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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 lxvis. 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, xis ixd.

Pro petra capta 7 empta a Ricardo Canonico Assavensi ad construcionem castri de Rodolano xvi. 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. I 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."

Edward Lhwyd, Parochialia i, 51, notes "An Abbey called Mynachlog Rhydlan. There was heretofore a hospitall 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.

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Rages, Professor Sayce remarked, was destroyed by the Mongols c. 1270. It is identified (Arch. Camb., 1867, p. 355) with Edessa (see also Mas Latrie, col. 2028, ed. 1889), and a fortunate reference

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is given to the Registers of Urban IV, where is to be found the request by the Pope made 1263, to the Patriarch of Antioch, for a title to be accorded to the already consecrated Bishop William Freney of the Order of Preachers. That his See was in partibus infidelium may explain the absence of a pallium, the symbol of archi

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