HAWARDEN CASTLE, FLINTSHIRE.
THE Hundred of Atiscross, in which Hawarden is an important parish, is, in Domesday, included in the county of Chester; and in that Hundred, as in very many parts of the Welsh border, the Saxons, as is well known from history and still evident from the prevailing names of places, early and in strength established themselves. But although the power of the Earls of Chester and the perfectly Saxonised condition of the peninsula of West Chester gave the invaders a secure hold over the open country on the west bank of the Dee, their sway was contested on the higher and more rugged ground, and though such names as Hope, Northop, Holywell, Whitford, Newmarket, Soughton, and Ryden show that they had settlements in the central and northern parts of Flintshire, the presence of a still larger number of Welsh names shows that their occupation was actively contested and the very reverse of secure.
The length and severity of the struggle is also made evident by the number and magnitude of the various military earthworks which still attract attention. Such of these as are situated on the summits of hills, are of irregular form and bear Welsh names, may safely be attributed to the Welsh; while those of English origin, usually on more accessible ground, have a tendency to a circular form, and in some very marked instances are characterised by a mound or motte.
Hawarden, the Haordine of Domesday, and in Welsh called “Penard Halawg,” said to mean “the steep head of the marsh,” is, as its name declares, a Saxon settlement, and its fortress, so long preserved, presents in a remarkable degree the features of a well-known class of earthworks found both in England and in Normandy. The parish, containing about 16,000 acres, occupies the eastern or English end of the first high ground that rises west of the Dee. It includes the commencement of a wooded ridge, which runs for some way parallel to the estuary, and then trends inland to be lost in the higher country around Northop.
The castle stands at the south-west end of a considerable area of level sward, upon which is built the later house of Hawarden, and which, with a ravine bounding it on the south and west, is included in the park.
The ground occupied by the castle and its earthworks covers an irregular circle of about 150 yards diameter. It rises steeply about 50 feet from the level area, and almost abruptly 150 feet to 200 feet from the ravine that protects it on the south, south-east, and west.
At the central and highest point of this ground, composed in part of rock and in part of the red sandy soil of the district, has been formed, by scarping down with perhaps some little addition in height, a conical mound, the flat top of which is about 70 feet diameter, having steep slopes all around. On the north-east side, or that towards the house, the descent is about 30 feet, at which level is a platform occupied by the main ward of the fortress, and beyond it, near the foot of a further but gentle slope, a broad and deep ditch, dry and wholly artificial, which sweeps round this the weakest side and cuts it off from the area already mentioned.
About the other two thirds of its circumference, towards the south and west, the mound descends rapidly to the ravine, but on its way the slope is broken by concentric banks, ditches, and shelves, of somewhat irregular height, depth, and configuration, owing, no doubt, to their having been originally natural, but converted and strengthened by art.
This kind of fortification by mound, bank, and ditch, is well known both in England and Normandy, and was in use in the ninth and tenth, and even in the eleventh centuries, before masonry was general. The mound was crowned with a strong circular house of timber, probably constructed like the walls of Greenstead chancel, and such as in the Bayeux tapestry the soldiers are attempting to set on fire. The court below and the banks beyond the ditches were fenced with palisades and defences of that character.
The Normans in Normandy, towards the middle of the eleventh century, and in England a little later, and onwards into the reign of Henry II., commonly replaced these defences by more substantial walls of masonry, which, being of great thickness and solidity, have often remained to the present day, though more frequently they were removed in the reigns of the earlier Edwards, to be replaced by structures of more scientific though less solid design, affording more accommodation within the enceinte. At Hawarden, the course of action seems to have been different. Here are no traces of Norman work or of the Norman style, and though the keep is unusually substantial, it bears evidence of being the work of one period, and that the close of the reign of Henry III. or early in that of Edward, his Welsh-compelling son. If this be so, it must be concluded that the Norman barons, who were known to have held Hawarden in the twelfth century, were content to allow its defences to be formed of timber, as any masonry constructed by them would scarcely so soon have needed to be removed.
The Keep (A in the plan) very nearly covers the top of the mound. It is circular, 61 feet across at the base, and originally about 40 feet high. The base gathers inwards to a height of 5 feet, where the cylinder is 59 feet across, and from hence to the summit it further diminishes to 57 feet. The interior is vertical, and 31 feet diameter throughout; hence the wall, which is 15 feet thick at the base, and 14 feet a little above it, is 13 feet at the level of the rampart walk; dimensions of unusual solidity even at the Norman period and very rare in England under Henry III. or the Edwards.
