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.
HELMSLEY CASTLE, YORKSHIRE.
HELMSLEY, the Elmeslae of Domesday and the Hamlake of genealogists, is the name of an extensive tract of wild moorland which lies on the southern slope of the Cleveland Hills, in the north-east corner of the North Riding of Yorkshire. The hills rise to 1,400 feet above the sea, but Helmsley Moor hardly reaches 1,100 feet, and the town of Helmsley, placed where the uplands pass into the plain, scarcely stands at 200 feet.
The real river of Helmsley, descending from the moors, is the Seph; but after its union with the Rye, the stream and the dale bear the name of the latter water, made famous by the Abbey of Rievaulx, about four miles below which, sweeping round the well-wooded promontory of Duncombe, the stream, returning somewhat upon its former course, forms the southern boundary of the castle and the town.
The castle is barely included in Duncombe Park, part of its eastern outwork being traversed by the border. Its position, if not specially striking, is yet strong, and favourable to the works which rendered it in former days almost impregnable. The low platform upon which it stands is mainly of rock, and the labour employed has been rather that of removing than of making ground, the ditches being wholly artificial.
Besides the Rye, which, where it flows about a furlong south of the castle, has low and swampy banks, the Etton beck, close upon the east, between the town and the castle, descends on its way to the Rye, at a level which allowed of its waters being employed to flood the ditches of the fortress.