The living is a “peculiar,” in the patronage of Sir S. R. Glynne, and of which the Rev. H. Glynne is the rector. Its value, according to the “Liber Ecelesiasticus,” is £2844. The church, dedicated to St. Deiniol, is an ancient and spacious structure, with a square embattled tower. It was thoroughly repaired in 1764, and the chancel was almost entirely rebuilt in 1817, at an expense of £1400, jointly defrayed by the Hon. and Rev. George Neville Grenville, then rector, the late Lord Amesbury, and the inhabitants. Various restorations and improvements have also been effected by the present rector.
Hawarden has likewise the advantage of an endowed grammar school. The parish is very extensive, and besides the church just noticed, contains three others; all in admirable condition, and remarkable for the exemplary order and efficiency with which the services of our holy liturgy are solemnized. There is one at Broughton, another at Buckley, which has lately been repaired and beautified; and a third at Pen-y-mynydd, which is an elegant and perfect specimen of architecture. It was built at the cost of Sir S. R. Glynne, Bart. M.P., and was consecrated in 1843. With each of these churches, commodious schools are connected; and indeed, the ecclesiastical establishments, within the peculiar of Hawarden, are worthy of all praise. Hawarden Park, one of the most charming and picturesque of the many noble domains scattered through the Principality, is remarkable for the extreme verdure and softness of its grass, the majestic stateliness of its trees, the calm solitudes of its glens, and the combined loveliness and sublimity of its landscape scenery. It is also a spot of much historical interest; as within its territory, stand the ivy-clad ruins of an ancient castle, which, in past ages, was a fortress of great importance.
Little more than fragments of the former towers and keep remain; indeed, a considerable portion of the ruin was itself obscured by heaps of rubbish, till the late Sir John Glynne had them removed, and the foundations laid open to view. It was constructed in a pentagonal form; on one side was a spacious gateway, and on the other a kind of barbican. At one angle was situated the keep or citadel, a circular tower still nearly entire, and which forms one of the most picturesque objects that strike the eye on first approaching ‘its ancient solitary reign.’ Other portions consist of the relics of the vast mouldering walls—of massive donjons,—and, in one part, of a long flight of steps, at the bottom of which was a door and a draw-bridge, crossing a ravine to another division of the castle, embracing, most probably, the prison, thus fearfully secured.
On all sides it was surrounded by deep chasms and fosses, and, from its extensive plan and broad foundations, it has the appearance of having been erected at different periods—of having been sometimes defaced and at others restored, according to the vicissitudes and fortunes of war.
Dating soon after the Conquest, it came into possession of Roger Fitzvalerine, a son of one of the adventurers who followed the Norman Conqueror. It was subsequently held, on the tenure of seneschalship, by the family of Monthault, of the Earls of Chester, and finally annexed by Henry the Third to the crown. After this it came into the possession of Prince Llywelyn, and was stormed by his brother David. On the subjection of the country, Hawarden was granted to the house of Salisbury, and afterwards to that of Stanley. From Thomas, Earl of Derby, it descended to his second wife Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and mother of Henry the Seventh. In 1495, that monarch is stated to have honoured the castle with a visit, to enjoy the pleasures of the chase; but his real motive was to ingratiate himself with the Earl her husband, after the ungrateful act of executing his brother Sir William Stanley, to whose assistance he was mainly indebted for the crown. The estates continued in the family till the execution of James Earl of Derby, in 1651; and, not long after, they were purchased by Sergeant Glynne, from the Commissioners of Sequestration.
It was at Hawarden that the ambitious Earl of Leicester, after securing the persons of the King and his son Edward, entered into that fatal league with Llywelyn which compelled Henry to surrender the sovereignty of Wales, with the homage of its baronial suffrages, which were transferred to the Welsh prince. In the last struggle for independence, it was surprised by David, his brother, on the night of Palm Sunday, and the entire garrison put to the sword. This prince had acted with equal perfidy towards Edward the First, his benefactor, and towards Llywelyn.
From the now broken towers of Hawarden, there is a vast and most magnificent prospect, embracing a wide sweep of country, from the Vale Royal of Cheshire to the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey.
The modern mansion of Hawarden Park, the seat of Sir S. R. Glynne, Bart. M.P., Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire, is a stately structure, erected by Sir John Glynne in 1752. In 1809 it received some magnificent additions, and then assumed the form of a castellated edifice, with antique-looking windows and turrets. The pleasure-grounds are beautiful and extensive.
To the west of Hawarden church, in a field near to the turnpike-road, is an artificial mount of earth, which Mr. Pennant conjectures to have been a small camp. Tradition says, it was raised as a fortification, to prevent Henry the Second from advancing by this pass into Wales, in 1157. The prospects therefrom are delightfully grand, comprehending a view of Chester and the entire course of the silvery Dee from the old city to the Irish channel.—About two miles from Hawarden stands