The exterior is very plain, having neither cordon, string-course, nor window labels. A little above the ground is a double course of large ashlar blocks of a light yellow sandstone, tying the work firmly together, and higher up are other bonding courses of a less substantial character. The ordinary material is a bluish stone laid as rubble work, with the spaces and joints neatly filled up with spawls and fragments. The battlements have been replaced by a modern wall, but the junction, at the rampart walk, may be readily detected.
The entrance is at the ground level on the north-east side, from the main ward. It is marked by a broad, flat buttress, rather Norman in character, which rises vertically from the common base so as to stand out about 18 inches, where it dies into the wall about 5 feet below the battlements. In its centre is the gateway, and above it the window of the portcullis chamber. It is extended laterally in two wings, rising about half its height, and also dying into the wall above. These are intended to strengthen the wall, weakened by a well-stair and a lodge. As this buttress covers a considerable segment of the circle and is flat, it is broken into three planes by two vertical angles. The modern brick and stone wall replacing the battlement is rugged and broken, but in parts about 12 feet high, and intended to give elevation to the keep. The building thus made extensively visible has become a sort of parish cynosure, and, however irregular its appearance, it would scarcely be in good taste to remove the addition.
The keep has two floors. The lower is cylindrical, 31 feet in diameter, with walls 14 feet to 15 feet thick. It was about 14 feet high, with a ceiling of logs, which rested upon some forty plain corbels, of which about seventeen remain. At two opposite points, about half way up the wall, are two larger corbels, which evidently supported the struts destined to give stiffness to the central and longest beam.
This chamber, no doubt a store-room, save when in time of siege it might accommodate soldiers, was entered directly from the gateway, and rather ventilated than lighted by three equidistant openings, about 4 feet from the floor, 4 feet broad, and 5 feet high, having shouldered heads and covering. The sides converge, and the floor rises to a small square-headed loop of 4-inch opening. There is neither fireplace, seat, nor recess. The floor has been removed. There is no subterranean chamber.
The upper chamber within is an octagon, inscribed about the cylinder below it, with walls from 13 feet to 14 feet thick, and from side to side 31 feet. It is about 15 feet high to the corbels that carried its flat roof, and a row of larger corbels along one of the remaining faces seems to have supported struts necessary to make the roof a safe platform for military engines and stone ammunition. This, which was a state-room, was lighted by three recesses at irregular distances. They are 6 feet 6 inches wide, and rise from the floor 8 feet, being covered by slightly-pointed drop arches. Each has a vaulted roof and parallel sides, which afterwards converge upon a square-headed window, 2 feet wide and 5 feet 6 inches high, having a plain chamfer outside. In each side of the recesses is a plain shouldered doorway, 3 feet 9 inches broad by 10 feet high, opening into the mural gallery.
This floor has its main entrance through the portcullis chamber, and next north-west of this entrance is the chapel. This is a mural chamber, 14 feet by 7 feet, but not quite rectangular. It is flat vaulted, and its axis points south-east to the altar, which is a restoration. The doorway next the west end is only 2 feet broad by 7 feet high, with a cinquefoiled head and a plain moulding of Decorated character. The door opened inwards, and could be barred within the chapel. On the same side, but near the altar, is a small cinquefoiled recess for a piscina, with a projecting bracket and a fluted foot. In the opposite wall, in vaulted recesses, are two windows, that next the altar square-headed, the other lancet-headed. Against the west wall is a stone bench, and above it a rude squint through which any person in the adjacent window recess could see the altar.
The entrance to the keep is by a gateway 5 feet wide and 6 feet 6 inches high, having a drop arch rising about 3 feet more. The jambs have a single and the arch a double chamfer. Two feet within is the portcullis groove, 4 inches square, and next is the rebate for the door, with its bar holes. Beyond is the vaulted passage, 6 feet broad, leading to the ground floor, with a door opening so as to be barred against that chamber; within, however, is a narrow rebate, as though for a lighter door opening inwards. The portcullis grooves are stopped 3 feet above the floor, so that either the cill must have been obstructively high or the grate have terminated in a range of long spikes. On each side of the entrance passage is a shouldered doorway. That on the right, 2 feet 9 inches broad, opens into a mural chamber, vaulted, 6 feet by 9 feet, with a lancet loop to the field. On the left, the door is 3 feet 3 inches broad, and opens on a well-stair, which, lighted from the field by loops, ascends to the upper floor and the battlements.
