nearly identical, the addition being Ruyton, and the subtractions,
Cynllaeth and Edeyrnion. Mersete extended from Weston-Rhyn, on the
Morlais brook, in the north, to Melverley, at the junction of the
Vyrnwy with the Severn, on the south; and from, or a little beyond, the
Cynllaeth brook on the west, to Wykey on the Perry, to the east; about
12 miles each way.
Domesday calls Meresberie the _caput_ of the lordship; but this,
though a corruption of Maesbury, must be taken to indicate Oswestry.
In it were five berewicks which are not specified, but which evidently
included about twenty-four manors, of which nearly all bear English
names. Two centuries later an inquest was taken, which gives the
lordship as composed of two parts, Oswestry proper and the Welshery.
In the latter was included nearly the whole of the hundred, five
manors, Weston and Coton (now Weston Cotton), Mesbury or Maesbury,
Middleton, and Treveleth or Treflach. Of vills there were very many:
Blodnorvawr, now Cefn-Blodwell, Blodowanan or Blodwell, Brongarth, Bren
or Bryn, Clanordaffe or Glyn-yr-Afon, Crucket or Crickheath, Dudleston,
Fenches and Juston (now lost), Kahercohon or Carrechova, Radioners
or Rhandir, Swine or Sweeny, Tibeton (now lost), Travereleuche or
Trefar-Clawdd, Treveltholnel or Treprenal, Trevenen or Trefonen, Weston
or Weston-Rhyn, Wigeton or Wigginton, and Yston, now Ifton-Rhyn. The
lord’s advowsons were the chapel of the Castle of Blanc-Minster, and
the churches of Blodwell and Llanmenagh or Llan-y-Mynech. In this
latter parish, though in an island of Denbighshire, was the celebrated
Castle of Carreghova. This township, however, was a later addition to
the hundred, and never belonged to its lords. Osbaston seems at one
time to have been in the lordship. In it was Knockyn, the celebrated
castle of the Lords Strange, a fief held indirectly of Oswestry. There
was also a castle at Kinnerley, also in the lordship.
Mersete, in the reign of the Confessor, and probably much earlier,
was a royal domain, and under the names of the hundred of Mersete and
manor of Maesbury was included in the grant by the Conqueror in 1071,
on the forfeiture of Morcar and Edwin, to Earl Roger of Montgomery, who
sub-granted it to Warin the Bald, his sheriff, and second in command,
who held seventy manors in Shropshire, and by the earl’s niece Arnieria
had a son Hugh. Warin died 1085, just before Domesday was compiled, and
the shrievalty was given to Rainald de Bailleul, who married his widow,
and built a castle. The entry under Meresberie is, “Ibi fecit Rainaldus
Castellum Luure,” which is explained as Luvre or “l’Œuvre”, the work
_par excellence_ of the district. It is clear, however, that, as usual,
Rainald’s castle was upon an earlier foundation, and not improbably was
only an adaptation of existing works. Rainald dwelt at Oswestry, and
either he or Warin granted its church of St. Oswald, with the tithes of
the town, then for the first time mentioned, to Shrewsbury Abbey. It is
uncertain on what tenure Rainald held his office, but it seems to have
been held for a short time by his stepson, Hugh, son of Warin, till
his early death; and on Hugh’s death, it was to Alan FitzFlaald, the
ancestor of the succeeding lords, that the shrievalty and the fief were
granted a little before the death of the Conqueror.
The Welsh claim to have recovered and held the lordship for a space
about this time, and state that it was given, as part of Powys-Fadog,
by Meredith ap Bleddyn to his nephew, or son, Owen, who destroyed
Rainald’s castle and rebuilt it in 1148; and that the tower, in memory
of Meredith, was called Tre-Fred. However this may be, the Welsh
occupation must have been very brief, and Alan must have recovered
possession. At this time the house of Montgomery had, in England,
become extinct, and Oswestry was held of the Crown direct, as a
marcher lordship, by the tenure of the defence and maintenance of the
castle and the defence of the march.
Mr. Eyton, the extent of whose information concerning the early history
of Shropshire is only equalled by its accuracy, has thrown great
light upon the descent of this Alan, whom he shows with more than
probability to have been the son of Fleance, and grandson of Banquo,
Thane of Lochaber, killed about 1048–53. Fleance, or Flaald, seems to
have married Gwenta, daughter of Griffith ap Llewelyn, Prince of North
Wales, by Aldith, daughter of Algar Earl of Mercia. Alan, who was dead
in 1114, was unquestionably direct ancestor of the houses of Fitz-Alan
of Oswaldestre, and of the royal house of Stewart.
