The Hawarden Visitors Hand-Book | Page 2

large cross, which was in the hands of the
image, called Holy Rood. About this time there happened a very hot
and dry summer; so dry that there was not grass for the cattle; upon
which 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