Llewellyn, who was a politic prince, received the submission of the Lord of Dinas Bran, because he knew that inaccessible fortress could not be forced from him, and that it would not be safe to have an avowed enemy, with so strong a refuge for his disaffected subjects, in the rear of his operations; otherwise Gryffydd Ap Madog had merited banishment as much as his namesake of Powisland: nay, Gryffydd, Lord of Dinas Bran, married an English lady, [54a] Emma, daughter of Lord Audley, whose father did much mischief and hurt to the Welch, by bringing from Germany a body of horsemen, who, by the uncommon size of their horses, with their unusual manner of fighting, terrified and easily defeated the Welchmen at the first; but when they had become more familiarized with their mode, they took their revenge upon them, even on Lord Audley’s own land. [54b]
All the nobility of Wales had solemnly sworn to defend their country till death against the invasion of the English, and not to relinquish or forsake one another; and the return of Gryffydd Ap Madog to his allegiance diffused through every breast the hope of better days. [54c]
From this time to the day of his death, I do not find that he again deserted his Prince, but attached himself to the fortunes of his country, although fears of the resentment of his countrymen for his former conduct made him keep close to his Castle of Dinas Bran, where he died in 1270, [54d] and was buried by the side of his father in the Abbey Church of Valle Crucis; leaving his country in the enjoyment of freedom and peace; the Welch having, by innate bravery and constancy, aided by the fastnesses of their country, and the good policy of their Prince, freed themselves for a time from the thraldom of their potent enemy.
Mr. Pennant gives a different account of his end. [55a] He says that “his wife Emma, having alienated his affection from his own country, made him an instrument of its subjection, and of the destruction of his own family; for, as he took part with Henry III. and Edward I. against his natural Prince, the resentment of his countrymen was excited against him, and he was obliged to shelter himself from their rage in his Castle of Dinas Bran, where probably shame and grief put an end to his life.”
Be that as it may, Gryffydd Ap Madog, by his wife Emma, daughter of John, Lord Audley, left issue four sons, viz. Madog, Llewellyn, Gryffydd, and Owen. [55b] Madog, the eldest, became Lord of Dinas Bran, &c. He died, it is supposed, not long after his father, leaving two sons to inherit his property. [55c] The eldest, called Madog, had, by his father’s will, Bromfeild and Yale, the Castell Dinas Bran, &c.; the second son, Llewellyn, the Lordship of Chirk, &c. It should seem these children were not of age when their father died; for Edward I. King of England, took on him to appoint guardians to them both, and committed Madog, the elder, to the care of John, Earl of Warren, one of his favorites; and Llewellyn he intrusted to Roger Mortimer, son of Lord Mortimer, of Wigmore. [56a] These men well understood the nature of the appointment; and it is probable that Edward had maturely weighed in his mind the potency of their enmity, who could be such powerful friends, and having then but recently subjugated the country, he might wish out of his way two scions of a stock which had proved so stubborn and so valiant. It was well known that Warren and Mortimer had rid themselves of their respective charges, and had possessed themselves of their estates, which they were suffered to enjoy without an inquiry being instituted respecting them, or about the disappearance of their wards; but the manner of the murder of these two unfortunate children has but lately been discovered, in a manuscript in the Bodleian Library. [56b] The guardian of the two boys caused them to be drowned under Holt Bridge; and no doubt from hence arose the origin of a fable which was long current in the country, of two fairies having been drowned in that place.
From the Earls of Warren the Castell Dinas Bran passed to the Arundel [56c] and other families. In 1390, Myfanwy Fechan, a descendant of the house of Tudor, resided there, and was celebrated for her beauty in a long ode by Howel Ap Einion Lygliw, a celebrated bard of that time. The Castle was probably then held under the Earls of Arundel. It is now the property of Mrs. Myddelton Biddulph, of Chirk Castle. The period of its destruction is as completely unknown as the time of its foundation. Eagles and hawks in abundance used to breed, as some now do, in the neighbouring rocky ridge of the Eglwyseg, and
“Along the narrow valley you might see
The wild deer sporting on the meadow ground,
And here and there a solitary tree,
Or mossy stone, or rock with woodbine crown’d.
Oft did the cliffs reverberate the sound
Of parted fragments tumbling from on high,
And from the summit of that craggy mound
The perching eagle oft was heard to cry,
Or on resounding wing to shoot athwart the sky.”
The view from the Castle is not so extensive as might be expected from its elevation, being bounded, except towards the east, by more lofty mountains; yet the scenery is most truly grand and magnificent. According to the plan laid down in the beginning of this work, I leave my readers to their own observations; only informing them that the house which makes a distinguished figure to the westward is Dinbren Hall, the residence of Richard Jones, Esq.
Descending on the west side of the hill, and proceeding on the old way to the Abbey Crucis, stands a neat house, called the Tŵr, i.e. Tower, which I conjecture, for I can obtain no written document on the subject, to have been a look-out or watch-tower belonging to the Castle; especially as it is placed on the side most easy of access. Some additions have been made to the Tower, and it is now a comfortable farm-house, inhabited by a very respectable lady, of the name of Price. It has been a square building, built of hewn stone, as evinced by the massive walls which now surround the old part converted into a parlour, and by an old spiral stone stair at the back of the room.
The old way from the Castle to the Abbey has been much intersected and crossed, especially by the branch of the Ellesmere Canal, and by roads made to recently erected retreats and farms; among which I must not, however, reckon the road to