Alan FitzFlaald, lord of Oswaldestre, was father of I, William; 2,
Walter, steward of Scotland, who died 1177, having married Eschina,
daughter of Thomas de Londoniis, “hostiarius” or “durward” to the King
of Scotland. He was father of “Alanus Dapifer,” whose great-grandson,
Walter, who died about 1320, married Marjory Bruce, and had Robert
Stewart, King of Scotland.
William Fitz-Alan, the head of the house, born about 1105, and who
died 1160, acquired with Isabel de Say, his second wife, the lordship
of Clun, which long remained united with Oswaldestre, in the person of
their descendants, the FitzAlans, Earls of Arundel, and afterwards by
the female line in the Howards.
On the death of Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, in the reign of
Henry V., a curious question arose. He died childless, and his sisters,
Joan, Lady Bergavenny, Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, Margaret, Lady
Lenthall, and Alice, Lady Powis, became his heirs general; but his heir
male was John Fitz-Alan, called Arundel, Lord Maltravers. The Duke of
Norfolk, John Mowbray, claimed the earldom in right of his mother; but
when the earldom was adjudged to Lord Maltravers, he was allowed the
baronies of Clun and Oswaldestre with it, nor did the duke claim them.
So also when Earl John’s descendant, Humphrey, Earl of Arundel, Lord
Maltravers, Clun, and Oswaldestre, died childless, 16 Henry VI., the
baronies were not claimed by Amicia, Lady Ormond, his sister and heir
general, but passed to William Fitz-Alan, with the earldom, as heir
male.
A good deal of constitutional, or rather peerage, lore has been
exercised upon these two baronies, which were borne among the long
train of titles which at various times have accrued to the houses of
Arundel and Howard, and so appear upon the garter plates of Thomas,
Earl of Arundel, in 1611, and of Henry, Duke of Norfolk, in 1685,
with other and Parliamentary baronies. Nevertheless, these do not
appear to be like Fitz-Alan, Mowbray, Greystoke, and the rest, really
Parliamentary baronies, but land baronies only, which strictly should
only be appended to the name of the possessors of these manors.
However, after their alienation, Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, heir
general of the FitzAlans, was, by Act of Parliament, 1627, created
Baron Fitz-Alan and Lord of Clun and Oswaldestre—in right of which,
and of that date, and under the then limitation only, these titles are
borne by the Dukes of Norfolk, his descendants.
THE CASTLE.
The visible remains of this ancient fortress, so celebrated in border
story, are very scanty, and are confined to the central mound, and
to some fragments of the rude but substantial keep which was placed
upon it. The castle stood on ground rather higher than, and on the
north-western edge of, the town, completely commanding it; and it
is only of late years that its site has been nearly surrounded by
buildings. The church is about half a mile distant to the south, the
town intervening between the two. From the mound, the view to the
east and south is very extensive; to the west it is shut in by the
wooded heights of the Denbighshire border, crowned by Offa’s Dyke, at
a distance of about two miles. To the north, a mile or so distant, is
the detached hill and camp of Hên Dinas, or Old Oswestry, which is in
part obscured by the still nearer but lower eminence of Llwyn. No water
enters into the landscape, nor is there any considerable stream near at
hand. Wat’s Dyke lies close to the east.
The castle mound, though standing on high ground, is wholly artificial,
and rather oval at its summit, which is about 60 feet by 100 feet. It
is about 30 feet high, and perhaps 200 feet diameter at its present
base. On its table top are some fragments of masonry, composed of large
rolled boulders, laid in a thick bed of mortar; very rude but very
strong work. One fragment, which in places is about 8 feet thick, is
9 feet or 10 feet high; and near it are two other large masses, one
of which at least is overthrown. The keep was of the shell type, and
probably polygonal. The slopes are covered with bushes, much obscuring
the surface, but there seems to be a further trace of masonry on the
south-west side. The moat, out of which the mound rose, has been
completely filled up, and all trace of the outer ward, its ditches,
banks, or buildings, has been utterly removed. Nothing is known of a
well. The entrance was probably on the south-west side. Gallowtree
bank—a name preserved in the southern suburb—preserves the memory of
the lord’s power, as does Oswald’s well of the ecclesiastical legend.
