New Radnor to Kington. The principal residence is Harpton Court, the seat of the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis, Bart.

Harroldston St. Issels, or East Harroldston

HARROLDSTON ST. ISSELS, or EAST HARROLDSTON, a parish, in the union of Haverfordwest, hundred of Rhôs, county of Pembroke, South Wales, 1½ mile (S. E. by S.) from Haverfordwest; containing 337 inhabitants. This parish, which is pleasantly situated on the bank of the Western Cleddau, appears to have derived its name from Harold, the founder of an ancient family of distinction that for several generations occupied an old seat here. By marriage with Alice, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Richard Harold, the seat passed to the family of Perrot, ancestors of Sir John Perrot, Lord-Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth, and first high sheriff of this county, who was a native of the place. The ancient mansion is now in a very dilapidated condition. The parish is bounded on the east by the river Cleddau, on the west and north by the parish of St. Thomas, on the south by that of Freystrop; and contains by computation ten ploughlands of the old customary acre, about half of which is pasture, and the remainder arable, with a very small portion of woodland containing a few oak and ash trees. The surface is for the most part flat, and the soil of a brown colour, with a substratum of clay on the west, and of limestone on the east, side of the parish; producing wheat, barley, and oats. There is a small boundary stream, called Merlin's brook, on which is the village of Merlin's-Bridge, partly in this parish, about a mile and a half distant from the church. A quarry of limestone is worked for a portion of the year, and there is a small grist water-mill. Fern Hill, a seat here, is pleasantly situated on the bank of the river, and surrounded by thriving plantations. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £600 royal bounty, and £568 parliamentary grant; net income, £66. 10., with a glebe of from nine to ten acres; patron, James Higgon, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Ishmael, is a small plain building, called an "old church" even in the reign of Elizabeth, and, with a small gallery lately erected, contains about 150 sittings. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, with a Sunday school held in it, at Merlin's-Bridge, the most populous part of the parish. The hermitage of St. Caradoc, it is said, was in this parish; and on a common where the Haverfordwest races are held, is a well still called St. Caradoc's Well, round which a pleasure fair, or festival, used to be annually held.

Harroldston, West

HARROLDSTON, WEST, a parish, in the union of Haverfordwest, hundred of Rhôs, county of Pembroke, South Wales, 5½ miles (W.) from Haverfordwest; containing 130 inhabitants. This parish, distinguished by its adjunct from Harroldston East or St. Issels, like it derives its name from an Anglo-Norman proprietor, who, as well as his successors, was lord paramount over several manors in this part of the principality. The residence of the lord was at this place, which, from the foundations of ancient buildings still remaining, appears to have been formerly of much greater extent than it is at present. The parish is finely situated on the eastern shore of St. Bride's bay in St. George's Channel, and is bounded by the parishes of Walton and Nolton. It comprises by estimation 1688 acres, of which 1100 are meadow and pasture, 500 arable, 73 wood, and 15 glebe land; the soil is formed of clay and mould in different combinations, and the chief produce is wheat, barley, and oats. There are three small fir plantations; and two inferior stone-quarries, not worked at present. The surrounding scenery is richly diversified, and the views from the higher grounds embrace extensive prospects over the Channel, and the adjacent country, which abounds with picturesque beauty. The rates are collected by the ploughland. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £400 royal bounty; patrons, the Master and Fellows of Pembroke College, Oxford, to whom this benefice, together with that of Lambston, an adjoining parish, was presented by Sir John Philipps, father of the late Lord Milford, of Picton Castle, in this county. The tithes belong to the minister, and have been commuted for a rent-charge of £120: there is a glebe of fifteen acres, arising from the bounty, and valued at £14 per annum. The church, dedicated to St. Madoc, has a chancel window in the early English style of architecture, and measures fifty-five by fourteen feet.

Hasguard

HASGUARD, a parish, in the union of Haverfordwest, hundred of Rhôs, county of Pembroke, South Wales, 4 miles (N. W. by W.) from Milford; containing 122 inhabitants. This parish is pleasantly situated on the south-western part of the county, nearly in the centre of the peninsula that separates Milford Haven from St. Bride's bay. It is bounded by the parishes of Steynton, Walwyn's-Castle, Telbenny, and St. Ishmael's; and contains by admeasurement 1300 acres, the whole consisting of arable and pasture, except about 100 acres of waste land. The soil is partly of a red and partly of a grey tinge, producing the usual variety of grain, but the land is chiefly in pasture. The scenery, though pleasingly varied, is not distinguished by any peculiarity of feature; but the views from the higher grounds embrace some fine prospects over the adjacent country, having in the distance St. Bride's bay on the north, and Milford Haven on the south. The living is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £18. 6. 6., and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor; net income, £170. The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, is not remarkable for any architectural details of importance, the style being modern; it is in length forty feet, and eighteen feet in breadth. A Church school was commenced in 1842.

Haverford-West

HAVERFORD-WEST, a sea-port, borough, and market-town, a county of itself, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Rhôs, or Roose, county of Pembroke, South Wales, 10½ miles (N.) from Pembroke, and 250 miles (W. by N.) from London, through Gloucester and Monmouth; containing 5941 inhabitants. This town is called by the Welsh Hwlfordd, of which its present name is supposed to be a corruption, with the addition of a distinguishing syllable. It was originally built by the Flemings, who, driven from their native country by an inundation of the sea, which laid waste a great part of Flanders, obtained from Henry I. an asylum in England. They at first dispersed themselves in different counties in the principality, but soon became odious to the native population, and Henry at length removed them to the district of Roose, in this shire, where, at the same time, a strong castle was erected, and also one at Tenby, in another part of the county. How long they remained here is not known; but it is stated by Caradoc of Llancarvan, that after a few years they disappeared, and, according to the same historian, a second inundation, in 1113, drove another body to England, which was ultimately settled by Henry in this part of Wales, in order to serve in some degree as a check upon the movements of the native inhabitants, who were constantly endeavouring to recover the territories of which they had been dispossessed by the English. The Flemings, equally expert in husbandry and in war, maintained possession of the district that had been assigned to them, notwithstanding all the efforts of the Welsh; and their descendants, who are easily distinguished from those of the aboriginal inhabitants by their language and manners, still constitute a distinct class among the people of the principality. The district in which these strangers settled, and of which Haverfordwest became the metropolis, obtained, from the similarity that subsisted between the Flemings and the English both in manners and in language, the appellation of "Little England beyond Wales."

