the mint, the eighteen burgesses, the future iron-mines, mills, and fisheries between the Earl and his kinsmen. It also tells us in concise phrase that Robert of Rhuddlan held North Wales, which

means that the conqueror recognised him as overlord of Gwynedd in succession to Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (d. 1063).

Robert of Rhuddlan had been in the service of Edward the Confessor, and returned to England after the battle of Hastings. The Earl of Chester made him governor on the frontier at Rhuddlan, and from this place he took his surname. We find him aiding Gruffydd ap Cynan ap Iago in 1075, and in the same year the latter

burnt the new outworks at Rhuddlan; so unstable are affairs and relationships on the border. Robert however successfully pushed forward, and erected an advanced castle, c. 1078, at Deganwy. Here he met a gallant death fighting the same Gruffydd in 1088, and the Earl of Chester stepped into the shoes of his late vassal.

Gruffydd gained ground 1093-8, taking advantage of the divisions. of Rufus's reign; and the anarchy under Stephen enabled his son Owain to get back the whole of the land between the Dee and the Conway. Rhuddlan became a Royal Castle, no longer held under Chester, after an expedition, 1156-7, in which Henry II made use of both army and fleet.

A house of Templars is said to have been erected at Rhuddlan on this occasion, and it is conjectured that, after passing to the Knights of the Hospital, it survives in the villa standing half a mile to the E. called "The Spital."

Henry II came again to Rhuddlan to recover what he had lost to Owain amid the distractions of the quarrel with Thomas à Becket. But, in 1166, Owain destroyed Basingwerk, and next year burnt Rhuddlan and Prestatyn.

Archbishop Baldwin, accompanied by Giraldus Cambrensis, preached the Crusade here in 1187; he was the guest of the proNorman Davydd, who held Rhuddlan Castle of the King.

Llywelyn the Great surrendered the Vale of Clwyd to King John in person at Rhuddlan in 1211; yet two years later he won all back when the King was at variance with Pope and barons.

Davydd II, in 1241, surrendered to Henry III, at a spot on the Elwy, two miles S. of Rhuddlan.

Dyserth Castle was built in 1241, and superseded Rhuddlan till it was destroyed by Llywelyn, grandson of the Great, in 1263.

Edward I was here in 1275, and again selected Rhuddlan as the point to fortify, and here, at the end of the 1277 campaign, Llywelyn swore fealty to him. However, in 1282, Llywelyn's brother Davydd rose in arms, and Llywelyn put himself at the head of the movement, which brought Edward back to Rhuddlan with his army and his Queen. In November, after the failure at the boat-bridge across the Menai Straits, Edward was cooped up at Rhuddlan, and Llywelyn was free to extend his operations to the S. But the national hero was slain at Builth, and his head brought to Edward at Rhuddlan. Next spring the war was renewed against Davydd, who, in September, was escorted through Rhuddlan on his way to the scaffold.

A century later Richard II passed through Rhuddlan. On August 18, 1399, he was captured near Llanddulas, and dined at Rhuddlan on his way to meet the victorious Henry of Lancaster.

The ruins, as we now see them, are entirely of Edward's building, mainly between the years 1281-1291. The Castle was a simple quadrangle, with single towers at the N. and S. corners and double towers at the E. and W. The inner diameter of the towers is about 19 ft. 1 in.; their height is 42 ft., topped by remains of a

parapet. They contain a circular basement and four octagonal floors, and held the chief living rooms, as is evidenced by the stone hoods over the fireplaces. There was an entrance between each of the double towers, that between the eastern towers being the main gateway, with a passage 31 ft. in length, protected by arrow or cross-bow slots and a portcullis, of which the grooves may still be seen. The curtain walls are 9 ft. 2 in. thick, and about 35 ft. 6 in. high; they enclose a courtyard measuring 48 by 43 yards. Within this space there must have been lean-to wooden buildings, for the timbers of which the sockets and stone joints are still visible. The outer ward, possibly a few years later in date than the main building, consists on the W. of a square tower and river walls; away from the river, of a moat lined with masonry, which on the inner side was built up to form a parapet pierced by slits. There are bastions opposite the main entrance showing the position of the draw-bridge.

