The Hawarden Visitors Hand-Book | Page 5

Barbican or Sally-port beyond. The pit is 12 feet deep and measures 27
feet x 10 feet across. It may possibly have served the double purpose of
defence and of water supply--there being no other apparent source. In
the footbridge across the pit may have been a trap-door, or other means
for suddenly breaking communication in case of need. Overhead
probably lay the roadway for horsemen with a proper drawbridge. The
thickness of the walls indicates their having been built to a considerable
height, sufficient probably to form parapets masking the passage of the
bridge.

In the mound beyond, or counterscarp, was the gate-house and
Barbican, containing a curious fan-shaped chamber up a flight of steps.
While the earth-works surrounding the Castle are the oldest part of the
fortifications--possibly, thinks Mr. Clark, of the tenth century--the
dressed masonry and the different material of the Barbican and
Dungeon- pit, together with some of the exterior offices, show them to
be of somewhat later date than the main building. They have, in fact, as
Mr. Clark remarks, more of an unfinished than a partially destroyed
appearance. The squared and jointed stones, so easily removable and
ready to hand, {16} proved no doubt a tempting quarry to subsequent
owners of Hawarden, who perhaps shared the faults of a period when
neither the architectural nor historical value of ancient remains was
generally appreciated.
It now remains to trace the history of the Castle, so far as it is known to
us.
In 1264 a memorable conference took place within its walls between
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and Llewelyn, Prince of North
Wales, at which each promised to aid the other in promoting the
execution of their respective plans. The King, who, with the Prince of
Wales, was the Earl's prisoner, was compelled to renounce his rights,
and the Castle was given up to Llewelyn. On the suppression of de
Montfort's rebellion the Castle reverted to the Crown, and Llewelyn
was called upon by the Papal Legate, Ottoboni, to surrender it. This he
at first declined, but being deserted by the Earl, who at the same time,
in order to put an end to the conflict, offered to him his daughter
Eleanor in marriage agreed afterwards to a treaty by which the Castle
was to be destroyed, and Robert de Montalt to be reinstated in the
possession of his lands in Hawarden, but to be restrained from restoring
the fortification for thirty years.
This stipulation appears to have been violated, for in 1281 the Welsh
rebelled, and under David and Llewelyn (who then made up their
quarrel), an attack was made by night upon the Castle, then styled
Castrum Regis, which was successful. Roger de Clifford, Justiciary of
Chester, was taken prisoner, and the Castle with much bloodshed and

cruelty stormed and partly burnt on Palm Sunday. The outrage was
repeated in the next year (Nov. 6th, 1282), when the Justice's elder son,
also Roger Clifford, was slain. Soon after this Llewelyn died, Wales
was entirely subjugated, and David executed as a traitor.
To this period may most probably be assigned the present structure. A
Keep, such as that now standing is not likely to have been successfully
assaulted in two successive years; nor does internal evidence favour the
idea that it was the actual work taken by the Welsh. Robert, the last of
the Montalts, was a wealthy man, and in all probability it was during
his Lordship, between 1297 and 1329, that the Castle, as we now see it,
was built. Though the unusual thickness of the walls of the Keep might
be thought more in keeping with the Norman period, the general details,
as already stated, the polygonal mural gallery and interior, and the
entrance, evidently parts of the original work, are very decidedly
Edwardian.
Of the subsequent history of the Castle, we have unfortunately nothing
to record until we come to the Civil War between Charles the First and
the Parliament. On Nov. 11th, 1643, Sir William Brereton, who had
declared for the Parliament, appeared with his adherents at Hawarden
Castle, where he was welcomed by Robert Ravenscroft and John
Aldersey, who had charge of it in the name of the King. Sir William
established himself in the Castle, and harassed the garrison of Chester,
which was for the King, by cutting off the supplies of coals, corn and
other provisions, which they had formerly drawn from the
neighbourhood. Meanwhile the Archbishop of York, writing from
Conway to the Duke of Ormond announced the betrayal of the Castle
and appealed for assistance. In response to this a force from Ireland was
landed at Mostyn in the same month, and employed to reduce the
fortress, garrisoned by 120 men of Sir Thomas Middleton's Regiment.
The garrison received by a trumpet a verbal