Twenty-one steps lead to the portcullis chamber, which is also the antechamber to the state-room. It is vaulted, 6 feet broad by 10 feet long, with a square-headed window of 2 feet opening to the field, and within it the chase for the passage of the portcullis. At the other end a large doorway with a plain moulding of a Decorated type and an arch very nearly, if not quite, round-headed, open in a recess similarly arched, and this into the state-room. The door was barred inside so as to be held against the stairs.
HAWARDEN CASTLE, FLINTSHIRE, 1870.
- The Keep.
- The Main Ward.
- Site of the Hall.
- Offices.
- Entrance; below which is its section.
- Place of the Barbican.
Ground Plan, from a Survey made by Mr. James Harrison, of Chester, in 1857.
Returning to the well-stair, the upper part of which is broken away, at twenty-nine steps from the base is a small lancet-headed door. It opens into a mural passage, 2 feet 6 inches broad, and 7 feet high, which makes two turns at right angles. At one, on the left, is a recess, 3 feet deep by 1 foot 9 inches broad, a garderobe, the back part of which, probably bratticed off, carried a shaft from a similar recess on the ramparts. At its second turn the passage descends seven steps to the nearest window recess in the main chamber, crossing which an opposite doorway leads into the mural gallery. The ascent and descent in the narrow passage is rendered necessary by the level of the steps of the well-stair.
The mural gallery, at the main chamber level, is continued within the substance of the wall, to the recess next the chapel. It is in plan a polygon parallel with the inner faces of the wall. It is 10 feet high and 3 feet 9 inches wide, having a flagged roof resting on a double tier of corbels, and in it are three large recesses, each opening to the field by a long loop, swallow-tailed at each end. These recesses and loops are not seen from the main chamber. The doors and window frames, where original, are executed in straw-coloured sandstone. The chapel doorway and piscina and the side doors of the window recesses seem of later Decorated work than the rest, and may be insertions, though this does not look probable.
The keep, as at Tamworth, Durham, Berkhampstead, Warwick, and Cardiff, stands in the enceinte line of the main ward, and forms part of it, about two thirds of its circumference being outside, and one third, including the doorway, inside the curtain. This curtain was about 460 feet in length, and encircles the main ward, abutting against the keep at two points: one 24 feet south and one 18 feet north of the entrance. On each side it is carried down the slope, and, meeting below, thus encloses a somewhat fan-shaped area, about 170 feet north-east and south-west by 142 feet north-west and south-east, within which were the principal buildings of the fortress. The southern part of this curtain can be traced, but in its foundation only; that to the north is tolerably perfect. It is 7 feet thick, and has been about 25 feet high. It does not, as at Tamworth, so ascend the mound that its ramparts terminate at the level of the base of the keep, but it abuts against the keep at a height of 12 feet or 14 feet, and is so continued down the slope. Up the mound, the rampart of the curtain, as at Windsor, was a flight of steps, but as the ramparts only abutted against, and had no doorway into, the keep, the steps were merely to enable the defenders to man that part of the wall. On the north side, besides these steps, there was a second flight, laid on the surface of the mound, behind and at the foot of the curtain, and probably covered over, as traces remain of a second wall. These led to the entrance to the keep, and were the communication between it and the main ward.
At the junction of this curtain with the keep is a postern, a small, shouldered doorway with a door barred within, where an enemy who had reached the foot of the keep could be attacked. About 90 feet lower down are traces of a similar doorway, whence the base of the mound could be reached. Of the south curtain a fragment remains attached to the keep; it had no postern, and probably no steps behind it.
The Main Ward (B in the plan) is divided into two parts: the one a level platform, in which stood the hall and other buildings, round a court about 125 feet by 92 feet, and into which was the main entrance; and the other, and much smaller part is the steep slope of the mound, about 50 feet broad, and which was probably left rugged and waste as we now see it. At the foot of this slope are the remains of four rooms, about 18 feet deep from the face, probably for stores, each with a doorway to the court; in the wall of one is a sort of rude drain as from a sink or trough. This range was evidently continued along the south end of the court, being built against the curtain and carried on to the hall. Of these extensions only the excavated ground-floor, some low walls, and the base of a well-stair remain. From the character of the stair, it looks as though it had been of some consequence, and it shows that there was an upper floor, probably of rooms communicating with the hall, and perhaps connecting it with the keep.
At the opposite, or north end of the store-room range is the doorway at the foot of the stairs leading to the keep, and beyond this, in the curtain wall, a door which seems to have led into a well-stair which gave access to the stepped rampart. Again, a few feet beyond this, at an angle of the enclosure, are the fragments of the great gateway, beyond which, for about 100 feet round the north angle of the court, the curtain is of full height and very perfect, having angle-quoins of the same yellow ashlar used in the keep.
