#Clifford Cundy

[oldsardens]

Clifford Cundy - The Enlightenment of Ananda

[dry-valleys]

At the medieval Hawarden Castle, near the border of England and Wales.

This is an ancient site of fortification and habitation- its name is Anglo-Saxon for “high enclosure”) and what I saw on Sunday is the ruin of a castle built soon after the Norman Conquest at the behest of Hugh d’Avranches, Earl of Chester (whom we also encountered at Tutbury- small world), Hawarden was held by Simon de Montfort during his rebellion against Henry III and after Montfort was defeated and killed at Evesham in 1265, was attacked and slighted by his erstwhile ally Llywellyn the Last, who focused his efforts on his nearby fortress of Ewloe.

After Edward I’s invasion of Wales, which began in 1277, Hawarden was entrusted to Roger de Clifford who ordered a restoration programme which began in 1281 and immediately provoked a rebellion which led to Llywellyn and Roger both being killed in 2282, and Llywellyn’s brother Dafydd being hung, drawn and quartered at Shrewsbury in 1283.

Hawarden was further strengthened and in the later centuries was held by the Stanley family, who became close allies to the Tudor monarchs. In the Civil War it held for the king before its commander Colonel Ravenscroft was obliged to surrender it in March 1646, a month after the fall of Chester.

The victorious Parliamentarians ushered in the new age of Hawarden by slighting the castle- which was never used for military purposes again- and in 1651 the state sold the land to John Glynne, whose descendents (of whom a lot more later!) are still the owners.

In 1752-7 the new Hawarden house was built, and is a Grade I listed building because of the remodeling done by Thomas Cundy in 1809-10, and because the legendary William Ewart Gladstone, our greatest prime minister, married into the Glynne family in 1839 and was owner from 1854 until 1898; much more on him in the next post!

Hawarden has been tracked through art; (1) is by Thomas Badeslade in 1740, (9) by FO Morris in 1880 when WEG was owner and prime minister, and unless otherwise specified from Sunday. 

The house is generally closed off but if you look out you can find opening times and see more than I did, which this post is hopefully a taster for!