The state of this country at his first entering upon possession was so lawless, that Meredydd, although guarded by “twenty tall archers,” dared not make known when he went to church or elsewhere, or go or return by the same way through the woods and defiles, lest he should be waylaid. To protect and strengthen himself he filled his tenements with “tall and able” men, and fixed others of similar prowess in arms on the king’s lands adjoining; one of these, William ap Robert, was placed at Pencraig Inco, for which he paid a relief to the king of ten shillings and fourpence, and his posterity, the Davises of Cyffdû, are still in possession of this ancient estate.
As a further security against interruption in attendance upon divine worship, he threw down the old church, then standing upon a little eminence called Bryn-y-beddau, about three hundred yards from the present church, and erected a new one in its stead. This site was chosen in order that the house of Penanmen and the church of Dolwydellan might both be brought within the ken of a sentinel, to be placed upon a rock called Craig y Big, overhanging the narrow entrance of Penanmen Cwm, who was to give the alarm, if either church or house should be assailed.
In this manner he continued to defend himself and organize the less powerful gentry and free-holders, until at last he counted around his banner seven score tall bowmen, accoutred with an armolette, a good steel cap, a short sword and dirk, together with their bows and arrows. Most of them also were furnished with horses and hunting spears, and were sufficiently matched against the robbers and outlaws of the district, who exceeded one hundred in number, all too well mounted and arrayed.
Besides the “good work,” as it was called, of extirpating banditti, Meredydd also served his royal master abroad, and was an officer of rank at the siege of Tournay. On his return to his native land, he purchased the seat of Gwydyr from Dafydd ap Howell Coytmor, and erected what is called the Lower House, but more properly that portion of it called the “Hall of Meredydd.” Placing a tenant in his strong house of Penanmen, and abandoning the old castle to the owls and wolves, he settled in his new house at Gwydyr, where he departed this life, in peace and honour, on the eighteenth day of March, 1525, aged fifty-five: his remains were deposited in the church of Dolwydellan, which he had caused to be erected at his own expense, and where a modest tablet of three lines epitomizes his history, in the pious form of inscriptions of that day.
The church built by Meredydd is of such substantial workmanship, that it will probably prove the most lasting, as well as pious, monument of his deeds. A little chapel or transept was subsequently added on the south side by Robert Wynne, uncle of Sir John, the author of the Memoirs.
The village consists of a few cottages, unconnected and poor looking: riches or civilization would not harmonize with the scenery of Dolwydellan, which is as though it existed in an age when the use of money and the various arts of life were still unknown or undiscovered.
CONWAY CASTLE.
Conway is an ancient fortified town, seated on the western bank of the noble river from which it takes its name, and formerly called Aber-Conway, i.e. the mouth or embouchure of the chief river. The position is happily chosen, both as a strong post of defence and a key to those parts of Denbigh and Caernarvon which lie remote from the sea. In the arrangement and decorations of the interior the town of Conway has little to attract a mere spectator, the streets being few, narrow, and irregular: but the historian and the antiquary will view with much interest the old Plas Mawr, erected in the year 1585, by Robert Wynne, of Gwydyr, Esq., uncle of Sir John Wynne the historian. Over the principal entrance, in Greek characters, are inscribed the words ανεχθ απεχθ, i.e. bear and forbear; and above may be observed, in Roman capitals, J. H. S. X. P. S. supposed to be the initials of the words “Jesus Hominum Salvator et populi salus;” the interpretation of the three first letters is probably correct, but of the latter three extremely questionable. The old college, which stands in Castle Street, is adorned with armorial bearings of the Stanleys, and was possibly an alms-house or charitable institution of some sort, founded or endowed by that noble family. Of the old Cistercian Abbey, founded by Llewellyn ap Jorwerth in the year 1185, no traces are now visible; Edward the First transformed the building into a parish church, removed the monks to Maenan Abbey, on the Denbighshire side of the river, three miles distant from Llanrwst, and obliterated all traces of the monkish establishment as far as it was practicable.
The church is a low unarchitectural structure, built and repaired from time to time from the mouldering walls of the ancient abbey, without having borrowed one happy thought from the symmetry of its proportions. Here is a fine baptismal font, supported by a clustered pillar of gothic design; and a tablet to the memory of Nicholas Hookes, of Conway, Gent., who was the forty-first child of William and Alice Hookes, and himself the father of twenty-seven. He died on the 20th of March, 1637.
The town was incorporated and made a free borough by Edward the First, the charter constituting the mayor to be governor of the castle also. This politic prince erected the castles of Caernarvon, Beaumaris, and Conway, to awe the turbulent spirit of his dearly acquired subjects; and whatever merit may be due to the policy of the plan, sufficient admiration can hardly be awarded to the choice of position and beauty of design. If he had not been the prince who commanded those walls to be erected, he might well have wished to have been their architect. The picturesque features of these fine ruins are quite distinct; Caernarvon boasts magnitude, Conway a most romantic position, and the great hall of Beaumaris brings back the spectator immediately into the society of other days.