The Hall (C) was placed on the east face of the ward, at its south end, and occupied above one half of that face. The curtain formed its outer wall, and was pierced by its windows, and strengthened at its south-east angle by a solid, half-round buttress, 22 feet diameter, probably an addition. The hall was on the first floor, the low basement being probably a cellar, and entered by a vaulted passage at its south end. The hall was about 30 feet high from its timber floor to its wall plate. Two lofty windows remain, and traces of a third, and between them are the plain chamfered corbels whence sprung the open roof. The window recesses have a low-pointed arch and a bold bead moulding. The windows are of one light, trefoiled, with the cusp lights worked. There is no label. Within the recess are lateral seats.
North of, and connected with the hall is a rectangular projection (D), 36 feet deep by 60 feet in front, the lower floors of which are laid on the scarp of the ditch, considerably below the level of the ward. These were doubtless offices, but as nothing but the lower walls remain little can be discovered of their detail. There remains, however, in the curtain the jamb of a large doorway, whence descends a flight of steps about 20 feet, probably to a postern, of which, however, there are no traces, on the edge of the ditch. These steps led into one of two apartments, at one end of each of which is what was probably a fireplace, though they more resemble the vent of a garderobe shaft, which, however, they cannot well be, since the chambers were certainly not cesspools. The walls of this projection are substantial, and certainly carried an upper storey, probably occupied by withdrawing-rooms and private apartments attached to the hall. No well has been discovered, nor oven, nor any signs of a garrison chapel, all which were probably placed in this ward.
The great gateway opened in the north-west face of the curtain, and from the fragment of a jamb that remains with a bold rebate seems to have been about 8 feet high and broad in proportion. A projection inwards from the curtain shows that there was some kind of small gatehouse.
This gateway opened into a spur work formed by two curtains, 32 feet apart, projecting from the main curtain down the scarp of the ditch so as to form a parallelogram 40 feet wide by 68 feet long. The curtains were 4 feet thick and about 24 feet high. The western is destroyed, but the eastern is tolerably perfect, and at its junction with the main curtain is a shouldered postern door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, which opened on the scarp of the ditch.
At the further and lower end of the spur-work the walls turn inward (E in the plan), and again proceed parallel for 14 feet at 27 feet apart, and there contain the gates and pit of the drawbridge, beyond which a second narrowing reduces the distance to 21 feet, at which they proceed for 14 feet more, when the walls abut upon the counterscarp of the ditch, at that point revetted with ashlar. Thus the whole length of the spur-work, from the main curtain to the counterscarp, is 96 feet, and its breadths, over all, 40 feet, 25 feet, and 21 feet.
About 34 feet in advance of the great gateway was a cross wall, probably containing a second gate, and beyond it is a flight of fifteen steps, 6 feet broad, leading down into a rectangular chamber, which has had a flat timber roof, and in the opposite wall of which is a shouldered doorway, with no rebate for a door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, and 7 feet high. This opens into a low, narrow, flat-topped passage, 3 feet broad and 10 feet long, but expanded at the centre to 3 feet 6 inches, so that two persons could pass by squeezing; and at this point, in the roof, is a hole 8 inches square, evidently for the purpose of attacking them if necessary. The passage ends in a second small doorway, barred from the inside, which opens upon a bridge-pit, about 27 feet long right and left, 12 feet deep, and 10 feet broad, to a similar doorway opposite. The pit is lined with rubble below the door cills and with ashlar above, and at its west end is a hole, probably for cleaning it out, and communicating with the main ditch, of which the pit is an isolated part.
Crossing over a narrow plank bridge, the further door leads through a short, narrow passage into a chamber 13 feet square, entirely of ashlar, and having, right and left, a small door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, opening upon the counterscarp of the ditch. The doorway from the bridge had no door but those of the lateral sally-ports opened inwards. In the further, or north, wall is another doorway, also shouldered, 3 feet broad and 8 feet high, the door of which also opened inwards and disclosed a very steep flight of eleven steps, rising about 8 feet in a dovetail-shaped chamber, commencing at a breadth of 3 feet and expanding to 8 feet. It is 14 feet long. The steps land on a floor, but the walls, of which the lower 6 feet 6 inches, of ashlar, are quite perfect, have so far no openings. This singular chamber is niched into the counterscarp of the ditch, and is actually within the barbican.