The town was fortified with a strong castle, erected on a commanding eminence above the Western Cleddau river, and was surrounded by an embattled wall, having four principal gates, three of which remained in nearly a perfect state till within a recent period, but were subsequently removed. The erection of the castle is by most writers attributed to Gilbert de Clare, first Earl of Pembroke, who appointed Richard Fitz-Tancred his castellan, upon whom he also conferred the lordship of Haverfordwest. Richard was succeeded in the lordship by his son Robert, called also Robert de Hwlfordd, who founded on the bank of the river, at a short distance from the town, a priory of Black canons, in which he afterwards passed the remainder of his days. The lordship, upon this, devolved to the crown, and was granted by King John to Walter Marshall, or Le Mareschal, from whose descendants it again reverted to the crown in the reign of Henry VII., since which time it has continued to form part of the royal demesnes.

In 1220, Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales, taking advantage of the absence of the Earl of Pembroke, who had been appointed by Henry III. to the command of his forces in Ireland, laid waste the territories of that nobleman in Wales, and extended his ravages to this place, but was unable to make any impression on the castle. Richard II. honoured the town with his presence, and conferred upon it many valuable privileges: during his stay he confirmed a grant made by Robert Niger, of a burgage in Haverfordwest, to the Friars Preachers, which was the last public act of his reign. In the reign of Henry IV., the command of this fortress was entrusted to the Earl of Arundel, who valiantly defended it against the assaults of the French auxiliaries whom Charles VII. of France had sent over to the aid of Owain Glyndwr. These forces, immediately after landing at Milford, advanced to this place and laid siege to the castle, but they experienced so formidable a resistance from the garrison, and sustained so considerable a loss in their numbers, that, after setting fire to the town and suburbs, they were compelled to abandon their attempt to reduce it. During the civil war in the seventeenth century, the castle was garrisoned for the king by Sir John Stepney, but was never regularly besieged; the garrison, apprised of the rapid successes of the parliamentarians in the surrounding country, hastily withdrew, leaving behind them their ordnance and all their military stores and ammunition.

The Town, which may be regarded as the modern capital of Pembrokeshire, is finely situated at one of the inland extremities of Milford Haven, upon the declivities, and at the base, of very steep hills, round which the Western Cleddau flows. It consists of numerous streets, some of which are regularly built, and contain the town residences of many of the neighbouring gentry; others of the streets are steep. The inhabitants are partially supplied with water from Portfield, and the "Fountain Head" on the road to Milford: the water is brought from the Fountain Head by pipes into a public conduit; and also to private houses, on the payment of a small annual rate to the lessee of the corporation, by whom this plan for supplying the town was carried into effect about a century ago. Acts of parliament for improving the town were obtained in 1835 and 1836: the plan embraces the removal of certain obstructions in the line of a new street, to be formed in continuation of the High-street, to Cartlet bridge, on the other side of the river, a distance of a quarter of a mile; the erection of a new bridge across the Cleddau, and the improvement of the other approaches; lighting the town with gas, the supply of the upper part of it with water, and the construction of a common sewer: alterations that will materially contribute to the improvement of the town, and render it in every respect worthy of the distinguished rank which it holds among the chief towns of the principality. The views from the higher grounds are extensive, and along the summit of the castle hill is a public walk, overlooking the river and the ruins of the ancient priory, and commanding a prospect of the surrounding country.

A literary and scientific association was established in the spring of the year 1847, now consisting of about 150 members; a good library and readingroom are attached, and lectures are delivered during the winter season. Theatrical performances occasionally take place by itinerant companies, though no particular building is appropriated to that use; and meetings are held at the assembly-rooms, which, while possessing no exterior attractions, are considered as the best ball-rooms in South Wales. The Pembrokeshire races are held adjoining the town, annually, in the autumn. They were originally established about eighty years ago, but afterwards partially abandoned; in 1829 they were re-established. They are liberally supported, and in general well attended; the members for the county and the borough each give a plate of £50, and a £50 plate is also given by the tradesmen of the town, exclusively of sweepstakes, contingent on the amount of subscriptions. The Pembrokeshire Hunt, established in the year 1813, and which is supported by the principal gentry of the county, has its meetings at this town, where a pack of fox-hounds is kept. The hounds go out twice every week during the season; but in the second week in November, called the "Hunt Week," the members assemble in the town, and the hounds are out three days, namely, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, on the evenings of which days a ball is held at the assembly-rooms.

The Port is dependent on that of Milford, to which it is a creek, having a custom-house subordinate to the establishment there. From its central situation it attracts considerable trade, chiefly coastwise: the exports are principally oats and butter, with a small quantity of leather and bark; the imports are chiefly groceries, manufactured goods, and other miscellaneous articles, for the supply of the shops. Coal is brought by water from Newport in Monmouthshire, &c.; but the poorer inhabitants for the most part use culm, obtained from a distance of about three miles: the hard or stone coal, for malting, procured about five or six miles off, is here shipped to the southern coast of England, and even to London. A great number of native cattle is sent from the neighbouring district for sale to the English market. The river is navigable to the bridge for barges, to a lower part of the town for larger vessels, and to a place immediately below the town for ships of 250 tons' burthen. A steam-vessel plies to Pembroke-Dock, Milford, Tenby, and Bristol. The trade of the town consists chiefly in the supply of the inhabitants and the neighbourhood with various articles of home consumption, and its commercial intercourse is facilitated by its situation on the road from London to Milford. The great South Wales railway, if completed, will have a branch of more than five miles to Haverfordwest, the opening of which will tend much to the improvement of the district: an account of the line is given under the head of Glamorganshire.

