is a small market town, created a free borough in the reign of Philip and
Mary, and confirmed in the 12th of William III. It, in conjunction with
Caerwys, Rhyddlan, Caergwrle, and Overton, sends a member to parliament,
elected by such inhabitants as pay parochial taxes. The castle, begun by
Henry II., and finished by Edward I., stands upon a rock, in a marsh upon
the south bank of the Dee; the channel of which once ran in considerable
depth under its walls, which, even at the present day, are washed at high
tides. By whom, and when it was founded, is uncertain. It is chiefly
famous for being the place where Edward II. received his obnoxious
favourite, Piers Gaveston, on his return from banishment; and where
Percy, Earl of Northumberland, surrendered Richard the Second into the
hands of the Duke of Lancaster. “When Richard arrived at Flint,” says
the author of the Beauties, Harmonies, and Sublimities of Nature, {238}
“he said to the Duke of Lancaster, afterwards Henry the Fourth, ‘Cousin
of Lancaster, you are welcome.’ ‘My Lord the King,’ returned the Duke,
bowing three times to the ground, ‘I am arrived sooner, than you
appointed me; because the common report of your people reached me, that
you have, for one and twenty years, governed them rigorously, and with
which they are by no means satisfied. It is my desire, if God be
willing, to assist you to govern them better for the future.’ ‘Fair
Cousin,’ returned the wounded monarch, assuming an air of cheerfulness,
‘Fair cousin, since it pleases you, it pleases me also.’ The King and
the Duke soon after made their entry into London, which Shakspeare has
described so beautifully. Richard resigned his crown; and, as a
recompence was soon after murdered in Pontefract castle.” In the reign
of Charles the First, the castle was repaired by Sir Roger Mostyn, and
sustained a lengthened siege, till all the provisions were exhausted,
when it made an honorable surrender in December 1646: it, with Hawarden
and other castles, was dismantled by order of parliament. In proceeding
to Chester, you regain the high road at Northop. Three miles and a half
beyond which, to the left, about a quarter of a mile from the road, on
the edge of a glen, and surrounded by a wood, are to be traced the
remains of Euloe Castle, a small fortress: the proprietor of which, named
Howell, was entitled by ancient custom to give the badge of a silver harp
to the best harper in North Wales. But it is chiefly remarkable for the
defeat which Henry the Second received in the wood in its vicinity, from
David and Conan, the two sons of Owen Gwynedd. By stratagem, they drew
the English army into a narrow pass betwixt the hills: when attacking its
front, flanks, and rear, they routed it with the most dreadful slaughter.
Regaining the road, you soon reach Hawarden, a small neat town, chiefly
remarkable for the ruins of its ancient castle, so frequently mentioned
in history: its remains are to be traced in the grounds of Lady Glynne,
at the east end of the town; little now remains of them, but, from the
eminence on which they stand, you command a fine view of the Dee, and the
county of Chester.