The Welchmen, as might naturally be expected, exultingly celebrated this triumph; while Henry, baffled and disgraced, and with all his threats unperformed, gave way to rage, and added savage cruelty to his disgrace. He at this time held as hostages Rhys and Cadwallon, the two sons of Owen Gwynedd; and also Cynric and Meredith, the two sons of Rhys Ap Gryffyth, of South Wales; as likewise the sons and daughters of other Welch Lords. [30] In the savage fierceness of his rage, he ordered the eyes of these innocent victims to be pulled out, and the ears of the young gentlewomen to be stuffed.
From this digression, for which, as pointing out the places where these historical facts happened, I hope my readers will pardon me, I now return to the Oswestry old way, which runs near Chirk Castle.
Not more than sixty years ago, this used to be the public high road to Oswestry, although the capacious and excellent road which now skirts the Mountains’ base would almost induce one to think it impossible. A very respectable and old inhabitant of Llangollen informs me, that before the road was altered and improved, some of the family from Chirk Castle used to visit Llangollen once a year in the family coach. On the appointed day, which was generally known beforehand, all the inhabitants were on the alert; and no sooner was the rumble of the ponderous wheels heard on the stones, than young and old, sick and lame, poured out of their dwellings to see the wonderful phenomenon; and during the few hours of its stay in the town, it attracted as much attention as a show of wild beasts at a country fair. On its return to the Castle, the young men of the village contended for the honour of assisting it to get up the hill again; and this was the only vehicle of the kind seen once a year in Llangollen, where now the most splendid and elegant carriages, from the gig to the state-coach, roll along, amid these stupendous rocks and mountains, upon roads as smooth, as level, and as good, as any in the kingdom.
The Oswestry old way is not now much frequented, but it continues from Chirk Castle along the top of the Mountain. Many roads intersect it, but the old road is very distinguishable. By the side of the way, rise two copious springs, called Ffynnon Arthur.
From the eminence the view is most extensively delightful, and amply repays the trouble and fatigue of the walk up the Mountain. The curious Aqueduct of Pontcysyllte forms a very pleasing and prominent feature in the foreground of the landscape.
As you approach the descent on the side of the hill, the stone pedestal of a cross or pillar stands among the gorse on the left hand side of the road, but the shaft is not to be found. Trees, planted three in a clump, mark the road at short distances, and lead to the cultivated and inhabited part of the declivity. [32a] Proceeding to the extreme foot of the Mountain, on the junction of the Oswestry road stood, until these few months, another stone pillar, or cross, [32b] called Croes y Beddau; and upon it was rudely cut “Oswestry Way.” This inscription is of more recent execution than the pillar, although it is also very antique.
I conjecture these stones were erected as land-marks, and guides to the traveller. An ancient way from this point proceeded to the river Dee, which was then crossed by a wooden bridge. On the north side of the river, nearly opposite the place where the wooden bridge stood, was another similar pillar, called Croes Gwen Hwyfr. It stood on the road to Wrexham, and has been removed only a few years. From Croes Gwen Hwyfr, an old road proceeds to Castell Dinas Bran, by the Llanddyn, once the residence of the Owens of Porkington, but now converted into a farm-house. Through that farm the road passed in a zigzag direction to Castell Dinas Bran, and the old road is still traceable, although in some places quite lost.
Before I attempt to give an account of the ancient castle, I must beg my reader’s attendance to the Aqueduct, which claimed notice in the view from the top of the Berwyn Mountains.
THE AQUEDUCT.
“Telford, who o’er the vale of Cambrian Dee,
Aloft in air, at giddy height upborne,
Carried his navigable road, and hung
High o’er Menai’s Straits and bending bridge:
Structures of more ambitious enterprise
Than minstrels, in the age of old romance,
To their own Merlin’s magic lore ascribed.