The markets are held on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, the last of which is for corn; and during the three winter months an additional market is held, every Thursday, for the sale of cattle. Fairs for the sale of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs, are held annually on May 12th, June 12th, July 18th, August 9th, September 4th and 23rd, and October 18th. A very substantial market-house was erected by the corporation in 1825, at a cost of about £5000, of which part was expended in the purchase of four houses and gardens in Market-street, to form, with four pieces of waste land belonging to the corporation, a site for the building. It is a spacious quadrilateral edifice, conveniently fitted up, and containing covered shambles for eighty butchers, with ample accommodations for the sale of poultry, butter, vegetables, hardware, and various other articles. There is also a convenient market-place for the sale of fish. The town is abundantly supplied with provisions, and is especially famed for the quality of its mutton. In the year 1848 a substantial corn-market was built by the corporation, at a cost of about £2000. The annual meetings of the Pembrokeshire Agricultural Society are held here, in a new show-yard or cattlemarket, of two acres, at the top of Barn-street, surrounded by a high wall.

The town, which has received various privileges from Henry II., was subsequently honoured with charters from the crown in the 1st and 9th of Richard II., 2nd of Henry IV., 2nd of Henry V., 8th of Henry VIth, 5th of Edward IV., and 24th of Henry VIII.; and these grants, with others, perhaps, of which no record is extant, were confirmed by the statute 34th and 35th of Henry VIII., c. 26, s. 124, by which it was also enacted that the town should be a county of itself, as it had been constituted by Edward IV. Charters were afterwards granted in the 1st of Edward VI., 1st of Queen Mary, 2nd of Elizabeth, 2nd and 7th of James I., and 6th of William and Mary; but of these grants, that of William and Mary only included permission to hold three fairs annually, and a weekly market on Thursday, leaving the previous charters undisturbed. By the last charter of James I. it was enacted, amongst other important things, that the sites of the priory of Black canons and house of Friars Preachers, the hill called Prior's hill, the prior's marshes, and the friars' gardens, situated within the limits of the town, should for the future be esteemed part of the said town and county of the town of Haverfordwest. This charter was the governing one until the passing of the Municipal Corporations' Act. Under its provisions, the style of the corporation was, "the Mayor, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the county of the town of Haverfordwest," and the control was vested in the mayor, sheriff, two bailiffs, and twenty-four commoncouncilmen (who were justices of the peace, and of whom fifteen were at first styled aldermen), assisted by a town-clerk, chamber-reeve, two serjeants-atmace, and other officers. By an ancient grant of the crown, made while Pembrokeshire was a county palatine, Haverfordwest enjoys the privilege of having a lord-lieutenant of the town and county of the town, which is possessed by no other town in Great Britain.

By the act 5th and 6th of William IV., c. 76, the corporation is styled the "Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses," and consists of a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, forming the council of the borough, which is not divided into wards, and of which the municipal and parliamentary boundaries are the same. The council elect the mayor annually on Nov. 9th, out of the aldermen or councillors; and the aldermen triennially out of the councillors, or persons qualified as such, one-half going out of office every three years, but being re-eligible: the councillors are chosen by and out of the enrolled burgesses, annually on Nov. 1st, one-third going out of office every year. Aldermen and councillors must possess a property qualification of £500, or be rated at £15 annual value. The burgesses consist of the occupiers of houses and shops rated for three years to the relief of the poor. Two auditors and two assessors are elected annually on March 1st, by and out of the burgesses; and the council appoint a sheriff, town-clerk, treasurer, and other officers annually on Nov. 9th. The members of the council are exempt from serving on juries within the borough, and the burgesses from serving on juries of the quarter-sessions for Pembrokeshire. The revenues of the corporation are derived from the rents of houses and lands, from tolls, standings in the market, &c., and produce about £1000 per annum; the corporation also possess part of Portfield, or Poorfield, a large meadow situated within the borough, and containing about 1000 acres of land, for the inclosure of which an act was passed in the parliamentary session of 1837-8.

Haverfordwest first received the elective franchise in the 27th of Henry VIII., when its superior importance caused it to be endowed with this privilege in lieu of its being conferred on the Merionethshire boroughs, and since that time it has continued to return one member to parliament. The right of election was formerly vested in freeholders of 40s. a year, inhabitants paying scot and lot, and the burgesses; but the act for "Amending the Representation of the People" vested it in freeholders in fee or fee tail of 40s. per annum, in the then existing freeholders for life or lives of 40s., in after-freeholders for life or lives of £10, in the old burgesses resident within seven miles, in male householders occupying premises of the annual value of £10, and in scot and lot inhabitants for their lives, provided they be capable of registering as the act demands. The towns of Fishguard and Narberth, and the villages of Prendergast and Uzmaston, are now entitled to share in the representation, the towns being made contributory boroughs, and the villages being comprised in the borough of Haverfordwest. The number of houses of the annual value of £10 within the limits of the borough, which are minutely described in the Appendix to this work, is 361. The sheriff of Haverfordwest is the returning officer.

Sessions for the town and county of the town are regularly held before a chairman and the magistrates of the town and county of the town. A county debtcourt was established here in 1847, and the assizes and quarter-sessions for the county of Pembroke are also held in the town, which by the late act was made one of the polling-places in county elections: a substantial shire-hall was built in the year 1836, at a cost of about £7000. The borough gaol and house of correction, a modern building situated on St. Thomas' Green, in the upper part of the town, was, by an act of parliament passed in 1822, devoted to a lunatic asylum, as well for Pembrokeshire as for Haverfordwest. By the same act the common gaol and house of correction for Pembrokeshire, to the purposes of which the remains of the ancient castle have been assigned, is appropriated for the reception of prisoners both for Pembrokeshire and Haverfordwest: the buildings are well calculated for the classification of prisoners, and comprise eight wards; two workrooms, one for males and one for females; eight dayrooms, and eight airing-yards, in one of which is a treadmill.

