“Y [4] Drêv uen ym mron y koed
Yseu yn y hervas eiryoed
A uyneb y guelht y guaed
Y Drêv uen yn yd hŷmyr
Y hervas y-Llâs vyver
Y guared ydan draed y gwŷr.”
A.D. 843.
In the time of Roderick the Great, king of all Wales, Ynyr ap Cadfarch, a British nobleman, built the Castle of Whittington; to which he was succeeded by his son Tudor Trevor, who altho’ possessed of many palaces, with rich and extensive domains, made this his chief residence. By right of his father he obtained the lordships of both Maelors, Whittington, Chirk, Oswestry, Ewais, and Urchenfield; and by right of his mother Rhiengar, the earldom of Hereford. His mother was grand-daughter to Caradoc Freichfas, who fell in the field of battle at Rhuddlan, A.D. 795, gloriously maintaining the cause of the Britons against their Pagan invaders, the Saxons.
The descendants of Tudor continued possessed of the Castle for several generations; and many families both in this neighbourhood and North Wales, boast their origin from him.
A.D. 1060.
At the Conquest, Whittington became the property of Pain Peverel, who having no issue, on his decease it was seized by Roger earl of Shrewsbury. This place was called in Doomsday Book, Wititone; and consisted at that time of eight corn farms, twelve ox-stalls, and a very extensive wood; the cows yielded five shillings per annum, and all Welsh residents were obliged to pay twenty shillings rent among them.
The castle and lordship of Whittington next passed into the hands of Hugh, and afterwards of his brother Robert, sons of the late earl of Shrewsbury. Upon the defeat and forfeiture of Robert by Henry I. it was restored to the Peverels in the person of Sir William, a sister’s son of Pain Peverel.—This Sir William is famed in history for his noble and valiant enterprizes, in one of which it is stated that he was mortally wounded, but was miraculously recovered by eating the shield of a wild boar; and that to testify his gratitude to Heaven for his preservation he built three churches.
A.D. 1083.
He had two daughters, the youngest of which was named Mellet: she with the spirit of an Amazon, resolved to wed no one but the knight of most consummate valour. Her father published this declaration, and promised the Castle of Whittington as her dower. Several distinguished combatants assembled at Peverel’s place in the Peak, Derbyshire, to contend for the fair prize; and among whom were, a son of the king of Scotland, Baron Burgoyne, and a noble Lorrainer, Guarine De Metz, (sheriff of Shropshire, and chief counsellor to the earl of Shrewsbury;) the latter of whom came with a shield of silver, and a proud peacock upon his crest; and having overthrown his rivals, obtained the beautiful Mellet.
As chivalry was the greatest accomplishment in these times, the progeny of this famed couple could hardly avoid being eminently distinguished by feats of arms, and the consequence was, that their names occupied very great portions in romances both at home and abroad.