It is probable that the masonry remaining is the work of William
Fitz-Alan, who, after 1155, confirmed a previous gift of the church of
Oswestry to Shrewsbury Abbey. He died 1160, in which year the Pipe roll
designates Oswestry as “Blanc-Minster.” On his death, Guy L’Estrange
became custos of the Castles of Clun, Ruthyn, and Blanc-Minster, and
works were in progress at the latter. The livery allowed for the
garrison was £18. 5s. per annum. In July, 1165, Henry II. was encamped
near Oswestry, but his advance was checked by the Ceiriog river, on
which he retired to Chester.
Guy L’Estrange continued to be custos of the Fitz-Alan estates and
castles until 1175, during which time very large sums were expended
by the Crown upon Oswestry, apparently about £2,000. A well cost £5.
8s., palisades 40s. and £2. 6s. 8d. A house was built within the walls.
The regular garrison was a knight, two porters, two watchmen, and
twenty men-at-arms, costing £48. 13s. 4d. per annum. In 1188, William
Fitz-Alan received Archbishop Baldwin and Giraldus in the castle. On
his death, in 1210, King John stepped in, and Robert de Vipont was
in charge in 1212, and in 1213 and 1214 John Mareschal and Thomas
de Erdington, who had purchased the wardship during the minority of
William Fitz-Alan, who, however, died under age at Clun in 1215. In
1216, King John was before Clun, and (August 16) burned the town of
Oswestry, and attacked the castle, but probably without success. In
1226, Oswestry was named for the place of conference between Llewellyn
and the lords marchers, but the king, distrusting John Fitz-Alan,
sent Hubert de Hoese with nine knights to attend it. In 1240, John
Fitz-Alan’s death placed the castle again in the care of the Crown.
In 1257, Oswestry was again named for the meeting of a Welsh and
English commission, and John Fitz-Alan, the new lord, had license to
levy customs dues for five years, to pay for a wall round the town.
At his death, in 1267, the castle was valued at £44. 12s. 5½d. per
annum, and mention is made of the “walcheria” or Welshery. The wall
probably proceeded slowly, for, in 1283, King Edward issued a patent,
licensing the bailiffs to levy customs for twenty years, to complete
the wall. Probably this was in consequence of an attack by the Welsh,
who actually held the town for a short time. In 1302, on the death of
Richard, Earl of Arundel, it was found that he held Oswestry Castle and
its lands by the tenure of two and a half knights’ fees. There were one
hundred and forty acres of demesne land and four water-mills, but the
castle was worth nothing; and its maintenance cost £10 per annum. The
mills were Bailey, Weston, Cotton, and Cadogan.
PENMARK CASTLE.
Penmark Castle is about a mile east of Fonmon, and two, three, and four
miles from the castles of East Orchard, Barry, and Wenvoe.
It was originally built by Sir Gilbert de Umfreville, soon after the
conquest of Glamorgan, but the present ruins are scarcely older than
the thirteenth century. It is probably of the reign of Henry III. or
Edward I., with some trifling additions of later date; but it exhibits
no traces either of a Norman keep or of any of the usual Perpendicular
or Tudor additions. It is, and has been for some centuries, a complete
ruin.
The castle stands along the brow of a steep bank, about 100 feet above
the meads of the Duffryn brook, which, with its marshy banks, formed an
excellent defence on the north or Welsh front. It is composed of two
courts.
The inner court was oblong, about 70 yards by 50, of irregular figure,
with a curtain upon the north side along the hedge of the bank, part of
which, at each end, remains. On the south side the wall is gone, but
its line is marked by its interior moat which, extending from the bank
at one end to that on the other, formed the defence on the east, west,
and southern fronts.
[Illustration: PENMARK CASTLE]
At the eastern end the wall remains, about 10 feet high on the outside.
Inside is a mass of earth, no doubt covering ruins. At the north-east
angle a circular depression resembles the foundations of a tower.
The west end is most perfect. Here is a curtain about 12 feet high,
the rampart walk of which remains, with traces of an open stair to
the battlements. At the south end the wall returns square; and here
was probably a plain gateway towards the church. At its north end the
north-west angle of the court is capped by a tower semi-circular to the
field, but angular towards the court. It has two loops and a fireplace
on the ground floor, and appended to it on the north side is a square
building of two floors, containing a garderobe in each floor. This is
later than the tower. Also on the west wall, near the tower, is a
hollow buttress containing two garderobes. The tower opens into the
court.