The town and county of the town comprise the whole of the parish of St. Mary; part of the parishes of St. Thomas, St. Martin, Prendergast, and Uzmaston; and the large extra-parochial area called Poorfield. In the parishes of St. Thomas and St. Martin are divisions respectively called the hamlets of St. Thomas and St. Martin, within the hundred of Rhôs. The living of St. Mary's is a vicarage, endowed with £20 per annum chargeable on the tithes of the parish of Tremaen, in the county of Cardigan, under the will of Mr. Laugharne (who represented the town in parliament for fourteen years), dated in 1714, for reading daily prayers; also with £200 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant. It is in the patronage of the Rev. Thomas Watts. The church, situated at the upper end of High-street, is a spacious and venerable structure, in the early style of English architecture, with a low tower, which was anciently surmounted by a spire of elegant proportions. The interior consists of a nave, chancel, and north aisle. The nave is lofty, and ceiled with panelled oak, richly ornamented with carving; it is lighted on each side by a range of clerestory windows, of various character, and is separated from the chancel by a pointed arch, supported by clustered columns, and from the north aisle by a series of similar arches of lower elevation, resting on clustered columns having capitals richly ornamented with sculpture. The east windows of the chancel are lofty, and highly enriched with tracery; and the windows of the north aisle, which are similarly embellished, are of good proportions and elegant design. In the chancel are some monuments of splendid character, to various members of the family inheriting the neighbouring seat of Picton Castle. This church was judiciously restored in the year 1844. The living of St. Thomas' is a rectory not in charge, in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £180, besides which, there is a glebe of fourteen acres, valued with appendages at £76. 3. per annum; also certain buildings, &c., estimated at £44. 7. per annum. The church is situated on the summit of a hill, and in the centre of an extensive cemetery, overlooking the ruins of the priory. According to some records preserved at St. David's, it appears to have been built in the year 1225; but these most probably refer to the ancient church of the priory, which was also dedicated to St. Thomas, for there is nothing in the style of architecture to corroborate that testimony. It is a plain building, with a square tower having a projecting battlement. The living of St. Martin's is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £1200 royal bounty, and £1200 parliamentary grant; net income, £80; patron and impropriator, James Griffiths, Esq. The church, supposed to be the most ancient in the town, is a venerable structure, displaying portions in the early style of English architecture, with a low tower surmounted by an elegant spire. It consists of a nave, chancel, and south aisle, but has suffered so extensively by the insertion of windows and other alterations, that little of its original character remains. The nave and chancel are long and lofty, and are separated by a fine old arch, which reaches to the roof; in the chancel, on the southern side, are some ancient stalls in recesses. There are places of worship in the town for Baptists, Independents, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists, Moravians, and Presbyterians.

The Free grammar-school was founded by Thomas Lloyd, of Kîl Kifith, Esq., who, by will dated November 22nd, 1612, endowed it with dwellinghouses, lands, and fee-farm rents, in the parishes of St. Mary, St. Thomas, and St. Martin, producing at present an income of £118, together with a dwellinghouse occupied by the master, valued at £25 per annum, and fields let at £16. To this endowment Mr. John Milward, of Haverfordwest, added a third part of certain houses and lands near Birmingham, giving the other two portions respectively to the master of the Birmingham free grammar school, for his own use, and the Principal and Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford, for the foundation of a scholarship in that college for a boy from each of these schools alternately. The portion of the estate assigned to the school of this town, having been let by the corporation, who are trustees, upon a lease of ninety-nine years, produces only £18 per annum, and the other two portions, being injudiciously let on leases for twenty-one years, subject to large fines on renewal, produce only £8. 6. 8. per annum each; consequently, the scholarship is not sufficient to induce any young man from either of those schools to enter at that college. The mastership of the Haverfordwest school is in the gift of the mayor and corporation, who also nominate the boys to be educated in it; the present number of scholars is twenty-eight, nearly all of whom are on the foundation. The schoolroom, erected about 1761, adjoining the churchyard, and capable of accommodating about fifty boys, is in the parish of St. Thomas; in which, also, is Tasker's charity school, noticed hereafter. In the parish of St. Mary is a National school for boys, established in 1841, and held in the old poorhouse; it is supported partly by school-pence, but chiefly by subscriptions. St. Martin's parish contains a school of industry for girls, and an infants' school, the former entirely, and the latter partly, maintained by Mrs. Philipps, of Gloucester-place, Haverfordwest; also a "British" infants' school, supported by subscription, and managed by a committee of ladies. There are several Sunday schools in the town.

Sir John Perrot, in 1579, by deed gave certain houses, lands, and fee-farm rents, in the parish of Camrhôs, Pembrokeshire, and in the parishes of Haverfordwest, now producing £213 per annum, for the repair of the roads, walls, bridges, and quays; for the general improvement of the town; and supplying it with water. James Haward bequeathed an annuity of £22, payable out of an estate in the parish of Merton, in the county of Surrey, for the augmentation of Haverfordwest hospital; which annuity, as no such hospital has existed for many years in the town, is divided by the corporation among the poor. William Vawer, by deed in 1607, gave houses, lands, and fee-farm rents, in the parish of St. Mary, Haverfordwest, and in the city of Bristol, now producing £161. 14. per annum, towards the support of nine decayed burgesses of this town, each of whom receives 5s. per week, and a coat at Christmas, of the value of one guinea, which sum is also paid to the minister of St. Mary's, and for a dinner. Anne Laugharne bequeathed an annuity of £6, payable out of an estate at Boulston, near this place, for the relief of four aged women of honest fame in the parishes of St. Mary and St. Thomas. Mary Tasker, otherwise Howard, bequeathed, in 1684, certain farms and lands in the parish of Camrhôs, now producing £133. 14. per annum, for the erection of an almshouse, and for the education of poor children of both sexes in Rudbaxton, Steynton, and Haverfordwest. A boys' school is supported from this endowment; the master receives a salary of £54. 12. per annum, and there are fifty boys on the books, all of whom are clothed every year. Connected with the school is the almshouse, containing nine rooms, for as many poor women, who receive 5s. annually. Another almshouse, in St. Mary's parish, called the Lower almshouse, containing seven rooms, occupied by as many poor women, is kept in repair by the corporation. Richard Howell in 1697 bequeathed £400, the interest of which, £20, is distributed by the mayor and council on the first Wednesday in December, among the poor inhabitants, in sums of 5s. each, and also to the inmates of the almshouses. In 1723 Owen Phillips gave £40 to the corporation, the interest of which is annually given to a widow. In 1751 an unknown donor gave £100, the interest of which, from the three and a half per cents., is distributed by the vicar, in bread, among the debtors in the gaol, according to the will of the benefactor. The vicar has also the distribution of 35s. among the poor at Christmas, from a bequest of £50 by Martha Bowen, in 1749; and among the same are shared £5, arising from a bequest of £100, by William Fortune, in 1764; £10, a rent-charge, granted by William Wheeler; another of £1, by William Meyler; and another, in 1707, by Thomas Roch, of £3. 10. William Middleton, a merchant of London, gave £100 for apprenticing four poor children out of the town; and in addition to these several charities are numerous others, of which the greater part have been lost by failure of securities in their investment, or by other accidents. Of these may be noticed, £200 bequeathed by Rebecca Flaerton, in 1744, for the relief of aged widows, on the nomination of Robert Prust; £80, given in 1739, by Mary Llewelyn, for such charitable purpose as should be recommended by the same person; a bequest of £10, by Ann Bowen; an annual sum of £5, by Captain Parr, in 1811, to the poor of St. Thomas's parish; and various other donations, which appear to have been for a considerable time unavailable to the purposes for which they were given.