In the centre of the court is the shaft of a well which is said locally to have underground passages leading from its bottom. In June of this year some of the students of St. Beuno's cleared away 4 ft. of rubbish, and at a depth of 50 ft., or practically the level of the river, found water welling up. The lowest six feet are encased in a perfect circular wall of masonry, and no sign of an opening into a passage was discovered. Perhaps there is something in the local tradition; and it is possible that the water was supplied from the well lying outside the Castle on the S. W. towards the river. If there was a conduit for this purpose, it is interesting to note that along what would have been its route there lay within living memory a portion of an underground passage, which, however, was supposed to begin in the curtain N. of the W. tower, and to lead to the river tower. There are no signs of it in the wall of the river tower, and, if it lies below the present accumulation of earth within the tower, it would be below the level of the river which washes the tower walls.

The Castle became less important as the national opposition was more and more confined within the narrower limits of Snowdonia. In 1646 it was stormed by General Mytton, and "slighted" by the Parliamentarians in 1647-8.

Canon Morris quoted from documents in the Public Record Office charges for the setting up the Royal tents for Edward I, and for bringing materials and preparing the Queen's chamber, for which the services of the Abbots of Chester and Stanlaw were requistioned.1

1 Pro stipendio quatuor dierum iiijs vid uni servienti Abbatis Cestrie p/c per diem iiij pro se ipso 7 pro vii hominibus quolibet die xxi ducentibus implastr' de Wyrhale apud Rodolanum ad cameram Regine . . . Item quatuor hominibus Abbatis de Stanlowe 7 uni custodi bovum ducentibus implastr' de Wyrhale usque Rodolanum ad cameram Regine.

Quatuor papillon' custodientibus papillones 7 tentoria Regis per vii dies ix iiija The same 20-26 October.

In the Journal of the Numismatic Society1 some account is given of the "minting rights" of Rhuddlan in the time of Robert de Roelent and Hugh Lupus, also of short cross pennies temp. Richard and John and other coins 1189-1205. The legend is ON RVDILA, ON RVLLA, RVTLAN. Those of 1205-16 HENRICVS ON RVTN are of rougher workmanship than those of other mints issued at the same period, while the King was there on an expedition.

Archdeacon Thomas, in thanking Father MacMahon for his excellent address, remarked that the round tower in the Castle had always been known as Queen Eleanor's tower. He hoped that someone who had leisure would make an effort to trace the town walls, a portion of which he had discovered.

After a short halt at Twt Hill, which is about 200 yards to the S. of the Castle, the Members made their way to Rhuddlan Abbey. Here Rev. W. MacMahon gave a short address.

"Abbey Farm and Plas Newydd are the two names of a farm occupying the site of a Priory belonging to the Order of Dominicans, half a mile from Rhuddlan, in the direction of St. Asaph. Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary, states that the priory was founded by Ranulph de Blundeville, Earl of Chester, in 1197; but no authority is given for this assertion, which attributes the foundation of the priory to a date seventeen or eighteen years previous to that of the Dominicans themselves. Archdeacon Thomas in his 'History of St. Asaph Diocese' (I, p. 416, n. 2nd edit.) quotes some memoranda from Peniarth MS., 215, fo. 184. Here Llywelyn ap Gruffydd is named as founder in 1258, and with him is associated as second founder (Edw. I a'i gwnaeth gwedi hyny) Edward I in 1262, and also his Queen. There is no reason to question the date 1258; but that of 1262 can hardly be correct as Edward had not at that time succeeded to the throne and royal style, and moreover we have (Rymer, i, 423) a letter from his father, the King, in December of

Cuidam homini Cestrie magistro quatuor curruum qui duxerunt emplastrum usque Rodolanum ad cameram Regine (25-29 Oct.) x3 vd.

The same 10-20 November.