The remains of the Barbican (F) are a considerable knoll of earth, having a ditch of its own, and on its rugged surface showing traces of old buildings. This covers the head of the bridge, and appears to have been approached by a winding road and entered on the west side.
This work has been the subject of much speculation. That it was the main entrance is sufficiently certain. This could only have been at one end of the main ward, and the remaining jamb is too large for a postern, and the ground at the opposite end far too steep for an approach.
The spur-work, with its lateral curtains, completely enclosed the entrance. The steps to the bridge are modern, but must represent others somewhat similar. The doors and passage were calculated for single files only, with a special arrangement for commanding the only point at which two armed men could pass. In the chamber beyond the bridge 80 or 100 men could assemble previous to a sally by the lateral doorways.
On their return, if pursued, and the enemy should enter with them, the narrow passages would make almost impossible a surprise or any sudden rush into either the body of the place or the barbican.
Further, looking to the lateral space between the walls and the great length of the bridge-pit, it is pretty clear that above the foot passage was a roadway for wheel carriages, with at least one drawbridge. Most of the passages below seem to have been flagged with stone. One drawbridge was clearly over the remaining pit; another may have covered the chamber at this time occupied by the modern flight of stairs. The thickness (4 feet) and solidity of the existing walls show that they must have been much higher, so that they would have formed lateral parapets, concealing the passage of the bridge. For this, about 15 feet might be added to the existing wall.
The fan-shaped chamber was probably an outlet for those who, having used the foot-bridge, did not wish to go out by the sally-ports but to ascend into the barbican. The steps are no doubt inconvenient, but the whole passage was certainly only meant for occasional use, and is in no part particularly commodious. Probably the means of egress from the stair-head into the barbican were stairs of timber. The whole arrangement is very peculiar, and it may be doubted whether the safety proposed was worth the considerable expense bestowed upon it. As the whole of this bridge arrangement is clearly an addition, it is probable that though the original entrance was at this point, it was by an ordinary drawbridge, of which the lateral curtains of the spur-work, which are old, would be the protection.
Of the exterior earthworks there is little to be said. On the south-east side of the fortress the outer bank is cut through, as though for an entrance. If so, this must have been carried laterally along the ditches of the place until it reached the barbican.
Hawarden seems to present traces of at least three periods of construction, the oldest being that of the earthworks, which, like some similar ones in England, may be as early as the tenth century.
The keep, the curtain of the main ward, the hall, and perhaps the curtains of the spur seem to be of one date, the material employed being substantially the same, and the workmanship not unlike.
Spur-work enclosing the main entrance.
Hawarden Castle. North-east side.
The range of storehouses in the main ward, the offices projecting from it towards the north-east, and the whole of the buildings of the foot entrance are of later date, and of different design, material, and workmanship. The material is a greenish sandstone, and the workmanship ashlar of the most expensive kind, dressed on every face, and laid in thin joints, with but little mortar. This excellence has proved fatal to the structure; for, as the stones needed only to be lifted from their beds and laid, without any adaptation, into any new work, the temptation has proved too strong, and most of this later work has been carefully removed by hand, and not, like the older work, overthrown by gunpowder. In fact, the lower walls that remain have much more the appearance of an unfinished than of a partially-destroyed building.
There is a paper by the late Mr. Hartshorne in the fifteenth volume of the Archæological Journal, which, though it touches but lightly upon the topography of the castle, enters at some length upon the history of the Barons of Montalt, long its owners. From thence, and from other sources, it appears that Hawarden belonged, from a very early period, to the Earls of Chester, some of whom probably constructed it, but no doubt occupied it before the completion of the structure. In their line it remained till the death of Ranulph de Blundeville, the last earl, in 1231, when, with Castle Rising and the “Earl’s Half,” in Coventry, it came to his second sister and co-heir, Mabel, who married William d’Albini, third Earl of Arundel. Their second son, Hugh, who inherited, died in 1243, when the estates passed to his second sister and co-heir, Cecilia, who married Robert de Montalt.
The Barons de Monte-Alto, sometimes styled de Moaldis or Mouhaut (Mold, where the mound of the castle remains), were hereditary seneschals of Chester and lords of Mold. Roger de Montalt, grandson of Robert and Cecilia, inherited Hawarden, Coventry, and Castle Rising. He married Julian, daughter of Roger de Clifford, justice of North Wales, but dying childless, in 1297, his lands passed to his brother, Robert, the seventh and last lord, who died childless, 1329, when the barony became extinct. Robert de Montalt signed the celebrated letter to the Pope in 1300, as Dominus de Hawardyn. [P. Writs, I. 743.] He bequeathed his estates to Isabella, the queen of Edward II.