The poor-law union of which this town is the head, was formed Jan. 6th, 1837, and comprises the following sixty-three parishes; namely, St. Mary's, St. Thomas', St. Martin's, Ambleston, Boulston, Brawdy, St. Bride's, Camrhôs, Castle-Bigh, Dale, St. David's, St. Dogwell's, St. Edren's, St. Elvis', Fishguard, Freystrop, Granston, Harroldston, Haroldston St. Issels, Hasguard, Hayscastle, Henry'sMoat, Herbrandston, Hubberston, St. Ishmael's, Johnston, Jordanston, Lambston, Llangwm, St. Lawrence, Letterson, Llandeloy, Llanhowel, Llanllawer, Llanreithan, Llanrian, Llanstinan, LlanvairNant-y-Gove, Llanwnda, Llanychaer, Manerowen, Marlais, Mathrey, Morvil, Little Newcastle, St. Nicholas', Nolton, Pontvaen, Prendergast, Puncheston, Roch, West Robeston, Rudbaxton, Spittal, Steynton, Telbenny, Trevgarn, Uzmaston, East Walton, West Walton, Walwyn's-Castle, Whitchurch, and Wiston. It is under the superintendence of 67 guardians, and contains a population of 37,139.

The Priory of Black canons, founded, as before observed, by Robert de Hwlfordd, and situated in a meadow on the western bank of the river Cleddau, continued to flourish till the Dissolution, at which time its revenue was estimated at £135. 6. 1., and the site was granted to Roger and Thomas Barlow. The present remains, consisting chiefly of the skeleton of the church and some foundations of ancient buildings, afford indications of an establishment originally of considerable extent. The church was a spacious cruciform structure, apparently in the early style of English architecture, with a lofty central tower, supported on four noble arches, of which portions are still remaining. It appears to have been 160 feet in length from east to west, and 80 feet in breadth along the transepts, and was no less elegant than spacious, with windows composed of lancetshaped lights. The House of the Friars Preachers occupied the site on which the Black Horse Inn, in Bridge-street, was subsequently built. Its founder, and the exact time of its erection, are unknown, but it was in existence prior to the time of Richard II., in whose reign, as already noticed, the grant of a burgage for the enlargement of the house was confirmed. To this establishment Bishop Hoton left £10, and his successor, Bishop John Gilbert, bequeathed £100, with vestments, desiring also to be interred within its walls.

The Castle, from the discovery at various times of foundations of buildings and portions of ruined walls, appears to have occupied the whole of a rocky ridge on the northern declivity of the eminence on which the town is situated; and, from its commanding site, as well as from its extent and massive walls, forms a conspicuous and imposing object, towering above all the surrounding buildings, and overlooking the town. The remains consist principally of the keep, a spacious quadrangular pile, with lofty and massive walls, and which, from the elegance of its pointed windows and other architectural embellishments, especially on the eastern side facing the river, appears to have comprised the chapel and the state apartments, and conveys an idea of its original grandeur and magnificence. This portion of the remains has been converted into the county gaol, without in any degree detracting from its interest as a noble relic of ancient baronial splendour. In the suburb of Prendergast, on the opposite side of the river, are the remains of an ancient mansion, that was inhabited by a family of that name.

Skomar, an islet off the coast of Pembrokeshire, near the mouth of the Bristol Channel, forms part of the parish of St. Martin. It consists chiefly of limestone rock, and comprises an extent of about 700 acres, of which a considerable portion, let to a resident tenant, is in a state of cultivation; it is plentifully supplied with water, and abounds with rabbits. This islet, which forms the northern limit of St. Bride's bay, is separated by a strait about a mile and a half in breadth, called Broad Sound, from the islet of Shokham, which is about three miles from the main land, and about five miles west-by-south from the mouth of Milford Haven.

Hâvoddryinog (Hâfod-Ddreiniog)

HÂVODDRYINOG (HÂFOD-DDREINIOG), a hamlet, in the parish of Llanwonno, union of Merthyr-Tydvil, hundred of Miskin, county of Glamorgan, South Wales, 11 miles (S.) from Merthyr-Tydvil; containing 1308 inhabitants. Near the junction of the Tâf and the Rhondda, at the south-eastern extremity of the hamlet, stands the modern and thriving village of Newbridge, where a weekly market for provisions is held, and whence a considerable quantity of corn is conveyed by the Glamorganshire canal, or the Tâf-Vale railway, for the supply of Merthyr-Tydvil. Within a quarter of a mile of the village is the celebrated bridge of Pont-y-Pridd, thrown from the bold and wooded banks of the Tâf across that river. It consists of one arch 140 feet in the span and 35 feet in height, with three cylindrical and graduated holes in each spandril, to lighten the weight of the haunches, and a low parapet on the top, so as to give the whole the extremely light appearance of an elevated bow projecting from bank to bank. This extraordinary effort of art was projected by, and executed under the superintendence of, William Edwards, son of a farmer in the neighbouring parish of Eglwysilan, who, after two unsuccessful attempts, accomplished his arduous undertaking in 1755. The view of the scenery up the Vale of the Rhondda from the top of this bridge, and from another crossing that river at right angles with the former, is highly interesting and beautiful. There is a succession of three waterfalls within a short distance of each other, rivalling in grandeur and picturesque beauty; the first is called the "Salmon Leap," and the others follow between this and the junction of the Rhondda Vechan, where is another bridge, called Pont-y-Cymmer, which, with the high, precipitous, and well-wooded rocks bounding these rivers, adds to the extreme beauty of the scene. A tramroad passes up the right bank of the Rhondda Vawr to some coal-pits in the upper part of the vale, and another tramway has been constructed from near Cymmer to Dinas coal-works, whence from 300 to 400 tons of coal are conveyed daily to the port of Cardiff. Other mines may be worked in the same direction, with little expense. The populous manufacturing village, or town, of Newbridge (which see) is partly in the hamlet of Hâvoddryinog, and partly in the parishes of Eglwysilan and LantwitVairdre.