Pro petra 7 calce empt' a tribus predicatoribus de Rodolano [Dominicans of Rhuddlan] ad constructionem castri de Rodolano per manus fratris Iuorii lxvi® . This Ivorius, prior of Rhuddlan, is entered as employed on two occasions on the King's business, per duas vices apud Aberconewei pro negotio Regis. Earlier in the same document of Rhuddlan expenditure is an entry that Ioceus the merchant, nephew of Aaron of York the Jew, was employed at Aberconewey for 6 days in negotiating the treaty with Llywelyn (pro pace reformanda inter dominum regem 7 Leulinum per manus Iocei emptoris).

Pro clavibus emptis apud Cestriam ad constructionem camere Regine in castro de Rodolano, xi3 ix«.

Pro petra capta 7 empta a Ricardo Canonico Assavensi ad construcionem castri de Rodolano xvis. Q. R. 1.

Pipe Roll 14 Hen. II, 1167-8 Et comiti Cestrie xx m ad muniendum Castellum de Ruelent. Et Gaufr. de Ver. iiij li . . . s ad perficiend' liberat' serventum in discessu exercitus de Ruelent.

1 Vol. II, 1906, "The Saxon, Norman, and Plantagenet Coinage of Wales," P. Carlyon-Britton

this very year, blaming him for his neglect of Wales. It is probably a mistake for 1282, when both Edward I and Queen Eleanor were at Rhuddlan, and we have record of royal payments to the priory. The next date we have in connection with the house is 1268, the year of the consecration of its then prior as Anian II, Bishop of St. Asaph. The Dictionary of National Biography does not appear to be correct as to his nationality. Anian de Schonan is there conjectured to be a Netherlander; but see the History of Powys Fadog I, p. 173, n., where his birthplace is stated to be Nannau, near Dolgelly. In Haddan and Stubbs I, 529, is printed a letter (May or June, 1281) of the Bishop to Pope Martin IV, commending to him the 'statum Ecclesiæ meae Assauensis (immo verius vestre),' and King Edward's proposal of a site and 1000 marks to build it at Rhuddlan. The King writes to say that the Pope himself would urge the translation, did he know of the solitary and defenceless state of St. Asaph where even on feasts the Canons Divina coguntur ipsis solis et lapidibus celebrare' (Ibid. 530). The proposal came to nothing, perhaps owing to the Pope's death, perhaps to an unwillingness on Archbishop Peckham's part to have the Cathedral under the shadow of the royal castle. From 1282 to 1284 Anian was in disfavour with the King. He seems not to have been sufficiently zealous against the King's enemies, his own countrymen and the flock committed to his care. His own Cathedral was

burnt and he had to leave his diocese. The breach was healed by Anian's agreement to an exchange of advowsons which the King desired in connection with his transfer of the Abbey at Aberconwy from the site which he wanted for his castle of Conway (Ibid. 536, 539, 541, 553, 567, 568, 579). Descriptions of the Priory will be found in various volumes of Arch. Camb., e.g., 1847, p. 255; 1848, p. 46; 1863, pp. 183-7; 1867, p. 355; 1870, p. xli; 1881, p. 214. may add that Buck has a view of the priory from the S.E., in which we see a fairly complete shell still standing 180 years ago."

I

Edward Lhwyd, Parochialia i, 51, notes "An Abbey called Mynachlog Rhydlan. There was heretofore a hospital which is now a tenement belonging to Col. Whitley." In 1858 there were no traces but the site of the cloisters, vestiges of the foundation of the east end of the chapel, a few narrow square-headed lights, and two single-light pointed arches, without mouldings, of Early Decorated period. The windows of the dormitory may be seen above the barn, and built up into the walls is a sepulchral slab with an incised effigy representing an Archbishop, with mitre and archiepiscopal cross, wearing a chasuble but not a pallium. The right hand is raised in benediction, on the left arm is a richly decorated maniple. In the upper corners are traces of angels bearing censers. The slab is much injured by exposure to the atmosphere. The legend in French reads [PRIEZP]OVR LALME FRERE WIL. ERCHEVESKE

DE RAGES.