The Hawarden Visitors Hand-Book | Page 2

most of the inhabitants went and prayed to the image or Holy Rood, that it would cause it to rain, but to no purpose. Among the rest, the Lady Trawst (whose husband's name was Sytsylht, a nobleman and governor of Harden Castle) went to pray to the said Holy Rood, and she praying earnestly and long, the image or Holy Rood fell down upon her head and killed her; upon which a great uproar was raised, and it was concluded and resolved upon to try the said image for the murder of the said Lady Trawst, and a jury was summoned for this purpose, whose names were as follows:--
Hincot of Hancot, Span of Mancot, Leech and Leach, and Cumberbeach. Peet and Pate, with Corbin of the gate, Milling and Hughet, with Gill and Pughet."
The Jury--so continues the story--found the Holy Rood guilty of wilful murder, and the sentence was proposed that she should be hanged. This was opposed by Span, who suggested that, as they wanted rain, it would be best to drown her. This, again, was objected to by Corbin, who advised to lay her on the sands of the river and see what became of her. This was done, with the result that the image was carried by the tide to some low land near the wall of Caerleon--(supposed to be Chester)--where it was found by the Cestrians drowned and dead, and by them buried at the gate where found, with this inscription:--
The Jews their God did crucify, The Hardeners theirs did drown, 'Cos, with their wants she'd not comply, And lies under this cold stone.
Hence the said low land, or island, as it may have been, is supposed to have got the name of the Rood-Eye, or Roodee as at present.
After the Conquest, Hawarden was included in the vast grant made by William to his kinsman, Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, which included Cheshire and all the seaboard as far as Conway. The Earl had his residence at Chester, and there held his Courts and Parliament. His sword of dignity, referred to in the heading of Common Law Indictments, is preserved in the British Museum. Among the earliest residents at Hawarden occurs the name of Roger Fitzvalence, son of one of the Conqueror's followers; subsequently it continued in the possession of the Earls of Chester till the death of Ranulf de Blundeville, the last earl, in 1231, when, with Castle Rising and the 'Earl's Half' in Coventry, it passed, through his sister Mabel, to her descendants, the Montalts.
The Barons de Monte Alto, sometimes styled de Moaldis or Mohaut (now Mold, 6 miles from Hawarden, where the mound of the castle remains), were hereditary seneschals of Chester and lords of Mold. Roger de Montalt inherited Hawarden, Coventry, and Castle Rising, and married Julian, daughter of Roger de Clifford, Justiciary of Chester and North Wales, who was captured at the storming of the Castle by Llewelyn, in 1281. Robert de Montalt the last lord, died childless {8} in 1329, when the barony became extinct. He it was who signed the celebrated letter to the Pope in 1300 as Dominus de Hawardyn.
Robert de Montalt bequeathed his estates to Isabella, Queen of Edward II., and Hawarden afterwards passed by exchange, in 1337, to Sir William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury. From that family it reverted in 1406, by attainder, to the Crown, and in 1411 was granted by Henry IV. to his second son, Thomas, Duke of Clarence. Clarence dying without issue in 1420, it reverted once more to the Crown, but finally, in 1454, passed to Sir Thomas Stanley, Comptroller of the Household and afterwards Lord Stanley, whose son became the first Earl of Derby. In 1495, Henry VII. honoured Hawarden with a visit, and made some residence here for the amusement of stag-hunting, but his primary motive was to soothe the Earl (husband to Margaret, the King's mother) after the ungrateful execution of his brother, Sir William Stanley. {9a}
Hawarden remained in the possession of the Stanleys for nearly 200 years. William, the sixth Earl, when advanced in years, surrendered the property to his son James, reserving to himself 1000 pounds a year, and retiring to a convenient house {9b} near the Dee, spent there the remainder of his life, and died in 1642. James, distinguished for his learning and gallantry, warmly espoused the cause first of Charles I. and afterwards that of his son. Under his roof Charles, when a fugitive, halted on his way from Chester to Denbigh, on Sept. 25, 1645. After the battle of Worcester, in 1657, James was taken prisoner, tried by Court Martial, and executed at Bolton in the same year.
In 1653, the Lordship of Hawarden was purchased from the agents of sequestration by Serjeant (afterwards Chief Justice) Glynne; and in 1661 the sale