Hawarden

HAWARDEN, a market-town, and a parish comprising several hamlets, of which that of Saltney separately maintains its own poor, in the union of Great Boughton, hundred of Mold, county of Flint, North Wales, 6 miles (E. by N.) from Mold, 6½ (S. E.) from Flint, and about 190 (N. W.) from London; containing 6078 inhabitants, of whom 905 are in the township of Hawarden. This place, which is of remote antiquity, was by the Welsh called "Pennard Halawg," or more properly "Pen-yLlwch," the headland above the lake, probably from the circumstance of the Saltney and other marshes, which now form an extensive flat between it and Chester, having been formerly covered by the sea. By the people inhabiting that district, the principal part of which is comprehended within this parish, the town is still called Pennard. In the Norman survey the place occurs under the Saxon appellation "Haordine," whereof its present name is only a very slight modification. It is supposed to have been originally occupied by the ancient Britons, as a barrier against the incursions of the Cornavii, a portion of whose territories were adjacent to this part of the principality, and to have served also as a place of defence against the invasion of the Romans. This opinion seems to derive confirmation from the appearance of several heights within the town and its vicinity, which exhibit strong indications of having been fortified in the ancient British manner. The open nature of the surrounding country rendered it an easy prey to the Mercian Saxons, during whose occupation of the place it formed the principal manor of the extensive hundred of Atiscros; and at the time of the Norman Conquest it was in the possession of Edwin, a Saxon chieftain, who, for the protection of the territories which his predecessors had usurped in this portion of the principality, is said to have occasionally resided at this place, which served also as a frontier to his Mercian dominions.

On the conquest of Britain by William I., Hawarden was included in the very extensive territories granted by the Conqueror to Hugh Lupus, and formed part of the county palatine of Chester. The castle was soon afterwards erected, and appears to have been in the possession of Roger Fitzvalerine, son of one of the numerous followers of the Conqueror, from whom it passed to the Montaults, or de Montaltos, barons of Mold, who held it as seneschals of the palatinate, and made it their principal residence. The peculiar situation of the place, in the only part of the Marches through which access could be obtained by the English to the heart of North Wales, subsequently rendered it the scene of many of the most important events connected with the subjugation of the principality. In the year 1157, Henry II., having assembled a formidable army at Chester, advanced into Flintshire with a view to the conquest of Wales, and encamped his forces on Saltney marsh, in the parish. To repel this attack, Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, marched his forces to Basingwerk near Holywell, where he took up his station within a few miles of the royal army. The boldness of Owain's movements inducing Henry to hope that the natives intended to risk a general engagement, in which he expected that the superior number and discipline of the English would ensure success, the king despatched a chosen body of troops, under the command of his principal barons, to bring the Welsh to action, or to dislodge them from their post. This party, having to pass through the narrow defile of Coed-Eulo, in the parish of Hawarden, were suddenly attacked in that dangerous pass by Davydd and Cynan, sons of Owain, who, with a strong body of forces, had been placed in ambush to surprise them. The English, from the suddenness and impetuosity of the assault, and the difficulties of the ground on which they had to contend, were routed with great slaughter, and the few who escaped the carnage retired, in the utmost disorder, to the main body of the army. Henry, exasperated by this unexpected discomfiture, immediately collected the whole of his forces, and pursued his march along the sea-coast into the heart of the enemy's country; and Owain, breaking up his camp, retired with his forces to St. Asaph.

Upon the extinction of the ancient Earls of Chester, the castle of this place, together with several other fortresses, was resumed by the crown; and in the year 1264, Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, held a conference at Hawarden with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in order to negotiate a treaty of peace. In the following year, the Earl of Leicester compelled Henry III., whom he held in captivity, to yield up the castle to the Welsh prince, by whom it appears to have been destroyed; for, among other articles of a proposed treaty of marriage between Llewelyn and Eleanor de Montfort, the Welsh prince undertook to restore to Robert de Montault all his lands in Hawarden, restraining him at the same time, by an additional clause, from erecting any castle, fortress, or stronghold, for the ensuing thirty years. The castle appears, notwithstanding, to have been soon rebuilt, and, on the suppression of Leicester's rebellion, to have reverted to the crown: in the year 1280, notice of it occurs under the appellation "Castrum Regis."

In the fifth year of the reign of Edward I., the king, intending to penetrate into Wales by that part of its frontier which borders upon the river Dee, advanced with a large army from Cheshire, and encamped his forces on Saltney marsh, while his pioneers were employed in opening roads through a deep forest occupying much of the country between the confines of Cheshire and the mountains of Snowdon. In this post they remained till Edward had erected the castle of Flint, and strengthened that of Rhuddlan, for the preservation of those parts of the principality which he had already subdued; after which the king led his forces to Conway, where he compelled Llewelyn to conclude a treaty of peace on the most humiliating terms. The severity of these conditions excited a general feeling of disgust among the Welsh chieftains, who simultaneously united to throw off the yoke which Edward had imposed upon them, and took up arms to resist his authority. Davydd, the brother of Llewelyn, to whom he had but recently been reconciled, committed the first act of hostility, by surprising the castle of Hawarden, which he attacked during the dark and stormy night of Palm-Sunday, 1282; having taken the fortress, he put the garrison to the sword, and wounded and took prisoner Roger de Clifford, justiciary of Chester, whom he carried off to Snowdon. This act of violence was the signal for a general insurrection of the Welsh, which terminated in the defeat and death of Llewelyn, and in the entire subjugation of Wales to the English sway.