[Illustration: PENRICE CASTLE.
GROUND PLAN.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
The outer court includes the inner one on the east, south, and west
sides, terminating at each flank on the steep bank.
It contains the moat of the inner court, and was itself contained
within a moat and wall, which probably included the church. Along the
west face the wall may be traced to its termination in a flanking
tower, evidently built for a pigeon-house.
The position of the castle is bold and striking, and although a mere
ruin, and without the usual accessories of ivy and trees, it has a fine
appearance from the north.
In common with most of the strongholds of the district, it is reputed
to have been ruined by Owain Glyndwr.
From the castle a road descends obliquely towards the mill, placed
about half a mile up the stream.
West of the castle is a considerable table-land, defended by two
valleys on its north and west; an excellent place for a display of any
cavalry that might be included in the garrison.
THE CASTLE OF PENRICE, IN GOWER.
The castle of Penrice, or, as it was anciently called, Penrees, in West
Gower, in the county of Glamorgan, is inferior only to Caerphilly,
Cardiff, and Coyty, in the area contained within its walls, and is
second to none in its strong, commanding, and picturesque position.
Penrice stands at the bottom of Oxwich Bay, a mile within the shore,
and about 150 feet above the sea. It occupies the rocky crest of a
steep slope of greensward, at the base of which is a small lake, and
beyond this a sort of lagoon communicates with the bay, here fringed by
a line of sand-hills.
The castle, though high, is backed on the north-east by the long and
still higher ridge of Cefn Bryn, about half a mile distant. It stands
upon the south-eastern end of a platform formed by the crop edges of
the mountain limestone, which here is almost vertical, having been
lifted up by the old red sandstone of Cefn Bryn. On the south and east
the castle is defended naturally by a cliff ranging from 10 feet to 40
feet in height; on the west the ground is broken and strong; on the
north it is level, or nearly so; and this, naturally the weakest side,
has been converted by works into the strongest and principal front of
the place.
The position and outline of the fortress have been governed by the
disposition of the ground; the general design is simple, but is by
no means of one date, and to the original structure there have been
considerable additions. In plan the castle is composed of a principal
court, or bailey, of irregular figure, and about 60 yards north-east
and south-west by 80 yards east and west. Three sides are curtains
only; the fourth, or northern, is composed of the gatehouse and main
buildings, or _corps de logis_, and a large drum-tower with its
appendages. The curtain skirts the edge of the precipice on the east
and south sides. It ranges from 30 feet to 40 feet in height outside,
and is about 25 feet within, and from 8 feet to 9 feet thick. It is
strengthened outside by a number of half-round buttresses, of about
12 feet diameter; these are solid, and have no projection within;
they rise to the height of, or a little above, the walls, and form
small flanking places of arms upon the ramparts. Of these buttresses
there are none on the east, two on the south, and one on the west
face; there is also one larger and loftier, but still solid, capping
the south-western angle. There is besides a buttress tower near the
south-east angle, of larger dimensions, and hollow; but this, in
its present form at least, is probably a late addition built for a
dovecote, as which it is still fitted up. The wall near this tower has
been broken through and rebuilt, and again broken through to make space
for a rectangular building, one angle of which is seen outside the line
of the curtain; the rampart wall or battlement remains, and, though
more or less ruined, is original. The merlons are about four times the
breadth of the embrasures, and each is pierced with a loop; the rear
wall remains.
The north, or upper, side of the court is occupied by the main
buildings and front of the castle, extending about 70 yards. At
the east end is the gatehouse, at the west the drum-tower and its
appendages. Between these two was a large square mural tower, placed
in the middle of the front. Westward, between this and the drum, was
no doubt the hall; eastward, a single curtain connected it with the
gatehouse. The gatehouse seems to have been an addition to the curtain
wall; it contains a central passage and two lateral chambers, which
occupy two flanking towers of bold projection towards the north or
exterior front; these are neither rectangular nor half-round, but more
near to the latter figure, the angles having been rounded off. The
floors were all of wood. There is but one groove, and that of very
rude construction, for a portcullis, which defended the outer gate;
and there seems to have been a drawbridge which let down between the
flanking towers, probably over a pit, for there are no traces of a
regular ditch.
