It appears, then, that in the four northern counties there are at least 103 strong places, of which ten boast rectangular Norman, and one or perhaps two, shell, keeps, while of ninety-one little is known.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CASTLES OF ENGLAND AND WALES AT THE LATTER PART OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY (concluded).
THERE remain to be enumerated the castles west of the Severn and the Dee up to the Dyke of Offa. To this tract must be added on the one hand the half of Shropshire, which was on the English side of the Severn; on the other, one or two valleys like those of the upper Severn and the Wye, penetrating into the heart of Wales; and to the north and south a tract of seaboard, reaching in the one case to the Conwy, and in the other to Pembroke and including Aberystwith. Of this border-land, divided between the northern, middle, and western Marches, the first was given in charge by the Conqueror to Hugh Earl of Chester; the second to Roger Earl of Shrewsbury, Arundel, and Montgomery; and opposite to the last, most of which was as yet unconquered, was placed William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford. In the north and middle Marches the opposing parts of Wales were mountainous and strong, exceedingly dangerous to invade, and of little value to a conqueror; but in the south the country was far more open and more fertile, far less dangerous to the invader, and offering far greater attraction to the cupidity of the settler. The general policy was to penetrate the country by the open valleys and the seaboard, and at certain frequent points to erect castles strong enough to resist a sudden attack, and occasionally capacious enough to contain men and stores sufficient to reinforce troops in the field, or to receive and rally them when worsted.
The three principal fortresses which, placed upon English territory, formed in a military point of view the base for operations in Wales, were Chester on the Dee, Shrewsbury upon the Severn, and Gloucester at the mouth of the same river, the last being under the Mercian kings a place of great strength and importance. Chester and Gloucester were of Roman, Shrewsbury of British origin. In advance of Chester, and beyond the estuary of the Dee, were the castles of Hawarden, Ewloe, Halkin, Flint, Diserth, Rhuddlan, and Diganwy, extending upon or at no great distance from the sea coast as far as the Conwy river. More inland and south of these are Caergwrle, Mold, Ruthyn, Denbigh, and Basingwerk, the last nearly upon Watt’s Dyke. Hope Castle is mentioned, but is probably the same with Caergwrle, and Overton, which, though on the Cheshire side of the Dee, was held by the Princes of Powis. It seems to have been founded by William Peverel, and was by him defended against Stephen in 1138. Most of these castles are mere ruins; of others the extant buildings are Edwardian additions. Hawarden, however, has a tolerably perfect circular keep, with a small mural oratory, and an exceedingly complex but later arrangement for defending the approach.
Considerably south of these castles, where the Dee has ceased to be the dividing stream of England and Wales, is the hill castle of Dinas Brân, an early and strong place, by whom built is uncertain, but which was held for long periods by the Welsh Princes. Again, south, upon the Ceiriog river, and a few yards east of Offa’s Dyke, is Chirk Castle, inhabited and much altered, but of early date.
The western side of Shropshire and the adjacent part of Montgomery formed nearly the whole of the Middle March. Earl Roger, its custos under the Conqueror with powers which William only delegated from absolute necessity, and which it took his successors centuries to resume, was the only Norman lord who gave name to a county in the conquered land. Under him and his lieutenants, Roger Corbet and Roger Mortimer, the March was feued out to a number of knights and lesser barons, all of whom built castles, and thus defended the common territory, while protecting their own private estates. The task of construction probably was not so onerous as at first sight might appear. Shropshire and Herefordshire, and especially their most exposed parts, were already studded over thickly with strong places constructed after their own fashion by the Mercian invaders and settlers, and of these it is evident that the new lords availed themselves until they were able to make additions to them in masonry.
Of Shrewsbury Castle, the citadel of the Middle March, and the “caput” of Earl Roger’s earldom, enough remains to show that, though small in area, it was a place of excessive strength. The mound upon which the Earl placed his keep in 1080 still rises to a great height direct from the river, and of the works to make room for which 51 English burgages were swept away there still remain parts of the wall, a gatehouse, and the foundations of a later hall. In the Hundred roll, in the reign of Edward I., occurs the following very curious entry:—“Quod unus magnus turris ligneus qui edificatur in castro Salop corruit in terram tempore domini Uriani de St. Petro tum vicecomitis et meremium ejusdem turris tempore suo et temporibus aliorum vicecomitum preterea existencium ita consummatur et destruitur quod nichil de illo remansit in magnum dampnum domini Regis et deteracionem ejusdem castri.” Was this a wooden keep upon the mound? “Quoddam Barbican” is also mentioned, and we are told the “dampnum mote” amounted to 60 marcs, which damage the jurors do not attribute altogether to the Abbot’s Mill, for thirty years earlier the mote of the castle was injured. This can scarcely mean the ditch, for which “fossa” is the word used. It is evidently the mound. The castle formed part of the town wall, and occupied an angle of its area. Both castle and town were included within the foldings of the deep and broad Severn, and indeed often needed its protection.
In advance of Shrewsbury and placed along the most exposed border of the county, and sometimes a little beyond it, were seventeen castles, all strong and of early foundation, though not all of equal importance. Of these, to the south, the principal were Cleobury, Ludlow, Richard’s Castle, Wigmore, Knighton, and Knucklas or Heyhope, some within and others a little to the outside of the dyke. To the west were Clun, Bishop’s Castle, Montgomery, Cause, Abberbury, and Knockyn, and to the north Oswestry, Whittington, Ellesmere, and Whitchurch.