The castle remained in the possession of the family of Montault, till the first year of the reign of Edward III., when, Robert, the last baron, dying without heirs, it was assigned to Isabel, the queen mother, on whose subsequent disgrace it reverted to the crown. Edward III., in 1337, granted the stewardship of Chester, with the castle of Hawarden, to William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, in whose family it continued till the death of his grandnephew, John, Earl of Salisbury, who was beheaded at Cirencester in the year 1400, after an unsuccessful insurrection in favour of his deposed sovereign, Richard II. It then again reverted to the crown, and Henry IV. bestowed the castle on his second son, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, on whose death at the battle of Baugy, in 1420, it passed to Henry V., by whom it was granted to his son, afterwards Henry VI. The latter in 1443 conferred it on Sir Thomas Stanley, comptroller of his household; but resuming the grant in 1450, the king bestowed it on his son Edward, Prince of Wales. The castle subsequently passed to the Nevilles, Earls of Salisbury, and from them to Lord Stanley, whose son and heir, Thomas, afterwards Earl of Derby, married Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and mother of Henry VII. This monarch spent some time at the castle on a visit to his mother, partly for the purpose of amusing himself with the diversion of the chase, but principally in order to reconcile the earl after the ungrateful execution of his brother, Sir William Stanley. On the death of Margaret, the castle descended to Thomas, Earl of Derby, grandson of the late earl, and remained in that family till the execution of James, the seventh earl, at Bolton, in 1651, after which the parliament placed it in sequestration.

Soon after the commencement of the civil war, the castle was betrayed by the governor into the possession of the parliament. It was subsequently attacked by a party of royalists under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Marrow, to whom, at the expiration of a fortnight, the besieged garrison, beginning to want provisions, surrendered, on condition of being allowed to march out with half arms, and to have a convoy to Wem, or Nantwich. The castle remained in the possession of the royalists until after the surrender of Chester to Sir William Brereton, in 1645, when it was besieged by Major-General Mytton; the garrison sustained the assault for several weeks, till the governor, having received orders from the king, surrendered it upon honourable terms. It was, towards the close of the same year, together with four other castles in this part of the principality, dismantled by a vote of the parliament. After the death of James, seventh Earl of Derby, the castle was purchased from the agents of the sequestration by Serjeant Glynne, who, on the Restoration, compounded with the eighth Earl of Derby, from whom he obtained a grant of this property, which has descended to his heirs, and is now in the possession of Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, Bart.

The Town is situated within a mile and a half of the river Dee, on the turnpike-road from Chester to Holyhead, and consists principally of one street, nearly half a mile in length; the houses are in general well built, but the town is not paved. Considerable improvements have been made in the neighbourhood, by the commissioners of the turnpikeroads, who some time since expended £1000 in diminishing the ascent of the hill at the lower end of the town. In 1847 water was brought into the place at an expense of upwards of £1000, to be defrayed by the annual grant (hereafter mentioned) paid by the River Dee Company to the lord of the manor, and other trustees. The parish comprises 16,444 acres, whereof 1292 are common or waste. It abounds with coal in various parts, the strata of which lie under freestone, and shale of a saponaceous quality, with occasional beds of ironstone and gravel. The upper seam of coal, called the Hollin coal, is from six to seven feet in depth; the second, called the Brassy coal, about three feet in thickness; the third, called the rough coal, also about three feet thick; and the fourth and lowest seam, called the main coal, ten feet in thickness. This last, which is of very superior quality, is in great request for the Dublin and other markets. Collieries are worked on an extensive scale, in various parts of the parish; and there are large works for making fire-bricks, tiles, and draining-pipes; also potteries for the manufacture of the coarser kinds of earthenware. A laboratory for the making of Glauber salts, sal ammoniac, and ivory-black, was established in the township of Saltney, in the year 1781, and is conducted on an extensive scale, but for the manufacture of ivory-black only. The river Dee, or Chester channel, passes on the north-east of the town; and there are two tramroads for the conveyance of produce from the various collieries and potteries to the river. The Chester and Holyhead railway runs for about seven miles through the parish, parallel with the river Dee; and in 1847 an act was passed for the construction of a line from the Holyhead railway in the parish of Hawarden to the town of Mold, with branches to the Upper King's Ferry on the Dee, and the Frith lime-works near Hope. Several schooners and flats are employed in the transport of coal, bricks, and other articles produced here; and two smacks are engaged in a fishery off the Isle of Man, which is conducted by inhabitants of the parish. The market is on Saturday; and fairs, principally for cattle, are annually held on April 28th and October 22nd. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold petty-sessions occasionally; and is included in the Chester district for the recovery of debts under £20. A house of correction has been erected on the site of an ancient cross: there were formerly two crosses in the town.

In 1734, Messrs. Kinderley and Co. obtained an act of parliament for improving the navigation of the river Dee, under the provisions of which a canal from Chester to the estuary of that river, passing through Saltney marsh in this parish, was completed in 1737. The company, incorporated under the name of the "Company of Proprietors of the undertaking for recovering and preserving the navigation of the river Dee," in prosecution of their work, appropriated to their own use 800 acres of the marsh on the north side of the canal, in consideration of which they are bound by the act to pay to the lord of the manor of Hawarden, and other trustees, £200 per annum, to be applied to any use that five of them may direct; they are also charged with the maintenance of two ferries across the new channel of the Dee. A considerable acquisition was likewise made to the parish in the inclosure of more than 3000 acres of land on the north side of the Dee, by the same company, between the years 1754 and 1790; this district, now called Sealand, forms a township in the parish. In 1778, an act of parliament was obtained for inclosing Saltney marsh, under the provisions of which about 2000 acres were erected into a township, called Saltney, which now maintains its own poor: several hundred acres of the marsh are still uninclosed and open to the sea.