The drum-tower caps the north-west angle of the castle, and projects
into the court. Its clear diameter is about 36 feet, the walls being
8 feet thick, and the space within 20 feet across. It is of three
floors; the basement is entered from the hall side; the first floor
by two doors, one of which seems originally to have been a window. Of
these doors, one opened from the hall, and one from an appendage on the
south-east; there is also a loop towards the court, and a small vaulted
chamber and garderobe on the east or outer side, perhaps an addition.
The upper floor of the tower is remarkable; it has no entrance
whatever, and no opening in the walls; it must have been reached by a
trap-door. The floors were all of timber.
On the south-east side of this tower is a concentric addition, a sort
of chemise, or rather chemisette, covering less than a quarter of its
circumference, and projecting into the court; it is entered by a door
from below the hall, and is lighted by two loops towards the court;
it ends abruptly by a square wall. There was an upper floor opening
into the hall and into the first floor of the drum, and there is a
curious curved opening in the jamb of the lower door, evidently for a
squint, with a rebate for a wooden shutter. On the north, or exterior
side of the drum has been added a rectangular building of three
stories, with fireplaces and chambers for garderobes. This building
projects and forms the end of the north front, facing somewhat towards
the north-west. From it a subordinate building, also rectangular,
and containing garderobes, projects towards the west. The space
between this group of buildings and the central square mural tower
was contained between two walls, one still remaining, which is also
the wall of the court, and another now destroyed, which formed the
exterior defence on this side. As the square tower is also destroyed
to its foundations, the manner in which the space was occupied can
only be inferred by the openings in the remaining wall. Probably there
was here, on the first floor, a hall and below it smaller rooms,
perhaps cellars; there is, however, a door opening on the ground
floor through the wall into a very small building projecting into the
court, and which appears to have had two lateral and one end or south
longer window. This may have been a chapel, but its axis, without any
necessity of position, is nearly north and south. Within the court,
attached to its east wall, remains a gable end, which, no doubt,
belonged to a great barn, storehouse, or barrack; it was not a hall, as
it had no large windows.
The ruins of the castle, though very considerable, are so devoid of
ashlar and ornamental work, and the masonry throughout is so uniformly
of a rude and inferior character, that it is exceedingly difficult to
arrive at any certain conclusions as to the extent of the original
building, or the order of construction of the parts now remaining.
All that can be inferred with absolute certainty is that the round
tower and the contiguous east curtain are the oldest extant parts,
and, though without bond, nearly of the same date; that the north-west
lodgings are much later than either; that on the north front were
other lodgings now destroyed, and that the _enceinte_ wall of the
court, including the gatehouse, are additions to the original building,
converting what was at first an exterior curtain into an interior wall
looking into the enclosure.
The curtain next east of the tower looks older than the tower, but this
is probably not the case. The tower was more probably the original
building, and the whole of it. It would be a refuge in case of attack,
either from the Welsh or from pirates, capable of holding out until
the garrisons of Pennard, Llandremor, Webley, or Llwchwr, or those
more distant of Swansea and Oystermouth, could bring up assistance.
The tower is probably of very late Norman date, in the transition or
pointed style. The curtain eastward was probably the first addition to
the tower, and is the remnant of the rectangular appendage upon its
north-eastern side. This curtain has been much cut into, and contains
several later openings; but the door on the ground floor next to the
tower is evidently original, and of early English date. It now leads
into the enclosure of the chemisette, but was obviously once an outer
door, and possibly the main entrance to the rectangular building. The
court was probably next enclosed, and the concentric building, or
chemisette, added to the round tower, either as a prison or a cellar,
the door leading into it being the old main entrance above mentioned.
The gatehouse and the north-west tower are somewhat later. Recently
three stones, evidently parts of a window or door-jamb, have been dug
up near the round tower; these show a simple half-round bead moulding,
six inches diameter, and are evidently parts of a Norman jamb, perhaps
of the lower and pointed doorway of the round tower. The north-west
tower has a small trefoil-headed window in the third floor, which may
be of Decorated date, though the building has rather a Perpendicular
aspect. The masonry generally is of a very rough character; the round
tower windows within had coigns of ashlar, but the gatehouse is of very
inferior workmanship, even the portcullis groove being in rubble.