The entries concerning Hawarden in the public records are few. In 1265, 49 Henry III., the king granted to Llewelyn-ap-Griffith, Prince of Wales, the Castle of Hawardin, to him and the heirs of his body, Hereford, 22nd June [N. Fœd. I. 457], but in 1267, 51 Henry III., by a letter by the legate Ottoboni, Prince Llewelyn is at once to restore to Robert de Otto Monte the lands of Ha Wordin, but Robert is not to build a castle there for thirty years. Montgomery 3 Kal. Oct. [Ibid. p. 474.]
In the Inquisitions and Escheats are also some entries. From an inquisition, 3 Edward I., Robert de Monte Alto is seized of the manor of Hawardine, co. Cest. His possessions were extensive. They occupy ninety-one entries in thirteen counties. [Inq. p.m. I. 55.] In the next year, 4 Edward I., is an inquisition, whence it appears that the manor was never settled in dower. Neither Leuca, wife of Robert de Montalt the Black, nor Matilda, wife of Ralph de Montalt, nor Nicholaa, wife of Roger de Montalt the elder, nor Cecilia, wife of Roger the younger—all ladies of the Honour of Hawirdyn—were ever so endowed. [Ib. 60, Cal. Geneal. I. 247.] 10 Edward I., 25 March, is an entry on the Welsh roll concerning the pursuing and taking certain Welsh malefactors, who took captive Roger de Clifford in the king’s castles of Hawardin and Flint [Ayloffe, p. 76], and from the king’s writ itself of that date, addressed to Roger de Mortimer, and given at length by Mr. Hartshorne, it appears that the Welsh attacked Hawarden by night, killed some of De Clifford’s household, and burnt the castle houses, and did much the same at Flint. This outrage was repeated in the next year, when (6 November, 1282) the justice’s elder son, also Roger Clifford, was slain. [Foss’s “Judges,” III. 76.] The next entry in the inquisition is one of 25 Edward I. on Roger de Montalt, whence it appears that at that time, though he held Castle Rising, &c., the manor of Hauwerthyn was vested in Thomas de Offeleye. This might, however, be as feoffee in trust. [Inq. p.m. I. 134.]
From all this it may be inferred that there was a castle here which Prince Llewelyn destroyed, and which Robert de Montalt undertook not to rebuild. Such promises went for as little then as between nations at the present day, and the castle that the Welsh took 10 Edward II., 1282, was of course built or restored during that period. If Llewelyn had found a keep of anything at all approaching in substance to the present he could scarcely have destroyed it; nor does it seem probable, from the internal evidence of the building, that the keep now standing was the work taken by the Welsh, 10 Edward I. Its mouldings and the plan of its upper floor point to a rather later date; and probably it was the work of the last Baron de Montalt, between 1297 and 1329. Cylindrical keep towers, of a pattern not unlike that of Hawarden, though usually, as at Coucy, on a much larger scale, were in use in France in the earlier part of the thirteenth century; and although the unusual thickness of the walls in the present example might be thought more in keeping with the Norman period, the general details, the polygonal mural gallery and interior, and the entrance, evidently parts of the original work, are very decidedly Edwardian.
Hawarden was finally dismantled by order of Parliament, in the time of the Commonwealth, and the keep much shattered by a mine, sprung probably under the doorway. It so remained until very recently, when it was restored by Sir Stephen Glynne, the late owner, under the advice of Mr. Shaw, of Chester. The task was one of exceeding delicacy, but was executed with marvellous skill and complete success, so far as the work proceeded. Enough remained of each part to give a clue for its reproduction, and thus the gateway, portcullis chamber, much of the well-staircase, most of the chapel, and part of the great mural gallery have been restored just as they must have been left by the original builder. At the same time the stone employed and the mode of dressing it, will always indicate to the skilled observer which parts of the work have been replaced.
The present access to the rampart is an addition in brick of the last century, and might well be restored in stone. The view thence is extensive, having in the foreground the park, which, for wildness and sylvan beauty may well compare with any ground even on the Welsh border; and beyond is the broad and fertile plain of Cheshire and Shropshire, including the city of Chester, the rock and ridge of Beeston, and, in clear weather, the Wrekin. In the opposite direction are views, less extensive, of the estuary of the Dee and the peninsula of West Chester. The Welsh view is inconsiderable, being cut off by the higher ground.