The Living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £66. 6. 5½.; patron, Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, Bart.: a rent-charge of £2780 has been awarded as a commutation in lieu of the tithes, and there is a glebe of 107 acres, with a glebe-house. The rector holds an ecclesiastical court on the Tuesday preceding Holy Thursday. The parish church, dedicated to St. Deiniol, is an ancient and a spacious structure, with a square embattled tower. It was thoroughly repaired in 1764, towards defraying the expense of which the Hawarden trustees appropriated £700 from the annual payments of the River Dee Company; the chancel was almost entirely rebuilt in 1817, at an expense of £1400, jointly defrayed by the Hon. and Rev. George Neville Grenville, the rector, Charles Dundas, Esq., and the inhabitants. There are three chapels of ease, namely, St. John's in Pentre-Hobyn, St. Mary's at Broughton, and St. Matthew's, Buckley; also places of worship in the parish for Calvinistic Methodists and the New Connexion. A grammar-school was founded in 1606, by George Ledsham, who bequeathed £300 for its erection and endowment. The schoolroom was built in 1608, at the west corner of the churchyard, and was rebuilt and enlarged, and a house erected for the master, in 1814, at an expense of £900, by the feoffees, from small savings accumulated at compound interest, and by subscription among the inhabitants: a piece of ground was given to the school by Sir Stephen R. Glynne and Rector Crewe. The salary of the master, including the interest of a donation of £50, is now £20 per annum, with a house rent-free, for which eight boys, sons of housekeepers in the parish, are taught gratuitously on paying an entrancefee of 2s. 6d.: the master is allowed to receive payscholars. There are schools for boys and girls on the National system at Hawarden, St. John's, St. Mary's, and Buckley; also two infants' schools in the parish, one at Hawarden, and the other at the Lane End, Buckley, both in connexion with the Established Church: all these schools are supported by Sir S. R. Glynne and the Rev. Henry Glynne, the rector; the children, however, paying a fee of one penny a week. At Mancott is a school unconnected with the Church, supported partly by school-pence, but chiefly by subscription; there is a Sunday school at the same place belonging to the Calvinistic Methodists, and four considerable Sunday schools are supported in the parish by the Glynne family.

Among the charities still preserved for the benefit of the poor is a bequest of £250 by Ralph Brereton in 1630, vested in old South Sea stock, and yielding an interest of £5. 12. per annum, which is distributed on the morning and evening of every Sunday during the winter months in bread. Sydney Whitley bequeathed £20 in 1710, the interest to be divided among twelve widows. Mrs. Charlotte Whitley in 1695 bequeathed the sum of £200, which, with £30 accumulated interest, was lent on mortgage of the tolls of the Denbigh and Rhuddlan turnpike trust, yielding an interest of £11. 10., expended in flannel for the same class of the poor. William Lache, in 1659, assigned to the poor a rent-charge of £2 on his estate in Bretton, and Edward Bryan a field called Rake Croft, now let for £18. 5. per annum, including an allotment on the Warren. For the poor of the township of Broughton, Mr. Shone in 1677 bequeathed a rent-charge of £2 on a field termed Middle Rake Hay, now paid by Sir S. R. Glynne; and Randle Bingley in 1698 left a similar charge of £5 on his farm at Leckhampton, in Gloucestershire, also for the poor of Broughton. Other benefactions to the amount of £95 were expended in erecting the poor-house, for which it is expected the parish will pay interest. Mrs. Ann Minshull, widow, of Daniels Ash, in the parish, left to eight poor widows resident in the townships of Hawarden and Mancott the interest of £200, at the sole discretion of the lord of the manor and the rector of Hawarden. The lost charities are, a bequest by Gayor Bennett, in 1742, of the whole of his goods and personal estate, worth £110, which sum was left until past recovery in the hands of his executor; £60 by John Annyn in 1636; £50 by Dorothy Ravenscroft, in 1694, for apprenticing a poor boy; and other grants.

The ruins of the ancient castle occupy an artificial eminence at the eastern extremity of the town, within the park of Sir Stephen R. Glynne. The wide and deep trenches by which it was defended now form picturesque ravines filled with trees of luxuriant growth, above which the ruins are seen with romantic effect. A considerable improvement has been made in the appearance of these remains, by the removal of the accumulated ruins of the walls, by which the foundation of the castle was concealed. It appears to have been originally of a pentagonal form, with a strong gateway entrance on the western side, and a barbican on another of its sides. The principal portion now remaining is the keep, a circular tower situated in one of the angles of the inclosed area, and nearly entire; the other remains are chiefly fragments of the walls and various buildings, some of which appear to have been subterraneous chambers, appropriated as dungeons for the confinement of prisoners. About a quarter of a mile from the turnpike-road leading from Chester to Holyhead, within the parish, are the ruins of Eulo Castle, supposed to have been an outpost dependent on the castle of Mold. From their situation in a retired and thickly wooded dingle, they cannot easily be found without the assistance of a guide. They occupy a site defended on one side by a deep ravine, and on the other by a wide fosse, and consist chiefly of the remains of a large oblong tower, rounded at one extremity, about fourteen yards in length and twelve in breadth; there are also some outworks, the principal of these inclosing a quadrangular area, at one angle of which are the remains of a circular tower. The ruins are finely mantled with ivy, and have a very picturesque appearance. To the west of the church are the remains of an ancient British encampment, called Truman's Hill; and near Broad-lane House are vestiges of another, called Connah's Hill. Hawarden Castle, the seat of Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, is a stately castellated mansion, situated in an extensive park comprising much diversified scenery; the grounds are tastefully laid out, and ornamented with thriving plantations. Sir John Glynne, already mentioned, the ancestor of the present proprietor, was a man of distinguished talents. During the parliamentary war he was made steward of Westminster, which city he represented in the two parliaments of 1640, and likewise recorder of London; he was afterwards appointed by Cromwell one of his council, and made chamberlain of Chester. On the Restoration he was favourably received by Charles II., who bestowed on him the honour of knighthood, and created his eldest son a baronet; he retired from public business, and in 1666 died in London, and was interred in St. Margaret's church, Westminster. Hawarden gives the title of viscount to the family of Maude. It was the birthplace of that great patron of the fine arts, Alderman Boydell.